RS 19/20 - Jan. 14 Mavs at Golden State 10:30

[Sara2009]

Even when Luka cooled off around this time last season, he still had some games where he was on fire. It’s not like he completely fell off a cliff.

I also struggle with the notion that he didn’t try to improve on anything from last season. He was noticeably better at several things at the start of this season. The fact that he’s been off lately doesn’t change that IMO.

[J_T]

Well, you know how it is, when you are compared to MVP you are expected to deliver at MVP level and when you don't...

So I think it comes with the territory and is justified

No, that doesn't make sense, because it's not Luka who is claiming to be MVP. I have never seen any public announcement anywhere that would predict him actually winning the MVP. I don't think anyone around here said or thought he would be winning MVP. So this reasoning is just wrong.

With that said, for ME, this was actually his worst game of the season. You wanted to see how Luka looks when he is not losing his mind after every foul or missed shot? Well there you had it, you can watch it every time before you want to post him being a loose cannon. He just doesn't work that way. He runs on emotions.
I have 2 theories and I'm dead serious about both. The first one is that they drugged him. Gave him something to calm him down and maybe it was an overdose. Maybe they were reading this forum and said "we need to do something about it." The second theory is that something had happened to him outside of court, in private life, that was relatively very important. Nothing else actually makes sense to me.

The third option is actually the most probable. We have exactly the same pattern going on as in every of the last 2 seasons. Luka was great until somewhere mid/late January, then he fell off. The same thing is happening here. I wont go into why this is happening but it is a thing. I will change my opinion only if he can start playing at an MVP level again by the time playoffs roll around but history tells us he will keep struggling for the rest of the season.

How is this most probable, when it can actually get wildly different from one game to another? If this is now his new level till end of the season, I'll give it to you. But if he still has great games, then I'm sorry but it can't be most probable. I don't just go from nobody to running marathon sub 2:30 occasionally, by accident.

And two more things:

1. Luka was never at MVP level. His defense is not good enough.

2. Forget about the ankle, his ankle is fine.

[Pinkyring]

Idk why people are surprised about lukas three point shooting. Ive stated this offseason and everyone called me dumb that luka isnt a shooter, he is a scorer, he can get hot from 3 and those games but he doesn't have the makings thus far of a shooter. Some of it can be attributed to his horrible 3 point shot selection but in general, he's a scorer

[XTraderXL]

No, that doesn't make sense, because it's not Luka who is claiming to be MVP. I have never seen any public announcement anywhere that would predict him actually winning the MVP. I don't think anyone around here said or thought he would be winning MVP. So this reasoning is just wrong.

With that said, for ME, this was actually his worst game of the season. You wanted to see how Luka looks when he is not losing his mind after every foul or missed shot? Well there you had it, you can watch it every time before you want to post him being a loose cannon. He just doesn't work that way. He runs on emotions.
I have 2 theories and I'm dead serious about both. The first one is that they drugged him. Gave him something to calm him down and maybe it was an overdose. Maybe they were reading this forum and said "we need to do something about it." The second theory is that something had happened to him outside of court, in private life, that was relatively very important. Nothing else actually makes sense to me.

The third option is actually the most probable. We have exactly the same pattern going on as in every of the last 2 seasons. Luka was great until somewhere mid/late January, then he fell off. The same thing is happening here. I wont go into why this is happening but it is a thing. I will change my opinion only if he can start playing at an MVP level again by the time playoffs roll around but history tells us he will keep struggling for the rest of the season.

How is this most probable, when it can actually get wildly different from one game to another? If this is now his new level till end of the season, I'll give it to you. But if he still has great games, then I'm sorry but it can't be most probable. I don't just go from nobody to running marathon sub 2:30 occasionally, by accident.

And two more things:

1. Luka was never at MVP level. His defense is not good enough.

2. Forget about the ankle, his ankle is fine.

Fist of all your overdose take is simply moronic and I didnt even know if I should respond to someone who writes crap like that.

Secondly, it is most probable because the same exact thing happened in the past 2 seasons and you could see the difference in his movements and his shot mechanics if you compare the early and the latter parts of both seasons. Same thing is happening this year. He started cooling off in late January in both seasons and played the rest of the year noticeably worse than in the first 2-3 months. Of course it is different from one game to the next but I am looking at a longer term pattern here. I am willing to bet that in the next 40 games his % across the board will be worse than they are now, his averages will dip as well and the eye test will also tell us he is simply not playing on the same level as he did before January. A great game here and there will not change that fact. If you play 40 games, there is a good chance that you will have a few good ones. If you have 3 seasons in a row of the same data pattern, I dont know how you can say that is not the most probable scenario. Especially as it has already been happening for a few games in a row now. At no time this season Luka had a stretch like this, not even close.

