[Luka Doncic had a rough day at the office](https://www.ballineurope.com/luka-doncic-has-a-rough-day-at-the-office-8417/)
I wrote a column tonight, from a Euro perspective, on how Luka is clearly running himself into the ground. This is an issue for this series and beyond.
by Strange_Principle364
26 Comments
They’re letting the clippers beat the shit out of him. That’s gotta be exhausting, but he’s looked a little off at times since game 1, maybe sick?
Bro, he is cleary injured
He’s clearly injured. He hasn’t really had a single game up to his standard. He’s probably getting outplayed severely by harden.
His reputation is gonna take a massive hit if we lose this series. Idk if I will feel like I did for Dirk after 2007 but man, we just need to win at all costs.
He’s been getting clamped this series. Shooting just abysmally.
Hes too fat point blank. He doesn’t even barely go to the rim in this series. That used to be the best part of his game but it probably takes too much energy when your 20 lbs over weight. A lot easier to just call for a screen and take a step back.
Hes never going to win a championship being this fat. Because someone like jokic who is just as good if not better can run the floor for 4 quarters without getting tired and those are the guys he has to outplay.
The crazy thing is he will be in shape at the start of the season and look great. But he goes from in shape to fat within a week somehow. You know after this game he’s going home and stress eating a xl pizza and wings and a 2L of coke to wash it down.
Yall please read the article before bashing the guy lol. He points out most of what yall are saying lol
He needs a break you’re right. But I guess Slovenia will play the Olympics this summer, so there you go. Anyway, I think it goes beyond that. I sighed when I saw him do the money sign with his fingers to the crowd when he didn’t get calls a few years back, and improvement on this aspect has been marginal to put it nicely. I mean, he’s tired, he’s injured, we get it. But ffs maybe he can finally stop the combo pouting / shitty body language when things don’t go his way and grow up ?
It ain’t fatigue. The make has an injured knee. He really shouldn’t be playing. Probably some swollen ligaments or worse inflamation in his joints. He doesn’t look tired. He looks Luke his movements are limited and the clippers are forcing him to make those hard movements
If Luka doesn’t eat salads and skip out on the Olympics after losing this off-season I’m gonna give up on the guy ever taking us anywhere in the playoffs. The dedication isn’t there. Even when he comes into the league in shape that isn’t good enough. Dude somehow gets overweight while playing 40 minutes in the NBA every night by the end of the season. The diet clearly isn’t being addressed.
Luka gets fucking BEAT up in games. He gets less calls than he should. Been to more games than almost anybody. He’s got a bad whistle and nobody wants to say it. Everyone harps on the complaining.
We played him nearly every minute of the season even in some garbage time..we are paying for it now
There were no fatigue issues all season when he was having the most efficient season of his career with a ridiculous statline of 33/9/9.
He’s been poor for the whole series, it didn’t start today because he’s been worn down over the past 4 games. He’s been very immature with his shot, not sharp on his moves (maybe the knee plays a role but he wasn’t injured in games 1 and 2) and he’s let his emotions get out of control.
What he needs to do is FOCUS and if the knee is bothering him then he’s gotta be more selective with his shots and be more of a playmaker.
If you ask me Luka is injured or ill and they’re hiding it. I don’t think there is other explanation.
Luka is +32 over 4 games and Mavs overall are -3. In fact, Luka had positive plus-minus in every single game and the series is 2-2. Mavs lost 19 (!!! Dude averages 43 mpg !!!) non-Luka minutes over 4 games by 35 points. Luka’s plus-minus is the best on the team, PJ is at +23 and Kyrie – for all his brilliance – is at +3 only.
Yes, Luka is not shooting well, but his defense has been amazing by Luka’s standards in games 1-3 (30% FG on ~70 attempts when Clippers players are defended by Luka in those games) and he is averaging 8.5 assists on 3.7 turnovers, so a better AST-TO ratio than he had in regular season. All while commanding full-court pressure by multiple defenders and standard – for Luka anyway – constant double teams.
I honestly often think Mavs are one of the few franchises that scuffle their star player when he literally plays winning basketball. I wish I could check Nuggets subreddit from 2020 to see how their fans were reacting to Jokic back then.
Yes he’s obese, we can all see that
He is battling knee issues as well
Luka was in foul trouble today so he couldn’t be aggressive. He will be better next game if the refs call the game better.
Am I the only one that can see how his knee is bothering him? He looks unstable
He’s having trouble beating his defenders off the dribble. I’m not sure if that’s injury, weight, or fatigue but it’s been glaring this series.
I also think he’s starting to rely too much on his 3pt shot and if it’s not falling it starts looking really ugly. Id like to see him use his floater more, we saw how Harden dominated with it today.
playoffs once again marred by injuries. nba needs to look at a less rigorous regular season, eliminate back to backs the players have been clamoring for that for years
Not fatigue. You can see his knee is stiff and he can’t turn on defense
Luka is too fat, slow, predictable and emotional, these are not the traits of a championship type of player/leader. MJ/jokic/bird/dirk were champs cause they put their game and skill over their emotions. Luka is more like cousins/embiid, these guys never win anything cause they’re too busy stuck in their feelings when things aren’t going their way and this is the sad truth
Would be cool if he followed Kyrie around all summer fasting, meditating, working out and playing some pickup basketball.
If via meditation he could in someway stop complaining to the refs all the time I think he might get more calls than he does. It feel like refs sometimes call him a little tougher, and the mavs overall because they get tired of him complaining so much.
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Of course the above scenario with Kyrie/Luka will never really happen, but it would be nice.
Luka’s dunks this year were his lowest and the general trend is down. May indicate his relative fitness level and that he is changing his game to suit what his capability is.
**Luka dunks per season:**
2018-29: 25 dunks
2019-20: 14 dunks
2020-21: 11 dunks
2021-22: 7 dunks
2022-23: 12 dunks
2023-24: 2 dunks
Having Mann truck you on one play and grab your ankle on another doesn’t help. Clippers in general have been allowed to hack him with limited fouls while we are barley allowed to guard Harden or Paul without a foul
>Then came last year. The Mavs missed the playoffs but Luka had the FIBA Basketball World Cup to play in.
I’m so tired of this argument. Luka had nearly 3 full months off from organized basketball. His last game was April 7th and the Slovenian national team didn’t start practice until July 28th. And the World Cup didn’t start group play until August 28th.
That’s why he came into the season in such great form. He looks gassed right now because his knee is fucked and he doesn’t like taking time off in the season. It’s being exacerbated right now because Kidd can’t find a lineup that can exist without him on the floor because Dante Exum disappeared. There’s no reason for him to have been playing 42 minutes a night when he’s never averaged more than 40 in the playoffs (and averaged 37 in the WCF run)