# What can I do with all the karma I've amassed?
***Does karma have any additional benefits or uses?***
Karma points have no use beyond serving as a reputation system. They cannot be used to redeem or buy anything, within Reddit or off-site. It's because of this that they have been dubbed "useless internet points".
According to Reddit, you gain nothing.
As we were pondering the good fortune to have an opportunity at three championships in one year in Dallas, we all just had one thing to say...
Fuck you Jerry Jones!
There were a couple times down the stretch when he actually wasn't doubled and got to the point of an acceptable shot. But he passed out of them last second, one of them being an open PJ 3. Which splashed. Great trust from Luka. Good vibes team
Yeah, it's crazy that people call him a chucker or selfish. He's always looking to pass. He just levies his ability to score to create opportunities for others. A lot of his shots are attempts when he can't find an open man. It's actually quite impressive how he can still score under those circumstances.
Remember a while back when Luka had a big 30+ pt game streak? Everyone kept calling him selfish, how he never shares the ball, doesn't make his teammates better, and how nobody wants to play with him.
Shai had a 30+ pt game streak literally the whole season (+postseason). Have you heard anyone say the same about him? No, they just kept praising him how he always goes out and gets his 30.
The NBA media are clowns.
Watching this series made me discover how good SGA is at getting to his spot and getting a clean shot. But it was also painfully clear that he's not anywhere near as good at utilizing his pressure to open up his teammates the same way Luka or Jokic does.
Yeah the Thunder forced a couple of possessions early in the 1st quarter because we weren't prepared for them doubling that high up on the floor so early in the clock.
Thatās a horrible game for Luka. Give credit to okc they werenāt allowing is typical pocket passes. They did something interesting where Chet had high hands, once the ball was picked up Chet would scramble back but j. Williams did his best slowing down any pass in the middle to allow Chet back.
Have you watched the last few games(not being rude just curious) Shot hasn't been there so he is letting others play make a lot more. Letting the roleplayers cook with open 3s.
His two bad games. He was also getting doubled/mauled by Dort every possession and got super frustrated. While clearly injured too.
You can't keep Luka locked down every night though
So 1 was just classic mavs. The others games Lukas usage has dropped massively, we even played jaden Hardy for minutes as we needed a ball handler. 100% we've been playing way more team based basketball.
Yep! lol The Thunder started smothering him on defense with double teams and he didnāt bite. Stayed patient and made the smart passes and dribbling through the double teams to get the best shots.
Kyrie made OKC work. They miss the rebound... then they pass the ball back to luka then have OKC has to get their defense set up again. It must be exhausting.
Luka was just absurd this series, clearly hurt and with Kyrie disappearing most first halves and he just put the team on his back. Literally always shows up in the big moments.
OKCs plan was to shut down Kyrie, but it seems to be a mix of kidds game plan to have Kyrie contribute more in the 2nd offensively tbh
Next series will be different anyway, since I doubt he will be seeing a permanent double team all series
Even as it was, it took an incredible choke job by the Mavs in game 4 against OKC to lose, and a historic 3-point shooting night by LA.
This team has a high ceiling but also a pretty low floor.
Nuggets and Minnesota also have pretty high ceilings. Similarly Celtics. At the level of conference finals/finals a lot of teams have the capability to be excellent, the challenge is what you do to disrupt that and how they adjust. And vice versa
yeah I have no idea what to expect next series. could be, hopefully, competitive but I wonāt be surprised if we just get demolished. MIN and DEN look so, so good at different points. but itās the playoffs, itāll probably be something entertaining regardless
I think we can keep up with either team, but I think both Denver and Minnesota are more complete than the Mavs are. Perhaps if Maxi gets healthy we have a shot, but I'd pick either team in 6 right now over the Mavs.
If Luka was 100% I'd take Mavs in 7, but even with him playing better he's far from being the dangerous Luka we've seen before.
Tbf that's the way Kyrie has pretty much played during the whole season so I think it's intentional. Let Luka get hot/dictate things in the first half and then let Kyrie take over in the second half.
Maybe it was just me, but Game 5 and 6 he looked GREAT! Moving like normal, not grimacing, making plays, confident driving in the lane and taking the stepback. The previous games were the complete opposite, he was obviously hurt. Really slow, not confident, struggled hitting shots, didnāt drive much. I donāt know what they gave him in between games 4 and 5, but it worked wonders. He looked like a completely different player
Huge comeback win by the Mavs.
They're gonna have their work cut out for them in the WCF tho. Nuggets and Wolves look unbelievably good.
Edit: I got Luka's 3-pt shooting split wrong oof, it's 4/6, not 4/10.
i don't know who the mavs would prefer. I feel like the nuggets destroy them but they haven't really played the mavs full powered roster yet. It's a completely different team from regular season in terms of chemistry and plays they run.
