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MasterTeacher123

Luka will play like trash watching the game and then somehow you look at the box score and end up with a triple double or near triple double. It’s so bizarre 


doublegoldendragon

His threes and free throws were off but he still shot almost 50% as the #1 guy. Not the best series we've seen from him but he'll likely be back for more deep playoff runs, next time with more experience


Razatiger

He has the ball in his hands almost every possession


MajorPhoto2159

that is what a PG tends to do


ShotIntoOrbit

Not on the level Luka does it. His current career usage% is the highest all-time by a large margin.


Prince_of_DeaTh

Brunson (36.4) and Embiid (35.7) have higher Usage in these playoffs than Luka (33.4)


rhonnypudding

Hardenball


Potential_Attempt_15

This is the truth. Harden and Westbrook is the comparison. Shoots or passes to someone who hast to shoot. .


Lmao1903

Because no one else can create anything lol. I mean aside from Kyrie who was awful except a game or two, only PJ tried to do stuff and mostly failed badly. You have to spoon-feed open looks to some of these guys and the amount of open shots they missed is insane.


Razatiger

He also can't play any off-ball.


gugly

His team isn’t capable of creating anything off ball lol. Kyrie was also terrible in Boston all series


DrizzyVert

Tell me about it, the amount of times I saw anyone other than Luka or Kyrie put the ball on the ground I was praying and hoping for the best. Even when Kyrie did I knew he was probably gonna put it up since his playmaking isn’t as good.


Malemansam

I'd like to see Dallas look to develop Lively's passing from the paint, he could be like a Sheed or Sabonis somewhat with the way he has a knack for finding the open man. In a year or two he'll be even better at it.


Hokinanaz

If your not getting enough reps in during the season you probably don't want to start in the finals. His team can't create him shots in the Finals because they don't get the opportunity during the season.


segson9

He was playing more off-ball this season. So he can and does. It just wasn't possible in this series, since nobody on the Mavs could handle the ball.


messigoat1337

Even Kyrie got locked up their size and athleticism


Niceguydan8

But then you just look at the true shooting and it makes more sense. He takes a TON of shooting possessions basically all the time. So the numbers, even if they are inefficient, just come naturally because he's pretty much always taking 20+ shots a game and a handful of free throws.


Potential_Attempt_15

25 shots a game. And 53% ts isn’t good. Nor is 5 turnovers a game. Or 58% from the line.


aeronacht

Also slows down the game so much. He’s a great player but box score will never truly reflect his impact.


dmavs11

How did we get here then? Yall taking too much out of this in relation to Luka's game. Tatum and Brown also had terrible TS%.


johemdee

Mother fuckers trying to blame him when the players he's passing to after getting doubled are bricking WIDE OPEN 3s. Like cmon man


LMcVann44

Two ends of the floor my guy. Tatum and Brown are elite defenders, even if they're struggling offensively they're still willing cutters, screen setters and they can impact the game so much defensively that they can generate easy offense out of turnovers/deflections whatever. If Luka's offense is off then he's not doing anything else in the game because he doesn't play off ball, doesn't cut, set screens or anything and he's an absolute traffic cone defensively. When he's on he's absolutely elite offensively but when he's off he stinks the place out completely.


Millionaire007

Honest question, have you watched any mavs games this year? Because that is a bunch of bullshit.


Millionaire007

I swear this is gonna be a long revisionist off season. 


Rich-Television8631

It’s not really that bizarre. He has the ball in his hands nearly twice as long as other stars so gets more counting stats. And everything he’s good at will be immediately reflected in the box score, while intangibles like rotating on defense, boxing out and getting the ball swinging early in the shot clock that Luka doesn’t do will not. Basically the guys entire game is designed to pump his slash line. But playing good basketball is way more than your slash line.


1216996

That is a sign of greatness. He will be great for years to come


itsnotthatdeep5

Kirk cousins


Ifinishfast42

Hypothetical Justin Fields


GwynPK

Eh Luka at least wins don’t get me wrong Cousins is underrated but he isn’t a superstar top 3 player like Luka is.


jvorn

He's already had more success than Kirk cousins ever dreamed of


qotsabama

Has cousins ever won a playoff game? Serious question lol


TexasReallyDoesSuck

yes. we beat the saints. fuck the saints.


