No Luka, No problem - Mavs win 2nd straight

Dallas Mavs fan here - well at least when the playoffs are on. I watched the final 6 minutes tonight.

It got me to wondering, "Might this be good for the Mavs long term?" You learn to not just give the ball to Luka. When I was in HS, we had a superstar freshman. We'd just throw the ball to him and stand around. He left (and would start at Utexas as a frosh) and sophomore year the team was way better as we (well I barely played) realized we had to do it ourselves. We were a team not a star and 4 guys.

If Booker’s hamstring injury proves problematic, the Mavs have a fairly easy road to the conference finals. I gotta think they’d be crushed by the Warriors if the two should meet in the WCF, though, the way the Warriors are playing in their first round series.

Rojo’s right though, Doncic’s absence can only help the Mavs long term. If Jalen Brunson can establish himself as a legitimate co-star while the team develops better chemistry, they’ll be that much better off.

St Marks ?

Luka has all the risk. IF and when he returns and the Mavs lose, he’ll run the risk of being labeled a ball hog who monopolies the ball and ball movement killer. Truthfully, Mavs may be better defensively without Luka.

Is the guy really that good? I just looked at 3 stats - 3 Pt. goal %, blocks and turnovers.

He was 102nd in 3-pt. shooting percentage, he was 97th in blocks and was 3rd in turnovers. I don't watch too many Mavs games but all I see is him jacking up shots from all over.

Just to summarize the 3 stats I looked at - Donic sucks in all three.

I think the Mavs have a better shot against the Warriors than you’re saying. The Warriors look great right now because they’re playing a bad and injured Nuggets team. Also, the Mavs will have the best player in the series with a healthy Luka

It’s practically the same Nuggets team that went 48-34 in the regular season, and they have not only the best player in the series but also a better player than Doncic. Even if Doncic is a stronger individual player than any Warrior at this point, wouldn’t GS probably have the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th best players in the series? Maybe 5 of the top 7? Plus they have remarkable chemistry and still have that “championship DNA” in Curry/Klay/Draymond/Iguadala/Kerr.

A similar thing happened to a few of us on the track team. We were not good enough to enter in meets (play). The coach assigned us to pacing the best distance runners (880y and up) during practice.

Yeah, but what could Luka run 8 x1k at 7000ft?

Certainly not physically. He is very quick but wins a lot of technical fouls when guarded by good defensive players who are as quick as he is ... something he hates because other players are "supposed get out of his way".

He won't even try.

A lot of basketball players could be great high jumpers but they only practice jumping as high as they need to to reduce the risk of injury.

Lol in what world is blocks relevant for non-paint players? That's the dumbest stat you could have looked at. And turnovers? Another completely useless stat to look at without the context of utilization and assists. Doncic is 2nd highest in usage and the 5th highest in assists (despite having terrible shooting around him on the floor most games). This indicates that his 3rd in turnovers is completely acceptable just like it is for Trae Young.

Do you know anything about basketball?

Why is there a "but" in your second sentence? Winning fouls against quicker defenders is like 90% of being a superstar in the current NBA. I mean I sure wish it was like '91 and you had to actually get through the Bad Boy Pistons to score, but it isn't and drawing fouls is the single most consistent and important attribute a player can have.

Are people who think the Mavs are better off without Luka ever watched him play? It's not even that he is that quick but he has incredible footwork and can get to the basket almost at will. It helps that he is bigger than any guard. Plus he is a great passer.

Yes, Dallas has a lead in the series without Luka but Brunson has been playing out of his mind and the Jazz have proved once again they are a poor playoff team with their current roster.

I think the Mavs have a chance against the Warriors but they will still be underdogs. GS has a lot of offensive weapons and the best defensive player on the floor. Their strategy will undoubtedly be to keep Luka out of the paint and force outside shots, where he is less consistent.

The Mavs will really need to force the Warriors to play at their pace and stop those GS explosive 20 point runs where they have 3 guys that can score from anywhere on the court. I hope the Mavs advance. It would be an interesting series.

With Luka on the court and putting up 30 points the Mavs lost today.

Looking good tonight for the Mavs. Hate that the game started so late. 81-55 late in the 3rd Q

Luka looked especially spry tonight. a lot of “slower” players get thrown off with the intensity of playoff defense. Luka handled that defense easily tonight and dominated this game. Well done Luka

Mavs win 102-77 and head to Utah for the Thursday night game with a 3-2 lead. Hope that they can close it up.