Playoffs 2024 - R1 - G5 - Mavs vs Clippers (Wed., 10PMEST)

[Archx]

More like injured or illness to be honest. It started from the G1. Doesnt make sense after 2 weeks of to be fatigued from first quarter of first game. Some say Mann defending good but its not that. Luka used to abuse Zubac for instance but now he cant even shake him off or get a rhytm 3pt shots

He looks fine in training, laughing and having fun. Heavy legs and long season caught up to him. Not being in shape means no real confidence in your body and yourself. His drives in to the paint, pump fakes, push offs, delayed layups and kick outs... He doesn't play like that when he's confident and rested. Also no real lift in his legs, we've seen this million times over and over. Dead legs = poor 3pt shooting, rested legs = good shooting.

what is the point here? laughing so he is not injured?
there are moves where you need to be more agile, there are moves that is taxing to right knee. Luka is avoiding those and Clippers are now defend him easier than earlier years.
fatigue wouldn't necessarily show in Q1 of game 1. it's more of a Lebron/AD thing we saw with the 4th quarter Lakers.
no lift in his legs since game 1 where he had like two weeks off. I mean if he had lift in G1 and no lift for last games I'd understand fatigue argument.
anyway, I told it here countless times; he should not attend national team every year. He also need to rejavanuate the way he eats and trains like Jokic did. Otherwise his career arc will be more similar to Melo than Lebron. (Luka is already better than prime Melo but longetivity wise, if you are not training enough, those injuries will catchup like Iverson-Melo etc.)

You mentioned illness and i said he looks perfectly fine. I have no clue what's going on in his head, no one does. It's all speculation at our part. But he doesn't look right during games and specially late game. Kyrie has to take over for him. Injury or fatigue, doesn't even matter at the end of the day, he's simply not right.

[Swish77]

He looks fine in training, laughing and having fun. Heavy legs and long season caught up to him. Not being in shape means no real confidence in your body and yourself. His drives in to the paint, pump fakes, push offs, delayed layups and kick outs... He doesn't play like that when he's confident and rested. Also no real lift in his legs, we've seen this million times over and over. Dead legs = poor 3pt shooting, rested legs = good shooting.

what is the point here? laughing so he is not injured?
there are moves where you need to be more agile, there are moves that is taxing to right knee. Luka is avoiding those and Clippers are now defend him easier than earlier years.
fatigue wouldn't necessarily show in Q1 of game 1. it's more of a Lebron/AD thing we saw with the 4th quarter Lakers.
no lift in his legs since game 1 where he had like two weeks off. I mean if he had lift in G1 and no lift for last games I'd understand fatigue argument.
anyway, I told it here countless times; he should not attend national team every year. He also need to rejavanuate the way he eats and trains like Jokic did. Otherwise his career arc will be more similar to Melo than Lebron. (Luka is already better than prime Melo but longetivity wise, if you are not training enough, those injuries will catchup like Iverson-Melo etc.)

You mentioned illness and i said he looks perfectly fine. I have no clue what's going on in his head, no one does. It's all speculation at our part. But he doesn't look right during games and specially late game. Kyrie has to take over for him. Injury or fatigue, doesn't even matter at the end of the day, he's simply not right.

During his after the game interview he was really stuffy a reporter asked him about it. It seemed like he had a head cold or something.

[Archx]

what is the point here? laughing so he is not injured?
there are moves where you need to be more agile, there are moves that is taxing to right knee. Luka is avoiding those and Clippers are now defend him easier than earlier years.
fatigue wouldn't necessarily show in Q1 of game 1. it's more of a Lebron/AD thing we saw with the 4th quarter Lakers.
no lift in his legs since game 1 where he had like two weeks off. I mean if he had lift in G1 and no lift for last games I'd understand fatigue argument.
anyway, I told it here countless times; he should not attend national team every year. He also need to rejavanuate the way he eats and trains like Jokic did. Otherwise his career arc will be more similar to Melo than Lebron. (Luka is already better than prime Melo but longetivity wise, if you are not training enough, those injuries will catchup like Iverson-Melo etc.)

