Also most NBA players aren't like the redditors on here who spend hours crafting top 5 lists for everything imaginable involving the NBA that they can then cite at a moments notice.
Especially a number as small as 3. He immediately thought, “who on my team? DJJ”, “who on the team I’m playing? Dort”, then the 1st top defender he thought of otherwise lol.
Jrue doesn't deserve the meme/trash talk like Pat Bev does, but the thought that sprang to mind was
"Too Small"
After Luka backs him in from the perimeter and scores
Celtics are a decently coached team. They will have someone else or send help. I keep thinking Jaylen Brown might be better while Jrue can be for Kyrie, taking turns with White
One thing I can bet you is Jaden doesn’t care if he left him off a list and is likely so focused on tonight’s game he would have never have seen his top 5 or know he got snubbed.
All Jaden wants to do is chill with Naz, make someone hate playing basketball and then go back to chilling with Naz until it's time to make someone hate playing basketball. Just weed, basketball, weed and saying Naz Reid.
I agree, I would think it takes a LOT to be the first thought, but they do play against each other. If there's a guy that always gives you trouble he's probably top of mind.
Then they would have to write "he [has long arms]" and not "he has long [arms]. My guess is he maybe said "he has long length" or something but that's a complete guess.
Usually the [ ] signifies something added by the author/reporter that wasn't said but implied.
With Luka's accent I could see how "He is long" could sound like "He has long" and the reporter filled in what he thought he was implying.
Yeah I know, I should've explained better but the brackets should signify what the reporter is potentially changing, and anything not in the brackets should remain directly quoted. So if it says "he has long \[arms\]" we can assume he did say "he has long" and so couldn't have said "he is long." But it could've been a mistake or mishearing something lol, we've already spent too much of our lives thinking about what Luka might have said
From May 7th: [Luka Doncic says Lu Dort is in the “top three” perimeter defenders in the league. Who else cracks that list? Doncic says Jrue Holiday and Mavs teammate Derrick Jones Jr.](https://x.com/espn_macmahon/status/1787882512141680876?s=46)
>and then what about DJJ?
*During winning ceremony*
DJJ: "So what now, Luka? Am i the best defender left?"
Luka: "Yeah, about that..." *Loads gun*. "I promised to take them out. ALL of them".
And Luka revealing on the post game that he took advantage of these interviews to pick his match. But definitely unavoidable given their roles. Will still be funny.
It was always Herb Jones, McMahon just heard incorrectly and tweeted out DJJ. Watching the clip you can clearly hear Luka say Herb Jones so I'm not sure how McMahon got that wrong.
He got it wrong because he's terrible at his job. NBA reporters are generally not as good as other sports and he's one of the worst. He's failing in a remedial class
Easily, should have put JDub on Luka because Dort was getting cooked out there. Dort was also abysmal shooting in the series. They would have been better without him.
If we shoot our averages, it at least goes 7. That wasn't just on Dort. Locking up Luka doesn't prevent DJJ, Lively, and PJ from making the impacts they did. Fair play.
He's also only played the Wolves one time this year, and that was before the All Star break due to rest/injuries and all of their games being before the break.
There’s been a giant love fest of compliments between competing players all post-season. It’s kind cool, but as an (obvious) neutral fan, can we crank up the hate notch a few levels please?
Haha think Luka learning from the warriors, the warriors has so much praise for him because they knew he would take any negative comments as motivation.
You're never getting anything from Luka off the court. But he'll start talking and shit once they get on the court. Ant is pretty much the same way he still gave Jokic his props throughout last series.
Yes I remember JJ saying that when he'd be having a bad game in Orlando or something, somebody would say something to him and he'd turn into a motherfucker and destroy them
Luka is always like this off the court. On the court he’s an entirely different person. Even with Booker, who he probably has had the most adversarial relationship with, he is cordial with in the press and off the court.
This is one of the few problems with parity. Hard to get a heated rivalry if teams are cycling and we don’t get the same matchups over and over.
