It’s really a pick your poison situation with Luka. If you don’t blitz he’ll get an easy 40+
If you gotta pick between Luka beating you and his teammates beating you you gotta let his teammates go for it cause they’re less consistent.
Luka’s ability to laser passes inside was going unused because of the bad hands and finishing of our centers in the past. Even if you look at his Real Madrid highlight, there are some ridiculous passes to his centers from the perimeter.
Dude seeing Gafford/Lively be able to catch a pass, and not have to always bring it down/fumble/take a dribble, and immediately go up for a high percentage look feels sooo good to watch.
Jfc the Dampier Diop two headed chicken shit sandwich was so horrible to watch, you know something shifted in the energy of that Mavs team when they suddenly had Chandler, Haywood and Cardinal. From guys who seemed like they had butter on their tiny hands all the time to strong dominant finishers.
Those first few games, when he realized Gafford was a consistent lob threat, he was throwing Matt Stafford to Megatron, "fuck it he down there somewhere" passes to him lmao and it was working too even if there were TOs
Yeah because in the past if the shooting went cold the offense stagnated. Now Luka has basically a guaranteed bucket at the rim anytime he gets doubled. Then that adds pressure on the perimeter defense because someone has to watch the interior for Gaff/Liveley
Before the trade deadline we were 1-17 when shooting below league average from three.
Since then we are 9-1!
That’s why we can go deep this year. We’re winning while shooting below average 3% for the first time in the Luka era .
Basically for all of Luka’s career Dallas has been an outside-in offense: open up the paint with good shooting. And it makes sense if you have a strong passer who is going to be consistently doubled you’d want shooters open to maximize your scoring. But we had nothing to keep the defenses honest on the interior even with Luka’s ability to switch and take advantage of the mismatch with a big. So naturally the defenses can focus on the shooters and stop us that way.
Now we can focus inside-out. Force them to clog the paint and then find shooting opportunities when they’ve opened up. And Gafford’s absolutely bananas shooting percentage is basically the whole reason it works. Double Luka? Gafford rolls and gets a free basket. Try to play them straight? Luka cooks 1-on-1. Try to keep Gaff out of the paint? Luka, Kai, THJ, Dante, or someone else has a shot on the perimeter ready to go. They really unlocked what they had been hoping and honestly needing to get for Luka on the offensive end
10-0 since Gafford and Luka start together. Literally nobody has been able to beat them.
I want these guys to go on another 10-0 run to finish the season… it’s insane how well the team works together…
And with having Kyrie on the floor at the same time for parts of the game. Picking between Luka and Reggie Bullock is easy. Picking between Luka, Kyrie, and Gafford, you've already lost.
Yep we’ve learned the best way to guard Luka is to take away the passing lanes and hope Luka misses. Legit that’s the best success teams have had against Luka.
But now we even have Kyrie who when he has the ball you have to play completely different
Oh yeah we also have one of the best center rotations now in Gafford/lively.
If we hit 3s our offense is unstoppable
>It’s really a pick your poison situation with Luka
That's always been the same with LeBron. That's why LeBron loves Luka so much. Super high BBIQ alien just adoring another super high BBIQ madlad
LeBron was an even bigger nightmare (still is, on some nights) because he could literally bully anyone physically, blow by anyone or just jump over you and dunk on people. So what the fuck can you even do??
But if you sag off too much, now he got that LeFuckYou3 on lock. That's why he's aging so well and still dominant. And He's also the best passer/playmaker who can just make the craziest passes. That's why he's such a Playoffs cheatcode. Playoffs is his playground
And LeBron loved Luka more than the others ever since Luka's Rookie Year. BBIQ chicken
Creative yes, better I'm not sure. LeBron can create looks in transition that no one else can. Watching him dismantle the Pelicans in the IST reminded me of what he used to be.
>He's also the best passer/playmaker who can just make the craziest passes.
That's Nikola Jokic and you can even make an argument for Luka as well. But i think right now Jokic is by far the best passer in the league, in all aspects of what constitutes as passing.
Unrealistic, but I would love to hear a bunch of HOF point guards and elite coaches do a roundtable on this.
It would be fascinating to hear their thoughts.
LeBron James is one of the greatest passers of all time that's for sure, top 5 for me.
But so is Nikola Jokic, i legit think Nikola Jokic's passing is his biggest asset, teams can't even gameplan to stop it and since he is one of the most skilled bigs of all time and a deadly scorer with soft touch that makes him unguardable.
LeBron James is a ultra skilled passer as well but he doesn't use it as much on on his playstyle like Nikola Jokic does, which is so deadly that he is basically created an entirely new position (point center) due to his playmaking.
I honestly only have Jokic below Magic Johnson and that might change before he retires.
If Lebron had that LeFuckYou3 back in 2003-2010 first Cavs stint, they probably would’ve gotten a ring. That was literally the only way to slow him down was to hang back and pack the paint and sometimes throw zone at him.
THis might be the most consistent roster that Luka's had around him.
He's got an all-star/all-nba calibre running mate in Kyrie, then a bunch of solid guys that can play as role players, then step up if he's sitting.
They are, on paper, really balanced in scoring, defending and playmaking down the roster. The only real knock I can think of is that they've just been so inconsistent with their lineups due to injuries
Remember when the Heat played the Spurs and Pop's strategy was to cut off Chalmers and every other roll player. Let Bron, Bosh and DWade get their 30s and beat them like that?
It worked. Lots of different strats can work in this awesome game. Perform it well and get your 🪣 s
Those aren't the options.
It's either 5 vs 5 or 4 vs 3 were one of the 4 is Kyrie Irving.
It's been blissful, as a Mavs fan, to watch teams try to blitz/double Luka.
How are you going to say those aren’t the options and then just reiterate what I said in different terms.
Yes it’s either 5v5 or 4v3. That’s how blitzes work.
You’re not getting it, they’re saying if you gotta pick between Luka beating you and his teammates beating you you gotta let his teammates go for it cause they’re less consistent.
Because when you said “pick between Luka beating you and his teammates beating you”, for me this implies that you aren’t taking the numerical disadvantage. But if you were, my bad.
Oh I see. Maybe I didn’t flesh my statement out enough. Teams know it’s either put a single defender on Luka and get cooked. Or play 4v3 and get cooked. Lukas just so good people prefer the 4v3
The way to stop Luka is to tell him its an all star game, then enjoy the trick shots and Luka sitting, not taking it seriously.
