For me personally, Luka’s best moment was the first quarter in game 5 when he singlehandedly destroyed the wolves’ belief that they could win while silencing the whole arena.. In the press conference after the game Ant said himself after being asked what the reason for their meltdown was. He said “Luka! It’s just that simple..”
It's so crazy to me Luka's this good while clearly not in his best shape. On the other hand, getting the scoring title as a chubby white guy is quite the flex 🤣
Luka was ROBBED OF MVP this season: • 34/9/10 • 1st in points • 2nd in assists • 73 point game (4th highest ever) • First 33/9/9 season in NBA history • Most 30-PT TD’s since MVP Russ • 1st in 25-point games • 1st in 35-point games • 1st in 40-point games • 1st in 45-point games • 2nd in 3’s made • Top 10 in steals • 61.7% TS • Highest scoring season in Mavs history • Most PPG + RPG + APG since the merger. • Most consecutive 25 point triple-doubles ever • Most consecutive 30 point triple-doubles ever • Lifted Mavs from 11 seed to 5 seed • Most games missed by teammates among all playoff teams • Mavs 50+ wins • Mavs 1st in clutch win% • 6th best record in entire NBA • 9th best ISO Defender • Carried mid Mavs team to the finals while injured the whole PO🐐💯
Luka has the advantage of insane box scores. So with stats, you can always make him look like the MVP. But I also think his game is fully explained by those stats. When he averages 34/9/9 on good efficiency, his impact feels like exactly that. With Jokic, his averages are lower, but it feels like his impact goes far beyond what any stats could show (which is why he’s almost always 1st in advanced stats, which you have included none of). It’s definitely not a robbery that Jokic won. Win Shares: Jokic in 1st by a mile PER: Jokic in 1st BPM: Jokic in 1st by a mile VORP: Jokic in 1st by a mile
@@Colinkrauss1 you are completely wrong! There are multiple advance stats where Luka is better or just neck and neck with jokic. Also Jokic has such a well rounded team compare to lukas teams for years of course Jokic has it so much easier. Look this shit up before yapping
MAILBAG MAILBAG Hi Jason I’m from New England so I grew up a huge Celtics fan. Outside of the two J’s, my favorite player from the 2022 Celtics run by far was Robert Williams the third. Assuming health, what team do you think would be able to maximize his huge defensive upside? I can’t imagine a rebuilding Portland Trailblazers team will be able to do him justice, thanks and love the show!
It wasn't a bad matchu8p at all. Boston outscored Dallas in the series 508/496. The problem was Dallas' role players just couldn't perform on the big stage. They played hard on defense, but they couldn't hit shots (even shots Boston intentionally left open to dare them to shoot), and with an injured Luka and Kyrie's difficulties playing Boston, they played just badly enough to lose 4 out of 5 games. But they could have won 2 of those EASILY. 2 more threes by Iriving or Washington, 3 lobs (or rebound putbacks), or Luka just shooting a little better and they could have taken Boston 6 or even 7. The one game the role players performed to their season averages, they beat Boston by the 3rd largest margin in Finals history. Obviously they had the talent to compete (and the matchups weren't that bad), but at that level you have to hit your shots or not only do you fall behind, you give your opponents fast break opportunities for easy shots.
@@SDesWriterbro shut up you’re just a fan, the Celtics were never close to losing 4-5 of those games. Basketball is a game of runs and Boston lead every game outside of game 4 by 10-20 points. Weather u wanna say it was a bad matchup or not Boston was clearly the superior team throughout the regular season and post season. Dallas never had a chance.
@@edwarddennardexactly! The only reason the total points was even close was because the game the Mavs won was a blowout. Without that game that loss the series by close to 60 points
@@SDesWriter someone’s trying to rationalize it but missing on very important details. 4-1 is bad no matter how you look at it. Lakers can say they almost beat den twice (now that was an actual close short series) yet they still lost and it was by domination. Keep clinging to your game 4 desperation mavericks win that was an outlier not the norm
@@WLJ1287 keep trying to pretend that your great team lost by the third largest margin in the history of the NBA finals. There’s no way you can claim they were dominant or one of the best teams when they got blown out by 40 just because the role players scored their averages against them. Suck on it.
MAILBAG question - i love your reference to Curry about his fight, sheer competitiveness and making the most of his gifts. What are your thoughts on Embiid’s lack of fight and effort and is he wasting his physical gifts? Who else would you rank as the most competitive players who give everything every game. Josh Hart comes to mind…love listening to your show, Australia
MAILBAG Hey Jason, watching from NZ. I enjoy seeing your content, particularly the breakdowns about different NBA skills and players that demonstrate elite skills. You've said that you have two different all-time lists - Perimeter players vs Bigs. I'm curious where you would have Jokic on your Bigs list, particularly if he is able to continue his dominance and get a couple more rings. Also can you do a video on your top 10 all time Bigs? I think it would generate a lot of debate with the generation that grew up watching Kareem, Hakeem and Shaq. With elite centres like Jokic and Embiid not just having an interior game but also initiating on the perimeter, I'm curious if they would better sit on a perimeter list rather than a Bigs list? I'm a Heat fan so while I've enjoyed the past few years of basketball, I wish the front office would commit on a direction because the two times the Heat have gotten to the finals, they've really struggled, particularly against the elite Bigs in those series (AD and Jokic).