You mentioned illness and i said he looks perfectly fine. I have no clue what's going on in his head, no one does. It's all speculation at our part. But he doesn't look right during games and specially late game. Kyrie has to take over for him. Injury or fatigue, doesn't even matter at the end of the day, he's simply not right.

During his after the game interview he was really stuffy a reporter asked him about it. It seemed like he had a head cold or something.

I don't know what exactly is going on with him but the amount of excuses for this guy (if Mavs get eliminated) will be insane. And i already hate that. It's his own damn fault, get into a peak shape at early young age and even injuries won't bother you that much. He can only blame himself and i hate that fans will be looking for excuses like injuries/illness, LAC defense, whatever... You can't get tired any time a team puts a bit more pressure on you. I've seen this in a regular season game aswell when he was huffing and puffing in the 1st half when game was a bit more physical. I'm tired of that BS from him. He's too good of a talent to waste.

[Mavrelous]

I don't know what exactly is going on with him but the amount of excuses for this guy (if Mavs get eliminated) will be insane. And i already hate that. It's his own damn fault, get into a peak shape at early young age and even injuries won't bother you that much. He can only blame himself and i hate that fans will be looking for excuses like injuries/illness, LAC defense, whatever... You can't get tired any time a team puts a bit more pressure on you. I've seen this in a regular season game aswell when he was huffing and puffing in the 1st half when game was a bit more physical. I'm tired of that BS from him. He's too good of a talent to waste.

You're being way too harsh, he's just shooting poorly, and you're not used to watching him go against PO defense with poor spacing.
Game 4 defensive meltdown after playing 43 minutes on bum knee isn't bad shape, Kidd shouldn't have left him for defensive possession when Kyrie was seeing red, but that's Monday morning quarterbacking, what's done is done...

[ChipotleWest]

Coach dumb is going to get a pass for his horrible decision making because Luka isn't right. We had this series won anyway. Now once we got to OKC if Luka isn't right we'll probably lose because of Luka, if we lose this series it's because of Jason f'n Kidd.

[Archx]

I don't know what exactly is going on with him but the amount of excuses for this guy (if Mavs get eliminated) will be insane. And i already hate that. It's his own damn fault, get into a peak shape at early young age and even injuries won't bother you that much. He can only blame himself and i hate that fans will be looking for excuses like injuries/illness, LAC defense, whatever... You can't get tired any time a team puts a bit more pressure on you. I've seen this in a regular season game aswell when he was huffing and puffing in the 1st half when game was a bit more physical. I'm tired of that BS from him. He's too good of a talent to waste.

You're being way too harsh, he's just shooting poorly, and you're not used to watching him go against PO defense with poor spacing.
Game 4 defensive meltdown after playing 43 minutes on bum knee isn't bad shape, Kidd shouldn't have left him for defensive possession when Kyrie was seeing red, but that's Monday morning quarterbacking, what's done is done...

I'm watching him since he was 15 or 16yo. I've seen way more of his games than anyone here probably. Well Bob followed him closely as well. And i tell you, rested in shape Luka is a different animal than this double chin fatigued version. Even when injured, he usually played great but i can see him having heavy legs and not the same confidence in his shooting ability and ability to work in the paint and around the rim.

Obviously having a **** coach like Kidd doesn't help but Mavs probably would have been at least 3-1 right now if this was a bubble version of him, that was when he was at his physical peak.

[ChipotleWest]

Obviously having a **** coach like Kidd doesn't help but Mavs probably would have been at least 3-1 right now if this was a bubble version of him, that was when he was at his physical peak.

You mean sweep, we should be 3-1 right now with this hobbled Luka shooting terrible, but thanks to Kidd we're not.

