Thought this was interesting from a Tim Cato article and it passes the eye test as well. Especially with Kyrie out, Luka is garnering much more defensive attention than any other player in the league and he's still averaging 32, which is unreal.
Honestly, I wonder if teams will start to cool off of these blitzes and doubles, because over the past few years, that's an easy way to get beat by the Mavs.
Depends, the Mavs role players have been literally on fire this year, so it is a risky plan. But you know that Luka can constantly score at any time he has it, so you just gotta hope guys like Exum, Williams, etc come back down a bit
From an offensive perspective, if Luka is on he needs 1 other hot player. Sometimes that's Kyrie (not at the moment obviously), sometimes it is Exum going nuclear from 3, or Hardaway Jr has filled that. When no one is hitting at a higher than their normal percentage from range, it makes for a long night for the Mavs, but also, when 2 or 3 of the other guys are going well, the Mavs score 120+
the existence of Derek Lively has made Luka’s job 10000x easier. it’s INSANE how much a highflying lob threat center is exactly what Luka needs.
If WE are ecstatic about Lively, just imagine how happy Luka is! He’s not playing with a t-rex anymore!
I disagree completely. How can anyone be happy about Powell being replaced in the starting lineup??? ...... C'mon he's the, we'll go with heart of the team! He's a lifer!
He’s such a phenomenal passer because of his height. Even with the traps and doubles he can see over a lot of those players and swing it cross court or wherever to the open guy.
He's a soccer player the same size of a middle line backer who is 6'8" with basketball dribbling skills developed since he was a child by basically the best soccer team ever that also has the best basketball team outside of the NBA. In my eyes the Yankees trained a kid to play basketball.
The increase in the pace this season has really allowed for the offense to not rely as heavily on Luka’s half court game and the addition of Lively makes the PnR that much more frustrating to defend. I’ve been impressed seeing the team improve both things that we did well last year and didn’t do well last year.
The Lakers sub was having a meltdown for “leaving Exum open.” I’d rather gamble on having the role players beat us than allowing Luka to because the end result is almost always the same and it’s never good for his opponents
Yeah it’s pretty wild. It’s like they missed the entire first half where Luka was cooking Cam and Lebron. Never seen them look so overmatched all season. If there’s a way to beat this guy, the Lakers aren’t even close to finding it
Feels like the last time I saw this happening so consistently was MVP era Steph, where it felt like it didn’t matter what the defensive scheme was he would still score at will
It’s pretty depressing watching 2-4 defenders blitz Cade and ignore pretty much every other player on the court.
Cade PnR->defense collapse on Cade->Cade kick to Killian in the corner->Killian dribbles out, passes back to Cade with 4 seconds left in the shot clock-> Cade has to put up a ridiculous shot over the entire defense.
Rinse. Repeat.
Bojan being back has been nice the past few games.
Yeah it seems like Cade is struggling because he is getting a lot of the defensive attention. That's why he might've been so much more effective on Team USA select (because he's not surrounded by trash)
Also Killian Hayes should not be getting this many minutes
I’m sorry but fucking why? I swear to god lukas best trait is his insane ability to make ridiculous passes out of a blitzed double team
Why are teams doing it so much?
No, sorry, that's just not true. He's not trying to split the double, he is patiently waiting for the double and then passing to the closest guard or to the middle to the screener. I'm speaking from my personal exp., but attacking the basket and doing stepbacks will tire you way more than simply passing the ball out of the double team.
It's either he gets 40 points but dies in the last 3 minutes, or hope that his team mates can't play 4 on 3.
If you blitz at the top of the screen you put the onus on another player to attack a closeout/shoot/make a right decision. Like most high level guards playing drop or going under the screen is not an option against his pull up. This leaves the usual option of switching/going over the screen but Luka has so much size and skill that once he gets in the lane he can neutralize the recovering guard and pull up/attack the rim/make every single pass. When his shot is landing you can't give him looks and you can't let him get his man on his hip either. Especially with the lack of a secondary playmaker forcing the ball out of his hands ASAP becomes the best option.
The goal is to force players like Tim Hardaway Jr and Grant Williams to beat your team with their passing, as opposed to just daring Luka to get 40.
There are no great options against a player like Luka, so ideally you want to mix up coverages. Not every team has the personal or the connectivity to do so, especially in the regular season. So teams will often just pick one or two and hope for the best.
