Both good teams...but it is still the first round. I'd say best first round performance, sure... But every single finals peformance outdoes what Luka did. Like I remember what Lebron did against the Warriors...not what he did to some first round team...in fact I barely remember the teams he pushed aside in the first round outside of that last Pacers team that gave them a scare and that's only because it is recently. 5 years from now I won't remember that. Stakes just get raised higher and higher and for Luka? He playing with house money. No one picked them to win this series, all the pressure is on Kawhi and PG13 to win this series. Dallas could not win another game and people would still sing his praises, rightly so... But it's just the first round. Impressive performance, great, but we don't need the hyperbole that it is one of the greatest playoff performances of all time. For me, it's impossible to have that in the first round.
Man. I want Hardaway on my team. That dude balls but also backed Luka during pregame today and him just standing there made my love, yes love and I love that man for being a great man and being there for another human being with equality on his back from his language. MUcHo Respect for all 3
Even if Luka is the most unclutch player ever he is still one of the best players in the league. Not everybody has to be clutch to be a superstar (See Shaq) and not everybody who is clutch is a super star (see Robert Horry). Davis is seen as a top 5, top 10 player and he regular disappears in 4rth quarters. So what this point is irrelevant I'm not saying Luka is better than Jordan. We're just talking about this game specifically and Luka was clutch multiple times this game. I mean you can even argue Luka being unclutch the entire season and then suddenly being clutch makes this game more iconic. When Ryan Anderson dunked you remember that play cuz he never dunks but when he shot 3s its like normal cuz thats what he was expected to do. MJ is clutch so what else is new for the Flu game? But if Luka is unclutch then he suddenly became MJ this game then that's iconic cuz that's special. Again I'm not saying Luka is better than MJ I'm just saying this game is better than the Flu game. Just cuz both are title contenders doesn't mean they are equal in strength lol. Bulls had 3 all stars vs Jazz 2. Mavs have 1 all star vs Clippers 2. Even if we assume all the all stars are equal relatively then Luka's game today is more iconic cuz he was more disadvantaged tonight. You don't think Kawhi didn't guard Luka? C'mon man. Like who the hell would the Clippers focus on guarding? Seth Curry? Even Marcus Morris is a much better perimeter defender than Chris Morris or which ever scrub the Jazz had. Mavs scored 135 cuz they took more 3s and the game reached OT. Bulls took 14 threes during the Flu Game Mavs took 44 threes today. It's not like every team scores 135, Lakers for example averaged less than 100 pts in the Bubble. It has to do with their pace and amount of 3s taken you can't just say every player in the 1980s would increase their pts by 50% playing in today's NBA lol. If the Bulls played in today's NBA then they'd take more 3s well guess what that would be guys like Toni Kukoc and Kerr. MJ had 38 pts during the Flu game but guess what he shot 25% from 3 while Doncic shot 40% tonight. That means even if MJ and the Bulls played in today's NBA his PPG wouldn't have increased substantially cuz he was misfiring from 3 all game long. When the Flu game happened the Bulls and Jazz were tied 2-2 before they won whereas the Mavs are down 2-1 so the Bulls could have lost the Flu game and they can still make it up but if the Mavs lost today they are virtually eliminated cuz only 1 team has come back from 3-1. Maybe if it was the last game you can argue it is more important cuz that would have resulted in a championship but the Flu Game was just Game 5. If they lost they could have gone to Game 6 and then forced a decisive game 7. How can you say Finals matter more than 1st round when you can't reach the Finals if you lose in the first round? LOL that's like arguing the Roof of a house is more important than the foundation. There are no prizes for winning the first round but neither can you win a chip if you lose in the first round so you can't say one is more important than the other cuz they are linked together. I already explained the massive difference in scoring, it is due to increased 3 pt attempts (14 vs 44). MJ shot 25% from 3 during the Flu Game why will his points increase by 50% when his 3 pt shooting is wack? Ok Donovan Mitchell just completed his 50 pt game guess what he shot 55% from the field, 57% from 3 and had 18 fts. MJ shot 48% from the field and 25% from 3. They actually had the same amount of attempts Mitchell was just more efficient. You know who is playing in this era? Paul George. You know who only had 9 pts? Paul George. That cuz he shot like ass. Efficiency matters as well just cuz you play in the modern era doesn't mean your pts will go up by 50% LOL. Maybe if MJ was a dead eye 3 pt shooter and shot like 40% from 3 that night you can make that argument but he shot 25% from 3 during the flu game. Even if you argue MJ would have increased his score to 50 what about the 17 rebs and 13 asts Luka had? Ok increase MJ's rebs and asts by 50% now his stat line is 57/11/7. Sorry but Luka's 43/17/13 is STILL more impressive. TLDR In short this game is better cuz there was more on the line (2-1 lead vs 2-2), Luka had better guys defending him (Kawhi, PG, Marcus Morris vs Jazz Scrubs) and MJ had better teammates helping him as well (Rodman and Pippen vs Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway) and individually Luka shot better and had better over all stats than MJ's flu game. As an added bonus, MJ and the Bulls are the darlings of the NBA whereas nobody cares about the Jazz. The reverse is true for the Mavs and Clipps, so Luka also had to fight againt calls made against him and his team throughout the game including several non call and phantom fouls in the 4rth quarter. If you think the Flu game is better than that's just Nostalgia talking objectively speaking when you break it down there's no argument to be made.
