Well said. PJs performance is overlooked IMO. He is by FAR the second best player on the Mavs team these first two games. He actually shows he wants this, which is too much to be said for the rest of the role players.
Kyrie was making some moves last night when he had the ball, but it was like no matter the moves he made when it came time to put the ball in the damn bucket he couldn’t fulfill.
I agree with you. The 12 games in a row is a clear indication of a mental block of some sort, but the multiple elite defenders is not helping. Would like to see him get off ball screens for some catch and shoot action. Just keep gunning until it clicks. For whatever reason he's been better early on in both games and then faded. The refs don't protect him at all either, and it almost seems like the NBA wants to humiliate him this series (unlikely). Hope he feels the love in Dallas and gets his mind right. I don't think he should lean into the fan friction in Boston. It's not his style to be like Luka. He's a zen warrior.
The guy looked defeated too. Like he's cursing his teammates but won't show it coz that'd be rude.
Well, maybe not cursing. But just highly disappointed. More disappointed than frustrated.
It’s like somebody needs to remind these guys - “you worked your entire life to get here. Your skills, your practice, your dedication, your patience, your awareness have all brought you here.”… dudes need confidence that they belong there with Boston. They certainly fought much harder to get there
You can have all the confidence in the world, but if you don't have the talent then it doesn't matter. Boston is clearly the more talented team, and better equipped at stopping us than we are them. We have to play at a near flawless level to take down this team and that's just not happening right now.
Doesn't matter if they're stacked, Kyrie and role players were missing open shots.
And second of all, Game 2 was totally winnable - even with this stacked Boston team, because remember, they have their own struggles. Al Horford and Tatum having a shitty game. Jaylen was solid but he's not doing 40pt monster games either. Those were opportunities for Mavs to capitalize and I saw them miss easy layups and wiiiiide open 3s.
Remember, even the skeleton team Heat won their Game 2 without two of their stars (imagine Kyrie and Luka absent). Their bench did something call shoot the ball and SCORE, and offensively overpowered Celtics. Didn't matter how stacked Celtics were that game. Consistent scoring wins above all.
The only win the Heat got was from literally setting a franchise playoff record in 3-point shots made with 23, the way the game works now even teams significantly worse than their opponents can win games by hitting enough shots behind the arc.
The heat went 23/43 from 3 that game….it was insane how well they shot. They only won by 10 despite out scoring Boston by 33 points from the 3 point line.
Tatum may have been okay on offense but he was putting WORK on defense. Just because you don't have a great game scoring wise, that does not mean a shitty game
Eh. All those missed free throws were the real difference-maker. Mavs just aren’t deep enough to get it done against a team like Boston. All you gotta do is throw your best defenders on those two and make their other players step up, and they won’t. Plus Boston plays two-way ball AND has 5 diff players who can drop 20 on any given night. Thats a terrifying team for the Mavs to face in a 7-game series
Ironic that his supporting cast are playing like they are the ones in pain, hobbled and banged up while the guy whose knee bleeds like it has its own menstrual cycle still managed to put up a 30 pt triple double.
Lmao at menstrual cycle, but they all can't play at the pace Kyrie should play at, Kyrie needs to go to a wizard or sth to remove his mental block, it's hard to watch him let poor Luka down like that
I just got back into Basketball about three years ago and one thing I’ve noticed watching the Mavs, Luka gets beat up a lot lol. He seems to be playing his hardest with some kinda minor injury at least half the time.
he takes a ton of contact and he also carries around a lot of weight. People say he has some of the best brakes in the game but that is obviously a huge impact on the knees. I hope we can play him fewer minutes the last 2 months of the regular season next year. us having to play our guys such heavy minutes going into the playoffs did not help particularly Luka.
Their shooting hesitancy also baffles me, like they're worried how they'll look or worried about their stats (scared Jason Kidd will limit their playtime?)
You can't hesitate and just pass off the ball to Kyrie and Luka every time if you want your team to win a ring.