[Mavrelous]

I don't know what exactly is going on with him but the amount of excuses for this guy (if Mavs get eliminated) will be insane. And i already hate that. It's his own damn fault, get into a peak shape at early young age and even injuries won't bother you that much. He can only blame himself and i hate that fans will be looking for excuses like injuries/illness, LAC defense, whatever... You can't get tired any time a team puts a bit more pressure on you. I've seen this in a regular season game aswell when he was huffing and puffing in the 1st half when game was a bit more physical. I'm tired of that BS from him. He's too good of a talent to waste.

You're being way too harsh, he's just shooting poorly, and you're not used to watching him go against PO defense with poor spacing.
Game 4 defensive meltdown after playing 43 minutes on bum knee isn't bad shape, Kidd shouldn't have left him for defensive possession when Kyrie was seeing red, but that's Monday morning quarterbacking, what's done is done...

I'm watching him since he was 15 or 16yo. I've seen way more of his games than anyone here probably. Well Bob followed him closely as well. And i tell you, rested in shape Luka is a different animal than this double chin fatigued version. Even when injured, he usually played great but i can see him having heavy legs and not the same confidence in his shooting ability and ability to work in the paint and around the rim.

Obviously having a **** coach like Kidd doesn't help but Mavs probably would have been at least 3-1 right now if this was a bubble version of him, that was when he was at his physical peak.

I don't think bubble Luka is getting back, he's just physically different, he's a much bigger player now, it's not just fat, his frame looks bigger, shoulder, chest, legs, he is less explosive than he should be, and he could use more stamina and endurance and being 20 pounds less, but he's getting killed with physical defense and well studied schemes to stop him, and he's still getting the team to outplay the opponent.
It's not a coincidence any time he gets off the floor it's a total meat grinder.

[Bob8]

I don't know what exactly is going on with him but the amount of excuses for this guy (if Mavs get eliminated) will be insane. And i already hate that. It's his own damn fault, get into a peak shape at early young age and even injuries won't bother you that much. He can only blame himself and i hate that fans will be looking for excuses like injuries/illness, LAC defense, whatever... You can't get tired any time a team puts a bit more pressure on you. I've seen this in a regular season game aswell when he was huffing and puffing in the 1st half when game was a bit more physical. I'm tired of that BS from him. He's too good of a talent to waste.

You're being way too harsh, he's just shooting poorly, and you're not used to watching him go against PO defense with poor spacing.
Game 4 defensive meltdown after playing 43 minutes on bum knee isn't bad shape, Kidd shouldn't have left him for defensive possession when Kyrie was seeing red, but that's Monday morning quarterbacking, what's done is done...

I'm watching him since he was 15 or 16yo. I've seen way more of his games than anyone here probably. Well Bob followed him closely as well. And i tell you, rested in shape Luka is a different animal than this double chin fatigued version. Even when injured, he usually played great but i can see him having heavy legs and not the same confidence in his shooting ability and ability to work in the paint and around the rim.

Obviously having a **** coach like Kidd doesn't help but Mavs probably would have been at least 3-1 right now if this was a bubble version of him, that was when he was at his physical peak.

You can't compare this series and last series against Clippers. Referees criteria is totally different, much more physical D is allowed. And he had fantastic spacing with Kp standing in the corner and far better shooters around him.

Luka desperately needs start hitting 3s and may things will change.

[Archx]

You're being way too harsh, he's just shooting poorly, and you're not used to watching him go against PO defense with poor spacing.
Game 4 defensive meltdown after playing 43 minutes on bum knee isn't bad shape, Kidd shouldn't have left him for defensive possession when Kyrie was seeing red, but that's Monday morning quarterbacking, what's done is done...

I'm watching him since he was 15 or 16yo. I've seen way more of his games than anyone here probably. Well Bob followed him closely as well. And i tell you, rested in shape Luka is a different animal than this double chin fatigued version. Even when injured, he usually played great but i can see him having heavy legs and not the same confidence in his shooting ability and ability to work in the paint and around the rim.

Obviously having a **** coach like Kidd doesn't help but Mavs probably would have been at least 3-1 right now if this was a bubble version of him, that was when he was at his physical peak.