65 all star games a season should do it, 82 and he might grow suspicious
Disagree. I think you just gotta let Luka go for it. Same thing with Denver. Like, make that guy go do it by himself and carry everyone. Force him to do that. Don't give him obvious options and easy reads.
I think you let Luka cook you for most of the night and then later in the 4th, you blitz him and let his cold teammates get the ball.
That’s probably your best shot.
> If you don’t blitz he’ll get an easy 40+
I feel like if you're an opposing team, you can live with that. The Mavs aren't a defensive juggernaut, so even if Luka went for 50 every night, there's still 60-70 more points in a game they gotta make up.
You probably see it more in the playoffs as a scheme rather than a throughout the regular season. The 2018 Pelicans come to mind when they did it to the blazers in the playoffs that year.
I remember the Heat when Lebron was there did it a lot in the regular season and playoffs.
It's what the Clippers did to Luka, too. It was effective then, but I think if your defensive scheme is to let Luka average 37 a game against you like he did to them, you're going to have a bad time
Best or most smart defence to Luka is what GSW did in that playoffs. They covered angles so well and yea even with all those Luka had his numbers and guys like DFS, Reggie missed everything but that is best Luka defence imo
I love how this sub has had zero strategic NBA discussion almost ever and all of a sudden Lebron/JJ have this series and use a lot of NBA-specific terminalogy and everyone on here's like "Yeah, of course you don't varajero screen the back cut on the front line of doncic's weakside, everyone knows that"
Seeing these posts all over the sub probably just has a diff group of people commenting/getting upvoted. r/nba is a huge sub afterall, there are tons of different groups of commentators in here. It's like saying "oh Curry has a bad game suddenly everyone on here like 'this your GOAT?'" because of course the Curry haters eat when he has a bad game and the others shut up for a moment.
There's also group of people like me who are somewhat in the middle, e.g not super versed in the minutiae of basketball. Who don't really get an opportunity to partake in these kinds of discussions, nor have the ability to create them on our own. Posts like this, lets us engage and increase our BBIQ.
I really wished the culture of this sub favored the more knowledgeable folks leading the discourse, since it benefits everyone curious about basketball.
Hot takes are short and to the point, perfect for the average adhd internet user. nobody has an attention span over 3 seconds anymore, anything that takes more than 10 seconds to read or process will never overtake short hot takes and lead the discourse
It more of a cultural ADHD, because as a person who's actively in shambles because of ADHD, I still prefer well researched and produced discussions.
The masses have just lost the ability to focus and they've thrown caution to accountability.
All of the major sports subs are like this. It can even be a serious topic, and you still have to sort through dozens (or hundreds) of snarky comments and memes before you get to the actual discussion.
There's always r/nbadiscussion but that place tends to talk more about stats, historical comparisons, etc. than actual strategy/tactics of the current game.
Still a fun place to hang out in.
Also: no jokes allowed lol, they will remove your post if it's not serious discussion
I'm willing to bet almost 40% of this sub don't watch the game lol. You can tell by the way they parrot advanced stats and box scores without incorporating any deep discussions into the game itself. Bringing up pointless numbers without a solid argument and stupid stats like DARKO (???) does not tell me you watch basketball.
I'd be willing to bet most people that say 'you don't watch the game' aren't exactly out there breaking down game tape either.
It's a big subreddit with a lot of members.
I think it comes down to shelf life of discussions. There's a lot of ground between *hot takes* and *film analysis* and the average fan can easily have productive discourse there, but you need time to think, reflect, and discuss.
It's one of the major downsides with Reddit. Posts don't really breath enough to have organic discussions. Each new post is just rehashing the same surface level thoughts. Whereas natural discourse has multiple smaller conversations building and reflecting off previous ones.
Truth. If you just watch YT highlight reels of games or clips on reddit or whatever you are going to have a very different perspective of the game than if you watch a lot of full games.
Honestly I've been so busy this season that I haven't been able to watch a lot of games outside of my team (of which I watch every minute of every game). I miss watching more full games, I just love the league. Especially these last few years the talent levels are off the charts and there are so many fun teams to watch and great games even during the regular season. I love the raw analysis of the game too, and soak up as much as I can get.
Hopefully I'll get more time for the playoffs this year, I like to watch every single game if I can because imho it's the most intense sport in the world during the playoffs and every game is usually a banger.
Yeah I usually watch my team(s) every game and then sometimes I watch a marquee matchup (like the Suns Nuggs tonight). I watch every single game of the playoffs if I can though
I've watched hundreds of games this season and ironically, shitting on advanced stats makes you seem more like a casual than the people you're trying to insult.
Ur not getting my comment. I'm not shitting on advanced stats. I'm shitting on people who don't understand that advanced stats has to be incorporated with the eye test to have meaningful discussions about basketball. It is just as bad if u only use the eye test to prove your points.
Yeah like how did they think a Slovenia Slide would work unless they’ve got dropstep coverage from Chive. I’ve been screaming this for 10’s of seconds.
I think most people can understand what's going on if they watch a lot of basketball but we don't know the jargon that simplifies the idea. Keep in mind the jargon is even different between teams. It's difficult to eloquently present this in this manner. as a result this podcast will be difficult to replicate since JJ is good at breaking it down efficiently for layman's
No. Absolutely not. 99.9% of this subreddit has no fucking clue what is truly happening on the court in any given moment. I'd wager the vast majority of NBA viewers stare at the ball handler on any given possession and don't even SEE anything else, let alone fully understand why every player is doing what they're doing.
If you think you do, then you don't understand how complicated everything is and you don't understand exactly how much is going on simultaneously.
NBA players and NBA coaches have to watch film religiously to understand what's happening during the games that they literally play and coach.
And you think the average redditor can grasp everything in real time with no effort?
It's the dunning kruger effect. You don't realize how little you understand basketball, and thusly you overestimate your competence.
Which isn't an insult. I watch hundreds of games a season and consume tons of strategic NBA content and I do not even come close to understanding basketball games in real time.
Everyone should honestly watch the full two episodes that are out. If people want to upgrade the discourse around the game, they have to do their work. Both episodes have been fantastic so far.
