The **** he did. His weakness on D and piss poor effort allowed Boston to play 4 on 5 offensively in every game but 1 (Game 4), and his shitty conditioning and poor decision making had him go ghost to close games 1-3. He was subpar in G5 as well…just ate in garbage time.
In Earlier series they were saying that Kyrie was "pacing himself" I remember thinking that pacing oneself through a playoff series could mean a short playoff but they made it will Luka "Pace himself" next year or simply improve his conditioning Rocket River
Here is a great breakdown of G5. Luka didn’t do his job on either side of the ball. He can’t handle full court pressure or ball denial? The Celtics made adjustments to get the Dallas bigs away from the paint again, and targeted Luka at will. The only difference between this game and games 1-3 were Boston hitting their wide open 3 pointers. They’ve been getting wide open looks all series. Kinda hard stopping a team where everyone can shoot when you’re defending with 4 people.
Luka and Dallas will need to fix all of this Cause next year EVERYONE will treat them this way Rocket River
how on earth can someone watch this video and not say this guy is a white james harden.. like this is exact type of non-off ballmovement 4 vs 5 offense that the ringer guys and espn/fs1 killed harden and cp3 for. But somehow luka just attracting a defender away from the play and not moving makes him michael jordan and lebron wtf when harden retires im done with the nba, they can keep their bias and their bigoted nba media voters.. those of us in houston who watched hardens entire career, knows that luka is just a poor mans james harden that actually gets backed and supported by adam silver. Luka could never make the finals under the constant rigjobs that harden had to go againist. Now did harden lay an egg a few times, sure.. but nothing this guy luka does has led me to believe he is better than prime harden.. Not even a little.. like could you imagine how many times harden could go for 70 or 80 when he would go off on teams when the rockets were leading by double digits heading into the 4th, thats the difference ive seen between luka/harden as well, when harden goes off the game is usually over by the 3rd quarter. Luka is able to statpad like in the game he had the 60/20/10 game vs the knicks in ot and the 73 points that i think also went ot vs the hawks this year
Boston is stacked top to bottom. If Luka is as bad as you are saying how come they beat multiple 50 win teams to get to the Finals? I believe Luka was also playing injured and that prob hampered his effectiveness even more. They beat Clippers, OKC and Minny basically all the top teams in the West. If its so hard to stop teams with Doncic why they beat everyone except Boston? Thats just a false narrative on your part. There was a stat saying Boston won almost every game with Jayson Tatum shooting 40% from the field and 25% from 3. So to be honest you are not making a fair comparison. If Luka was on the Celtics and Tatum was on the Mavs the Mavs dont even reach the Finals with Tatum shooting like trash and Celts still win easily regardless who they face.
Luka is a poor man James Harden? Luka is only 24 at his age Harden just arrived in Houston and lost in the first round vs Portland and got Dame timed. At age 24 Luka already reached the Finals playing with Irving who is crazy and a bunch of rookies and vet min players like Tim Hardaway and Gafford. He already has 2 iconic close outs in his career vs PHX suns and vs Minny. Y'all act like losing in the Finals is something to be ashamed about Harden hasnt even reached the Finals yet post OKC. Does Harden have anything close to that? All he has is regular season performances which Doncic also has. In the playoffs Harden has memorable choke performances like losing to SAS without Kawhi, being part of that 0-23 squad vs GSW in 2018, losing to GSW with half their team injured in 2019. Just this year alone LA Clippers with Harden just got beat down by Luka. So how is Luka a poor man's Harden?
Meh this is the same Boston team with the same coach and same cast of characters that a “washed” non allstar James harden put 40 on twice with the sixers in the playoffs 12 month ago. The only difference being jrue instead of Marcus smart and porzingis( who was a total non-factor due to health) this Celtics team is nowhere near those warriors teams that harden would face. Not even close. Shai is a good young talent that has ascended nicely but Anthony edwards is just another glorified Donovan Mitchell too me. Ant plays nothing like mj but more like a 6’5 Kevin Durant
Coulda woulda shoulda. Facts are Luka reached the Finals while Harden hasnt yet. Put 40 on Boston twice? Who won that series again Philly or Boston? lol wtf. Why does putting on 40 matter when they still lost? And this is after you complained Luka just put up big stats? Whats the point of bringing up GSW when Harden never even beat GSW? In 2019 GSW had half their team injured and Harden still lost. Harden isntt had an iconic close out game where he just beats a superior team, in fact his career is full of choke jobs like that 0-23 shooting mess, losing to SAS without Kawhi and losing GSW without half their team.