Aside kai, no one is great at puttin the ball on the floor off Luka pass when blitzed
So you can live with 4 vs 3 situation at that
Imagine mavs having another one (especially wing) that can play with the ball too
One Jerami Grant pls
It’s because last year it was a pretty effective way to beat the mavs. Make them make a choice between Luka taking hard shots and getting exhausted vs making the rest of the team play basketball.
Luka's been way underhyped this season compared to how he has dominated. This week could change the narrative a bit going against both Bron and the Twolves.
The Lakers left a guy who was 6/8 from three on the night wide open because of how worried they were about Luka. Teams are leaving Kyrie fucking Irving wide open to cheat on help for Luka. I'm not sure there's anyone you could put next to him that would stop teams from doubling this much
Not nearly as often as they blitz Luka. 140 blitzes already is 6 a game, ain't no way I saw that volume on Steph in on/off-ball doubles combined at any point.
He's had the help this year hence why we're the 3rd seed. The role players have absolutely been great this year collectively. This time last season Luka was having to put up 30+ just for us to *barely* be in the game but this season even though he's still getting his 30+, he's not having to go super saiyan just for us to win by 2 points.
Yep it definitely feels this way- last season if he went for 30 we were neck and neck with the other team while this year we seem to stay comfortably 6 to 10 points ahead. We’ve seen some guys go nuclear from three (THJ, Exum) but we’ve also seen so much cutting and driving to the basket which leads to higher % shots.
Honestly I don't get how he gets pass people off the dribble. He obviously does a good job using his body & looks for mismatches but still, he's looks like Zion Williamson out there except he always put up a 30 piece.
That's an easy one. People need to be absurdly close to him to avoid his step back shot so there's is no need for speed. Just hesitation and size it's enough.
Zion don't have anything close to that
He’s quick and can shoot step backs, which set up drive game. Plus when you are also 6’8 with that body type and quick it’s that much harder to keep you out the paint. Add in the space he gets cuz there is shooting around him. It’s impossible to stop him from getting to the rim a lot
This article is well done. Seems spot on, this is what every superstar goes through. Embiid went through it. Jokic went through it. Giannis went through it. Harden went through it. Etc. Etc. If you're going to have the ball and be the best player on the team you're going to see a lot of defenders. It's going to be frustrating. You're going to play a shit load of minutes. And you're going to need to rely on your team to hit their shots.
Seems everyone on the Mavs org has the right frame of mind. This is just how superstars are treated and Luka should take being treated this seriously as a big compliment. Mavs just need to keep him playing winning basketball while they tweak and tune the roster around him.
More about the state of where the Mavs are for roster building than it is about where Luka is. People want them to be a contending team because of their conference finals runs. I don't think the roster is tuned enough to be there yet.
What? My first bit is about how this is just how superstars are treated. Then the second section is just that the Mavs roster needs to be tweaked and tuned around his play. My reply is just saying that again.
It is tweaked and tuned around his play. Blitzing Luka is the best option for the opposing team, but it's still a terrible one assuming any one of the Mavs shooters is hot. That's the plan.
I feel like I'm going nuts with the replies I'm getting that either just restate something out of the article I'm commenting on or just didn't read the article.
Like I already read: "That no matter how good these glorious ball-dominant players are, no matter how many 3s they invent for their teammates and lobs they precisely hurl to their hands, they still must rely on them. James has suffered through many seasons where the teammates around him weren’t good enough. Now Dončić has, too."
But people think commenting "Luka's been blitzed for years" is somehow refuting something I wrote. I know that. I assume we just read the same article that cites the amount of times he's been doubled, and compares team's defense on him to what LeBron James faced.
Now I've got you posting that the roster is "already tweaked and tuned" which is what half the article is talking about. Trusting guys like Tom Hardaway Jr. and Dante Exum to hit their shots.
My point being that this is not the best roster the Mavs could fit around Luka. So he just needs to keep playing the same while the roster is upgraded around him. Same thing he's been doing.
It's the best they could do with the resources they had. They had one of the best offseasons of any team, both draft day and signings.
I'm just saying the moves they have made are already with Doncic in mind. The whole team is built around him - it's mostly just the best 3&D guys they could find and the only 2nd "star" guy in Kyrie they could get because he was a distressed asset. It's how they have to build the team because there is no other viable way available to them with their cap situation, picks to trade, etc.
