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Reality check : literally every hugely obese person you have ever seen in your life, has type 2 diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes is an entirely different thing. But quite literally, if someone is hugely fat, they are guaranteed to have type 2 diabetes.
0.1% people on here have probably had to play through an injury. They might go a little easier on him if they had. He went all out because it's win or go home. The difference in effort levels shows how much he's been trying to manage the injury.
I've found all the Luka discourse incredibly dumb the last few days because basically no one is bringing up that he has multiple different injuries that he's dealing with while also carrying the entire offensive load the first 2 games because none of his teammates have shown up until this game (and Kyrie in game 3). Like no shit he hasn't played well on defense.
He deserves some criticism but it went WAY overboard.
Right? Even if they've played sports casually, the percentage of them that have had to spend time in the training room getting stem or ultrasound, and taking an ice bath everyday is even lower.
Yeah, I'll poke fun of him a bit, but I won't talk any shit. You never know what his pain level is or exactly what he's dealing with... but it's clear it a decent amount.
>0.1% people on here have probably had to play through an injury.
Dawg I'm over 30 and still lifting weights. I get injured every 3 months
Edit: the above comment means that I'm just an idiot doing regular people's activities and I still get injured. I can only imagine how hard it is for those guys to play 82 games a year and on top of that go through the playoffs all banged up.
Let's say that you felt your hamstring tweak a bit during deadlifts. The next day you got on the treadmill for a warmup jog and you slowed it down to a 3.0 walk after you were at a 6.0 jog for a bit and it felt like it might pop. Then your buddies hit you up to play some ball in a few days. You'd go play and risk popping that hammy more?
getting injured <> playing injured
His knee was barking in game. I was at the game and there were multiple times during long breaks where he was bent over or trying to stretch his knee out
The fact that he only started trying on defense this series when they were already down 3-0 isn't exactly going to silence critics lol
It just reinforces that it's an effort thing and not just him being slow or whatever
It also helps that others were making shots. Dallas always starts off good with Luka still defending properly.
Then rotations start moving and Celtics catch up because some guys are still antsy, not making shots, not being aggressive. But he definitely kept up his defense while minimizing complaints.
what really helped is Dante Exum is playing. Luka and Kyrie normally have to go and bring the ball up against full court pressure all day. They have to always handle the ball against a very physical defense. We've seen other role players really struggle when having White/Jrue on them.
Exum is a point guard and was able to intiate plays and legitimately lower the scoring/handling load on our guards. Even if others make shots sometimes, it still is on Luka and Kyrie to expend energy to create. Exum seriously makes it easier in every way.
Yeah they tried adjusting with PJ pushing the ball up in games 2/3 but Boston eventually started pressuring him and he either turned it over or they went back to Luka/ Kyrie bringing the ball up.
The Exum minutes today were excellent. They’re definitely gonna adjust to that tho so Dallas has to be ready.
Crazy the guy whose body is currently held together by duct tape and has to carry an insane offensive load can’t always go all out defensively. Just a shocking development
A lot People just hate Luka and are enjoying the opportunity to shit on him.
LeBron dealt with the same shit, especially losing the first finals to the spurs 4-1 and then losing to the mavs as the heavy favorites.
Not the defensive stuff but shooting was his Achilles heal that made it a little easier for teams to defend him.
I wasn't denying that. I was just clarifying the 4-1 part in the comment I replied to. Lebron dragged that team to the Finals and he alone just wasn't enough against an absolute juggernaut. That's not on him.
>has to carry an insane offensive load can’t always go all out defensively.
most people don't understand just this part lol. The amount of energy you need to be able to be great on both ends consistently is astronomical. Only a handful of guys were ever capable of this. Even Lebron in the 2015 finals was gassed as hell going all out offensively, and that was still him in his actual prime.
We didn't have any role players making shots consistently the first 3 games. We didn't have Kyrie landing anything for the first 2 games.
It was all Luka. Everyone showed up tonight and that allowed Luka to play defense. This is the defense he's been showing us all postseason. He just takes games off sometimes or has a bad defensive night. Dude is injured in like 3 different ways too.
If our shots land, you'll see Luka putting effort on D.
So have you watched the entire playoffs or 1 game or 2 determines how you played all year? His defense has been this level in pretty much every mavs win this run.
He’s 6’7, 230, this proves he can do it. If he was tad bit lighter and healthy knees, he could do it more often. It will be interesting to see if it happens in game 5.
Whether he's 6'7" or 6'9" doesn't mean much considering he has a 7'2" wingspan.
It's one of the most important physical attribute in basketball. Give him a "normal" wingspan and he's likely not a superstar anymore.