To be completely clear, I am not saying he will play like he played yesterday for the rest of the season. What I am saying is that the second half of his season will be worse than the first half and that is a reasonable expectation based on multiple factors.



As for your points 1. and 2....
1) he was in MVP contention, thats MVP level of play. I never considered him #1 but at some point he was a top3 MVP candidate.
2) never said anything about his ankle. Dont know what you are talking about

[J_T]

The third option is actually the most probable. We have exactly the same pattern going on as in every of the last 2 seasons. Luka was great until somewhere mid/late January, then he fell off. The same thing is happening here. I wont go into why this is happening but it is a thing. I will change my opinion only if he can start playing at an MVP level again by the time playoffs roll around but history tells us he will keep struggling for the rest of the season.

How is this most probable, when it can actually get wildly different from one game to another? If this is now his new level till end of the season, I'll give it to you. But if he still has great games, then I'm sorry but it can't be most probable. I don't just go from nobody to running marathon sub 2:30 occasionally, by accident.

And two more things:

1. Luka was never at MVP level. His defense is not good enough.

2. Forget about the ankle, his ankle is fine.

Fist of all your overdose take is simply moronic and I didnt even know if I should respond to someone who writes crap like that.

Secondly, it is most probable because the same exact thing happened in the past 2 seasons and you could see the difference in his movements and his shot mechanics if you compare the early and the latter parts of both seasons. Same thing is happening this year. He started cooling off in late January in both seasons and played the rest of the year noticeably worse than in the first 2-3 months. Of course it is different from one game to the next but I am looking at a longer term pattern here. I am willing to bet that in the next 40 games his % across the board will be worse than they are now, his averages will dip as well and the eye test will also tell us he is simply not playing on the same level as he did before January. A great game here and there will not change that fact. If you play 40 games, there is a good chance that you will have a few good ones. If you have 3 seasons in a row of the same data pattern, I dont know how you can say that is not the most probable scenario. Especially as it has already been happening for a few games in a row now. At no time this season Luka had a stretch like this, not even close.

To be completely clear, I am not saying he will play like he played yesterday for the rest of the season. What I am saying is that the second half of his season will be worse than the first half and that is a reasonable expectation based on multiple factors.



As for your points 1. and 2....
1) he was in MVP contention, thats MVP level of play. I never considered him #1 but at some point he was a top3 MVP candidate.
2) never said anything about his ankle. Dont know what you are talking about

Maybe I was not responding just to you. It's a public forum, not private messaging.

There is no such thing as "MVP contention" when you have zero chances to win it. Like last year we had 3 MVP "finalists" but everyone knew that the third one had zero chances. That's not MVP contention for me. People often say "Harden is not good defensively either." Well guess what, he has been better than Luka and is apparently a positive defender.

And regarding your first part - yeah I'm not convinced. If he has great games from now on then it can't really be the reason you state. How would that even work? Because in last season he clearly dropped in second part of the season and I agree that it's the most probable reason. And I said that I will agree if that happens again this season. But if it doesn't, then it's not the reason.

[Archx]

I mean, i guess it's not too late to join the Skip bandwagon. There has to be a player to hate once LBJ retires, right?

Read on Twitter

Reading your comments make me think Mavs lost by 50 points and Luka was shooting 13/37, 5/19 from the floor and it wasn't some other chucker who actually did that.

The reason why he is playing a bit worse right now is because he is the ONLY guy who other teams really focus on defending. Some of you need to watch more closely how open some Mavs players are when he is on the court. He doesn't see only double teams but in fact, there are always 3 or 4 guys ready if he wants to go somewhere. That's how all time great players were always guarded. Obviously stuff like that will take a toll on your body and mentality.
I don't care how many years of pro experience he already has, he is still only freaking 20yo and he has to figure out how to adapt properly. You can all see that. He had a couple of really bad games lately and he did acknowledge that he has to figure out how to be better, it GOT INTO HIS HEAD. He hates losing and hates playing bad.

