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Brian Windhorst going in on Luka on ESPN



Brian Windhorst going in on Luka on ESPN

by aidan19971

27 Comments

  1. Training-Plate-5650

    Donā€™t remember him going off this hard on his buddy lebron when he choked in 2011?

    Heā€™s hurt. Not like Iā€™d expect Windhorst to know anything about trying to play through pain

  2. leggomyeggo22

    Nothing he said was incorrect. Maybe he overstated the whole ā€œLuka had no defense he babyā€ but his overall point is spot on. The number of games weā€™ve seen Luka play well when he decided to just play basketball and not complain is unbelievable and to see him unable to control his emotions even when calls donā€™t go his way is sickening when he canā€™t match that effort on the other end of the floor.

  3. LechALection

    Is Windhorst wrong? Not necessarily wrong.

    Is Windhorst also a complete moron on a network full of them? Yes.

  4. Impressive_Addendum

    Mavs were +9 in Luka minutes. Luka isnt the problem.Ā 

  5. So it’s Luka’s defense and team-leading +/- that’s the problem and not Tim Hardaway going 0 points in 19 minutes with a -16, Kleber going 0 points on -13 and Gafford being a supposed defensive specialist being a -11. But it’s Luka’s fault.
    What a fucking smoothbrained take

  6. reddit_reader_25

    Frustrations are getting to him. I want him focused on basketball for 48 minutes on Friday. Game 5 okc. And then I want him to do it again on Monday and then whenever else. If we get one win and get back to Boston I think we win this series.

    But it starts with Luka spending energy on basketball and not complaining. Talk to them during stoppages sure, but focus on basketball. Go talk crap to the bench or the players.

  7. MavsAndThemBoyz

    He’s not wrong. We all love Luka, but we NEED this dude to grow and be a true leader, or we ain’t winning shit.

  8. Luka needs to do better, but refs are also helping the Celtics. They allow them to foul, while we can’t.

  9. You might hate the man but he’s spitting facts. I know some people on this sub (and the entire Mavs organization) don’t like to keep Luka accountable, but this play right here was the consequence of all those years of letting him off the hook. Is he a a brilliant player? Yes. Did the team let him down a lot of times in this series? Yes. Is he the most talented player in this series? By far. But the disparity between how locked in the guys on the Celtics team are when compared to him is too much to ignore. It’s like a moody child playing with a bunch of adults.

  10. ComposerWilling1298

    You have to admit it’s true. Because Jason Kidd can’t figure out the rotations and offensive tactics, he relys on luka’s offense heavily and luka got bailed out defensively. But we are on the nba finals and one weakness on your defense could cost the game. Luka have to play solid defence in the future if he wants to win chip.

  11. zebracakes64

    He’s right about a lot. But it’s an oversimplification to say any one thing is why we’re losing. Luka crying to refs and playing poor defense is surmountable if other things go differently. I hope he stops the incessant complaining forever. It throws him off his game and hurts the team’s morale. All in all he deserves a very small slice of blame when you look at the totality of our failure.

  12. Nuevo_Pantalones

    We all love Luka but he really needs to step up *mentally*.

  13. bjorntiala

    This guy said “Luka is just like Messi, because they both played for Real Madrid”. Saying something like that as sport journalist should get you fired. And the other idiots on the show were like “wow such a great argument. Those people are just clowns playing their role.

  14. r3ddawn74

    Everything he said was on point and a true Mavs fan would know that his shit on crying over every thing he thinks is a foul is getting old and his constant bad defense and conditioning cost the finals. We all love Luka but have to be honest about his constant whining and how that effects his game and the team….

  15. Itā€™s very weird. I agree with some parts but being at the game tonight, Luka takes so much physical contact and then others get touch fouls called for them. Itā€™s wild.

  16. HispanicAtTehDisco

    some of you guys are really weird about luka criticisms like yeah heā€™s our boy but sometimes you gots to call it when you see it.

  17. Wise_Ad8520

    You guys are really babying Luka by failing to hold him accountable, I couldn’t care less about the messenger the message is still true and he needs to hear this.

