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I really didn’t know he was capable of getting up like that, that was awesome.

(03-02-2022, 09:52 AM)MaxiThreeba Wrote: [ -> ]I’m just curious if anyone has a clip and/or if TNT ever looked at it again.

This is the action, but can't really see much. Looks like a clean block. Contact for the fall came a bit later. Looks like Westbrook took his leg after the block, but I am not sure that could be considered as foul. 

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(03-02-2022, 10:08 AM)omahen Wrote: [ -> ]This is the action, but can't really see much. Looks like a clean block. Contact for the fall came a bit later. Looks like Westbrook took his leg after the block, but I am not sure that could be considered as foul. 

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Looks clean to me.  Just an awkward landing.

It struck me as weird that they didn't even show a replay.  Great play by Westbrook for one.  One of the faces of the NBA with a tough fall.  Great toughness shown by Luka to come right back and dunk on Howard's head.

Just seemed like a piece of the narrative surrounding the highlight that followed that would have made sense to look at and/or discuss.

(03-02-2022, 11:09 AM)Kammrath Wrote: [ -> ]https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1498905572938289152

He's really perfected the Dirk fadeaway.

I can't explain how much this fills my MFFL heart.

(03-02-2022, 11:10 AM)Kammrath Wrote: [ -> ]

Quote:"Hog Rate is the percentage of a team's time of possession (ball in a player's hands, not being passed) that a player commands, among the time that they're on the court. Read a 25% value for LeBron James as 'LeBron had the ball in his hands for 25% of the Lakers' time of possession when he was on-court.'"

Soooo, who’s the biggest ball hog in the NBA? 

WE’RE NUMBER 1, WE’RE NUMBER 1!

(03-02-2022, 12:11 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]Soooo, who’s the biggest ball hog in the NBA? 

WE’RE NUMBER 1, WE’RE NUMBER 1!

I know "ball hog" has a negative connotation, but I truly don't think it does in this case. Luka is a premier creator. He has led the most prolific offense in NBA history at one point. 

He is also an otherworldly scorer. When you have that kind of talent, it makes sense to give him the most touches on ball to create/score. 

Of course ball movement is always king, but I haven't thought for a second this season that Luka's ball movement (or lack thereof at times) was ever a major issue.

(03-02-2022, 12:41 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: [ -> ]I know "ball hog" has a negative connotation, but I truly don't think it does in this case. Luka is a premier creator. He has led the most prolific offense in NBA history at one point. 

He is also an otherworldly scorer. When you have that kind of talent, it makes sense to give him the most touches on ball to create/score. 

Of course ball movement is always king, but I haven't thought for a second this season that Luka's ball movement (or lack thereof at times) was ever a major issue.

Eh, I’m of the opinion that until his shooting % is where it should be, he should increase his assist #’s and decrease his point total. Now, to this point in his career, he hasn’t played on a team that does all that well capitalizing on his passing ability, so out of necessity, he has been who he is. 


I will say, I thought we’d see more of that Dinwiddie pass inside the paint to a wide open DFS at the rim for the score. He seems to want to pass out to the 3 line basically more than I’d like to see. He throws oops, but very rarely do I see that wrap around the defender pass that could open up a lot more completed assists as opposed to potential assists.

This is nitpicking, but he doesn’t need sweeping changes in his game, he needs small, incremental tweaks. That change also doesn’t take the ball out of his hands either.

(03-02-2022, 01:14 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]Eh, I’m of the opinion that until his shooting % is where it should be, he should increase his assist #’s and decrease his point total. Now, to this point in his career, he hasn’t played on a team that does all that well capitalizing on his passing ability, so out of necessity, he has been who he is. 

Luka needs to keep shooting and even more, this will further increase his % numbers. Without that, the assists lanes wont open up in the same way. All that being said, he is super effective in all manners of being a QB of the team. He shoots well enough, and does so many things to exceptional levels. This is a top 5 player in the world, without any doubt.

(03-02-2022, 01:21 PM)burekemde Wrote: [ -> ]Luka needs to keep shooting and even more, this will further increase his % numbers. Without that, the assists lanes wont open up in the same way. All that being said, he is super effective in all manners of being a QB of the team. He shoots well enough, and does so many things to exceptional levels. This is a top 5 player in the world, without any doubt.

He needs MORE than 21.7 shots per game? Fully disagree!

(03-02-2022, 01:27 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]He needs MORE than 21.7 shots per game? Fully disagree!

If defense doesnt double, then Yes. Its all about what defense does. When doubled he will get the hockey assists. When not, he absolutely needs to attack more and shoot, in order for defenses to double later. He is making all the right decisions when to pass and when to shoot. When defenses do not double I would like him to shoot even more. This will get his shooting percentage up until playoffs.

(03-02-2022, 02:02 PM)burekemde Wrote: [ -> ]If defense doesnt double, then Yes. Its all about what defense does. When doubled he will get the hockey assists. When not, he absolutely needs to attack more and shoot, in order for defenses to double later. He is making all the right decisions when to pass and when to shoot. When defenses do not double I would like him to shoot even more. This will get his shooting percentage up until playoffs.

I disagree on so many levels I don’t know where to start. First and foremost, your theory of shooting more will, without a doubt, improve his % is flawed. The % is the %, no matter how many shots he takes in the game. Shooting more or less can affect that number, but there is no amount of surety which direction it will go. So that’s in game, then when you go to in-season, that’s closer to a true indication as to where he ends up if he shoots more. 


