Luka Doncic Showed Anthony Edwards There Are Levels To This As The Mavs Shock The Timberwolves And Steal Homecourt

David Berding. Getty Images.

As soon as the final buzzer sounded and the Wolves had eliminated the defending champs in Game 7, pretty much everyone immediately penciled them into the Finals and the soon to be champs. It was the talk of every show, every podcast, like it was some foregone conclusion. The crazy part of that is the fact that the narrative seemed to be that the Dallas Mavericks don't exist. You know, the team that eliminated the #1 seed in just 6 games. The one with an MVP candidate and one of the best players on the planet. That Dallas Mavericks. Why there was this idea that they should be overlook is very odd, and tonight's Game 1 proved exactly why.

Yes, the Wolves knocked out the champs. It was wildly impressive and they deserve all the praise for it. But the playoffs are about matchups, and every series is different. The Wolves were put together for one purpose, which was to beat the Nuggets. The Mavs are a completely different challenge for them to have to handle defensively, and to anyone who actually watches the Mavs will tell you, they have stretches where they can really lock in defensively. Add in the experience factor of their best players, in no way shape or form are the Mavs a pushover. 

Not when they have the firepower that's capable of doing stuff like this

Ant was quick to talk about how Kyrie Irving was his matchup, and I think we can all agree that Kyrie clearly took that personally. He was virtually unstoppable all night, reaching the level that makes you truly feel like you're watching something special offensively.

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When Kyrie is locked in and playing downhill like we saw tonight, it makes you think back to the 2016 version. His ability to get into the paint at will, the incredible finishing at the rim, the high leverage buckets, Kyrie put it all on display.

Then with Luka, he's such a tank of a player. He's strong as a bull, patient as hell, crafty as hell, and has some of the best footwork you'll ever see. What I love about watching Luka play is he's never in a rush. Given his size, he doesn't struggle with bigger defenders, and once he gets his shoulders low there aren't too many people on the planet who are strong enough to keep him from getting to his spots. When the game needed someone to step up, Luka came through and completely dominated the fourth quarter on both ends of the floor.

What it was, was a statement. Everyone crowning Anthony Edwards as the new face of the league and MJ and all that

and yet in the showdown of stars, we only saw one of them and that guy played for the Mavs. Ant finished just 6-16 (5-12) and was relatively a nonfactor in the 4th quarter. On the other end, Luka was doing it all. Big stepback threes, we even got Luka defense

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The Mavs held their own on the glass and actually won the rebounding battle despite the supposed size disadvantage, and it felt like the Mavs also figured out and were ready for the Wolves blitzing, so in terms of Game 1 debut where this is a feel you out type situation, to walk away with a win and homecourt is as good as it gets.

Of course, it wouldn't be an NBA playoff game without some controversy, which we got with KAT's basket interference call in the final 90 seconds down 2

That's close as hell, but ultimately I think it's the right call. The ball was going to hit the rim on the way down, or at least that's what it looks like to my dumbass eyes. I could be wrong, but it's not as if the Wolves didn't have opportunities after this play to tie the game and then go on to win, they just didn't execute. Edwards turnovers late, Conley turnovers late, at the end of the day playoff games come down to execution. In this game, it was the Mavs that found a way to make the plays while the Wolves seemed to run out of gas.

The good news for MIN fans is the Wolves are resilient as hell. It shouldn't surprise anyone if they punch back and win Game 2. The goal for the Mavs was a split, and they've done that. How the Wolves now handle things given the newfound pressure in a game that's technically not a must win but is about as close as you can get. We just saw what happened to the Nuggets by dropping the first two at home. We saw what happened to the Celtics last year in the ECF when you drop the first two at home. It leaves things up to the randomness of a Game 7 and nobody wants that. 

It'll also be interesting to see how the media talks about this game and the players that participated. There should probably be a whole lot more respect being put on the names of Luka and Kyrie, and we already know they'll ignore how Ant played. He's bulletproof.

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Meanwhile, the Mavs are in the drivers seat and are just 3 wins away from returning back to the Finals for the first time since 2011 and the first time in the Luka era. Not bad for a team that didn't really get the credit as someone who would give the Wolves a fight.