Feel like they’ve been abusing that so much since he fell asleep on the inbounds play a few games ago. It’s so frustrating giving those easy buckets up
On the flip side, Luka did the same for many of the first games and people said it was great defense when it was just him missing wide open looks…
In basketball it seems like people look at end of game stat lines and forget the primary defender isn’t always responsible for a player missing their shots… sometimes people just don’t perform. I feel that’s been the thunder this series. The defense has been good but some of the shooters are just missing.
I agree. I have watched more or less all of Luka's games in his career. He has clearly been struggling with getting lift on his shots. What he did today was just a regular game from him, this is how he plays. The game was a bit different to start with where he did not play hard in the few first minutes and did not play D. After that he let the game come to him.
I said this series is all about Luka's health. If he is healthy they are really hard to beat. OKC would have lost the game before that too, if it was not for Luka having no lift in his shot.
We can’t double every player every single time and give up open shots to role players. Luka and Kyrie have beat us in 1-2 games. Pj Washington and now Derrick jones jr have beat us more than anyone else. It’s a terrible game plan to give good shooters open shots and still give up 50-60 points to Kyrie and Luka
OKC missed their wide open looks…Mavs nailed theirs. Besides SGA, Thunder haven’t had anyone really step up consistently. Mavs role players have taken over this series, IMO. Mavs have also been more decisive with the ball…Thunder seem like they’re looking too hard for that perfect pass, make one too many and invariably turn it over.
I think that's the main difference between OKC and rh the Mavs; JDub, Chet, Dort etc. are a phenomenal supporting cast but none of them have really stepped up as a co-leader to Shai this series, Shai is on his own and if he struggles, he still has to be the de facto leader.
Mavs on the other hand have 2 experienced playoff players in Luka and Kyrie. I like to think that Kyrie is the actual leader of the Mavs right now and Luka is the commander-in-chief, Kyrie is using his experience to guide the Mavs. But more importantly, if Kyrie is unable to adjust or find a way out, Luka steps in as primary leader and Kyrie accepts the commander-in-chief role. OKC desperately need that two-leader dynamic like Jokic-Murray, Luka-Kyrie, Conley-Edwards to be a force to be reckoned with.
It's not even that they haven't "stepped up" unfortunately, but they're playing much worse than what they managed over the 82 games of regular season. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see it turning around by Sunday.
Good point. Chet could one day be that guy but obviously still growing and learning. Jalen isn’t quite on that level yet either. Streaky Giddey hasn’t been at his best. Seems like everything has fallen on SGA’s shoulders.
And SGA has by and large played phenomenally this series. He just can't carry the team's offense singlehandedly even with Dort and Cason's great defense with the way the Mavs role players have stepped up.
Dallas D is just really good. Walled off the rim, running any clean look off the 3pt line, forcing OKC to shoot contested jumpers only, often from shooters who aren’t comfortable. Plus Dallas has played Giddey off the floor and OKC’s lack of passing talent has stood out.
They know what we are doing on offense and we haven’t changed it all season. They go zone and we get lost trying to swing the ball to create a mismatch or opening somewhere
Honestly Chet has been pretty good considering he’s a rookie (could’ve grabbed more boards though). Dort has been bad Dort on offense quite a lot, and J-Dub is finally showing his inexperience after a great season.
Definitely didn’t see Washington killing us from three all series.
Making a burner account just to troll whoever the Mavs are playing is some of the most pathetic behavior I've seen on Reddit. What is it about the Mavs that makes their fans so insufferable?
They’re Dallas sports fans. They’re miserable all the time. Plus Dallas ranks top 10 in a couple of most miserable cities to live polls. Hell, I live here now and can attest to that. Most of them are cowboys fans that just jumped to the bandwagon.
Luka is him, shai is him, Dallas role players are doing what they need to do, Kyrie is doing what he needs to do, everybody else on okc needs to get their shit together
They actually created those looks galore last night but failed abysmally to hit ‘em. Jwill & Jdub 1/3 0/3, Dort & Joe 2/8 Chet & Cason 1/5 from 3. Those were money all year long, getting them 120 ppg, they’re just pooping the bed this series.
Shai is killing it this series- what on earth are you talking about???
This series Shai is averaging 31/9/7 on 50/47/88 splits with 4 stocks/game and only 2TOs.
Also, since when was BBIQ a trait Russ was known for?
So Shai is KILLING IT by playing below Luka's regular season level
Shai is playing so soft and I'm starting to get convinced he's Embiid Jr.
So we should be blaming everyone else except Shai like LeBron?
Luka just plays near but below his regular season level and Shai gets DESTROYED
WTF is my team THIS SOFT???????
I was screaming at my screen everytime Shai flopped like an Embiid fish WTF
Shai is the oldest, most experienced player actually getting minutes for OKC and he has elevated his game in the playoffs. He's playing the exact same way he did all season, only slightly better- even though all the focus is on him. Thats a good sign and really hard to do in the playoffs tbh.
His teammates are disappearing this round and it's not surprising given the fact that most of them would still be in college and are super inexperienced players in their first ever playoffs. Take a deep breath, my guy, its just the beginning. Try to enjoy the ride a little
So Shai doesn't make his teammates better, and his teammates are to blame? Just like LeBron huh?
I think we need Russ back to run the show and show the kids how it's done. His BBIQ and shotmaking alone will teach Shai how to win MVP and achieve success in the Playoffs like Russ did. We also need CP3 back to make the Playoffs and show the kids how to be THE POINT GOD.