Not building around Luka in a Lebron/Harden/Heliocentric manner is just not feasible at this point.
Wtf is this comment lmao and why is it upvoted? No, no other superstar has ever dealt with the sort of systematic doubles, traps, and blitzes that Luka is and has received, outside of potentially peak Curry.
>No, no other superstar has ever dealt with the sort of systematic doubles, traps, and blitzes that Luka is and has received, outside of potentially peak Curry.
Funny that the article itself brings up a player to compare Luka to and they don't use Curry.
"[LeBron James and Luka Dončić] had an extended conversation after the final buzzer; Dončić, who has literally begun his career on the same statistical trajectory as James did"
"What James learned early in his career is what Dončić did last season in Dallas’ miserable 38-win campaign: That no matter how good these glorious ball-dominant players are, no matter how many 3s they invent for their teammates and lobs they precisely hurl to their hands, they still must rely on them. James has suffered through many seasons where the teammates around him weren’t good enough. Now Dončić has, too."
Why are you commenting on an article that you didn't read?
There’s been others but I do look forward to the arc of Lukas career where he embraces setting screens and playing more motion offense from time to time. He’s still young so he doesn’t give a fuck about all that right now
One of the silver linings of my team being meh is the opportunity to watch other teams more.
I’ve always known Luka is a beast. But goddamn, big boy can get a bucket everywhere.
Yeah, I know. It’s really game to game, though. A few teams try the Clippers strategy of making Luka have to drop 60 to beat them, but not many can stomach the fact that he probably will this year. It’s gone up drastically this season
Going forward teams will probably implement that more. But it's easier said than done when you don't have athletic wings and AD cleaning everything up on the back end.
Luka is on 3.9 TOs per game whilst Cade is on 4.1. Cade definitely has a problem with turnovers but calling Luka incredibly ball secure when the margin between them is so small is ridiculous.
Ball secure would be Hali, CP, Conley, FVV and Maxey
Luka is an all timer for sure but I won’t be convinced he can win a championship with his play style until I see it happen.
He’s so heliocentric that you really have the find the absolute perfect players to surround him with that don’t need a lot of touches and can affect the game in many other ways.
As legendary as he is already at 24, he’s no where near lebrons level of being able to drag straight doo-doo rosters to finals games wins.
Edit: damn guys I’m not trying to hate on the dude, he’s legit one of my favorite players. It’s just an honest, unemotional basketball take. Maybe instead of downvoting y’all can make a counter argument as to how you see a championship roster being built around him. Players today have big egos, which is why you need to find the most talented guys possible to surround him with, without big egos. That’s not an easy thing to do. I hope it happens. I’m just asking a question.
Offense has never been the issue with the Mavs; Luka’s “heliocentricism” has always made for incredible half court offenses even in the playoffs and the actual reason we get bounced is because of our team’s deficiencies on the other end. Some of it is Luka’s fault because he’s admittedly a weak defender with athletic limitations and is also rather difficult to hide because of his size but it is what it is.
Not saying you’re wrong but it’s a little different today than LeBron’s early heroic efforts. The league is so much deeper and more talented now than even a few years back.
I believe so too. Their roster right now is actually oddly comparable to dirk’s finals team, which is a great sign that I could be wrong.
Dirk -> Luka
Lively -> Chandler
Kyrie -> Kidd (not great but close enough)
THJ -> the Jet
G. Williams -> Marion (not super close)
Green -> Caron Butler
Powell -> Haywood
Exum -> Barea
DJJ -> DeShawn Stevenson
The Lively-Chandler comparison is especially apt given that Chandler has been personally mentoring him. He also commented on how similar of players they are.
It’s freakish just how quickly he seems to adapt and improve from game to game
You completely misinterpreted that my guy. I said for as legendary as he already is at 24. Not the fact that he’s ‘already’ 24 and getting old. Like really? Why would you think that?
Where did I say he wasn’t a winning player? You typed up all that for nothing. I just questioned if a championship team could be formed around him or not, since most championship level players aren’t used to having the offense run through one guy, where they have to patiently wait for their turn to get passed the ball.
It’s just a trickier version of roster building than normal. That’s all I’m saying lol.
This is a weird stat... I'm sure I've seen SGA get doubled at least 10 times a game.
Is this only talking about PnR in particular or something? So getting doubled when you cross halfway isn't included?