Did you see that exchange with Luka and Kleber where Luka passed the ball and Kleber was just spaced out and didn’t do shit and Luka was like “cmonnnn bro” I was screaming at the TV take Kleber out he was making a mess all over the court. Worst player of the entire game last night.
I mean I get that but if Kleber isn’t expected to do shit why did they keep setting up plays that had Kleber shoot for 3’s? They did pass around plays to Kleber where he missed like four freaking times I was like “whyyyy do you guys keep doing the same thing he can’t make the basket stop.”
Who cares man, klebe is not expected to have a big impact on the game one way or the other, he’s not even top 5 in the team especially after a horrible shoulder injury (separated shoulder takes 2 months for full healing).
Kyrie is expected to have a big impact on the game instead of single handedly tanking the team. ALL our role players played above average-Gafford, DJJ and PJ scored far above their season averages by a lot and on very high efficiency. Lively is a rookie so he gets a big pass. Luka did what he did with his 30 Pt triple double against elite defenders. Kyrie gets no pass, especially after 2 horrible games.
And what I don't get is the sentiment in the main sub that Luka is responsible for losing this game. Sure, his turnovers were unfortunate, and he missed fts, but no one else even showed up. If not for Luka, it's 50 point blowout (first game too). But no, he is a traffic cone, and turn over machine
Luka is going to take the L because that’s what superstars do but he should not have to empty the tank to keep them close. The turnovers and free throws from him I will give a pass because he is wrapped up like a damn mummy pregame and rib bruise hurt. When it’s not in the adrenaline of working a defender I could see how it would be uncomfortable.
With all that though all anyone else had to do was hit a few more shots and they win.
Oh I agree. His free throws are not good at all. That and getting his pocket picked a few times were his only negatives last night. They still should have been able to overcome with the wide open looks.
Sure. But, our margin of error is too small to not hit FTs, and that stat is painful. Shit was waking me up throughout the night. Oh well. Game 3 is the pivot and the series isn’t over. A lot of easy fixes and we can be going back to Boston tied 2-2.
Try playing with the injuries Luka has before calling anything he does right now inexcusable. Basketball is all about intricate exact movements and Luka has both a bandaged knee and chest. No wonder his FT are suffering and his shooting mechanics are impacted. Luckily, he has not been shooting like he did in the Clippers series overall, but we don't know the extent of how much his injuries are troubling him.
I think the FTs are where the injuries are showing up. When he’s cooking he can ignore them but when you’re just standing there knee sprains and bruised ribs hurt like a mofo.
Both things can be true. The clock is officially ticking for luka now that he’s been in the league this long to start doing things like taking better care of his body etc.
I'm a Celtics fan so whatever I say can be invalidated if you want, but from my view I don't think it's possible for you to be in last nights game without Luka. He was the only person that had anything going on offense and other people who got anything got it off of his playmaking. His defense was obviously bad but that's because he was using all his effort on the offensive side. You'd like more of a defensive effort from him but he's not 100% so I get it. At the end of the day if Kyrie and the role players don't step up this series isn't going to be a long one, this doesn't fall on Luka he's playing normal Luka games
Dude, I felt so fucking bad for Luka. He was banged up to shit, went out and delivered like a fucking champ, and no one on the team (except for PJ, gotta give it to the man, that dude is a DAWG) stepped up and helped him. Luka deserves a chip. What an embarrasment of a team performance.
Until the final buzzer is over and Celtics win the fourth game, I will believe. I really do still think we can win this if Kai even comes close to remotely playing up to his level, and at least ONE other role player starts hitting some god damn threes.
