Game 5 playoffs Dirkie Thread: Luka!!!

[ballsrchr]

Well...I was happy to see hardy get some burn in this game.  I think we should see a little more Exum.  But what do I know?  They took my phone away from me.

Super honorable mention to DJJ, and Lively.

My Dirkie goes to Mr. Triple Double Doncic.

[KillerLeft]

This one is hard. Just checked the box score, and I didn’t even realize just how good and efficient of a game DJJ was having.

PJ with incredible defense all night. Some frustrating miscues on offense, but also some big moments down the stretch.

Lively was his usual incredible self. No big deal, just your average rookie who’s easily a top 5 player in a 2nd round playoff series.

Gotta give it to Luka, because I had almost forgotten how joyous it is to see him play like that. Thanks for the reminder, KING!

[BolsDamols]

Gotta give it to Luka, because I had almost forgotten how joyous it is to see him play like that. Thanks for the reminder, KING!

Game 5, he just played and I was reminded why at the end of the day I am still a Luka and Mavs fan.  No matter what happens, just play.

[ThisIStheYear]

I’d say coming off Monday’s debacle, this would have been one of the most surprising wins I could remember. But, then I saw Dez dropped $25K on a bet on the Thunder, and I started to like our chances. Dez is my runner up Dirkie winner.

[MrGoat]

That actually looked like the real Luka Doncic. That is enough for the Dirkie with the way has knees have been since about the Sacramento games in the regular season

Big honorable mentions to DJJ and Lively, though

[LukaMVP]

lively and gafford are two different types that match up well/poorly against certain opponents. gafford struggles against centers like Wembanyama and Chet due to obvious deficiencies in size and quickness, while in WCF against fatty joker he's gonna play better tbh.

[The Jom]

#3 has to be Shaq in the geriatric stair chair during the halftime show.

#2 DJJ’s 19 points on 9 shots (shoulda been 21 on 10) while playing defense like a mother.

#1 New Luka, all cheese, no whine.

Notable, 3 guys with 10 rebounds (PJ, DL, LD)? Not sure I’ve ever seen that before.

[MrGoat]

lively and gafford are two different types that match up well/poorly against certain opponents. gafford struggles against centers like Wembanyama and Chet due to obvious deficiencies in size and quickness, while in WCF against fatty joker he's gonna play better tbh.

If we finish this one out Lively deserves the series Dirkie.

Over the last 4 games: Lively +58 (led team three out of the 4 times), Chet -5

We played Lively only 13 minutes in game 1

(one other reminder, Dereck Lively is younger than any player on OKC's roster, only player in this series born in 2004)

[GATA]

Luka of course, but I’m going with DJJ. Green third

[SleepingHero]

@noahweber00
Luka Doncic on his mentality changing and him not complaining as much tonight:

“I just tried to play basketball. Just focus on basketball. Sometimes I forgot this is the thing I love, this is the thing I do. My mental focus was to just go out there and play basketball with a smile on my face and just go.”

[JamesConway912]

Luka, DJJ and Lively have all been awesome. Gave it to Luka as he has to do the heavy lifting.

Honorable mention: Kidd for FINALLY taking Exum out of the rotation and effectively ending the 4 on 5 offense we had to endure every single time he stepped on the court in the postseason so far.

[fifteenth]

@noahweber00
Luka Doncic on his mentality changing and him not complaining as much tonight:

“I just tried to play basketball. Just focus on basketball. Sometimes I forgot this is the thing I love, this is the thing I do. My mental focus was to just go out there and play basketball with a smile on my face and just go.”

This quote brought a sports tear to my eye

[fifteenth]

I vote Luka for all the reasons that all of you have already said. If Luka had played like this every game, I would have given this Dirkie to DJJ.

[SleepingHero]

What a game. I only managed now to watch it after getting home. Lots of potential Dirkie winners for this one, which is my favorite type of dirkie thread.

PJ had a quiet game compared to the previous 2. He barely looked for his shot and the Mavs went away from really running any post ups for him. Interestingly that coincided with the Thunder moving Shai off of PJ and onto DJJ for the majority of the game. Hmmmmmmm! Even though PJ didn't have an offensive explosion, the points he did score came at probably the best time. After the Mavs went up 18, the Thunder stormed back and had all the momentum. The game was cut to 7 and PJ hits the clutchest 3 to stave off any Thunder come back! He then bricks the next three but rebounds his own miss and dunks it! HUGE. Further his defense all night was fantastic. Just a great game from PJ but I thought there were other deserving Dirkie winners...

