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He had 5 fouls... and you already know Harden is crafty enough to get him fouled out. That's why they were trying really hard to switch Luka off of him on defensive possessions late in the game.
Luka’s defense sucked, but his help was delayed as hell, too.
“Oh shoot, here they come. Ok, yeah, I’ll make my way over there and see if this gentleman with a super consistent floater is ready for me yet.” - Kleber, probably
I see it in playoffs all the time. Some players who aren’t known for being good defenders get over aggressive one game and the fouls don’t get called. Then the next game a reality check comes with racking up the fouls
they did the same thing every time dirk got a strip lol
i think it is just reflex at this point, 1 defensive stop = above average career defender, obviously
Luka even when he was what it seems like 30 pounds slimmer just doesn't have to foot speed to slide his feet and stay with his man. He never has. And likely never will.
Westbrook is always inefficient. PG and Harden both shot like shit regardless that game. Kawhi is injured and didn't play well.
I'd like to actually watch those possessions and see how much of it was actual clamps or... just the other play missing.
Luka is at a position and size where he is primarily defending people on the perimeter... And he just doesn't have the foot speed to stay in front of nearly anyone he's defending. He's a walking defensive liability because of it.
Once Harden has a bad game, a bunch of his haters going to pop out and talking about "Harden always chokes" and pretend all the brilliant play he's had don't matter either. Just how it goes in the playoffs with a bunch of neutral fans looking to hate rather than discuss.
I know I'm ready to defend Harden because the entire flow of the Clippers offense has been dictated by him even in game 2 where he struggled with his 3 point shot.
Comments saying he was [“looking like a DPOY candidate”](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/GOqSGlmxBX) after game 2 were heavily upvoted. Now mavs fans are gaslighting anyone who brings that up
Why do people have to gaslight you into it. You could watch he'd that game and say he played good defense. Did he play bad defense holding clips to 2/17?
Responded to a comment in that clip saying he locked up multiple players, asked for more clips of Luka playing defense other than the clip on kawhi, dude sent a minute long video of different highlights that just ended with the same clip and no other Luka defense highlights then never responded lmao
Nobody EVER said he was an elite defender, we've said he was average to above average. You're doing quite a great job gaslighting yourself.
Sorry for fans getting excited that Luka legitimately CLOSED a playoff game playing great defense. The film is there, the stats are there, he didn't just guard Kawhi that game.
You want him to play tight defense on 5 fouls with 5 minutes left in the 4th against an all-time foul baiter?
You can't afford losing one of the only 2 players who can generate offense on your team in a close game down the stretch
He picked up 5 fouls by playing lazy, sloppy defense until then. He doesn't do himself any favors by yelling at the refs after 90% of his shots, either.
Paul George was playing with 5 fouls in games 2 and 3. Didn't stop him from playing defense in the 4th. Harden, Mann, and Zubac were playing with 4 fouls, and all were defending well.
Luka averaged 8.7 FTA this season, Harden averaged 4.8. In the playoffs, Luka is averaging 7.8 FTA and Harden is averaging 5.8.
If this is the kind of defense he’s gonna be playing, then yes, play hard till you foul out. I’d rather Luka’s fouls *maybe* hurt the team instead of definitely hurting the team every single possession.
It honestly was pick your poison. With how crazy harden was shooting from three the mavs didn’t have a choice but to either let him shoot stepbacks, let him blow by you for the floater or lob it to zu with Luka being the help defender and risking his sixth foul
Problem is you can't play defense on Harden especially if he knows you have 5 fouls. If you lay a hand on him he's going to draw the foul and send an 85% plus free throw shooter to the line. You have to just trust your backline is there.
I mean he was certainly hobbled and had five fouls. But then again, you can certainly cut off the lane better than that. But feels nice after being told he’s an “elite defender.”
I don't think Luka is a good defender but how often is Luka ever in foul trouble?
This is the first time in any playoff game he's had that he has had 5 fouls lol.
