Redick defends Doncic in comparison with Magic and Bird: 'He's playing with 2nd rounders' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: USA TODAY Sports, AP - Scanpix Credit USA TODAY Sports, AP - Scanpix

The Dallas Mavericks are 0-3 down against the Golden State Warriors, despite superb Luka Doncic.

Luka Doncic

MIN:35.58PTS:29.03 (53.6%)REB:9.18As:8.32ST:1.27BL:0.55TO:4.4GM:78ProfileNBA2021/2022

Throughout the 2022 NBA playoffs, Doncic has put up monstrous numbers, averaging 32.1 points, 9.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 1.8 steals. Meanwhile, Dallas is 2-6 when Doncic scores 40+ in the playoffs in his career.

According to ESPN analyst Max Kellerman, Luka Doncic is a great individual player, but one that doesn't necessarily help his teammates perform better on the court.

A basketball expert says the Slovenian wunderkind is not helping his teammates thrive like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird did back in the day.

However, the former NBAer JJ Redick disagrees with his colleague and has other thoughts regarding this topic.

"Luka doesn't make people better? Magic and Bird, they played with Hall of Famers, man. Luka is playing on a team with rotation players, 2nd round picks, and undrafted guys like Dorrian Finney-Smith.

His shot quality created for his teammates - No. 1 in the last two seasons. They're shooting 33% on wide-open threes. It's not his fault they can't make shots," Redick responded to Kellerman's statements.

Mavericks' roster:

Davis Bertans (42nd pick) Sterling Brown (46th) Jalen Brunson (33rd) Reggie Bullock (25th) Trey Burke (9th) Marquese Chriss (8th) Spencer Dinwiddie (38th) Luka Doncic (3rd) Dorian Finney-Smith (undrafted) Josh Green (18th) Tim Hardaway Jr. (24th) Maxi Kleber (undrafted) Brandon Knight (8th) Boban Marjanovic (undrafted) Frank Ntilikina (8th) Theo Pinson (undrafted) Dwight Powell (45th) Moses Wright (undrafted)

The Mavericks haven't been this far in the playoffs since winning the NBA title in 2011.

However, they will have to make history in order for the Warriors to not advance to the NBA Finals.

GSW takes a 3-0 series lead, and NBA teams are 146-0 when having a 3-0 advantage in the best-of-seven series.

Thank you for reading us! We have even more content for you.