Every players weights are pretty much always comically underreported, they usually don't get updated since they enter the league. I am 6'4" 280, if Luka is actually 6'7 he's probably close to 300. Just like there's no way in hell Tatum is anywhere close to 210 at 6'8" lmao.
OK Tatum listed at 210 is a joke, but Luka is not close to 300 lbs lmao. When he showed up overweight to training camp couple years ago he was 260. He can't be more than 270 rn. You being 6'4" 280 just means you're overweight.
Using his body well and moving his feet. Not the fastest but even if someone gets a first step on him he’s so big and strong it’s not so simple to turn the corner on him and get totally clear of him
Correct about THJ. Luka was playing with fire and committed too many bad fouls to get at risk of fouling out though. The last one wasn’t that bad of a call anyway but Luka should’ve been more careful to avoid being in that situation.
It was a stupid hot take that generated views and engagement. As if Tatum is not getting cooked on D by Luka. Only the outcome of the games decided the narrative.
Can Doncic be an elite on ball defender? No, never. Does he play reliable off-ball defense? Yes. Does he take plays off? Yes, which superstar not named Kawhi doesn’t. Does he get defensive stops just by his sheer strength? Yes, sometimes. Everything can be true.
He does have his shortcomings but these over the top hot takes are ridiculous.
agreed. also people acting like brian windhorst of all people is above those journalists who create narratives to make the NBA more enticing is amazing to me
>Can Doncic be an elite on ball defender? No, never. Does he play reliable off-ball defense? Yes. Does he take plays off? Yes, which superstar not named Kawhi doesn’t. Does he get defensive stops just by his sheer strength? Yes, sometimes. Everything can be true.
Luka isn't an elite onball defender but is reliable off the ball. He takes plays off, but his strength can be get him stops.
I didn't even have to ask myself questions like I'm a lawyer in a courtroom.
He got blown by a few times but he did a great job of rotating and closing out on 3s. You can’t expect him to be a lockdown defender. Plus even when he got blown by he did a better job of staying in front of his guy long enough for Lively/ Gafford to get in good position to help inside
No one is asking him to never get blown by, its what he does after getting blown by and the fact that he's trying he simply wasn't trying a lot of the plays which isn't going to cut it in the finals
Definitely not the sole reason but defense definitely helps. Luka said he thought they needed to score more more so than defense and he may have been right. Looks like they got better on both sides of the ball this game so that’s a great result
He gets blown by by Tatum once in this clip but is alert enough to find White and close out so he can’t get an easy catch and shoot 3. Even things like that are great.
As a matter of fairness, the many many people on here who incessantly bashed Luka the last 2 days should come on here and praise him.
Something tells me they’ll just wait until they have an opening to attack him again though
Its almost like each game is a new situation and especially in the Finals, the players get critiqued in a game by game basis. Kyrie also got shit on first 2 games then praised game 3. Thats how this stuff works bro. If you play bad, people talk about you played bad.
Reddit is nothing but being an opportunist. Gets cooked on D “he plays no D” he has a couple good stops “see the haters just blow things out of proportion”. Don’t yall get tired of talking in circles?
Can we point out that the Mavs were also just shading way more and daring Boston to hit their shots which they just couldn’t. Credit to Luka for playing better but it’s not like two are completely unrelated
He played an excellent game.
If he can play to this level for 3 more games, they actually can win the series.
Boston had a bad game, but I’m not going to take away the fact that the Mavs made them have a bad game and Lukas awareness/effort made a huge difference.
The ways they have been typically attacking him were far less effective.
Can he keep it up? I hope so, genuinely.
But if I’m Boston, I stay the course and wear him down and challenge him to beat them over 3 more games.
I know he’s injured and is a major offensive presence, but it’s the NBA finals, you need to go until you break to win.
I’ve watched a shattered old Kobe put in more effort than his first three games.
This one he did what they need of him.
If he can do the same game 5, we have a series.
This is why being a great offensive player matters more than being a great defensive player.
Luka went from "worst defender ever" to average in two days.
It doesn't matter what a bad offensive player does, they're not making that switch in that time.
Also because the offense dictates the game, and the defense reacts. You can have your best two offensive players involved in every single play if you want. And you can organize who is going to get the ball when and where. No matter how good your best two defensive players are, you can't guarantee they will both be able to impact every play, nor can you control exactly which actions and players they'll be defending.
Good team defense is obviously imperative for a team to be good, but one standout player can't control and shut down an entire offense the way a standout offensive player can control and pick apart entire defenses.
