2024 NBA Playoffs - West 1st Round: #4 Los Angeles Clippers vs #5 Dallas Mavericks (DAL WINS 4-2)

[Handlez]

Luka taking a reputation hit big time if he doesn't return to form and win this series.

He's playing hurt, but no one cares if you're not hurt enough to not play.

Never thought I'd see him shoot like this.

[AdagioPace]

Luka taking a reputation hit big time if he doesn't return to form and win this series.

He's playing hurt, but no one cares if you're not hurt enough to not play.

Never thought I'd see him shoot like this.

yeah they definitely need him to win the series. they cannot always rely on Irving's heroics and they don't have the defense to slow every game down. That said, Mavs' bench has been the main culprit. Doncic is still valuable even when he shoots badly given his playmaking and defensive attention he demands

[Dubious Handles]

I don't think J.J. Redick and Doris Burke is a good combination.

Awful, and they got rid of JVG and Mark Jackson who I thought were really good. Some people still criticized them for some reason, but there's no way they're worse than this.

I was shaking my head over half the things Doris was saying and her constant slurping of star players and the refs. And then the cherry on top was having to listen to SAS fake screaming on the halftime show, good lord how can people watch this.

[AdagioPace]

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20 of the Clippers 34 points in the 4th quarter came in the paint.

I don't think Kidd realized that Harden was shooting uncontested floaters/layups and not midrange shots....smh.

[Dirk]

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[RoyceDa59]

We’ve got ourselves a series.

[Crunch 99]

Sucks we may not ever see this clippers squad with a healthy Kawhi in the post season.

Notwithstanding the fact that Kawhi is a far better player when he's healthy, I am seriously wondering which $150 million spent over the next three seasons will turn out to be the most wasteful --- Kawhi's $150 mill or Bradley Beal's $150 mill.

[Dadouv47]

Sucks we may not ever see this clippers squad with a healthy Kawhi in the post season.

Notwithstanding the fact that Kawhi is a far better player when he's healthy, I am seriously wondering which $150 million over the next three seasons will turn out to be the most wasteful --- Kawhi's $150 mill or Bradley Beal's $150 mill.

I would still rather have Kawhi. You know the chances of him being injured comes playoff time are high but if he isn't, you got a chance at the title. That's not the case for Beal, healthy or not.

[Texas Chuck]

Luka taking a reputation hit big time if he doesn't return to form and win this series.

He's playing hurt, but no one cares if you're not hurt enough to not play.

Never thought I'd see him shoot like this.

So fun fact. Dallas loss the 3 minutes Luka didn't play 15-0.

Luka isn't shooting great, but he's holding up defensively and he's still overall helping the offense.

Too often our analysis starts and stops with shooting percentages. We should aim higher.

[Bob8]

Luka taking a reputation hit big time if he doesn't return to form and win this series.

He's playing hurt, but no one cares if you're not hurt enough to not play.

Never thought I'd see him shoot like this.

So fun fact. Dallas loss the 3 minutes Luka didn't play 15-0.

Luka isn't shooting great, but he's holding up defensively and he's still overall helping the offense.

Too often our analysis starts and stops with shooting percentages. We should aim higher.

Even more fun fact, Luka's on/off in playoffs is unbelievable + 63. Apparently he's far the most impactful player in playoffs. Shai is - 3, Jokic + 4 and Kyrie, far the best Mavs player, + 11. Luka's career on/off is now +17. LeBron + 11 and Curry + 10.

Saying all that, I hope Luka has first really good game on Wednesday.

[Handlez]

Luka taking a reputation hit big time if he doesn't return to form and win this series.

He's playing hurt, but no one cares if you're not hurt enough to not play.

Never thought I'd see him shoot like this.

So fun fact. Dallas loss the 3 minutes Luka didn't play 15-0.

Luka isn't shooting great, but he's holding up defensively and he's still overall helping the offense.

Too often our analysis starts and stops with shooting percentages. We should aim higher.

Pretty cool.

But shooting 38% and 26% on 12+ threes a game is abysmal. They'd be up in the series if he shoots better.

Just terrible. Settling for threes all game.

[Texas Chuck]

Luka taking a reputation hit big time if he doesn't return to form and win this series.

He's playing hurt, but no one cares if you're not hurt enough to not play.

Never thought I'd see him shoot like this.

So fun fact. Dallas loss the 3 minutes Luka didn't play 15-0.

Luka isn't shooting great, but he's holding up defensively and he's still overall helping the offense.

Too often our analysis starts and stops with shooting percentages. We should aim higher.

Pretty cool.

But shooting 38% and 26% on 12+ threes a game is abysmal. They'd be up in the series if he shoots better.

