Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving combined for 63 points in the Dallas Mavericks’ 108-105 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday night, and with the team three wins away from the NBA Finals, former NBA champion Paul Pierce had high praise for the duo. No room for debate Thursday morning.
.Paul Pierce: Luka and Kyrie are the best offensive duo in NBA history 👀
agree? pic.twitter.com/ywU1bSBsMB
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) May 23, 2024
Read more: Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving lead Dallas Mavericks to Game 1 WCF win: 3 plays that changed the game
“This isn’t a backcourt, this is the greatest offensive duo in the history of the NBA,” Pierce said. “You talk about Kyrie (Irving)’s skill, you’ve heard a lot of NBA players say he’s the most skilled player they’ve ever seen. Luka (Doncic) just led the league in scoring. You’ve got two guys that can score 60 points.”
Pierce then compared Irving and Doncic to some of the most notable offensive linemen of all time: Irving and Doncic are averaging 57.4 points this season, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal averaged 57.0 points for the Lakers in 2002-03 (after a fact check, they averaged 57.5 points), Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry averaged 52 points for the Warriors in 2018-19 (actually 53.3 points), and Dwyane Wade and LeBron James averaged 51.8 points for the Heat in 2010-11 (Pierce’s number was also incorrect, it was 52.2 points). Pierce said the only two players he cited who scored more points than Doncic were Houston’s James Harden and Russell Westbrook, who averaged 61.5 points between them in 2019-20 (not the 60.7 he cited), but said Doncic and Harden are about even and that Irving has better skill than Westbrook.
It’s an interesting topic to discuss, to be sure — Shaq and Kobe were as unstoppable as any duo in NBA history, and Doncic and Irving each did it in different ways, but when they’re at their best, they’re hard to guard.
Irving was close to scoring at any time in the first half of Game 1, outscoring the Timberwolves with 24 points. Doncic closed the game with 15 points in the fourth quarter, and they’ll be hoping to keep the momentum going into Game 2 on Friday night.
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