Warriors hold Luka Doncic to NBA playoff career-worst performance in Game 1

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Dončić came into the Western Conference finals playing some of the best basketball of his NBA career, and the Warriors were concerned about how they would slow him down.

In the Warriors’ 112-87 win over the Mavericks in Game 1 on Wednesday night at Chase Center, their swarming defense locked up the MVP candidate.

Dončić, who came into Game 1 averaging 31.5 points this postseason, was held to just 20 points on 6-of-18 shooting from the field and 3-of-10 from 3-point range. He had seven rebounds, four assists and was a team-worst minus-30 in 35 minutes.

While Dončić made 33 percent of his shots overall in the Mavericks’ 25-point loss, on contested shots, the Warriors held him to the lowest percentage of his playoff career (24 games).

The Warriors forced Dončić into a game-high seven turnovers, which marks the first time in those 24 playoff games that he has had more turnovers than made field goals.

Dončić had a historically bad game by his standards. The 20 points was the third lowest of his playoff career behind a 19-point effort against the LA Clippers in 2021 and a 13-point game against the Clippers in 2020. But the Warriors know the 23-year-old and the Mavericks will make adjustments moving forward.

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Like any star NBA player coming off a bad game, Dončić will want to atone for himself in Game 2 on Friday night. But if the Warriors can duplicate this effort in Game 2, they’ll take a two-games-to-none series lead to Dallas.