Second, we’ve seen the effects of Luka freezing his teammates out during games. We don’t need MORE of that.

Third, when he takes a deep 3 with 18 seconds left on the shot clock, that is not “making all the right decisions when to pass and when to shoot”.

Fourth, the point of having more ball handlers is to give Luka needed rest throughout the game so he can be less tired in the fourth to take over. If he is shooting MORE, the reason to have 3 ball handlers is diminished significantly.

Fifth, 21.7 is the most shots he’s taken since entering the league and his FG% is DOWN!

(03-02-2022, 02:19 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]Second, we’ve seen the effects of Luka freezing his teammates out during games. We don’t need MORE of that.

But is it really freezing if the 3 out of the 5 guys can't create on the court? 9 times out of 10 Luka is always the best option currently. And it's not like Luka is becoming a black hole, he's 12th in the league in passes made and THIRD in potential assists. Meaning he makes deliberate passes to wide open guys ALL the time. 

I really truly think we're losing the forest for the trees here focusing on every little mistake Luka makes that we're not really seeing how consistently elite he is everywhere else. And I think that's mostly a product of how subpar (and injury riddled) the start of the season was for him. He didn't meet expectations which has somewhat tainted this season. 

But despite all of that he's still averaging 30ppg on 45/34/76 since 12/31.

@"Kammrath" and @"ItsGoTime", you're both right, of course. 

However, the reason Luka's turnovers are so high lately is (mostly) because teams are playing him to pass, not to shoot. They're sitting on the corners, for example, and playing lots of his favorite passing lanes as well as some of his go-to scoring moves (without having to commit multiple defenders). 

I think you can make a great argument that most of the turnovers are simply times when he should have shot instead of passed. The bottom line for me is that to get to the next level, he needs to make more of his shots. That might seem obvious and not necessary to state, but the point is that I'm not sure the answer is for him to limit his attempts. That will probably make him more efficient, but I don't think the offense is ready to function yet if he simply allows himself to be a non-factor on too many possessions.

(03-02-2022, 02:34 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: [ -> ]But is it really freezing if the 3 out of the 5 guys can't create on the court? 9 times out of 10 Luka is always the best option currently. And it's not like Luka is becoming a black hole, he's 12th in the league in passes made and THIRD in potential assists. Meaning he makes deliberate passes to wide open guys ALL the time. 

I really truly think we're losing the forest for the trees here focusing on every little mistake Luka makes that we're not really seeing how consistently elite he is everywhere else. And I think that's mostly a product of how subpar (and injury riddled) the start of the season was for him. He didn't meet expectations which has somewhat tainted this season. 

But despite all of that he's still averaging 30ppg on 45/34/76 since 12/31.

In a discussion of, should Luka shoot more, there is no forest of trees, the evidence I laid out is what it is. Luka IMO should shoot less and assist more (in ways SD showed last game), if Luka truly makes the perfect decision everytime, the lower amount of shots will increase his % so his ppg won’t go down that much, but his assists will go up.

(03-02-2022, 02:42 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]In a discussion of, should Luka shoot more, there is no forest of trees, the evidence I laid out is what it is. Luka IMO should shoot less and assist more (in ways SD showed last game), if Luka truly makes the perfect decision everytime, the lower amount of shots will increase his % so his ppg won’t go down that much, but his assists will go up.

But that's what I'm trying to point out. At this point it's up to his teammates to score off of his passes, not for Luka to pass more. He's 3rd (17.2) in the league in potential assists. The only two higher are CP3 (19.4) and Harden (18.5). CP3 has the exact same passes made per game as Luka (57.1 vs 57.4).

Luka is already making smart deliberate passes and is up there with the best in terms of setting people up. And that's with him seeing the most double teams in the league. If everyone made their shots, teams can't reliably double Luka. Thus it would increase his FG% because he's getting much better looks. That is without him touching his FG attempts.

(03-02-2022, 02:19 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]I disagree on so many levels I don’t know where to start. First and foremost, your theory of shooting more will, without a doubt, improve his % is flawed. The % is the %, no matter how many shots he takes in the game. Shooting more or less can affect that number, but there is no amount of surety which direction it will go. So that’s in game, then when you go to in-season, that’s closer to a true indication as to where he ends up if he shoots more. 


Second, we’ve seen the effects of Luka freezing his teammates out during games. We don’t need MORE of that.

Third, when he takes a deep 3 with 18 seconds left on the shot clock, that is not “making all the right decisions when to pass and when to shoot”.

Fourth, the point of having more ball handlers is to give Luka needed rest throughout the game so he can be less tired in the fourth to take over. If he is shooting MORE, the reason to have 3 ball handlers is diminished significantly.

Of course it is better to shoot less and with better percentage. Thats totally obvious and everyone will agree. However: Easier said than done.

Its no wonder Lukas shooting number increase during each season, the more repetitions and shots he gets. He even takes shots all the time during breaks in games, as he knows himself this very effect of shooting more gets one to shoot better.

Its all about gametime situations. If they give single matchups. Luka should attack and shoot even more. If they double he will pass. He is doing all the right things, his decision making is the best in the league by a wide margin, its the closest to Tom Brady in this sport. I would like him in single team situations to shoot more and attack rim less, this will increase his shooting percentage closer to playoffs. Closer to playoff time and in playoffs he should attack the rim more in single team situations as well as keep shooting.