shack009 said:

---

The Luka stuff in the national media is dumb. It's a bunch of people that just want their sound bite or hot take or their "told you so."

At the same time, it has caused some Mavs fans to say he is beyond reproach. He isn't.

It's absolutely crazy to think that he is already one of the two or three best players in the world, and he can still get better. He can go to another level and become by far the scariest player on the planet. But he's got to get his mind right both off and on the court.

We will need him to level up because Ant and the TWolves are on the come up and OKC is already really good and has assets for years.

---

This is the accurate and very reasonable take, and I think is what's behind most of the critical posts lately.

The problem I had, is those critical posts are using the same buzzwords all the braindead talking heads use, and the rest of the nba's twitter/reddit fans use. Which is very annoying to read here, lol.

But I did scale back my crusade against them after my initial few, everyones allowed to vent when the first 3 games of the final have gone the way they have.

I just don't agree in any way that Luka has been a problem, or even a top 10 reason why we have not won a game in the finals.
But at the same time, he CAN improve certain parts of his game, and I would agree that the #1 thing would be that mental part of his game where he has to be locked in all game if the rest of the team plays at the level they are.

PatAg said:

---

shack009 said:

---

The Luka stuff in the national media is dumb. It's a bunch of people that just want their sound bite or hot take or their "told you so."

At the same time, it has caused some Mavs fans to say he is beyond reproach. He isn't.

It's absolutely crazy to think that he is already one of the two or three best players in the world, and he can still get better. He can go to another level and become by far the scariest player on the planet. But he's got to get his mind right both off and on the court.

We will need him to level up because Ant and the TWolves are on the come up and OKC is already really good and has assets for years.

---

This is the accurate and very reasonable take, and I think is what's behind most of the critical posts lately.

The problem I had, is those critical posts are using the same buzzwords all the braindead talking heads use, and the rest of the nba's twitter/reddit fans use. Which is very annoying to read here, lol.

But I did scale back my crusade against them after my initial few, everyones allowed to vent when the first 3 games of the final have gone the way they have.

I just don't agree in any way that Luka has been a problem, or even a top 10 reason why we have not won a game in the finals.
But at the same time, he CAN improve certain parts of his game, and I would agree that the #1 thing would be that mental part of his game where he has to be locked in all game if the rest of the team plays at the level they are.

---

Agreed

My comments on Luka are admittedly also really impacted by this org's ability to put together a finals-worthy type roster year in and year out. For markets like Dallas, there are windows, and let's face it a lot of trades and picks had to go right for this window to get kicked off. Something that Dallas hasn't benefited from a lot.

HawthornAggie said:

---

zgolfz85 said:

---

HawthornAggie said:

---

Y'all gotta get over this. We are in the finals. None of yall had the Mavs in the finals. Luka had one of the best individual regular seasons ever statistically and carried us through the last two playoff series. He will learn from all this so stop dwelling.

In addition, it's been 26 days since THJ made a shot.

---

I get that take, but also think it's a very lazy one. The difference between Luka being a legendary hall of fame player and being one of the best 3 of all time is all himself. He's incredible, he's gotten us this far and yet still capable of more...if he grows up. He's running the danger of falling into the Lebron hate camp with his antics. I'll love him either way, but only because he's a Mav. He quickly became an overnight hero globally and he risks it all by continuing to play into the Luka naysayers narrative with the whining, flopping, lazy defense, bad body language, etc. It's all a waste of time, it hurts him, hurts his team and will ultimately hurt his legacy if he doesn't grow out of it.

---

It's not a "take". Luka statistically had one of the greatest individual seasons. Luka carried the Mavs through 2 playoff series. Those are both facts backed up data.

I'll give you that him learning from all this is not a fact. But we have also seen Luka be better year over year in almost every season, if not every season, of his NBA career. So he has demonstrated that he is capable of learning how to be a better player virtually every year. I'm willing to bet that losing an NBA finals game, something he has never done in his career, will make him improve in the areas you want him to "grow out of". Tough lesson to learn, but I think he learns from it and improves.

---

Not disputing the stats as they are fact. But, the heart beat of this team really goes up and down with Luka. Kyrie has been crowned the "locker room leader" and that may be true, but this squad doesn't live and die with Kyrie. When Luka is pulling his little boy antics, it's clear as day to see how the energy level and maturity of the team directly correlates. While I hate Lebron as a flopper, it's impossible not to admire him as a true team leader and mature presence on the court. Luka needs to level up in that regard. His personal play has to be approaching a ceiling because it's otherworldly. But, being one of the best to ever do it is more than just personal play.