Cavs and Rockets weren’t ever saying a nice word about GSW
I dont think he is just giving praise to be nice.
1. Acting nice may subconsciously give the defender less of an edge.
2. If Luka busts Mcdaniel's ass all series, its like "look what I did to one of the best defenders"
3, If McDaniels makes things tough for Luka, everyone was told up front that Mcdaniels was a good defender so casuals wont think that Luka got clamped by "some dude".
Luka is still going to talk shit all series long.
For real, Dort was flopping and diving at his knees. Another insane level of physicality
Jaden will smother and will try to get in Luka's head and break his composure. But he won't dive at his knees, try to hurt Luka or flop
Dort was also flopping like crazy which was maddening. You can't play physical and then flop whenever someone is near you on a screen, thats setup for people hating you. McDaniels can be a headcase but I don't ever recall opposing fanbases complaining about him flopping.
Wolves doubters after game 3: "LMAO look at the wolves when they're not allowed to play MMA defense!!!"
Meanwhile in the Mavs series you had Dort legit playing bountyball against Luka's knees
nba definitely going to change the way they call the defense so that dort defense looks like standard modern nba defense. they did that vs the nuggets in games 1,2, and 6, and just let the teams play in a way that only benefits the longer, taller and more physical defensive team.
The NBA is really trying hard to make Ant the next face of the league, so it's not surprising.
Its the truth, but it's okay you can cope by labeling what you don't want to hear as cope. game 7 was the only game they didn't call completely biased toward modern offense, or the other with hand checks and holding allowed.
It would've probably been a 5-6 game series with some overtimes if the reffing was consistent. wolves likely still win because of the nuggets lack of depth, and the injuries, plus the lack of focus, hunger, and burnout was too much.
but it would be more fair and fun to watch . instead of ref caused blowouts or ref bias (with lakers and other teams/stars/narratives they want to push), we'd actually see who legit balled out.
if you're gonna let it be physical and not call techs/be stricter on flagrants, do it every game for every team throughout the season. not change the way you call it moment to moment
I'm not saying that's the reason they won, they won because they executed better, were deeper, better coached, 100% more motivated and hungry, and deserved to win.
But the inconsistent reffing and so many of the decisions are so baffling, especially in that game 2 where the wolves were able to do whatever they wanted (even though the same defense gets them in foul trouble early in games 3-4), so much that they trigger malone to run on court and rage in the refs face, which later led to murray towel and hot pad throw (but no techs for any of that strangely). And this was after a lakers series where lakers get everything thrown their way by refs and we can't play physical defense without getting whistled.
The whole sports betting angle also makes it harder to trust the league isn't trying to meddle with their games to try to bring in the most revenue from fans and gamblers. having the new face of the league win in 7 over the champs, with unpredictable spreads brings in more money than letting them all play fair.
Games 1 and 6 really weren't that crazy. Y'all have just convinced yourselves that's the only way a team could have defended you well. Game 2 was a lot though for sure.
i agree with game 1. but game 6 was bad, but only just for a little after the 9-2 run, then it was clean the rest of the way. the team just mentally gave up after that and got their cardio in, and the garbage time guys showed just how locked in the wolves team is.
games 1-7 i think were officiated how a playoff game should be
I think it will actually be our bigs. I like our perimeter defense more than OKC's but it isn't too big of a difference for elite players like luka/kyrie. However we should really be able to bully them on the inside on both ends of the floor.
I was watching your guys game7 in discord with a bunch of friends and they kept asking me who I'd rather the Mavs face in the next round and every time without hesitation I would say I'd rather face the Nuggets over the Wolves.
You guys just match up so well against us. The only time we don't have a size advantage in the front court is against you guys, and you have plenty of excellent perimeter defenders that are gonna give Luka and Kai a really difficult time. This is definitely the most nervous I've been for any series this year.