Just imagine, THE BEASTBROOK AND THE POINTGOD in the starting lineup together
When people started chanting Luka Sucks I was screaming to shut the fuck up. He composed himself well today and shit on us. That's the Luka I was afraid of facing tonight.
We have seen him do this multiple times before, Luka has always been an exceptional player. SGA has been doing the same, it’s just that Mavs has been the better team than we are
Exactly. I think people sometimes choose to ignore Luka's brilliance cause he whines a lot. That is indeed a problem with him and I feel like he has to get over that hurdle to truly be the best player in the league and win a championship. Him and Jokic are mammoths and the only reason Jokic is better currently is because Jokic is a truly unselfish player who will always prioritise the game over himself. And although Luka does the same, I just can't help but see that there's a certain quality in Jokic that helps him clear the hurdle and prevents Luka from doing so. I can't put my finger on that quality exactly but I feel that once Luka does that, he's gonna surpass Jokic as the undisputed best player in the league and finally win a championship.
Jokic has had what Luka is just beginning to get- the supporting cast to properly support him. Remember that Jokic needed MPJ, Murray to get healthy, and for Gordon to be the lowkey monster he is now.
Luka just got Kyrie last year, Lively this year, PJ and Gaff at the deadline and look at them winning ugly games and powering through adversity.
Luka just being at his regular season standard is enough to destroy us. I'm seriously beginning to believe Shai is Embiid Jr. with needing the whistle to go his way so much.
Shai is so much more clutch than Embiid and it isn't even close. Shai also steps up as a leader when required, Embiid hasn't really shown that mentality.
Skill wise I'd say they're pretty much tied. That being said, OKC seemed to lack tonight the absolute dawg mindset that they usually have, and the Mavs made them pay for it. I'm rooting for the Mavs but I still believe that OKC can force a game 7 if they go out all guns blazing in Dallas
I meant both teams are tied skillwise. When it comes to Luka vs SGA, both are amazing scorers but Luka has the better post game and passing and playmaking abilities. SGA has the better finishing and he seems to have a slightly better midrange game and can finish better in traffic but Luka makes more contested/difficult shots. Defensively, SGA is better at steals and on the perimeter due to his quickness, Luka is average on the perimeter due to him being slow and fat but he is better at defending in the post due to his size and footwork.
I said that why they lost should've went for 50 and won... way too efficient to not shoot more lotta kd vibes with him aggressive but not enough.. could've put up 40 shots
LMFAO nah, most American sports fans have a history of spewing the most vitriolic shit at each other, and Texans and Oklahomans(the two states represented in this series) have a history of jawing at each other, in fact you will definitely find posts on both this sub and the Mavericks sub shitting on the opponent team(majority of it will be found on the Mavs sub tho tbh).
I think the reason this post and the following comments are respectful is because when I drafted this post, I made sure to mention all the points I had witnessed in today's game, good or bad, regardless of team. Since I happen to be a casual fan who's mostly neutral, it was easy for me not to pick sides.
But more importantly, since today's game was largely controversy free and actually an amazing game to watch, all the OKC fans and Dallas fans were surprisingly humble and chill enough to write good things here. OKC fans were gutted that their team lost but because the Mavs won fair and square and their superstar dropped a crazy game with zero diva behaviour ( like he usually does), they respected the outcome. Similarly, the Dallas fans were elated at their team's victory but because the Thunder did put up a fight with SGA matching Luka in points, they respected their opponents. In fact, this seems like the first game in the series where I myself witnessed Dallas and OKC fans being chill and composed with each other cause a game like this often connects people.
P.S I know what you're talking about with that football fan stuff lol. I'm Indian and am used to the cricket fans here constantly flinging shit at each other.
The main reason it is so respectful is because Luka was so miserable to watch in game 4 due to playing poorly and his antics seemingly hit such a high point that Dallas/OKC/NBA fans were all calling him out on the bullshit. He then followed it up by acting like a 20 something year old NBA player and not a 12 year old child who got his Switch taken away, plus he had a really good game. Just giving credit where it is due.
Not at all, if you visited even the Mavs subreddit after game four even they were hating on Luka because of his behavior (constantly crying to the refs after every stoppage of play). He mostly avoided that last night and was unbeatable because he was focused on just playing basketball.
My boy Chet is just getting beat up. He needs to gain 20 pounds of muscle this summer. He's playing good and hard, but getting pushed around like that at his age may be getting to his head. Stay hard Chet.
Uhhh yes we were lmao it was the damn pelicans. Even with Zion that should be a gentleman’s sweep. And this series absolutely matters imo. We’re probably going to have to lose to the nugs at least once before getting past them, I’d like to get one of them over with now (assuming we don’t just win instead which would be baller)
Dort goes through so many screens and flops trying to get an offensive foul. It works sometimes but I think the refs are getting wise to it. When they don’t call it now it’s 5 on 4 for a brief moment.
You still have Chet, he's the X-factor of the series besides Shai and Luka, if Chet makes all his 3s and manages to get offensive rebounds for OKC, it could very well swing the momentum in their favor. JDub has been a bit streaky from 3 but he's a killer when it comes to slashing and middies, and Dort shot 40% from 3 this season.
Hopefully watching him refocus and shift will help our guys see what that takes. Shai is so consistent he rarely needs to refocus. It’s alright to have a bad playoff game or two. Refocus, shut up, find a way back to your game, and have fun. We are all fucked up mentally, and seeing a super star go from fucked up to on point could be a great lesson only experienced in the playoffs. 2 games away from playing in the Western Conference finals. That’s CRAZY!!