@@sindilacion He posted the only 34/9/10 season in the history of the league. He led a 5th seed to the Finals, he dropped the most efficient 70 point game in NBA history, and he led the playoffs for all players in almost every single stat that matters, first time in history its ever happened.
I hope Minnesota goes to the east, the next expansion will either make the parity so much better or worse. Grizzlies & Minnesota to the east, Vegas and Seattle on the west
Maybe it’s because I’m old, but there was a time when the West was worst that the East. The East was dominant in 60s, 80s, and 90s, and that was just fine. The West got better in bye late 90s when 3 of the all-time greats of the next generation went to Western teams, either in trades or drafts (Duncan, Dirk, and Kobe). If Milwaukee kept Dirk and Charlotte kept Kobe and Orlando didn’t go cheap on Shaq, the West not have been so poor.
@@durdurs8048 YEAH CAUSE EVERYTHING HE SAYS THE PRAISE AND THE NUMBERS HE SAYS FOR LUKA SCREAMS....HE'S THE BEST..... BUT.....HE KEEPS SAYIN JOKER IT MAKES NO SENSE.... BRAGGING HOW HE THE BEST AT BASICALLY EVEEY SINGLE STAT & METRIC.... BUT SAYIN HE AINT THE BEST IS WILD
@@ronmoody3001 Joker makes the team much better than Luka does. They have different playstyles on how they make the team better. Joker's playstyle is superior. Numbers don't reflect that at all.
Good choice. What does MVP mean if not results like those you mentioned. Best stats, and dragged team deeper in playoffs than any pundit predicted. Oh yeah, the all important “narrative”
It seems crazy but I think it’s a good idea to abolish conferences. It should be immediately implemented after the retirement of LeBron. Closing of an era. Much more competitive finals and more coast to coast rivalries that we never get to see now such as Celtics Lakers
by stats Luka’s prob the better scorer more efficient on comparable volume and cracked self creation , the big separator being Luka’s ability to create on the 3 (not Kobes fault he played in an era where 3’s werent big ofc) But then the discussion of defense and eras comes to play so its really dependent on ur jdea of “defense” Kobes def had better scoring peaks but Luka’s still young I think Luka’s overall the better offensive player, the playmaking aids in that but scoring is def a discussion
Oh come on.....Luka is a WAY better scorer than Kobe. In his first 6 seasons Kobe scored 24ppg while Luka is at 28ppg. In the first 6 seasons of playoffs, Kobe averaged 19 while Luka averaged 32. Kobe's FG% / 3pt% was 41% / 30% Luka's was 47% / 35%. It's not even close (for the first part of their career). We'll see if Luka can keep up with Kobe after he hit his prime, but there's no reason to think he won't just keep getting better (and he's already at the best level of Kobe's career). It's the defense where he'll never even get close to Kobe's level.
@SDesWriter Luka's defense and apathy towards being in shape is what will hold him back. None of the players to be the best in the world have been a liability on that side if the ball. Luka doesn't seem to take much pride on that side of the ball when literally it's half the game. Kobe was an elite two-way player. Luka has the edge in playmaking. Kobe has the edge in every other area and took immaculate care of his body
@@kyleharris2307 yes, the number three scorer of all time and number two in the playoffs along with 10th in assists and fastest player to reach two conference finals and a final as the star of his team in 20 years is being held back. Evidently you believe he’s the greatest player in the history of the NBA and I’m OK with that.
I agree that the West is better, but the West 1st round was actually less competitive then the East this year. In the West there were two not particularly competitive sweeps, a 5 game series and a 6 game series that both felt somewhat inevitable. Meanwhile in the East, other than the Celtics series every series went at least 6 games, and while injuries took away from what could've been, they still seemed more competitive to me.
Are you a fool or a fool? The Suns and the Pelicans with Zion would have swept the Pacers. That facts that the Pacers went to ECF was the proof that East is weak af
It was the case due to matchups in the first round in the West. OKC is great against a Zion less Pels. Suns without a real PG against the best defense. Clippers without a healthy Leonard against Luka. Nuggets and Lakers obv. I think you can make a case that 6 Teams could make wcf if the matchups were good in both rounds.
You're all right, and there's much more to a series than the number of games, and 'competitiveness in a series' is not completely objective. But in the end my point is not that the West was not competitive at all, or that the East is better, or that I don't understand the different dynamics between the conferences. My point was that I was surprised to hear an analyst I respect say the West 1st round was way more competitive when I see it the other way around, and I'm curious how one gets to that conclusion. To make myself really clear - I don't see how the actual series that *happened* were more competitive in the West. I know the West is more competitive in general, and I even opened with that.
@@BadP0tat0 come on bro, Jamal hit a middy in a tie game. That’s a no pressure shot. Worst case scenario they’re going to OT. Luka hit a step back 3 down 2. The balls it takes to go for the 3 in that moment, there’s no comparison. 😆
Wait....Boston was a tough match-up for Luka? You mean with his 29/9/6 average (injured) for the series? What was Boston's best player's averages again? Oh yeah....21/5/5. Sounds like Boston was the ones with the bad match-ups (except KP if he'd stayed healthy), but Dallas lacked firepower at SF and the bench, and it cost them in 2 close losses. I'm really looking forward to Dallas facing Boston again this year with 20ppg coming from their SF and two bench players who shoot 38% from three. I'll be curious to see how bad that match-up is going to be for the Mavs this time around. 🤣
@@sindilacion Utter nonsense. Two 7 point losses where Dallas was within 1 down the stretch of game 2 and 5 (with the ball in a fast break before Washington got fouled by Brown in the back) with less than a minute in game 3. If they win EITHER of those close games, they go back to Dallas for game 6 and probably end up in Boston for game 7. Bad matchup? The only game where the role players played AVERAGE saw the Mavs beat them by the 3rd largest margin in NBA history for a Finals game. You think Jordan ever lost a Finals game by 38? That's with them playing AVERAGE. The rest of the playoffs everyone not named Doncic or Irving played below average.....and they STILL had opportunities to win 2 of the games in the last 2 minutes. Nice revisionist history.
