Luka Dončić, a super prodigy whose sophomore-season averages rivaled Link at his peak, had only one voice in his head at that moment: "Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?"
Dončić had entered a professional basketball club's youth academy system when he was barely in his teens. He understood professional basketball better than most players his age.
Perhaps that was why he had adapted to the NBA faster than the other rookies in his class.
But the playoffs were truly a completely new realm for Dončić.
He had never played in a game this intense. Compared to every other type of game, the playoffs had been elevated by an entire level!
At that moment, Link had already brought the ball upcourt.
Tim Hardaway Jr. nervously spread his arms, his body so tense that it felt as though it had been filled with lead.
Although Hardaway was one of the Mavericks' longest-tenured players, he had only played in the playoffs twice, for a total of fifteen games.
That tiny bit of experience was clearly nowhere near enough to deal with the Grizzlies.
Link slowed as he approached the three-point line, seemingly intending to patiently set up the offense.
Seeing that, Hardaway relaxed as well.
But at the very instant his tightly wound nerves loosened, Link suddenly exploded from stillness into motion. He accelerated, made a quick change of direction, and breezed past Hardaway.
Hardaway's mind went blank. Link's first step was unbelievably fast!
Was he really a thirty-two-year-old player?
And he had only just relaxed, yet Link had actually seized that fleeting opening. He really couldn't be given even the slightest gap!
It was not just Hardaway who had been caught off guard—the Mavericks' entire defense had failed to react.
So when Link drove to the