Last Sunday, Luka Doncic saw his MVP votes increase as his team's reserves lost by 49 points to Oklahoma City in a game that meant absolutely nothing to the Dallas Mavericks' playoff seeding.
At least one argument for Denver's Nikola Jokic and against Doncic is gone. I always thought that Denver would win the West Division and that Jokic, who has similar impressive numbers to Luka, would win his third MVP award. And I imagine he will win. But Luka's MVP hopes skyrocketed over the final six weeks of the season, as he and Kyrie Irving propelled Dallas to fifth place in the play-in crowd, and they will face the LA Clippers starting next weekend. We decided to play against each other.
Jokic's team won 57 games, Luka's team won 50 games. The Thunder finished 20 games behind Golden State when Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double for the season and won the league's Most Valuable Player Award while leading a team that finished sixth in the Western Conference. . If voters can ignore the difference in rankings, the Mavs' fifth seed compared to Denver's second seed shouldn't mean anything.
Before we get into Jokic, it's worth mentioning that Luka's season was better than Westbrook's season seven years ago. Freed from passing the ball to Kevin Durant, Westbrook completely controlled the Thunder's offense, averaging 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists. Luka just posted 33.9, 9.2, and 9.8 against Dallas. In raw numbers, Luka would give him two more points, Russell would give him an extra rebound and 1.5 assists, but he would also have 5.4 turnovers per game compared to Luka's 4.0. In terms of shooting, Luka shot 48.7 percent and 38.2 percent from three, while Westbrook was a close second at 42.5 percent and 34.3 percent from three.
Defense wasn't an overwhelming consideration for either of them, so they didn't give much consideration to Westbrook's willingness to lock down at times. The numbers, and especially their place in the standings, tell us that if Westbrook's season was worthy, there's no reason not to consider Luka's season.
Now, there's a more recent Oklahoma City problem for Luka in the form of Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander. And despite not having numbers like Luka, there's a good chance he finishes second to Jokic, just ahead of Doncic, after the Thunder earn the top seed.
As for Jokic, he finished the season with 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 9.0 assists per game. The edge on the board is what the 6-11, 285-pound center is expected to be able to maintain. However, Doncic was the league's leading scorer and Jokic was nowhere near that. These seven points of his are very important in the overall plan.
Jokic is a more accurate shot than Luka, at least in the paint. His field goal percentage of 58.2 is significantly higher than Luka's 48.7. But Luka has the advantage from beyond the arc, where Jokic shoots a respectable 35.9%.
I think there's a difference that voters (and I'm not one of them) should consider in that Luka runs the Mavericks while Jokic runs Denver's offense. Perhaps it's a subtle difference, not as much as I feel, but the greater burden of creativity falls on the true point guard. As the time of possession increases and time passes, Luka is forced to take more shots.
Longtime coach and former TNT broadcaster Stan Van Gundy recently described Doncic as the most unstoppable offensive player he's ever seen. It covers quite a range. I'm sure Mavericks fans have seen this situation coming for the past few seasons, but the 25-year-old's game has reached its peak this winter and spring.
The only reason I don't stress Luka's case more is that Joker played 9 more games than him and was 79-70. And in this day and age, availability is even more important as players pick up minor injuries and miss their second game. Matches where back-to-back is scheduled. If you remove Jokic's nine extra games, Denver and Dallas could be tied in the standings. Instead, the Nuggets tied for first place with Oklahoma City and lost in the tiebreaker.
Does it really matter that Luka didn't win this year? That could help extend the Mavericks' season. The league traditionally makes its announcement early in the second round of the playoffs, as voting takes place at the end of the regular season. That's something Mavs fans are aware of since Dallas' embarrassing 2007 win, when they won 67 games. Dirk Nowitzki deserved to be MVP and accepted the award at a press conference. Don Nelson's Warriors beat the Mavericks in six games, 25 games behind Dallas in the standings.
So, if things stay that way and Jokic wins his third MVP award, the Mavs could be ready to face the Thunder in the second round. I expect them to be successful against the team that took Luka's Mavs out of the playoffs twice, but this feels like the beginning of a new era and the beginning of something bigger. Luka had his MVP moments in 2020 and his 21st year. He just had an MVP season regardless of whether he won the award or not, and it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if he was sent back in time two weeks from now by not winning the award. And if he finishes behind OKC's Gilgeous-Alexander, that fight will become even more interesting.
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