Luka Doncic ('24 NBA Scoring Leader) & Kyrie Irving - 23-24 NBA Thread

[Colbinii]

Their defense has been impressive, though the biggest difference for me isn't Luka/Kyrie outplaying Harden/PG13 defensively,

They don't have to outplay Harden/PG defensively. They just can't be liabilities and they really haven't. And those guys have spent as much time on Harden as anyone.

Sure, maybe my grammar is incorrect, but what I am saying is the biggest thing isn't the defense of Luka/Kyrie, it's their offense.

They have been exceptional with the one small mark in Luka's 3P shot [which isn't a worry for me].

If they can get by, they are going to have to get more out of more guys. OKC has more guys who contribute and they should play faster making it harder for Luka to play the whole game.

This series will be fascinating. Chet is going to be an interesting puzzle to solve.

RE Chet: I think the OKC series is where Daniel Gafford can shine. His size is a real problem for OKC to handle [Gafford is just big enough to be in that tier of centers who can damage OKC]. We saw what JV did in the post and Gafford will wreck havoc in a different way off the P&R and penetration.

-I'm thinking OKC is going to be trying Chet on James Jones Jr for stretch to force him to make 3P shots.
-Giddey is going to get slaughtered in the P&R and will play very few minutes in this series and/or lose most of his minutes
-How do the defensive match-ups work for Dallas? I expect Luka to be in a lot of actions against SGA/Williams and this 1st round series lends itself to positivity and optimism surrounding his defense.

[mademan]

Their defense has been impressive, though the biggest difference for me isn't Luka/Kyrie outplaying Harden/PG13 defensively,

They don't have to outplay Harden/PG defensively. They just can't be liabilities and they really haven't. And those guys have spent as much time on Harden as anyone.

Sure, maybe my grammar is incorrect, but what I am saying is the biggest thing isn't the defense of Luka/Kyrie, it's their offense.

They have been exceptional with the one small mark in Luka's 3P shot [which isn't a worry for me].

If they can get by, they are going to have to get more out of more guys. OKC has more guys who contribute and they should play faster making it harder for Luka to play the whole game.

This series will be fascinating. Chet is going to be an interesting puzzle to solve.

RE Chet: I think the OKC series is where Daniel Gafford can shine. His size is a real problem for OKC to handle [Gafford is just big enough to be in that tier of centers who can damage OKC]. We saw what JV did in the post and Gafford will wreck havoc in a different way off the P&R and penetration.

-I'm thinking OKC is going to be trying Chet on James Jones Jr for stretch to force him to make 3P shots.
-Giddey is going to get slaughtered in the P&R and will play very few minutes in this series and/or lose most of his minutes
-How do the defensive match-ups work for Dallas? I expect Luka to be in a lot of actions against SGA/Williams and this 1st round series lends itself to positivity and optimism surrounding his defense.

Guessing Gafford/Lively will take Giddey and cheat off him to help, but with all the guards OKC has, they dont really need to keep Giddey on the court if he's not making enough shots to punish the Dallas bigs.

Gafford/Lively/PJ size and athleticism up front really bothered OKC's small lineup in the RS game i watched right after the trade. You'd expect some adjustments, but if Dallas can make enough shots with their bigs on the court (namely Klieber/PJ/DJJ shooting well), then that should be very tough for OKC to handle. Those guys are very inconsistent from 3 tho

[Texas Chuck]

yep Dallas has assigned a center to Giddey in the RS and then just completely ignored him. To Giddey's credit he was a willing shooter on the wide open corner 3's but he wasn't able to punish Dallas out of that. I assume they will do the same and PJ will get Chet duty.

[NBA4Lyfe]

is luka still sick/injured or is that determined by whether the mavs win or lose

[TroubleS0me]

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[Texas Chuck]

is luka still sick/injured or is that determined by whether the mavs win or lose

You know some guys actually get hurt/sick. You sound like immature Wade when Dirk was sick in the 2011 Finals. Leave that silliness for the General Board. There you will get the love you seek.