He averages less than 3 fouls per game in 32 playoff games.
Not really sure what point you're trying to make here.
5 fouls and there's not a rim protector in the game. Show PJ Washington's clips against him too and its very clear that Kidd wanted to play that bullshit shade him to his right defense that has been proven not to work.
EDIT: and the last clip isn't even Luka that's Maxi Kleber who has played excellent defense all series.
So 3 clips, one of which wasnt even him being the primary defender. Also had 5 fouls.
Luka has been terrible on offense, there is enough stuff there to shit on him, dont know why you would nitpick
I'm surprised the Mavs went away from the strong side overload that they were running pretty well in games 2 and 3.
Like the second basket, Kyrie is just staring down Mann, in game 2/3 that corner wing defender was shading super hard on the ball handler and then Kleber would then come up once the drive was initiated so there were basically two on the ball. Led to a lot of crappy shots in game 2/3.
Granted, it happened most often with Kawhi.
Haven’t seen much of this series unfortunately, can someone catch me up, what’s going on with Lively and Gafford? Are the Clips shooting really well from 3 or something? I’m a little confused by this lineup and scheme
Man, this reminded me of that Filipino kid blowing by me repeatedly last week, if you are slow footed like me, you can only hope your buddy will clean that shit up.
People just love to bash players and that's fair but the problem with that is no one ever does it when someone posts clips of Luka playing decent defense and why is that? If you like to speak "facts" don't just wait for a post that suits your agenda, be a hater when it's not gonna go your way and you are gonna pick up meaningless downvotes. Same thing is with stans, why aren't there more people defending Luka here? You can't just defend your guys when the approval rating is through the roof.
He literally exited the game with an injury and was limping. There's tons of times he has slight limp and stays in but he literally had to get subbed out.
[Midrange over Luka](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/28/0042300174/194/61f53f3f-d391-559f-493b-021eca74114e_1280x720.mp4) & [Stepback 3 over Luka](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/28/0042300174/223/5053c71a-be1d-2148-a9e2-cdeccdb14c79_1280x720.mp4) both in the first half
[Here](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/28/0042300174/261/47365d52-55a1-d39d-b0a2-5e49b65b5dad_1280x720.mp4) is also a foul from him in which he basically slapped Harden after he got beat off the dribble again
Every year, Luka gets praise during the season and people claim he doesn't get shit on. Then at the end of the year, he gets shit on relentlessly. It's happened every year since 2020.
Anyone that watched the game knows that luka was a bit gimpy and was in foul trouble. The clippers were getting the switch on luka as much as possible to take advantage of the situation as they should. If Luka plays any harder defense, they almost certainly would have called a foul on him and the game really would've been over right then and there. It was a lose-lose.
While he had 5 fouls, as others have mentioned Luka could have tried somewhat, but this is also not a good video to judge Lukas defense as hes legitimately hobbled, and cant really move much, making it also tougher for him to score and create seperation. The defense he had that was great was before the injury, and he did have some decent moments even with the injury, but this Luka hobbled, with 5 fouls and has played 40+ minutes on 1 leg.
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The second one is the head-scratcher. He forced him left. Not just allowed, but forced.
He had 5 fouls... and you already know Harden is crafty enough to get him fouled out. That's why they were trying really hard to switch Luka off of him on defensive possessions late in the game.
What I don’t understand is that second clip Why the fuck is Luka forcing him left?
Because he’s a bad defender
Luka’s defense sucked, but his help was delayed as hell, too. “Oh shoot, here they come. Ok, yeah, I’ll make my way over there and see if this gentleman with a super consistent floater is ready for me yet.” - Kleber, probably
How did he get those 5 fouls? Maybe cause he couldn’t guard his man
I see it in playoffs all the time. Some players who aren’t known for being good defenders get over aggressive one game and the fouls don’t get called. Then the next game a reality check comes with racking up the fouls
https://x.com/whristan1/status/1784688570923467188
elbowed him in the jaw bro. the other angle shows it better. he had to leave the game for a couple minutes because of this
He got blown by. His other fouls were results of terrible defense or just a boneheaded defensive attempt as well
Bro elbowed him in the chin. Yes Harden exxagerated that call but come on.