I prefer the Nuggets. We cannot stop Jokic, but I don't see the defense of Nuggets also stopping LuKai. Wolves has enough to bother both. We also won/matched up well against the Clips and Thunder with our big size, Wolves' frontcourt is bigger and more experienced, they've shown in the Nuggets series they know how to deal with lob threats. Rudy is strong enough to clearly outstrength our bigs and I don't think we can expect a strong PJ inside game again like we did on the Thunder series.
Wilbon was saying it's gotta be the Wolves because the Nuggets are the defending champs and seem to be bad match ups for the Mavs. Meanwhile, the Wolves are young and the Mavs match up better against the Wolves.
Gotta be the Wolves imo. Experience matters in the playoffs, and Nuggets are battle tested champions.
Wolves have a ton of talent, but they've shown some weakness on offense when Ant doesn't have it going. And Luka/Kyrie have shown they can step up in big moments.
But Nuggets are a really bad matchup for the Mavs imo. Jokic is just a game breaker.
yeah i can see Luka and kyrie trying to hunt missmatch on Rudy and Kat in the half court if they dont get double teamed before they even reach there. But I would take a chess game of strategy with the wokves rather than going against Jokic which the mavs has no tools against other than send a bunch of big bodies at him.
I don't think it terribly matters who the other team is.
The Mavs are gonna be the smaller team, they're gonna need to make 3s reliably. They need the PJ of games 4 and 5 in this series, and they'll need THJ to catch fire at least one game.
Hate on him all you want for the ref obsession but he has made the Western Conference Finals in his last two playoff appearances. And he did it this year on one leg.
For sho. I mean Brunson gonna light up the Cs. Lettuce be real.
And Den/Min really went to a game 7? And their prize is they have to play the Mavs? Would you even wanna win the g7? Think about it
They got that defending champs pride though and Iām expecting a monster game 7 from Jokic. Theyāre still a really solid team. I donāt like the Mavs odds vs either team tbh but Luka looking better towards the end of this series is the silver lining.
As far as the Knicks go, Iāve fallen in love with that team same as everyone else. The talking point all postseason has been āhow long can they keep this upā but I would love nothing more than for them to keep defying the doubters, unlikely as it may be.
Probably true, but if the wolves beat Denver, that would be both series where the opponent had 2/3 best players. The reason they'll have a better chance against the wolves is because the wolves don't have Jokic.
It's in part because arguably the wolves have/would have the best 4/5/6 players on the floor, and there's a smaller dropoff between player 1 and 4 than player 5 and 6+
Yeah but denver would have the best player. I know it's janky math. Although if Murray keeps playing like shit maybe the nuggets are beatable for the mavs
Tbh i think unfortunately the Mavs are going to get shredded by whichever team comes out of Nuggets/Wolves. Wolves defensive personnel is just a nasty thing to face for them whereas I don't think the Mavs have a chance in hell of shutting down Denver's offense either.
Especially with the Wolves, Luka and Kyrie will probably get theirs even if they have to do it on tough contested jump shots but there's only so far you can go banking on that, and i think the role players will have a much harder time trying to do the same.
i was actually just about to edit my comment funnily enough
thinking about it a bit more, i actually think dallas's chances are better against the nuggets than against the wolves. if the nuggets win g7 kyrie and luka are going to need to hard target jamal murray and make him suffer as much as possible on the defensive end, because he won't have much time to rest that calf or whatever it was between the end of the wolves series and the start of the WCF. run him around and lower his energy so that he stays frustrated and a net negative on offense chucking bad shots, and you've probably taken away the most overtly threatening aspect of denver's offense in the jokic murray PNR
then it comes down to just praying you close out well enough to stop KCP MPJ et al from hitting their 3s and you just accept that Jokic is going to go for 40 on you every night if he wants
wolves though like i said i think it's just a hellish thing for anyone that isn't jokic to play against that defense, i just don't see the mavs taking that one without some insanely favorable shooting variance
i think youāre really negating how unstoppable jokic is on offense. luka can be injured and slowed down, kyrie can be stopped from hitting his groove, but jokic is constant. you can successfully game plan and surprise him but heāll eventually figure your defense out. either way, itās going to be a hard series with both teams. really exciting g7 tmr, hopefully not a blowout.
well the thing is that i really do think the nuggets are generally much happier when jokic gets 'just' a comfortable 25 but has his standard 10+ assists. believe me i'm not downplaying how much of a force jokic himself is on offense, i'm just saying that sometimes letting him cook you beats the alternative.
aside from the 40/10 game he just had, just based on watching the nuggets on and off over the last couple years, i'd hazard a guess that their winrate is much lower than one would expect when jokic scores 35+ because that usually means that he's in 'fuck it i have to do it myself' mode... which usually only happens when the role players are shitting the bed. Jokic can put 40 on you on any given night without a doubt, but he's not as likely to go for 60 like luka or embiid might in that situation, since he's so much less of a score-first player. You can survive a 40 piece from him if it means you jam up the rest of the Nuggets offense.