[NBA4Lyfe]

is luka still sick/injured or is that determined by whether the mavs win or lose

You know some guys actually get hurt/sick. You sound like immature Wade when Dirk was sick in the 2011 Finals. Leave that silliness for the General Board. There you will get the love you seek.

i only stan harden.. could less about the overrated dwade,, a player that in his best season got sent home by joe johnson in the 1st round. Lol that would be like donovan mitchell sending the rockets home when he was on the jazz

[rk2023]

is luka still sick/injured or is that determined by whether the mavs win or lose

You know some guys actually get hurt/sick. You sound like immature Wade when Dirk was sick in the 2011 Finals. Leave that silliness for the General Board. There you will get the love you seek.

i only stan harden.. could less about the overrated dwade,, a player that in his best season got sent home by joe johnson in the 1st round. Lol that would be like donovan mitchell sending the rockets home when he was on the jazz

This is a Luka Doncic and Dallas Mavericks themed thread so I’m not gonna derail this, but you’re out of your damn mind if you think the 09 Heat supporting cast is anywhere close to the 18 Rockets..

Within scope of this thread, you’re out of your damn mind if you think Luka’s injury & wellness status is a “get out of jail” card given how he and Dallas performs game to game. This is funny, especially as a James Harden stan - a group known to use any and every excuse for his playoff shortcoming.

For example:
• Lue is a bad coach
• His teammates have poor IQ
• Champions are predetermined and refs fix games
• Klutch sports and ESPN are fixing games against Harden
• LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Tim Legler best interested are protected at the cost of Harden
• More guards nowadays emulate Harden instead of Steph anyways

[NBA4Lyfe]

You know some guys actually get hurt/sick. You sound like immature Wade when Dirk was sick in the 2011 Finals. Leave that silliness for the General Board. There you will get the love you seek.

i only stan harden.. could less about the overrated dwade,, a player that in his best season got sent home by joe johnson in the 1st round. Lol that would be like donovan mitchell sending the rockets home when he was on the jazz

This is a Luka Doncic and Dallas Mavericks themed thread so I’m not gonna derail this, but you’re out of your damn mind if you think the 09 Heat supporting cast is anywhere close to the 18 Rockets..

Within scope of this thread, you’re out of your damn mind if you think Luka’s injury & wellness status is a “get out of jail” card given how he and Dallas performs game to game. This is funny, especially as a James Harden stan - a group known to use any and every excuse for his playoff shortcoming.

For example:
• Lue is a bad coach
• His teammates have poor IQ
• Champions are predetermined and refs fix games
• Klutch sports and ESPN are fixing games against Harden
• LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Tim Legler best interested are protected at the cost of Harden
• More guards nowadays emulate Harden instead of Steph anyways

i never brought up wade, the poster i was responding to did. i could care less about any other player outside of harden

and even if you want to give wade a pass for 09.. their is no excuse getting swept by a mediocre bulls team in 2007


stop listening to ben taylor and his bias takes and look at the stats and compare players accordingly

[rk2023]

i only stan harden.. could less about the overrated dwade,, a player that in his best season got sent home by joe johnson in the 1st round. Lol that would be like donovan mitchell sending the rockets home when he was on the jazz

This is a Luka Doncic and Dallas Mavericks themed thread so I’m not gonna derail this, but you’re out of your damn mind if you think the 09 Heat supporting cast is anywhere close to the 18 Rockets..

Within scope of this thread, you’re out of your damn mind if you think Luka’s injury & wellness status is a “get out of jail” card given how he and Dallas performs game to game. This is funny, especially as a James Harden stan - a group known to use any and every excuse for his playoff shortcoming.

For example:
• Lue is a bad coach
• His teammates have poor IQ
• Champions are predetermined and refs fix games
• Klutch sports and ESPN are fixing games against Harden
• LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Tim Legler best interested are protected at the cost of Harden
• More guards nowadays emulate Harden instead of Steph anyways

i never brought up wade, the poster i was responding to did. i could care less about any other player outside of harden

and even if you want to give wade a pass for 09.. their is no excuse getting swept by a mediocre bulls team in 2007


stop listening to ben taylor and his bias takes and look at the stats and compare players accordingly

Yes.. Texas Chuck brought up Wade in principle; You’re a player stan / nuthugger. Wade was an NBA player.. but both of you are scoffing at someone by all accounts being sick (and injured in Luka’s case). That’s the point, it’s not rocket science. No need to get in here and make the thread a Wade Harden debate

[rk2023]

is luka still sick/injured or is that determined by whether the mavs win or lose

Guess he isn’t sick nor is he injured

Womp…. Womp…..