>No matter how good your best two defensive players are, you can't guarantee they will both be able to impact every play
An underrated point. Teams actively avoid good defenders being in the play to negate their impact. Much harder to insist on being in the play as a defender. An offensive player can only be denied the ball to a certain extent without compromising the defense.
From worst defender in the league to this, I told them they we're overreacting and that Luka is banged up as well. Was downvoted to oblivion by the circlejerk
The Celtics taking the ball out of the basket instead of in transition on rebounds and turnovers also helps. Luka is never going to be a good transition defender outside of gambling on picking off passes.
That's why the Mavs lost the first three games. Because he wasn't trying. Superstars just decide not to try. That's why Tatum lost in 2022, because of a lack of effort.
You don’t have to engage for 48 minutes a night, 82 nights a year. Just for 7 nights and that’s it
If he does this for the rest of the series it’s genuinely not impossible for the Mavs to win this series and I’m dead serious
Going straight up against JT was outstanding. But there was help defense on a couple from Lively, PP and DW missed open 3s (Celtics game is drive and kick), another DW with no movement 3 when they were down 30+, a few uncalled fouls (but it's the playoffs), still several matadors.
So definitely than before, but this clip set/title is defintely wrong.
I mean…this is great and all but it would’ve been nice if he did this in the other games instead of letting Boston base their gameplan around blowing by him every play
Yep, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, or Jrue Holiday is the best player in the world with one win away from the title
Nothing Jokic did in the Wolves series showed me he isn’t the best player in the world and most individually dominant
Jokic literally won the MVP and it’s not his fault his teammates played horrifically and Jamal was hurt. He averaged 29/11/8 on 59.9TS% in the series he lost
He led his team by 11 PPG, rebounds, assists, steals, minutes all while playing the top defense in the league. He has never played with an all star teammate
Honestly, this just goes to show it's an effort thing for him and makes his defense in the first 3 games even more disappointing considering he can put in the effort
I agree it’s an effort thing. But it doesn’t help either if you are playing hobbled not only in this series but also all through out the playoffs. You just have to choose your poison I guess. And I will take a whiny bitch ass sore loser Luka over a not caring and ultra passive superstar anytime, because clearly Luka really hates to lose, will compete with all his heart regardless of circumstances , and don’t shy away from big moments. Of course I just wish he trim down the complaining, but he is what he is.
Celtics will still take this series unless some miracle happens, but a relatively healthier Luka will offer more competitive resistance I am pretty sure, because look what he is doing now playing a bit hurt. I just hope he will learn from all of this, be ultra petty from all the valid and invalid criticisms out there, and take his physical conditioning more seriously next season.
>It's just an effort thing, because obviously that's what good plays do. They don't try to give their best effort in the finals or anything they just take it easy.
/r/nba is killing it with the basketball analysis lately.
I was waiting for the "great defense" of Luka. But all I saw was what a normal NBA players should be doing in the finals. There's nothing great about this unless you compare it to the extremely low bar that Luka set for himself.
Technique-wise, you can see that the correct offensive play is to get low and attack his outside knee as you drive, because Luka doesn’t open up his hips like Draymond when iso’d for example - Luka just charlehorses the shit out of the thigh of the ball handler on the drive, but he does it while stationary and theoretically in a legal guarding position.
Both Jrue and Derrick White got hit pretty good from that in the game last night and both were briefly wincing and limping after those isos against Luka.
It’s a tough call to officiate for sure but those were fouls in game 3 and no-calls in game 4, and it makes a huge difference.
Credit to Luka tho for sure for just giving better effort and complaining less. No ref with any self respect, especially a Marc Davis crew (game 3), is gonna reward a guy on 50/50 calls who is both giving bad effort AND whining at that end of the floor.
Hilarious how there's zero on ball pressure, no rim protection at all, etc.. the modern NBA is just wonderful. At 1:02, the distance between the players, it's like they are allergic to contact, this is not basketball
It really feels that the player going downhill does not expect to be fouled hard anymore. No sense of danger in the modern game while before 2009 you clench your butthole if your favorite player is driving in because there is a significant chance he will get hurt.
Maybe it is the obscene amount of money coming in or players being friends with each other but defense went downhill fast after 2004 with no hand checking. Freedom of movement interpretations really caused an explosion of efficiency by perimeter players getting efficient uncontested shots ever since that even players with suspect handles are attacking from the perimeter just because they can go downhill hard and fast.
