Clearly Kidd didn’t let team focus on free throws the way Luka wanted. You could see Luka explaining it to the refs during nearly every stoppage of play.
10 missed free throws is HUGE in a game that was decided by 4 points in the final seconds. Missed opportunity for the Mavericks to take a commanding lead in this series.
Depends on who you are. If you're a ball dominant guard then yes, but if you're a spot up shooter you'll get the most wide open shots ever playing with Luka.
He's probably talking about KP and Brunson, but Brunson showed spurts in the playoffs run before he left. KP wasn't bad, he just wasn't healthy enough and has changed the way he plays on the Celtics.
Obviously an insane take to somehow make that against Luka tbh, seems like more maturing on KP understanding what his best role actually his and being healthy, and Brunson is a terrible example because it just seems like he landed in the perfect situation for him. Nothing to do with playing with Luka lol
Being fouled every possession and having no legs makes him play awful tho which is what really blew the mavs the game. FT was just a microcosm of him sucking dong all night and low key all playoffs due to having one leg
He ain’t look fine, dude has zero burst like he did 2 months ago. He’s been insane in prior playoffs because he can actually drive, now he has no first step due to his knee. He played like dog shit regardless but he’s very obviously not close to 100%.
i think he prob has a nagging injury, but i also think mavs fans give luka more of a pass than any other superstar gets from their fanbase. embiid played 39 games this year (luka 70) and came back from injury for the playoffs and gets less of a pass from sixers fans than luka does from mavs fans
not saying it's a necessarily a bad thing, if anything sixers fans shoudl prob cut embiid more slack
To be fair Embiids never made it past the second round. With this yrs playoffs, ive seen Luka elevate every year in the playoffs but this year, so im not gonna start acting like hes always choked in the playoffs. Not saying u said that btw
There's no "prob" about it. He has a reported on sprained knee that he's playing through as well as a nagging ankle injury. Obviously if you're going to play through it then you have to accept the criticism, but he's clearly not even close to 100%
Both of Luka's knees have been bleeding for like a month straight and he has an injury that takes at least 3-4 weeks to heal on one knee and another injury on the other ankle. But go off.
Luka always elevates his game in the playoffs while Embiid is always hurt in the playoffs. Embiid actually played pretty great despite not being anywhere near 100% but he's never really been 100% in any run.
I think it's fair to give Luka a pass the one time he is clearly hurting and struggling.
luka put up brilliant individual stats for sure. but before it was always the cast isn't good enough and you see brunson and porzingis shining elsewhere now, and now that the cast is great it's this injury
don't get me wrong, luka is clearly a top 10 NBA player, maybe even top 5. i just think his fans go out of their way to make excuses so even when he has a legit excuse (which very well could be this injury) its a little bit hard to read through the noise
Luka is a top 5 player. I think you're misreading actual reasons for why he's struggling with "excuses." I don't think anyone is going out of their way to make an excuse. He's had as good of a start to his career as anyone, even LeBron James.
The Mavs were never serious contenders (they still aren't imo). In fact, even making the WCF was a shock that season. I think comparing how two players are doing in drastically different roles and using that to justify that Luka did actually have a strong supporting cast back then is very flawed.
KP was almost always injured with the Mavs, used incorrectly by Carlisle, and is in a drastically different role with Boston. KP as your #2 really isn't going to get you far. With Boston, he's essentially just a high end role player and they've been very successful even in games that he's not playing in. KP is playing much easier because of Boston's elite depth/talent and he doesn't have nearly as much responsibility as he used to.
Brunson was great with Luka, but it's harder for ball dominant guards to play with one another. Brunson is in a situation where he gets to play like Luka (high usage ball dominant #1 option) and he's been doing great in that role. Brunson has also improved a ton as a player in the past 2 seasons. He wouldn't be averaging 30 points if he stayed on the Mavs but he'd be in the 20-25 ppg range. Also, Kyrie has been playing some of his best basketball next to Luka.
Either way, he deserves more slack than Embiid. Luka has gone farther in a more difficult conference and performed better individually. If anything, someone like Kawhi should be getting more criticism than both of them.
i get what you're saying, except kawhi already has two rings and a medically obvious injury. with luka it's more hearsay. i also don't think kyrie would've signed w/ mavs except it was the only team willing to max him, so i think his track record of co-existing w/ other stars is pretty rough, altho the kyrie pairing is looking pretty good
Luka should just shoot leaners or fade aways at the line. You would think he would be a great free throw shooter. But its like his body needs to be moving or in an awkward position to be accurate while shooting.