[TroubleS0me]

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[Texas Chuck]

That Kyrie closeout stat is wild. Of course on the local Mavs broadcast the other guys with the best mark in this category are, and I'm not making this up, Jordan Farmar, Mark Madsen, and Mehmet Okur. So one is not like the others, especially those middle two guys who just played for the Lakers at the right time.

[TroubleS0me]

That Kyrie closeout stat is wild. Of course on the local Mavs broadcast the other guys with the best mark in this category are, and I'm not making this up, Jordan Farmar, Mark Madsen, and Mehmet Okur. So one is not like the others, especially those middle two guys who just played for the Lakers at the right time.

I can understand Jordan and Mark, but I'm surprised Okur is on this list.

[Cavsfansince84]

That Kyrie closeout stat is wild. Of course on the local Mavs broadcast the other guys with the best mark in this category are, and I'm not making this up, Jordan Farmar, Mark Madsen, and Mehmet Okur. So one is not like the others, especially those middle two guys who just played for the Lakers at the right time.

Sort of wild but let's be honest, he wasn't the best player on most of those teams. I will give him credit whenever its due though. Never been a Kyrie hater though he definitely deserved some criticism between leaving the Cavs and getting to Dallas.

[Texas Chuck]

That Kyrie closeout stat is wild. Of course on the local Mavs broadcast the other guys with the best mark in this category are, and I'm not making this up, Jordan Farmar, Mark Madsen, and Mehmet Okur. So one is not like the others, especially those middle two guys who just played for the Lakers at the right time.

I can understand Jordan and Mark, but I'm surprised Okur is on this list.

Detroit kept going to the ECF every single year for 5-6 years. Utah was pretty good too. Makes sense I guess?

[tsherkin]

Detroit kept going to the ECF every single year for 5-6 years. Utah was pretty good too. Makes sense I guess?

Okur hit Detroit in 03, so that timing was amazing. They had a 7-game series against peak McGrady, then they took Philly in 6 and then got swept by the Nets. A year later, they smoked the Bucks, went 7 with the Nets, went 6 with the Pacers, then beat LA in 5. 05-11, Okur was in Utah. They missed the playoffs the first two seasons, then went 7 against the Rockets and 5 versus the Warriors in 07 before going down in 5 to the title Spurs. 6 versus the Rockets and lost in 6 versus the Lakers in 08. Lost in 5 to the Lakers in 09. Beat the Nuggets in 6 before getting swept by the Lakers in 2010 (what a rough run, lol), then missed the playoffs in his last season with the Jazz.

[falcolombardi]

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Is this only for elimination games for the other team? Cause 2017 finals exists, same with boston loss to bucks in 2019 and 2022 loss to celtics

[TroubleS0me]

Read on Twitter

[OhayoKD]

You know some guys actually get hurt/sick. You sound like immature Wade when Dirk was sick in the 2011 Finals. Leave that silliness for the General Board. There you will get the love you seek.

i only stan harden.. could less about the overrated dwade,, a player that in his best season got sent home by joe johnson in the 1st round. Lol that would be like donovan mitchell sending the rockets home when he was on the jazz

This is a Luka Doncic and Dallas Mavericks themed thread so I’m not gonna derail this, but you’re out of your damn mind if you think the 09 Heat supporting cast is anywhere close to the 18 Rockets..

Within scope of this thread, you’re out of your damn mind if you think Luka’s injury & wellness status is a “get out of jail” card given how he and Dallas performs game to game. This is funny, especially as a James Harden stan - a group known to use any and every excuse for his playoff shortcoming.

For example:
• Lue is a bad coach
• His teammates have poor IQ
• Champions are predetermined and refs fix games
• Klutch sports and ESPN are fixing games against Harden
• LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Tim Legler best interested are protected at the cost of Harden
• More guards nowadays emulate Harden instead of Steph anyways

The only excuse harden needs is his best teammate getting injured when they were beating the best team ever lol