  18. Luka after the game was blaming the refs. Guy still has a lot of maturing to do unfortunately. Hopefully he gets there because he has the skill and talent to own this league

  19. whitefang0824

    We’ve been hoping for the same shit for years now lol. Before, the excuse is he’s still too young which is fine on his first few years but now that he is already on his 6th yr it is already hard to defend him.

    Until when are we going to justify his on court attitude problem?

  20. kingtyrionthe3rd

    Unfortunately this kind of criticism is for his best. Besides the complaining, he needs to take his diet and fitness seriously, quit the beersā€¦ bro looks bloated out there. Heā€™s clearly too heavy for his own good.

  21. dchow1989

    I think itā€™s a case of transference, like yes Luka is mad that the refs arenā€™t calling shit. But I imagine heā€™s also pretty mad that his team (aside from
    Kyrie this one game), is literally not stepping up. He had I think 1 assist game 1, not due to the fact that he wasnā€™t getting people involved. Every offensive possession is like a prayer this series.(again aside from kyrie tonight). He canā€™t readily blow up on his team, despite frustration and fatigue and pain. So maybe this is his outlet. If you think about it, heā€™s not chewing the refs ear off despite non calls, when we were up in the first quarter, because our offense looked competent.

    To be clear, not saying this excuses the poor defense. But I mean heā€™s a 25 year old, carrying literal professional basketball players in the greatest stage of basketball. And they canā€™t hit an open shot , or catch a pass, or finish at the rim, etc

  22. This is brutal and not completely fair.

    Yes, Luka needs to rein in the complaining more. But to be honest, he’s got better this season compared to last season and just needs to continue to grow on that trajectory.

    But generally, the yapping at officials is a symptom of underlying issues. Luka is frustrated. You could tell tonight he was hobbled and getting nothing from his legs. He wasn’t getting off the ground, lots of shots going short, couldn’t move laterally or change direction and he’s getting hunted. He’s probably struggling to get up and down the court at full speed, refs or not.

    A part of this is just lashing out because he can’t get down the court anyway. I’d argue that if Luka was healthier, even in the same situation with score and so on, he’d complain less.

    It’s still not where he needs to be and I hope he continues to mature but I’ve seen him fight through hard enough this entire miracle Cinderella playoff run and suffer through his injuries enough that I’m willing to cut him some slack.

  23. shudawg22

    Luka needs this to finish his character arc. Dude has made it to getting swept in the NBA finals on pure talent alone.

    Organization needs to make a super cut of every tough ridiculous shot he makes this series, followed by him ball watching as Haueser drills a three. ā€œLuka your brilliance on offense was a net negative one point for the team. Next Slideā€

    It is amazing that we have the best player on the planet AND he has so much room to grow.

  24. daydr3am93

    Any mavs fan who blames Luka for this series should go be a fan of another team. Dude is like 50% healthy, and he had an epic playoff run. Itā€™s like yā€™all forgot all the great moments in the last 3 series. Boston is just better man, they are absolutely stacked like 8 deep. We canā€™t match their lineup. Idk why the legacy mavs like Maxi THJ got so much run tonight, Hardy and Green were non-factors on offense too, and when guys like that are on the floor for real minutes in the NBA finals, youā€™re probably in trouble. Love those guys but they canā€™t matchup with the guys Boston has.

  25. Klutzy-Win122

    The only positive I take from this is that this could finally be the bulletin board material on Luka. Every superstar has one and this one will be for Luka. I truly hope this offseason the kid takes his conditioning both mind and body seriously.

    One can tolerate his crying to the refs, one could also tolerate poor defence and one may also tolerate his poor play but when those things happen in the same game for a good stretch, it just feels like a gut punch and the team checks out with him, which is objectively sad.

    This team has overachieved by a significant margin and largely due to him playing out of mind throughout the season. We can just hope that he realises that he’s at crossroads, some solid mentoring and conditioning will help him see the potential.

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