Getty Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. Antetokounmpo recently took a playful jab at Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic.
Luka Doncic has quickly risen to NBA stardom in his five seasons with the Dallas Mavericks. His name is consistently mentioned in the MVP conversation with other players like Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Antetokounmpo, who is notorious for being an extremely-nice guy, made a recent appearance on The Daily Show. Host Hasan Minhaj made a serious effort the get the Greek Freak to switch up his persona and roast some of his fellow NBA stars. Minhaj prepared scripted roasts for Antetokounmpo to read on a teleprompter, during his appearance.
Amongst those in the line of fire was Doncic, whose roast was the first that Giannis was tasked with reading.
“Listen Luka, Even though you’re riding with Kyrie and he’s on your team, I’m coming for you guys,” he started.
Once the 2021 Finals MVP got to the part where he was actually supposed to roast Doncic, he told Minhaj that he couldn’t do it.
The host then read the trash talk himself, “What’s up Luka? Even though you’re running with Kyrie, the scouting report is out on you. You’ve got sausage arms and kankles,” Minhaj joked. “My man, for a dude from Slovenia, you sure look like a dude for Alabama, and you’re gonna get this work in the postseason.”
Lakers’ Jarred Vanderbilt Knew Mavs’ Luka Doncic Would ‘Get Tired’
While Antetokounmpo’s roast of Doncic was scripted and lighthearted, the Slovenian star kind of caught some strays after his team’s 27-point collapse against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Lakers wing Jarred Vanderbilt was one of the keys in L.A.’s comeback against Dallas. Vanderbilt showed out against the Mavs, scoring 15 points and securing 17 rebounds.
Despite filling the stat sheet, his most important contribution wasn’t recorded in the traditional box score. He was tasked with guarding Doncic and did a solid job/ According to the NBA’s matchup statistics, he was on Luka for 5:49 of the game, held him to 0-5 shooting, and forced him to commit three turnovers.
After his team completed the comeback, Vanderbilt answered questions from the press. He was asked about his plan when defending Doncic, at which point, he explained that he knew the Mavs star would get tired.
“My mindset was just to make him uncomfortable. He’s a hell of a player when he’s comfortable and he can get into his rhythm and get into his zone,” Vanderbilt told reporters. “So, I was trying to disrupt that. Just picking him up, 94 (feet), just making him work. I knew throughout the course of the game he was going to get tired and get fatigued. Just bringing the ball up and down the whole court and then try and make a move after I already cut eight seconds off the clock. I knew he was going to get tired. My thing was to just get up in him and force him to drive, just be physical with him and make him uncomfortable. I think in the second half we did a good job of that without fouling.”
Jason Kidd Calls Mavericks Immature After Lakers Collapse
Needless to say, the blown lead left Mavs head coach Jason Kidd less than satisfied with his squad.
He took to opportunity to rip his players’ maturity when speaking to reporters.
“I’m not the savior here. I’m not playing. I’m watching, just like you guys,” he told the media. “As a team, we’ve got to mature. We’ve got a lot of new bodies coming back and we have to grow up if we want to win a championship. There’s no young team that’s ever won a championship, mentally or physically… For two and a half quarters we’re playing a high level on both ends, offensively and defensively. But, what the Lakers just showed us is that it’s not a race, it’s not the rabbit that wins, it’s the turtle. They worked the game. That’s what we have to get to, we have to get better at working the game, and we will.”
Mavs Jason Kidd: “I’m not the savior here. I’m not playing. I’m watching, just like you guys. As a team, we’ve got to mature.” – when asked why he didn’t call timeouts during Lakers runs, especially at end of second quarter #MFFL
(🎥: @dallasmavs)