I'm Mavs fan and yes, Celtics are the worst matchup possible for us. Nuggets 2nd and Pacers are 3rd worst. It has nothing to do with Luka or Kyrie(also he could've been better), it has everything to do with lack of skilled PF and C. Lively and Gafford with all due respect are just lob catchers. Without lobs, they're useless on offense. PJ is undersized for PF, even Tatum is bigger than him. Plus, our centers can't defend perimeter and with 5 out offense Celtics played, they were getting cooked. You forgot Celtics also shot abysmal from 3 and they still won
@@bedandbreakfast4033 the Celtics shot abysmal because of Dallas‘s defense, not because of some magical luck bullshit. His comment was that Luka had a bad matchup against the Celtics which was nonsense and that’s my point. I made all the same arguments you did about the rest of the team so I don’t know why you’re acting like you’re disagreeing with me. And no, a guy playing with a sprained knee, a bad ankle, and a bruised sternum is probably not capable of playing better than 29/10/6. It’s time Mavericks fans got their head out of their ass and appreciated how good he was in that series.
@@cmac392 No dude. Hartenstein is an awful fit for 5 out basketball. You'll see. HE was available so they had to add him, but he isn't a fit on that roster at all.
@@cmac392 you do realize that Caruso plays the same position that Dort plays so all they’re doing is replacing Dort’s minutes with someone who’s an equivalent score and an equivalent defender. Hartenstein averaged eight points and eight rebounds for the season and for the playoffs. You guys keep patting yourselves on the back about what a great off-season it was, will be happy to meet you next year with Klay Thompson at small forward, two bench players who are good defenders and 38% from three, and healthy Luka Dončić.
@@williammoen9523 They overpaid for Hartenstein, but he's a great fit. He's a complementary player to their stars. He let's Chet play the 4 and avoid the wear and tear of playing bulky 5s
So he did win the western finals mvp....but got nearly sweept in the finals....was a complete liability on one side of the floor ....he's the player that did the beat this year? What a sad year. Lol
You claimed that the east had bad first round series but if we compare it to the west they had a much more entertaining first round series. The west had 2 sweeps and one 4-1 after a 3-0 lead. The only decent series was the mavs which didn’t even have a healthy Kawhi. The east had one 4-1 series, the pacers bucks series went as long as any western series in that round. The two best first round series were in the east, with 7 games in Orlando and the best first round series and honestly best series in the whole post season was the sixers Knicks.
@@ronmoody3001 Yes I do...Go watch Derrick White, who has always been an advanced metrics darling & not a POINTZ-only player. Or watch Joker play, who is the best-advanced metrics player. They have an impact on winning without having to score points
He uses play type specific data and per possession data all the time. He doesn’t believe catch all stats like PER or WS are all that important, for good reason.
Luka had the best defensive season of his career last year. Its just, if you aren't from Dallas and didn't watch him play A LOT of games, you wouldn't know it because sports media undermines Luka at every turn.
I mean yeh he was pretty efficient off ball and on defense last season lol I feel like u commented this hoping to get the benefit of the doubt but no anybody who watched the games is just going to view u as a fool
Did you miss the part where he averaged 10 rebounds and 1.4 steals? He loses his man far too often trying to cheat on defense, but he causes a lot of turnovers with aggressive double-teams. It's the thing you love about him and that simultaneously drives you nuts. He gives up way too many open 3s because he's not quick enough to close, but he disrupts a lot of offensive plays. Whether you see it as a net positive or net negative depends on how much you watched and if you're predisposed to like him or dislike him.
@@SDesWriterLuka is a minus defender. We all watched the Finals. He couldn't stay in front of anyone on Boston. They targeted him relentlessly. The media overhyped his defense in the first 3 series as he was guarding non-shooters like Westbrook, Giddey, & Gobert. When Boston showed up they exposed him and didn't allow him to play just one side of the ball and hide on the other
So Lebron wasnt better than any Warrior in 2015? C'mon now. His team lost to the better team. Kyrie uncharacteristically folded. He had better numbers than both Tatum and Brown offensively (which is saying something bc his were subpar) so I guess he locked them up too? The better team won. The better poayer lost. Its not that complicated, it happens all the time
It is really hard to call it bragging rights when you pick a guy who was thoroughly embarrassing in the Finals that Brian Windhorst went off on him. If Luka started bragging, anyone would say “You played terribly in the Finals, threw a massive hissy fit and fouled out in the must win game, and then got blown out by Giannis in Olympic qualifying.” If this was a satisfying season, he is never going to get a title.