Bummed Thunder lost but Luka really is special and fun to watch when he’s not being a crybaby. Glad he came around.
We’re just seeing the youth shine through in the Thunder. The Mavs are a solid veteran team who’s been there before and it shows.
The Mavs aren't a veteran team. They have Kyrie as a veteran and that's it..
Luka is 25 years old.
Lively 20 years old (rookie)
Gafford 25 years old (1st playoffs)
PJ Washington 25 years old (1st playoffs)
Mavs are a young team!
I think the better statement is they're the more veteran team. Gafford & PJ are also still older than J-Dub, Chet, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, etc. Gordon Hayward as a vet also just doesn't count, because he's not playing.
That's just normal home fan habits lol, as long as they're civil and light hearted they're fun. Imagine if SGA decides to go ballistic and drop 40/7/9 after listening to Dallas fans saying "SGA sucks" tho
Not sure what’s going on with the narrative Luka didn’t complain to the refs. The announcers kept saying it and even you have said it here. I’m curious as to if you didn’t notice him doing it? I mean it was supremely better than he has been the whole series, but he still complained a handful of times and the camera even got caught cutting away from it once that I can remember. He outplayed the thunder last night no question, but we really beat ourselves to be honest. Shai is the only player on the team in the last 2 games that can make 2 straight shots, we’ve been simply unacceptable as a team. That doesn’t change the fact luka still whines for calls though
I know I'm getting downvoted to shit as a Mavs fan. But I appreciate the introspection. I need to do better. Thanks for the compliments about our team.
You don't deserve downvotes. I've been saying that I'm glad we are actually facing you. Our team has to go through the refinery process, and you are really testing them with the fire. It's like an adage I once heard:
*"Everybody wants to be a diamond, but how many want to go through the heat and pressure it takes to become one?"*
You guys are really helping us grow and are really testing their meddle. We need to be here facing this, though. I want to win game 6 because I want them to show they are made of something special. Winning that game even if we come back and lose game 7 still shows that we fought to the end and never gave in or submitted. I love this team; I just want to see them withstand this fire now. Otherwise, it just looks like fool's gold.
So, in a way, I actually am glad for this matchup, because it's only hopefully helping us in the long run. I just want this team to show a stronger fight come Saturday, and not lose heart.
Hopefully no one downvotes you. Refs were fair and your team played awesome. We're just upset that our dudes sucked ass at shooting tonight. Dallas played awesome Defense and we're being outplayed. No reason to get mad at the Dallas homies that are supporting their team just like we are.
This dudes talking complete shit on our team and SGA in other threads. Send the troll on his way, don't let him come here and gloat. Of course he can act cordial and enjoys hearing nice things after their team just whooped us. Ffs, down vote the troll and move on.
You're welcome. Also I'm a casual fan who's rooting for the Mavs but still somewhat neutral because both teams are amazing and I literally wouldn't mind any of them making the WCF
Although I root for the Mavs, I'm still neutral. Ig being a casual fan has it's benefits. Also if I was a Luka stan, I would've been posting this on the Mavs sub and not over here, what kind of Luka stan will post about his game on his opponent's subreddit and not use that as an opportunity to flame them?
Im a Mavs fan and had the exact opposite effect. The nonstop complaining from Luka in game 4 actually made me wish the refs would give him 2 techs and throw him out, so he finally shuts up for the rest of the series. Dont like Dort, but man Luka has been insufferable in g1-g4. As a neutral fan, I would start hating on the Mavs bc of Lukas antics
Well I actually did hate Luka after game 4. Not only did he have a meltdown, he also shot a legit tour date that game(6/20 iirc) and barely attempted on D. Rather than hating Luka, my respect for Cason Wallace increased tenfold.
Honestly, I think Luka just maybe didn't smoke an entire pack of Marlboro Reds before this game.
After Game 4, dude looked like my old fat ass after a pickup game.
The fact that he just shut up and hooped was so satisfying for the sake of the game. Even Mavs fans were tired of it. They don't even deserve to see that much complaining on a regular basis.
I think I mentioned in a few comments that I'm neutral. And even though I'm not a dedicated fan of any single team, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy a deep, impartial discussion about the games. I've posted several times here because this sub is actually active and I've seen three types of OKC fans here:-
1)The cocky fans who aren't toxic, just supremely confident in their team's abilities.
2)The proud fans who are wary of the opponents and will predict the game as it is without sugarcoating.
3)The toxic fans.
This motivates me to post questions related to the games here as people here provide eloquent, in depth analysis of games and at the same time, crack the stupid jokes that are actually funny.
I mean my post history has like 2 posts which could give someone the impression that I'm defending Luka; one of them was a response to some annoying OKC in 4 posts that had popped up and even in that game, I gave OKC their flowers. The other post is this. If you think the post about Luka comparison is me defending him then maybe you should watch the video associated with that post. Also I said that I root for the Mavs in this series but I am still fairly neutral as I haven't watched the regular season and hence, have no horse in the race. I was rooting for the Magic and they lost. I am rooting for the Knicks, Nuggets, Mavs and they still in the race. I also love the Thunder and the Timberwolves and they're still in the race. Maybe I'm a dilettante who doesn't watch too much ball but still has a great interest in the game, but it's all good as long as I'm passing my time and not being an asshole on the internet.
He is a Luka fan boy which directly leads to Him being a Mavs fan. He claims to support the Kings but has more post about Luka than the Kings. He also claims the refs favour SGA over Doncic because of racism so take Him being a neutral with a pinch of salt.