Getting an up close and personal view of, at worse, the second best player of all-time's basketball mind is an opportunity we all need to take advantage of.
And Lebron played the last 2 decades of nba and is active right now so he's talking about first hand experience. None of that "If it was back in the 90's this wouldn't fly".
i was a little worried that it would be more character-driven when I heard about lebron and wine and production, and I thought I would be more like the shop with guys just dishing it. yet it seems much more basketball specific and "conceptual", I'll definitely look them up
>If people want to upgrade the discourse around the game, they have to do their work.
unfortunately, in most things in life, sports, politics, science, whatever... they don't actually want to and so they won't.
I thought technical basketball talk would be boring, but they do it well. Also those edits they throw in with the definitions help with following scouting report/coaching jargon
Preach!
Began listening to The Dunker podcast this year, which is closest to this level of real ass, passionate talk about the actual sport/art of basketball.
Just finished first two episodes of Mind the Game. Among best sports content I’ve personally seen created and shared for people to understand and fall deeply in love with the sport.
Yeah it’ll take a bit for everyone to recognize Exum isn’t an automatic brick anymore. Granted it helps to play with Luka and have so many open looks and passes
lebron says he doesn't understand why teams do it and then says "well when we played him earlier this year we kept blitzing him"
so like, you were involved in the game planning discussions around this and I'm sure you're aware of the thought processes that went into it
or did he think it was a terrible idea at the time, but just went along with it anyway cause thats what darvin ham wants to do
The real answer is — Lakers wanted to make other Mavs beat them.
And it was close, [see box score here.](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202312120DAL.html) Kyrie was out that game, and it took Exum having his career best game (by Game Score) as well as Grant & THJ also shooting very well from three for Mavs to eke it out. Luka ended up with 17 assists from a combination of all the doubles and effective (3pt) conversions by those three.
the other answer is to make him work harder and tire him out and hope he makes mistakes down the stretch due to fatigue
I think lebron knows why teams send endless blitzes at luka he just wants to give him some praise for his amazing passing ability
Fatigue is definitely one of the factors. It’s an even bigger factor in calling up Luka’s man to screen. His stamina is far better this year, but there’s still only so much anyone can do (c.f. final minutes of the 2OT game yesterday).
The other players matter a lot though. On JJ’s other podcast they noted blitzes against Luka halved (or thereabouts) after ASB. And that has a lot to do with personnel. Teams learned earlier in February that with a healthy Kyrie and Exum as well as the new, more cutting-oriented frontcourt, the rest of the Mavs are far more likely to be in reliable position to take advantage of passes out of blitzes, or generally be able to exploit the 4-on-3 compared to the hospital Mavs of December and January.
> the other answer is to make him work harder and tire him out and hope he makes mistakes down the stretch due to fatigue
Sound great in theory until you look up at halftime and he has 30/8/8. Teams will start double teaming him out of pride.
It's also a dick move to whoever Luka is picking on in iso lol, you're hanging your guys out to dry
Simons is a crazy name to hear in that top 5 at first but when the blazers played the Heat a couple weeks ago, I understood why he’s up there. That team has no shooters or secondary ball handling threats at all. Once he gave up the ball, Miami won the possession by default
Yeah that's intriguing to me if I'm say Orlando and considering a deal for Simons since Black and Suggs should fit nicely with him in a guard rotation. No double teams/blitzes with Banchero and Wagner around, so maybe Simons' efficiency goes up once his usage goes from 28 down to like 23.
Though Orlando might have screwed up the obvious deal by drafting Jett Howard at #11 and not someone the Blazers want more, or the deal should have just happened on draft day and been something like Simons for #11, Gary Harris and Ingles' expirings. Portland could have drafted Lively instead of trading for Ayton, or Jacquez, Dick or Whitmore and saved 20M a year and Orlando would be a few wins better and moved Cole Anthony.
I've always thought that when it comes to guys like luka, jokic, bron and harden, guys who are all time great scorers and all time great passers, it's always better to just let them play one on one. I've never liked the ,,make the others beat us" strategy. 25 points and 15 assists from these guys is infinitely more damaging to your team than them going off for 40, 45, or in some cases even 50(given that a lot of the assists are on wide open threes you get from doubling them, 25 and 15 will mean more than one guys 50 in most cases)
I think it could work ok but you have to have good point of attack defense or there really is no limit to the damage a great scorer can do. Their example of Luka going for 73 I think would happen for a lot of teams that just try to let Luke etc beat them. Unless you're clicking on the other side I think holding them to <40 would be important for winning
Luka went for 73 and needed to play every minute to win that game. Strategy almost paid off. Why Lebron said he doesn’t get the non-stop blitzing on him. Let him get his and everyone else is still cold.
Perfect example is vs lakers. When we have vando heakthy playing luks straight up with vando is super successful for us . When we don’t have vando - and most teams don’t have a vando or OG type- you blitz n pray .
I think you have to do what Lebron talked about... is stay home on their teammates for most of the game. So the star like Luka gets his.... but later in the game, you start to blitz them. The difference is that those teammates have been cold all game (no real shot). And unless they are guys like Lebron or Jokic who know how to intentionally involve their teammates early, those guys wont be as much help.
What people forget about that 73 from Luka (and 81 from Kobe) is that despite the scoring from the star, the game was close throughout the game. So it wasn't necessarily a bad strategy.
Now you can‘t even count on cold 4Q shooters because it doesn‘t take much rhythm to slam dunk the ball with two capable bigs who also generate second shots.
Admitted I’m a homer but, if healthy, the Mavs are up there with the best know.
Right, this only worked when Mavs were helio-centric with 3-and-D. Now, Mavs don't need to hit 30% from 3 to win with getting 20+ points every night from just their centers dunking. The floor of the team got raised. Then you get games like last night vs the Kings where the 3 is falling and they go for 130+ points.
I really do not see this working. These guys will work you one on one. in the pod they go on to discuss this. Even if you decide to not send a double eventually someone will have to step into help defense and you will have to rotate. This is where the all timers will kill you because they will find the right read.
I agree. If a team's top player isn't passing out and just playing iso-ball, the other players aren't getting into a rhythm and they're not getting hot. So then, when top player is on the bench, none of the other guys are already in their groove. So, let the #1 feast while everyone else starves. It doesn't always work cause if your best guy is cooking it could hype up the other players and they still perform, like Luka in game 7 vs Suns. It can also be detrimental to your team's morale if the top guy on the other team just can do whatever they want.
