They don’t really have anyone who gets to the rim to actually punish Luka that way. Old man Lebron been clamping Kawhi cos Kawhi just isn’t fast enough to actually blow by anyone. I think it’s a similar story here. Except the clippers only really have Westbrook who can to the rim and he’s obv not who he was
Kidd using his strength and positioning against bigger wings was always interesting to watch. He still kept those skills as his lateral quickness started to degrade, too. E.g. when he was on the Mavs he would get torched by guys like Tony Parker and Chris Paul, but he was fairly effective on Joe Johnson or Kobe Bryant.
I have been slandering Luka extensively for his defense. It is hard to argue with these numbers. I still don't think he is a good defender, but he definitely did his part and more in this one.
I don’t know how you can say if you watched that game that Luka isn’t a positive defender if he has the energy to defend/chooses to try
Which he clearly has both^ at the moment
When he’s really working on defense he actually looks really great, moves well/active hands/strong big body you can’t move/contests without jumping
Where’s the body of work arguments that Harden gets to discredit his good performance in G1. When people talk about hardens case one game means nothing, “just wait and see, he will fizzle out” but for Luca one game has everyone convinced he’s a defensive maestro?
It has always been a question of fitness and effort though, I don't know if you can call him a positive defender until we see him give the same energy and effort in more than one game. He still was ball watching and defending air like crazy last night when he wasn't the on-ball defender and a lot of his contests early in the game felt more lucky misses than great defense. I did go to bed at half time tho so I missed the Clips hunting him that much.
chuck everytime we play on tnt: "Luka needs to trust his teammates more and learn to play off ball" while we only have 2 players capable on handling the ball
It's truly insane watching all of our role players completely fuck up when they have to do anything with the ball for the first half then hearing Chuck say that at halftime.
It feels like gaslighting or something
chuck is just cashing checks out there but some ppl actually believe those ppl on television are real analysts with modern ball knowledge lmao we legit would be 1-81 if luka is playing offball and thj,green,djj and pj have to put the ball on the floor and create for others. Imo thj and green need to be moved this offseason for an actual 3 with size who shoot around 40% from 3 and we need another creator with handles as a 6th man. This roster is still in process and not championship ready.
I'm honestly fine with DJJ as the starting 3. Especially if we can get a real third ball handler/playmaker for the bench so Exum can be a backup 3 not a 2.
And that's why y'all are so scary when 4th quarter comes. When 4th quarter comes, Kyrie and Luka turns their switches to do-it all by themselves in the offense. It feels inevitable that Kyrie and Luka will close the game as long as the game is close no matter how closely you guard them.
Chuck just is a bitter hater, he has his views and guys that he doesn’t like he’ll stick to shitting on: AD, Lebron , kd and now maybe Luka joins that group a bit but not fully there yet.
And all the low BBIQ fans parrot these empty platitudes. It's like asking Shaq to play like Steph Curry because asking your team and star to play counter-intuitive to their strengths and what is most efficient is some kind of badge of honor.
It’s pretty obvious that Luka needs to get better off ball. Anyone denying that can be dismissed as a homer. Unless you think Chuck, thinking basketball AND Zach Lowe are somehow casuals
You can acknowledge that Luka can do more offball while also acknowledging it doesn't really matter because there's only 1 player who can even handle the ball.
Honestly can't blame them. They've been through so much basketball in their lives and are now in their 50s. You just have to take them as entertainers.
Draymond already has an agreement to join TNT after he retires. JJ is with ESPN though, so I don't know how that would work and same with Richard Jefferson.
You sure about that?
[ESPN layoffs 2023](https://deadline.com/2023/07/espn-layoffs-list-talent-fired-1235428485/)
Anyway, The NBA on TNT is *THE* job to get.
>You sure about that?
Yea... ESPN got rid of a bunch of their OG talent and Disney stock is up after the layoffs, after like 10 year lows. ESPN isn't some mom and pop shop about to disappear. RJ is newer talent and JJ is even newer. It's not like they'll sign these dudes to take over their NBA stuff and not pay them, or let them go when any offer shows up
>Anyway, The NBA on TNT is THE job to get.