Just terrible. Settling for threes all game.

Is the goal to win the game or to have pretty stats? If the little Mavs had held up when he was on the bench the narrative would be different. You are choosing to say Luka's legacy is badly hurt. I think that's laughable considering his playoff resume is strong enough to handle one poor shooting series(that his team may yet win even if he doesn't have any monster games btw).

And it would be hit iyo because during the few minutes he didn't play his team got obliterated. And in the opposite of making excuses about playing hurt, he's playing huge minutes, still carrying the offensive load, and oh yeah taking on much tougher defensive assignments than he typically does.

Anyone who looks at this series as some crippling blow to Luka, is looking for reasons to diminish Luka. And its ironic that people criticism for not having this complete game, but when he actually plays complete games, then he gets criticized for not still putting up 40 ppg on good efficiency.

Would it be awesome if he could play 46 mpg while injured, guard the best players on the other team, run the offense, and score 44 on 60/45/80 percentages? Yes. Is that the most reasonable expectation? No. Is not doing so a blow to his legacy? In a series his team is the lower seed? Cmon now.

[durden_tyler]

Luka taking a reputation hit big time if he doesn't return to form and win this series.

He's playing hurt, but no one cares if you're not hurt enough to not play.

Never thought I'd see him shoot like this.

Yes. If he fails to advance from the first round, he’ll be in prime James Harden territory— all stats and no actual worthy Wa to show for.

If they do advance, the SGA-Ant-Luka: who’s next debate will continue.

[Texas Chuck]

Yes. If he fails to advance from the first round, he’ll be in prime James Harden territory— all stats and no actual worthy Wa to show for.

What is Wa? I'm not familiar with this if its shorthand and not a typo.

I'd also point out with regards to Harden he's made the playoffs every season of his career. So not sure I'd dismiss him as empty stats and his team beats the dynastic Warriors at the top of their powers if not for a variance-defying 0-27 from 3 stretch from his team.

Luka's not has as much team success yet, but even with that he's been to a WCF which is as far as some HofF players have gotten. Winning is hard. I mean take the Eastern Conference before Lebron moved to LA. Nobody who wasn't his teammate advanced past the 2nd round for a decade. Do we dismiss the entire conference as empty stats because Lebron existed? That feels really wrong.

Was Wilt just empty stats because Russell was born?

[Swish1906]

Sucks we may not ever see this clippers squad with a healthy Kawhi in the post season.

Notwithstanding the fact that Kawhi is a far better player when he's healthy, I am seriously wondering which $150 million over the next three seasons will turn out to be the most wasteful --- Kawhi's $150 mill or Bradley Beal's $150 mill.

I would still rather have Kawhi. You know the chances of him being injured comes playoff time are high but if he isn't, you got a chance at the title. That's not the case for Beal, healthy or not.

Clippers were stupid, they should have (fake) shut him down after the ASG for an additional 3-4 weeks. Screw the seeding and make sure his knees are getting a huge rest a few weeks before the playoffs. Then let him play himself back into shape and rhythm in the last 13-14 season games.

They should do this for sure next year...

[madmaxmedia]

I just watched Luka's Game 4 post-game press conference and one thing he mentioned was that the two games that Dallas lost were both day games (both featuring poor starts). Both games took place on Sundays at 3:30pm ET, I believe.

Game 5 and Game 6 are night games but Game 7 is scheduled for next Sunday, if the series goes that far.

If Dallas is having trouble with the early start time they better figure out a solution quick.

Ironically Clippers are notorious for slow starts and bad play in general in the early games, even at home. We hate'em on the Clipper board, but I'll take it LOL.

[madmaxmedia]

So fun fact. Dallas loss the 3 minutes Luka didn't play 15-0.

Luka isn't shooting great, but he's holding up defensively and he's still overall helping the offense.

Too often our analysis starts and stops with shooting percentages. We should aim higher.

Pretty cool.

But shooting 38% and 26% on 12+ threes a game is abysmal. They'd be up in the series if he shoots better.

Just terrible. Settling for threes all game.

Is the goal to win the game or to have pretty stats? If the little Mavs had held up when he was on the bench the narrative would be different. You are choosing to say Luka's legacy is badly hurt. I think that's laughable considering his playoff resume is strong enough to handle one poor shooting series(that his team may yet win even if he doesn't have any monster games btw).

And it would be hit iyo because during the few minutes he didn't play his team got obliterated. And in the opposite of making excuses about playing hurt, he's playing huge minutes, still carrying the offensive load, and oh yeah taking on much tougher defensive assignments than he typically does.