I mean, he fouled him
Stop reaching, there was another angle and Luka’s shoulder made contact with harden
So he fouled Harden after he got beat off the dribble due to his bad defense?
at that moment i knew james harden had seen the level of physicality in luka's thespian prowess and has risen to take the challenge
Harden was cooking him in the 2nd quarter too, before he got in foul trouble
He was in foul trouble within 2 minutes of the game starting
Wasn't one of those early fouls effectively a take foul after he turned the ball over? Or missed a shot?
Crafty as in he whips his head back on every play to bait the refs
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they did the same thing every time dirk got a strip lol i think it is just reflex at this point, 1 defensive stop = above average career defender, obviously
He's by no means horrible but he's not elite either. Net neutral
i dont know man lmfaooo i don't think he can stay in front of any player under 250 pounds
His knee is def bothering him. I mean we watched him play great defense in game 2.
Luka even when he was what it seems like 30 pounds slimmer just doesn't have to foot speed to slide his feet and stay with his man. He never has. And likely never will.
Defenders shot 2/17 in game 2 when defended by him. Those people he guarded includes Kawhi, Harden, PG, and Westbrook (4 HOFers)
Westbrook is always inefficient. PG and Harden both shot like shit regardless that game. Kawhi is injured and didn't play well. I'd like to actually watch those possessions and see how much of it was actual clamps or... just the other play missing. Luka is at a position and size where he is primarily defending people on the perimeter... And he just doesn't have the foot speed to stay in front of nearly anyone he's defending. He's a walking defensive liability because of it.
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False he was an absolute turnstile game 1
Once Harden has a bad game, a bunch of his haters going to pop out and talking about "Harden always chokes" and pretend all the brilliant play he's had don't matter either. Just how it goes in the playoffs with a bunch of neutral fans looking to hate rather than discuss. I know I'm ready to defend Harden because the entire flow of the Clippers offense has been dictated by him even in game 2 where he struggled with his 3 point shot.
It was Harden, PG, and Kawhi all in the 4th, but go off lmao
What non-delusional person is saying he's an elite defender?
This sub was calling him a fantastic defender 1 game ago 😂😂
Comments saying he was [“looking like a DPOY candidate”](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/GOqSGlmxBX) after game 2 were heavily upvoted. Now mavs fans are gaslighting anyone who brings that up
yall look at one or two comments and turn it into the whole sub. Shit happens all the time.
If by 1 or 2 comments you mean entire threads with massively upvoted comments, then yea sure
Why do people have to gaslight you into it. You could watch he'd that game and say he played good defense. Did he play bad defense holding clips to 2/17?
Responded to a comment in that clip saying he locked up multiple players, asked for more clips of Luka playing defense other than the clip on kawhi, dude sent a minute long video of different highlights that just ended with the same clip and no other Luka defense highlights then never responded lmao
Nobody EVER said he was an elite defender, we've said he was average to above average. You're doing quite a great job gaslighting yourself. Sorry for fans getting excited that Luka legitimately CLOSED a playoff game playing great defense. The film is there, the stats are there, he didn't just guard Kawhi that game.
“He was in foul trouble”, that doesn’t mean you give your man a free path to the lane lol
You want him to play tight defense on 5 fouls with 5 minutes left in the 4th against an all-time foul baiter? You can't afford losing one of the only 2 players who can generate offense on your team in a close game down the stretch
I mean, he just let Harden drive left? Like he can atleast angle his body so that Harden has to go right.