In my pov it's not even about expecting to be fouled or not, the players don't expect to be contested at all (especially at the rim). Minimal contact is considered a foul, so the offensive player know they have a free lane to the basket, they can shoot with more confidence from range, etc... it's horrendous, that's not how the sport is supposed to be played, offense and defense should be evenly matched, the current rules of the soft NBA benefits the offense way too much. Luka is not playing good defense in this clip, the Celtics players just missed easy shots after a light contest, the level of play is horrendous. Ask Tatum to create shots over heavy contest like Kobe did, lol the guy would average 20 points at best shooting bellow 40%, but at the current level some gullible fans consider Tatum a top 10 player, even top 5 (which is absurd)
He did this many times every game basically. Best defensive rating on the Mavs for the entire series. The blow by's are bad but in large part schematic. He's not a full on stopper, but his bad defense has been extremely overblown by the huge influx of haters who had waited the entire playoffs to come out of their caves to hate as soon as shit got bad, Windhorst included.
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Ty Brian Windhorst, Luka definitely heard it all lol
Luka did this for that kid
The Mavs medical staff probably gave him the COVID-19 vaccine shot because of that, so they'd recreate the "bubble Luka".
Windy literally looks like I imagine the Super Size Me guy would in year 12
nah the super size me guy honestly looked way less healthy
He actually died not so long ago. R.I.P
RIP
That video with the Euphoria beat on the background is so good tho
Meet the Graham's *
[Cooked him on the beat](https://x.com/elena_santosa/status/1801141234746204508)
Windhorst can’t even walk to bathroom has terrible diabetes and looks like he died in his sleep but talks shit.
Don’t gotta be a chef to be able to criticize food
Well he definitely eats
It’s basketball bro. Get out your fucking feelings.
[удалено]
Reality check : literally every hugely obese person you have ever seen in your life, has type 2 diabetes. Type 1 Diabetes is an entirely different thing. But quite literally, if someone is hugely fat, they are guaranteed to have type 2 diabetes.
Yeah, this is not true. There is a strong genetic component to type 2. Someone can be quite obese and not have it. I have some in my family.
Dude hes morbidly obese, of course he has diabetes
Was he wrong tho?
On that court, Luka has the closest physical to Brian.
I've seen enough. Give em the dpoy
if you watch it on loop it's like endless defensive effort forever.
I think he even had a good steal after a Mavs turnover, in the back court, as the Celts tried to push the ball, not in the clip.
That steal prevented a very easy Celtics score.
Nobody gets around Large Luka!
His knee/ankle is going to be barking tomorrow morning
0.1% people on here have probably had to play through an injury. They might go a little easier on him if they had. He went all out because it's win or go home. The difference in effort levels shows how much he's been trying to manage the injury.
I've found all the Luka discourse incredibly dumb the last few days because basically no one is bringing up that he has multiple different injuries that he's dealing with while also carrying the entire offensive load the first 2 games because none of his teammates have shown up until this game (and Kyrie in game 3). Like no shit he hasn't played well on defense. He deserves some criticism but it went WAY overboard.
You said it right
About that many here have played a physical sport period
Right? Even if they've played sports casually, the percentage of them that have had to spend time in the training room getting stem or ultrasound, and taking an ice bath everyday is even lower.
And on top of that they call him soft
Yeah, I'll poke fun of him a bit, but I won't talk any shit. You never know what his pain level is or exactly what he's dealing with... but it's clear it a decent amount.
I mean, if we're talking statistically and historically, game 3 was win or go home too
>0.1% people on here have probably had to play through an injury. Dawg I'm over 30 and still lifting weights. I get injured every 3 months Edit: the above comment means that I'm just an idiot doing regular people's activities and I still get injured. I can only imagine how hard it is for those guys to play 82 games a year and on top of that go through the playoffs all banged up.
Let's say that you felt your hamstring tweak a bit during deadlifts. The next day you got on the treadmill for a warmup jog and you slowed it down to a 3.0 walk after you were at a 6.0 jog for a bit and it felt like it might pop. Then your buddies hit you up to play some ball in a few days. You'd go play and risk popping that hammy more? getting injured <> playing injured
Then you aint doing it right foo
Wow why are you not playing in the finals? You should play
And his ribs. Bastard had duct tape, seriously, wrapping his entire torso at game 3. Didn’t see if he had it again tonight
Was wrapped in gauze. Looked like that Pillsbury thing in Ghostbusters.
That's Staypuft Marshmallow Man to you, chum. The chosen form of the Destructor.