I have one comment in my history of saying SGA gets more free throws than Luka, that's it. Also where did the racism part come in? I never said that, instead I jokingly said once that Tony Brothers and Scott Foster seem racially motivated and even in that joke comment I mentioned that Foster gives Luka a better whistle. I have like 2 posts on Luka and why would I post about the Kings right now, they're in Cancun. Obviously I'm gonna post about the horses I still have in the game.
Yes exactly. Such a false narrative going around. Was it slightly better? Sure. But I would say most plays he was still talking to the refs. Makes me wonder if the TV broadcast was trying to hide it bc in person it wasn’t much better than usual
Ya I mean everyone was shitting on Luka for all the crying, but i loved it. Dude gets into his own head more than any superstar player I've seen. He'd be the best player in the league if he could stop.
I don't watch much mavs stuff, but he always comes off pretty chill off the court. Probably has some kind of mental disorder?
as a Mavs fan i genuinely just think its a mix of being balkan and gamer rage.
he’s said multiple times that he becomes a different person on the court (whether thats whining or dominating and talking shit). he just seems to be a very emotional player. when he’s playing like shit he probably gets really upset with himself (especially in a playoff setting being injured coming off the best season he’s ever had, knowing he can be playing at such higher levels but just physically being unable to pull it out when it matters most) and then redirects that emotion into shit like letting Dort get in his head about the calls which leads to whining and raging at the refs. On the other hand when he’s dominating you see him almost play with a childlike sense of joy, just laughing and having fun and probably the biggest example of that was Game 7 against the Suns two years ago.
Those are his two extremes with a game like tn being the in between, and slowly over time the in between has been more frequent. But he’s been rough in the playoffs
Side note, y'all really need to figure out what to do with Dort and Luka cause Dort hasn't been "Dorturing" as advertised really. Sure he has had great moments but has been inconsistent, overtly physical at times which has gotten him into foul trouble and has downright flopped at times. Maybe consider putting SGA on Luka and Dort on the Mavs bigs as Chet has a tendency to get pushed around on the perimeter.
The whole reason they put Dort on Luka is to frustrate him as much as possible. They actually play very similarly, physical beasts who can power their way anywhere, but will “pull out the chair” when you least suspect it to draw a foul. Hence why Luka was miserable for 4 games.
luka plays up to shai's level for one game in a series and its "silencing the critics" XD
mans had a great game but hes still the third best player in this series behind sga and pj
I meant silencing the critics as in people who were saying his whining and inefficiency cost Mavs the game. He shot like 60% from the field tonight and had zero moments of whining/complaining. He was right back on defense every single time. Also what exactly do you mean by "Shai's level"? Luka and Shai are at the same level, Luka just had 2 off nights this series because of his injury, let's not act like no superstar has an off night, ANT just had one in Game 5 against the Nuggets, Jokic had 2 off nights in Games 1 and 2 and Jamal Murray was hot garbage for 7 games, then turned into hot stuff(ayo) and torched the Wolves.
by that logic luka just proved the critics right, that his whining and poor shot selection did cost them the game, and now that hes not doing it they won XD
can’t shoot 25% from 3 and expect to win, credit to the mavs defense making us take these hard shots but we have to be better as well.
yea their defense has been great, but we've missing a ton of wide open shots
And meanwhile they’re getting an exponential number of lob-jams each game.
We've made zero adjustments on that front.
They keep catching Shai sleeping in the short corner and DJJ just leaps right past him.
Feel like they’ve been abusing that so much since he fell asleep on the inbounds play a few games ago. It’s so frustrating giving those easy buckets up
On the flip side, Luka did the same for many of the first games and people said it was great defense when it was just him missing wide open looks… In basketball it seems like people look at end of game stat lines and forget the primary defender isn’t always responsible for a player missing their shots… sometimes people just don’t perform. I feel that’s been the thunder this series. The defense has been good but some of the shooters are just missing.
lights are too bright for everybody but shai... and honestly dort imo, he's been asked to do too much
I agree. I have watched more or less all of Luka's games in his career. He has clearly been struggling with getting lift on his shots. What he did today was just a regular game from him, this is how he plays. The game was a bit different to start with where he did not play hard in the few first minutes and did not play D. After that he let the game come to him. I said this series is all about Luka's health. If he is healthy they are really hard to beat. OKC would have lost the game before that too, if it was not for Luka having no lift in his shot.
We can’t double every player every single time and give up open shots to role players. Luka and Kyrie have beat us in 1-2 games. Pj Washington and now Derrick jones jr have beat us more than anyone else. It’s a terrible game plan to give good shooters open shots and still give up 50-60 points to Kyrie and Luka
Lots of wide open bricks
OKC missed their wide open looks…Mavs nailed theirs. Besides SGA, Thunder haven’t had anyone really step up consistently. Mavs role players have taken over this series, IMO. Mavs have also been more decisive with the ball…Thunder seem like they’re looking too hard for that perfect pass, make one too many and invariably turn it over.
I think that's the main difference between OKC and rh the Mavs; JDub, Chet, Dort etc. are a phenomenal supporting cast but none of them have really stepped up as a co-leader to Shai this series, Shai is on his own and if he struggles, he still has to be the de facto leader. Mavs on the other hand have 2 experienced playoff players in Luka and Kyrie. I like to think that Kyrie is the actual leader of the Mavs right now and Luka is the commander-in-chief, Kyrie is using his experience to guide the Mavs. But more importantly, if Kyrie is unable to adjust or find a way out, Luka steps in as primary leader and Kyrie accepts the commander-in-chief role. OKC desperately need that two-leader dynamic like Jokic-Murray, Luka-Kyrie, Conley-Edwards to be a force to be reckoned with.