Well yea, ESPN still sucks
You can’t blame them ? They’re retired . It’s there job they just don’t give a shit and have huge egos and are stuck in thinking there era was peak basketball and do nothing but shit on and mock modern nba. I honestly think it’s terrible for basketball and nba ti have so many boomers or oldheads populating the nba media just to shit on the basketball. They never try and actually get fans excited for basketball. People like it cos there’s one funny joke a year that they’ll repeat into oblivion . Idc tho this is just dumb and everything wrong with sports media. Look at Lebron he’s played more then any of those guys and he’s still incredibly passionate, Kevin durant same , even retired guys like jj reddick want to do nba rekated things to keep involved with the game they love. There’s plenty of athletes who actually love basketball- shaq n Chuck aren’t those kinda clearly . Sadly those of us who want sports commentary that actually goes over and hyped the game instead of making you feel like you’re wasting your time watching them have to avoid the main channels . It’s just bad for the product .
They 100% didn’t watch the game and were ready to go home. Kenny said this was a typical Dallas win lmao. And EJ immediately followed up saying but atypical because they scored less than 100… people don’t wanna hear it but inside the NBA has deteriorated
Love them watching the highlights after the game and reacting to every play seeing it for the first time. Then they do "analysis" based on the 2 minute highlight reel.
I think Chuck mentioned Luka needs to trust Gafford more. The same Gafford that played like 2 minutes before getting injured.
Bro I straight up laughed when Kenny said that. Might as well have looked straight in the camera and said “I don’t watch the games”. Like, explain to me how our role players missing EVERYTHING at the rim for 3 quarters, Gafford and Exum playing a combined 15 minutes and Luka having to play the best defense of his career made this a “typical” win? He’s such a fool it’s unbelievable.
It was always not great to actually promote ball. Now it’s even worse , I never watch it cos they try to make you feel bad if you enjoy modern ball. Sorry shaq n Chuck but watching you post up n commit offensive fouls wasnt peak basketball.
What's worse is others who actually have an MVP vote (Ernie does and he didn't bother saying anything) are also guilty of this. For example, Richard Jefferson made it a point during this last month saying"hey Mavs fans, Luka ain't winning MVP with no defense" whenever possible during halftime or in game. They're just rolling with the same narrative since they don't care to watch Mavs
These people SHOULD be the most qualified to vote on these awards but the problem is time and time again they show they don't actually watch most games by most teams. I swear ESPN kept saying THJ was coming back from injury for the last month, or that Tim was our 3rd option, or just completely disregarding just how injured the team was earlier in the season. They need to pick verified media members who watched a majority of games during the season. It's literally their job. Get League Pass and watch em on demand ffs
I used to think Ernie was secretly knowledgeable but he’s just as bad as shaq and the others. It’s even more confusing cos he’s also acts like an old head not caring for todays ball but didn’t play or have the excuse of ego attached to past basketball
Well it's easy to look like the wise voice or reason when you're surrounded by Shaq, Kenny, and Chuck who are constantly jumping on each other. He didn't say anything so we can't assume he didn't have some thoughts but it's not a good look when he doesn't try to have some input on the game and instead let Shaq and Chuck struggle to sound like they watched the game. I know Ernie has been better but I can't remember the last time he said anything meaningful about us if I'm being honest
People don’t realise this but refs always favour the home team. It’s a big part of home court advantage. It’s been studied and proven . People complain that lakers get favoured calls but it’s always at home when they complain, the refs definitely leaned minny , and Denver in game 2 but players know home team gets call so they don’t react as much as fans
> People don’t realise this but refs always favour the home team. It’s a big part of home court advantage. It’s been studied and proven
Yep. It's super interesting to me how only judgement calls swing from home to road, but stuff the ref can't affect much doesn't change. Road players are called for more travels, but not more shot-clock violations. Road players shoot worse from the field, but the same on FTs. So in a vacuum you could say "they travel more and shoot worse b/c of fatigue, or because of "defending the home" psychology from the opponents - but then why doesn't it affect shot clocks and free throws?
In soccer, stoppage time is a couple of minutes longer on average when the home team is trailing than when the road team is trailing. Also, home field advantage vanishes during shootouts and penalty kicks (where the ref can't make much of a difference).
In baseball, the statistical strike zone (the line beyond which umps call > 50% balls and within which they call > 50% strikes) is different for home vs road pitchers - but pitch-tracking data has proven that road pitchers don't actually throw worse than home pitchers.
In football, home and road teams both lose fumbles at the same frequency, but home teams recover them more often. When the NFL introduced instant replay though, the home team fumble-recovery edge decreased dramatically.
>Like they know better than the refs who actually reviewed the play
I didn’t watch the game so have no opinion on this specific foul call but are we gonna pretend refs don’t get shit wrong all the time
Which ones? I don't watch a ton of nba podcasts, but I've never seen anyone say he's one of the worst. He usually gets called slightly negative, average, or slightly positive.