I agree that we're tough on him because he wish him the best and we want this team to succeed, but sometimes we have to take a step back and realize that he's going to be fine once he LEARNS how to deal with all these new things.
Unfortunately it still gets into his head and in playoffs we might see the same result. I just wish this will ignite another spark in him and he'll work even harder on his body in the off season. I said before the draft that he'll need 2-3 years for his body to start developing in a proper NBA shape and it might even take 4 years or so... Even Giannis or LBJ weren't strong right away from the start. And that's incredibly scary part about his game. Get in shape, get stronger and more explosive, he'll be virtually unstoppable. (Well only if he starts shooting FT's at a better % than his 3pts)

[B8RcDeMktfxC]

The third option is actually the most probable. We have exactly the same pattern going on as in every of the last 2 seasons. Luka was great until somewhere mid/late January, then he fell off. The same thing is happening here. I wont go into why this is happening but it is a thing.

Secondly, it is most probable because the same exact thing happened in the past 2 seasons and you could see the difference in his movements and his shot mechanics if you compare the early and the latter parts of both seasons. Same thing is happening this year.

I'm lost here. Two seasons ago Luka was Euro-League Final Four MVP - in the May, season's end, tourney. Are you maintaining that he fell off in 2017-2018?

[XTraderXL]

The third option is actually the most probable. We have exactly the same pattern going on as in every of the last 2 seasons. Luka was great until somewhere mid/late January, then he fell off. The same thing is happening here. I wont go into why this is happening but it is a thing.

Secondly, it is most probable because the same exact thing happened in the past 2 seasons and you could see the difference in his movements and his shot mechanics if you compare the early and the latter parts of both seasons. Same thing is happening this year.

I'm lost here. Two seasons ago Luka was Euro-League Final Four MVP - in the May, season's end, tourney. Are you maintaining that he fell off in 2017-2018?

Did you watch Real Madrid that season? Do you know how he played until February and how he played after that? These things are relative. I am not going to go back and look at the stats but I can remember that his PIR index until January was over 30, he finished the season with the average of 21,5. His Ft% was 90 until January, ended the season with 81.5%. 3pt% was over 40%, ended at 33%.
Now just think about how much worse he had to play in the second part that his % dropped so drastically in about half of the season. Or go watch some games and you will see what I am talking about.

As for F4, he won the MVP averaging 15.5 points,5reb, 3 as, and 2.5 TOs. All that on 35% shooting from the field, 30% from 3 and 77% FTs. He was a different player at F4 than he was at the start of the season. Again, go watch some highlights from early games and the latter games. You will see the difference, just like you can see the difference between how he played until January and how he is playing recently.

[J_T]

I mean, i guess it's not too late to join the Skip bandwagon. There has to be a player to hate once LBJ retires, right?

Read on Twitter

Reading your comments make me think Mavs lost by 50 points and Luka was shooting 13/37, 5/19 from the floor and it wasn't some other chucker who actually did that.

The reason why he is playing a bit worse right now is because he is the ONLY guy who other teams really focus on defending. Some of you need to watch more closely how open some Mavs players are when he is on the court. He doesn't see only double teams but in fact, there are always 3 or 4 guys ready if he wants to go somewhere. That's how all time great players were always guarded. Obviously stuff like that will take a toll on your body and mentality.
I don't care how many years of pro experience he already has, he is still only freaking 20yo and he has to figure out how to adapt properly. You can all see that. He had a couple of really bad games lately and he did acknowledge that he has to figure out how to be better, it GOT INTO HIS HEAD. He hates losing and hates playing bad.

I agree that we're tough on him because he wish him the best and we want this team to succeed, but sometimes we have to take a step back and realize that he's going to be fine once he LEARNS how to deal with all these new things.
Unfortunately it still gets into his head and in playoffs we might see the same result. I just wish this will ignite another spark in him and he'll work even harder on his body in the off season. I said before the draft that he'll need 2-3 years for his body to start developing in a proper NBA shape and it might even take 4 years or so... Even Giannis or LBJ weren't strong right away from the start. And that's incredibly scary part about his game. Get in shape, get stronger and more explosive, he'll be virtually unstoppable. (Well only if he starts shooting FT's at a better % than his 3pts)

Well known strategy among Mavs fans is to start watching Skip's videos and immediately downvote, and stop watching. Screwing the algorithms I mean he does deserve it. His show has always been about saying stupid things and get into "emotional" fights with the other guy in the studio, whoever it is. It's click-bait and both guys are flipping coin who is going to take which side of the "disagreement". In this case they probably didn't even flip the coin, because it makes sense that Skip is villain again, because of his past statements about Lebron and Cuban. It would make even the most stupid fans (does that even exist) go WTF if he actually said he liked Luka. He is pathetic human being and I couldn't care less for any statement he makes.