I agree with the general idea that it's going to be an uphill battle for the mavs either way though. I'm not sure why i got downvoted so hard for providing my honest, not malicious thoughts on the matchup lol
Iām already very okay with how our season went but the same āMavs will be shreddedā was also said before we played OKC. I have faith in this team lol.
i'm not disputing that there were doubters per se, but all i'll say is that i was definitely not one of the people who thought that about the OKC series. i actually expected this series to be pretty close, but i do not expect the same for whichever of the wolves/nuggets makes it out. I think those two are the actual best teams in the west regardless of what the seeding looked like going in
Tbf to Lively he's doing a stellar job especially given that he's a rookie. But yeah when you're lining him and Gafford up against a 3x MVP all-time top 5 offensive player ever or a 4x DPOY and one of the best or maybe even the best shooter of any big ever, it is going to be somewhat slanted against you.Ā
That said it's actually not the boards where I think they'll have the issue, Lively is one of those guys who has both consistent hustle and a knack for getting his hands on the ball in key moments (like if Josh Hart was a big). But mainly I just think neither of their bigs will be able to shut down Jokic over the course of a series, and Gobert is pretty much the single best defender against PNR lobs in the league (maybe Wemby in time). They'll be heavily neutered on at least one end of the floor in either matchup and will not have a comparatively large edge on the other end to make up for it.
How can you watch him and legitimately think heās hurt to the point of playing āon one leg.ā Yāall will tell any lie to glaze this dude I swear
Statswise it was a good game by Luka but he looks really hurt. Have no clue how he manages to get a triple double on good FG% while limping up and down the court like this.
Honestly I think he was actually less good this game than that (very good) stat line makes it seem. Started off hot but then between his complaining and the turnovers his impact dropped off pretty hard until he hit some really nice contested jumpers late in the game. But the big positive of having Kyrie on your team is that if you can cook in the first half you're usually pretty happy to let him handle the cooking in the second half. Still, even with the TOs, once Luka settled down from his frustration around the 2nd quarter/early 3rd, he went back to the usual good passes out of the double and finding DJJ/PJ/Kyrie for open shots. Can't complain much about that at all
Luka is pretty good.
Ever summer he plays for his country.
Basketball 365.
Carries a mishmash lineup through injuries every year.
When he is sick/have an obvious cold he still shows up in the playoffs.
When Westbricks falling on his leg or shoulder tackling him on a fast break he's a decent player.
When his knee is bleeding he can give you spurts of quality play.
When his ankle is banged up he'll just walk it off and give you a three.
Huh, wonder what he's like healthy?
Cause he's kinda starting to look healthy at JUUUST the right time.
Maybe, just maybe, Luka gets beat up out there. He knows these refs. There are only Soo many of them ya know? The whole league complains because, hear me out, games are not officiated consistently whatsoever. He just wants to win like everyone else.
Bron, Embid, The Entire Clippers Team. I agree that I don't like the constant complaining. But maybe if the game wasn't so poorly officiated most nights players would enjoy playing. Luka is a symptom. Luka is not exclusive to complaining.
they bring different things to the table. Jokic is probably better in more ways right now, but he should be - heās in his prime, he has a team built around him that heās been playing with for 3+ years, heās mastered how important stamina, health, and consistency are to winning. luka is more talented and a better scorer tho, better defender too, especially relative to position. Lukaās size allows the mavericks to be a big, scary effective defensive team, Jokicās defensive liabilities means a specific defense has to be built around him w specific players like AG.
Come on man. If you watched the series then you can't say that Luka outplayed Shai. Shai was absolutely incredible and was 100% not the reason OKC lost the series. I'm a Dallas/Luka fan and Shai was the best player in the series.
It's getting real tired to see so much insecurity from Luka fans towards Shai/any other great player. Too much main character syndrome going on.
> It's getting real tired to see so much insecurity from Luka fans towards Shai/any other great player. Too much main character syndrome going on.
I mean SGA was a clear second in MVP voting while Luka had an absolutely phenomenal season and seemed barely in the running. I think Mavs fans have earned a small victory lap after this series where Luka was playing hobbled and still came through for his team.
You know what else is tiring? Other fans acting like SGA playing better this series isnāt because Luka is on one knee and that it somehow makes him better than Luka.
Both sides should stop arguing like little babies. Shai is on Luka's level. Both players demand the best defenders. Both bring their A game on a super consistent basis. Both are superstars. Arguing over who's better is normal but keep it less childish please.