Yeah IMO it just will be can luka propel y'all above everything else. Obviously if PJ shoots lights out again that will go a long way but even then I think we will defend him better than OKC did. I honestly don't know what to expect which is kinda fun
But at the same time Luka is maybe the best player in the world, would not surprise me if he went off. Haven’t kept tabs on his knee but that is a big factor
Timberwolves defense havent bothered Luka in the games he played against them this season, even with Kyrie being out for 3 of them and Luka being the primary focus on D. Him struggling will be determined by his health moreso than the defense.
I can’t remember how Luka did in those games, but wasn’t it 3-1 on the season?
Not that that matters, Suns swept the season series against us lol, but to your point about defense on Luka
Pre trade deadline, and the mavs had other players injured during those games. The one game they had kyrie they won.
Luka held his own the team was undermanned
Sure, but your point was that they hadn’t bothered Luka which fees like a bit of an overstatement if they went 3-1
Should be a fun series regardless. Regular season is meaningless now
Luka doesn't need to be bothered for people to beat the pre-trade Mavs. We had 1 real center and Grant Williams building houses, losing to good teams would just happen
??? The wolves size would have run whooped up on the thunder. And our perimeter defense is better than the mavs even with luka and kyrie stepping it up.
Lmao swept the Suns so now the highest paid team was actually a bunch of scrubs, beat the champs on the road in 7 with two dominant performances in the series so now they are actually overrated and top heavy. And yet Mavs fans feel they have had a more difficult path.
I don't really think its a good matchup for the T-Wolves. They don't have anyone to guard Luka. McDaniels is too skinny. And the Mavs don't play a non-shooting PF like Denver to let Rudy roam off of. Denver is also more reliant on scorimg in the paint than Dallas.
Gordon was .290 from 3 this past season. If Gobert defends Lively or Gafford he's going to be spending the entire game defending 1/5 P&R against two better P&R ball handlers than Jamal Murray.
I don’t think you’ve really seen how the wolves play what will actually happen is gobert stays with the roller or he switches to Luka for a split second so whoever guards Luka recovers lively will then be picked up most likely by Kat until gobert goes back to him
I've seen plent of T-Wolves games and you're acting like they're the first team ever to soft hedge a P&R or get help from a third defender. If Gobert stays with the roller Luka and Kyrie will either shoot a pull up three or drove to the pain woth theor primary defender on their hip until Gobert is forced to choose. If KAT helps on the interior he's going to be helping off one of our wings in the corner. I think you're forgetting that you played 2 of the least athletic 5s in the league the first two rounds. Gobert is going to have to recover much faster on Gafford and Lively.
I'm not talking about the past season. I'm telling you what happened in the playoffs.
If you think Daniel Gafford or Lively set better screens than Jokic then I don't know what to tell you.
They're not better screeners, though I don't think the gap is all that meaningful. However, they are undeniably better lob catchers, present a much bigger target area, and roll to the rim much faster.
I personally think this matchup could be a coin flip and it's hard to gauge since Wolves haven't played this version of the Mavs yet.
Jaden is very long though and the way he defends breaks guys composure. Our best bet is if Jaden can frustrate Luka and he has done that before. Ant is sturdier and stronger to guard Luka too. But weirdly, Kyle Anderson is our best Luka defender. They both move in their own slow dimension, he's long af and sturdy enough. He's guarded Luka in clutch and won us games with his defense.
I know at times the Wolves fanbase hasn’t had the friendliest feelings toward SloMo but he’s one of my favorite players. The way he just plays his game and moves at his own pace will always be impressive (and hilarious) to me.
Yeah, I don't think there are huge mismatches for either team. The Mavs have better tools to put Gobert in no man's land than the T-Wolves first two matchups but its by no means an easy matchup.
[удалено]
Also most NBA players aren't like the redditors on here who spend hours crafting top 5 lists for everything imaginable involving the NBA that they can then cite at a moments notice.