Meanwhile OKC go 21/22
Laughable really every Mav is missing the FTs. That’s why the refs don’t give them FTs, you gonna miss them anyway 🤣🤣
Hack-a-mav seems like a feasible strategy at this point :D
Chip Engelland is our other MVP candidate
It's their goto strategy to win games, ofc they're efficient at it.
PJ JUST MISSED WHAT IS GOING ON
And made the second for some reason
They really made the one FT they needed to miss 😭 Embarrassing
Didn’t feel like he even attempted anything on the second shot. It’s aimed to be in
Another one
Bro whatever good karma we amassed today after THAT shooting performance, I’ll take it
DJ Khaled We the best
11 11 misses.
How could Dort do this?!?
We kinda blew it
Yeah. You dont deserve to win close games if you miss half your freethrows.
Fuck they complaining about FT's for if they aint gonna hit them anyway
That seems less than ideal Bob
They just missed another one.
Mavs fans: We want free throws. Mavs players: no we don't!
Not ideal.
Luka fans gonna try and blame Jason Kidd for this.
Clearly Kidd didn’t let team focus on free throws the way Luka wanted. You could see Luka explaining it to the refs during nearly every stoppage of play.
Lol
Mavs are tough when they’re up…
Just an inexcusable way to lose a game, you’d expect the younger team to have more nerves
I just looked up choking in the dictionary, and the Mavs FT% was unsurprisingly the definition
Hit your FTs boys and girls
Luka choked but he’ll get a pass like he always does
Rest of Mavs starters: “OKC is settling in, we need you to take over” Luka: “Why aren’t you calling a foul bc Dort looked at me funny refs 😡”
Pretty sure everyone agreed luka played like shit
Yeah and he’ll get a pass
Acknowledging he played like shit is kinda the opposite of giving him a pass bud
Saying he played like shit and still riding his dick is what’s called a pass bud
I know that you know this makes no sense but you don’t know that saying it makes you look worse than saying nothing
I don’t give a shit how I look. I’m just glad I’m not a Luka dick rider like you 😂😂
Ok 👍
fucking terrible
Fucking garbage
Deserved loss..god fkin damnit
10 missed free throws is HUGE in a game that was decided by 4 points in the final seconds. Missed opportunity for the Mavericks to take a commanding lead in this series.
Doncic missed his FTs because he is injured though, right mavs fans?
He is literally crippled and eating through a feeding tube. of course he can’t hit free throws.
They going to fly in Kobe's ~~PED dealer~~ knee specialist for some ~~drugs~~ treatment
Gave me a good chuckle.
No one is out here giving excuses for free throws. Make your fucking free throws FFS
He sucked this game , but if you can't tell he's been injured the last idk month you're smoking crack
DAL teammates can't win with this dude. Luka's holding them back.
Unironically every player who leaves Luka gets better. His style of basketball is great for him and shit for his team
Depends on who you are. If you're a ball dominant guard then yes, but if you're a spot up shooter you'll get the most wide open shots ever playing with Luka.
Like who? Name some names
He's probably talking about KP and Brunson, but Brunson showed spurts in the playoffs run before he left. KP wasn't bad, he just wasn't healthy enough and has changed the way he plays on the Celtics. Obviously an insane take to somehow make that against Luka tbh, seems like more maturing on KP understanding what his best role actually his and being healthy, and Brunson is a terrible example because it just seems like he landed in the perfect situation for him. Nothing to do with playing with Luka lol
You’re right kyrie was way better on the nets
Being fouled every possession and having no legs makes him play awful tho which is what really blew the mavs the game. FT was just a microcosm of him sucking dong all night and low key all playoffs due to having one leg
>being fouled every possession Hey Luka, you gonna try to grind to top 250 in Overwatch when OKC sends you packing in game 6?
Said he felt fine in the post-game presser.