Anyone who looks at this series as some crippling blow to Luka, is looking for reasons to diminish Luka. And its ironic that people criticism for not having this complete game, but when he actually plays complete games, then he gets criticized for not still putting up 40 ppg on good efficiency.

Would it be awesome if he could play 46 mpg while injured, guard the best players on the other team, run the offense, and score 44 on 60/45/80 percentages? Yes. Is that the most reasonable expectation? No. Is not doing so a blow to his legacy? In a series his team is the lower seed? Cmon now.

IMO Luka is absolutely a clutch player who does the opposite of shrink in big moments. I do think going forward he would maximize himself as a player if he better paced himself, but that's dependent on the players around him and the coaching. On any given possession, their best chance is always gonna be to give him the ball early in the clock and let him work. But you can't do that every possession in a game, in every regular season game, or even every single playoff game. I think the questions about his physical shape are overblown, I think any player with such high usage is going to eventually run down over the course of a season and playoffs. If he plays like this every year going forward, he's eventually going to get more worn down as he gets into his late-20's.

I always thought this was one thing that separated Michael Jordan and Kobe. Both insane competitors, but MJ in general seemed to pace himself really well. He wasn't inactive early, he just tended to pace himself for the 4th in case it was a tight game. And then with about 6 minutes left, he had plenty of gas left for every possession to basically be MJ time.

I don't 'blame' Luka for Jalen Brunson absolutely blowing up now that he's left the Mavs, but I do think it's not surprising that something like that could happen. And this is not just on Luka to decide or figure out, this is very much a coaching staff and even organizational thing as it reflects the entire team strategy and approach.

[CoP]

Luka taking a reputation hit big time if he doesn't return to form and win this series.

He's playing hurt, but no one cares if you're not hurt enough to not play.

Never thought I'd see him shoot like this.

So fun fact. Dallas loss the 3 minutes Luka didn't play 15-0.

Luka isn't shooting great, but he's holding up defensively and he's still overall helping the offense.

Too often our analysis starts and stops with shooting percentages. We should aim higher.

Even more fun fact, Luka's on/off in playoffs is unbelievable + 63. Apparently he's far the most impactful player in playoffs. Shai is - 3, Jokic + 4 and Kyrie, far the best Mavs player, + 11. Luka's career on/off is now +17. LeBron + 11 and Curry + 10.

Saying all that, I hope Luka has first really good game on Wednesday.

I said this in another thread, but at least part of the reason why Luka's on/off in the playoffs is so high is because he often gets taken out of the game for defensive possessions at the end of close games. So for example, he might be on the court for two offensive possessions where Dallas scores on each possession. Then he gets subbed off for the defensive possession, say to bring on a big for rebounding if they're fouling the other team for FTs. So Dallas might score 4 points on two offensive possessions while Doncic is on the floor, and give up 4 points on two defensive possessions while he's off. So he gets a +8 on/off while the team has a +/- of 0.

He still has an incredible individual playoff performance resume, though. That's for sure.

[madmaxmedia]

Notwithstanding the fact that Kawhi is a far better player when he's healthy, I am seriously wondering which $150 million over the next three seasons will turn out to be the most wasteful --- Kawhi's $150 mill or Bradley Beal's $150 mill.

I would still rather have Kawhi. You know the chances of him being injured comes playoff time are high but if he isn't, you got a chance at the title. That's not the case for Beal, healthy or not.

Clippers were stupid, they should have (fake) shut him down after the ASG for an additional 3-4 weeks. Screw the seeding and make sure his knees are getting a huge rest a few weeks before the playoffs. Then let him play himself back into shape and rhythm in the last 13-14 season games.

They should do this for sure next year...

But if he wasn't injured at the time, why would they just shut him down for no reason? He played a lot of games and had a great year. The one thing in retrospect they could have done was more 'load management' over the course of the year (even though that drew plenty of criticism in years past.)

[Swish1906]

I would still rather have Kawhi. You know the chances of him being injured comes playoff time are high but if he isn't, you got a chance at the title. That's not the case for Beal, healthy or not.

Clippers were stupid, they should have (fake) shut him down after the ASG for an additional 3-4 weeks. Screw the seeding and make sure his knees are getting a huge rest a few weeks before the playoffs. Then let him play himself back into shape and rhythm in the last 13-14 season games.

They should do this for sure next year...

But if he wasn't injured at the time, why would they just shut him down for no reason? He played a lot of games and had a great year. The one thing in retrospect they could have done was more 'load management' over the course of the year (even though that drew plenty of criticism in years past.)

Because you will never get 90+ games out of Kawhi in a single season. So you shut him down to reduce the total number of games before the playoffs are even started. And hopefully with a long break his knees can recover from the first 40-50 games