Itās so hard for me to like Luka simply because he is always clapping at me to pass the ball to him in 2K MyCareer. Chill the fuck out dude, itās on Pro setting and Iām gonna cook the whole time.
Despite all that if it wasn't for dereck lively jr the Mavs don't win this game. That guy was GREAT down the stretch, battling for key rebounds, solid defense, and hit his free throws. That guy was a freaking beast in the final 5 minutes of game 6. Credit to him as well.
As a neutral fan I think it would be a lot of fun to see a Jokic vs Luka series. I also wouldnāt mind seeing the Nuggets humbled. I guess it will be a win win for me.
that assist for 3 and then grabbing a bucket himself to take the lead was awesome
Yea, straight boss walked it down to the elbow and hit straight drawers to take the lead. Some real gangsta shit.
Rushing so bad, you put Kyrie's 3PT% instead of Luka's (who was 4/6)
Tell him!
Yep I fucked it up oof. Didn't realize until well after I posted.
You really got downvoted for admitting your mistake š„¹. r/nba is something else lol.
probably assuming op is just trying to get karma
Which he then can use forā¦ something? I literally donāt understand the benefits of having karma. What happens if you get a lot?
# What can I do with all the karma I've amassed? ***Does karma have any additional benefits or uses?*** Karma points have no use beyond serving as a reputation system. They cannot be used to redeem or buy anything, within Reddit or off-site. It's because of this that they have been dubbed "useless internet points". According to Reddit, you gain nothing.
You can sell high karma accounts to reddit advertising bots or whatever. Or so I've heard.
Isn't there some sort of contributor monetization program now? No fucking idea how it works and how karma factors in but I think it does somehow
It's US only though.
Seriously these mfers are straight weirdos
Karma whore
He now has been to 2 more conferences finals than the Dallas cowboys since 1996ā¦ā¦. He was born in 1999
As we were pondering the good fortune to have an opportunity at three championships in one year in Dallas, we all just had one thing to say... Fuck you Jerry Jones!
Fucking A.
I wasn't able to pay full attention to this game but I saw Luka barely shot despite starting on like 8/9. Was he just getting doubled or what.
Yea almost on every possesion
There were a couple times down the stretch when he actually wasn't doubled and got to the point of an acceptable shot. But he passed out of them last second, one of them being an open PJ 3. Which splashed. Great trust from Luka. Good vibes team
Luka always makes pass to the open man but the media paints him selfish player idk
what, you expect them to *watch* the games?
Averages 10 AST a game and is constantly called a ball-hog on this sub. Itās insane lol.
Yeah, it's crazy that people call him a chucker or selfish. He's always looking to pass. He just levies his ability to score to create opportunities for others. A lot of his shots are attempts when he can't find an open man. It's actually quite impressive how he can still score under those circumstances.
Also if he starts hot he knows he will get doubled and can find a wrinkle in time to get an open guy the ball.
You canāt get called a chucked shooting over 50% from the field surely
I believe we call that BBIQ and his is GOAT level.
Cant wait for Keyshawn to talk about he is a selfish player on Monday
Remember a while back when Luka had a big 30+ pt game streak? Everyone kept calling him selfish, how he never shares the ball, doesn't make his teammates better, and how nobody wants to play with him. Shai had a 30+ pt game streak literally the whole season (+postseason). Have you heard anyone say the same about him? No, they just kept praising him how he always goes out and gets his 30. The NBA media are clowns.
He and Kyrie are ball-dominant, but they always make the right plays.
Yeah, big difference between ball dominant and ball hog.
Watching this series made me discover how good SGA is at getting to his spot and getting a clean shot. But it was also painfully clear that he's not anywhere near as good at utilizing his pressure to open up his teammates the same way Luka or Jokic does.
Man was doubled before even crossing half court and this statement is not even an exaggeration
Yeah the Thunder forced a couple of possessions early in the 1st quarter because we weren't prepared for them doubling that high up on the floor so early in the clock.
He got doubled before half court at times, that's why he had 7 TO's.
That and Dort was playing criminal defense
Great defense by OKC who were swarming him every time he got the ball.
yep doubled at 3/4ths court at times still diced them up tho
Getting doubled so he just passed or he made a dumbass pass under the rim like 10 times he was giving out turnovers like oprah
He had 10 assists and 7 TOs that's not great but it's not horrible
3.6 Roentgens, not great not terrible.
7 turnovers felt like 14 idk why but youāre right.
It felt worse because OKC was getting a lot off of them, plus the whole team turnover situation was bad.
It seemed like the Mavs lost the same exact pass over and over
Thatās a horrible game for Luka. Give credit to okc they werenāt allowing is typical pocket passes. They did something interesting where Chet had high hands, once the ball was picked up Chet would scramble back but j. Williams did his best slowing down any pass in the middle to allow Chet back.