Take a guy with a Grade 2 Knee Sprain thats already been overplayed and abused for 2 months at this point right? and then Have him Get a chest contusion 1 game into the finals, which caused issues with his Lung capacity and O2 levels, requiring him to receive cortisol injections (reported by windhorst) Then have him carry THE LARGEST offensive load in a finals series SINCE Lebron in 2015? and THEN ask him to defend the best 6 man rotation while hes struggling to breathe? I think anyone whos not being intellectually dishonest, can forgive that pretty easily Also citing Slovenia losing to Greece is ABSURD and truly betrays your own intelligence, you need to be a serious human lol Luka at that point was still dealing with the exact same injuries he had in the finals (confirmed by his camp) also such a weird and petty thing to critique someone for? Wow he lost against Greece which was far and away the better team overall crazy man u really dissed him good job!
He was "embarrassing" with 29/10/6 in the Finals? He led the playoffs in points, rebounds, assists, steals (first guy to ever do it)? He played terribly in the finals? You realize that if you combine the stats of the two best players on Boston you got 43points vs Luka's 29 by himself, right? You understand that the two best offensive players on Boston were the ones going at Luka every time down and they averaged 9 or 10 less than their regular season average, right? Boston as a team averaged 101 in the Finals (20ppg below their average). Weird how NONE of these stats suggests Luka was bad, yet you're so utterly confident it really happened that way.
@@SDesWriter the embarrassing was his behavior at the end of game 3. He is the second best player in the world and he was acting like a dick to the refs and his team and took himself out of a must win game. You think he should be proud of what he did in Game 3 of the Finals?
@@SDesWriterWhat was the Maverick’s average during the regular season and in the finals? I already looked it was 118 in the regular season and 99 in the finals almost 20 points right? 😂
When you make it to the Finals, and lose, you don't have bragging rights! Great player, fine, but they didn't get the job done, and he was culpable for the loss!
He was the least culprit of the loss, what are you even on about. Kyrie was nowhere to be seen, PJ and DJJ forgot how to shoot the basketball, Lively looked like a rookie again and absolutely 0 bench players stepped up. Mavs would've been obliterated had it not been for Luka. I don't know how people forget (I guess they do purposefully) that Luka was clearly the BEST player in the finals, the Celtics just had a much better team, with more options to execute different gameplans. They were also a very clearly good matchup vs the Mavs, as Mavs' defensive identity revolves around clogging the paint and the Celtics had the ability of just ignoring it. It was a 80-20 series from the start, even Tatum shooting like prime Westbrick didn't bother the result.
I really don't understand why you cant just give Boston the credit that they deserve. Every chance you get you continue to hate on Tatum and make him out to be the ONLY player in history to every have help. We get it: you want the Lakers front office to go after players like the Celtics core have (jrue, d white, horford/porzingis) but you don't have to project the jealousy onto us. Man TF up and tell the truth
Celtics have the most top 50 players on their team than any other championship team in history. They deserve credit as a team. Luka deserves credit as an individual.
@@JonathanWoodall the hyperbole here is disgusting 🤣🤣🤣🤣 what about the warriors run from 2017-2019. They had the most top 50 players at the time. Steph, KD, klay, and Draymond were ALL making all star teams and were considered top 40 in the league. Stop the foolishness
Its not all that debatable that Tatum himself had a bad series in the Finals (as did Brown btw). They won off depth and collective defense, thats just a fact.
@@Whyypreeeeeeeeee so what you’re saying is the Celtics are the new warriors…I don’t think that’s helping your cause. NBA fans don’t respect those rings the same as dirks for example.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 86 | คู่เอก "คมเพชร vs ชาติพยัคฆ์"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/m3q_dRYDuU8/mqdefault.jpg)
For me personally, Luka’s best moment was the first quarter in game 5 when he singlehandedly destroyed the wolves’ belief that they could win while silencing the whole arena..
In the press conference after the game Ant said himself after being asked what the reason for their meltdown was. He said “Luka! It’s just that simple..”
Luka in closeout games needs to be studied
Sun can relate
It's so crazy to me Luka's this good while clearly not in his best shape. On the other hand, getting the scoring title as a chubby white guy is quite the flex 🤣
And makes everyone better, still not MVP... Not even second place
Over half an hour of mailbag questions, love it!! 🤩🤩
U and me both bro
Luka was ROBBED OF MVP this season: • 34/9/10 • 1st in points • 2nd in assists • 73 point game (4th highest ever) • First 33/9/9 season in NBA history • Most 30-PT TD’s since MVP Russ • 1st in 25-point games • 1st in 35-point games • 1st in 40-point games • 1st in 45-point games • 2nd in 3’s made • Top 10 in steals • 61.7% TS • Highest scoring season in Mavs history • Most PPG + RPG + APG since the merger. • Most consecutive 25 point triple-doubles ever • Most consecutive 30 point triple-doubles ever • Lifted Mavs from 11 seed to 5 seed • Most games missed by teammates among all playoff teams • Mavs 50+ wins • Mavs 1st in clutch win% • 6th best record in entire NBA • 9th best ISO Defender • Carried mid Mavs team to the finals while injured the whole PO🐐💯
Perfect
He had a case but he wasn’t robbed
a case? Take away media narrative and he runs away with it
Luka has the advantage of insane box scores. So with stats, you can always make him look like the MVP. But I also think his game is fully explained by those stats.
When he averages 34/9/9 on good efficiency, his impact feels like exactly that. With Jokic, his averages are lower, but it feels like his impact goes far beyond what any stats could show (which is why he’s almost always 1st in advanced stats, which you have included none of).
It’s definitely not a robbery that Jokic won.