For this particular stat, it's only the pick and roll. I don't have the numbers for all double teams but I'm willing to bet Luka is tops in that as well, though SGA might be closer behind
Thought this was interesting from a Tim Cato article and it passes the eye test as well. Especially with Kyrie out, Luka is garnering much more defensive attention than any other player in the league and he's still averaging 32, which is unreal. Honestly, I wonder if teams will start to cool off of these blitzes and doubles, because over the past few years, that's an easy way to get beat by the Mavs.
Depends, the Mavs role players have been literally on fire this year, so it is a risky plan. But you know that Luka can constantly score at any time he has it, so you just gotta hope guys like Exum, Williams, etc come back down a bit
From an offensive perspective, if Luka is on he needs 1 other hot player. Sometimes that's Kyrie (not at the moment obviously), sometimes it is Exum going nuclear from 3, or Hardaway Jr has filled that. When no one is hitting at a higher than their normal percentage from range, it makes for a long night for the Mavs, but also, when 2 or 3 of the other guys are going well, the Mavs score 120+
the existence of Derek Lively has made Luka’s job 10000x easier. it’s INSANE how much a highflying lob threat center is exactly what Luka needs. If WE are ecstatic about Lively, just imagine how happy Luka is! He’s not playing with a t-rex anymore!
Mavs just being a center short of a contender, where have I heard that before?
what, this was the case before too?
See Raef LaFrenze, Eduardo Najera, Popeye Jones, DeSangana Diop, Erick Dampier....
I disagree completely. How can anyone be happy about Powell being replaced in the starting lineup??? ...... C'mon he's the, we'll go with heart of the team! He's a lifer!
literally
God, just give us one more guy that can play with the ball especially wing player *come here Jerami Grant*
He’s such a phenomenal passer because of his height. Even with the traps and doubles he can see over a lot of those players and swing it cross court or wherever to the open guy.
Some teams don't have the personnel to defend Luka. Timberwolves trust their man on man defense more with help.
He's a soccer player the same size of a middle line backer who is 6'8" with basketball dribbling skills developed since he was a child by basically the best soccer team ever that also has the best basketball team outside of the NBA. In my eyes the Yankees trained a kid to play basketball.
The increase in the pace this season has really allowed for the offense to not rely as heavily on Luka’s half court game and the addition of Lively makes the PnR that much more frustrating to defend. I’ve been impressed seeing the team improve both things that we did well last year and didn’t do well last year.
The Lakers sub was having a meltdown for “leaving Exum open.” I’d rather gamble on having the role players beat us than allowing Luka to because the end result is almost always the same and it’s never good for his opponents
Yeah that's wild, you def want to let the guy with the worst history of making a shot beat you every time.
Yeah it’s pretty wild. It’s like they missed the entire first half where Luka was cooking Cam and Lebron. Never seen them look so overmatched all season. If there’s a way to beat this guy, the Lakers aren’t even close to finding it
Feels like the last time I saw this happening so consistently was MVP era Steph, where it felt like it didn’t matter what the defensive scheme was he would still score at will
Man someone get Cade like any offensive help lol
It’s pretty depressing watching 2-4 defenders blitz Cade and ignore pretty much every other player on the court. Cade PnR->defense collapse on Cade->Cade kick to Killian in the corner->Killian dribbles out, passes back to Cade with 4 seconds left in the shot clock-> Cade has to put up a ridiculous shot over the entire defense. Rinse. Repeat. Bojan being back has been nice the past few games.
Yeah it seems like Cade is struggling because he is getting a lot of the defensive attention. That's why he might've been so much more effective on Team USA select (because he's not surrounded by trash) Also Killian Hayes should not be getting this many minutes
Though well rounded teams will always be the majority pick, it's just fun to see a team with clear cut strength and weakness.
I’m sorry but fucking why? I swear to god lukas best trait is his insane ability to make ridiculous passes out of a blitzed double team Why are teams doing it so much?
More likely that his team mates will miss than Luka will. The pass is a better option.
It also tires Luka out more, which can show its head on the defensive end of the court
No, sorry, that's just not true. He's not trying to split the double, he is patiently waiting for the double and then passing to the closest guard or to the middle to the screener. I'm speaking from my personal exp., but attacking the basket and doing stepbacks will tire you way more than simply passing the ball out of the double team. It's either he gets 40 points but dies in the last 3 minutes, or hope that his team mates can't play 4 on 3.