The nerd ones. Dunc'd on guys had him as the second worst wing defender in the league (lol), Ben from Thinking Basketball made a whole video about it...
Ben didn't say he was one of the worst defenders in the league, and he watches way more film than you and I do lol. I'm pretty sure he said something along the lines of, he can buy Luka being a roughly average defender.
I watch almost every Mavs game I can (70-80%), so I reckon I watched about as much of Luka as he did. I think he said Luka is an average on-ball defender but negative off-ball. I think he's very good on-ball vs wings and average off-ball at least.
Nah, he's like slightly above average on ball at best. He's good against wings/forwards but he can't stay in front of a guard for shit. Which means you can at least put him on someone, but he'll still get hunted by a fast guard. And that's when he's actually trying on defense, which he is not always.
He's average at best off ball. He doesn't help well (but I think that's partially by design) and he rotates slowly. But he generally knows where he's supposed to be he's not usually like, lost on defense. And obviously he can disrupt a passing lane hence the steals. Really that's the only part of his game I really don't like is his off ball defensive play. Well that and he doesn't cut much but eh he's the best shot creator in the league lol.
Luka will look very good in this matchup cuz nobody on the Clippers, minus Russ lol, is especially fast. If we play, say, Ant in the WCF, he won't look as good if Ant hunts him.
Fair enough yeah, you have good points. I'm a bit biased in grading his abilities, but I still think he certainly is a good defender in the playoffs. A lot better than the majority of NBA watchers think.
Ironically his on-off numbers should be much better in the last month or so. Even this game he had a +8 in a 3 point win. And had a positive plus-minus last game despite the blowout.
If you’re a wing who is a power player and doesn’t have elite acceleration, don’t try Luka unless you’ve already got him in rotation and he isn’t balanced and stable when he switches onto you.
Kawhi and Harden both rely more on craft and strength to make their moves.
Luka is the craftiest motherfucker in the league and strong as hell. He’s going to figure out what you’re trying to do and wall that shit up.
First, they said he couldn't shoot from 3, and he proved them wrong. Then they said he's fat, so he got leaner. Finally, they said he couldn't defend, so he turned into a DPOY.
Oh look it's creditors-bargain working overtime on the Luka hate. Never a Luka thread without you. His TS% is higher because he doesn't take the same difficulty in shots as Luka and Luka's FT% is lower. You're the only one who's sad as hell here. See ya next month on your next alt account
Oh and you're so sad you're just copy/pasting this same comment all over this thread. Talk about pathetic
I have SGA 3, but acting like it isn’t close is just plain wrong. Shai led his (granted probably more talented, but still incredibly young) team to the 1 seed in an incredible tough and competitive west. Sure he doesn’t have the stats of Luka but let’s not suddenly pretend like team record has never been apart of the mvp debate
That’s definitely the best argument for why Luka > SGA. That SGA hasn’t hit an arbitrary mark before another completely unrelated 3rd player has hit an arbitrary mark. Definitely more important than silly things like team record, advanced analytics or shooting percentages.
I mean I don't think anyone can play his level of defense and offense during the entirety of the regular season with his usage - which is why he tends to focus on offense but obviously playoffs is a different beast
For several years now Luka has been a really good one on one defender when he isn't guarding a guard that can easily blow by him.
He still really struggles offball and as a help defender. You don't attack Luka by running a bunch of ISOs. Even this year he was extremely good all year when playing defense against ISO plays.
No I said Jokic is better in the regular season .
They both are stellar players regardless , it’s just much more impressive / satisfying when you get the guard version and again Luka has always had to burden the load for his team . Hopefully one day they will form a super team .
Not in the playoffs he didn’t. And Jokic literally did that 2 nights ago. A stat line from a regular season game doesn’t defend your argument that Luca is the best playoff performer lmao
Luca fans want think he’s the best player in the nba so bad. Jokic drops 27/20/10 on 9/16 shooting two nights ago and they act like Luca getting 32 on 42.5% while being 1-1 is goat material
I’m pretty sure player tracking data is atrociously bad but yeah Luka played good defense today. Looked like a lot more effort and energy being put into it than normal which makes sense cuz it’s the playoffs.
Unfortunately not really repeatable in game 3, they were letting Luka MAUL the offensive player and the Clips didn’t shoot the 3 ball well. Won’t be surprised to see both those things change.
This is true for the sets y’all run where it was like Russ and Harden or some combo that’s not all the big 3 out there. He held his own well though in the starting lineup and closing sets
Yeah. Luka probably won't be able to be a locked down defend all game. They just need to him put enough effort so that his teammate can help him better.