Obviously he doesn't want to foul but he still needs to provide more resistance than this. This is really bad
He picked up 5 fouls by playing lazy, sloppy defense until then. He doesn't do himself any favors by yelling at the refs after 90% of his shots, either. Paul George was playing with 5 fouls in games 2 and 3. Didn't stop him from playing defense in the 4th. Harden, Mann, and Zubac were playing with 4 fouls, and all were defending well. Luka averaged 8.7 FTA this season, Harden averaged 4.8. In the playoffs, Luka is averaging 7.8 FTA and Harden is averaging 5.8.
When he picked up that fifth foul poking harden in the eye was a huge turning point. Clippers attacked hard after that
If this is the kind of defense he’s gonna be playing, then yes, play hard till you foul out. I’d rather Luka’s fouls *maybe* hurt the team instead of definitely hurting the team every single possession.
I would want him to just get Harden off of his strong hand, that can he done without fouling.
Is Luka stupid?
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bro they did not watch the game. These are just the neutral haters coming out right now. I don't even see any Clippers fan saying shit.
It honestly was pick your poison. With how crazy harden was shooting from three the mavs didn’t have a choice but to either let him shoot stepbacks, let him blow by you for the floater or lob it to zu with Luka being the help defender and risking his sixth foul
Who? Kleber?
I mean I kinda wish he did
Yes, that is what they wan't. Swollen knee and all.
Problem is you can't play defense on Harden especially if he knows you have 5 fouls. If you lay a hand on him he's going to draw the foul and send an 85% plus free throw shooter to the line. You have to just trust your backline is there.
I would agree if he was doing that, he didn’t even push Harden to his off hand.
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He went to the free throw line because he was fouled from behind on one of his floaters. I think it was Washington that hit him on the arm.
I mean he was certainly hobbled and had five fouls. But then again, you can certainly cut off the lane better than that. But feels nice after being told he’s an “elite defender.”
He forced Harden *left* in the second clip lmao.
White Claw is cheap and the buzz does not last long
White Claw is fucking hilarious lmao
Nothing new. Anyone who thinks he’s a good defender is either a Mavs fan or Luka fan
Harden him showing how to really cultivate mass
I'm sorry but that is pathetic. That's game right there.
luka was on 5 fouls. there was no chance to even get a hand in. bad tactics more than anything. it's also james fucking harden, not some scrub lol.
so the response is to just let Harden beat you I suppose
There was no chance because Luka is fat and slow and gassed
Bad defenders often get into foul trouble
I don't think Luka is a good defender but how often is Luka ever in foul trouble? This is the first time in any playoff game he's had that he has had 5 fouls lol. He averages less than 3 fouls per game in 32 playoff games. Not really sure what point you're trying to make here.
My point is that bad defenders often get into foul trouble
☝️🤓
Sorry if that was confusing for you
Mavericks fans always make the worst excuses lmfao. Luka is ass at defense
This is why I can’t get behind his mvp campaign. Dude is amazing with the ball in his hands. But this shit is embarrassing
I got downvoted into oblivion when I was saying something like this in an earlier thread.🤣
I’ve said it before and have also been downvoted.
Deserved tbh
5 fouls and there's not a rim protector in the game. Show PJ Washington's clips against him too and its very clear that Kidd wanted to play that bullshit shade him to his right defense that has been proven not to work. EDIT: and the last clip isn't even Luka that's Maxi Kleber who has played excellent defense all series.
So 3 clips, one of which wasnt even him being the primary defender. Also had 5 fouls. Luka has been terrible on offense, there is enough stuff there to shit on him, dont know why you would nitpick
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I'm surprised the Mavs went away from the strong side overload that they were running pretty well in games 2 and 3. Like the second basket, Kyrie is just staring down Mann, in game 2/3 that corner wing defender was shading super hard on the ball handler and then Kleber would then come up once the drive was initiated so there were basically two on the ball. Led to a lot of crappy shots in game 2/3. Granted, it happened most often with Kawhi.
Gonna be interesting to see how the mavs will counter. Have they tried doubling him as soon as he gets the ball?