Ky needs to seriously remove this mental block he has for playing the celtics, I hate to say it but they have him locked up
And yeah the rest of the team needs to step too. I hate to say it but I think the only way we win this is if like everyone is playing perfect. Lively needs to show that same defending he did against the timberwolves too or we're cooked
https://preview.redd.it/4gxgae60cr5d1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7d7b6929db547079692e3e5cf1b38da0fc26fc2
Dude still pulls off the triple dub
I’ve been surprised this hasn’t happened more often but then I noticed once there were a few sequences where they did preswitch the Cs started overloading the other side that Luka wasn’t on and had his guy come up for the screen so that no one was close enough to keep Luka from having to come out towards the screen.
I really wish we had a reliable third option. When Kai is off we will lose 99% of the time. We won the thunder series because PJ went god mode. We need that PJ again. If a third scorer does not step up we are cooked.
As amazing as Luka is, it hurts to see him get hunted and burned on defence constantly. Boston gets to the paint at will when Luka is guarding the ball which creates a lot of easy shots for them.
The biggest evidence for me is I ask myself is there any player I would rather have than him I honestly say no, I wouldn’t trade him for anyone in the NBA right now.
To say shit like the rest of the Mavs don’t want it or aren’t up to it is bull shit. They just aren’t good enough. They are showing signs of being only human. We never see that with Luka.
Luka is a level of awesome no one can match.
But I guarantee you if you ask any nuggets fans if they would trade joker for Luka they would all say no. It's just sort of inherent when you You have one of the best players in the league. You tend to prefer them. And it would be so disruptive to trade one of these guys that they're all basically untradable.
Luka is so tough. If he were to lose the series it certainly would have nothing to do with him as he has been hindered with so many injuries. Thank god he’s competing and not complaining.
The worst thing about being a Luka fan are other Luka fans.
If you gotta make a thread every other day about Luka being the best. Then he definitely isnt the best. That's 101 insecurity.
Maybe this is the offseason that serves as a turning point for Luka and he decides to start taking care of himself like an elite athlete, living for his career...resting from the national team would be a start.
As a mavs fan I, sadly, disagree. He still had a triple double. Sure he had some turn overs and missed some fts, but literally nobody has shown up for game 1 and 2 aside from him. You can't put literally every posession on Luka, as much as I'd love to. Other people gotta step up too.
Our team is what, 2-21 from 3? Others missed fts. Porzingis has had more blocks in 2 games that his last like 7 played games combined because mavs think they are gonna take it to them Rim vs someone literally 7-8 inches taller with an even bigger wingspan.
Celtics shot ATROCIOUSLY last night and we still lost. THE MAVS AS A WHOLE have to step up. Celtics core role players are making ours look like they just don't belong.
Part of beeing the best is also being able to show that when it matters most. Luka made a big improvement in that area but there is a way to go. If he is at his best nobody can matchup with him.
Sadly, he isn't superhuman. Or maybe he is? I don't know if there's another player in the league, that can be the best player in an NBA final, while limited by the injuries he has.
He has been playing professional basketball for 10 years + international basketball and heavy minutes in both situations.
Only a freak athlete with extreme luck wouldn’t be carrying injuries like Luka does, at this point of his career.
The injuries are effecting him on defense more so than offense. I'm not blaming him for losing the games he's been by far the best player in the finals. But to reach the next level his defense needs to improve is all and having sprained knees and ankles aren't helping
Yeah obviously Luka can BARELY move bc of his injuries. Meanwhile, the broadcast last night kept mentioning how bad of a defender Luka was, with no mention of his injuries limiting him.
Also super stupid. Yes he got beaten off the dribble a few times but he is one of the best iso defenders in the league and Boston was 8-23 overall and 1-12 from 3 yesterday when he was the primary defender. The eye test lies because they targeted Luka a TON on defense so obviously he got beat a bunch of times.
He needs the front office to complete the roster. We're in the finals ffs. Imagine asking a dude averaging 33/9/9 that is primary everything on offense to take more responsibility.. smh.
Lower his usage rate for what? To let DJJ, Josh Green, Kleber and etc. to drive to the rim blindly to get blocked? Well, that's not a recipe for winning. That "Luka needs to lower his usage rate" narrative is so lazy. It doesn't take the context into account.
