What ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said about Luka Doncic after Mavericks’ Game 4 win

After fouling out of the Mavericks’ Game 3 loss to the Celtics on Wednesday, many national media pundits were critical of Luka Doncic.

Among the loudest voices was ESPN analyst Brian Windhorst.

What did Windhorst have to say after Doncic’s bounce-back performance in the Mavericks’ 122-84 Game 4 win on Friday?

“Obviously, he played a brilliant game. It was exactly the kind of performance they needed from their leader,” Windhorst said on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “He’s the best player in this series. He was the best player on the floor tonight.”

It was a stark change from Windhorst’s words after Game 3, when he said Doncic’s “defensive performance is unacceptable” and that he is “costing his team because of how he treats the officials.”

Doncic finished Game 4 with 29 points, five rebounds and five assists and had his best defensive outing of the series, picking up three steals. Despite Doncic’s improved defense and demeanor with officials, Windhorst stood by his previous comments.

“What I said, because of the delivery, was something that went viral. But what I said wasn’t controversial,” Windhorst said. “People here in Dallas, if they were being honest, would agree... Nothing that I said is anything that Luka hadn’t heard before, and that’s why it was frustrating because he had heard it before. When the stakes were so big, he allowed it to happen again. So he did put his foot into the ground today and made sure it stopped, but that issue that he had to fight back in Game 3, it will come again in his career. Whether it happens in this series or not, I don’t know. But what you want to see is him to handle it in an appropriate manner that will allow him to be on the winning side in a game like that.

“It is a terrific performance by him, but we’ll never know what would’ve happened if he hadn’t allowed himself to be taken out of the game... Now he is beginning the long trek back to making up for that. It’s going to go beyond tonight and probably even beyond this playoff series.”

Prior to Friday’s game, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd defended his superstar after the criticisms from Windhorst and other media members.

“For whatever reason there have been a lot of personal attacks against him, but he will learn from them and he will come out better for them,” Kidd told reporters during his pregame availability. “I think when you look at today’s athlete, the game of sport is not to be perfect... It’s just, you know, to win. And when you look at what’s come out here in the last day or so, if you’ve watched the Mavs, Luka has improved his defense. But we are asking him, or some are asking him, to be a shutdown defender. Well, he’s never been on an All-Defensive Team, but he’s been on five All-Pro Teams, first team.

“So that means he’s one of the top five players in the world, and he’s playing the game the right way where he can find open guys.”

After the win, the Mavericks will travel to Boston for Game 5 on Monday. Doncic and the Mavericks are chasing NBA history, trying to become the first team to come back from a 3-0 deficit.

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