And of course freakin Rondo was the critical move -terrific defense on Luka -hit big shots -totally broke down the Mavs teams to setup a bunch of corner 3s after the defense collapse The obvious adjustment the Mavs need to do is stop trying to run him off the line: not sure what they were doing there totally messed up their D as Rondo just kept on waltzing into the paint as they were playing him like he was Steph Curry
Terrible free throw shooting, getting abused point wise in the paint, no one not named Doncic contributing. Porzingis left his game at the strip club?
And people think AD is soft. This guy is always injured and when he’s not, he plays like he should be.
Strike one... I hope Luka gets pissed, Cuban screwes it up in free agency and sooner rather than later, kid bolts
If anyone besides Luka steps up, they might win it. Looking at that roster, no doubt he deserves a lot of MVP votes...
the start surprised me, but even then I didn't buy it. mavs turned into pumpkins. i was watching this one, and down the stretch i kept saying to my tv: just lay off him! he doesn't want to shoot, and it's a better option than ANYONE ELSE SHOOTING! it was weird. they also needed to let luka murder him like he does beverly (the couple times they just cleared out, he walked rondo into the paint and dropped it in, as i recall). yeah, this is why i think the lakers will have a shot at luka as soon as his first extension. dallas just can't attract anyone in FA for whatever reason (couldn't with dirk, can't with luka), so they have to gamble on trades like the zinger trade. he's been useless on both ends, imo. clips were hunting him on defense, which is embarrassing when you're 7'3"--but he's clearly injured (as always) and not moving as well as normal. clips will win this series. but as weezy said, kawhi is going to have to play basically the whole game, maybe every game.
Now suddenly the Clippers are going to win the series? It was a desperate must win for the Clippers. Kawhi was able to get to his sweet spot all game, Clippers played at a much higher intensity than the Mavericks. I wouldn't count out the Mavs just yet, they are well coached, play together as a team, and will play harder than they did in game 3.
i thought luka played great until he ran out of gas a bit at the end. the mavs' role players missed shots (season-long problem), and they couldn't defend (another season-long problem). those things didn't happen for 9 straight quarters, but then they happened for three straight and are likely to continue happening. edit: apparently luka got hurt, and that explains some things. and makes matters even worse. tbh, i'd sit him in game 4 and try to catch the clippers napping--they do that here and there.
Luka was hunched over in pain every time I caught a glimpse of this game: this is like a semi replay of last seasons series between these two teams. Porzingis went down and now Luka looks like a shell
Mavs "defense" can't bother Kawhi at all ... He got whatever he wants in last postseason against them , it's even worse in this series .
i think when they collapsed on him late last game, the clippers role players hit threes (imagine that!) and iced the game. so they're probably better off hoping he misses a contested midrange shot. which, apparently, he doesn't. anyway, i revise my earlier statement--this is over in 6, not 7.
people are saying it's dallas's defense, but he's just gone beast mode again, imo. a lot of his buckets have been pretty well-contested, and other players taking those shots would be missing. if we have any hope of advancing, lebron will have to do what kawhi's doing, tbh.
Hes not a great playmaker but the Clips shooting is a lot better then the Lakers so you cant double him