Win Shares: Jokic in 1st by a mile
PER: Jokic in 1st
BPM: Jokic in 1st by a mile
VORP: Jokic in 1st by a mile
@@Colinkrauss1 you are completely wrong! There are multiple advance stats where Luka is better or just neck and neck with jokic. Also Jokic has such a well rounded team compare to lukas teams for years of course Jokic has it so much easier. Look this shit up before yapping
MAILBAG MAILBAG
Hi Jason I’m from New England so I grew up a huge Celtics fan. Outside of the two J’s, my favorite player from the 2022 Celtics run by far was Robert Williams the third. Assuming health, what team do you think would be able to maximize his huge defensive upside? I can’t imagine a rebuilding Portland Trailblazers team will be able to do him justice, thanks and love the show!
You saw an ESPN survey that had NBA basketball personnel involved. Not quite the GM survey but you didn't hallucinate
Appreciate you reading my question bro, love the show
23:43 “If I’m a freaky athlete”.
*Wilt Chamberlain has entered chat*
Should have been the MVP
Facts. It was proper robbery this year. Lukas push to the playoffs determined it for me. His ppg kept climbing and his team was killing.
The Celtics ended the season 80-21 and one of the 5 most dominant teams in the regular and postseason.
I wouldn’t say it was just a bad matchup 😭
It wasn't a bad matchu8p at all. Boston outscored Dallas in the series 508/496. The problem was Dallas' role players just couldn't perform on the big stage. They played hard on defense, but they couldn't hit shots (even shots Boston intentionally left open to dare them to shoot), and with an injured Luka and Kyrie's difficulties playing Boston, they played just badly enough to lose 4 out of 5 games. But they could have won 2 of those EASILY. 2 more threes by Iriving or Washington, 3 lobs (or rebound putbacks), or Luka just shooting a little better and they could have taken Boston 6 or even 7. The one game the role players performed to their season averages, they beat Boston by the 3rd largest margin in Finals history. Obviously they had the talent to compete (and the matchups weren't that bad), but at that level you have to hit your shots or not only do you fall behind, you give your opponents fast break opportunities for easy shots.
@@SDesWriterbro shut up you’re just a fan, the Celtics were never close to losing 4-5 of those games. Basketball is a game of runs and Boston lead every game outside of game 4 by 10-20 points. Weather u wanna say it was a bad matchup or not Boston was clearly the superior team throughout the regular season and post season. Dallas never had a chance.
@@edwarddennardexactly! The only reason the total points was even close was because the game the Mavs won was a blowout. Without that game that loss the series by close to 60 points
@@SDesWriter someone’s trying to rationalize it but missing on very important details. 4-1 is bad no matter how you look at it. Lakers can say they almost beat den twice (now that was an actual close short series) yet they still lost and it was by domination. Keep clinging to your game 4 desperation mavericks win that was an outlier not the norm
@@WLJ1287 keep trying to pretend that your great team lost by the third largest margin in the history of the NBA finals. There’s no way you can claim they were dominant or one of the best teams when they got blown out by 40 just because the role players scored their averages against them. Suck on it.
MAILBAG question - i love your reference to Curry about his fight, sheer competitiveness and making the most of his gifts. What are your thoughts on Embiid’s lack of fight and effort and is he wasting his physical gifts? Who else would you rank as the most competitive players who give everything every game. Josh Hart comes to mind…love listening to your show, Australia
MAILBAG
Hey Jason, watching from NZ. I enjoy seeing your content, particularly the breakdowns about different NBA skills and players that demonstrate elite skills.
You've said that you have two different all-time lists - Perimeter players vs Bigs. I'm curious where you would have Jokic on your Bigs list, particularly if he is able to continue his dominance and get a couple more rings. Also can you do a video on your top 10 all time Bigs? I think it would generate a lot of debate with the generation that grew up watching Kareem, Hakeem and Shaq.
With elite centres like Jokic and Embiid not just having an interior game but also initiating on the perimeter, I'm curious if they would better sit on a perimeter list rather than a Bigs list?
I'm a Heat fan so while I've enjoyed the past few years of basketball, I wish the front office would commit on a direction because the two times the Heat have gotten to the finals, they've really struggled, particularly against the elite Bigs in those series (AD and Jokic).
Luka should have been MVP, period. Its quite possible he could have had 2 by now.
No. Not even close.
@@sindilacion He posted the only 34/9/10 season in the history of the league. He led a 5th seed to the Finals, he dropped the most efficient 70 point game in NBA history, and he led the playoffs for all players in almost every single stat that matters, first time in history its ever happened.
Absolutely not. Sorry.
@@jackastor5265don’t waste ur time on these TH-cam npcs these guys have negative ball knowledge
@@josephrafferty6763 Compelling argument you got there.
Tim Bontemps of ESPN did a survey of NBA personnel with questions pretty similar to the GM survey so maybe that's what you saw recently.
LLAMF MAN ..JASON....
JUST SAY THE DAMN TRUTH MAN...
HE IS THE BEST PLAYER....SMDH
He’s really not
Did you watch the Finals? Dude was a traffic cone 😂
@@kyleharris2307suffering from an Achilles injury since the 1st round
@eaddyy Hahaha did the injury only have an impact on offense? 🤔
I hope Minnesota goes to the east, the next expansion will either make the parity so much better or worse. Grizzlies & Minnesota to the east, Vegas and Seattle on the west
Maybe it’s because I’m old, but there was a time when the West was worst that the East.
The East was dominant in 60s, 80s, and 90s, and that was just fine. The West got better in bye late 90s when 3 of the all-time greats of the next generation went to Western teams, either in trades or drafts (Duncan, Dirk, and Kobe).