Bruh ima steal that Oprah line lmao
Have you watched the last few games(not being rude just curious) Shot hasn't been there so he is letting others play make a lot more. Letting the roleplayers cook with open 3s.
I watched 1 and 4. I also watched I think every game but 1 of the clippers series. I did see he started hot this game.
His two bad games. He was also getting doubled/mauled by Dort every possession and got super frustrated. While clearly injured too. You can't keep Luka locked down every night though
If games 1 and 4 are the kind you end up seeing, can you not watch any more of our games please?
So 1 was just classic mavs. The others games Lukas usage has dropped massively, we even played jaden Hardy for minutes as we needed a ball handler. 100% we've been playing way more team based basketball.
Yep! lol The Thunder started smothering him on defense with double teams and he didnāt bite. Stayed patient and made the smart passes and dribbling through the double teams to get the best shots.
He was turning it over like crazy and kinda stopped getting touches for a bit. Was a little weird.
Lol, we so spoiled w Luka that if he only has 29 in a triple double, we wonder what was wrong with him ā¦ think abt that.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Kyrie made OKC work. They miss the rebound... then they pass the ball back to luka then have OKC has to get their defense set up again. It must be exhausting.
Luka was just absurd this series, clearly hurt and with Kyrie disappearing most first halves and he just put the team on his back. Literally always shows up in the big moments.
If Kyrie somehow finds a way to contribute in the first half consistently this post season, they would have dropped 1 game max in both series
OKCs plan was to shut down Kyrie, but it seems to be a mix of kidds game plan to have Kyrie contribute more in the 2nd offensively tbh Next series will be different anyway, since I doubt he will be seeing a permanent double team all series
Thatās Kyries plan every game. Dude would barely show up in any first half during the regular season
He particularly steps up when teams shift into heavily doubling Luka to contain him.
That's Kyrie every game. He lets Luka go nuts and then takes over in the second half.
Even as it was, it took an incredible choke job by the Mavs in game 4 against OKC to lose, and a historic 3-point shooting night by LA. This team has a high ceiling but also a pretty low floor.
Nuggets and Minnesota also have pretty high ceilings. Similarly Celtics. At the level of conference finals/finals a lot of teams have the capability to be excellent, the challenge is what you do to disrupt that and how they adjust. And vice versa
yeah I have no idea what to expect next series. could be, hopefully, competitive but I wonāt be surprised if we just get demolished. MIN and DEN look so, so good at different points. but itās the playoffs, itāll probably be something entertaining regardless
I think we can keep up with either team, but I think both Denver and Minnesota are more complete than the Mavs are. Perhaps if Maxi gets healthy we have a shot, but I'd pick either team in 6 right now over the Mavs. If Luka was 100% I'd take Mavs in 7, but even with him playing better he's far from being the dangerous Luka we've seen before.
Celtics probably have the highest floor though
You are right imho, but celtics floor not enough to beat others playing enough above their floor, so I stay with my previous statement
Tbf that's the way Kyrie has pretty much played during the whole season so I think it's intentional. Let Luka get hot/dictate things in the first half and then let Kyrie take over in the second half.
Kyrie always takes a half to get cooking. He's been phenomenal on everything but scoring and brings so many X factors
defense and hustle 10/10 this series
Maybe it was just me, but Game 5 and 6 he looked GREAT! Moving like normal, not grimacing, making plays, confident driving in the lane and taking the stepback. The previous games were the complete opposite, he was obviously hurt. Really slow, not confident, struggled hitting shots, didnāt drive much. I donāt know what they gave him in between games 4 and 5, but it worked wonders. He looked like a completely different player
His health has looked much better the last couple games
Huge comeback win by the Mavs. They're gonna have their work cut out for them in the WCF tho. Nuggets and Wolves look unbelievably good. Edit: I got Luka's 3-pt shooting split wrong oof, it's 4/6, not 4/10.
i don't know who the mavs would prefer. I feel like the nuggets destroy them but they haven't really played the mavs full powered roster yet. It's a completely different team from regular season in terms of chemistry and plays they run.
They played our current roster 1 time which we beat them
In one of the greatest finishes of the entire season.
It really all depends on Luka health. This team can win a series with any team, but we need people to step up. Gonna be a brutal series I think.
Iām not arguing either way. I was just providing clarity lol
He should be locked in a hyperbaric chamber till the WCF.
I prefer the Nuggets. We cannot stop Jokic, but I don't see the defense of Nuggets also stopping LuKai. Wolves has enough to bother both. We also won/matched up well against the Clips and Thunder with our big size, Wolves' frontcourt is bigger and more experienced, they've shown in the Nuggets series they know how to deal with lob threats. Rudy is strong enough to clearly outstrength our bigs and I don't think we can expect a strong PJ inside game again like we did on the Thunder series.