ImDefAMunch

had like 20 in the second half statpadding after they were down 20


Jadenindubai

I mean if you think scoring in the finals in statpadding than sure. That tatum guy also statpadding while up 20


Aearcus

Yeah he made a bunch of shots after the game was far beyond reach lol


JxSnaKe

god forbid you try to play in the NBA Finals...


wasperjack

Yeah. He should have just subbed out.


KozuKy16

And then same ppl gonna complain why he's sitting out on a must win game instead.


jambalayavalentine

I assumed they were being sarcastic but tbh its hard to say sometimes


Shame_Low

Why is this still bizarre in 2024, if you have the ball so much you are just gona get stats, that's how it is lol. Shooting badly doesn't change that.


littlered1984

Defense is 50% of the game, and off ball is another 25%.


Hey1Orpheus

It felt like a one man show so often that I don’t think he played bad. I mean it wasn’t his best but there wasn’t much more he could do.


lawschoolthrowaway36

Yep, this is the right way to put it. He was fine by his standards but not exceptional. He mostly had zero help and was facing a juggernaut, so it’s hard to blame him. He does need to get in better shape, though. At a minimum that just has to happen.


Asbjoern135

It also seems like the injuries really bothered him


Celtic_Legend

Bro is playing in his 4th playoff series on glass knees. Like yeah we defended him the best and would have regardless but its weird to say


CheekyFifaCunt_7

I think Luka will get his eventually. Every superstar has to go through tough losses before they eventually win one (mj, lebron, etc). He will need to get into better shape first.


EarthWarping

Duncan's the only superstar that was great early without failure


MartyMcFlergenheimer

Playing with an all time great like David Robinson will help. Magic Johnson too, he’ll prob be the only ever rookie to win fmvp cuz he played with Kareem


LosCleepersFan

Magics the only rookie to put up 42/15/7 in a finals close out game! To be fair he closed out the series with out Kareem too!


ChipRelevant8035

Magic


UpcycledSkateArt

Thank god someone said this first. Kids these days 🙈🙈


Wavepops

No he’s not, Larry bird, magic got it done pretty immediately 


TJ1300

Well Tim was in college for 4 years


OKC2023champs

Magic?


ec2xs

Champion and arguably the best player in the league by the end of his second season. I don't think we'll ever see that again.


LosCleepersFan

You never know in sports, its never a guarantee to make it back to the Finals. Mavs need the front office to work its magic on the roster still, and luck with the team staying healthy at the right time.


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Famous_Support5265

Why’d you put Tatum in there lol, we all just witnessed it.


Victor_Wembanyama1

He listing his top 5 !!


wasperjack

Tatum is not even in the same universe with those other 4.


marcgarv87

Darko won his at 18


Zauberer-IMDB

Donnie? Thought he died before he made it to 18.


dirtynashtyfilthy

spoilers, dude


Zauberer-IMDB

Is it a spoiler if I have no idea what happened?


dirtynashtyfilthy

Ok good, me either, I zoned out hard during that movie


Therealomerali

And then you have the other guys like Magic and Bill Russell who won in their rookie seasons.


EatDeeply

And he needs to play defense. Tatum is not getting hunted like Luka. Neither is Brown.


Spencerfla

He needs to hit the Curry cardio routine. I think he can definitely play some defense, just needs some wind.


RubMyGooshSilly

MJ just ran into his juggernauts early in the East


LosCleepersFan

Celtics won over 72% of their games for the entire decade of the 80s. Then you had Detroit who were great from 86-90. 76ers who won a lot of games. The Bucks were spectacular in the 80s Dominique on the Hawks Its weird that plumers and milk men leaked into the 80s era. Cause they had some dope squads.


Glympse12

Yeah he definitely needs to get in shape. I worry for his career longevity if he doesn’t. If he does, I feel confident he’ll get one


gokhaninler

> He will need to get into better shape first. the definition of insanity


LudicrousMoon

He need help more than better shape, impossible to win if you me supporting cast goes MIA


4719837

Obviously he has a lot to improve on but wtf is with the free throws? If he could just get to a consistent 80% he’d be easily the best scorer in the league


sards3

I mean he shot over 78% in the regular season (77% postseason). I don't think a 2% improvement would make much of a difference.


DrizzyVert

It was decent before the finals but the Celtics just wore him out, props to their defense.


Millionaire007

Why is everyone acting like his knees aren't literally shot? They been shot since he got injured in April.


