Luka Doncic has officially entered the MVP race

[binjumper]

Love Luka but 36 points on 30 shots is not that good in terms of efficiency.

How about his defense?
Improved?

He was the only reason they didn't get blown out by 40. Dude was drenched in sweat keeping his team afloat.

[Apz]

He is good in defense this year.

He was the only 1 showing up last night, noone else could hit anything, not even dunks. At an average finishing rate he should have had 30 assists last night. Bug wigh 6 of top 8 players out and KP just back and not into rhytm yet, I woulz also given up setting the others up and been frustrated. Wouldnt surprise me at all if Luka and KP sits tonights game out. Feels kinda pointless to overwork them while our shooters and defenders is in the imaginary land of contact tracing. Soon 2 weeks, at this point I start to think its a conspiracy to get knicks a decent pick

[mabundo_nagumbe]

No he hasn't, when you are getting dominated by Chicago, then you can't have MVP.

that would be a viable argument if Dallas wouldn't compete against a fully healthy Chicago team and have their 6 best players after Luka out due to injuries or COVID protocols. But because you didn't take that into account, your argument is complete trash

[TheBonzaiEffect]

Love Luka but 36 points on 30 shots is not that good in terms of efficiency.

How about his defense?
Improved?

Lol. He just became one of 4 players in NBA history to have a 35-15-15 game, and your take away is that his efficiency could have been better? Never mind the fact that his team was without THJ, Kleber, JRich, Brunson, and DFS.

BTW, his efficiency would have been better if he could get even rotation level player whistles. The refs absolutely have it in for him. Yeah, he whines too much...but it's a chicken or the egg situation. He whines because he leads the NBA in drives yet has been getting 4 FTAs a game lately. It's insane. Even more insane some people here (who somehow aren't trolling, according to our dear Mods), claim he wouldn't average 10 PPG without whistles...

[Ice Man]

Luka was great last night. Missed a few too many shots, but otherwise kept his G Leaguers halfway in the game. He defended well, too. But I don't see him getting an MVP. Even when Dallas gets its starters back, his supporting cast isn't much. If Luka does win an MVP, it would need to be like Russ's, one given on pure stats to a guy on a #6 seed, as opposed to the usual reason the reward is given, that being the best player on the best team.

[WHITE_HOT_HEAT]

I want him or Jokic to get it, but if DAL can't get to top 4 it's probably not going to be him. The voters certainly don't like how it turned out for Russ last time and won't be giving it to a stats guy this time if it doesn't translate to a lot of wins.

[aguiar95]

As soon as we get our full squad, it's a done deal. Dallas will finish with the 3rd best record in the West. MVP and Finals MVP incoming. Right now his competition is what? Jokic, Steph and KD I assume.

[MisterHibachi]

As soon as we get our full squad, it's a done deal. Dallas will finish with the 3rd best record in the West. MVP and Finals MVP incoming. Right now his competition is what? Jokic, Steph and KD I assume.

You're missing the two leading candidates right now, LeBron and Embiid. Both are ahead of Luka right now.

[J_T]

No he hasn't, when you are getting dominated by Chicago, then you can't have MVP.

Gooner is the Will Ferrell of RealGM. Or for those a bit older - he seems to have come straight out of a Monty Python sketch.

Anyway, Luka is leading the league in January in both, assists and potential assists. Yesterday his assists and potential assists were above average, teammates just needed to actually hit something (especially in first half, second half was much better). A player who has 15 assists and 23 potential assists can't be said to not be using his teammates enough.

Just for comparison, a player who I'd say has been the mvp so far and is leading the league in assists, Jokic, his January stats are:
8.9 assists + 14.8 potential assists
Luka's have been:
11.1 assists + 21.4 potential assists
So almost 50% more. The supporting cast has been underwhelming, hopefully only because of covid and KP's injuries. When everyone is back and starts playing the way they can, there is no way he is not leading the league in assists, and by a wide margin.