You don't think they have a running spreadsheet they update every week?
I've been to LeBrons house and let me tell you it's nothing but spread sheets everywhere.
That’s going to move LeBron up my excel proficiency list for sure
Legacy software points added.
And thousands of books in absolutely pristine - untouched by human hands - condition
More like spreading cheeks .. 😈
I fucking hate the list people. Why do we all need to rank players? Why are you so upset if jokic isn’t high enough? What does it matter?
Oh so I’m just supposed to build my identity on my _own_ accomplishments? Yeah, sure buddy. 🙄
Haha, accurate. I love it!
You just dropped 5 spots on my Reddit list buddy.
Honestly I bet they do spend a lot of time thinking about it
Look at Mark Jackson’s MVP ballot
Especially a number as small as 3. He immediately thought, “who on my team? DJJ”, “who on the team I’m playing? Dort”, then the 1st top defender he thought of otherwise lol.
he said jrue holiday because he knew he would be playing him in the finals…
Funnily enough he’s one of the few stars I feel struggle least against Jrue
Luka has size and weight on Jrue
Yup exactly.
Jrue doesn't deserve the meme/trash talk like Pat Bev does, but the thought that sprang to mind was "Too Small" After Luka backs him in from the perimeter and scores Celtics are a decently coached team. They will have someone else or send help. I keep thinking Jaylen Brown might be better while Jrue can be for Kyrie, taking turns with White
Am i tripping or did he say herb jones, not DJJ. I watched the video and it definitely sounded like herb jones.
I didn’t watch the clip, just a graphic of the 3 with the quote on it. Maybe I was misinformed lol. Herb definitely clears DJJ on that front tho.
Yeah Mcmahon misquoted. He definitely said Herb.
He said that earlier this season
Hes done it multiple times, and one time he said djj, and another time he said Herb.
"name a woman" situation
NAME A WOMAN
Monica Bellucci
boris durke
Ray Finkle
Finkle is Einhornnnnn!?!?!?
the bitch from twister
Fucking yoga bag
Caitlyn Jenner... wakka wakka
Oh shit...alive or what?
NAME A WOMAN!
BREAKING NEWS: salty Lakers fan dustinharm snubs Nikola Jokic, refuses to name the 3-time MVP among his top 5 NBA players
One thing I can bet you is Jaden doesn’t care if he left him off a list and is likely so focused on tonight’s game he would have never have seen his top 5 or know he got snubbed.
All Jaden wants to do is chill with Naz, make someone hate playing basketball and then go back to chilling with Naz until it's time to make someone hate playing basketball. Just weed, basketball, weed and saying Naz Reid.
Rarely in my life have I ever seen someone that screams stoner as much as McDaniels.
I know him and Naz are good friends. They both seem like they enjoy a nice blunt after practice or a game.
I agree, I would think it takes a LOT to be the first thought, but they do play against each other. If there's a guy that always gives you trouble he's probably top of mind.
You should check out the Lakers sub and see how they are losing their minds about the DPOY voters “forgetting” that AD is in the top 1!
I see why you'd want to forget Jokic considering your flair tbh...
"He has long \[arms\]" -Luka Doncic
Luka wants the D [efense]
And you know he's going to say he's too small.
He probably said "He is long"
Then they would have to write "he [has long arms]" and not "he has long [arms]. My guess is he maybe said "he has long length" or something but that's a complete guess.
Usually the [ ] signifies something added by the author/reporter that wasn't said but implied. With Luka's accent I could see how "He is long" could sound like "He has long" and the reporter filled in what he thought he was implying.