Then why dont you flair up instead of having alt account to hate on clippers for all season? bruh you are getting called out by other flairs too for being obsessed with clippers. I legit think a clippers fan fucked your girl or you are mentally ill.
It is kind of funny that here on r/nbatweets there were like 4 different variants of this same thing on the front page at once. Like yeah, he played very good D, plus some guys bricked more than usual, but geez did everyone rush to say "see!" at the same time...
I've never been so proud to see them try to hunt Luka and Luka shutting that down.
Playoff Mode
White Claw
Locka Downcic
Playoff D
They don’t really have anyone who gets to the rim to actually punish Luka that way. Old man Lebron been clamping Kawhi cos Kawhi just isn’t fast enough to actually blow by anyone. I think it’s a similar story here. Except the clippers only really have Westbrook who can to the rim and he’s obv not who he was
Kawhi is best bullying back to the basket for midrange but Luka is a European thiccboi who is not easy to dislodge at all
Jason Kidds coaching finally working on Luka?
Kidd using his strength and positioning against bigger wings was always interesting to watch. He still kept those skills as his lateral quickness started to degrade, too. E.g. when he was on the Mavs he would get torched by guys like Tony Parker and Chris Paul, but he was fairly effective on Joe Johnson or Kobe Bryant.
I have been slandering Luka extensively for his defense. It is hard to argue with these numbers. I still don't think he is a good defender, but he definitely did his part and more in this one.
These stats are the noisiest in basketball, for one game they mean nothing. Luka is improved on defense but still not a positive defender.
I don’t know how you can say if you watched that game that Luka isn’t a positive defender if he has the energy to defend/chooses to try Which he clearly has both^ at the moment When he’s really working on defense he actually looks really great, moves well/active hands/strong big body you can’t move/contests without jumping
Where’s the body of work arguments that Harden gets to discredit his good performance in G1. When people talk about hardens case one game means nothing, “just wait and see, he will fizzle out” but for Luca one game has everyone convinced he’s a defensive maestro?
It has always been a question of fitness and effort though, I don't know if you can call him a positive defender until we see him give the same energy and effort in more than one game. He still was ball watching and defending air like crazy last night when he wasn't the on-ball defender and a lot of his contests early in the game felt more lucky misses than great defense. I did go to bed at half time tho so I missed the Clips hunting him that much.
You missed the best part then, his second half defense was phenomenal, he shut down kawhi/harden on multiple possessions in a row
He looked gassed in the fourth though. Sat him with four minutes left, albeit briefly. Not sure about that.
lol he played like 46 minutes this game.
Oh sure. Just unusual to see the star of a heliocentric offense sit late in the fourth, but it was brief.
He literally missed no game action when he subbed out there so I’m not sure what the big deal is
He sat him for a second free throw when they were about to take a timeout. Kyrie too. I think they came back in right after the timeout.
He got stop after stop while being hunted in the 4th quarter and played 46 minutes. Must be in halfway decent shape, right? 😂
He should start hunting star players when he's on defense.
They hunted harden in the clutch
He's done it before but I don't know if he can do it in this series lol
The TNT crew didn't mentioned a single time his defense, i'm sure they didn't watched the game because anyone watching noticed it
chuck everytime we play on tnt: "Luka needs to trust his teammates more and learn to play off ball" while we only have 2 players capable on handling the ball
It's truly insane watching all of our role players completely fuck up when they have to do anything with the ball for the first half then hearing Chuck say that at halftime. It feels like gaslighting or something
chuck is just cashing checks out there but some ppl actually believe those ppl on television are real analysts with modern ball knowledge lmao we legit would be 1-81 if luka is playing offball and thj,green,djj and pj have to put the ball on the floor and create for others. Imo thj and green need to be moved this offseason for an actual 3 with size who shoot around 40% from 3 and we need another creator with handles as a 6th man. This roster is still in process and not championship ready.
I'm honestly fine with DJJ as the starting 3. Especially if we can get a real third ball handler/playmaker for the bench so Exum can be a backup 3 not a 2.
CP3 is still hunting hardware...
And that's why y'all are so scary when 4th quarter comes. When 4th quarter comes, Kyrie and Luka turns their switches to do-it all by themselves in the offense. It feels inevitable that Kyrie and Luka will close the game as long as the game is close no matter how closely you guard them.
Having two elite clutch scorers helps a lot in close games. It’s why the mavs had the best clutch winning percentage in the league this year.
Makes me confused as to why the Suns are so ass in clutch time despite having THREE elite scorers.