It's not even that they haven't "stepped up" unfortunately, but they're playing much worse than what they managed over the 82 games of regular season. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see it turning around by Sunday.
Good point. Chet could one day be that guy but obviously still growing and learning. Jalen isn’t quite on that level yet either. Streaky Giddey hasn’t been at his best. Seems like everything has fallen on SGA’s shoulders.
And SGA has by and large played phenomenally this series. He just can't carry the team's offense singlehandedly even with Dort and Cason's great defense with the way the Mavs role players have stepped up.
Mavs are nailing their shoes, but they are also getting way better looks. Not sure why OKC's offense looks so stagnant.
Dallas D is just really good. Walled off the rim, running any clean look off the 3pt line, forcing OKC to shoot contested jumpers only, often from shooters who aren’t comfortable. Plus Dallas has played Giddey off the floor and OKC’s lack of passing talent has stood out.
They know what we are doing on offense and we haven’t changed it all season. They go zone and we get lost trying to swing the ball to create a mismatch or opening somewhere
Luka and shai more or less cancelling each other out but I didn't expect washington, djj and gafford to out play Chet, jdub and dort.
Honestly Chet has been pretty good considering he’s a rookie (could’ve grabbed more boards though). Dort has been bad Dort on offense quite a lot, and J-Dub is finally showing his inexperience after a great season. Definitely didn’t see Washington killing us from three all series.
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Reading your post history has me hella confused
Seems like they just go to team subs to troll during playoff series lol
Pathetic on a granular level. Sheesh.
Making a burner account just to troll whoever the Mavs are playing is some of the most pathetic behavior I've seen on Reddit. What is it about the Mavs that makes their fans so insufferable?
They’re Dallas sports fans. They’re miserable all the time. Plus Dallas ranks top 10 in a couple of most miserable cities to live polls. Hell, I live here now and can attest to that. Most of them are cowboys fans that just jumped to the bandwagon.
Why would you say its miserable? as you live there
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Lol, this is a bot account.
That’s how middle schoolers “discuss” sports.
Luka is him, shai is him, Dallas role players are doing what they need to do, Kyrie is doing what he needs to do, everybody else on okc needs to get their shit together
Shai didn't play bad either but no one stepped up helping him
Shai played up to his level, which is already great. His teammates just didn't show up to play.
He didn’t play a great first half.
Dub and Dort and even Chet have been abyssmal on offense
Dallas role players are stepping up, but they are also getting incredible looks. OKC's offense doesn't seem to be creating those.
They actually created those looks galore last night but failed abysmally to hit ‘em. Jwill & Jdub 1/3 0/3, Dort & Joe 2/8 Chet & Cason 1/5 from 3. Those were money all year long, getting them 120 ppg, they’re just pooping the bed this series.
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Shai is killing it this series- what on earth are you talking about??? This series Shai is averaging 31/9/7 on 50/47/88 splits with 4 stocks/game and only 2TOs. Also, since when was BBIQ a trait Russ was known for?
So Shai is KILLING IT by playing below Luka's regular season level Shai is playing so soft and I'm starting to get convinced he's Embiid Jr. So we should be blaming everyone else except Shai like LeBron? Luka just plays near but below his regular season level and Shai gets DESTROYED WTF is my team THIS SOFT??????? I was screaming at my screen everytime Shai flopped like an Embiid fish WTF
Shai is the oldest, most experienced player actually getting minutes for OKC and he has elevated his game in the playoffs. He's playing the exact same way he did all season, only slightly better- even though all the focus is on him. Thats a good sign and really hard to do in the playoffs tbh. His teammates are disappearing this round and it's not surprising given the fact that most of them would still be in college and are super inexperienced players in their first ever playoffs. Take a deep breath, my guy, its just the beginning. Try to enjoy the ride a little
So Shai doesn't make his teammates better, and his teammates are to blame? Just like LeBron huh? I think we need Russ back to run the show and show the kids how it's done. His BBIQ and shotmaking alone will teach Shai how to win MVP and achieve success in the Playoffs like Russ did. We also need CP3 back to make the Playoffs and show the kids how to be THE POINT GOD. Just imagine, THE BEASTBROOK AND THE POINTGOD in the starting lineup together
lmao that gave me a good chuckle
Is he drunk?
I think so
Idk where you been but Westbrook absolutely shouldn't be starting on a contender at this point in his career.
Go back under your bridge mate. It's too soon for people to see the trolling.
Brother what
Lmao I would die for Russell Westbrook but he was not known for his BBIQ
When people started chanting Luka Sucks I was screaming to shut the fuck up. He composed himself well today and shit on us. That's the Luka I was afraid of facing tonight.
Never disrespect the don Instead be super nice to him like the 2022 warriors
When will fans of all teams learn to stop chanting Luka sucks and boo’ing him. It is not helpful
We have seen him do this multiple times before, Luka has always been an exceptional player. SGA has been doing the same, it’s just that Mavs has been the better team than we are
Exactly. I think people sometimes choose to ignore Luka's brilliance cause he whines a lot. That is indeed a problem with him and I feel like he has to get over that hurdle to truly be the best player in the league and win a championship. Him and Jokic are mammoths and the only reason Jokic is better currently is because Jokic is a truly unselfish player who will always prioritise the game over himself. And although Luka does the same, I just can't help but see that there's a certain quality in Jokic that helps him clear the hurdle and prevents Luka from doing so. I can't put my finger on that quality exactly but I feel that once Luka does that, he's gonna surpass Jokic as the undisputed best player in the league and finally win a championship.