Yeah I know, I should've explained better but the brackets should signify what the reporter is potentially changing, and anything not in the brackets should remain directly quoted. So if it says "he has long \[arms\]" we can assume he did say "he has long" and so couldn't have said "he is long." But it could've been a mistake or mishearing something lol, we've already spent too much of our lives thinking about what Luka might have said
I'm guessing he meant he has length. English is not his first language
He said hands, I remember thinking “hands? Oh arms lol”
From May 7th: [Luka Doncic says Lu Dort is in the “top three” perimeter defenders in the league. Who else cracks that list? Doncic says Jrue Holiday and Mavs teammate Derrick Jones Jr.](https://x.com/espn_macmahon/status/1787882512141680876?s=46)
Imagine if Luka listed Dort, McDaniels, and Holiday then proceeded to eliminate each in order en route to his first chip
and then what about DJJ? after they win the finals they play 1-1 for the title, loser is off the team.
Luka at the end be like "Enjoy your next big contract Flight 55".
>and then what about DJJ? *During winning ceremony* DJJ: "So what now, Luka? Am i the best defender left?" Luka: "Yeah, about that..." *Loads gun*. "I promised to take them out. ALL of them".
[Luka](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/031/212/snipes.jpg)
We all know DJJ is carrying Luka's sorry ass to the title. Swap me with Luka itd be the same.
And Luka revealing on the post game that he took advantage of these interviews to pick his match. But definitely unavoidable given their roles. Will still be funny.
Bro made a Binding Vow then
vindication.gif
Hmm. He had at one point listed Herb Jones instead of Derrick Jones Jr 🤔
It was always Herb Jones, McMahon just heard incorrectly and tweeted out DJJ. Watching the clip you can clearly hear Luka say Herb Jones so I'm not sure how McMahon got that wrong.
He got it wrong because he's terrible at his job. NBA reporters are generally not as good as other sports and he's one of the worst. He's failing in a remedial class
Yeah McMahon's an idiot. We fuck with Tim Cato.
Keeping up with the Joneses
Looks like Dort is off the list
Don't say it too loud or Dort will bust through your wall like the Kool aid man and body check you
The hell he is. I've never seen Luka struggle against anyone like him
Do you think we lost that series because of Dort?
No but fuck him anyway
Easily, should have put JDub on Luka because Dort was getting cooked out there. Dort was also abysmal shooting in the series. They would have been better without him.
I see you don't know ball.
Well ofcourse he doesn’t know ball, he didn’t watch the games.
If we shoot our averages, it at least goes 7. That wasn't just on Dort. Locking up Luka doesn't prevent DJJ, Lively, and PJ from making the impacts they did. Fair play.
He's also only played the Wolves one time this year, and that was before the All Star break due to rest/injuries and all of their games being before the break.
There’s been a giant love fest of compliments between competing players all post-season. It’s kind cool, but as an (obvious) neutral fan, can we crank up the hate notch a few levels please?
Haha think Luka learning from the warriors, the warriors has so much praise for him because they knew he would take any negative comments as motivation.
Luka always been a Mavs PR in disguise. He never says something bad about other players.
He keeps the trash talking on the court.
Bro really is dominating the NBA while also being a grandmaster in Overwatch in his spare time… his trash talking never takes any days off
Not only can you not guard me, but your poke dmg and heals are trash af too
That would piss me off cuz I can't even tell him to touch grass lol
You're never getting anything from Luka off the court. But he'll start talking and shit once they get on the court. Ant is pretty much the same way he still gave Jokic his props throughout last series.
Yes I remember JJ saying that when he'd be having a bad game in Orlando or something, somebody would say something to him and he'd turn into a motherfucker and destroy them
Mavs need to hire shit talkers for our games.
Luka is always like this off the court. On the court he’s an entirely different person. Even with Booker, who he probably has had the most adversarial relationship with, he is cordial with in the press and off the court.
I hope for a super close series between Dallas and Minnesota. I can see Luka and Ant really going at each other then.
I can definitely imagine there are going to be moments where they switch onto each other on consecutive possessions when they don't have to.
Don't worry, Jaden hates Luka.
But why would anyone hate Luka? /s
I actually love Luka, Jaden just has beef with literally anyone he gets matched up against.