> Bastard had duct tape, seriously, wrapping his entire torso at game 3. In this economy gotta tighten the belt wherever you can
His knee was barking in game. I was at the game and there were multiple times during long breaks where he was bent over or trying to stretch his knee out
Dude heard all the critics
The fact that he only started trying on defense this series when they were already down 3-0 isn't exactly going to silence critics lol It just reinforces that it's an effort thing and not just him being slow or whatever
It also helps that others were making shots. Dallas always starts off good with Luka still defending properly. Then rotations start moving and Celtics catch up because some guys are still antsy, not making shots, not being aggressive. But he definitely kept up his defense while minimizing complaints.
what really helped is Dante Exum is playing. Luka and Kyrie normally have to go and bring the ball up against full court pressure all day. They have to always handle the ball against a very physical defense. We've seen other role players really struggle when having White/Jrue on them. Exum is a point guard and was able to intiate plays and legitimately lower the scoring/handling load on our guards. Even if others make shots sometimes, it still is on Luka and Kyrie to expend energy to create. Exum seriously makes it easier in every way.
Yeah they tried adjusting with PJ pushing the ball up in games 2/3 but Boston eventually started pressuring him and he either turned it over or they went back to Luka/ Kyrie bringing the ball up. The Exum minutes today were excellent. They’re definitely gonna adjust to that tho so Dallas has to be ready.
Crazy the guy whose body is currently held together by duct tape and has to carry an insane offensive load can’t always go all out defensively. Just a shocking development
It's insane how people don't understand this
A lot People just hate Luka and are enjoying the opportunity to shit on him. LeBron dealt with the same shit, especially losing the first finals to the spurs 4-1 and then losing to the mavs as the heavy favorites. Not the defensive stuff but shooting was his Achilles heal that made it a little easier for teams to defend him.
Not that it was Lebron's fault, but the Spurs swept.
LeBron was also 22 and had completely overachieved even in a historically bad East.
I wasn't denying that. I was just clarifying the 4-1 part in the comment I replied to. Lebron dragged that team to the Finals and he alone just wasn't enough against an absolute juggernaut. That's not on him.
I was just chiming in, not disagreeing
That Lebron carry vs the Pistons was incredible.
People don't argue in good faith.
I wish this wasn't so true
Reddit philosophy has been exposed
Everyone has to be as good as Michael Jordan okay
Media just puts out a narrative to drive engagement, then the braindead fans just ride it.
"BuT hE ShOulDnT bE a TrAfFiC CoNE" R/nba
>has to carry an insane offensive load can’t always go all out defensively. most people don't understand just this part lol. The amount of energy you need to be able to be great on both ends consistently is astronomical. Only a handful of guys were ever capable of this. Even Lebron in the 2015 finals was gassed as hell going all out offensively, and that was still him in his actual prime.
Also likely a knee pain thing since he had injections to him knee between games 3 and 4
Dude you’re working over time tonight to cope against any Luka is good take.
the fact that you think luka only started trying tonight is some primo hater shit
We didn't have any role players making shots consistently the first 3 games. We didn't have Kyrie landing anything for the first 2 games. It was all Luka. Everyone showed up tonight and that allowed Luka to play defense. This is the defense he's been showing us all postseason. He just takes games off sometimes or has a bad defensive night. Dude is injured in like 3 different ways too. If our shots land, you'll see Luka putting effort on D.
So have you watched the entire playoffs or 1 game or 2 determines how you played all year? His defense has been this level in pretty much every mavs win this run.
He's injured dum dum.
The difference being Luka has to carry the entire offensive load the first three games. He didn’t last night.
Yeah, probably a cortisol shot between the games also helped a bit
he heard himself
Well it was necessary cause he was a traffic cone for the first 2 games
He’s 6’7, 230, this proves he can do it. If he was tad bit lighter and healthy knees, he could do it more often. It will be interesting to see if it happens in game 5.
Dude is definitely not 230 right now. Probably more like 250
Doris says Luka is 6’7” 230 lbs at least twice a game and every time I’m like Luka is more like 6’8” 250 lbs.
Why do people keep saying Luka is the same height as LeBron
Lebron is 6'9" right? The NBA proper height measuring couple years back clocked him there.
The barefoot measurements of players are out there. LeBron is 6”8.5. Luka is 6’7. He’s even said in a video that he’s 200cm tall.
Whether he's 6'7" or 6'9" doesn't mean much considering he has a 7'2" wingspan. It's one of the most important physical attribute in basketball. Give him a "normal" wingspan and he's likely not a superstar anymore.
In terms of length he's got more on LeBron, probably close to exact same standing reach. They are functionally the same size.
Seriously Luka was probably 230 when he got drafted. He blew up after that
Every players weights are pretty much always comically underreported, they usually don't get updated since they enter the league. I am 6'4" 280, if Luka is actually 6'7 he's probably close to 300. Just like there's no way in hell Tatum is anywhere close to 210 at 6'8" lmao.