[GeorgeGervin]

I've rarely seen a team more relying on one player than yesterday Mavs. It was crazy how nobody outside of Luka could create shots or even make open shots despite Luka giving them open looks all night.
I mean, at halftime, Luka had scored or assisted on 41 of the 52 Mavs points (around 80%).
I can't blame him for having trouble shooting the ball in the 2nd half, he was exhausted doing everything for the team. He still finished the game creating 67 of the 101 Dallas points.
And what is wrong with the refs not willing to give Luka FTs? Is it because of his constant whining? Maybe, but I can understand him at times, he should get more calls.

Concerning efficiency, he rebounded like 3 of his misses then made the basket, so he was more efficient than it looks like.

You should have really watched the game. Luka was the only one who showed up, and the Mavs are missing 5 or 6 key players (2 starters and their 6th man), and KP is playing pretty bad.

Give him guys who can actually make baskets and I see him averaging around 11-12apg.

[TheBonzaiEffect]

I've rarely seen a team more relying on one player than yesterday Mavs. It was crazy how nobody outside of Luka could create shots or even make open shots despite Luka giving them open looks all night.
I mean, at halftime, Luka had scored or assisted on 41 of the 52 Mavs points (around 80%).
I can't blame him for having trouble shooting the ball in the 2nd half, he was exhausted doing everything for the team. He still finished the game creating 67 of the 101 Dallas points.
And what is wrong with the refs not willing to give Luka FTs? Is it because of his constant whining? Maybe, but I can understand him at times, he should get more calls.

Concerning efficiency, he rebounded like 3 of his misses then made the basket, so he was more efficient than it looks like.

You should have really watched the game. Luka was the only one who showed up, and the Mavs are missing 5 or 6 key players (2 starters and their 6th man), and KP is playing pretty bad.

Give him guys who can actually make baskets and I see him averaging around 11-12apg.

Yeah, the lack of calls is getting out of hand. He leads the NBA in drives and gets fouled constantly, yet he's only 7th in FTAs. It's been especially egregious as of late. People whine about him whining, yet ignore why he's whining. If he got the calls Harden or Trae did, he'd be shooting 20 FTs a game. And I'm not talking him not getting ticky tack star calls. I'm talking him getting swiped in the back of a head on a drive with no call calls.

[leolozon]

Love Luka but 36 points on 30 shots is not that good in terms of efficiency.

How about his defense?
Improved?

He was the only reason they didn't get blown out by 40. Dude was drenched in sweat keeping his team afloat.

Yeah, and 36 points on 30 shots is actually good efficiency, It's .600 TS%. Doncic did have 6 FTs, so it's slightly below average.

He did get tired in the second half and overdid it.

But I'm not sure why people think that 36 points on 30 shots isn't good. It's just that generally 10+ FTs come with shooting 30 times, something that didn't happen with Luka. There was 2 clear fouls that weren't called and another one that superstars often get. Having the refs call the game tight helps efficiency a lot, some people forget to think about that part.

There's also the 6 offensive rebounds. If you shoot, miss, tip the ball, miss again, rebound again and hit the shot. You are 1/3 with 2 ORBD, but it's essentially 1/1 considering you didn't lose a possession.

[NY 567]

Luka was missing 5 rotation players including 3 starters, and Porzingis just came back from injury and wasn't playing well. What Luka did was superhuman, the Mavs should have lost by 50

[khufure]

I've rarely seen a team more relying on one player than yesterday Mavs. It was crazy how nobody outside of Luka could create shots or even make open shots despite Luka giving them open looks all night.
I mean, at halftime, Luka had scored or assisted on 41 of the 52 Mavs points (around 80%).
I can't blame him for having trouble shooting the ball in the 2nd half, he was exhausted doing everything for the team. He still finished the game creating 67 of the 101 Dallas points.
And what is wrong with the refs not willing to give Luka FTs? Is it because of his constant whining? Maybe, but I can understand him at times, he should get more calls.

Concerning efficiency, he rebounded like 3 of his misses then made the basket, so he was more efficient than it looks like.