As for why Luka played bad - I don't think that was the case yesterday. The defense he was facing was one of the weakest he has been facing recently. He had every opportunity to crush them in every way possible. But he didn't do any of that. He missed 67 free throws, some really ugly misses as well. His floaters looked like he was throwing a rock, almost airballing. His lobs were often simply terrible, you could see it coming from miles away. Just because Boban or Powell is running to the rim does NOT mean that you should pass to him.
And as mentioned, his face told the whole story. The only emotion I saw was sadness and confusion. He wasn't getting angry, he never smiled (I think actually his one and only smile entire game was after he missed like 5th free throw, which was unusual). It has to be something happening in his private life because it looked like basketball was not really what was on his mind.

[Bob8]

The third option is actually the most probable. We have exactly the same pattern going on as in every of the last 2 seasons. Luka was great until somewhere mid/late January, then he fell off. The same thing is happening here. I wont go into why this is happening but it is a thing.

Secondly, it is most probable because the same exact thing happened in the past 2 seasons and you could see the difference in his movements and his shot mechanics if you compare the early and the latter parts of both seasons. Same thing is happening this year.

I'm lost here. Two seasons ago Luka was Euro-League Final Four MVP - in the May, season's end, tourney. Are you maintaining that he fell off in 2017-2018?

Did you watch Real Madrid that season? Do you know how he played until February and how he played after that? These things are relative. I am not going to go back and look at the stats but I can remember that his PIR index until January was over 30, he finished the season with the average of 21,5. His Ft% was 90 until January, ended the season with 81.5%. 3pt% was over 40%, ended at 33%.
Now just think about how much worse he had to play in the second part that his % dropped so drastically in about half of the season. Or go watch some games and you will see what I am talking about.

As for F4, he won the MVP averaging 15.5 points,5reb, 3 as, and 2.5 TOs. All that on 35% shooting from the field, 30% from 3 and 77% FTs. He was a different player at F4 than he was at the start of the season. Again, go watch some highlights from early games and the latter games. You will see the difference, just like you can see the difference between how he played until January and how he is playing recently.

His Pir before January was not over 30, it was around 25 and D. on him in playoffs and F4 was totally different than D. in the start of the season. Llull and Campazzo were more or less injured or returning after injuries, so all teams focused only on Luka.
It's true that he was tired in second part of the season, because he was playing more or less non stop 2 seasons in a row because of the Eurobasket. I don't believe he is very tired now, he's just experiencing shooting slump, which has even more influence on his game because KP is not playing and not giving him great spacing. 3-pointers are essential for Luka's game, he struggles almost every time, when 3s are not falling. It is totally unrealistic to expect Luka to play like MVP the whole season, I'm sure he will have many great games and bad games till the end of this season.

[Bob8]

I mean, i guess it's not too late to join the Skip bandwagon. There has to be a player to hate once LBJ retires, right?

Read on Twitter

Reading your comments make me think Mavs lost by 50 points and Luka was shooting 13/37, 5/19 from the floor and it wasn't some other chucker who actually did that.

The reason why he is playing a bit worse right now is because he is the ONLY guy who other teams really focus on defending. Some of you need to watch more closely how open some Mavs players are when he is on the court. He doesn't see only double teams but in fact, there are always 3 or 4 guys ready if he wants to go somewhere. That's how all time great players were always guarded. Obviously stuff like that will take a toll on your body and mentality.
I don't care how many years of pro experience he already has, he is still only freaking 20yo and he has to figure out how to adapt properly. You can all see that. He had a couple of really bad games lately and he did acknowledge that he has to figure out how to be better, it GOT INTO HIS HEAD. He hates losing and hates playing bad.

I agree that we're tough on him because he wish him the best and we want this team to succeed, but sometimes we have to take a step back and realize that he's going to be fine once he LEARNS how to deal with all these new things.
Unfortunately it still gets into his head and in playoffs we might see the same result. I just wish this will ignite another spark in him and he'll work even harder on his body in the off season. I said before the draft that he'll need 2-3 years for his body to start developing in a proper NBA shape and it might even take 4 years or so... Even Giannis or LBJ weren't strong right away from the start. And that's incredibly scary part about his game. Get in shape, get stronger and more explosive, he'll be virtually unstoppable. (Well only if he starts shooting FT's at a better % than his 3pts)

Well known strategy among Mavs fans is to start watching Skip's videos and immediately downvote, and stop watching. Screwing the algorithms I mean he does deserve it. His show has always been about saying stupid things and get into "emotional" fights with the other guy in the studio, whoever it is. It's click-bait and both guys are flipping coin who is going to take which side of the "disagreement". In this case they probably didn't even flip the coin, because it makes sense that Skip is villain again, because of his past statements about Lebron and Cuban. It would make even the most stupid fans (does that even exist) go WTF if he actually said he liked Luka. He is pathetic human being and I couldn't care less for any statement he makes.