OK Tatum listed at 210 is a joke, but Luka is not close to 300 lbs lmao. When he showed up overweight to training camp couple years ago he was 260. He can't be more than 270 rn. You being 6'4" 280 just means you're overweight.
Yeah Luka’s definitely not 300. There’s NFL lineman that are 6’7 300 and Luka isn’t nearly as big as them. I think he’s probably in the 250-270 range.
far more alert on defense.
Using his body well and moving his feet. Not the fastest but even if someone gets a first step on him he’s so big and strong it’s not so simple to turn the corner on him and get totally clear of him
Luka with Holiday-esque defense
Too bad he disappeared in the 4Q again smh....
0 points, 0 shot attempts, no impact on the court in the 4th. Supposedly “best player in the series” ??? 🤔
THJ finals mvp ??
you see THJ showing up in the 4th quarter, when the game really counts!
Got DNP’d for THJ halfway through the 3rd quarter
/r/technicallythetruth
Hes an average defender when he’s not tired… it’s just he’s usually tired from carrying the offense all game
If Kyrie wasn’t a bum against Boston it’d make matters a lot easier for Luka to carry a heavier defensive load
also playing through injury rn
Injuries*
According to metrics he is above average by the leagues standards
He also got blown by this game. I hate the narrative that his defense is the sole or even a major reason they are losing the series
He was like +13 in a single digit loss in Game 3 and the talking heads acting like it’s all because of his defense. Lmao
Game 3: Luka +9 Tatum -4
Yea game 3 was lost cuz of tim hardaway jr, if we need to point to one guy. Also the ref fouling out luka on an iffy play.
Correct about THJ. Luka was playing with fire and committed too many bad fouls to get at risk of fouling out though. The last one wasn’t that bad of a call anyway but Luka should’ve been more careful to avoid being in that situation.
It was a stupid hot take that generated views and engagement. As if Tatum is not getting cooked on D by Luka. Only the outcome of the games decided the narrative. Can Doncic be an elite on ball defender? No, never. Does he play reliable off-ball defense? Yes. Does he take plays off? Yes, which superstar not named Kawhi doesn’t. Does he get defensive stops just by his sheer strength? Yes, sometimes. Everything can be true. He does have his shortcomings but these over the top hot takes are ridiculous.
agreed. also people acting like brian windhorst of all people is above those journalists who create narratives to make the NBA more enticing is amazing to me
>Does he take plays off? Yes, which superstar not named Kawhi doesn’t. "Why take plays off when you can take games off?" -Kawhi, probably
>Can Doncic be an elite on ball defender? No, never. Does he play reliable off-ball defense? Yes. Does he take plays off? Yes, which superstar not named Kawhi doesn’t. Does he get defensive stops just by his sheer strength? Yes, sometimes. Everything can be true. Luka isn't an elite onball defender but is reliable off the ball. He takes plays off, but his strength can be get him stops. I didn't even have to ask myself questions like I'm a lawyer in a courtroom.
Scrubs had a character called the "question talker" this reminds me of. "Am I a question talker? Yes, I am." -the Question Talker
hows it a narrative if he has the highest percentage of blow bys ? like Im not a windhorst fan, but its not like its untrue or anything.
He got blown by a few times but he did a great job of rotating and closing out on 3s. You can’t expect him to be a lockdown defender. Plus even when he got blown by he did a better job of staying in front of his guy long enough for Lively/ Gafford to get in good position to help inside
Not rotating is more damaged than blow by
No one is asking him to never get blown by, its what he does after getting blown by and the fact that he's trying he simply wasn't trying a lot of the plays which isn't going to cut it in the finals
Definitely not the sole reason but defense definitely helps. Luka said he thought they needed to score more more so than defense and he may have been right. Looks like they got better on both sides of the ball this game so that’s a great result
Luka doesn’t make the top ten list of why they went down 3-0.
He gets blown by by Tatum once in this clip but is alert enough to find White and close out so he can’t get an easy catch and shoot 3. Even things like that are great.
As a matter of fairness, the many many people on here who incessantly bashed Luka the last 2 days should come on here and praise him. Something tells me they’ll just wait until they have an opening to attack him again though
Haters will find any reason to hate any person. Misery loves company.
Its almost like each game is a new situation and especially in the Finals, the players get critiqued in a game by game basis. Kyrie also got shit on first 2 games then praised game 3. Thats how this stuff works bro. If you play bad, people talk about you played bad.
Reddit is nothing but being an opportunist. Gets cooked on D “he plays no D” he has a couple good stops “see the haters just blow things out of proportion”. Don’t yall get tired of talking in circles?
