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

[hakeemfaan]

I think we all agree with this, which is why absolutely no one here has made such claims, at least to my knowledge. That seems like taking an opinion to such an extreme that it no longer accurately represents the point some are trying to make.

This is about what it takes to be at the very top of the NBA mountain, which is something more difficult than anyone here can possibly imagine, myself included. There are levels to things. Of course he’s not lazy. If he were, we’d have never heard his name.

I am a Mavericks fan and a Luka Dončić fan. Selfishly, I want him to shove all of this criticism down everyone’s throat and assume a position of such revered dominance that no one can touch it. He’s not there yet, and I think anyone looking objectively would reach the same conclusion. Maybe he never will be, but we all believe that he can do it (as does Windhorst, as those actually interested in listening with an open mind know). Either way, none of that should ever be construed as a lack of gratitude for the hours and years of enjoyment he has already provided us. Frankly, and I don’t mean to aim this at you, HF, it’s kind of annoying to have to put that disclaimer on everything. We ALL want the best for the Mavs, and  forget the finals - if not for Luka, I highly doubt we would still even have this community. Dirk’s last decade was tough to watch.

No offense taken and hope the same the other way as well. 

I have seen the term tellutubby used in this thread.  

I absolutely agree with criticism about his griping. I absolutely agree he needs to get back on defense every single time.  However a lot of the criticism he gets about defense is unwarranted and is laziness from the national media and I see people here too now falling for that. 

Whether it was MJ or Kobe or Steph they always had another player who took on the other teams best guard. Yet Kobe and MJ are lauded as great defenders. Luka has one of the highest usage rates.  He is expending a lot of energy on offense. If he were consistently not in shape he would not be putting up the numbers he does. He would have been done a quarter into the season. People underestimate how much effort and energy just offense takes. 

People look at his build and assume he is not in shape. However as I said if that was true it’s impossible to have the offensive consistency he has with that usage rate. Jokic reduced to 250, didn’t like it and went back to 280. Luka is atrong as well. He bullies folks down low. Again this is not saying that there is not another level to where he can go but that is different from thinking he is shortchanging his potential right now by poor diet and habits off the court. I am not buying that narrative. If that were true then he is truly the best player to ever play the game that he can be so consistent offensively with such a high usage rate and have the energy to do it season after season while having terrible diet and sleep habits off the court.

It’s up to management and the coaches to find out how to reduce Luka’s overall usage rate. It is upto management to put a team out there that in key situations can hold their own when Luka goes to the bench. 

Once you do that then he will have more energy on defense.  He is never going to be a stud there but will do better once the team figured out how to reduce the current usage rate. 

To me the biggest isssue is with his maturity handling refs and staying focused on what he can control.