TLDR version: Luka, keep being a superstar in your own play and for the love, be a real ****ing leader to your team and not just the box score

Matter of time

zgolfz85 said:

---

HawthornAggie said:

---

zgolfz85 said:

---

HawthornAggie said:

---

Y'all gotta get over this. We are in the finals. None of yall had the Mavs in the finals. Luka had one of the best individual regular seasons ever statistically and carried us through the last two playoff series. He will learn from all this so stop dwelling.

In addition, it's been 26 days since THJ made a shot.

---

I get that take, but also think it's a very lazy one. The difference between Luka being a legendary hall of fame player and being one of the best 3 of all time is all himself. He's incredible, he's gotten us this far and yet still capable of more...if he grows up. He's running the danger of falling into the Lebron hate camp with his antics. I'll love him either way, but only because he's a Mav. He quickly became an overnight hero globally and he risks it all by continuing to play into the Luka naysayers narrative with the whining, flopping, lazy defense, bad body language, etc. It's all a waste of time, it hurts him, hurts his team and will ultimately hurt his legacy if he doesn't grow out of it.

---

It's not a "take". Luka statistically had one of the greatest individual seasons. Luka carried the Mavs through 2 playoff series. Those are both facts backed up data.

I'll give you that him learning from all this is not a fact. But we have also seen Luka be better year over year in almost every season, if not every season, of his NBA career. So he has demonstrated that he is capable of learning how to be a better player virtually every year. I'm willing to bet that losing an NBA finals game, something he has never done in his career, will make him improve in the areas you want him to "grow out of". Tough lesson to learn, but I think he learns from it and improves.

---

Not disputing the stats as they are fact. But, the heart beat of this team really goes up and down with Luka. Kyrie has been crowned the "locker room leader" and that may be true, but this squad doesn't live and die with Kyrie. When Luka is pulling his little boy antics, it's clear as day to see how the energy level and maturity of the team directly correlates. While I hate Lebron as a flopper, it's impossible not to admire him as a true team leader and mature presence on the court. Luka needs to level up in that regard. His personal play has to be approaching a ceiling because it's otherworldly. But, being one of the best to ever do it is more than just personal play.

TLDR version: Luka, keep being a superstar in your own play and for the love, be a real ****ing leader to your team and not just the box score

---

These are great points, and he's also at the age and point of his career where I think he might be ready to take that step. People just havent accepted that all star players complain about not getting fouls, thats just going to happen. He just cant let it take him out of the play. Talk to them during stoppages, or while you are running back. You can gesture for a foul or say things while still being locked in.
I dont want him to just ever accept bad refereeing, but he has to let it not negatively impact his level of play.

PatAg said:

---

shack009 said:

---

The Luka stuff in the national media is dumb. It's a bunch of people that just want their sound bite or hot take or their "told you so."

At the same time, it has caused some Mavs fans to say he is beyond reproach. He isn't.

It's absolutely crazy to think that he is already one of the two or three best players in the world, and he can still get better. He can go to another level and become by far the scariest player on the planet. But he's got to get his mind right both off and on the court.

We will need him to level up because Ant and the TWolves are on the come up and OKC is already really good and has assets for years.

---

This is the accurate and very reasonable take, and I think is what's behind most of the critical posts lately.

The problem I had, is those critical posts are using the same buzzwords all the braindead talking heads use, and the rest of the nba's twitter/reddit fans use. Which is very annoying to read here, lol.

But I did scale back my crusade against them after my initial few, everyones allowed to vent when the first 3 games of the final have gone the way they have.

I just don't agree in any way that Luka has been a problem, or even a top 10 reason why we have not won a game in the finals.
But at the same time, he CAN improve certain parts of his game, and I would agree that the #1 thing would be that mental part of his game where he has to be locked in all game if the rest of the team plays at the level they are.

---

If you mean "foul hunting" then I'm not sure what your issue is because it's completely true. If anybody is saying that it is everything there is to Luka's game then obviously that's absurd. I'm sure there are some idiots who say Luka only scored 30 PPG this year because of foul hunting. How do you argue with people that dumb? It's not like he took 12 FTs a game like Harden did a few years ago. I think Luka actually doesn't have a very favorable whistle relative to most of the stars.

But I was calling out the foul hunting by Luka in the LAC series. It's one of the reasons why his games 1 and 4 were so bad. He was clearly doing it against Dort pretty often to try to get Dort out of games early. He was clearly doing it in Game 4 of Minnesota once Rudy and KAT were in foul trouble to get them out of the game. There are obviously times when he is trying to draw fouls and it makes him give up an opportunity for a better basketball play, usually a pretty easy layup.

PatAg said:

---

zgolfz85 said:

---

HawthornAggie said:

---

zgolfz85 said:

---

HawthornAggie said:

---

Y'all gotta get over this. We are in the finals. None of yall had the Mavs in the finals. Luka had one of the best individual regular seasons ever statistically and carried us through the last two playoff series. He will learn from all this so stop dwelling.