Kyrie had yet another quiet offensive night. However unlike most of the media I think that is totally fine. OKC is shading every Kyrie potential drive. Loading up on his side means he can't really make any moves in an iso before finding the open guy. They're doubling him when Luka is on the bench. He's barely had any plays ran for him aside a couple of off ball screens (1 of which resulted in a 3). When he's not doubled he's being challenged by 2 pretty long defenders relative to Kyrie in Williams and Wallace. OKC is devoting all their energy in stifling Kyrie's presence. It is 100% working. However, Kyrie is still finding ways to contribute offensively. He had 2 big offensive rebounds in the 2nd half that both resulted in Luka 3s. His passing game kept everyone involved. His defense was there (even though he helped off Shai and Joe 2 times to go contest Dort/Giddey, big mistakes). It was a quiet game for sure though from Kyrie standards. It's great having 2 transcendent scorers because if 1 falters another can pick up the slack. And I can't wait to get to my Luka write up!

Lively had arguably the best defensive game of the season so far. He does SO many little things that makes life hell for OKC. https://twitter.com/JoeVirayNBA/status/1...9329796548
Here is a tweet that shows 1 possession of Lively in the 4th who didn't directly contest any shot, but was so active he was in position to turn away OKC every time. Also shout out to our perimeter defenders here as well. Further, OKC went back to Hack-A-Lively again this game. As soon as they did it I saw Lively look over to their bench annoyed. The kid calmly walks up to the FT line and drains 2 FTs and they were nothing but net. There wasn't really enough time for OKC to keep doing that strategy, but I'm convinced that the confidence at how he drained those 2 FT's would've been enough to make OKC not intentionally foul again. He's currently the owner of 4 of the top 6 highest +/- for a Mavs rookie in the playoffs. It's not a coincidence. It's not normal what he's doing at all. Great game from the rookie.

Now onto my Dirkie finalists. There were two that seperated themselves from the rest. Either one is a deserving choice. In a crucial game 5, DJJ came out and had arguably the best game of his career. He opened the game shooting a perfect 6/6 from the field, including 3 threes. He continued his heater in the 2nd half, but was more crucial defensively. Whenever DJJ was off the court, Shai cooked Green or THJ. But as soon as DJJ came back on that was largely stopped. DJJ also came up with a huge block and leak out dunk the 4th to further rip the hearts out of the OKC fans.

When all is said and done though, how can I not give it to Luka. For all the criticism he got, for all the lowlights, coming off of what was most likely the worst game of his career, Luka shut the haters up in the best way possible. He picked apart's OKC's defense time after time. He shot lights out, finally looking like his former self. He said himself he locked in and focused on playing basketball instead of other stuff and it showed. He heard and listened to all the critiques and made it happen. And when the going got tough, Luka got tougher and he absolutely stamped Shai's layup to seal the game. Luka stepped up huge this game. His bounce back was a statement game. And you see all the reports of him playing through incredible pain, you can't help but wonder if this guy was made in a lab. Legendary stuff from The Don. Deserving Dirkie winner for Luka. P-R-A-V-I M-V-P !

[SwisherPrice]

DJJ is the answer and losing him this summer would hurt. This is a deep free agent class for forwards/wings BUT very few with DJJ's skillset. You can find your standard 3 and D guy for cheap but they would probably be more in the Reggie Bullock mold compared to DJJ and that's not good for this team. DJJ doesn't need his 3-pt shot to be effective (but even better when he can make those shots). With or without his shooting, he can still get points at a high percentage without needing plays called. That's why DJJ and PJ have been so effective for this team because when you have Luka and Kyrie, you're not going to have many set plays called so you need to be able to find ways to score within the limits of the Kidd offense.

[Scott41theMavs]

DJJ is the answer and losing him this summer would hurt. This is a deep free agent class for forwards/wings BUT very few with DJJ's skillset. You can find your standard 3 and D guy for cheap but they would probably be more in the Reggie Bullock mold compared to DJJ and that's not good for this team. DJJ doesn't need his 3-pt shot to be effective (but even better when he can make those shots). With or without his shooting, he can still get points at a high percentage without needing plays called. That's why DJJ and PJ have been so effective for this team because when you have Luka and Kyrie, you're not going to have many set plays called so you need to be able to find ways to score within the limits of the Kidd offense.

I'd rank him our fifth most important player in the playoffs - as well as moving forward. Luka, Kyrie, Lively, and PJ are the core. DJJ is the most important peripheral piece.

Unless the Mavs have some kind of path to get a Lauri, Garland, Mikal, or similar player without losing one of the four core pieces (in other words, lol, that ain't happening), their primary off-season priority should be to find creative ways to keep DJJ, and then worry about the rest of the roster later.