SkyBrickey
Member
Yeah, I think Luka and Tatum's best years are still ahead of them. Two exceptional players.
NBA 2023-2024 General Discussion Thread
- Thread starter SouthernDukie
- Start date
FosterCoachK82
Member
You are way way way way off.
Luka needs to work on his defense but he is still quite young. And he did up his defense this year. In the playoffs against Boston I think he was deliberately not playing strong defense because he was not physically capable of playing both ends.
Offensively he is one of, or maybe the best player in the world. He’s a smaller Jokic. Comparing him to Westbrook and Harden is absurd.
Whining is what NBA stars do. I find it comical when people complain about Luka because he whines.
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I complain about soccer players whining (and playing up fouls, and faking injuries), which is even more futile.
The difference is that NBA basketball requires all five players behind the ball on defense on every possession. He can whine all he wants during a dead balls, but he needs to get back on defense. Also, there were games where Luka’s whining took his head out of the game for multiple possessions at a time.
You are correct that lots of NBA players whine, but Luka needs to manage his mental game better. He is young and he will learn, I suspect, in much the same way that Jokic finally realized that he needed to get into better physical shape to reach his potential.
FosterCoachK82
Member
This is a nice analysis of NBA whining.
I agree with you. They all whine but he does need to better manage his whining.
DBKilby
Member
This is true but Luka is on a different level. He had security remove a fan because he said he needed to hit the treadmill. That is really mentally weak and shows how far away he is to me. The west is pretty loaded and has had 5 different representatives the last 5 years. It is only going to get harder for him. He is closer to the Harden/Westbrook tier than he is to Jokic/Giannis or peak Steph/Lebron tier. Until he values both ends and his attitude, I just can't view as that level guy.
Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15
Member
Anyone know then the Finals are due to start? I think it could be a pretty good matchup.
Matches
Member
I got Mavericks in 9.
kshepinthehouse
Member
I’ve seen every game of the NBA finals for probably the last 20 years. This year I just couldn’t get into it. Wondering how others felt.
I wallowed in enjoyment. that's what I do.
Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15
Member
I found the game times to be aggressively inconvenient throughout the playoffs. The games I was most interested in were rarely if ever on weekends, and never had a start time that allowed for me to watch very much.
I really thought the Nuggets had a good shot at repeating. But at least they lost to the team that lost to the team that lost to the champions. Not sure you get a banner for that.
Much respect to the Celtics. There was a lot of noise around them all season and into the playoffs. I still don't quite understand how they managed to be so dominant overall while laying just a few massive eggs in some games. Maybe the team was practicing "load management" as a squad.
Boston isn't going anywhere right away. I don't immediately see who in the East will challenge them.
The West is going to be more more engaging for me as far as I can tell. The Wolves are young and hungry. OKC has some real talent. Denver will always be dangerous with Jokic and that core of folks. I'm curious to see how Dallas gears around Luka and Kyrie. It felt like last year they underperformed and this year they were a little ahead of schedule.
And maybe the savant JJ can pull the Lakers into contention with the Bronny as the new centerpiece. Sure.
Basketball season is over, congrats to Boston and their fervent fans on this board.
nocilla
Member
I watched more of the Finals this year than ever before. It’s like the Caitlin Clark effect only this was the Duke effect.
That being said, I didn’t watch the 4th quarter of any game because they all start too late.
SouthernDukie
Member
With more Dukies in key roles than ever? Despite the lopsided scores of many games, this was easily the most enjoyable NBA playoffs I've witnessed in a long, long time. And the Finals were the most stress free I've ever watched. When former Blue Devils are playing key roles on both the Eastern and Western Conference Championship teams, I'm not sure how I couldn't have enjoyed it immensely.
Ready now to watch Boston put some distance between themselves and the dreaded Lakers in terms of banners through the remainder of the 2020s. Yay!!!
Right there with you. There was just something un-interesting about this match up. Actually surprised me because there was a large Duke effect and Luka is must watch basketball. Didn't help that the individual games were just not very good. I really think that the NBA (and NCAA) needs to address the officiating of the playoffs to have more consistency and to clean up the games. Erodes my interest when teams win a series because they are allowed to rugby-up an game or because one team/player is getting calls not given to the other team.
Congrats to the Boston fans, they deserved to win this year. TBH, I wasn't sure as they kept playing series against teams missing their best guys but the decisiveness in which they won the Finals put that noise to rest for me.
When I take my dog for a walk at night, I am typically away from screens from 7:30-9, give or take. That means I miss the first half of most finals games, which isn't a big deal if they are competitive. With few exceptions, there was not much to watch in these Finals games. I think the X factor was Kyrie. Had he been his electric self, the series would have had a lot more juice. The Celtics defense had something to do with that, but interesting that Kyrie has never won in Boston Garden since stomping on Lucky the Leprechaun.
I understand that I am often given to hyperbole, but that, sir, was what Trump would call a “perfect” post.
Actually, Trump would only say that about something HE posted, so scratch that. But you get my point.
BTW, I’m proudly wearing my Boston Celtics hat and shirt all day today, including at my office. Casual Friday came early!
I like watching the two best teams play at any level, because it really shows each team's, and player's, strengths and weaknesses.
Doncic, Kyrie and Tatum all struggled when faced with great defenders and good help defense behind the defender.
I am not a Celtics fan by any means (or for that matter, any team from Boston), but I really wanted Tatum (and Amile!) to get rings. Now there are lots of other Duke guys who I hope can get rings, including Zion, Lively and Grayson.
Doncic, Kyrie and Tatum all struggled when faced with great defenders and good help defense behind the defender.
I am not a Celtics fan by any means (or for that matter, any team from Boston), but I really wanted Tatum (and Amile!) to get rings. Now there are lots of other Duke guys who I hope can get rings, including Zion, Lively and Grayson.
Luka is a stud — easily one of the five best basketball players on the planet. And he played injured and in pain throughout the playoffs.
I would dearly love to have him as a member of the Celtics. He carried his team on his back to the cusp of a championship. He’ll be back and better than ever next season. Mark my words.
This was the matchup I was hoping for in 2022, but we got the re-tread Warriors instead. So I was happy.
A more competitive series would have been fun. I expected more from Dallas, but frankly Boston has too much guard depth and wing depth on the defensive end for Luka and Kyrie. If Lively were a 3rd year player, perhaps it balances things out more. But Boston largely dominated and only got a couple of good quarters from Porzingis.
At the end of the day, I really wanted to see Tatum get a ring. So I'm good. On to the draft.....and free agency and trade season.
nmduke2001
Member
Jokic, Olajuwon, Duncan, L. James (x3), Bird (x2) and Tatum. That's the list. All won the MVP except for Tatum. He also was the first person since Jerry West to put up 30,8 and 11 in a closeout game.
Does anyone have access to the advanced stats for the finals? I'd like to see how Tatum compared to Brown. Basketball reference has some of the advanced stats up already. Tatum GmSc was 16.4 vs 14.9 for Brown. GmSc - Game Score; the formula is PTS + 0.4 * FG - 0.7 * FGA - 0.4*(FTA - FT) + 0.7 * ORB + 0.3 * DRB + STL + 0.7 * AST + 0.7 * BLK - 0.4 * PF - TOV. Game Score was created by John Hollinger to give a rough measure of a player's productivity for a single game.
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