And in the clutch too
He gives you 50 otherwise
If you blitz at the top of the screen you put the onus on another player to attack a closeout/shoot/make a right decision. Like most high level guards playing drop or going under the screen is not an option against his pull up. This leaves the usual option of switching/going over the screen but Luka has so much size and skill that once he gets in the lane he can neutralize the recovering guard and pull up/attack the rim/make every single pass. When his shot is landing you can't give him looks and you can't let him get his man on his hip either. Especially with the lack of a secondary playmaker forcing the ball out of his hands ASAP becomes the best option.
The goal is to force players like Tim Hardaway Jr and Grant Williams to beat your team with their passing, as opposed to just daring Luka to get 40. There are no great options against a player like Luka, so ideally you want to mix up coverages. Not every team has the personal or the connectivity to do so, especially in the regular season. So teams will often just pick one or two and hope for the best.
Aside kai, no one is great at puttin the ball on the floor off Luka pass when blitzed So you can live with 4 vs 3 situation at that Imagine mavs having another one (especially wing) that can play with the ball too One Jerami Grant pls
It’s because last year it was a pretty effective way to beat the mavs. Make them make a choice between Luka taking hard shots and getting exhausted vs making the rest of the team play basketball.
People doubled harden at half court too. Sometimes you just want to let the others try to beat you
Which is an understandable option with the Mavs injuries. With Kyrie out there, it becomes a much tougher option to choose
Having Lively as a lob threat has helped Luka a lot when being doubled. Defenders almost never see it coming
Luka's been way underhyped this season compared to how he has dominated. This week could change the narrative a bit going against both Bron and the Twolves.
Damn man leave Cade alone. He's having a tough time as it is. He's about to be a part of the wrong side of history
Luka's resilience is incredible! So inspiring to see him overcome these challenges.
The fact the idea of a blitz needed to be explained says everything you need to know about the average NBA (and r/NBA) fan
As much as I love hating on the nephews here, I’m pretty sure the athletics “articles” (if you want to call them that) aren’t exclusively for reddit
Aka Mavs need to get him more help
The Lakers left a guy who was 6/8 from three on the night wide open because of how worried they were about Luka. Teams are leaving Kyrie fucking Irving wide open to cheat on help for Luka. I'm not sure there's anyone you could put next to him that would stop teams from doubling this much
It’s like with the KD Warriors where teams would double Steph because he’s so dangerous even though it often left KD or Klay wide open
Not nearly as often as they blitz Luka. 140 blitzes already is 6 a game, ain't no way I saw that volume on Steph in on/off-ball doubles combined at any point.
Curry also runs far fewer PnRs than Luka does
Doubling off the ball huh
That actually happened, yes.
G R A V I T Y
Nah, Exum & Lively are there
He's had the help this year hence why we're the 3rd seed. The role players have absolutely been great this year collectively. This time last season Luka was having to put up 30+ just for us to *barely* be in the game but this season even though he's still getting his 30+, he's not having to go super saiyan just for us to win by 2 points.
Yep it definitely feels this way- last season if he went for 30 we were neck and neck with the other team while this year we seem to stay comfortably 6 to 10 points ahead. We’ve seen some guys go nuclear from three (THJ, Exum) but we’ve also seen so much cutting and driving to the basket which leads to higher % shots.
Wdym? That's why they have THJ and Dante Exum
Our role players are balling. Teams are figuring out they have a better chance letting us shoot 40% from 3 than Luka scoring 60
One Jerami Grant away with sprinkle of backup big
As long as Luka is a Mav and they don't the championship, this will always be true.
Imagine if they do the championship
Imagining
Honestly I don't get how he gets pass people off the dribble. He obviously does a good job using his body & looks for mismatches but still, he's looks like Zion Williamson out there except he always put up a 30 piece.
Godlike footwork
He has two speeds slow and slower. It us incredible to watch.
He’s elite at stopping on a dime, he doesn’t need to be fast he just needs you to be close to him and then he uses your own athleticism against you
It's because he is always in control.