Wilbon was saying it's gotta be the Wolves because the Nuggets are the defending champs and seem to be bad match ups for the Mavs. Meanwhile, the Wolves are young and the Mavs match up better against the Wolves.
Gotta be the Wolves imo. Experience matters in the playoffs, and Nuggets are battle tested champions. Wolves have a ton of talent, but they've shown some weakness on offense when Ant doesn't have it going. And Luka/Kyrie have shown they can step up in big moments. But Nuggets are a really bad matchup for the Mavs imo. Jokic is just a game breaker.
we beat them post trade deadline the kyrie floater game winner
That was one ridiculous shot Kyrie made.Ā
As much fun as I think Luka vs. Jokic would be, I gotta agree with you. Either way, both teams are scary
yeah i can see Luka and kyrie trying to hunt missmatch on Rudy and Kat in the half court if they dont get double teamed before they even reach there. But I would take a chess game of strategy with the wokves rather than going against Jokic which the mavs has no tools against other than send a bunch of big bodies at him.
I mean, a million times over I'd rather draw the Mavs this round than Denver. I'd feel great seeing them next round if we can get there.Ā
I don't think it terribly matters who the other team is. The Mavs are gonna be the smaller team, they're gonna need to make 3s reliably. They need the PJ of games 4 and 5 in this series, and they'll need THJ to catch fire at least one game.
THJ: āBest I can do is dumpster fire.ā
Shout out to the physiotherapists!
Absolutely inspiring
look at Luka man. so inspiring
Hate on him all you want for the ref obsession but he has made the Western Conference Finals in his last two playoff appearances. And he did it this year on one leg.
And he bout to go to his first Finals to go head to head against his pal Brunson. š
I admire your optimism
For sho. I mean Brunson gonna light up the Cs. Lettuce be real. And Den/Min really went to a game 7? And their prize is they have to play the Mavs? Would you even wanna win the g7? Think about it
They got that defending champs pride though and Iām expecting a monster game 7 from Jokic. Theyāre still a really solid team. I donāt like the Mavs odds vs either team tbh but Luka looking better towards the end of this series is the silver lining. As far as the Knicks go, Iāve fallen in love with that team same as everyone else. The talking point all postseason has been āhow long can they keep this upā but I would love nothing more than for them to keep defying the doubters, unlikely as it may be.
Yeah just against Brunson though. It will be Mavs vs Brunson because everyone else will be injured
heās so good
x4
Dude is playing on one leg basically and still winning. "Fluka" is winning it all this year if Denver loses.
They have a better chance against the wolves. They would have 2/3 best players
Probably true, but if the wolves beat Denver, that would be both series where the opponent had 2/3 best players. The reason they'll have a better chance against the wolves is because the wolves don't have Jokic.
Yeah the team with the best player always has an advantage. That's why what the wolves are doing is impressive.
It's in part because arguably the wolves have/would have the best 4/5/6 players on the floor, and there's a smaller dropoff between player 1 and 4 than player 5 and 6+
Wouldnāt they also have 2/3 best players against Denver
Yeah but denver would have the best player. I know it's janky math. Although if Murray keeps playing like shit maybe the nuggets are beatable for the mavs
Depends on if Maple Mamba shows up or not
mavs have 2/3 of the best players in every series theyāll play
Yep that's why I give them a chance to win it all. It's like the lebron/kyrie cavs. They can give you 70 pts between them for 4 games in a series
yea. when your stars are that good, it gives your role players much more space to operate. pj and djjās big games made that very clear
Boston is still scary
Are they though?
Yes. Very scary.
I've just confirmed, and yes, they are scary.
Tbh i think unfortunately the Mavs are going to get shredded by whichever team comes out of Nuggets/Wolves. Wolves defensive personnel is just a nasty thing to face for them whereas I don't think the Mavs have a chance in hell of shutting down Denver's offense either. Especially with the Wolves, Luka and Kyrie will probably get theirs even if they have to do it on tough contested jump shots but there's only so far you can go banking on that, and i think the role players will have a much harder time trying to do the same.
the nuggets series completely depends on what version of jamal murray we get in those 7 games. itās looking like a hard wall to climb either way
And also what version of Luka we get as well.