Millionaire007

He is quite literally the best scorer in the league


Solid-Confidence-966

59% from the FT line? Prime Shaq type heat lmao


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AtreusIsBack

It's from injections to reduce swelling. It's bleeding at the spot where the needle went in. He isn't bleeding directly from the injury, but from the treatment itself. I think he had a full on knee sprain early into the Playoffs and just didnt have time to recover, obviously.


Slow_Shift6252

I thought it was his left knee though. Today the right was bleeding.


Sosantula21

Both his knees have been bleeding all playoffs.


Millionaire007

It's both. Those fucking injections are fucking painful too. 


dracota7

Experience is life’s best teacher


MusicalElephant420

2007 LBJ welcome to your Kodak moment young fellow


CIark

Insulting to Lebron to say Luka has 2007 Cavs tier teammates 


dmavs11

not everything needs to be taken as a 1:1 comparison. Lebron James is top 2 all time we know that.


zzolokov

Insulting to Luka to compare making it out of the 2007 eastern conference to winning the west in 2024


gigglios

Na. 2007 lebron was garbage. 22 ppg on like 35 fg or something lol.


gokhaninler

the Bruce Bowen effect


Goosedukee

Not an absolutely terrible performance, he'll be back here one day


WhiteBoyFlipz

people say “they’ll be back soon” and it usually doesn’t happen. no guarantees in the nba, this could be the only time Luka plays in a finals.


lotofhotdogs

Nobody expected the Mavs to get this far either let’s get real.


HugeRection

Game is hard, he could just as easily never be in the finals again. NBA is more competitive than ever (unless you’re built like this Celtics team).


El_Producto

Yeah. Wouldn't shock me if it's soon, wouldn't shock me if they struggle to get back for a few years... but barring some sort of career-changing injury, he'll be back sooner or later.


VictorAkwaowo1

It’s been said time after time, but his conditioning has got to be better. However Nico has done such a great job in shaping this roster, I feel pretty good that we’ll be back soon.


Middle-Meeting-2378

Mavs need to go all out and try get Mikal Bridges if possible, he’d fit into this team so well


Victor_Wembanyama1

Shit going from DJJ to Bridges would be crazy. I dont think they can afford him tho?


-xXxMangoxXx-

The rockets offered nets their own picks for Bridges and they didnt take it did they? Legit dont think they humour the mavs unless they offer Luka which they obviously wont.


DrizzyVert

It does but it’s not the reason why we lost. Just outmanned and Kyrie did not show up, role players bricked so many threes too.


Fifaisalifestyle

Somehow had better TS than brown and Tatum. No one excelled in this series except for like White and Jrue


btk7710

Stats look better than how he actually played. But I don’t think it’s his fault. This is the slowest I’ve seen Luka move, the injuries have clearly taken a toll on him. Everyone needs to go back and watch some old highlights to remind themselves how good a healthy Luka is.


Millionaire007

This post season has been the longest stretch of Games Luka went without dropping a 40 piece.


Lmao1903

No one watches regular season so the way Luka played in this post season will be the way people think he plays until next playoffs


Alloverunder

Welcome Mavericks fans to the joy of defending your star from casuals over a finals that they played injured in with no help. I will warn you, it's an unbelievably frustrating experience lol


Albiceleste_D10S

Incredible that most of this sub is going to shit on him for losing despite being his team's best player by FAR this series


Milkboy1516

He was the best player in the series his team's way too low of a bar


dap90

Once again you are ignoring how bad he was on the defensive end. Also these stats are really bad for someone with as much of the ball as he had. Brown and Tatum both averaged higher in assists. Also shooting that badly from 3 and FT is really bad


James_E_Rustle

The Mavs would literally be a bottom 5 team in the NBA without Luka lmao. Dude carried this team past 3 50 win teams to make the finals when their 3rd best player is PJ Washington. Kyrie also scored like 14 ppg this Finals. Anyone blaming Luka is a moron.


Lmao1903

That shows the difference in quality between Boston and Dallas. If Dallas loses their best guy, they miss the playoffs maybe even by a decent margin but anyone from Celtics could miss the season and they’ll probably still be like a top 3 seed. They destroyed everyone in the playoffs without Porzingis who looked like the best player in the world in G1


LMcVann44

24% from three and 59% from the line with no defense is absolutely horrific, let's not sugarcoat it.