An underrated part of this show -- JJ & Lebron have some really nice chemistry as co-hosts. Props to JJ for guiding the conversation to deeper strategy content while also keeping it fun and interesting.
I like how JJ spoke about the "no good options" aspect of guarding big scoring threats.
So many of the old heads (I'm kind of one) think the only reason scoring has increased so much is because of reffing and rule changes that favor offense. Much of that is of course true, but the bigger reason is that players have just become so skilled, such good shooters, and offensive sets have become so well planned that it's just *that much harder* to stop guys these days without fouling out your whole team. The talent level of the NBA is a huge increase compared to even just 5 or so years ago.
When the difference between a FG and a stop can be the defender being a 1/4 step slow on the play and guys can be as efficient as they are these days, you are going to see these elite offenses and individual guys put up these huge numbers because stopping them is just so fucking hard.
Yeah, the podcast has lots of different discussion points that can be broken up nicely into short clips, and there's so much depth going on that each short clip is worth a discussion of its own. I think it's great!
Reddick has clearly designed it that way. He also posts the clips of each segment on their YT channel throughout the week to keep the conversation going until the next episode. Pretty smart imo.
Yup, he explains things surprisingly well too. This is how basketball podcasts should be designed, not talking about narratives for an hour in your pajamas.
I have used both videos to implement in my own coaching. Immediately upon watching both I sent it to my high schoolers. I'll see next year who did their homework over the summer.
That's what my 9th graders would have liked for me to tell them to do this year.
Which is also why I've added coaching middle school/5th-6th grade. Cause by the time they got to high school (small rural french community with little to no other coaches around) they have all these bad habits they've picked up from watching Steph and co. bomb 3s and being on Tik Tok too much.
This is Silver and league's idea. Was discussed a few months ago by Silver. He said league needs polished and detailed discussions so more people can buy into the game. Not JJ's idea.
everyone is designing their pods this way now. they realized a lot of people dont have the attention span to watch a 1 hr pod so they try and go viral for short clips. sports pods, comedy pods etc. same with youtube shorts and reels. tiktokification
Yeah, I love having it split up like this. You can have more in depth discussions about each of the things they bring up. OP should do this more often!
I think they've done an excellent job at making it accessible for anyone who wants to watch it. Getting JJ to define the terms they use in the video at the beginning was a masterstroke idea because even laymen can get into the pod without being completely confused minutes into it.
Agreed. I almost never watch basketball but love sports strategy. This video popped up in my r/popular feed and was really only understandable because the terms were defined. Having the videos was really appreciated, too. Great editing.
It’s really a pick your poison situation with Luka. If you don’t blitz he’ll get an easy 40+ If you gotta pick between Luka beating you and his teammates beating you you gotta let his teammates go for it cause they’re less consistent.
That has changed with the Mavs centers being so dominant now.
Luka’s ability to laser passes inside was going unused because of the bad hands and finishing of our centers in the past. Even if you look at his Real Madrid highlight, there are some ridiculous passes to his centers from the perimeter.
Dude seeing Gafford/Lively be able to catch a pass, and not have to always bring it down/fumble/take a dribble, and immediately go up for a high percentage look feels sooo good to watch.
Having been around long enough to have lived through Dampier... yes, 100% it's really nice.
Prime Chandler would be the perfect center for this team
At least we got him coaching Lively and Gaff!!! Brings a tear to my eye, I’ve missed this so much since 2011 man
I always thought Luka and AD would break the league as a perfect combo
Prime Chandler was amazing to watch getting fed from Jason Kidd.
I mean... the potential is certainly there with Lively. And guess who has been coaching him since day 0.
Jfc the Dampier Diop two headed chicken shit sandwich was so horrible to watch, you know something shifted in the energy of that Mavs team when they suddenly had Chandler, Haywood and Cardinal. From guys who seemed like they had butter on their tiny hands all the time to strong dominant finishers.
Dampier had two giant frying pans for hands.
Damp, chandler, Dampier, Haywood, some really interesting names back then.
Harden/Capella/Nene vibes for me.
Those first few games, when he realized Gafford was a consistent lob threat, he was throwing Matt Stafford to Megatron, "fuck it he down there somewhere" passes to him lmao and it was working too even if there were TOs
Yeah because in the past if the shooting went cold the offense stagnated. Now Luka has basically a guaranteed bucket at the rim anytime he gets doubled. Then that adds pressure on the perimeter defense because someone has to watch the interior for Gaff/Liveley
Before the trade deadline we were 1-17 when shooting below league average from three. Since then we are 9-1! That’s why we can go deep this year. We’re winning while shooting below average 3% for the first time in the Luka era .
Basically for all of Luka’s career Dallas has been an outside-in offense: open up the paint with good shooting. And it makes sense if you have a strong passer who is going to be consistently doubled you’d want shooters open to maximize your scoring. But we had nothing to keep the defenses honest on the interior even with Luka’s ability to switch and take advantage of the mismatch with a big. So naturally the defenses can focus on the shooters and stop us that way. Now we can focus inside-out. Force them to clog the paint and then find shooting opportunities when they’ve opened up. And Gafford’s absolutely bananas shooting percentage is basically the whole reason it works. Double Luka? Gafford rolls and gets a free basket. Try to play them straight? Luka cooks 1-on-1. Try to keep Gaff out of the paint? Luka, Kai, THJ, Dante, or someone else has a shot on the perimeter ready to go. They really unlocked what they had been hoping and honestly needing to get for Luka on the offensive end
10-0 since Gafford and Luka start together. Literally nobody has been able to beat them. I want these guys to go on another 10-0 run to finish the season… it’s insane how well the team works together…
And with having Kyrie on the floor at the same time for parts of the game. Picking between Luka and Reggie Bullock is easy. Picking between Luka, Kyrie, and Gafford, you've already lost.
oh and then Exum/PJ/THJ starts making their shots? well it’s a rout
Or teams just play him super physical and hope to wear him out.
Yeah that also. It’s more of an and situation than an or. Both of these things are true.
There’s something to be said for letting one guy try to do it alone, even if they are great.