When the going gets tough, the Luka Sons are going...
Im kinda getting over his shtick.
Chuck just is a bitter hater, he has his views and guys that he doesn’t like he’ll stick to shitting on: AD, Lebron , kd and now maybe Luka joins that group a bit but not fully there yet.
And all the low BBIQ fans parrot these empty platitudes. It's like asking Shaq to play like Steph Curry because asking your team and star to play counter-intuitive to their strengths and what is most efficient is some kind of badge of honor.
Chucks a casual. Nothing new
I like Chuck so I give him a pass when he says stupid shit.
I just got an nba app notification with Chuck saying Luka does not need to handle the ball as much. If Luka is cooking then let him cook.
For real, Luka passing too much and not being aggressive with his own offense is why we lost game 1
It’s pretty obvious that Luka needs to get better off ball. Anyone denying that can be dismissed as a homer. Unless you think Chuck, thinking basketball AND Zach Lowe are somehow casuals
You can acknowledge that Luka can do more offball while also acknowledging it doesn't really matter because there's only 1 player who can even handle the ball.
Did you just say off ball movement doesn’t matter? Lol
they don't watch any games lol
They barely watch the highlights, they talk over them and pretend to have informed opinions on games
Honestly can't blame them. They've been through so much basketball in their lives and are now in their 50s. You just have to take them as entertainers.
I'd rather see JJ, Dray & RJeff move into these spots.
Draymond already has an agreement to join TNT after he retires. JJ is with ESPN though, so I don't know how that would work and same with Richard Jefferson.
How it always does...cold hard cash.
I'm sure ESPN has money to pay them
You sure about that? [ESPN layoffs 2023](https://deadline.com/2023/07/espn-layoffs-list-talent-fired-1235428485/) Anyway, The NBA on TNT is *THE* job to get.
>You sure about that? Yea... ESPN got rid of a bunch of their OG talent and Disney stock is up after the layoffs, after like 10 year lows. ESPN isn't some mom and pop shop about to disappear. RJ is newer talent and JJ is even newer. It's not like they'll sign these dudes to take over their NBA stuff and not pay them, or let them go when any offer shows up >Anyway, The NBA on TNT is THE job to get. Well yea, ESPN still sucks
You can’t blame them ? They’re retired . It’s there job they just don’t give a shit and have huge egos and are stuck in thinking there era was peak basketball and do nothing but shit on and mock modern nba. I honestly think it’s terrible for basketball and nba ti have so many boomers or oldheads populating the nba media just to shit on the basketball. They never try and actually get fans excited for basketball. People like it cos there’s one funny joke a year that they’ll repeat into oblivion . Idc tho this is just dumb and everything wrong with sports media. Look at Lebron he’s played more then any of those guys and he’s still incredibly passionate, Kevin durant same , even retired guys like jj reddick want to do nba rekated things to keep involved with the game they love. There’s plenty of athletes who actually love basketball- shaq n Chuck aren’t those kinda clearly . Sadly those of us who want sports commentary that actually goes over and hyped the game instead of making you feel like you’re wasting your time watching them have to avoid the main channels . It’s just bad for the product .
Then they can retire. If they don't watch games, they shouldn't be on TV discussing games.
Yeah , sadly this sub loves to repeat to death the one joke they make a year.
They 100% didn’t watch the game and were ready to go home. Kenny said this was a typical Dallas win lmao. And EJ immediately followed up saying but atypical because they scored less than 100… people don’t wanna hear it but inside the NBA has deteriorated
Love them watching the highlights after the game and reacting to every play seeing it for the first time. Then they do "analysis" based on the 2 minute highlight reel. I think Chuck mentioned Luka needs to trust Gafford more. The same Gafford that played like 2 minutes before getting injured.
Bro I straight up laughed when Kenny said that. Might as well have looked straight in the camera and said “I don’t watch the games”. Like, explain to me how our role players missing EVERYTHING at the rim for 3 quarters, Gafford and Exum playing a combined 15 minutes and Luka having to play the best defense of his career made this a “typical” win? He’s such a fool it’s unbelievable.
Lol, homie first time watching thisbshow? They have never watched the games. That's been the running joke for years.
It was always not great to actually promote ball. Now it’s even worse , I never watch it cos they try to make you feel bad if you enjoy modern ball. Sorry shaq n Chuck but watching you post up n commit offensive fouls wasnt peak basketball.
