By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Patrick Beverley predicts that Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks will beat the Phoenix Suns in Game 7 (Saturday 14/5) of the Western Conference semifinals and advance to the next round.
“I just faced him last year. The boy [Doncic] was cooking me,” Beverley said on ESPN’s NBA Today. “Gotta go with Luka. He’s played in a Game 7. Besides CP [Chris Paul], I don’t think anyone on the roster has played in a Game 7. Besides Javale McGee, obviously. No one for sure on the starting lineup. I have to go with Luka. He’s been playing well. And you know, Dallas has been on a roll.”
Beverley is one of the toughest defenders in the NBA and admitting that Doncic was “cooking” him is quite the compliment. And the Minnesota Timberwolves veteran guard isn’t lying about Doncic’s performances vs. the Los Angeles Clippers last season, since the Slovenian star averaged 35.7 points, 10.3 assists plus 7.9 rebounds in the 2021 first-round series.
After two playoff runs that ended in the first round, Doncic and the Mavericks made the semifinals of the West this season and are one win away from their first return to the Conference Finals since Dallas’ championship run of 2011.