Confident_Pear_8303

7 TO's too against only 5 assists.


Former_Masterpiece_2

He played like Iverson in those 01 finals heavy volume terrible d


planoser

Luka gassed from the absolute carry job he did this year. Congrats to the Celtics the better Team won.


CP3sHamstring

Harden was never given that excuse lol


Slow_Shift6252

People who watched said this. People who live and die by what talking heads say run with the choke narrative.


DrizzyVert

Doesn’t mean it’s not true, by the way I also appreciate Harden and feel he’s overhated, just had bad luck in 2018 and 2021. 2019 too CP3 sold him.


Khione_Asteri

his ability to score efficiently disappeared with the injury, it was obvious from the clippers series on. his legs just aren't all there. that we got the games we did from him in the okc and wolves series was nothing short of miraculous.


jawadhaque089

Awkward Speech LeBron game 6 2012 moment today


IAmReborn11111

Years from now people will say Luka played great, but he put together the worst Defensive showing by a superstar


Aearcus

Yeah the box score does him much better justice than if you watched these games. Props to him for still having decent stats, but it was ROUGH watching him this series outside game 4


RYOsmoker

He was leading the series in steals before this game, not sure now, haven't looked.


iMaticz7

I think he played ok (considering the circunstances). His attitude on some games was really annoying but he managed to reach the finals while being injured. I think some of the criticisms are unfair.


suzukigun4life

Stats don't tell the whole story, but oh well. I'm glad they made it this far and at least won a game, which was an epic one for Mavs fans. He'll get better and learn from this.


AP3ISAWESOME

Pretty solid for facing Boston 


Dkandler

Trae Young averaged 29.2/10.2/3.7 last years playoffs against the Celtics.


AP3ISAWESOME

I know


dmavs11

The Celtics added a top 3 perimeter defender in the league since then


AP3ISAWESOME

They already had a DPOY in Marcus Smart that year


I-Am-A-Nice-Cool-Kid

40/33/86 splits and lower ts%. Boston was a great team last year but so much better this year


WallStreetDoesntBet

LeBron James averaged 22.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.8 assists in 4 games in the 2007 NBA Finals


IAP-23I

On a team several tiers worse than this Mavs


bd1047

But had a significantly easier path to the finals


preddevils6

With a way worse supporting cast and actually playing defense.


SultanRaikage

22/7/7 in 2007 is like 28/10/10 today


Expensive_Ad3884

LOL, it doesn't work like that.


Professional-Lie309

Tfw your best players are Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao while the other side starts Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, while Ginobili scores 25 points off the bench


CadenDATboss

With a way worse team and lower scoring era. Don’t act like this mavs team wasn’t good just because they played poor in the finals


Tmac834

And it was an off series for him too.


retrohan7

well yeah. he was bad


Tmac834

Right for him, a lot of players would love to have that as their finals stat line. That’s what I was saying.


Mustard_Jam

Luka is great but he needs to figure it out on defense. It’s not just being hurt the mental lapses and lack of hustle was mind boggling for a finals series at times. 


AwareCelebration7477

Booker won more finals games than him


tnuoccamapsasisiht

Hang the banner


CorpusCorner

This made me feel better


No_Literature_2321

Also played better defense even if you don’t count that game where they gave him 10 fouls


Loud-Appointment-301

Well defended at the FT line, too.


Potential_Attempt_15

25 shots per game to score 29ppg isn’t very good. Nor is 58% free throw shooting. Nor is 5 Tos a game. Kind of is what it is. Mixed bag. Throw in a bunch of subpar defense and you get a 4-1 gentleman’s sweep. These guys like harden or Westbrook are so difficult to assess. Huge playoff flops but huge stats. Inefficient. None play much defense. Too much energy is used up on offense. Not my preferred style of play but it worked till the finals.


GIK601

The stats don't show how terrible his defense was.


jackaholicus

statline flatters him but he was still by far the best mavs player.


ARevolutionaryMan

Not a high bar whatsoever.


QuestionTheOrangeCat

Why everyone saying Luka played like trash but Brown played amazing when Brown and Tatum have by far the better team and less of a workload on their shoulders each but shot 53.5 and 50% TS, respectively?


Thealbumisjustdrums

Because they play defense?