If Milwaukee kept Dirk and Charlotte kept Kobe and Orlando didn’t go cheap on Shaq, the West not have been so poor.
Guarantee there’s still going to be a Luka fan crying in the comments 😂😂
@@durdurs8048 YEAH CAUSE EVERYTHING HE SAYS THE PRAISE AND THE NUMBERS HE SAYS FOR LUKA SCREAMS....HE'S THE BEST.....
BUT.....HE KEEPS SAYIN JOKER IT MAKES NO SENSE....
BRAGGING HOW HE THE BEST AT BASICALLY EVEEY SINGLE STAT & METRIC....
BUT SAYIN HE AINT THE BEST IS WILD
@@ronmoody3001 bro why do you type like this
@@anthonyruiz-carvalho31 LOL.....I JUST TYPE IN CAPS NOTHIN TO DO WITH TONE...IM NOT UPSET BOUT SPORTS TALK
@@anthonyruiz-carvalho31 LOL.....I JUST TYPE IN CAPS NOTHIN TO DO WITH TONE...IM NOT UPSET BOUT SPORTS TALK
@@ronmoody3001 Joker makes the team much better than Luka does. They have different playstyles on how they make the team better. Joker's playstyle is superior. Numbers don't reflect that at all.
Good choice. What does MVP mean if not results like those you mentioned. Best stats, and dragged team deeper in playoffs than any pundit predicted.
Oh yeah, the all important “narrative”
It seems crazy but I think it’s a good idea to abolish conferences. It should be immediately implemented after the retirement of LeBron. Closing of an era. Much more competitive finals and more coast to coast rivalries that we never get to see now such as Celtics Lakers
Brunson top 5
Jason who do you think is the better scorer, Luka or Kobe?
by stats Luka’s prob the better scorer more efficient on comparable volume and cracked self creation ,
the big separator being Luka’s ability to create on the 3
(not Kobes fault he played in an era where 3’s werent big ofc)
But then the discussion of defense and eras comes to play
so its really dependent on ur jdea of “defense”
Kobes def had better scoring peaks but Luka’s still young
I think Luka’s overall
the better offensive player, the playmaking aids in that
but scoring is def a discussion
Oh come on.....Luka is a WAY better scorer than Kobe. In his first 6 seasons Kobe scored 24ppg while Luka is at 28ppg. In the first 6 seasons of playoffs, Kobe averaged 19 while Luka averaged 32. Kobe's FG% / 3pt% was 41% / 30% Luka's was 47% / 35%. It's not even close (for the first part of their career). We'll see if Luka can keep up with Kobe after he hit his prime, but there's no reason to think he won't just keep getting better (and he's already at the best level of Kobe's career). It's the defense where he'll never even get close to Kobe's level.
@SDesWriter Luka's defense and apathy towards being in shape is what will hold him back. None of the players to be the best in the world have been a liability on that side if the ball. Luka doesn't seem to take much pride on that side of the ball when literally it's half the game. Kobe was an elite two-way player. Luka has the edge in playmaking. Kobe has the edge in every other area and took immaculate care of his body
@@kyleharris2307 yes, the number three scorer of all time and number two in the playoffs along with 10th in assists and fastest player to reach two conference finals and a final as the star of his team in 20 years is being held back. Evidently you believe he’s the greatest player in the history of the NBA and I’m OK with that.
I agree that the West is better, but the West 1st round was actually less competitive then the East this year. In the West there were two not particularly competitive sweeps, a 5 game series and a 6 game series that both felt somewhat inevitable. Meanwhile in the East, other than the Celtics series every series went at least 6 games, and while injuries took away from what could've been, they still seemed more competitive to me.
Are you a fool or a fool? The Suns and the Pelicans with Zion would have swept the Pacers. That facts that the Pacers went to ECF was the proof that East is weak af
It was the case due to matchups in the first round in the West. OKC is great against a Zion less Pels. Suns without a real PG against the best defense. Clippers without a healthy Leonard against Luka. Nuggets and Lakers obv. I think you can make a case that 6 Teams could make wcf if the matchups were good in both rounds.
@@lol2go634You can’t just claim matchups, those teams in reality weren’t close.
Lakers nuggets series was closer than 4-1 says too
You're all right, and there's much more to a series than the number of games, and 'competitiveness in a series' is not completely objective.
But in the end my point is not that the West was not competitive at all, or that the East is better, or that I don't understand the different dynamics between the conferences. My point was that I was surprised to hear an analyst I respect say the West 1st round was way more competitive when I see it the other way around, and I'm curious how one gets to that conclusion.
To make myself really clear - I don't see how the actual series that *happened* were more competitive in the West. I know the West is more competitive in general, and I even opened with that.
I would take Jamal’s winner over AD after big comeback, than Lukas shot over Gobert.
lol hell no. Luka's game winner was in the damn WCF!!! down 2 no less. You're just a troll and that's ok. You do you my friend.