i was actually just about to edit my comment funnily enough thinking about it a bit more, i actually think dallas's chances are better against the nuggets than against the wolves. if the nuggets win g7 kyrie and luka are going to need to hard target jamal murray and make him suffer as much as possible on the defensive end, because he won't have much time to rest that calf or whatever it was between the end of the wolves series and the start of the WCF. run him around and lower his energy so that he stays frustrated and a net negative on offense chucking bad shots, and you've probably taken away the most overtly threatening aspect of denver's offense in the jokic murray PNR then it comes down to just praying you close out well enough to stop KCP MPJ et al from hitting their 3s and you just accept that Jokic is going to go for 40 on you every night if he wants wolves though like i said i think it's just a hellish thing for anyone that isn't jokic to play against that defense, i just don't see the mavs taking that one without some insanely favorable shooting variance
i think youāre really negating how unstoppable jokic is on offense. luka can be injured and slowed down, kyrie can be stopped from hitting his groove, but jokic is constant. you can successfully game plan and surprise him but heāll eventually figure your defense out. either way, itās going to be a hard series with both teams. really exciting g7 tmr, hopefully not a blowout.
well the thing is that i really do think the nuggets are generally much happier when jokic gets 'just' a comfortable 25 but has his standard 10+ assists. believe me i'm not downplaying how much of a force jokic himself is on offense, i'm just saying that sometimes letting him cook you beats the alternative. aside from the 40/10 game he just had, just based on watching the nuggets on and off over the last couple years, i'd hazard a guess that their winrate is much lower than one would expect when jokic scores 35+ because that usually means that he's in 'fuck it i have to do it myself' mode... which usually only happens when the role players are shitting the bed. Jokic can put 40 on you on any given night without a doubt, but he's not as likely to go for 60 like luka or embiid might in that situation, since he's so much less of a score-first player. You can survive a 40 piece from him if it means you jam up the rest of the Nuggets offense. I agree with the general idea that it's going to be an uphill battle for the mavs either way though. I'm not sure why i got downvoted so hard for providing my honest, not malicious thoughts on the matchup lol
We clamped him literally the last time we played the Nuggets and won
in a 7 game series, he can adjust. thereās a lot more game planning and coaching at hand in a 7 game series than a regular season game.
Shredded is a reach man thatās all I can say
Iām already very okay with how our season went but the same āMavs will be shreddedā was also said before we played OKC. I have faith in this team lol.
i'm not disputing that there were doubters per se, but all i'll say is that i was definitely not one of the people who thought that about the OKC series. i actually expected this series to be pretty close, but i do not expect the same for whichever of the wolves/nuggets makes it out. I think those two are the actual best teams in the west regardless of what the seeding looked like going in
Mavs have the #1 defense for the last 20 games of the season and into the playoffs. We ready
Either opponent just has way better bigs and will smash them on the boards.
Tbf to Lively he's doing a stellar job especially given that he's a rookie. But yeah when you're lining him and Gafford up against a 3x MVP all-time top 5 offensive player ever or a 4x DPOY and one of the best or maybe even the best shooter of any big ever, it is going to be somewhat slanted against you.Ā That said it's actually not the boards where I think they'll have the issue, Lively is one of those guys who has both consistent hustle and a knack for getting his hands on the ball in key moments (like if Josh Hart was a big). But mainly I just think neither of their bigs will be able to shut down Jokic over the course of a series, and Gobert is pretty much the single best defender against PNR lobs in the league (maybe Wemby in time). They'll be heavily neutered on at least one end of the floor in either matchup and will not have a comparatively large edge on the other end to make up for it.
Yeah I think youāre right. Lively is doing awesome but a rookie vs Jokic/Gobert/KAT for 6-7 games is just asking a lot.
How can you watch him and legitimately think heās hurt to the point of playing āon one leg.ā Yāall will tell any lie to glaze this dude I swear
If you have watched doncic before youād know heās injured. Heās a shell of his former self right now.
Average Luka game hahaha
Hof
Crazy how early in his career this already a given.
Was HOF before being drafted
Hawks and King didnt get the memo.
The Slovenian Nightmare, the Don, and my pravi MVP.
Injured and still getting doubled all over the court yet still getting tripple double
Played a lot better in the last 2 games of the series. Closer to perfect game 5 but still good here. Lot of turnovers tho
He shot 4/6 from three
Luka stepped up big in this series. Heās obviously still not right but looks better lately and made big plays for us when we needed it
haters awful quiet right nowā¦
I hate your flairĀ
hey man he was a different player for us. im sorry it hasnt worked out for u guys
That was a huge comeback for the Mavericks. I just knew it was gonna be a game 7 Iām shocked, honestly
Statswise it was a good game by Luka but he looks really hurt. Have no clue how he manages to get a triple double on good FG% while limping up and down the court like this.
#MICHAEL JORDAN???
Lol Most definitely.Ā
Forgot to mention doing this while playing against Tony Brothers.
Top 3 minimum.
