It's time to stop taking Luka Doncic's greatness for granted
By Evan Kelly
People are still taking Luka Doncic's greatness for granted.
The day after Doncic's career night, on ESPN's NBA Countdown, Stephen A. Smith declared that the "Hawks should be ashamed!" for their "disgraceful" defense. Kendrick Perkins also stated on NBA Today that he was "disturbed" by the high-scoring totals in the NBA this season. On SportCenter, Brian Windhorst said that "the league is out of whack and I do expect there to be changes in the rules into next season" that help level the playing field for defenses.
For comparison, the coverage was very different when the Sixers Joel Embiid also poured in 70 points just a few days earlier. On the very same program, NBA Today, Zach Lowe declared that "Joel Embiid broke my mind" with his performance.
On the Ringers NBA podcast, the MisMatch, host Chris Vernon said in regards to Embiid, " He had everything going tonight and that was a blast to watch." After the Doncic performance, Vernon had this to say on the Hawks defense, "have some pride, you're a professional, no body should be able to score 70 on you."
While obviously these are small snapshots of a long conversation, and Vernon went more into depth on both players' performances, it is just another example of the extended NBA community not appreciating Luka to the extent that he deserves.