You can't compare this series and last series against Clippers. Referees criteria is totally different, much more physical D is allowed. And he had fantastic spacing with Kp standing in the corner and far better shooters around him.

Luka desperately needs start hitting 3s and may things will change.

I'm not comparing series i was comparing his physical shape. He looked way better and was also much faster in the bubble because he was more rested obviously. But that shouldn't be an excuse. He has months and months to prepare but he spends a ton of time on vacation and then plays for national team and comes back to the NBA even more tired than usually.

[Bob8]

I'm watching him since he was 15 or 16yo. I've seen way more of his games than anyone here probably. Well Bob followed him closely as well. And i tell you, rested in shape Luka is a different animal than this double chin fatigued version. Even when injured, he usually played great but i can see him having heavy legs and not the same confidence in his shooting ability and ability to work in the paint and around the rim.

Obviously having a **** coach like Kidd doesn't help but Mavs probably would have been at least 3-1 right now if this was a bubble version of him, that was when he was at his physical peak.

You can't compare this series and last series against Clippers. Referees criteria is totally different, much more physical D is allowed. And he had fantastic spacing with Kp standing in the corner and far better shooters around him.

Luka desperately needs start hitting 3s and may things will change.

I'm not comparing series i was comparing his physical shape. He looked way better and was also much faster in the bubble because he was more rested obviously. But that shouldn't be an excuse. He has months and months to prepare but he spends a ton of time on vacation and then plays for national team and comes back to the NBA even more tired than usually.

What are you talking about? Haven't he just had far the best RS of his life? I kinda doubt he would be capable of that coming unprepared. And don't forget he had 10 days rest before playoffs. I don't believe conditioning is his main problem in this series. He just needs to start hitting step backs, because D and spacing doesn't allow his drives.

[Dirk]

Hopefully PJ Washington randomly hits 4-5 threes. Mavs will all of a sudden look much better when these guys actually hit a 3.

[Archx]

You can't compare this series and last series against Clippers. Referees criteria is totally different, much more physical D is allowed. And he had fantastic spacing with Kp standing in the corner and far better shooters around him.

Luka desperately needs start hitting 3s and may things will change.

I'm not comparing series i was comparing his physical shape. He looked way better and was also much faster in the bubble because he was more rested obviously. But that shouldn't be an excuse. He has months and months to prepare but he spends a ton of time on vacation and then plays for national team and comes back to the NBA even more tired than usually.

What are you talking about? Haven't he just had far the best RS of his life? I kinda doubt he would be capable of that coming unprepared. And don't forget he had 10 days rest before playoffs. I don't believe conditioning is his main problem in this series. He just needs to start hitting step backs, because D and spacing doesn't allow his drives.

He's making dumb mistakes and doubts himself. We've seen tough defenses on him and he wasn't like this dragging his feet up and down. You think he wouldn't be in a better position if he was in a better physical shape? You have 35yo guys in better condition than a 25yo Luka lol.... You can't even defend him at this point.

RS is not the same intensity as playoffs. Kobe Bryant said it best, he said you prepare in off season for playoffs, you don't prepare for regular season.

[Bob8]

I'm not comparing series i was comparing his physical shape. He looked way better and was also much faster in the bubble because he was more rested obviously. But that shouldn't be an excuse. He has months and months to prepare but he spends a ton of time on vacation and then plays for national team and comes back to the NBA even more tired than usually.

What are you talking about? Haven't he just had far the best RS of his life? I kinda doubt he would be capable of that coming unprepared. And don't forget he had 10 days rest before playoffs. I don't believe conditioning is his main problem in this series. He just needs to start hitting step backs, because D and spacing doesn't allow his drives.

He's making dumb mistakes and doubts himself. We've seen tough defenses on him and he wasn't like this dragging his feet up and down. You think he wouldn't be in a better position if he was in a better physical shape? You have 35yo guys in better condition than a 25yo Luka lol.... You can't even defend him at this point.

RS is not the same intensity as playoffs. Kobe Bryant said it best, he said you prepare in off season for playoffs, you don't prepare for regular season.