Wow Luka is Amazing. I rreally hate it he is a Mavs. Why were the Suns, Kings and hawks so Stupid. It is not like we didn't know he would be amazing. It was unheard of what he was doing in the Europe at that age.... Just sad. I do not trully believe that a player is either clutch or he isn't. People always say Bryant was clutch, yet he missed so man important shots at the end of games. People said Dirk wasn't clutch up until he suddenly was. Harden has had years in which he made almost every important shot and years in which he missed important shots. So I do not believe a player is either clutch or not clutch. Confidence is so important for these shots. And self confidence can change. People who are saying Luka isn't clutch. He has made many super clutch shots in important games in Europe. He might have struggled in closing out games this year, but I have no doubt he will make many clutch baskets in his career. Luka is one of my favorite players, unfortunately he plays for the Mavs, So I will usually hope he loses (just not this series, which makes this shot all the sweeter).
I get that we should hate the Mavs but the thing is I dun wish Luka had joined a bad franchise for the sake of it. Maybe the Heat or Pacers.
I did not watch the game . Nba determines the fate of the series imo . It will come down to how many ft’s they give luka . they want to extend this series is my guess . I’m questioning everything in the nba right now . anyways . How is Luka this good / putting up these stats ? I know his ankle sprain did not look that bad . But he still played a ton of minutes. I thought his conditioning was supposed to be suspect ? When he came into the nba weren’t there questions about his physical tools ( or was that just a stigma ?) but anyways , it seems he bullies people to the rim . How is a 21 year old that strong ? Is he getting away with pushing ? Is he that crafty and people haven’t had years of his game to figure him out ? Lu dort is also super strong . What’s going on with these European players ? I’m not saying he’s on steroids , I’m just saying . Maybe it’s the bubble and levels of player physicality are different due to the timing . in the past there would be no way 2nd and 3rd years players would be routinely stronger than older established strong defenders . They’d put athlete them . Is the norm changing ? Is this a blip ? Are these just particularly strong players ?
After looking at the play a few times, I’ve concluded that Kawhi should have fought thru the screen from Maxi as the defensive god Kawhi is to get on Luka but if you look closely at that play, Kawhi just seemed like he didn’t care at all/got confused/pissed at PG’s playoff performance so far/etc and just stayed where he was and didn’t even try to get back on Luka where he was supposed to be. I guess not everyone is perfect and even the the best players can have their mental lapses and thru times like that you have to hope your role players can make the clutch play if needed when that situation occurs... but Kawhi just didn’t feel the same to me on that play and it’s like he didn’t want to guard Luka. Anyone else feel the same way? What’s yalls take?
“Luka played in Europe before he came to the NBA. The rest of his rookie class played in college. So he’s in the second best league in the world learning how to play the game. He didn’t have to go to class, study hall, none of that extra stuff the rest of the guys had to go through, he was just focusing on his game probably since he was 14 years old. So that’s an advantage for him and you could tell that he’s not shy, he’s not afraid of the moment. And he’s going to be a force.” —Kevin Durant on Luka
yes . I am not doubting his capability to dominate / be very good at the mental side of the game because of this experience . However , how he has looked on the physical side has shocked me . Now , it may be that because he has this mental edge and instinct, he’s just moving at a quicker pace because he’s not thinking .
it doesn’t matter which round it is because Mavs is an underdog and winning despite injuries. Lebron has never been an underdog in his Miami or 2nd Cleveland years until finals.
Or maybe he is just...good? The time you put into this post, spend it on some highlights at least and all your questions will be answered.
When the argument is "One of the best playoff performances ever." I think the round matters...A LOT. Everyone remembers Jordan because of his moments in key playoff matchups. Flue game. Hitting game winning shots in the Finals. He showed out in the first round before, a lot of stars do. If we're going to compare Luka to greats then fine, we can do that, that means fairly saying he hasn't accomplished what they have yet. Maybe he will. I think people take things for granted. "Oh, he's only 21!" But building championship teams are hard. Rocket fans should know this, we've had Harden for years now...we put him with Dwight hoping this would be it, a dynasty...then the Warriors show up and Dwight wasn't what we hoped he could be. Then the Warriors get KD...then CP3 gets hurt when we most need him...winning is hard. If Luka's career ended today this would just be a fun moment in NBA history. I'm not hating on the guy, just saying what it is. He still has A LOT more left to prove. As Shaq mentioned last night, so what, lots of guys have big games in the first round. Luka is going to be compared to the best which means it's fair to expect more of him.
Your post reeks of bias against Luka. If Luka would end his career today, he would be inducted in HoF because of his international accomplishments. That all happened before age of 20! If you think finals matter most, then you probably don't remember the quote "It's just God disguised as Michael Jordan"? LeBron heroics against Detroit? Lillard's shot against OKC? Kawhi's shot against Philly??? That series cemented Kawhi as one of the great playoff players ever and it was much tougher to win there then in finals because of all the injuries. As far as an individual, Luka's got veery little to prove. He is shattering playoff records left and right. Team wise, he will get there eventually. But to dismiss his yesterday's performace as "just a fun moment in NBA history"...eh.