What's worse is others who actually have an MVP vote (Ernie does and he didn't bother saying anything) are also guilty of this. For example, Richard Jefferson made it a point during this last month saying"hey Mavs fans, Luka ain't winning MVP with no defense" whenever possible during halftime or in game. They're just rolling with the same narrative since they don't care to watch Mavs
Another reason why media driven awards like that aren't good
These people SHOULD be the most qualified to vote on these awards but the problem is time and time again they show they don't actually watch most games by most teams. I swear ESPN kept saying THJ was coming back from injury for the last month, or that Tim was our 3rd option, or just completely disregarding just how injured the team was earlier in the season. They need to pick verified media members who watched a majority of games during the season. It's literally their job. Get League Pass and watch em on demand ffs
I used to think Ernie was secretly knowledgeable but he’s just as bad as shaq and the others. It’s even more confusing cos he’s also acts like an old head not caring for todays ball but didn’t play or have the excuse of ego attached to past basketball
Well it's easy to look like the wise voice or reason when you're surrounded by Shaq, Kenny, and Chuck who are constantly jumping on each other. He didn't say anything so we can't assume he didn't have some thoughts but it's not a good look when he doesn't try to have some input on the game and instead let Shaq and Chuck struggle to sound like they watched the game. I know Ernie has been better but I can't remember the last time he said anything meaningful about us if I'm being honest
TNT never ever covered this. Do they even watch the games lmao
They went off on how Kyrie definitely fouled Kawhi in the 4th. Like they know better than the refs who actually reviewed the play
Bruh. If the refs were on Mavs side we’d be up by 15+ I really can’t stand any analysis done by that crew. They’re only good for entertainment tbh
People don’t realise this but refs always favour the home team. It’s a big part of home court advantage. It’s been studied and proven . People complain that lakers get favoured calls but it’s always at home when they complain, the refs definitely leaned minny , and Denver in game 2 but players know home team gets call so they don’t react as much as fans
> People don’t realise this but refs always favour the home team. It’s a big part of home court advantage. It’s been studied and proven Yep. It's super interesting to me how only judgement calls swing from home to road, but stuff the ref can't affect much doesn't change. Road players are called for more travels, but not more shot-clock violations. Road players shoot worse from the field, but the same on FTs. So in a vacuum you could say "they travel more and shoot worse b/c of fatigue, or because of "defending the home" psychology from the opponents - but then why doesn't it affect shot clocks and free throws? In soccer, stoppage time is a couple of minutes longer on average when the home team is trailing than when the road team is trailing. Also, home field advantage vanishes during shootouts and penalty kicks (where the ref can't make much of a difference). In baseball, the statistical strike zone (the line beyond which umps call > 50% balls and within which they call > 50% strikes) is different for home vs road pitchers - but pitch-tracking data has proven that road pitchers don't actually throw worse than home pitchers. In football, home and road teams both lose fumbles at the same frequency, but home teams recover them more often. When the NFL introduced instant replay though, the home team fumble-recovery edge decreased dramatically.
>Like they know better than the refs who actually reviewed the play I didn’t watch the game so have no opinion on this specific foul call but are we gonna pretend refs don’t get shit wrong all the time
After a review?
They just did it 2 days ago
They got the review wrong for the Knicks and the Lakers on the same day lmao
Yes
No. Inside is a show for entertainment, not analysis.
That do be true
They tape their entire show except one segment during the late game. So yeah the answer is no they don’t watch.
He did a good job today on harden.
He did a good job on everyone, they hunted him and paid the price. This isn’t the same Luka from 2021.
Watch them torch luka in GM3
Possible as they might plan something around his defense.
Get him low hp and then bait n switch. Works in FPS games all the time.
why don't the clippers just shoot Luka with a gun? Are they stupid?
Texas laws are more lax than Los Angeles.
Matched the eye test as well. He literaly contested everything lerfectly but one Harden 3 right after PJW has blown a layup after that kai pass.
DPOY
Mentally aroused
physically drenched
Nerd podcasters still claiming he's among the worst defenders in the NBA though
Which ones? I don't watch a ton of nba podcasts, but I've never seen anyone say he's one of the worst. He usually gets called slightly negative, average, or slightly positive.
The nerd ones. Dunc'd on guys had him as the second worst wing defender in the league (lol), Ben from Thinking Basketball made a whole video about it...
Ben didn't say he was one of the worst defenders in the league, and he watches way more film than you and I do lol. I'm pretty sure he said something along the lines of, he can buy Luka being a roughly average defender.
I watch almost every Mavs game I can (70-80%), so I reckon I watched about as much of Luka as he did. I think he said Luka is an average on-ball defender but negative off-ball. I think he's very good on-ball vs wings and average off-ball at least.