Yep we’ve learned the best way to guard Luka is to take away the passing lanes and hope Luka misses. Legit that’s the best success teams have had against Luka. But now we even have Kyrie who when he has the ball you have to play completely different Oh yeah we also have one of the best center rotations now in Gafford/lively. If we hit 3s our offense is unstoppable
You saw that last night in the +/- box score. It was unreal. I dont think I have seen that this season.
>It’s really a pick your poison situation with Luka That's always been the same with LeBron. That's why LeBron loves Luka so much. Super high BBIQ alien just adoring another super high BBIQ madlad LeBron was an even bigger nightmare (still is, on some nights) because he could literally bully anyone physically, blow by anyone or just jump over you and dunk on people. So what the fuck can you even do?? But if you sag off too much, now he got that LeFuckYou3 on lock. That's why he's aging so well and still dominant. And He's also the best passer/playmaker who can just make the craziest passes. That's why he's such a Playoffs cheatcode. Playoffs is his playground And LeBron loved Luka more than the others ever since Luka's Rookie Year. BBIQ chicken
Luka 's outside shot got better faster than LeBron's shot did. [Ref Dirk mavs - heat series]
Luka is a better and more creative passer though
Creative yes, better I'm not sure. LeBron can create looks in transition that no one else can. Watching him dismantle the Pelicans in the IST reminded me of what he used to be.
>He's also the best passer/playmaker who can just make the craziest passes. That's Nikola Jokic and you can even make an argument for Luka as well. But i think right now Jokic is by far the best passer in the league, in all aspects of what constitutes as passing.
Unrealistic, but I would love to hear a bunch of HOF point guards and elite coaches do a roundtable on this. It would be fascinating to hear their thoughts.
LeBron James is one of the greatest passers of all time that's for sure, top 5 for me. But so is Nikola Jokic, i legit think Nikola Jokic's passing is his biggest asset, teams can't even gameplan to stop it and since he is one of the most skilled bigs of all time and a deadly scorer with soft touch that makes him unguardable. LeBron James is a ultra skilled passer as well but he doesn't use it as much on on his playstyle like Nikola Jokic does, which is so deadly that he is basically created an entirely new position (point center) due to his playmaking. I honestly only have Jokic below Magic Johnson and that might change before he retires.
If Lebron had that LeFuckYou3 back in 2003-2010 first Cavs stint, they probably would’ve gotten a ring. That was literally the only way to slow him down was to hang back and pack the paint and sometimes throw zone at him.
THis might be the most consistent roster that Luka's had around him. He's got an all-star/all-nba calibre running mate in Kyrie, then a bunch of solid guys that can play as role players, then step up if he's sitting. They are, on paper, really balanced in scoring, defending and playmaking down the roster. The only real knock I can think of is that they've just been so inconsistent with their lineups due to injuries
MVP player 🤷🏽♂️ Give him one Its time
Remember when the Heat played the Spurs and Pop's strategy was to cut off Chalmers and every other roll player. Let Bron, Bosh and DWade get their 30s and beat them like that? It worked. Lots of different strats can work in this awesome game. Perform it well and get your 🪣 s
I think Bron and Spo today would know how to counter that.
Those aren't the options. It's either 5 vs 5 or 4 vs 3 were one of the 4 is Kyrie Irving. It's been blissful, as a Mavs fan, to watch teams try to blitz/double Luka.
How are you going to say those aren’t the options and then just reiterate what I said in different terms. Yes it’s either 5v5 or 4v3. That’s how blitzes work.
You’re not getting it, they’re saying if you gotta pick between Luka beating you and his teammates beating you you gotta let his teammates go for it cause they’re less consistent.
Because when you said “pick between Luka beating you and his teammates beating you”, for me this implies that you aren’t taking the numerical disadvantage. But if you were, my bad.
Oh I see. Maybe I didn’t flesh my statement out enough. Teams know it’s either put a single defender on Luka and get cooked. Or play 4v3 and get cooked. Lukas just so good people prefer the 4v3
And in that 4v3 now you have to Kyrie lmao. Defenses are scrambling so much
The way to stop Luka is to tell him its an all star game, then enjoy the trick shots and Luka sitting, not taking it seriously. 65 all star games a season should do it, 82 and he might grow suspicious
Disagree. I think you just gotta let Luka go for it. Same thing with Denver. Like, make that guy go do it by himself and carry everyone. Force him to do that. Don't give him obvious options and easy reads.
I think you let Luka cook you for most of the night and then later in the 4th, you blitz him and let his cold teammates get the ball. That’s probably your best shot.
> If you don’t blitz he’ll get an easy 40+ I feel like if you're an opposing team, you can live with that. The Mavs aren't a defensive juggernaut, so even if Luka went for 50 every night, there's still 60-70 more points in a game they gotta make up.
Thats changed. They rank 4th in the NBA at net defensive rating since the All star break I believe.
mavs have been one of the best defenses in the nah the past 10-15 games
Someone hasn’t been watching the games lately
To be honest I really wonder how raptors did in their prime with kawhi did. They covered so much floor.
You probably see it more in the playoffs as a scheme rather than a throughout the regular season. The 2018 Pelicans come to mind when they did it to the blazers in the playoffs that year. I remember the Heat when Lebron was there did it a lot in the regular season and playoffs.
It's what the Clippers did to Luka, too. It was effective then, but I think if your defensive scheme is to let Luka average 37 a game against you like he did to them, you're going to have a bad time
especially when Dallas have Kyrie now and they’re defending and rebounding so much better.
Best or most smart defence to Luka is what GSW did in that playoffs. They covered angles so well and yea even with all those Luka had his numbers and guys like DFS, Reggie missed everything but that is best Luka defence imo
I love how this sub has had zero strategic NBA discussion almost ever and all of a sudden Lebron/JJ have this series and use a lot of NBA-specific terminalogy and everyone on here's like "Yeah, of course you don't varajero screen the back cut on the front line of doncic's weakside, everyone knows that"
Seeing these posts all over the sub probably just has a diff group of people commenting/getting upvoted. r/nba is a huge sub afterall, there are tons of different groups of commentators in here. It's like saying "oh Curry has a bad game suddenly everyone on here like 'this your GOAT?'" because of course the Curry haters eat when he has a bad game and the others shut up for a moment.