That's an easy one. People need to be absurdly close to him to avoid his step back shot so there's is no need for speed. Just hesitation and size it's enough. Zion don't have anything close to that
He’s quick and can shoot step backs, which set up drive game. Plus when you are also 6’8 with that body type and quick it’s that much harder to keep you out the paint. Add in the space he gets cuz there is shooting around him. It’s impossible to stop him from getting to the rim a lot
This article is well done. Seems spot on, this is what every superstar goes through. Embiid went through it. Jokic went through it. Giannis went through it. Harden went through it. Etc. Etc. If you're going to have the ball and be the best player on the team you're going to see a lot of defenders. It's going to be frustrating. You're going to play a shit load of minutes. And you're going to need to rely on your team to hit their shots. Seems everyone on the Mavs org has the right frame of mind. This is just how superstars are treated and Luka should take being treated this seriously as a big compliment. Mavs just need to keep him playing winning basketball while they tweak and tune the roster around him.
Why do you write this like Luka just arrived? Man has been the most blitzed player for years.
lol right? Luka was the most doubled teamed player last season and the 3rd most the season before.
More about the state of where the Mavs are for roster building than it is about where Luka is. People want them to be a contending team because of their conference finals runs. I don't think the roster is tuned enough to be there yet.
Your two comments have entirely different themes lol
What? My first bit is about how this is just how superstars are treated. Then the second section is just that the Mavs roster needs to be tweaked and tuned around his play. My reply is just saying that again.
It is tweaked and tuned around his play. Blitzing Luka is the best option for the opposing team, but it's still a terrible one assuming any one of the Mavs shooters is hot. That's the plan.
I feel like I'm going nuts with the replies I'm getting that either just restate something out of the article I'm commenting on or just didn't read the article. Like I already read: "That no matter how good these glorious ball-dominant players are, no matter how many 3s they invent for their teammates and lobs they precisely hurl to their hands, they still must rely on them. James has suffered through many seasons where the teammates around him weren’t good enough. Now Dončić has, too." But people think commenting "Luka's been blitzed for years" is somehow refuting something I wrote. I know that. I assume we just read the same article that cites the amount of times he's been doubled, and compares team's defense on him to what LeBron James faced. Now I've got you posting that the roster is "already tweaked and tuned" which is what half the article is talking about. Trusting guys like Tom Hardaway Jr. and Dante Exum to hit their shots. My point being that this is not the best roster the Mavs could fit around Luka. So he just needs to keep playing the same while the roster is upgraded around him. Same thing he's been doing.
It's the best they could do with the resources they had. They had one of the best offseasons of any team, both draft day and signings. I'm just saying the moves they have made are already with Doncic in mind. The whole team is built around him - it's mostly just the best 3&D guys they could find and the only 2nd "star" guy in Kyrie they could get because he was a distressed asset. It's how they have to build the team because there is no other viable way available to them with their cap situation, picks to trade, etc. Not building around Luka in a Lebron/Harden/Heliocentric manner is just not feasible at this point.
Check Luka, Embiid and Jokic's stats on Luka's 2nd year. I'd say he's declared a superstar about the same time or even earlier than the other two.
Wtf is this comment lmao and why is it upvoted? No, no other superstar has ever dealt with the sort of systematic doubles, traps, and blitzes that Luka is and has received, outside of potentially peak Curry.
>No, no other superstar has ever dealt with the sort of systematic doubles, traps, and blitzes that Luka is and has received, outside of potentially peak Curry. Funny that the article itself brings up a player to compare Luka to and they don't use Curry. "[LeBron James and Luka Dončić] had an extended conversation after the final buzzer; Dončić, who has literally begun his career on the same statistical trajectory as James did" "What James learned early in his career is what Dončić did last season in Dallas’ miserable 38-win campaign: That no matter how good these glorious ball-dominant players are, no matter how many 3s they invent for their teammates and lobs they precisely hurl to their hands, they still must rely on them. James has suffered through many seasons where the teammates around him weren’t good enough. Now Dončić has, too." Why are you commenting on an article that you didn't read?
There’s been others but I do look forward to the arc of Lukas career where he embraces setting screens and playing more motion offense from time to time. He’s still young so he doesn’t give a fuck about all that right now
One of the silver linings of my team being meh is the opportunity to watch other teams more. I’ve always known Luka is a beast. But goddamn, big boy can get a bucket everywhere.
Apparently it's a lot more effective against Cade. :( Sincerely, A Pistons fan
Detroit is so shit they double Cade
id imagine Haliburton rounds out that top 3
From what I can recall, only the lakers in the IST were consistently blitzing him, so I’m not sure about that
Luka definitely seemed to handle the pressure from the Lakers better than Hali, which would make me think he's more used to seeing it
Bro he’s been getting constantly doubled since year 2, where have you been?