Bobby portis Jr style
"I just wanna ruin someone's night." - Jaden McDaniels on his defensive mentality
Just give it two ~~games~~ quarters.
True that. The NBA is generally really friendly and I enjoy that more than some of the more spiteful and hate filled eras of the nba
Man the Mavs just finished 2 VERY toxic series against the Clippers and OKC. Being friendly to each other this time is a change.
Luka = fat
Jaden = skeleton
Jaden = don't give up skeleton
Luka has to be nice so they can bring better players to his team /s
luka only trash talks refs. this is known
No problem, Draymond's got you covered.
If McDaniels had tried that bounce dunk in G6 there might have been punches thrown in G7 lol
we should be used to this by now 😅
This is one of the few problems with parity. Hard to get a heated rivalry if teams are cycling and we don’t get the same matchups over and over. Cavs and Rockets weren’t ever saying a nice word about GSW
I dont think he is just giving praise to be nice. 1. Acting nice may subconsciously give the defender less of an edge. 2. If Luka busts Mcdaniel's ass all series, its like "look what I did to one of the best defenders" 3, If McDaniels makes things tough for Luka, everyone was told up front that Mcdaniels was a good defender so casuals wont think that Luka got clamped by "some dude". Luka is still going to talk shit all series long.
I was not just talking about Luka. Also I doubt it’s a setup. You’re projecting at IMAX levels of detail.
I promise you Luka was not thinking all of this
Def a change of pace from Dort to McDaniels, could see it taking half a game for Luka to adjust
Having to adjust from NFL defense back to NBA defense shouldn’t be too hard
For real, Dort was flopping and diving at his knees. Another insane level of physicality Jaden will smother and will try to get in Luka's head and break his composure. But he won't dive at his knees, try to hurt Luka or flop
I don't think it's possible to make Luka madder than Dort did. Luka gets more tilted at bad reffing than pretty much anything else in the game
Lets wait first, maybe NBA really wants to push Edwards and defenders will be again allowed to do anything to Luka.
The game is more fun when players are allowed to be physical. That's just a fact.
sure, but there's a difference between the wolves physicality and whatever the fuck dort was doing.
Dort was also flopping like crazy which was maddening. You can't play physical and then flop whenever someone is near you on a screen, thats setup for people hating you. McDaniels can be a headcase but I don't ever recall opposing fanbases complaining about him flopping.
Wolves doubters after game 3: "LMAO look at the wolves when they're not allowed to play MMA defense!!!" Meanwhile in the Mavs series you had Dort legit playing bountyball against Luka's knees
True, he's a linebacker disguised as an NBA player.
Agreed, if it’s officiated the same way for everyone, but with Luka that’s often not the case.
nba definitely going to change the way they call the defense so that dort defense looks like standard modern nba defense. they did that vs the nuggets in games 1,2, and 6, and just let the teams play in a way that only benefits the longer, taller and more physical defensive team. The NBA is really trying hard to make Ant the next face of the league, so it's not surprising.
Cope harder
true thhat
hahahaaaa hope you are enjoying that howLLLL with the extra serving of L by fat eastern European
Its the truth, but it's okay you can cope by labeling what you don't want to hear as cope. game 7 was the only game they didn't call completely biased toward modern offense, or the other with hand checks and holding allowed. It would've probably been a 5-6 game series with some overtimes if the reffing was consistent. wolves likely still win because of the nuggets lack of depth, and the injuries, plus the lack of focus, hunger, and burnout was too much. but it would be more fair and fun to watch . instead of ref caused blowouts or ref bias (with lakers and other teams/stars/narratives they want to push), we'd actually see who legit balled out. if you're gonna let it be physical and not call techs/be stricter on flagrants, do it every game for every team throughout the season. not change the way you call it moment to moment
I feel you on so many levels, but "the Wolves won because the NBA wants Ant to ascend" is such a weak take.