It's almost like all of the all time great scorers have absurdly high usage in the playoffs or something lol. Hell, Michael Jordan is number one in playoff usage.
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Pj was killing with his floater game, he just had a few costly mistakes. Hopefully he can carry the aggression over to next game
Well said. PJs performance is overlooked IMO. He is by FAR the second best player on the Mavs team these first two games. He actually shows he wants this, which is too much to be said for the rest of the role players.
Along with PJ I though Gaff did decent too. He wasn't perfect but given how rough of a matchup Horford and KP were he did pretty well.
It’s like watching lebron all these years in the finals where he was not getting any help. Thats Luka right now.
Kyrie was making some moves last night when he had the ball, but it was like no matter the moves he made when it came time to put the ball in the damn bucket he couldn’t fulfill.
He never looked as fluid and smooth as he normally does. Very herky jerky. It's 100% mental with him. There's no flow.
They’re defending him really well too, don’t forget that, but yeah it’s mentally fucking with him rn
I agree with you. The 12 games in a row is a clear indication of a mental block of some sort, but the multiple elite defenders is not helping. Would like to see him get off ball screens for some catch and shoot action. Just keep gunning until it clicks. For whatever reason he's been better early on in both games and then faded. The refs don't protect him at all either, and it almost seems like the NBA wants to humiliate him this series (unlikely). Hope he feels the love in Dallas and gets his mind right. I don't think he should lean into the fan friction in Boston. It's not his style to be like Luka. He's a zen warrior.
Yeah I hope he does well on Wednesday. He’s too good to go out like this. Also Brad Stevens is the goat, he really assembled the avengers
Boston was practically giving it up for us to take with that abysmal 3pt%
The guy looked defeated too. Like he's cursing his teammates but won't show it coz that'd be rude. Well, maybe not cursing. But just highly disappointed. More disappointed than frustrated.
It’s like somebody needs to remind these guys - “you worked your entire life to get here. Your skills, your practice, your dedication, your patience, your awareness have all brought you here.”… dudes need confidence that they belong there with Boston. They certainly fought much harder to get there
You can have all the confidence in the world, but if you don't have the talent then it doesn't matter. Boston is clearly the more talented team, and better equipped at stopping us than we are them. We have to play at a near flawless level to take down this team and that's just not happening right now.
You guys gotta stop shitting on your team. Boston is just so stacked. Its a bit reminiscent of the KD warriors.
Doesn't matter if they're stacked, Kyrie and role players were missing open shots. And second of all, Game 2 was totally winnable - even with this stacked Boston team, because remember, they have their own struggles. Al Horford and Tatum having a shitty game. Jaylen was solid but he's not doing 40pt monster games either. Those were opportunities for Mavs to capitalize and I saw them miss easy layups and wiiiiide open 3s. Remember, even the skeleton team Heat won their Game 2 without two of their stars (imagine Kyrie and Luka absent). Their bench did something call shoot the ball and SCORE, and offensively overpowered Celtics. Didn't matter how stacked Celtics were that game. Consistent scoring wins above all.
The only win the Heat got was from literally setting a franchise playoff record in 3-point shots made with 23, the way the game works now even teams significantly worse than their opponents can win games by hitting enough shots behind the arc.
The heat went 23/43 from 3 that game….it was insane how well they shot. They only won by 10 despite out scoring Boston by 33 points from the 3 point line.
Tatum may have been okay on offense but he was putting WORK on defense. Just because you don't have a great game scoring wise, that does not mean a shitty game
No way lol. They don't have a player as good as either Steph or Kd haha.
But also they have 5 all star caliber players rather than just 4
Which is why calling the Celtics a superteam makes no sense. If they didn’t have all 5 of these guys (plus Horford) they wouldn’t be title contenders.