Down 11 with 3 mins to go and came back to win it
@@BadP0tat0 come on bro, Jamal hit a middy in a tie game. That’s a no pressure shot. Worst case scenario they’re going to OT. Luka hit a step back 3 down 2. The balls it takes to go for the 3 in that moment, there’s no comparison. 😆
Wait....Boston was a tough match-up for Luka? You mean with his 29/9/6 average (injured) for the series? What was Boston's best player's averages again? Oh yeah....21/5/5. Sounds like Boston was the ones with the bad match-ups (except KP if he'd stayed healthy), but Dallas lacked firepower at SF and the bench, and it cost them in 2 close losses. I'm really looking forward to Dallas facing Boston again this year with 20ppg coming from their SF and two bench players who shoot 38% from three. I'll be curious to see how bad that match-up is going to be for the Mavs this time around. 🤣
It was 100% a bad matchup for Dallas. It was written all over the wall before the series started
Seek help bro 😂
@@sindilacion Utter nonsense. Two 7 point losses where Dallas was within 1 down the stretch of game 2 and 5 (with the ball in a fast break before Washington got fouled by Brown in the back) with less than a minute in game 3. If they win EITHER of those close games, they go back to Dallas for game 6 and probably end up in Boston for game 7.
Bad matchup? The only game where the role players played AVERAGE saw the Mavs beat them by the 3rd largest margin in NBA history for a Finals game. You think Jordan ever lost a Finals game by 38? That's with them playing AVERAGE. The rest of the playoffs everyone not named Doncic or Irving played below average.....and they STILL had opportunities to win 2 of the games in the last 2 minutes.
Nice revisionist history.
I'm Mavs fan and yes, Celtics are the worst matchup possible for us. Nuggets 2nd and Pacers are 3rd worst. It has nothing to do with Luka or Kyrie(also he could've been better), it has everything to do with lack of skilled PF and C. Lively and Gafford with all due respect are just lob catchers. Without lobs, they're useless on offense. PJ is undersized for PF, even Tatum is bigger than him. Plus, our centers can't defend perimeter and with 5 out offense Celtics played, they were getting cooked. You forgot Celtics also shot abysmal from 3 and they still won
@@bedandbreakfast4033 the Celtics shot abysmal because of Dallas‘s defense, not because of some magical luck bullshit. His comment was that Luka had a bad matchup against the Celtics which was nonsense and that’s my point. I made all the same arguments you did about the rest of the team so I don’t know why you’re acting like you’re disagreeing with me. And no, a guy playing with a sprained knee, a bad ankle, and a bruised sternum is probably not capable of playing better than 29/10/6. It’s time Mavericks fans got their head out of their ass and appreciated how good he was in that series.
Finals MVP
Boston and OKC are in their own tier
You mean the OKC team Dallas beat in 6?
@@SDesWriter Yep same one. OKC had the best summer by adding Caruso & Hartenstein.
@@cmac392 No dude. Hartenstein is an awful fit for 5 out basketball. You'll see. HE was available so they had to add him, but he isn't a fit on that roster at all.
@@cmac392 you do realize that Caruso plays the same position that Dort plays so all they’re doing is replacing Dort’s minutes with someone who’s an equivalent score and an equivalent defender. Hartenstein averaged eight points and eight rebounds for the season and for the playoffs. You guys keep patting yourselves on the back about what a great off-season it was, will be happy to meet you next year with Klay Thompson at small forward, two bench players who are good defenders and 38% from three, and healthy Luka Dončić.
@@williammoen9523 They overpaid for Hartenstein, but he's a great fit. He's a complementary player to their stars. He let's Chet play the 4 and avoid the wear and tear of playing bulky 5s
ZERO DEFENSIVE ABILITY
So he did win the western finals mvp....but got nearly sweept in the finals....was a complete liability on one side of the floor ....he's the player that did the beat this year? What a sad year. Lol
You claimed that the east had bad first round series but if we compare it to the west they had a much more entertaining first round series. The west had 2 sweeps and one 4-1 after a 3-0 lead. The only decent series was the mavs which didn’t even have a healthy Kawhi. The east had one 4-1 series, the pacers bucks series went as long as any western series in that round. The two best first round series were in the east, with 7 games in Orlando and the best first round series and honestly best series in the whole post season was the sixers Knicks.
having bron in ypour thumbnail in september 2024 for views xDDDD
Why doesn't this guy use advanced metrics and instead focuses 95% of his analysis on POINTZ???
WHEN U WATCHIN GAMES......DO U SEE ADVANCE METRICS?
@@ronmoody3001 Yes I do...Go watch Derrick White, who has always been an advanced metrics darling & not a POINTZ-only player. Or watch Joker play, who is the best-advanced metrics player. They have an impact on winning without having to score points
Because the team that scored the most points wins. The players that score the most points are the biggest contributors to winning. Easy math my dude
He uses play type specific data and per possession data all the time. He doesn’t believe catch all stats like PER or WS are all that important, for good reason.
@@eddyrucker892 guys that give up as many pointz as they score also lose. Defense counts
"Luka good off-ball work on D" really?
Luka had the best defensive season of his career last year. Its just, if you aren't from Dallas and didn't watch him play A LOT of games, you wouldn't know it because sports media undermines Luka at every turn.
I mean yeh he was pretty efficient off ball and on defense last season lol
I feel like u commented this hoping to get the benefit of the doubt but no anybody who watched the games is just going to view u as a fool
Did you miss the part where he averaged 10 rebounds and 1.4 steals? He loses his man far too often trying to cheat on defense, but he causes a lot of turnovers with aggressive double-teams. It's the thing you love about him and that simultaneously drives you nuts. He gives up way too many open 3s because he's not quick enough to close, but he disrupts a lot of offensive plays. Whether you see it as a net positive or net negative depends on how much you watched and if you're predisposed to like him or dislike him.