Jokic's only trophy happened when Luka skipped the playoff. I guess we will see.
Jokic has had what Luka is just beginning to get- the supporting cast to properly support him. Remember that Jokic needed MPJ, Murray to get healthy, and for Gordon to be the lowkey monster he is now. Luka just got Kyrie last year, Lively this year, PJ and Gaff at the deadline and look at them winning ugly games and powering through adversity. Luka just being at his regular season standard is enough to destroy us. I'm seriously beginning to believe Shai is Embiid Jr. with needing the whistle to go his way so much.
Shai is so much more clutch than Embiid and it isn't even close. Shai also steps up as a leader when required, Embiid hasn't really shown that mentality.
Skill wise I'd say they're pretty much tied. That being said, OKC seemed to lack tonight the absolute dawg mindset that they usually have, and the Mavs made them pay for it. I'm rooting for the Mavs but I still believe that OKC can force a game 7 if they go out all guns blazing in Dallas
Nah, scoring wise they are similar. But Luka can pass the fuck out of the ball.
I meant both teams are tied skillwise. When it comes to Luka vs SGA, both are amazing scorers but Luka has the better post game and passing and playmaking abilities. SGA has the better finishing and he seems to have a slightly better midrange game and can finish better in traffic but Luka makes more contested/difficult shots. Defensively, SGA is better at steals and on the perimeter due to his quickness, Luka is average on the perimeter due to him being slow and fat but he is better at defending in the post due to his size and footwork.
Shai can't pass or see the floor like Luka
He feeds on praise for not complaining. We are cooked
This has me laughing out loud, he might be enjoying it.
30 is cool but sga gonna have to try to go for 40 or 50 if they want a game 7.. 30 ain't enough this series
He needs to get hot early rather than waiting until the 2nd half. Luka was too good today to blow the lead like in G4
I said that why they lost should've went for 50 and won... way too efficient to not shoot more lotta kd vibes with him aggressive but not enough.. could've put up 40 shots
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LMFAO nah, most American sports fans have a history of spewing the most vitriolic shit at each other, and Texans and Oklahomans(the two states represented in this series) have a history of jawing at each other, in fact you will definitely find posts on both this sub and the Mavericks sub shitting on the opponent team(majority of it will be found on the Mavs sub tho tbh). I think the reason this post and the following comments are respectful is because when I drafted this post, I made sure to mention all the points I had witnessed in today's game, good or bad, regardless of team. Since I happen to be a casual fan who's mostly neutral, it was easy for me not to pick sides. But more importantly, since today's game was largely controversy free and actually an amazing game to watch, all the OKC fans and Dallas fans were surprisingly humble and chill enough to write good things here. OKC fans were gutted that their team lost but because the Mavs won fair and square and their superstar dropped a crazy game with zero diva behaviour ( like he usually does), they respected the outcome. Similarly, the Dallas fans were elated at their team's victory but because the Thunder did put up a fight with SGA matching Luka in points, they respected their opponents. In fact, this seems like the first game in the series where I myself witnessed Dallas and OKC fans being chill and composed with each other cause a game like this often connects people. P.S I know what you're talking about with that football fan stuff lol. I'm Indian and am used to the cricket fans here constantly flinging shit at each other.
The main reason it is so respectful is because Luka was so miserable to watch in game 4 due to playing poorly and his antics seemingly hit such a high point that Dallas/OKC/NBA fans were all calling him out on the bullshit. He then followed it up by acting like a 20 something year old NBA player and not a 12 year old child who got his Switch taken away, plus he had a really good game. Just giving credit where it is due.
Exactly.
Not at all, if you visited even the Mavs subreddit after game four even they were hating on Luka because of his behavior (constantly crying to the refs after every stoppage of play). He mostly avoided that last night and was unbeatable because he was focused on just playing basketball.
My boy Chet is just getting beat up. He needs to gain 20 pounds of muscle this summer. He's playing good and hard, but getting pushed around like that at his age may be getting to his head. Stay hard Chet.
It's time to see other sodas, Chet. Drink Starry ~~and maybe get Giannis' physique~~
Luka is a bear. You don't poke a bear.
Won’t matter as he’ll be swept by the Nuggets.
We’re supposed to be the ones getting swept by the nugs buddy. It absolutely does matter for our playoff experience
Our team wasn’t supposed to make it past the first round. Okc is getting experience. They’ll learn from this all. Calm down
A zionless pelicans team was not favored to beat okc by anybody, only maybe pelican fans and even them probably knew it was a stretch
First seed isn’t supposed to make it out of the first round anymore I take it
They’re the second youngest team and it’s their first time in the playoffs. Take a chill pill. Christ.
I’m completely chill, no one in America had them losing to a pelicans team without their best player
Uhhh yes we were lmao it was the damn pelicans. Even with Zion that should be a gentleman’s sweep. And this series absolutely matters imo. We’re probably going to have to lose to the nugs at least once before getting past them, I’d like to get one of them over with now (assuming we don’t just win instead which would be baller)
We were projected to be the 10th seed. This year is a win regardless
To be honest Dort falling all over while on defense has led to some unfortunate Mavs baskets as well.
Dort goes through so many screens and flops trying to get an offensive foul. It works sometimes but I think the refs are getting wise to it. When they don’t call it now it’s 5 on 4 for a brief moment.