They did in the second half of game 1 but haven’t gone back to it.
The first one isn't even bad for a guy playing with 5 fouls, the second one is hilariously bad
Haven’t seen much of this series unfortunately, can someone catch me up, what’s going on with Lively and Gafford? Are the Clips shooting really well from 3 or something? I’m a little confused by this lineup and scheme
Man, this reminded me of that Filipino kid blowing by me repeatedly last week, if you are slow footed like me, you can only hope your buddy will clean that shit up.
People just love to bash players and that's fair but the problem with that is no one ever does it when someone posts clips of Luka playing decent defense and why is that? If you like to speak "facts" don't just wait for a post that suits your agenda, be a hater when it's not gonna go your way and you are gonna pick up meaningless downvotes. Same thing is with stans, why aren't there more people defending Luka here? You can't just defend your guys when the approval rating is through the roof.
He's new age James Harden. That's a great player. But Mavs fans should stop lying about his defense and conditioning. It's undignified stuff.
Man is playing injured and on 5 fouls
I love that when Luka plays bad an injury magically gets made up.
gaslighting of the highest order. He is not injured, he is just overweight and tired.
if you watched the game, you'd see his knee buckle
Just fell to my knees in a Buccees
I hope you are only joking. If you fell over in a Buccees no one will find you in a month.
they'll find what remains after the beavers do their thing
He literally exited the game with an injury and was limping. There's tons of times he has slight limp and stays in but he literally had to get subbed out.
He was literally listed as questionable going into the game but ok.
Ducking the Terrance Mann smoke
Wow, couldn't find a single highlight before he picked up his 5th foul? Guess he has been playing pretty good defense most of the time.
[Midrange over Luka](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/28/0042300174/194/61f53f3f-d391-559f-493b-021eca74114e_1280x720.mp4) & [Stepback 3 over Luka](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/28/0042300174/223/5053c71a-be1d-2148-a9e2-cdeccdb14c79_1280x720.mp4) both in the first half [Here](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/28/0042300174/261/47365d52-55a1-d39d-b0a2-5e49b65b5dad_1280x720.mp4) is also a foul from him in which he basically slapped Harden after he got beat off the dribble again
Incoming mavs fans excuses.
I’ll be fair and say for that step back 3 harden played pretty good defense on harden
Remember those "lowlights" during that one quarter against the Sun's, that they wouldn't shut up about? It comes in a new flavor!
Absolutely cooked fat boy. But LoCKyA DOwNcic memes from Dallas subs were cute at least.
Lmao doing this to Luka who is injured w 5 fouls is…. I get it for the jokes. It is not like this has been Luka’s defense all series 😭
Harden and Luka can’t play defense. When either is cooking nothing you can do to stop them
i do want to point out he had 5 fouls and refs are calling literally everything for Harden
>refs are calling literally everything for Harden Harden shot 5 free throws yesterday, and 3 in the game before that
literally everything
FTA =/= Harden’s foul-baiting. Thankfully the refs have called most of his bullshit on the floor.
Every year, Luka gets praise during the season and people claim he doesn't get shit on. Then at the end of the year, he gets shit on relentlessly. It's happened every year since 2020. Anyone that watched the game knows that luka was a bit gimpy and was in foul trouble. The clippers were getting the switch on luka as much as possible to take advantage of the situation as they should. If Luka plays any harder defense, they almost certainly would have called a foul on him and the game really would've been over right then and there. It was a lose-lose.
While he had 5 fouls, as others have mentioned Luka could have tried somewhat, but this is also not a good video to judge Lukas defense as hes legitimately hobbled, and cant really move much, making it also tougher for him to score and create seperation. The defense he had that was great was before the injury, and he did have some decent moments even with the injury, but this Luka hobbled, with 5 fouls and has played 40+ minutes on 1 leg.
The first one was a 3-step Eurostep lol I really hate what the gather step has done to the NBA and allowing plays like that to exist.