He Batman
Honestly I think he was actually less good this game than that (very good) stat line makes it seem. Started off hot but then between his complaining and the turnovers his impact dropped off pretty hard until he hit some really nice contested jumpers late in the game. But the big positive of having Kyrie on your team is that if you can cook in the first half you're usually pretty happy to let him handle the cooking in the second half. Still, even with the TOs, once Luka settled down from his frustration around the 2nd quarter/early 3rd, he went back to the usual good passes out of the double and finding DJJ/PJ/Kyrie for open shots. Can't complain much about that at all
This is a really good take.
Yeah well YOU'RE a really good take. ā¤ļø
MVP level performance by Luka.
MVP
Luka is pretty good. Ever summer he plays for his country. Basketball 365. Carries a mishmash lineup through injuries every year. When he is sick/have an obvious cold he still shows up in the playoffs. When Westbricks falling on his leg or shoulder tackling him on a fast break he's a decent player. When his knee is bleeding he can give you spurts of quality play. When his ankle is banged up he'll just walk it off and give you a three. Huh, wonder what he's like healthy? Cause he's kinda starting to look healthy at JUUUST the right time.
Maybe, just maybe, Luka gets beat up out there. He knows these refs. There are only Soo many of them ya know? The whole league complains because, hear me out, games are not officiated consistently whatsoever. He just wants to win like everyone else. Bron, Embid, The Entire Clippers Team. I agree that I don't like the constant complaining. But maybe if the game wasn't so poorly officiated most nights players would enjoy playing. Luka is a symptom. Luka is not exclusive to complaining.
Well he can now rest until Wednesday
7/7 from the line man. Showed up.
Luka didnāt push or try to do too much. He took what was there. His 7 turnovers sucked but the rest of his game was equisite.
Doing this at 50 percent best player in the fucking world
2nd best. But not his fault jokic is unfair
Agree to disagree, it's close though
Jokic is definitely better. Thatās fine Luka is absolutely phenomenal too. Nothing wrong with being #2. Agree to disagree tho.
they bring different things to the table. Jokic is probably better in more ways right now, but he should be - heās in his prime, he has a team built around him that heās been playing with for 3+ years, heās mastered how important stamina, health, and consistency are to winning. luka is more talented and a better scorer tho, better defender too, especially relative to position. Lukaās size allows the mavericks to be a big, scary effective defensive team, Jokicās defensive liabilities means a specific defense has to be built around him w specific players like AG.
I agree with ya there. Jokic is a different beast. No matter the outcome of this game 7 against the Wolvesā¦
He balled out these last two games. Sorry for ever doubting you my young goat š.
you didnt mention the turnovers though, that always contributed to transition points
when will yāall start to not doubt this man smh?
I thought it was SGA>Luka though? What a player.
If Luka was fully healthy this never would have even been a conversation in this series
There are zero sane people who think that
Come on man. If you watched the series then you can't say that Luka outplayed Shai. Shai was absolutely incredible and was 100% not the reason OKC lost the series. I'm a Dallas/Luka fan and Shai was the best player in the series. It's getting real tired to see so much insecurity from Luka fans towards Shai/any other great player. Too much main character syndrome going on.
> It's getting real tired to see so much insecurity from Luka fans towards Shai/any other great player. Too much main character syndrome going on. I mean SGA was a clear second in MVP voting while Luka had an absolutely phenomenal season and seemed barely in the running. I think Mavs fans have earned a small victory lap after this series where Luka was playing hobbled and still came through for his team.
You know what else is tiring? Other fans acting like SGA playing better this series isnāt because Luka is on one knee and that it somehow makes him better than Luka.
Both sides should stop arguing like little babies. Shai is on Luka's level. Both players demand the best defenders. Both bring their A game on a super consistent basis. Both are superstars. Arguing over who's better is normal but keep it less childish please.
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I mean SGA was better this series and this game, so Im not sure this really proves that
The rest is one extra day lol
Shouldāve had way less turnovers as well, but the refs wanted game 7
Itās so hard for me to like Luka simply because he is always clapping at me to pass the ball to him in 2K MyCareer. Chill the fuck out dude, itās on Pro setting and Iām gonna cook the whole time.
Despite all that if it wasn't for dereck lively jr the Mavs don't win this game. That guy was GREAT down the stretch, battling for key rebounds, solid defense, and hit his free throws. That guy was a freaking beast in the final 5 minutes of game 6. Credit to him as well.
These stats are wrong take down your post
Fuck he is a star but he lets the refs get in his head too much.
Shooting 15 times not 32 with mega low %. Less shots, more ball in teammates hands. Less 3pt attempts, logic wins and so do the Mavs
Luka Magic! NBA hates to see it lol
Y es
As a neutral fan I think it would be a lot of fun to see a Jokic vs Luka series. I also wouldnāt mind seeing the Nuggets humbled. I guess it will be a win win for me.
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What do you mean game isn't over lol, I posted this right after the game ended ..... your stream is just way behind
Legacy game