GAME 3 NBA FINALS: Boston Celtics (2-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (0-2)

[KillerLeft]

I can't say I can recall a franchise player fouling put in the finals with over 4 minutes left. The refs shouldn't have called it, but Luka also committed a couple of careless fouls that got him to that point. Luka messed up and the refs messed up as far as I'm concerned. He knows better than to risk a foul like that also. That situation just sucked for the team.

The sixth foul was absolutely a foul and absolutely had to be called, in my opinion. Now, some of the other ones might have been questionable, but there is no excuse for Luka doing what he did, knowing he had five fouls.

Every single slow motion highlight they showed going to break, of any player, included at least one uncalled foul. Hell, Jalen Brown’s dunk, which they showed about 20 times, included Jones fouling his right arm and PJ fouling his left arm, both occurring mid flight. It wasn’t even mentioned on the broadcast, Brown didn’t complain, etc., because the people calling the game and the Celtics all understand what it takes to win the NBA finals.

Two things can be true at once: 1) without Luka the team doesn’t even come close to making it this far. 2) he has quite a bit of maturing to do before he can win a championship. I sincerely hope there are people close to Luka, either from the team or his family, who can get him to see this. 

And it’s not just the complaining mentality. It’s taking care of his body, obviously. Injuries happen, but preparing in such a way that they are minimized as much as possible is what it takes to win. Preparing your body to where you have more energy in the fourth quarter than your opponent is what it takes to win. Dirk had to give up alcohol almost completely at right around this time of his career. He has talked about it a lot. He drank very little during the off-season, and not at all during the season. LeBron James spends $1 million a year on his body, including all that crazy hyperbaric chamber stuff.

I don’t know what the specifics are for Luka, but this is the commitment level of champions. He’s got more than enough talent, but he’s still missing something. Pointing that out and discussing it should not be considered even adjacent to hate.

25 is still very young. In theory, he hasn’t even entered his prime yet, so no one is giving up on him. Especially not anyone who frequents a Dallas Mavericks message board.

EDIT: I quoted you for the first part and then went on a tangent not aimed at you, BigDirk.