The highest blow-by percentage allowed on drives in a series in the last 10 years (minimum 10 drives defended per game):
1) '24 Luka Doncic vs Celtics
2) '24 Luka Doncic vs Clippers
3) '24 Luka Doncic vs Thunder
Talk about being a traffic cone. And Mavericks fans really convinced the wider NBA fanbase that Luka is not a terrible defender lol, this is historically bad defense played this postseason
by SultanRaikage
29 Comments
Useless dogshit on defense is understating just how bad Luka has been.
Man both the Celtics/Clippers percentages are absurd.
This definitely passes the eye test. Luka’s signature defensive move is throwing his hands up at someone (refs, teammates, the bench/coaches) after letting an opponent blow past him while he stands and watches.
It’s the same story with guys like Luka and other bad defensive stars…
Their fans start spewing how they’re actually good defenders in matchups where they can hide on defense and do fuck all except deflect some passes and get a stop once in a blue moon.
The second you get a series where you can’t hide them it’s beyond atrocious. Might as well put a fork in the series.
Damn. You can also tell he gets worn down as the game goes late into the 3rd/4th quarter.
I thought the “out of shape” comments were being exaggerated, but now I’m thinking there’s some truth in them. Luka gotta go out there and do some defensive foot shuffle drills.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – it’s okay to get blown by. But if you’re not gonna rotate you’re just creating mismatches left and right.
Really makes you wonder how the Wolves (and Ant) couldn’t exploit that matchup more…
So basically from a defensive standpoint Luka has been having a train ran on him all playoffs…lol!
Jokes aside it has been known all of Luka’s career that he sucks on defense. I said this when he was drafted that yes he could score in the NBA, but the question will be can he play defense.
And so just like Dirk the Mavs will need to make sure they have elite defenders all over the court to cover for Luka defensively.
Da fuck were the Wolves doing.
Luka’s defense was much better in the RS and the Thunder & Clippers series, though. He’s *always* going to be getting blown by a lot, it’s the effort afterwards which is what has made all the difference. For whatever reason, injuries or some kind of petulance, he’s not making that effort now, and that’s why it looks so bad.
Early in the playoff’s he said due to his knee, if it was the regular season, he wouldn’t even be playing and i don’t believe its a coincidence he’s been getting blown by in these playoffs
We all know he can’t defend. Ths stupid thing is that teams don’t attack him that often.
It’s like there’s a code or unwritten rule to not attack the golden boy on defense.
The fact that the top 3 is Luka from this postseason could be evidence that he is limited by injuries/conditioning.
It’s pretty clear that Luka is laboring as well as heavier than he’s ever been. It would be helpful if it included his previous playoff years.
Of course it’s also possible that Luka just got worst on defense too.
Unpopular opinion as bad as those numbers are Luka defense isn’t the reason Dallas is losing this series. There are at least five different reasons why they are losing and it doesn’t involve luka defense. Dallas was a plus 9 when Luka was on the court in this game. For all the talk about “targeting” Dallas still played better and won the minutes that Luka was on the court. And throughout this series Dallas has played better despite the quote on quote “targeting” when Luka is on the court. Is he being targeted “yes” but is that the reason why they are losing no!
Iunno why this is blowing up now, but this has always been an issue with him
He’s been in the league 6 years and you all are just noticing or what?
LMAO everyone get in here!
*Happy Gilmore voice*
Is that good?
All I’m seeing is that luka is a timberwolve stopper
But everyone can’t fuckin help but talk shit about Trae’s defense and never bring up the same for Luka. At least Trae is trying.
The amount of downvotes I have got for saying luka’s offensive ability barely balances the defensive liability. And here it is in numbers that you can’t argue
How the hell do they track this
I’ve said for years I hate all offense no defense players and this is exactly why
Ten drives a game defended is kind of a lot – would love to see how he stacks up against a relaxed filter or how many player series even qualify for this stat.
That said he’s been so bad on d in the finals, feels like Dallas is playing 4v5 on defense half the time
Interesting to me however how the Celtics went on giant runs every time Luka left the court. So the biggest blow by traffic cone must have a few similar compadres on that team playing when he’s out.
Some added context: in the Clippers and Thunder series, it was Kidd’s game plan for Luka to funnel players into either Gafford/Lively at the rim. These would show up as ‘blow by’ possessions even though they aren’t.
He’s been pure ass defensively in the Finals though.
It’s the lack of rotations. He gets blown by and then just stays there in the middle of the court guarding no body.
I’m glad Luka is finally being exposed. Can’t be the greatest player in the league when you are this much of a negative on defense. I don’t know how you can build a winning team around someone like Luka.
celtics found a gold mine yesterday….just let luka do all the work and he’s basically a liability defense wise in the second half