I'm not saying that's the reason they won, they won because they executed better, were deeper, better coached, 100% more motivated and hungry, and deserved to win. But the inconsistent reffing and so many of the decisions are so baffling, especially in that game 2 where the wolves were able to do whatever they wanted (even though the same defense gets them in foul trouble early in games 3-4), so much that they trigger malone to run on court and rage in the refs face, which later led to murray towel and hot pad throw (but no techs for any of that strangely). And this was after a lakers series where lakers get everything thrown their way by refs and we can't play physical defense without getting whistled. The whole sports betting angle also makes it harder to trust the league isn't trying to meddle with their games to try to bring in the most revenue from fans and gamblers. having the new face of the league win in 7 over the champs, with unpredictable spreads brings in more money than letting them all play fair.
Games 1 and 6 really weren't that crazy. Y'all have just convinced yourselves that's the only way a team could have defended you well. Game 2 was a lot though for sure.
i agree with game 1. but game 6 was bad, but only just for a little after the 9-2 run, then it was clean the rest of the way. the team just mentally gave up after that and got their cardio in, and the garbage time guys showed just how locked in the wolves team is. games 1-7 i think were officiated how a playoff game should be
“They might have Luka doncic but we got Jaden mcdaniels” -Ant
If the Wolves end up winning this series, it’s because their length bothered Luka + Kyrie. I really like this matchup for the T-Wolves
I think it will actually be our bigs. I like our perimeter defense more than OKC's but it isn't too big of a difference for elite players like luka/kyrie. However we should really be able to bully them on the inside on both ends of the floor.
I was watching your guys game7 in discord with a bunch of friends and they kept asking me who I'd rather the Mavs face in the next round and every time without hesitation I would say I'd rather face the Nuggets over the Wolves. You guys just match up so well against us. The only time we don't have a size advantage in the front court is against you guys, and you have plenty of excellent perimeter defenders that are gonna give Luka and Kai a really difficult time. This is definitely the most nervous I've been for any series this year.
Yeah IMO it just will be can luka propel y'all above everything else. Obviously if PJ shoots lights out again that will go a long way but even then I think we will defend him better than OKC did. I honestly don't know what to expect which is kinda fun
And we already saw the length bother Kyrie a bit these playoffs. Not to mention two guys waiting for him in the paint re okc
But at the same time Luka is maybe the best player in the world, would not surprise me if he went off. Haven’t kept tabs on his knee but that is a big factor
It wouldn’t surprise anyone lol. Luka is a top 3 player at worst right now - he’s going to play well no matter what.
Luka is great and he will win at least 1 game by going super nova but it is going to take full team performances to beat the wolves in a series
Timberwolves defense havent bothered Luka in the games he played against them this season, even with Kyrie being out for 3 of them and Luka being the primary focus on D. Him struggling will be determined by his health moreso than the defense.
I can’t remember how Luka did in those games, but wasn’t it 3-1 on the season? Not that that matters, Suns swept the season series against us lol, but to your point about defense on Luka
Timberwolves were 3-1 against the Mavs, 1-1 against Luka, and 0-1 against Kyrie this season.
Pre trade deadline, and the mavs had other players injured during those games. The one game they had kyrie they won. Luka held his own the team was undermanned
Sure, but your point was that they hadn’t bothered Luka which fees like a bit of an overstatement if they went 3-1 Should be a fun series regardless. Regular season is meaningless now
Luka only played two of those games, and they went 1-1. He had 39 and 34 points.
Luka doesn't need to be bothered for people to beat the pre-trade Mavs. We had 1 real center and Grant Williams building houses, losing to good teams would just happen
Same, wolves lucked out by not having to play thunder
Nah the thunder woulda been a good series but we’d match up far better vs them than the mavs imo
Hmm really? I think thunder could beat the wolves, and for me wolves vs Mavs it's wolves in5
I agree, the Thunder had our number at times in the regular season w/ out the shooting variation that the Suns had on their side.