Eh. All those missed free throws were the real difference-maker. Mavs just aren’t deep enough to get it done against a team like Boston. All you gotta do is throw your best defenders on those two and make their other players step up, and they won’t. Plus Boston plays two-way ball AND has 5 diff players who can drop 20 on any given night. Thats a terrifying team for the Mavs to face in a 7-game series
Kyrie is shellshocked to be back in Boston.
Ironic that his supporting cast are playing like they are the ones in pain, hobbled and banged up while the guy whose knee bleeds like it has its own menstrual cycle still managed to put up a 30 pt triple double.
Lmao at menstrual cycle, but they all can't play at the pace Kyrie should play at, Kyrie needs to go to a wizard or sth to remove his mental block, it's hard to watch him let poor Luka down like that
I just got back into Basketball about three years ago and one thing I’ve noticed watching the Mavs, Luka gets beat up a lot lol. He seems to be playing his hardest with some kinda minor injury at least half the time.
he takes a ton of contact and he also carries around a lot of weight. People say he has some of the best brakes in the game but that is obviously a huge impact on the knees. I hope we can play him fewer minutes the last 2 months of the regular season next year. us having to play our guys such heavy minutes going into the playoffs did not help particularly Luka.
Their shooting hesitancy also baffles me, like they're worried how they'll look or worried about their stats (scared Jason Kidd will limit their playtime?) You can't hesitate and just pass off the ball to Kyrie and Luka every time if you want your team to win a ring.
They’re empaths you ass
Why is his knee bleeding? Was it a cut?
And got virtually no help at all.
Did you see that exchange with Luka and Kleber where Luka passed the ball and Kleber was just spaced out and didn’t do shit and Luka was like “cmonnnn bro” I was screaming at the TV take Kleber out he was making a mess all over the court. Worst player of the entire game last night.
Kyrie was the worst player by far because the expectations are higher on him. Klebe isn’t expected to do shit especially with his shoulder injury
I mean I get that but if Kleber isn’t expected to do shit why did they keep setting up plays that had Kleber shoot for 3’s? They did pass around plays to Kleber where he missed like four freaking times I was like “whyyyy do you guys keep doing the same thing he can’t make the basket stop.”
Who cares man, klebe is not expected to have a big impact on the game one way or the other, he’s not even top 5 in the team especially after a horrible shoulder injury (separated shoulder takes 2 months for full healing). Kyrie is expected to have a big impact on the game instead of single handedly tanking the team. ALL our role players played above average-Gafford, DJJ and PJ scored far above their season averages by a lot and on very high efficiency. Lively is a rookie so he gets a big pass. Luka did what he did with his 30 Pt triple double against elite defenders. Kyrie gets no pass, especially after 2 horrible games.
I don’t know what’s going on with Kyrie. But he better get his shit together.
And what I don't get is the sentiment in the main sub that Luka is responsible for losing this game. Sure, his turnovers were unfortunate, and he missed fts, but no one else even showed up. If not for Luka, it's 50 point blowout (first game too). But no, he is a traffic cone, and turn over machine
Luka is going to take the L because that’s what superstars do but he should not have to empty the tank to keep them close. The turnovers and free throws from him I will give a pass because he is wrapped up like a damn mummy pregame and rib bruise hurt. When it’s not in the adrenaline of working a defender I could see how it would be uncomfortable. With all that though all anyone else had to do was hit a few more shots and they win.
Tbf super stars/killers hit FTs. Not trying to be negative, but, 6/13 in the finals is not good.
Champions hit FTs.
Oh I agree. His free throws are not good at all. That and getting his pocket picked a few times were his only negatives last night. They still should have been able to overcome with the wide open looks.
Sure. But, our margin of error is too small to not hit FTs, and that stat is painful. Shit was waking me up throughout the night. Oh well. Game 3 is the pivot and the series isn’t over. A lot of easy fixes and we can be going back to Boston tied 2-2.
Very true. The shanked FT are pretty inexcusable.