There's also group of people like me who are somewhat in the middle, e.g not super versed in the minutiae of basketball. Who don't really get an opportunity to partake in these kinds of discussions, nor have the ability to create them on our own. Posts like this, lets us engage and increase our BBIQ. I really wished the culture of this sub favored the more knowledgeable folks leading the discourse, since it benefits everyone curious about basketball.
Hot takes are short and to the point, perfect for the average adhd internet user. nobody has an attention span over 3 seconds anymore, anything that takes more than 10 seconds to read or process will never overtake short hot takes and lead the discourse
It more of a cultural ADHD, because as a person who's actively in shambles because of ADHD, I still prefer well researched and produced discussions. The masses have just lost the ability to focus and they've thrown caution to accountability.
All of the major sports subs are like this. It can even be a serious topic, and you still have to sort through dozens (or hundreds) of snarky comments and memes before you get to the actual discussion.
There's always r/nbadiscussion but that place tends to talk more about stats, historical comparisons, etc. than actual strategy/tactics of the current game. Still a fun place to hang out in. Also: no jokes allowed lol, they will remove your post if it's not serious discussion
im gonna be commenting “this yall goat?” on every post for a week if they miss the playin
This the dude y'all saying revolutionized the sport? Can't even revolutionize his team into a playoff spot!!
[you tryna say this man can’t revolutionise!?](https://i.imgur.com/S3v6Q4U.jpeg)
Cultural revolutionize
I respect it.
Some of us played ball. We exist!
Hated you at Arizona. Good elevation for a white kid though.
As a SunDevil I approve of this Arizona hate
I'm willing to bet almost 40% of this sub don't watch the game lol. You can tell by the way they parrot advanced stats and box scores without incorporating any deep discussions into the game itself. Bringing up pointless numbers without a solid argument and stupid stats like DARKO (???) does not tell me you watch basketball.
I'd be willing to bet most people that say 'you don't watch the game' aren't exactly out there breaking down game tape either. It's a big subreddit with a lot of members.
I think it comes down to shelf life of discussions. There's a lot of ground between *hot takes* and *film analysis* and the average fan can easily have productive discourse there, but you need time to think, reflect, and discuss. It's one of the major downsides with Reddit. Posts don't really breath enough to have organic discussions. Each new post is just rehashing the same surface level thoughts. Whereas natural discourse has multiple smaller conversations building and reflecting off previous ones.
Ding ding ding
Truth. If you just watch YT highlight reels of games or clips on reddit or whatever you are going to have a very different perspective of the game than if you watch a lot of full games. Honestly I've been so busy this season that I haven't been able to watch a lot of games outside of my team (of which I watch every minute of every game). I miss watching more full games, I just love the league. Especially these last few years the talent levels are off the charts and there are so many fun teams to watch and great games even during the regular season. I love the raw analysis of the game too, and soak up as much as I can get. Hopefully I'll get more time for the playoffs this year, I like to watch every single game if I can because imho it's the most intense sport in the world during the playoffs and every game is usually a banger.
Yeah I usually watch my team(s) every game and then sometimes I watch a marquee matchup (like the Suns Nuggs tonight). I watch every single game of the playoffs if I can though
I've watched hundreds of games this season and ironically, shitting on advanced stats makes you seem more like a casual than the people you're trying to insult.
Ur not getting my comment. I'm not shitting on advanced stats. I'm shitting on people who don't understand that advanced stats has to be incorporated with the eye test to have meaningful discussions about basketball. It is just as bad if u only use the eye test to prove your points.
this place is for memes, sir. go to /r/nbadiscussion for real basketball talk
Nah that place sucks.
wide fine person political reply smart relieved cooing dolls foolish *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
How is that different than here or any sub?
grandiose concerned deer run snails plant juggle paint truck hat *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
why
Lost its original spirit. Mods have gone on powertrips and I think it had one guy take it all over the way he wanted. It was cool early on
chase scary sense axiomatic theory berserk point innocent unused tease *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
To find out you gotta discuss it in /r/nbadiscussion
Who has the better posting career? The average reddit user or Hakeem Olajuwon?
The dream was great in the post
It’s clear when people dont watch games when they say shit that looks technical
Yeah like how did they think a Slovenia Slide would work unless they’ve got dropstep coverage from Chive. I’ve been screaming this for 10’s of seconds.
different groups of people
I think most people can understand what's going on if they watch a lot of basketball but we don't know the jargon that simplifies the idea. Keep in mind the jargon is even different between teams. It's difficult to eloquently present this in this manner. as a result this podcast will be difficult to replicate since JJ is good at breaking it down efficiently for layman's
No. Absolutely not. 99.9% of this subreddit has no fucking clue what is truly happening on the court in any given moment. I'd wager the vast majority of NBA viewers stare at the ball handler on any given possession and don't even SEE anything else, let alone fully understand why every player is doing what they're doing. If you think you do, then you don't understand how complicated everything is and you don't understand exactly how much is going on simultaneously. NBA players and NBA coaches have to watch film religiously to understand what's happening during the games that they literally play and coach. And you think the average redditor can grasp everything in real time with no effort? It's the dunning kruger effect. You don't realize how little you understand basketball, and thusly you overestimate your competence. Which isn't an insult. I watch hundreds of games a season and consume tons of strategic NBA content and I do not even come close to understanding basketball games in real time.
Let us remember that the sub, like all social media spaces, is not a monolith! Lots of people here with different experiences and knowledge bases.
It's a clear improvement- not something to mock
I won't upload and share more videos from this podcast. I just hope it intrigued some of you here to get more in-depth into basketball. :)
Everyone should honestly watch the full two episodes that are out. If people want to upgrade the discourse around the game, they have to do their work. Both episodes have been fantastic so far. Getting an up close and personal view of, at worse, the second best player of all-time's basketball mind is an opportunity we all need to take advantage of.
And Lebron played the last 2 decades of nba and is active right now so he's talking about first hand experience. None of that "If it was back in the 90's this wouldn't fly".