I have never seen playing him D like this year, last game excluded, because of problems with fouls. So conditioning is solid imho. The main problem/difference is 3pts %, it was 40% in last series against Clippers and it's 26% now. Normal % and us 2 wouldn't have had this conversation. And please don't start with tired legs, because he's not hitting 3s in any Q. He's in shooting slump, hopefully he comes out before season ends.

[Swish77]

You mean sweep, we should be 3-1 right now with this hobbled Luka shooting terrible, but thanks to Kidd we're not.

With Rick we would have.

[Archx]

What are you talking about? Haven't he just had far the best RS of his life? I kinda doubt he would be capable of that coming unprepared. And don't forget he had 10 days rest before playoffs. I don't believe conditioning is his main problem in this series. He just needs to start hitting step backs, because D and spacing doesn't allow his drives.

He's making dumb mistakes and doubts himself. We've seen tough defenses on him and he wasn't like this dragging his feet up and down. You think he wouldn't be in a better position if he was in a better physical shape? You have 35yo guys in better condition than a 25yo Luka lol.... You can't even defend him at this point.

RS is not the same intensity as playoffs. Kobe Bryant said it best, he said you prepare in off season for playoffs, you don't prepare for regular season.

I have never seen playing him D like this year, last game excluded, because of problems with fouls. So conditioning is solid imho. The main problem/difference is 3pts %, it was 40% in last series against Clippers and it's 26% now. Normal % and us 2 wouldn't have had this conversation. And please don't start with tired legs, because he's not hitting 3s in any Q. He's in shooting slump, hopefully he comes out before season ends.

You have entire dedicated thread on Mavs reddit about this, people do notice. And then you have Slovenian fans talking about the same thing. It's not wrong to point out that he has to do better in the off season. It's a very fair criticism, it's basically the very same concern since he got in to the league.

[Bob8]

He's making dumb mistakes and doubts himself. We've seen tough defenses on him and he wasn't like this dragging his feet up and down. You think he wouldn't be in a better position if he was in a better physical shape? You have 35yo guys in better condition than a 25yo Luka lol.... You can't even defend him at this point.

RS is not the same intensity as playoffs. Kobe Bryant said it best, he said you prepare in off season for playoffs, you don't prepare for regular season.

I have never seen playing him D like this year, last game excluded, because of problems with fouls. So conditioning is solid imho. The main problem/difference is 3pts %, it was 40% in last series against Clippers and it's 26% now. Normal % and us 2 wouldn't have had this conversation. And please don't start with tired legs, because he's not hitting 3s in any Q. He's in shooting slump, hopefully he comes out before season ends.

You have entire dedicated thread on Mavs reddit about this, people do notice. And then you have Slovenian fans talking about the same thing. It's not wrong to point out that he has to do better in the off season. It's a very fair criticism, it's basically the very same concern since he got in to the league.

Don't you think is kinda stupid to make big conclusions after his best RS and after only 4 playoffs games in which he played great D in 3, his biggest problem being 3pts % and Mavs still winning his minutes in every game, by 8 avg.?

Who cares about Reddit and Slovenian fans, wait at least until this series ends.

[ozwizard8]

More like injured or illness to be honest. It started from the G1. Doesnt make sense after 2 weeks of to be fatigued from first quarter of first game. Some say Mann defending good but its not that. Luka used to abuse Zubac for instance but now he cant even shake him off or get a rhytm 3pt shots

He looks fine in training, laughing and having fun. Heavy legs and long season caught up to him. Not being in shape means no real confidence in your body and yourself. His drives in to the paint, pump fakes, push offs, delayed layups and kick outs... He doesn't play like that when he's confident and rested. Also no real lift in his legs, we've seen this million times over and over. Dead legs = poor 3pt shooting, rested legs = good shooting.

You're telling me that Luka was ok the whole season, then he had 10 days rest and suddenly his legs are dead? I could agree that he's not conditioned enough for 45 minutes, but he can't hit any 3s in first half either. If his legs are dead how could he played impressive defensive 4th Q in game 3? I would say problem about confidence is more in his head than anything else. Luka has those disastrous shooting sequences every year, unfortunately he didn't choose the right moment for that this year.