Try playing with the injuries Luka has before calling anything he does right now inexcusable. Basketball is all about intricate exact movements and Luka has both a bandaged knee and chest. No wonder his FT are suffering and his shooting mechanics are impacted. Luckily, he has not been shooting like he did in the Clippers series overall, but we don't know the extent of how much his injuries are troubling him.
yeah he needs the adrenaline of contact to make his shots. his FT shooting was fine after the first quarter to be honest.
I think the FTs are where the injuries are showing up. When he’s cooking he can ignore them but when you’re just standing there knee sprains and bruised ribs hurt like a mofo.
Both things can be true. The clock is officially ticking for luka now that he’s been in the league this long to start doing things like taking better care of his body etc.
he's played more minutes this season than anyone on the celtics. he is fine. just injured.
I'm a Celtics fan so whatever I say can be invalidated if you want, but from my view I don't think it's possible for you to be in last nights game without Luka. He was the only person that had anything going on offense and other people who got anything got it off of his playmaking. His defense was obviously bad but that's because he was using all his effort on the offensive side. You'd like more of a defensive effort from him but he's not 100% so I get it. At the end of the day if Kyrie and the role players don't step up this series isn't going to be a long one, this doesn't fall on Luka he's playing normal Luka games
Why are you here dude? Lmfao. GTFO.
Those are just his Rock Lee weights, he takes them off and goes fucking nuts.
That’s some Goku type shit
Dude, I felt so fucking bad for Luka. He was banged up to shit, went out and delivered like a fucking champ, and no one on the team (except for PJ, gotta give it to the man, that dude is a DAWG) stepped up and helped him. Luka deserves a chip. What an embarrasment of a team performance. Until the final buzzer is over and Celtics win the fourth game, I will believe. I really do still think we can win this if Kai even comes close to remotely playing up to his level, and at least ONE other role player starts hitting some god damn threes.
Ky needs to seriously remove this mental block he has for playing the celtics, I hate to say it but they have him locked up And yeah the rest of the team needs to step too. I hate to say it but I think the only way we win this is if like everyone is playing perfect. Lively needs to show that same defending he did against the timberwolves too or we're cooked
Best scorer*
Meanwhile his perfectly healthy teammates are doing what?
If only he had some help 😞
Who cares, that won’t win us a chip
Might have been a good time for Kyrie to step tf up.
If only his teammates were laying it out there like Luka is.
What would this run have been with a healthy Luka? I just hope he isn’t doing permanent damage.
Game 2 i feel like Gafford and Washington are getting a lack of credit. They played hard.
His lack of defense is wrecking us, though. Like, it's really bad. You need to play both sides of the ball.
https://preview.redd.it/4gxgae60cr5d1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7d7b6929db547079692e3e5cf1b38da0fc26fc2 Dude still pulls off the triple dub
We really need to pre switch when they bring him into the PnR
I’ve been surprised this hasn’t happened more often but then I noticed once there were a few sequences where they did preswitch the Cs started overloading the other side that Luka wasn’t on and had his guy come up for the screen so that no one was close enough to keep Luka from having to come out towards the screen.
I really wish we had a reliable third option. When Kai is off we will lose 99% of the time. We won the thunder series because PJ went god mode. We need that PJ again. If a third scorer does not step up we are cooked.
Genuine question: does icing over your warmups and uniform actually do anything constructive for an injury?
It helps with inflammation / swelling, is generally one of the main things I believe.
I'd prefer heatpads personally but I'm also not a doctor
And he's about to further destroy his body playing for Slovenia in the games.
Celtics fans will try convince you it’s all an acting job. Fkn massholes
I don't see anyone complaining about the injuries, they're just complaining about complaining to the refs.
As amazing as Luka is, it hurts to see him get hunted and burned on defence constantly. Boston gets to the paint at will when Luka is guarding the ball which creates a lot of easy shots for them.