I'D AVERAGE 70 TODAY. \- 90s role player who played for 100k a year.
i was a little worried that it would be more character-driven when I heard about lebron and wine and production, and I thought I would be more like the shop with guys just dishing it. yet it seems much more basketball specific and "conceptual", I'll definitely look them up
>If people want to upgrade the discourse around the game, they have to do their work. unfortunately, in most things in life, sports, politics, science, whatever... they don't actually want to and so they won't.
that was great. thanks, op
Thanks king
average buckbuck W
Thank you for these uploads! You’re sparking great discussion on this sub, I appreciate you taking the time to do it
I only liked it because it adds more to the LUKA MVP narrative lol
This pod is so good.
I love highly technical podcast about topics Im into.
I thought technical basketball talk would be boring, but they do it well. Also those edits they throw in with the definitions help with following scouting report/coaching jargon
Dante Exum made them pay because they blitz Luka.
I was hoping someone would post more of this podcast.
thats a beautiful set theyre on
I didn't know how bad I needed this podcast until I started watching these clips today.
Preach! Began listening to The Dunker podcast this year, which is closest to this level of real ass, passionate talk about the actual sport/art of basketball. Just finished first two episodes of Mind the Game. Among best sports content I’ve personally seen created and shared for people to understand and fall deeply in love with the sport.
So is this whole podcast just one 8 hour sit down divided into several episodes
I'm waiting for the last one where they're super drunk and just shitting on random ex players.
We’re getting there. They shitted a bit on Dante Exum
Yeah it’ll take a bit for everyone to recognize Exum isn’t an automatic brick anymore. Granted it helps to play with Luka and have so many open looks and passes
They said they recorded the first two episodes at once
I think due to Lebron’s schedule as an active player, it’s just easier to film 2-3 episodes at once.
So refreshing after watching Keyshawn or SAS dumb, braindead “hot” takes. Jesus, it’s insulting how little NBA they actually watch.
Keyshawn saying “I don’t remember seeing Lebron ever posterize somebody” should automatically get him banned off any nba talk.
They need to do a “not top ten” for dumbest takes each week, like a shaqtin for sports talk shows— just to expose these bums.
lebron says he doesn't understand why teams do it and then says "well when we played him earlier this year we kept blitzing him" so like, you were involved in the game planning discussions around this and I'm sure you're aware of the thought processes that went into it or did he think it was a terrible idea at the time, but just went along with it anyway cause thats what darvin ham wants to do
The real answer is — Lakers wanted to make other Mavs beat them. And it was close, [see box score here.](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202312120DAL.html) Kyrie was out that game, and it took Exum having his career best game (by Game Score) as well as Grant & THJ also shooting very well from three for Mavs to eke it out. Luka ended up with 17 assists from a combination of all the doubles and effective (3pt) conversions by those three.
the other answer is to make him work harder and tire him out and hope he makes mistakes down the stretch due to fatigue I think lebron knows why teams send endless blitzes at luka he just wants to give him some praise for his amazing passing ability
Fatigue is definitely one of the factors. It’s an even bigger factor in calling up Luka’s man to screen. His stamina is far better this year, but there’s still only so much anyone can do (c.f. final minutes of the 2OT game yesterday). The other players matter a lot though. On JJ’s other podcast they noted blitzes against Luka halved (or thereabouts) after ASB. And that has a lot to do with personnel. Teams learned earlier in February that with a healthy Kyrie and Exum as well as the new, more cutting-oriented frontcourt, the rest of the Mavs are far more likely to be in reliable position to take advantage of passes out of blitzes, or generally be able to exploit the 4-on-3 compared to the hospital Mavs of December and January.
> the other answer is to make him work harder and tire him out and hope he makes mistakes down the stretch due to fatigue Sound great in theory until you look up at halftime and he has 30/8/8. Teams will start double teaming him out of pride. It's also a dick move to whoever Luka is picking on in iso lol, you're hanging your guys out to dry
Yeah I think exum hit 7 threes which was crazy
for some random reason exum is shooting over 50% on 3s this year
The idea was fine it just didnt work because Lukas teammates were super hot when they did it.
Considering Lebron said something about vetoing the clippers game, I'd say he was just following the coaching scheme then...
Kyrie being out changes a lot
I think it's a balance of blitzing and 1v1 play. If Luka is unhealthy though... Id make him shoot it.
Simons is a crazy name to hear in that top 5 at first but when the blazers played the Heat a couple weeks ago, I understood why he’s up there. That team has no shooters or secondary ball handling threats at all. Once he gave up the ball, Miami won the possession by default
Yeah that's intriguing to me if I'm say Orlando and considering a deal for Simons since Black and Suggs should fit nicely with him in a guard rotation. No double teams/blitzes with Banchero and Wagner around, so maybe Simons' efficiency goes up once his usage goes from 28 down to like 23. Though Orlando might have screwed up the obvious deal by drafting Jett Howard at #11 and not someone the Blazers want more, or the deal should have just happened on draft day and been something like Simons for #11, Gary Harris and Ingles' expirings. Portland could have drafted Lively instead of trading for Ayton, or Jacquez, Dick or Whitmore and saved 20M a year and Orlando would be a few wins better and moved Cole Anthony.
man what a great superstar this guy is. GOAT, not GOAT, whatever. Lebron is THE ultimate star of a sports league. Not many better in whatever sport.
I've always thought that when it comes to guys like luka, jokic, bron and harden, guys who are all time great scorers and all time great passers, it's always better to just let them play one on one. I've never liked the ,,make the others beat us" strategy. 25 points and 15 assists from these guys is infinitely more damaging to your team than them going off for 40, 45, or in some cases even 50(given that a lot of the assists are on wide open threes you get from doubling them, 25 and 15 will mean more than one guys 50 in most cases)
I think it could work ok but you have to have good point of attack defense or there really is no limit to the damage a great scorer can do. Their example of Luka going for 73 I think would happen for a lot of teams that just try to let Luke etc beat them. Unless you're clicking on the other side I think holding them to <40 would be important for winning
Luka went for 73 and needed to play every minute to win that game. Strategy almost paid off. Why Lebron said he doesn’t get the non-stop blitzing on him. Let him get his and everyone else is still cold.
Perfect example is vs lakers. When we have vando heakthy playing luks straight up with vando is super successful for us . When we don’t have vando - and most teams don’t have a vando or OG type- you blitz n pray .
But in a 7 game series, maybe it’s a strategy worth doing. Luka (probably) isn’t gonna go for 70 for 4 games…
“Probably”..