Ok I already mentioned harden having stinkers, but to say with a straight face that Luka has peaked higher than the heights harden reached is straight dishonesty and borderline gaslighting Luka contrary to popular belief was not robbed of the nba mvp this year. The mavs with kyrie toiled at the bottom of the west all season. Like Luka is lucky he was voted to the all nba team last szn despite missing the playoffs. harden was so revolutionary he forced the nba to have adapt to him. It was like three straight off seasons where adumb silver put in rules at the behest of Steve Kerr, coach bud, spo and mike Malone to “fix the harden problem” Luka was not getting 4 point plays waved off like harden was in big playoff games againist BETTER OPPOSITION
Luka beat better opposition like PHX and Minny who were considered title contenders. Which better opposition has Harden beaten in the playoffs? Luka has never lost to an inferior team like Harden has multiple times like getting Dame timed or 50% GSW or SAS without Kawhi. Again how is Luka a poor man's Harden? Luka is only 24 why are you talking about peaks? He is only a year older than Dalton Knecht who isnt even drafted yet and you are talking about career peaks? At least Luka is already considered an MVP contender at age 24, Harden was just an all star at his age.
Coulda shoulda my ass, stop overating this Celtics team cause they exposed the fat boy as a fraud. Like I sad the fat boy was shooting like crap this entire playoffs and was bailed multiple times by kyrie and was exposed by a washed harden head to head. Harden had that fat boy in lockdown jail lol literally defended fat boy the best of any player in the playoffs but espn and the racist ringer guys won’t mention that lol Tell espn and the ringer to post this
Wish this brotha woulda touched on the difference in how both are officiated in the playoffs, but that I’m sure woulda opened up a hornets nest
Why dont you stop overrating Harden? You havent even responded to any of my points like which superior team has Harden closed out in the playoffs? You cant even say one but still act like Harden is better. I listed multiple times Harden has choked what about that??? All you can say is Luka lost to the best team in the Finals lol that 100x better than losing to SAS without Kawhi. Being a fatboy like Luka is better than being a strip club and party boy choker like Harden. Boston won 64 games how many games did the 2019 GSW team win? And Harden lost to that team with half of their team injured? You cant even use injury as an excuse the Rockets were healthy that year. Imagine being full strength still losing to GSW at half strength. And Luka is the fraud? Brother stop being so biased. Before you insult Luka just think how many times Harden has choked in his career and just stop. Its funny you making these stupid points which make zero sense. Harden locked up Luka? Really? Luka averaged 29.9/8/9 in that series thats being locked up to you? So Luka got locked up but magically LAC lost 4-2 it wasnt even close lol lmao. Actually that was another choke job by Harden that Clippers team had the better record right and the odds were on them not the Mavs. Luka got locked up but Harden is the one who choked and lost hmm why am I not surprised? All you can say is irrelevant BS because at the end of the day even at only age 24 Luka already has the better resume than Harden's entire career. Harden has that one sole regular season MVP, but only age 24 Luka will get at least one MVP in his career with the way he is playing. Hell people already said he got robbed jist this year. In the playoffs Harden has choked so many times and doesnt have the feats Luka has achieved so far. Its crazy you try to plump up Harden by mentioning his performance against Boston when Philly ended up getting destroyed by Boston. I remember Harden also shot terribly that series want me to bring it up? Until you can say multiple superior teams Harden has beaten or Luka has choked multiple times against inferior teams like Harden has, nah Luka is much better than Harden. No amount of showing Boston players will change that.
my guy harden was 1st team all-nba with the rockets when he was 24 years old did you even follow the rockets at all
My guy he got Dame timed in the playoffs did you follow the Rox at all? Didnt even get out of ****ing first round and you laughing at Luka who lost in the Finals?
Luka will NEVER reach the peak of a james harden... for one he is average shooter lol.. Dude has been like mid 70's from the ft-line and super average from 3 his entire career lol. Larry Bird gotta be rolling in his grave seeing himself being compared to such an overrated fugazi When Luka can have a season rivaling 2016 steph, then you fat boy will get my attention, nothing and i mean this is most honest and fair way possible.. nothing luka has done up until this point is better than peak harden. Do you realize all of these junk/high school/aau defenses that are thrown at perimeter players are because of hardens peak.. mike malone denver nuggets head coach has called harden "michael jordan", and openly admitted to avoiding the rockets in the final stages of the 2019 season to avoid harden lol. When fat boy gets that kind of respect from nba coaches then he'll be impressive. All Luka is at this point a worser/european version of the guy that these bigoted nba writers and analysts have openly ciritisized largely unfairly for decades and no this wolves or okc team is not some all-time great team. Karl Anthony towns and especially rudy gobert were no problem for harden at all in the playoffs. Jokic for as great as he is, would also get played off the court, i dont care abiut his fancy passes. Harden used to routinely make jokic look like greg ostertag with mitchmatch hunting him and putting him a billion pick and rolls. The only area where luka is better at harden from what ive seen as a non-biased observer is from (mid-range) but largely because harden abandoned that aspect of his game and luka is for sure a better rim finisher than james to due size but these larry bird comparisons gotta stop. He is what he is at this point, a box score statstuffer mainly due to having the highest usage in nba history for his career
standings from the 2014 season https://www.espn.com/nba/standings/_/season/2014 blazers and rockets had 54 wins a piece and were the 4th and 5th seeds with much better ppg differentals ___________________________________ compared to this year https://www.espn.com/nba/standings the mavs won 50 games lol pathetic and look at the sad state of these records lol. prime harden would send luka and his overrated mavs team home, there is nothing luka does that makes him more dangerous than prime harden... nothing