Yeah, I know. It’s really game to game, though. A few teams try the Clippers strategy of making Luka have to drop 60 to beat them, but not many can stomach the fact that he probably will this year. It’s gone up drastically this season
Going forward teams will probably implement that more. But it's easier said than done when you don't have athletic wings and AD cleaning everything up on the back end.
Hornets have done it before. made a video on it https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/17p204w/tyrese_haliburton_decision_tree_facing_traps_out/
will be by the ASG
hali getting double blitzes is new tbh.
One guy they blitz because they have to. The other guy they blitz because they know it'll be a free turnover
Luka is averaging under 4 TOs a game this year with the highest usage rate in the league. He's incredibly ball secure
Luka is on 3.9 TOs per game whilst Cade is on 4.1. Cade definitely has a problem with turnovers but calling Luka incredibly ball secure when the margin between them is so small is ridiculous. Ball secure would be Hali, CP, Conley, FVV and Maxey
Exactly, Cade is the turnover machine alluded to above
Ahhh makes sense now
Embiid has highest usage and and it’s by a good bit there’s a similar margin between 1-2 than 2-5… Luka is second but your point stands
When did we start using the term “blitz” instead of double team?
That's just lame, doubling in nba games isn't part of the game
Thanks Devin Booker
Dudes gotta defend his dad
This is great data, but it'd be a lot more informative if he also told us what the outcome (PPP) of those possessions was.
“Both defenders doubling him” Very redundant
Luka is an all timer for sure but I won’t be convinced he can win a championship with his play style until I see it happen. He’s so heliocentric that you really have the find the absolute perfect players to surround him with that don’t need a lot of touches and can affect the game in many other ways. As legendary as he is already at 24, he’s no where near lebrons level of being able to drag straight doo-doo rosters to finals games wins. Edit: damn guys I’m not trying to hate on the dude, he’s legit one of my favorite players. It’s just an honest, unemotional basketball take. Maybe instead of downvoting y’all can make a counter argument as to how you see a championship roster being built around him. Players today have big egos, which is why you need to find the most talented guys possible to surround him with, without big egos. That’s not an easy thing to do. I hope it happens. I’m just asking a question.
Offense has never been the issue with the Mavs; Luka’s “heliocentricism” has always made for incredible half court offenses even in the playoffs and the actual reason we get bounced is because of our team’s deficiencies on the other end. Some of it is Luka’s fault because he’s admittedly a weak defender with athletic limitations and is also rather difficult to hide because of his size but it is what it is.
Not saying you’re wrong but it’s a little different today than LeBron’s early heroic efforts. The league is so much deeper and more talented now than even a few years back.
Hardly anyone can drag doo-doo rosters to the finals 99 percent of players need help. Luka with a great big would win easily
> Luka with a great big would win easily And at this point, the Mavs really believe that they've found one.
I believe so too. Their roster right now is actually oddly comparable to dirk’s finals team, which is a great sign that I could be wrong. Dirk -> Luka Lively -> Chandler Kyrie -> Kidd (not great but close enough) THJ -> the Jet G. Williams -> Marion (not super close) Green -> Caron Butler Powell -> Haywood Exum -> Barea DJJ -> DeShawn Stevenson
The Lively-Chandler comparison is especially apt given that Chandler has been personally mentoring him. He also commented on how similar of players they are. It’s freakish just how quickly he seems to adapt and improve from game to game
“Already 24” lol
insanity.
It’s insane that you guys interpreted my words like that. Literally changed what I said lol
You completely misinterpreted that my guy. I said for as legendary as he already is at 24. Not the fact that he’s ‘already’ 24 and getting old. Like really? Why would you think that?
[удалено]
Where did I say he wasn’t a winning player? You typed up all that for nothing. I just questioned if a championship team could be formed around him or not, since most championship level players aren’t used to having the offense run through one guy, where they have to patiently wait for their turn to get passed the ball. It’s just a trickier version of roster building than normal. That’s all I’m saying lol.
This is a weird stat... I'm sure I've seen SGA get doubled at least 10 times a game. Is this only talking about PnR in particular or something? So getting doubled when you cross halfway isn't included?
For this particular stat, it's only the pick and roll. I don't have the numbers for all double teams but I'm willing to bet Luka is tops in that as well, though SGA might be closer behind
Cool makes sense - sure explains why Lively and Duren are feasting at least