I mean, that was losing games to inferior teams (Knicks, getting pushed by the Magic) and non-competing against a superior one
Mitchell missed two games and they didnāt have Allen
I think the āalmost losing to the Magicā is the largest detriment
Hes not a proven playoff winner but given that this team is currently out-performing even what most thought theyād do when the playoffs started, forget the season, says he deserves a shot to show heās improved
A lot of it stemmed from the 22-23 playoffs where they were a 51 win team and got punked in the first round by the Knicks, who were also unproven at that time. The other narratives that didnāt help him last year included the difficulty to make the pieces fit in the frontcourt (Mobley and Allen) and also in the backcourt (Mitchell and Garland). Some of that could be chalked up to bad injury luck with Garland having a broken jaw and losing a bunch of weight due to dietary changes stemming from the injury. Idk what percentage of the blame falls on Bickerstaff, but the pieces fit seamlessly this year. It ended up as a win-win for both sides though
I think any time thereās a broad ādoesnāt adapt well in the playoffsā badge thereās usually a lot of weird little things that go into earning that
I had no idea TJD was Dale Davisā son
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Is your friend 10 years old?
Lakers headed to Cancun
I think JBB is 0 of 5 on challenges this series, with 4 coming in the first half, and has a T after being upset that he didnāt win one.
With that said, heās doing so much else right.
I feel bad but I burst out laughing at Harlanās āheās walking like Fred Sanford!ā about Doncic with some sort of back spasm
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Why Ant is taking step-back threes against a crippled Luka, Iām not sure Iāll ever know.
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Luka smokes a layup to cut it to 2 and then immediately yells at the refs while the Wolves get a layup in transition at the other end.
If a game effectively ending make is a dagger, is that a seppuku?
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At some point the guy may realize being 20 pounds overweight is a detriment
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Minnesota - who shot 47 threes (a huge number of pretty good looks) and made 14,9% now own the worst three point shooting performance ever in a victory
Edwards and Divincenzo - two of the best shooters in the league - missed 23 combined
Gobert was awesome
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Nico be like: āSee? I was right about Luka!ā
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Hereās the thing: I think he is/was barring Luka finding his higher power about this stuff. The trade was STILL terrible.
But like - this game/series is basically the case here, right? You have an extremely talented, extremely productive player who is physically unable to rise to the appropriate occasion for more than a series at a time (a few games at a time?), who, even when heās āhealthyā runs down at the end of games, who will always take possessions off in order to nurse an argument with refs, and will always, for every moment he is on the floor, be the scab the other team picks at defensively (until he improves conditioning). I donāt think heās ever going to be a āgoodā defender, but his combination of motor and constantly below par health make him far worse than he needs to be.
Basically - this guy isnāt who he is because of his athletic burst, but- you do need a base level of that and this endless parade of fatigue, illness, and muscle injuries at age 26 has to make you worried about how long he can retain that.
I am far from the one to criticize a guy in his mid-twenties for liking to eat and drink and hang out but I also wasnāt working a job that demanded my body be in peak condition. Itās been said here, but maybe Lebron, who is obviously the GOAT in this regard, can reform him a little.
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Yeah, I get why Nico doesnāt like Lukaās weight and attitude towards the refs. Nico didnāt attempt to shop around for Luka. He couldāve gotten 5-9 1st round picks plus players. The fact that the return was not good made it worse.
Nicoās attitude in the press conference did not endear him among the Mavs and NBA fans. I think heās a narcissistic.
Huh? I mean, say what you will about this seasonās playoffs, but he literally dragged the Mavs to the NBA finals just one year ago, including putting on a clinic against the TWolves in the Western Finals. Beating Clippers, Thunder and TWolves was a very impressive run, especially since the Mavs didnāt really have a great overall roster.
He also made the Western Finals in 2022 despite being without Porzingis.
Thereās a lot to criticize Luka about and he does need to dedicate himself to his body and his arguing with refs is annoying, but he has proven that he can carry a team despite those factors. If he ever takes conditioning seriously, itās wild that he has an even higher ceiling to reach.
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Doncic missed games in his first significant playoff run due to muscular injury, and carried them to the conference finals despite that (and also Jalen Brunson going off in his absence). His inability to be healthy for a large portion of the season (and trading Brunson) was a large part of them missing the playoffs the next year. Thereās also a raft of article written during last yearās finals detailing how hobbled he was by a suite of lower leg injuries.
If your argument is that heās been good despite these problems, I agree, but I also donāt foresee these problems mitigating if they are already depriving him of operating at 100% in crunchtime of seasons when heās 24, 25, and 26. In each of the past 3 post-seasons he has played āLuka is hobbled out thereā has been a major news story. Heās obviously been a top 5 player the past 4 years, not arguing otherwise.
I also think the fact this regular season was the poorest in his career outside his rookie season (career lows in true shooting, assist rate, usage, BPM, minutes) is possibly relevant.
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Not being healthy for consecutive playoffs at 26 is not a great sign.
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Former MSU assistant and Dayton Flyers/Ga Tech Yellow Jackets/South Fla Bulls coach named Suns GM. So heās going to navigate Durant or Booker trades?
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