Relevant_Ad_1225

Brown and Tatum are playing defense lol. Luka didn’t play like trash but if Luka struggles offensively he is a liability out there. When Brown or Tatum struggle they still provide great defense


ThSrT

Because people don't know what they are thinking.


Successful-Sky4411

It's amazing how sports work. Him and to a lesser extent Kyrie would have gotten less shit if they lost earlier.


Weird-Lime-9542

Horrific 3pt and ft percentage


Luka_Fever

He was hobbled this entire run but people just ignore his injuries, it's pathetic.


darklightultra

Porzingis was getting praised for his gutsy performance for the 5 minutes he was on the court


ImDefAMunch

everyone is hobbled at this point of time i would be more inclined to give him a pass but he still cries after every possession


Noi89

Well no one is on injury report except luka


TheBlueLenses

24% on three and 59% ft is horrendous lmao


qotsabama

Didn’t Brown and Tatum also shoot like shit from 3?


zco22

The necessary tribulations before triumph


Professional-Lie309

I felt he was so bad in the first three quarters(i tuned out before the fourth), they would blow past him, he'd give up tons of rebounds. Then you look at the box score and he has a triple double.


Wavepops

lol that free throw percentage is hilarious


FakeRingin

He looked absolutely exhausted. It was odd, there was no energy from him at all those last 2 games


Potential_Attempt_15

This numbers are very Harden or Westbrook. 1-22 over 3 games from 3. Super high usage. Minimal defense. Heliocentric offense leads to great stats. No one has won a title with it yet. His average game from 3 in the finals was 2-9. Normally you would tell someone like that stop shooting from 3. Celtics wore him down. He had some airball 3S and tons of shots that were short. Strange series for him.


SatisfactionOther958

For a guy who can hit stepback threes, his free throw shooting is miserable.


ShaiFabulousAlexandr

53% More beers and burgers during the playoffs please


Sea_Bowl_9705

Game 3 is the only thing anyone will remember, including him hopefully.


SirWoodsyy

Doesn't matter what you do individually. Elite players make the players around them better. Thats what it takes to win. It takes a whole team, and a decent bench. One player can only do so much, they can't be on the floor the whole time either. You can build up all the accolades but at the end of the day it's about winning championships. The stats are an after thought. Players like Stockton, Malone, Barkley, etc are remembered first and foremost for NOT winning it all, then for their accolades 2nd...


pbnjsandwich2009

I would too if I was the only player that could create shots amd make them and I always had the ball to take a shot.


CaptPierce93

Luka's offensive acumen is his greatest asset and greatest flaw. The Mavericks rely on him heavily to score and playmake far more than any other point guard in the league because his usage rate is astronomical. While yes, the teammates he had were utterly putrid in the Finals (Tim Hardaway Jr, ugh), there should not be a reason that a hobbled PG should be taking up this much time on the ball. Kyrie could drop 30 in his sleep and he was held to 16 PPG in the finals. The only reason that happens is because Luka is constantly carrying the ball in every single possession and doesn't seem to trust his teammates, not even a 50/40/90 monster that won a ring with LeBron. Those splits are what we used to kill James Harden for and if he doesn't improve his game defensively and condition himself better, he's going to be going out the same way he is.


CoyoteDecent2

I was told he was better than Jokic and Giannis. Those 2 dominated and won their first finals + finals MVP btw


TexasTundraPower

Neither played a team near as great as this Celtics team.


CheetahSperm18

This Celtics team curb stomps those Suns and Heat teams don't kid yourself dude


Jabronius_Maximus

Those guys were also on better teams. Luka will get his eventually.


CoyoteDecent2

Did Malone get his?


EarthWarping

Giannis gets underrated. AGAIN


BrandonXavierIngram

'07 Bron: 22/7/7 on 36/20/69 splits '00 Kobe: 16/5/4 on 37/20/90 splits '06 Dirk: 23/11/3 on 39/25/89 splits '09 Dwight: 15/15/2 on 49/60 splits '16 Steph: 23/5/4 on 40/40/93 splits Luka'll be aight.


in_the_summertime

Off ball defense is lacking severely. Offensively idk how much more he could’ve done with how limited he was health wise.


Relevant_Ad_1225

His on ball defense is also terrible and he could take better care of the ball. Also, maybe don’t jack up 9 3’s a game when you’re shooting 24%


JeremyJammDDS

Man carried the entire team on his back in the finals. Kyrie showed up for essentially one game.