ESPN recently posted this clip of former WNBA player Chiney Ogwumike criticizing Luka's defense on 3 plays.
https://x.com/espnnba/status/1800679999835353288?s=46
One might think these former basketball players would be better analysts than a SAS type but this goes to show there is no substitute for watching the team you're talking about and understanding what they're actually trying to do, instead of what you think they should do based on what you're most familiar with.
First Play
What Chiney thinks happened: Luka gets beat by Tatum on the perimeter because he reached which causes DJJ to get beat by Holiday, multiple blow bys caused Jrue to score. Point of failure: Luka gets blown by and causes DJJ to get blown by.
What actually happened: Tatum gets by Luka on the perimeter but gets met by Gafford at the rim, kicking out to Jrue in the corner. DJJ recovers and forces Jrue off the line where he runs back into Gafford but beats him off the dribble for a decent layup. Point of failure: Gafford steps out too far and too late and gets beat to the rim. It's better to live with the pull up mid range in that situation.
Second Play
What Chiney thinks happened: Luka reached and gets blown by by Tatum, which "forces a collapse" where Tatum gets an and 1 on DJJ. Point of failure: Luka gets blown by putting his teammates in an impossible situation.
What actually happened: Luka and DJJ get put in a PnR, Luka jumps out on Tatum while DJJ holds the roller to delay him. Kyrie gets in front of the roll and DJJ switches back on to a driving Tatum in time to contest but doesn't anticipate the shot. PJ is in the right spot to close out to either shooter on his side, Luka should have moved over to help that side after Tatum got in the lane but it ended up not mattering. Point of failure: DJJ reaches across Tatum for a steal instead of contesting the shot, gets a foul and 1.
Third Play
What Chiney thinks happened: Luka gets blown by twice leading to an open 3. Point of failure: Luka getting blown by.
What actually happened: Luka funnels Brown into Gafford, Brown kicks out to White, Green closes out but PJ overhelps on White so White moves it to an open Tatum, Luka recovers and runs Tatum off the line, Gafford steps up to defend the drive but neither PJ or Green help down to Horford, it doesn't matter because Kyrie overhelps on the Tatum drive and leaves Jrue with a wide open 3. Point of failure: PJ and Green closing out on the same guy and not cutting off the backdoor to Horford, then Kyrie overhelping.
Bonus
Chiney then goes onto the applaud how the Celtics have defended Kyrie, brushing off the fact that he blows by Jrue because Jrue "stayed on balance" afterwards even though Brown was the one who contested the shot and Jrue didn't do much on the play. Then she applauds the Celtics help defense showing Horford leaving PJ completely open from 3 to contest a Kyrie shot, but Kyrie did not have the vision to make the pass.
TLDR: Chiney Ogwumike and the NBA community more broadly doesn't have the time or the desire to understand what they see during our games and will promote dumb narratives as long as they are inflammatory. There are real criticisms of Luka's defense but we will not hear them, it will only be "hurr durr blow bys" and things of that nature.
by amazin_raisin99