In addition, it's been 26 days since THJ made a shot.

---

I get that take, but also think it's a very lazy one. The difference between Luka being a legendary hall of fame player and being one of the best 3 of all time is all himself. He's incredible, he's gotten us this far and yet still capable of more...if he grows up. He's running the danger of falling into the Lebron hate camp with his antics. I'll love him either way, but only because he's a Mav. He quickly became an overnight hero globally and he risks it all by continuing to play into the Luka naysayers narrative with the whining, flopping, lazy defense, bad body language, etc. It's all a waste of time, it hurts him, hurts his team and will ultimately hurt his legacy if he doesn't grow out of it.

---

It's not a "take". Luka statistically had one of the greatest individual seasons. Luka carried the Mavs through 2 playoff series. Those are both facts backed up data.

I'll give you that him learning from all this is not a fact. But we have also seen Luka be better year over year in almost every season, if not every season, of his NBA career. So he has demonstrated that he is capable of learning how to be a better player virtually every year. I'm willing to bet that losing an NBA finals game, something he has never done in his career, will make him improve in the areas you want him to "grow out of". Tough lesson to learn, but I think he learns from it and improves.

---

Not disputing the stats as they are fact. But, the heart beat of this team really goes up and down with Luka. Kyrie has been crowned the "locker room leader" and that may be true, but this squad doesn't live and die with Kyrie. When Luka is pulling his little boy antics, it's clear as day to see how the energy level and maturity of the team directly correlates. While I hate Lebron as a flopper, it's impossible not to admire him as a true team leader and mature presence on the court. Luka needs to level up in that regard. His personal play has to be approaching a ceiling because it's otherworldly. But, being one of the best to ever do it is more than just personal play.

TLDR version: Luka, keep being a superstar in your own play and for the love, be a real ****ing leader to your team and not just the box score

---

These are great points, and he's also at the age and point of his career where I think he might be ready to take that step. People just havent accepted that all star players complain about not getting fouls, thats just going to happen. He just cant let it take him out of the play. Talk to them during stoppages, or while you are running back. You can gesture for a foul or say things while still being locked in.
I dont want him to just ever accept bad refereeing, but he has to let it not negatively impact his level of play.

---

Yep, in pro years, he's really in his early 30s considering the level of play he came from and the fact that he's largely been treated as an adult from age 13 on. He might be 25 on paper, but hoops professional wise he's well above that.

Saw on the ESPN bottom line that KP is "available to play." Gotta admit I did not see that in the cards at least until game 5.

He won't play

Yeah I thought "available to play" was a really odd way to phrase it. It makes no sense for him to play. Not for the rest of the series, but especially not for this one.

THJ better not see the court tonight.

Gafford rough start. And benched. Driven by for a bunny, turnover, foul.

jagged said:

---

Gafford rough start. And benched. Driven by for a bunny, turnover, foul.

---

Better question might be why is he being passed the ball to bring up court

We might still just be down 3-0 if they called it even, but it's infuriating watching them maul us when we drive and no foul calls

We got a stretch 5 boys!

What a soft foul...

Lively splashing threes

Hardaway has zero FG's in a month. He should take notes from Lively. Lively with a corner three? WTH?

Playing well so far

Infection_Ag11 said:

---

Lively splashing threes

---

I'm waiting for you melt down again and lecture us on how much better Boston is than Dallas.

Great coaching by Kidd to unleash Stretch Lively down 3-0 in the finals.

Kinda like the TO after the second FT. I haven't hated Mazzula's coaching as much as I thought I would.

FriscoKid said:

---

Infection_Ag11 said:

---

Lively splashing threes

---

I'm waiting for you melt down again and lecture us on how much better Boston is than Dallas.

---

My posts are never meltdowns

shack009 said:

---

Great coaching by Kidd to unleash Stretch Lively down 3-0 in the finals.

---

Wait until he finds out that Exum and Hardy have a pulse faster than Hardaway? NBA coach of the year.

Man like 4 shots in a row went in and out. Then Luka almost airballed a FT

Why did time run off if he caught it out of bounds?

Role players playing.

Exum might be better than Hardaway. Need to look at the film, but I'd take someone that has made baskets in the past few minutes vs someone that hasn't made one in a month.

Why can that randomly be reviewed...

The Dante Exum experience is an interesting game 4 twist

I'm telling you, they are fouling, Gafford and lively off the ball when they are rolling for the lobs. And getting away with it

So frustrating when guys come to life after just mysteriously disappearing. So many dudes just don't have it between the ears to be a weapon every night

zgolfz85 said:

---

So frustrating when guys come to life after just mysteriously disappearing. So many dudes just don't have it between the ears to be a weapon every night

---

We do have a lot of guys getting their first ever playoff experience, not just first finals