Luka on pace to lead the playoffs in Total PTS/REB/AST

[KyRo23]

Bro absolutely adores Lukas defense on the second page

[JJtheBricklayer]

unreal Luka denial in this thread. Hes by far the worst defender out there every night.

Hes by far the best scorer and floor general too mind you. But theres no way to twist how terrible his defense is, hes not even close to slightly below average at this point

[HMFFL]

8 turnovers in game two.
Nothing matters if Luka continues to turnover the ball and if his teammates don't produce.

[HotRocks34]

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[Mr B]

He should, he has the ball 20 sec of every 24 seconds in their ball possessions. It was more impressive when Jokic did last years playoffs since he averages half of the minutes on the ball compared to Luka.

I'm looking forward to after the finals so people can stop comparing the Luka hype to the offensive genius that is Jokic, who also is pretty decent defender. A terrible defender playing like prime Harden with Lebron size isn't unstoppable like Jokic.

You’re expecting the Luka hype to die down after the Finals?

[Sofia]

This thread is just a bunch of single possession videos from two games trying to counter a very long video of abysmal defence from a single game.

It was the same in the Clippers series, Twitter rushed to find single possession defensive stops to protect his defensive reputation, meanwhile Ty Lue cooked Luka by putting him on an island every possession for the 4th quarter and the Clippers came from behind to win.

[The4thHorseman]

unreal Luka denial in this thread. Hes by far the worst defender out there every night.

Hes by far the best scorer and floor general too mind you. But theres no way to twist how terrible his defense is, hes not even close to slightly below average at this point

Minus being the best scorer, your post perfectly describes Magic Johnson and some have him top 5 all-time.

[HotRocks34]

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[HotRocks34]

Ok, this is the 16th clip of Luka playing good/smart defense from the first two games of the Finals.

There are probably more clips out there, but the point has been made.

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[HotRocks34]

What this statistic (Team DRTG with 'Player X' off the court) indicates is that, through the first two games of The Finals, Dallas' defense is at its worst, by far, when Luka sits.




So, the eye test (highlights) backs up what the data shows.

Will be interesting to see how things unfold from here. Luka is getting pain injections, apparently, and his body could break down at any time.

[HotRocks34]

These are the things that make Luka a plus defender:

Size
Strength
Ability to recover
BBIQ

Luka doesn't have great lateral movement and he isn't a good jumper.

But he's big, hard to push on the block and he has an excellent ability to recover on defense and make the second stop if he misses the first.

Finally, his mind is what helps him the most. He anticipates plays well and he knows when to try to make a play (like a steal) and when, say, to lead an opponent into a shot blocker.

[California Gold]

Doesn't play any defense though.

[HotRocks34]

8 turnovers in game two.
Nothing matters if Luka continues to turnover the ball and if his teammates don't produce.

Turnovers and missed FTs were key, for sure.

I'm glad he owned that after G2.

Those two issues, for the team, decided the game. Along with the poor 3P%.

[CobraCommander]

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Out here leading in reverse blow bys