@@SDesWriterLuka is a minus defender. We all watched the Finals. He couldn't stay in front of anyone on Boston. They targeted him relentlessly. The media overhyped his defense in the first 3 series as he was guarding non-shooters like Westbrook, Giddey, & Gobert. When Boston showed up they exposed him and didn't allow him to play just one side of the ball and hide on the other
@@jackastor5265 Sports media LOVES Luka. When he shows up in shape & can stay in front of guys on the perimeter he'll ascend to #1
He also holds the most blowby in the HISTORY of the NBA... So yeah include that in his bragging rights.
Uh oh, here come all the triggered Celtics fans. lol
He lost the Finals. He's not ahead of ANY Celtic, ESPECIALLY NOT Tatum or Brown, who locked him up.
Losers don't get to brag...
😂
You are a fool buddy 😂
So Lebron wasnt better than any Warrior in 2015? C'mon now. His team lost to the better team. Kyrie uncharacteristically folded. He had better numbers than both Tatum and Brown offensively (which is saying something bc his were subpar) so I guess he locked them up too?
The better team won. The better poayer lost. Its not that complicated, it happens all the time
@@juliothom2408 AVG 30 IS LOCKED UP?
Luka is the best player in the NBA.
It is really hard to call it bragging rights when you pick a guy who was thoroughly embarrassing in the Finals that Brian Windhorst went off on him.
If Luka started bragging, anyone would say “You played terribly in the Finals, threw a massive hissy fit and fouled out in the must win game, and then got blown out by Giannis in Olympic qualifying.”
If this was a satisfying season, he is never going to get a title.
Take a guy with a Grade 2 Knee Sprain thats already been overplayed and abused for 2 months at this point right? and then Have him Get a chest contusion 1 game into the finals, which caused issues with his Lung capacity and O2 levels, requiring him to receive cortisol injections (reported by windhorst)
Then have him carry THE LARGEST offensive load in a finals series SINCE Lebron in 2015?
and THEN ask him to defend the best 6 man rotation while hes struggling to breathe?
I think anyone whos not being intellectually dishonest, can forgive that pretty easily
Also citing Slovenia losing to Greece is ABSURD and truly betrays your own intelligence, you need to be a serious human lol
Luka at that point was still dealing with the exact same injuries he had in the finals (confirmed by his camp)
also such a weird and petty thing to critique someone for?
Wow he lost against Greece which was far and away the better team overall crazy man u really dissed him good job!
@@remmborn8154 So he should brag about being injured? It is bragging rights man.
He was "embarrassing" with 29/10/6 in the Finals? He led the playoffs in points, rebounds, assists, steals (first guy to ever do it)? He played terribly in the finals? You realize that if you combine the stats of the two best players on Boston you got 43points vs Luka's 29 by himself, right? You understand that the two best offensive players on Boston were the ones going at Luka every time down and they averaged 9 or 10 less than their regular season average, right? Boston as a team averaged 101 in the Finals (20ppg below their average). Weird how NONE of these stats suggests Luka was bad, yet you're so utterly confident it really happened that way.
@@SDesWriter the embarrassing was his behavior at the end of game 3. He is the second best player in the world and he was acting like a dick to the refs and his team and took himself out of a must win game. You think he should be proud of what he did in Game 3 of the Finals?
@@SDesWriterWhat was the Maverick’s average during the regular season and in the finals? I already looked it was 118 in the regular season and 99 in the finals almost 20 points right? 😂
When you make it to the Finals, and lose, you don't have bragging rights! Great player, fine, but they didn't get the job done, and he was culpable for the loss!
Who else do you think deserved the accolades from October to June individually?
He had the best season by far. Even people outside of Dallas could see that.
No one on the Celtics had a better season than
He was the least culprit of the loss, what are you even on about. Kyrie was nowhere to be seen, PJ and DJJ forgot how to shoot the basketball, Lively looked like a rookie again and absolutely 0 bench players stepped up. Mavs would've been obliterated had it not been for Luka.
I don't know how people forget (I guess they do purposefully) that Luka was clearly the BEST player in the finals, the Celtics just had a much better team, with more options to execute different gameplans. They were also a very clearly good matchup vs the Mavs, as Mavs' defensive identity revolves around clogging the paint and the Celtics had the ability of just ignoring it. It was a 80-20 series from the start, even Tatum shooting like prime Westbrick didn't bother the result.
I didn't see much bragging after the Finals
I really don't understand why you cant just give Boston the credit that they deserve. Every chance you get you continue to hate on Tatum and make him out to be the ONLY player in history to every have help. We get it: you want the Lakers front office to go after players like the Celtics core have (jrue, d white, horford/porzingis) but you don't have to project the jealousy onto us. Man TF up and tell the truth
Celtics have the most top 50 players on their team than any other championship team in history. They deserve credit as a team. Luka deserves credit as an individual.
@@JonathanWoodall the hyperbole here is disgusting 🤣🤣🤣🤣 what about the warriors run from 2017-2019. They had the most top 50 players at the time. Steph, KD, klay, and Draymond were ALL making all star teams and were considered top 40 in the league. Stop the foolishness
Its not all that debatable that Tatum himself had a bad series in the Finals (as did Brown btw). They won off depth and collective defense, thats just a fact.
@@Whyypreeeeeeeeee so what you’re saying is the Celtics are the new warriors…I don’t think that’s helping your cause. NBA fans don’t respect those rings the same as dirks for example.
So what he’s saying is, LeBron is his Pookie Bear