In season conditioning should improve for sure. No more NT for f's sake. he can skip like two and then go only 50% of it like all great Euros used to do.

Refs are officiating this series in a very different mode. Luka's good D game would called for fouls in regular season for sure. He didn't need to make sudden moves for his defense. On offense he needs to turn the corners do step backs, then slow down during his penetration which are more taxing to the right knee for his case.

I'd wish its mental than physical because then we would see Luka getting hot for next games and next series. If physical issue is major then we wouldn't have much chance against OKC either.

[ozwizard8]

He looks fine in training, laughing and having fun. Heavy legs and long season caught up to him. Not being in shape means no real confidence in your body and yourself. His drives in to the paint, pump fakes, push offs, delayed layups and kick outs... He doesn't play like that when he's confident and rested. Also no real lift in his legs, we've seen this million times over and over. Dead legs = poor 3pt shooting, rested legs = good shooting.

what is the point here? laughing so he is not injured?
there are moves where you need to be more agile, there are moves that is taxing to right knee. Luka is avoiding those and Clippers are now defend him easier than earlier years.
fatigue wouldn't necessarily show in Q1 of game 1. it's more of a Lebron/AD thing we saw with the 4th quarter Lakers.
no lift in his legs since game 1 where he had like two weeks off. I mean if he had lift in G1 and no lift for last games I'd understand fatigue argument.
anyway, I told it here countless times; he should not attend national team every year. He also need to rejavanuate the way he eats and trains like Jokic did. Otherwise his career arc will be more similar to Melo than Lebron. (Luka is already better than prime Melo but longetivity wise, if you are not training enough, those injuries will catchup like Iverson-Melo etc.)

You mentioned illness and i said he looks perfectly fine. I have no clue what's going on in his head, no one does. It's all speculation at our part. But he doesn't look right during games and specially late game. Kyrie has to take over for him. Injury or fatigue, doesn't even matter at the end of the day, he's simply not right.

I agree he doesn't look right.
I do not think this only happens in Q4 or G4. It was there for each Q1-Q2 of the games as well. So fatigue during the game is probably not the reason. He should get better training and diet for mid-long term for sure. Cut the NT.

[Archx]

I have never seen playing him D like this year, last game excluded, because of problems with fouls. So conditioning is solid imho. The main problem/difference is 3pts %, it was 40% in last series against Clippers and it's 26% now. Normal % and us 2 wouldn't have had this conversation. And please don't start with tired legs, because he's not hitting 3s in any Q. He's in shooting slump, hopefully he comes out before season ends.

You have entire dedicated thread on Mavs reddit about this, people do notice. And then you have Slovenian fans talking about the same thing. It's not wrong to point out that he has to do better in the off season. It's a very fair criticism, it's basically the very same concern since he got in to the league.

Don't you think is kinda stupid to make big conclusions after his best RS and after only 4 playoffs games in which he played great D in 3, his biggest problem being 3pts % and Mavs still winning his minutes in every game, by 8 avg.?

Who cares about Reddit and Slovenian fans, wait at least until this series ends.

I'm not drawing any conclusions playoffs are still ongoing but what happened in RS is different to what is happening right now. His level of play, he's known of, has fallen mightly. If a MASS of people come to the very same conclusion, there is no need to defend it so heavily, specially when you know the criticism about his conditioning is valid and a constant problem.

Listen to NBA coaches on commentary, what is the 1st thing they'll say when a star player struggles with shooting? First thing they bring up is the fatigue, heavy legs, etc... You see a ton of his shots are short or completely off base, that's a nr1 sign of fatigue. And he's taken a lot of easy shots, specially for him.

Anyway.... i'm also getting tired talking about this It's a common concern which is basically clear to 99% of people. We'll see if he'll get enough rest to get his %'s back up otherwise it will be on Kyrie to carry offense again.