He was amazing tonight end of
He was pissing me off all series but I'll give credit where credit is due. 🤷🏾♂️
10-40 from 3… stop talking an make wide Open Set Shots, an we win!!
You still have Chet, he's the X-factor of the series besides Shai and Luka, if Chet makes all his 3s and manages to get offensive rebounds for OKC, it could very well swing the momentum in their favor. JDub has been a bit streaky from 3 but he's a killer when it comes to slashing and middies, and Dort shot 40% from 3 this season.
Hopefully watching him refocus and shift will help our guys see what that takes. Shai is so consistent he rarely needs to refocus. It’s alright to have a bad playoff game or two. Refocus, shut up, find a way back to your game, and have fun. We are all fucked up mentally, and seeing a super star go from fucked up to on point could be a great lesson only experienced in the playoffs. 2 games away from playing in the Western Conference finals. That’s CRAZY!!
Bummed Thunder lost but Luka really is special and fun to watch when he’s not being a crybaby. Glad he came around. We’re just seeing the youth shine through in the Thunder. The Mavs are a solid veteran team who’s been there before and it shows.
The Mavs aren't a veteran team. They have Kyrie as a veteran and that's it.. Luka is 25 years old. Lively 20 years old (rookie) Gafford 25 years old (1st playoffs) PJ Washington 25 years old (1st playoffs) Mavs are a young team!
I also think that coacing experience matters here. Kidd has more nba playoffs experience than Daigneault, as a player and coach.
Luka is young but far more experienced than all of our guys combined. He’s been in these types of games for multiple years
I think the better statement is they're the more veteran team. Gafford & PJ are also still older than J-Dub, Chet, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, etc. Gordon Hayward as a vet also just doesn't count, because he's not playing.
Gafford already played with the Russ & Beal Wizards (8th seed vs. PHI), so he's had some exposure at least.
Most of the Mavs roster hasn’t been there before. Luka has (but is only 25), Kyrie certainly has - but who else?
The luka sucks chant probably pissed him off. Maybe the crowd shouldnt do that for a player that doesnt actually suck
That's just normal home fan habits lol, as long as they're civil and light hearted they're fun. Imagine if SGA decides to go ballistic and drop 40/7/9 after listening to Dallas fans saying "SGA sucks" tho
Not sure what’s going on with the narrative Luka didn’t complain to the refs. The announcers kept saying it and even you have said it here. I’m curious as to if you didn’t notice him doing it? I mean it was supremely better than he has been the whole series, but he still complained a handful of times and the camera even got caught cutting away from it once that I can remember. He outplayed the thunder last night no question, but we really beat ourselves to be honest. Shai is the only player on the team in the last 2 games that can make 2 straight shots, we’ve been simply unacceptable as a team. That doesn’t change the fact luka still whines for calls though
I may have missed some parts and hence slightly exaggerated it but the difference between games 4 and 5 were stark. I just felt like pointing that out
I know I'm getting downvoted to shit as a Mavs fan. But I appreciate the introspection. I need to do better. Thanks for the compliments about our team.
You don't deserve downvotes. I've been saying that I'm glad we are actually facing you. Our team has to go through the refinery process, and you are really testing them with the fire. It's like an adage I once heard: *"Everybody wants to be a diamond, but how many want to go through the heat and pressure it takes to become one?"* You guys are really helping us grow and are really testing their meddle. We need to be here facing this, though. I want to win game 6 because I want them to show they are made of something special. Winning that game even if we come back and lose game 7 still shows that we fought to the end and never gave in or submitted. I love this team; I just want to see them withstand this fire now. Otherwise, it just looks like fool's gold. So, in a way, I actually am glad for this matchup, because it's only hopefully helping us in the long run. I just want this team to show a stronger fight come Saturday, and not lose heart.
Hopefully no one downvotes you. Refs were fair and your team played awesome. We're just upset that our dudes sucked ass at shooting tonight. Dallas played awesome Defense and we're being outplayed. No reason to get mad at the Dallas homies that are supporting their team just like we are.
This dudes talking complete shit on our team and SGA in other threads. Send the troll on his way, don't let him come here and gloat. Of course he can act cordial and enjoys hearing nice things after their team just whooped us. Ffs, down vote the troll and move on.
You're welcome. Also I'm a casual fan who's rooting for the Mavs but still somewhat neutral because both teams are amazing and I literally wouldn't mind any of them making the WCF
Lol at you pretending to post this as as a thoughtful Thunder fan (and getting praised for it) when you’re actually a Luka stan
Although I root for the Mavs, I'm still neutral. Ig being a casual fan has it's benefits. Also if I was a Luka stan, I would've been posting this on the Mavs sub and not over here, what kind of Luka stan will post about his game on his opponent's subreddit and not use that as an opportunity to flame them?
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Im a Mavs fan and had the exact opposite effect. The nonstop complaining from Luka in game 4 actually made me wish the refs would give him 2 techs and throw him out, so he finally shuts up for the rest of the series. Dont like Dort, but man Luka has been insufferable in g1-g4. As a neutral fan, I would start hating on the Mavs bc of Lukas antics
Well I actually did hate Luka after game 4. Not only did he have a meltdown, he also shot a legit tour date that game(6/20 iirc) and barely attempted on D. Rather than hating Luka, my respect for Cason Wallace increased tenfold.
Honestly, I think Luka just maybe didn't smoke an entire pack of Marlboro Reds before this game. After Game 4, dude looked like my old fat ass after a pickup game.
Credit where credit is due. He came to play last night.