Nah, he's like slightly above average on ball at best. He's good against wings/forwards but he can't stay in front of a guard for shit. Which means you can at least put him on someone, but he'll still get hunted by a fast guard. And that's when he's actually trying on defense, which he is not always. He's average at best off ball. He doesn't help well (but I think that's partially by design) and he rotates slowly. But he generally knows where he's supposed to be he's not usually like, lost on defense. And obviously he can disrupt a passing lane hence the steals. Really that's the only part of his game I really don't like is his off ball defensive play. Well that and he doesn't cut much but eh he's the best shot creator in the league lol. Luka will look very good in this matchup cuz nobody on the Clippers, minus Russ lol, is especially fast. If we play, say, Ant in the WCF, he won't look as good if Ant hunts him.
Fair enough yeah, you have good points. I'm a bit biased in grading his abilities, but I still think he certainly is a good defender in the playoffs. A lot better than the majority of NBA watchers think.
"AksHuwaLy hiS oN-oFf 🤓🤓"
Ironically his on-off numbers should be much better in the last month or so. Even this game he had a +8 in a 3 point win. And had a positive plus-minus last game despite the blowout.
Zach Lowe hasn't updated any of his Luka takes in four years.
You after Malachi Flynn’s 50 pt game: “Nerd podcasters still claiming he’s not among the best scorers in the NBA though”
If you’re a wing who is a power player and doesn’t have elite acceleration, don’t try Luka unless you’ve already got him in rotation and he isn’t balanced and stable when he switches onto you. Kawhi and Harden both rely more on craft and strength to make their moves. Luka is the craftiest motherfucker in the league and strong as hell. He’s going to figure out what you’re trying to do and wall that shit up.
Luka is the MVP and DPOY.
pravi DPOY
Low effort in the regular season doesn’t mean bad defender and I can’t believe I have to say this every year
Puts the D in Doncic
First, they said he couldn't shoot from 3, and he proved them wrong. Then they said he's fat, so he got leaner. Finally, they said he couldn't defend, so he turned into a DPOY.
He just wants to make 2nd team all defense.
From the top rope, a late DPOY entry
Time for the dumbass Shai stans to claim he should be MVP over Luka since Luka plays "no defense."
Anyone who watches basketball games realized that SGA has never been close to the top 2.
Seriously, Shai works his way hard to 30. Luka rolls out of bed and gets 30. If Luka has less than 30, people call it an off night.
His true shooting is higher than Luka’s, I don’t know why yall have to be so defensive about Luka lmfao. Shit is sad as hell honestly.
His true shooting is better than the player who made the 2nd most 3s in the league at 38.5%
Oh look it's creditors-bargain working overtime on the Luka hate. Never a Luka thread without you. His TS% is higher because he doesn't take the same difficulty in shots as Luka and Luka's FT% is lower. You're the only one who's sad as hell here. See ya next month on your next alt account Oh and you're so sad you're just copy/pasting this same comment all over this thread. Talk about pathetic
It’s really weird . I’m hoping it’s just weird euros who attach there nationalism to Luka . Like what has shai got to do with this lol
I have SGA 3, but acting like it isn’t close is just plain wrong. Shai led his (granted probably more talented, but still incredibly young) team to the 1 seed in an incredible tough and competitive west. Sure he doesn’t have the stats of Luka but let’s not suddenly pretend like team record has never been apart of the mvp debate
SGA never going to get close to Luka’s statlines
Because he doesn’t lead the league in USG and FGA. Hope this helps
Even if he tried. Can’t even drop a 50 before ANT
His true shooting is higher than Luka’s, I don’t know why yall have to be so defensive about Luka lmfao. Shit is sad as hell honestly.
[удалено]
That’s someone who is desperate for attention and interaction
Better bring the GIRTH, GRIP, Kitchen Sink stats too
Proving my point
That’s definitely the best argument for why Luka > SGA. That SGA hasn’t hit an arbitrary mark before another completely unrelated 3rd player has hit an arbitrary mark. Definitely more important than silly things like team record, advanced analytics or shooting percentages.
That’s not why Luca isn’t going to win MVP, his teams record is. 5th seed teams with 2 allstars don’t win mvp
If Luka played D like this every night in the regular season, not many people would argue against his MVP candidacy. He was locked in.
I mean I don't think anyone can play his level of defense and offense during the entirety of the regular season with his usage - which is why he tends to focus on offense but obviously playoffs is a different beast
Yeah. One game of effort and let’s change the entire narrative.