You should have really watched the game. Luka was the only one who showed up, and the Mavs are missing 5 or 6 key players (2 starters and their 6th man), and KP is playing pretty bad.

Give him guys who can actually make baskets and I see him averaging around 11-12apg.

Yeah, the lack of calls is getting out of hand. He leads the NBA in drives and gets fouled constantly, yet he's only 7th in FTAs. It's been especially egregious as of late. People whine about him whining, yet ignore why he's whining. If he got the calls Harden or Trae did, he'd be shooting 20 FTs a game. And I'm not talking him not getting ticky tack star calls. I'm talking him getting swiped in the back of a head on a drive with no call calls.

To some degree there's a skill in getting calls. I expect with more experience he will start getting more FTA.

[TheBonzaiEffect]

I've rarely seen a team more relying on one player than yesterday Mavs. It was crazy how nobody outside of Luka could create shots or even make open shots despite Luka giving them open looks all night.
I mean, at halftime, Luka had scored or assisted on 41 of the 52 Mavs points (around 80%).
I can't blame him for having trouble shooting the ball in the 2nd half, he was exhausted doing everything for the team. He still finished the game creating 67 of the 101 Dallas points.
And what is wrong with the refs not willing to give Luka FTs? Is it because of his constant whining? Maybe, but I can understand him at times, he should get more calls.

Concerning efficiency, he rebounded like 3 of his misses then made the basket, so he was more efficient than it looks like.

You should have really watched the game. Luka was the only one who showed up, and the Mavs are missing 5 or 6 key players (2 starters and their 6th man), and KP is playing pretty bad.

Give him guys who can actually make baskets and I see him averaging around 11-12apg.

Yeah, the lack of calls is getting out of hand. He leads the NBA in drives and gets fouled constantly, yet he's only 7th in FTAs. It's been especially egregious as of late. People whine about him whining, yet ignore why he's whining. If he got the calls Harden or Trae did, he'd be shooting 20 FTs a game. And I'm not talking him not getting ticky tack star calls. I'm talking him getting swiped in the back of a head on a drive with no call calls.

To some degree there's a skill in getting calls. I expect with more experience he will start getting more FTA.

I mean, he doesn't do all the flailing and neck spasming that Trae and Harden do. But he's great at creating and absorbing contact. There's no logical reason for the paucity of calls he's getting other than the refs have it in for him because of his complaining (though other stars don't seem to get punished for unfettered whining).

[BrooklynDynasty]

This team is struggling to stay above .500, that's not MVP in any universe, no matter how many points Luka _Oncic puts up on 40 shots a game

[TheBonzaiEffect]

This team is struggling to stay above .500, that's not MVP in any universe, no matter how many points Luka _Oncic puts up on 40 shots a game

His defense has been very good this year. You should try watching a game.

[BrooklynDynasty]

This team is struggling to stay above .500, that's not MVP in any universe, no matter how many points Luka _Oncic puts up on 40 shots a game

His defense has been very good this year. You should try watching a game.

"just watch the games"

yes because players putting up eye-popping stats on offense and allegedly play very good defense can't win more than 50% of their games? When does that ever happen? I know just by their record that can't be true. Lmao even Kawhi when he takes 30 shots a game can't even play very good defense anymore, Luka Fatcic sure isn't

you're probably the type of fan who thinks counting stats like steals means very good D

[Hello Brooklyn]

Luka stays the most overrated player in the NBA by far.

All I heard is about how hes a top 5 guy in the league. Meanwhile hes still a terrible 3 point shooter, and looks even worse than last year. And hes clearly out of shape.

Why should he be the favorite for MVP or even in the conversation?

To me its clearly LeBron.

[Some smartguy]

turns out when a guy who plays no defense, can't shoot, is turnover prone, but has the highest usage plus teammates who box out so he can pull down 10 uncontested defensive rebounds a game, he's going to fill the stat sheet and impress casuals.

Do I need to explain?