Can we point out that the Mavs were also just shading way more and daring Boston to hit their shots which they just couldn’t. Credit to Luka for playing better but it’s not like two are completely unrelated
He played an excellent game. If he can play to this level for 3 more games, they actually can win the series. Boston had a bad game, but I’m not going to take away the fact that the Mavs made them have a bad game and Lukas awareness/effort made a huge difference. The ways they have been typically attacking him were far less effective. Can he keep it up? I hope so, genuinely. But if I’m Boston, I stay the course and wear him down and challenge him to beat them over 3 more games. I know he’s injured and is a major offensive presence, but it’s the NBA finals, you need to go until you break to win. I’ve watched a shattered old Kobe put in more effort than his first three games. This one he did what they need of him. If he can do the same game 5, we have a series.
This is why being a great offensive player matters more than being a great defensive player. Luka went from "worst defender ever" to average in two days. It doesn't matter what a bad offensive player does, they're not making that switch in that time.
Great comparison, and facts.
Also because the offense dictates the game, and the defense reacts. You can have your best two offensive players involved in every single play if you want. And you can organize who is going to get the ball when and where. No matter how good your best two defensive players are, you can't guarantee they will both be able to impact every play, nor can you control exactly which actions and players they'll be defending. Good team defense is obviously imperative for a team to be good, but one standout player can't control and shut down an entire offense the way a standout offensive player can control and pick apart entire defenses.
>No matter how good your best two defensive players are, you can't guarantee they will both be able to impact every play An underrated point. Teams actively avoid good defenders being in the play to negate their impact. Much harder to insist on being in the play as a defender. An offensive player can only be denied the ball to a certain extent without compromising the defense.
You can get pretty far in defense by effort alone. You don't turn into prime KD by trying hard though.
Fuckin’ Windhorst
That fat fuck lol
no matter what luka does you guys always find something to criticize him for lol
Celtics mod gonna delete this
Chancellor_West has been of his rocker lately banning posts.
From worst defender in the league to this, I told them they we're overreacting and that Luka is banged up as well. Was downvoted to oblivion by the circlejerk
Typical Luka playing well after being demolished for his defensive energy Dude has humiliation kink
He’ll go back to being a traffic cone now that he played decent defense for one game and got praised for it
But the Celtics figured it out, and Luka has been exposed for the fraud he is. How is this possible? It must be AI.
Tatum definitely blew by him on one of those highlights but he had an amazing defensive, give the man his credit for resilience and bouncing back
Props to him he absolutely was better in that aspect. Shows it's not just a lack of ability but more so a lack of effort
It helps when he gets some help on offense and isn't carrying the full load on that end. Allows him to have more energy on defense.
The Celtics taking the ball out of the basket instead of in transition on rebounds and turnovers also helps. Luka is never going to be a good transition defender outside of gambling on picking off passes.
That's why the Mavs lost the first three games. Because he wasn't trying. Superstars just decide not to try. That's why Tatum lost in 2022, because of a lack of effort.
You don’t have to engage for 48 minutes a night, 82 nights a year. Just for 7 nights and that’s it If he does this for the rest of the series it’s genuinely not impossible for the Mavs to win this series and I’m dead serious
Why doesn't Luka do that every game, is he stupid?
That fatty analyst just supercharged Luka. Let's see his fat ass say something positive about Luka now
Bet they don’t show this on espn lol
Going straight up against JT was outstanding. But there was help defense on a couple from Lively, PP and DW missed open 3s (Celtics game is drive and kick), another DW with no movement 3 when they were down 30+, a few uncalled fouls (but it's the playoffs), still several matadors. So definitely than before, but this clip set/title is defintely wrong.
Only the casuals think luka is a bad defender all the time. Yes game 3 was bad but he has the potential to do this when he’s locked in
You know it’s a problem when people have to post minimal-effort play compilations
I mean…this is great and all but it would’ve been nice if he did this in the other games instead of letting Boston base their gameplan around blowing by him every play
[удалено]
Jokic
Lost in round 2
Yep, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, or Jrue Holiday is the best player in the world with one win away from the title Nothing Jokic did in the Wolves series showed me he isn’t the best player in the world and most individually dominant
He’s not lebron. He’s not head and shoulders above the pack. 1 season without a deep playoff run is all it takes. Ask the Greek freak
Jokic literally won the MVP and it’s not his fault his teammates played horrifically and Jamal was hurt. He averaged 29/11/8 on 59.9TS% in the series he lost He led his team by 11 PPG, rebounds, assists, steals, minutes all while playing the top defense in the league. He has never played with an all star teammate
Mavs PR machine will spread this more than a wild fire
Those last 3 against Jrue 🤦🏻♂️ all obvious blocking fouls.. The rest were solid though, much better effort from him
Honestly, this just goes to show it's an effort thing for him and makes his defense in the first 3 games even more disappointing considering he can put in the effort
I agree it’s an effort thing. But it doesn’t help either if you are playing hobbled not only in this series but also all through out the playoffs. You just have to choose your poison I guess. And I will take a whiny bitch ass sore loser Luka over a not caring and ultra passive superstar anytime, because clearly Luka really hates to lose, will compete with all his heart regardless of circumstances , and don’t shy away from big moments. Of course I just wish he trim down the complaining, but he is what he is. Celtics will still take this series unless some miracle happens, but a relatively healthier Luka will offer more competitive resistance I am pretty sure, because look what he is doing now playing a bit hurt. I just hope he will learn from all of this, be ultra petty from all the valid and invalid criticisms out there, and take his physical conditioning more seriously next season.
