Paul Pierce tabs Luka Doncic-Kyrie Irving as best offensive duo in NBA history

Irving’s leadership, in particular, is evident and profound. “At 24, 23 years old, you feel like you’re a leader, but you don’t know what it really takes to run an organization, or to really touch guys on and off the court where you give them a lot of confidence and you exude that belief in them,” Irving said, “So I’ve just been learning, reading a lot, failing a lot, and also dealing with the heavy criticism, while also being able to be back on this stage and not take it for granted.” -via New York Times / May 23, 2024

Despite being a smaller team than the Timberwolves, the Mavericks who outscored them 62-to-38 in the paint and outrebounded them by eight. Minnesota has superb defenders, specifically Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels, two players who were just named to All-Defense teams this week. It was principled for the Timberwolves to look over at their opponents and believed their two unquestionably elite stoppers could contain players like Dončić and Kyrie Irving by themselves. “We just had to make sure we brought Rudy away from the basket as much as possible,” Irving said afterward. “We understand that’s the Defensive Player of the Year, that they’ve got (two) guys who are all-defense first team, second team.” -via New York Times / May 23, 2024

Edwards was tasked with guarding Irving, and he did an admirable job. Irving scored just six points on 1-for-9 shooting in the second half. While he may not have been making shots at the rate he was in the first half, his presence was still valuable. Every minute Edwards spent guarding Irving was another minute of soaking his weary legs of all of his athleticism. He turned the ball over three times and made only one shot in the paint. “Y’all can see it, we was a step behind everybody, especially myself,” Edwards said. “Kyrie got a transition layup from when I think we scored, and he just outran me. I was just exhausted. So yeah, for sure … but we’ll be all right.” -via New York Times / May 23, 2024

ClutchPoints: “I don’t see [Luka Doncic] going no further. I think this is it. It’s going to be tough trying to get to the Finals.” Paul Pierce doesn’t see the Mavs beating Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves 🗣 (via @allthesmokeprod) pic.twitter.com/9PY9WB9vbH -via Twitter @ClutchPointsApp / May 21, 2024

Rudy Gobert moved up from No. 74 to No. 71 in the blocks all-time list after passing Paul Pierce, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Amar’e Stoudemire -via HoopsHype / May 20, 2024

NBA great Paul Pierce found himself in the hospital on Friday … after suffering an incredibly gnarly finger injury that resulted in a ton of blood and a few broken bones. -via TMZ.com / May 18, 2024

Ben Golliver: TNT’s Reggie Miller: “When [Luka Doncic] can play w/ restraint towards the officials, no one is going to touch Dallas… I wasn’t as bad as him, but I can relate. You’ve got to build up goodwill w/ these officials. If you motherf— them the whole year, they’re going to remember” -via Twitter @BenGolliver / May 23, 2024

Justin Kubatko: Luka Doncic last night: 33 PTS 6 REB 8 AST He’s the fourth player in NBA history to record at least 15p/5r/5a in each of his first 13 games of a postseason, joining Larry Bird (1986), Magic Johnson (1987), and LeBron James (2018). Read & share: statitudes.com/p/nba-game-not… pic.twitter.com/v8FfuJioAJ -via Twitter @jkubatko / May 23, 2024

Jorge Sierra: Luka Doncic passed Wes Unseld, Bob Lanier and Andrew Toney in playoff scoring last night. He’s No. 174 all-time now. -via Twitter @hoopshype / May 23, 2024