NBA: 3 winners and losers from the first round of the playoffs

NBA Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
NBA Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
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Dallas Mavericks
Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Winner: Luka Doncic

It was a shame that the Dallas Mavericks were eliminated in just six games, as we only got to see six playoff games from Luka Doncic, not seven or more.

At 21 years of age and in his first playoff run, Luka averaged 31 points, 8.7 assists, and 9.8 rebounds while making a clean 50 percent of all his shots. He also put the team on his back in Game 4, without the team’s second-best player in Kristaps Porzingis, putting up an ungodly amount of counting stats as well as hitting an incredible game-winning buzzer-beater.

https://twitter.com/dallasmavs/status/1297747343324991488?s=20

He was the fifth player in NBA history to average at least 30 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists in a playoff series, joining LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Michael Jordan, and Oscar Robertson and the first of that group to do it in just his first postseason run.

On top of that, he did it against the league’s fifth-best defense according to Cleaning the Glass and against two stellar defenders in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

The future looks bright for the young Mav, I’m not breaking any news saying that. This series only solidified that knowledge and I can’t wait to see how the team comes back next season.