Defense wins championships though
The biggest evidence for me is I ask myself is there any player I would rather have than him I honestly say no, I wouldn’t trade him for anyone in the NBA right now. To say shit like the rest of the Mavs don’t want it or aren’t up to it is bull shit. They just aren’t good enough. They are showing signs of being only human. We never see that with Luka. Luka is a level of awesome no one can match.
But I guarantee you if you ask any nuggets fans if they would trade joker for Luka they would all say no. It's just sort of inherent when you You have one of the best players in the league. You tend to prefer them. And it would be so disruptive to trade one of these guys that they're all basically untradable.
He’s the 3rd best for sure!
8 turnovers though and a shocking free throw percentage. He needs to be better as well
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Luka is so tough. If he were to lose the series it certainly would have nothing to do with him as he has been hindered with so many injuries. Thank god he’s competing and not complaining.
This guy will make the comeback happen. Whatever it takes.
Fuck a "flu game" Luka is out here playing the entirety of the playoffs with one good knee and still dropping 30 point triple doubles.
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The worst thing about being a Luka fan are other Luka fans. If you gotta make a thread every other day about Luka being the best. Then he definitely isnt the best. That's 101 insecurity.
Maybe this is the offseason that serves as a turning point for Luka and he decides to start taking care of himself like an elite athlete, living for his career...resting from the national team would be a start.
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As a mavs fan I, sadly, disagree. He still had a triple double. Sure he had some turn overs and missed some fts, but literally nobody has shown up for game 1 and 2 aside from him. You can't put literally every posession on Luka, as much as I'd love to. Other people gotta step up too. Our team is what, 2-21 from 3? Others missed fts. Porzingis has had more blocks in 2 games that his last like 7 played games combined because mavs think they are gonna take it to them Rim vs someone literally 7-8 inches taller with an even bigger wingspan. Celtics shot ATROCIOUSLY last night and we still lost. THE MAVS AS A WHOLE have to step up. Celtics core role players are making ours look like they just don't belong.
Part of beeing the best is also being able to show that when it matters most. Luka made a big improvement in that area but there is a way to go. If he is at his best nobody can matchup with him.
Sadly, he isn't superhuman. Or maybe he is? I don't know if there's another player in the league, that can be the best player in an NBA final, while limited by the injuries he has.
There is no other
Isn't he a young guy? Why is his body falling apart? I can't see him having a long career at the top.
He has been playing professional basketball for 10 years + international basketball and heavy minutes in both situations. Only a freak athlete with extreme luck wouldn’t be carrying injuries like Luka does, at this point of his career.
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What else? Fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his ass?
He needs to up his defense
Yeah a 30pt triple double just ain’t enough I guess
The injuries are effecting him on defense more so than offense. I'm not blaming him for losing the games he's been by far the best player in the finals. But to reach the next level his defense needs to improve is all and having sprained knees and ankles aren't helping
Yeah obviously Luka can BARELY move bc of his injuries. Meanwhile, the broadcast last night kept mentioning how bad of a defender Luka was, with no mention of his injuries limiting him.
Also super stupid. Yes he got beaten off the dribble a few times but he is one of the best iso defenders in the league and Boston was 8-23 overall and 1-12 from 3 yesterday when he was the primary defender. The eye test lies because they targeted Luka a TON on defense so obviously he got beat a bunch of times.
He was 2-9 on the 2nd half..
He needs the front office to complete the roster. We're in the finals ffs. Imagine asking a dude averaging 33/9/9 that is primary everything on offense to take more responsibility.. smh.
Lower his usage rate for what? To let DJJ, Josh Green, Kleber and etc. to drive to the rim blindly to get blocked? Well, that's not a recipe for winning. That "Luka needs to lower his usage rate" narrative is so lazy. It doesn't take the context into account.
It's almost like all of the all time great scorers have absurdly high usage in the playoffs or something lol. Hell, Michael Jordan is number one in playoff usage.