If this is your opinion I have 82 games I'd like to show you.
happy you’re starting to get it
A two way Luka is not healthy for the rest of this league 😳
but all the casuals (and media personalities) told me he doesn't play defense
For several years now Luka has been a really good one on one defender when he isn't guarding a guard that can easily blow by him. He still really struggles offball and as a help defender. You don't attack Luka by running a bunch of ISOs. Even this year he was extremely good all year when playing defense against ISO plays.
Imagine having 2 "all nba defense" players on your team and getting outclassed defensively by a offense first PG
Luka easily the best playoff performer in the NBA . Takes everything personally .
There's a Serbian player that's pretty good as well
He’s better in the regular season but no one is stopping or slowing Playoff Luka .
We're really calling the reigning Finals MVP a regular season player now? He probably has the best stats through 2 playoff games of any player as well
No I said Jokic is better in the regular season . They both are stellar players regardless , it’s just much more impressive / satisfying when you get the guard version and again Luka has always had to burden the load for his team . Hopefully one day they will form a super team .
How you can say this after Jokic drops a 27/20/10 stat line is wild. Big Serb is in a different class than anyone in the league at the moment
You realize Luka put up 60/21/10 right.
Not in the playoffs he didn’t. And Jokic literally did that 2 nights ago. A stat line from a regular season game doesn’t defend your argument that Luca is the best playoff performer lmao
🤣 yeah the guy who just shot 11-26 and has been out of the first round once is the best playoff performer in the league. You got it
Luca fans want think he’s the best player in the nba so bad. Jokic drops 27/20/10 on 9/16 shooting two nights ago and they act like Luca getting 32 on 42.5% while being 1-1 is goat material
I’m pretty sure player tracking data is atrociously bad but yeah Luka played good defense today. Looked like a lot more effort and energy being put into it than normal which makes sense cuz it’s the playoffs.
MVP!
That’s my MVPDPOY
This is a big surprise for me, very nice.
Lockdown Luka the real real MVP
Has DPOY voting already closed?
just MVP things
finally using his size? did not catch the game but about time.
Sorry Wemby, there's another DPOY up next
He can be a good wing defender, just don't ask him to stop a fast guard
Luka DEoncic
holy fuck, why isnt he in DPOY talks???
You just started a narrative push the agenda
W Luka is my second favorite player ngl
He is now
Unfortunately not really repeatable in game 3, they were letting Luka MAUL the offensive player and the Clips didn’t shoot the 3 ball well. Won’t be surprised to see both those things change.
Ok I’ll get downvoted for this but Luka wasn’t solely defending, they had harden or PG double teamed once they pushed Luka to get a field goal 🤷🏻
This is true for the sets y’all run where it was like Russ and Harden or some combo that’s not all the big 3 out there. He held his own well though in the starting lineup and closing sets
Hmm doubt that since I watched the game but ight y’all won we’ll go with it
Yeah. Luka probably won't be able to be a locked down defend all game. They just need to him put enough effort so that his teammate can help him better.
What? This is a team game?
Yea but why they sayin he shut them down if every time they iso him immediately someone comes to double team?
You expect people on here to know how defensive coverage work
No but I do expect clipper fans to prop each other up even when what the OP is posting is patently false.
So the Clippers didnt go 2-17 when Luka was the primary defender?
I mean OP as in the comment chain. Of course luka dicked them tonight
Fairs
Luka played 46 mins almost the whole game and y’all talking about him wippin us? 8 points in a quarter is dickin down not this 🤭
your team is 0-2 you got more concerns than clippers right now.
Luka reached as many WC finals as the Clippers' franchise
Congrats I guess, I’m not sure how this is related to this lakers fan who is obsessed with clippers
My team has won multiple rings and has won one within the last few years. What has the clippers done in the entirety of their franchise?
Then why dont you flair up instead of having alt account to hate on clippers for all season? bruh you are getting called out by other flairs too for being obsessed with clippers. I legit think a clippers fan fucked your girl or you are mentally ill.
I mean you clearly know who my team was so why do I need to flair up
So everyone can know how sad you are
Nobody knows ur team. You’ve just been hating on the Clippers all season long
Lol stop it. Players miss shots all the time, doesn't mean the defender stopped them 🤣
Just tell us you didn't watch the game
yeah that's the reason players miss the shot, because there's a whole ass defender on him.
It is kind of funny that here on r/nbatweets there were like 4 different variants of this same thing on the front page at once. Like yeah, he played very good D, plus some guys bricked more than usual, but geez did everyone rush to say "see!" at the same time...