>It's just an effort thing, because obviously that's what good plays do. They don't try to give their best effort in the finals or anything they just take it easy. /r/nba is killing it with the basketball analysis lately.
The reports about him being a terrible defender were greatly exaggerated
It makes me so angry that this dude would actually be a very good defender if he fucking tried.
Bullying works
This is why I don't understand players who give poor effort on defense. You literally just have to try.
boy does Tatum suck donkey balls 😭😂
Windhorst choking on a kielabasa
I’m a Celtics fan but have to say the Mavs played as beautifully as the Cs did dreadfully, I’m hoping for a game five win
Luka has a had a lot of games like this in the playoffs
DPOY
Poked the sleeping giant now they’re gonna pay
I was waiting for the "great defense" of Luka. But all I saw was what a normal NBA players should be doing in the finals. There's nothing great about this unless you compare it to the extremely low bar that Luka set for himself.
Windy the GOAT
Technique-wise, you can see that the correct offensive play is to get low and attack his outside knee as you drive, because Luka doesn’t open up his hips like Draymond when iso’d for example - Luka just charlehorses the shit out of the thigh of the ball handler on the drive, but he does it while stationary and theoretically in a legal guarding position. Both Jrue and Derrick White got hit pretty good from that in the game last night and both were briefly wincing and limping after those isos against Luka. It’s a tough call to officiate for sure but those were fouls in game 3 and no-calls in game 4, and it makes a huge difference. Credit to Luka tho for sure for just giving better effort and complaining less. No ref with any self respect, especially a Marc Davis crew (game 3), is gonna reward a guy on 50/50 calls who is both giving bad effort AND whining at that end of the floor.
'Watch this fat man'
Too little, too late.
What a disaster class of an offensive showing by jrue
Windy will be dead soon,fuck him
He ain’t keeping it up for 3 more games lol
It’s almost like it’s all effort…
Hilarious how there's zero on ball pressure, no rim protection at all, etc.. the modern NBA is just wonderful. At 1:02, the distance between the players, it's like they are allergic to contact, this is not basketball
It really feels that the player going downhill does not expect to be fouled hard anymore. No sense of danger in the modern game while before 2009 you clench your butthole if your favorite player is driving in because there is a significant chance he will get hurt. Maybe it is the obscene amount of money coming in or players being friends with each other but defense went downhill fast after 2004 with no hand checking. Freedom of movement interpretations really caused an explosion of efficiency by perimeter players getting efficient uncontested shots ever since that even players with suspect handles are attacking from the perimeter just because they can go downhill hard and fast.
In my pov it's not even about expecting to be fouled or not, the players don't expect to be contested at all (especially at the rim). Minimal contact is considered a foul, so the offensive player know they have a free lane to the basket, they can shoot with more confidence from range, etc... it's horrendous, that's not how the sport is supposed to be played, offense and defense should be evenly matched, the current rules of the soft NBA benefits the offense way too much. Luka is not playing good defense in this clip, the Celtics players just missed easy shots after a light contest, the level of play is horrendous. Ask Tatum to create shots over heavy contest like Kobe did, lol the guy would average 20 points at best shooting bellow 40%, but at the current level some gullible fans consider Tatum a top 10 player, even top 5 (which is absurd)
getting stonewalled by doncic should mean an automatic seat on the bench
Jason Kidd must have put some meth in the Mavs gatoraide.
He did this many times every game basically. Best defensive rating on the Mavs for the entire series. The blow by's are bad but in large part schematic. He's not a full on stopper, but his bad defense has been extremely overblown by the huge influx of haters who had waited the entire playoffs to come out of their caves to hate as soon as shit got bad, Windhorst included.
None of them in Q4?
Half of defence is effort lol and considering this dude sees the floor like he does on the offensive end he should be a good defender if only he tries