Tyrese Haliburton's jaw dropped after seeing Luka Doncic's insane cross-court pass -"You are special"
Tyrese Haliburton and Luka Doncic are two of the NBA’s best and most daring playmakers. Doncic, though, maybe on an entirely different level as a no-look passer.
On the Paul George podcast, the Indiana Pacers guard said this about Doncic’s passing:
“He [Doncic] threw that pass against us on the baseline when he was trapped. He jumped and he whipped it. The ball, like, bent. I was behind him.
"He threw it and he turned around and looked at me. I said, ‘Nah, that was special.’ I said, ‘You're special.’ That was crazy.”
: @FIBA)Luka's no-look passes are CRAZY... and so are Giannis' 😅
(🎥: @FIBA) https://t.co/NDkPhMw2xQ
The game Tyrese Haliburton talked about was the Pacers’ game against the Dallas Mavericks on March 27, 2023. Luka Doncic wasn’t even sure he’d be able to play due to an accumulation of technical fouls.
Once “Luka Legend” was cleared to play after the NBA rescinded one of the technical fouls, he put on a dazzling show. One of his mind-blowing plays happened in the third quarter with a little over three minutes left.
Doncic was forced to the sideline by the double-teaming defense of T.J. McConnell and Andrew Nembhard. The Slovenian, who was slowly nudged out of bounds, had to either pass out of the trap or call a timeout.
He did this to the shock of many:
: app.link.nba.com/e/nba_TVWHAT A PASS BY LUKA 😱
Watch live on NBA TV
📺: app.link.nba.com/e/nba_TV https://t.co/v11BEs94pY
Luka Doncic whipped it across one side of the floor to the other while falling out of bounds. He found Jaden Hardy who nailed a triple and stretched Dallas’ lead to 86-69.
The Indiana Pacers home crowd couldn’t help but appreciate what the All-NBA guard just did to their team.
LeBron James, himself an excellent passer who has one of the best visions in basketball, complimented Luka Doncic:
“Man that’s SIMPLY INSANE!!!!”
Man that's SIMPLY INSANE!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 twitter.com/NBA/status/164…
“Luka Legend” finished that game with 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists and one steal.
Mark Cuban is excited to see the revamped Dallas Mavericks led by Luka Doncic next season
After failing to make the playoffs, Mark Cuban retooled the roster around Luka Doncic. They’ve added Seth Curry, Richaun Holmes, Grant Williams and rookie Olivier-Maxence Prosper.
The team, though, is still built on “Luka Legend” even with the re-signing of All-Star guard Kyrie Irving.
Dallas’ team owner had this to say about the Mavs’ upcoming season:
(5:02 mark)
“No one’s happy when you don’t make the playoffs. … We struggled last year with certain guys not knowing their role and playing their role whereas the year before when we went to the conference finals, everybody knew their role.
“Guys will know their role. They know they’re there to complement Luka [Doncic], including Kyrie [Irving]. We’ve built around Luka for that reason."
Doncic has proven that he’s more than just a no-look passer. He has been squarely in MVP conversations over the past few years. It’ll be interesting to see how he leads the revamped Dallas Mavericks next season.
Also read: Mark Cuban confident the Dallas Mavericks' superstar tandem will work - "Kyrie has matured to the point where he knows it’s Luka’s team"