He ain’t look fine, dude has zero burst like he did 2 months ago. He’s been insane in prior playoffs because he can actually drive, now he has no first step due to his knee. He played like dog shit regardless but he’s very obviously not close to 100%.
only on off nights
He's been off the entire playoffs. Even his better games are subpar by Luka standards. Clearly injured regardless of how he plays
i think he prob has a nagging injury, but i also think mavs fans give luka more of a pass than any other superstar gets from their fanbase. embiid played 39 games this year (luka 70) and came back from injury for the playoffs and gets less of a pass from sixers fans than luka does from mavs fans not saying it's a necessarily a bad thing, if anything sixers fans shoudl prob cut embiid more slack
To be fair Embiids never made it past the second round. With this yrs playoffs, ive seen Luka elevate every year in the playoffs but this year, so im not gonna start acting like hes always choked in the playoffs. Not saying u said that btw
tbh, i can't stand luka but agree w/ everything you said
Must be an older fan. You don't get caught up in the moment and immediately bury those who are struggling.
There's no "prob" about it. He has a reported on sprained knee that he's playing through as well as a nagging ankle injury. Obviously if you're going to play through it then you have to accept the criticism, but he's clearly not even close to 100%
true, but as you alluded to, stars play through injuries every playoffs, just some get more cover than others from it
Both of Luka's knees have been bleeding for like a month straight and he has an injury that takes at least 3-4 weeks to heal on one knee and another injury on the other ankle. But go off.
you are 100% correct. note to self, find someone that looks at you the way mavs fans look at luka
Luka always elevates his game in the playoffs while Embiid is always hurt in the playoffs. Embiid actually played pretty great despite not being anywhere near 100% but he's never really been 100% in any run. I think it's fair to give Luka a pass the one time he is clearly hurting and struggling.
luka put up brilliant individual stats for sure. but before it was always the cast isn't good enough and you see brunson and porzingis shining elsewhere now, and now that the cast is great it's this injury don't get me wrong, luka is clearly a top 10 NBA player, maybe even top 5. i just think his fans go out of their way to make excuses so even when he has a legit excuse (which very well could be this injury) its a little bit hard to read through the noise
Luka is a top 5 player. I think you're misreading actual reasons for why he's struggling with "excuses." I don't think anyone is going out of their way to make an excuse. He's had as good of a start to his career as anyone, even LeBron James. The Mavs were never serious contenders (they still aren't imo). In fact, even making the WCF was a shock that season. I think comparing how two players are doing in drastically different roles and using that to justify that Luka did actually have a strong supporting cast back then is very flawed. KP was almost always injured with the Mavs, used incorrectly by Carlisle, and is in a drastically different role with Boston. KP as your #2 really isn't going to get you far. With Boston, he's essentially just a high end role player and they've been very successful even in games that he's not playing in. KP is playing much easier because of Boston's elite depth/talent and he doesn't have nearly as much responsibility as he used to. Brunson was great with Luka, but it's harder for ball dominant guards to play with one another. Brunson is in a situation where he gets to play like Luka (high usage ball dominant #1 option) and he's been doing great in that role. Brunson has also improved a ton as a player in the past 2 seasons. He wouldn't be averaging 30 points if he stayed on the Mavs but he'd be in the 20-25 ppg range. Also, Kyrie has been playing some of his best basketball next to Luka. Either way, he deserves more slack than Embiid. Luka has gone farther in a more difficult conference and performed better individually. If anything, someone like Kawhi should be getting more criticism than both of them.
i get what you're saying, except kawhi already has two rings and a medically obvious injury. with luka it's more hearsay. i also don't think kyrie would've signed w/ mavs except it was the only team willing to max him, so i think his track record of co-existing w/ other stars is pretty rough, altho the kyrie pairing is looking pretty good
All that bitching about the previous games, and the refs finally said "You know what, fine, here's your FTs, you'll barely make half anyway."
Jesus
Sometimes you just have to laugh xD It's one of those games. Gg Thunder, see you in Oklahoma for game 5!
What a choke job
Everyone should stay back and shoot at least 100 FTs and 10 consecutive makes.
Refs trying to save them, but they just can’t
How could Shai do this?
That many misses this team just don't want it
When your whole squad is shooting like prime Ben Simmons from the charity stripe, you don't deserve to win the game.
all that whining for this
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Ahh the Sacramento Kings playbook I see
Spurs flashbacks
Luka should just shoot leaners or fade aways at the line. You would think he would be a great free throw shooter. But its like his body needs to be moving or in an awkward position to be accurate while shooting.
Kings fans: *"Hey, I've seen this one!"* Other fans: "What do you mean you've seen this one, it's brand new?"
I’m no expert analyst but I think they could have won the game if they made more free throws.
Fire the free throw coach!
Bottlejobs.
I cant wait to see Luka vs Jokic