Luka Doncic is off to a scorching start this season.
Through 16 games, the Mavericks star is leading the league with 34.0 points while making over half of his shot attempts. He continues to flirt with a triple-double on a nightly basis with averages of 9.0 rebounds and 8.1 assists. He's even among the league leaders in steals for the first time in his career.
The Mavericks have dropped some games they wish they could have back, but it's going to be hard to not give Doncic the MVP award if he continues to play at this level.
Next up to try and cool Doncic off is a Raptors team that knows a thing or two about how to defend stars.
Does Toronto have any chance of slowing him down? Let's take a closer look.
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How has Luka Doncic played against the Raptors in his career?
Pretty dang well.
Doncic has played the Raptors eight times to this point of his career. His averages in those contests? A cool 27.6 points, 10.0 rebounds and 8.3 assists on .490/.316/.836 shooting splits.
Doncic lost his first two matchups against the Raptors. Since then, he's 5-1.
Can anyone stop Luka Doncic anymore?
Not really.
Doncic is pretty much matchup-proof at this point. Put someone small on him, and he'll overwhelm them in the post, where he's leading the NBA in scoring so far this season. Put someone big on him, and he'll dance with them on the perimeter before launching a step back 3 or driving to the basket, where he's finishing everything.
The problem is doubling Doncic opens up a whole world of hurt. He's arguably the best passer in the NBA right now and regularly does stuff that makes you think he has eyes in the back of his head.
I mean, who else would even think about doing this?
With Doncic on the court this season, the Mavericks are scoring at a rate of 117.0 points per 100 possessions. That would rank second in the NBA in offensive efficiency behind only the Celtics. It's not like he's surrounded by a bunch of nobodies, but Doncic is posting one of the highest usage rates we've ever seen.
So not only is he putting up incredible individual numbers, but he's driving a historically good offense.
Why Raptors are NBA's best team for slowing down Luka Doncic
No team might be able to stop Doncic anymore, but Toronto has a better shot at slowing him down than most.
For one, the Raptors have one of the most creative head coaches in the NBA in Nick Nurse, who has shown in the past that he's not afraid to throw anything at the wall to see what sticks. He'll double, switch, zone-up or do "janky" things like play a box-and-one to limit a specific player.
Nurse threw a whole bunch of stuff at Doncic in the first matchup between Toronto and Dallas this season. It didn't stop him from posting 35 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but that speaks more to how good Doncic is than anything else.
Luka Doncic faced at least 11(!) different coverages against the Toronto Raptors Friday night. It didn't matter -- Luka dissected all of them.
— Eric Shapiro (@eric_shap) November 6, 2022
Watch how he did it: pic.twitter.com/W8EkmpBveK
Two, the Raptors have a lot of size on their roster. Almost everyone not named Fred VanVleet, Malachi Flynn and Gary Trent Jr. is 6-foot-8 with a massive wingspan. That helps when it comes to limiting Doncic's easy looks.
Three, the Raptors don't have many weak defenders Doncic can pick on.
The last point is key. Few players are as relentless as Doncic is when it comes to exploiting mismatches. He'll run as many pick-and-rolls as it takes to force a switch, then clear the floor to attack one-on-one.
You know how I mentioned that Doncic is leading the league in post scoring so far this season? He's also scored more points than anyone in isolation. (It's not particularly close either.) Letting him go to work on an island is a dangerous game, but again, he'll find the open man more times than not if teams show him extra bodies.
Ultimately, there's no right way to defend Doncic anymore. Take away his scoring, and he'll feast as a passer. Take away his passing, and he'll run up the scoreboard himself. Don't commit to either, and he'll post numbers we haven't seen in decades.
All you can really hope to do is make him work. The Raptors are built well to do just that.