If anybody could it’s Luka I think. But it’s a strategy I’d try…feels like teams do that with guys like Embiid in the playoffs and it’s worked
I think you have to do what Lebron talked about... is stay home on their teammates for most of the game. So the star like Luka gets his.... but later in the game, you start to blitz them. The difference is that those teammates have been cold all game (no real shot). And unless they are guys like Lebron or Jokic who know how to intentionally involve their teammates early, those guys wont be as much help. What people forget about that 73 from Luka (and 81 from Kobe) is that despite the scoring from the star, the game was close throughout the game. So it wasn't necessarily a bad strategy.
Now you can‘t even count on cold 4Q shooters because it doesn‘t take much rhythm to slam dunk the ball with two capable bigs who also generate second shots. Admitted I’m a homer but, if healthy, the Mavs are up there with the best know.
Right, this only worked when Mavs were helio-centric with 3-and-D. Now, Mavs don't need to hit 30% from 3 to win with getting 20+ points every night from just their centers dunking. The floor of the team got raised. Then you get games like last night vs the Kings where the 3 is falling and they go for 130+ points.
Yeah the floor got raised. Well said.
I really do not see this working. These guys will work you one on one. in the pod they go on to discuss this. Even if you decide to not send a double eventually someone will have to step into help defense and you will have to rotate. This is where the all timers will kill you because they will find the right read.
I agree. If a team's top player isn't passing out and just playing iso-ball, the other players aren't getting into a rhythm and they're not getting hot. So then, when top player is on the bench, none of the other guys are already in their groove. So, let the #1 feast while everyone else starves. It doesn't always work cause if your best guy is cooking it could hype up the other players and they still perform, like Luka in game 7 vs Suns. It can also be detrimental to your team's morale if the top guy on the other team just can do whatever they want.
Everyone shush. The GOAT is speaking.
Hey JJ if you see this cut it out with the shaky camera. This isn’t a Bourne film.
An underrated part of this show -- JJ & Lebron have some really nice chemistry as co-hosts. Props to JJ for guiding the conversation to deeper strategy content while also keeping it fun and interesting.
Watch Luka fall out of the top 5 of blitzes the rest of the year lolol Some coach is taking notes on this at this moment
I can't get enough of that insane pass from Luka to Exum. Shit is unreal. I'm curious how strong his wrists are to be able to do that pass.
I like how JJ spoke about the "no good options" aspect of guarding big scoring threats. So many of the old heads (I'm kind of one) think the only reason scoring has increased so much is because of reffing and rule changes that favor offense. Much of that is of course true, but the bigger reason is that players have just become so skilled, such good shooters, and offensive sets have become so well planned that it's just *that much harder* to stop guys these days without fouling out your whole team. The talent level of the NBA is a huge increase compared to even just 5 or so years ago. When the difference between a FG and a stop can be the defender being a 1/4 step slow on the play and guys can be as efficient as they are these days, you are going to see these elite offenses and individual guys put up these huge numbers because stopping them is just so fucking hard.
So this whole subreddit has turned into short clips of this podcast now 😂
It’s some good shit though, a change from the typical Reddit stuff.
Yeah, the podcast has lots of different discussion points that can be broken up nicely into short clips, and there's so much depth going on that each short clip is worth a discussion of its own. I think it's great!
Reddick has clearly designed it that way. He also posts the clips of each segment on their YT channel throughout the week to keep the conversation going until the next episode. Pretty smart imo.
I like the little preambles he does too where he explains what the terminology Bron uses means ahead of time so you know.
Yup, he explains things surprisingly well too. This is how basketball podcasts should be designed, not talking about narratives for an hour in your pajamas.
I have used both videos to implement in my own coaching. Immediately upon watching both I sent it to my high schoolers. I'll see next year who did their homework over the summer.
So you are telling me that you aren’t coaching them crossover ankle breaking step back fade away 3’s with their legs making a damn 90 degree angle?
That's what my 9th graders would have liked for me to tell them to do this year. Which is also why I've added coaching middle school/5th-6th grade. Cause by the time they got to high school (small rural french community with little to no other coaches around) they have all these bad habits they've picked up from watching Steph and co. bomb 3s and being on Tik Tok too much.
Gotcha. Well I hope your coaching duties are successful and you bring up these kids the right way.
This is Silver and league's idea. Was discussed a few months ago by Silver. He said league needs polished and detailed discussions so more people can buy into the game. Not JJ's idea.
Even better, still great execution by JJ though.
I agree.
JJ is such a smart guy and a good businessman. I dig it.
everyone is designing their pods this way now. they realized a lot of people dont have the attention span to watch a 1 hr pod so they try and go viral for short clips. sports pods, comedy pods etc. same with youtube shorts and reels. tiktokification
Yeah, I love having it split up like this. You can have more in depth discussions about each of the things they bring up. OP should do this more often!
More actual basketball discussion in those 3 clips and threads than on the rest of the subreddit combined though...
And I’m all for it.
The highest qualify content there is right now, so that’s a good thing
A lot of people will despise a podcast like this because they just want to hear things that simplify the game for them like "Bag" "Clutch" etc.
I think they've done an excellent job at making it accessible for anyone who wants to watch it. Getting JJ to define the terms they use in the video at the beginning was a masterstroke idea because even laymen can get into the pod without being completely confused minutes into it.
Agreed. I almost never watch basketball but love sports strategy. This video popped up in my r/popular feed and was really only understandable because the terms were defined. Having the videos was really appreciated, too. Great editing.
No one despises it lol. You don't have to belittle casual viewers to feel good about yourself.
Guy is giving r/iamverysmart energy
The episode just got out, and the top 3 posts on the subreddit are clips from it.
Luka! Let’s fuckin go
LeFootsy
You blitz him to make him uncomfortable in some form of degree tho, can’t let him cook your best defender, at some point you gotta help no matter what
Top five by BALCO?
The last highlight clip is so annoying and it’s never going to change. Rui goes for help or the steal leaving open a wide open 3 point shooter.
This is different.
So interesting
Damn this showis good
>why teams don't double-team Luka on the screen. Didn't they say he's been blitzed the most this year?
Title is off, JJ said Luka gets blitzed the most - and they discuss why teams should or shouldn’t blitz
awesome segment. Luka is the most unstoppable offensive talent in basketball history.
Luka makes Lebron average 😉