??? The wolves size would have run whooped up on the thunder. And our perimeter defense is better than the mavs even with luka and kyrie stepping it up.
We’ve just had a really easy path through the playoffs so far
Lmao swept the Suns so now the highest paid team was actually a bunch of scrubs, beat the champs on the road in 7 with two dominant performances in the series so now they are actually overrated and top heavy. And yet Mavs fans feel they have had a more difficult path.
I don't really think its a good matchup for the T-Wolves. They don't have anyone to guard Luka. McDaniels is too skinny. And the Mavs don't play a non-shooting PF like Denver to let Rudy roam off of. Denver is also more reliant on scorimg in the paint than Dallas.
Gordon shot like 50% from 3. The Mavs play two literal non-shooting bigs.
Gordon was .290 from 3 this past season. If Gobert defends Lively or Gafford he's going to be spending the entire game defending 1/5 P&R against two better P&R ball handlers than Jamal Murray.
I don’t think you’ve really seen how the wolves play what will actually happen is gobert stays with the roller or he switches to Luka for a split second so whoever guards Luka recovers lively will then be picked up most likely by Kat until gobert goes back to him
I've seen plent of T-Wolves games and you're acting like they're the first team ever to soft hedge a P&R or get help from a third defender. If Gobert stays with the roller Luka and Kyrie will either shoot a pull up three or drove to the pain woth theor primary defender on their hip until Gobert is forced to choose. If KAT helps on the interior he's going to be helping off one of our wings in the corner. I think you're forgetting that you played 2 of the least athletic 5s in the league the first two rounds. Gobert is going to have to recover much faster on Gafford and Lively.
I'm not talking about the past season. I'm telling you what happened in the playoffs. If you think Daniel Gafford or Lively set better screens than Jokic then I don't know what to tell you.
They're not better screeners, though I don't think the gap is all that meaningful. However, they are undeniably better lob catchers, present a much bigger target area, and roll to the rim much faster.
I'm not seeing the lobs.
You're right. You took away the lobs and let us score every other way in the paint. You seeing the L?
Yeah, Luka's really good. Who knew?
I personally think this matchup could be a coin flip and it's hard to gauge since Wolves haven't played this version of the Mavs yet. Jaden is very long though and the way he defends breaks guys composure. Our best bet is if Jaden can frustrate Luka and he has done that before. Ant is sturdier and stronger to guard Luka too. But weirdly, Kyle Anderson is our best Luka defender. They both move in their own slow dimension, he's long af and sturdy enough. He's guarded Luka in clutch and won us games with his defense.
I know at times the Wolves fanbase hasn’t had the friendliest feelings toward SloMo but he’s one of my favorite players. The way he just plays his game and moves at his own pace will always be impressive (and hilarious) to me.
Most wolves fans agree this is gonna be a great match up for kyle to shine
Yeah, I don't think there are huge mismatches for either team. The Mavs have better tools to put Gobert in no man's land than the T-Wolves first two matchups but its by no means an easy matchup.
Wait so did he just say “He has long” lmao
It means a paraphrase. Probably said something like “long limbs” and they changed his wording
he has long
Frogman’s gonna get ya!🐸
Please don’t make him angry at me. Please.
He's still gonna be in jail, lol.
Ehhhhh, this is Devin Booker’s father, not Devin Booker.
I read this a Luka Modric and I was confused why he was giving analysis of the T-Wolves
Eastern European Madrid homies sticking together
He always compliments the guys he’s about to cook lol
We got Ant, Naw and Anderson to throw at him too.
I think Luka eats this series. Jaden isn't thick enough for Luka. KAI may have problems with Ant and Jaden taking turns.
Luka 35 Kyrie 34 Everybody else 7
Everyone else had 7 each? I’ll take that every time! lol
*no more than 7
Total
All you people complaining about Dort's physicality acting like defense calls fouls.
Just saying nice things to demotivate or at least not motivate the opposition. Smart