As for why Luka played bad - I don't think that was the case yesterday. The defense he was facing was one of the weakest he has been facing recently. He had every opportunity to crush them in every way possible. But he didn't do any of that. He missed 67 free throws, some really ugly misses as well. His floaters looked like he was throwing a rock, almost airballing. His lobs were often simply terrible, you could see it coming from miles away. Just because Boban or Powell is running to the rim does NOT mean that you should pass to him.
And as mentioned, his face told the whole story. The only emotion I saw was sadness and confusion. He wasn't getting angry, he never smiled (I think actually his one and only smile entire game was after he missed like 5th free throw, which was unusual). It has to be something happening in his private life because it looked like basketball was not really what was on his mind.

...or it might be something about him being only 20 years old and facing totally unrealistic expectations. How many really bad games he had? 3?

[J_T]

...or it might be something about him being only 20 years old and facing totally unrealistic expectations. How many really bad games he had? 3?

I've been probably among least critical on this forum when Luka was said to be having bad games. But this is different. He was mentally not there and I am concerned that whatever it was would not just go away in one day. If you are tired, you can rest. If your shot is not going, you will get it next time. But if there is something bad occupying your mind, you will not get rid of it easily.

[Archx]

Well known strategy among Mavs fans is to start watching Skip's videos and immediately downvote, and stop watching. Screwing the algorithms I mean he does deserve it. His show has always been about saying stupid things and get into "emotional" fights with the other guy in the studio, whoever it is. It's click-bait and both guys are flipping coin who is going to take which side of the "disagreement". In this case they probably didn't even flip the coin, because it makes sense that Skip is villain again, because of his past statements about Lebron and Cuban. It would make even the most stupid fans (does that even exist) go WTF if he actually said he liked Luka. He is pathetic human being and I couldn't care less for any statement he makes.

I honestly don't understand how idiots like SAS and Skip can still have a platform to spread lies and BS all the time. There should be more players, coaches, owners etc.. who would call them out. Like Cuban did couple of years ago, Skip couldn't say anything back in his face because he knew Cuban was too smart for him. I can't stand these two clowns. And sad part is, if Skip really picks Luka as his next Lebron, we'll have to listen to this idiot for another 15-20 years... well i obviously hope he retires sooner

[J_T]

Well known strategy among Mavs fans is to start watching Skip's videos and immediately downvote, and stop watching. Screwing the algorithms I mean he does deserve it. His show has always been about saying stupid things and get into "emotional" fights with the other guy in the studio, whoever it is. It's click-bait and both guys are flipping coin who is going to take which side of the "disagreement". In this case they probably didn't even flip the coin, because it makes sense that Skip is villain again, because of his past statements about Lebron and Cuban. It would make even the most stupid fans (does that even exist) go WTF if he actually said he liked Luka. He is pathetic human being and I couldn't care less for any statement he makes.

I honestly don't understand how idiots like SAS and Skip can still have a platform to spread lies and BS all the time. There should be more players, coaches, owners etc.. who would call them out. Like Cuban did couple of years ago, Skip couldn't say anything back in his face because he knew Cuban was too smart for him. I can't stand these two clowns. And sad part is, if Skip really picks Luka as his next Lebron, we'll have to listen to this idiot for another 15-20 years... well i obviously hope he retires sooner

He is being paid 5m per year plus 5m signing bonus. Why would he retire? Apparently there's enough idiots who will pay to see him.

[wolfram]

Guys, we've seen Luka like this before. He is frustrated when his game is off. It will get better.

[J_T]

Guys, we've seen Luka like this before. He is frustrated when his game is off. It will get better.

No. The frustration was almost non-existent.

[Archx]

Guys, we've seen Luka like this before. He is frustrated when his game is off. It will get better.

No. The frustration was almost non-existent.

You never followed him in EU that's why you panicking, but we're used to it