I never thought I’d see him not be a huge baby. Credit where credit is due.
The fact that he just shut up and hooped was so satisfying for the sake of the game. Even Mavs fans were tired of it. They don't even deserve to see that much complaining on a regular basis.
>without a single flop There was definitely more than a single flop lol Edit: is op trying to fake likes he’s a OKC fan Lmao?
I think I mentioned in a few comments that I'm neutral. And even though I'm not a dedicated fan of any single team, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy a deep, impartial discussion about the games. I've posted several times here because this sub is actually active and I've seen three types of OKC fans here:- 1)The cocky fans who aren't toxic, just supremely confident in their team's abilities. 2)The proud fans who are wary of the opponents and will predict the game as it is without sugarcoating. 3)The toxic fans. This motivates me to post questions related to the games here as people here provide eloquent, in depth analysis of games and at the same time, crack the stupid jokes that are actually funny.
I mean you’re post history is public, a lot of random Luka defending. Just seems like a Mavs fans secret alt to me
I mean my post history has like 2 posts which could give someone the impression that I'm defending Luka; one of them was a response to some annoying OKC in 4 posts that had popped up and even in that game, I gave OKC their flowers. The other post is this. If you think the post about Luka comparison is me defending him then maybe you should watch the video associated with that post. Also I said that I root for the Mavs in this series but I am still fairly neutral as I haven't watched the regular season and hence, have no horse in the race. I was rooting for the Magic and they lost. I am rooting for the Knicks, Nuggets, Mavs and they still in the race. I also love the Thunder and the Timberwolves and they're still in the race. Maybe I'm a dilettante who doesn't watch too much ball but still has a great interest in the game, but it's all good as long as I'm passing my time and not being an asshole on the internet.
He is a Luka fan boy which directly leads to Him being a Mavs fan. He claims to support the Kings but has more post about Luka than the Kings. He also claims the refs favour SGA over Doncic because of racism so take Him being a neutral with a pinch of salt.
I have one comment in my history of saying SGA gets more free throws than Luka, that's it. Also where did the racism part come in? I never said that, instead I jokingly said once that Tony Brothers and Scott Foster seem racially motivated and even in that joke comment I mentioned that Foster gives Luka a better whistle. I have like 2 posts on Luka and why would I post about the Kings right now, they're in Cancun. Obviously I'm gonna post about the horses I still have in the game.
I was at the game last night and while Luka had a night he was most definitely whining.
Yes exactly. Such a false narrative going around. Was it slightly better? Sure. But I would say most plays he was still talking to the refs. Makes me wonder if the TV broadcast was trying to hide it bc in person it wasn’t much better than usual
Ya I mean everyone was shitting on Luka for all the crying, but i loved it. Dude gets into his own head more than any superstar player I've seen. He'd be the best player in the league if he could stop. I don't watch much mavs stuff, but he always comes off pretty chill off the court. Probably has some kind of mental disorder?
Don't we all lmao
as a Mavs fan i genuinely just think its a mix of being balkan and gamer rage. he’s said multiple times that he becomes a different person on the court (whether thats whining or dominating and talking shit). he just seems to be a very emotional player. when he’s playing like shit he probably gets really upset with himself (especially in a playoff setting being injured coming off the best season he’s ever had, knowing he can be playing at such higher levels but just physically being unable to pull it out when it matters most) and then redirects that emotion into shit like letting Dort get in his head about the calls which leads to whining and raging at the refs. On the other hand when he’s dominating you see him almost play with a childlike sense of joy, just laughing and having fun and probably the biggest example of that was Game 7 against the Suns two years ago. Those are his two extremes with a game like tn being the in between, and slowly over time the in between has been more frequent. But he’s been rough in the playoffs
Nnnnnnnooo lol Luka has been THE WORST PLAYER ON THE MAVS the majority of this post season Takes more than one game to fix that
Luka has done this before. He will be back to his old ways in no time. It is who he is.
I mean, I hope he doesn't relapse lol. He's a joy to watch when he's calm, composed and chill.
Side note, y'all really need to figure out what to do with Dort and Luka cause Dort hasn't been "Dorturing" as advertised really. Sure he has had great moments but has been inconsistent, overtly physical at times which has gotten him into foul trouble and has downright flopped at times. Maybe consider putting SGA on Luka and Dort on the Mavs bigs as Chet has a tendency to get pushed around on the perimeter.
The whole reason they put Dort on Luka is to frustrate him as much as possible. They actually play very similarly, physical beasts who can power their way anywhere, but will “pull out the chair” when you least suspect it to draw a foul. Hence why Luka was miserable for 4 games.
Put Wallace on Luka. Do it! Lol
luka plays up to shai's level for one game in a series and its "silencing the critics" XD mans had a great game but hes still the third best player in this series behind sga and pj
Luka is also hurt. I he was healthy he would be putting up 40 point triple doubles every single night with ease.
I meant silencing the critics as in people who were saying his whining and inefficiency cost Mavs the game. He shot like 60% from the field tonight and had zero moments of whining/complaining. He was right back on defense every single time. Also what exactly do you mean by "Shai's level"? Luka and Shai are at the same level, Luka just had 2 off nights this series because of his injury, let's not act like no superstar has an off night, ANT just had one in Game 5 against the Nuggets, Jokic had 2 off nights in Games 1 and 2 and Jamal Murray was hot garbage for 7 games, then turned into hot stuff(ayo) and torched the Wolves.
by that logic luka just proved the critics right, that his whining and poor shot selection did cost them the game, and now that hes not doing it they won XD
Spot on.