Luka should thank PJ Washington for turning into prime Klay Thompson for absolutely no reason

This really shouldn’t be a hot take, PJ and DJJ carried that series

Not a hot take, it’s literally reality. This sub just hates Shai so you can’t say that without people getting angry. 

That’s definitely not a hot take, every Mavs fan knew Shai was the best player that series

MJ washington and the bigs got every offensive rebound.

It is absolutely unreal how much respect this fucking guy still commands with okc fans. I have personally seen him shit the bed multiple times against teams not named okc, but when it comes time to play the thunder this fucking guy cannot be stopped. I hate it. I hate him.

MJ Washington.

Thats not a hot take, it is a fact SGA was better in that series.

Yeah if we ever have a chance to defeat okc. Bron would have to turn back the clock to 2018 just like last season vs them Let’s hope he can reliably do so for a series.

It doesn’t matter if he’s in a Hornets or Mavs jersey. PJ turns into MJ whenever he plays us!

To be fair, Luka was also hurt.

Series was tied 2-2 and Luka put up 30/10/10 in the final two games to close out the series on 56/52/89 shooting splits.

He was bad earlier in the series but absolutely balled out to end it. Acting like Luka wasn’t the primary reason the Mavs won is silly. And why did PJ have so many open threes? Because OKC couldn’t guard Luka without a gimmick defense leaving his teammates wide open on purpose

Yeah your big men shut down the paint.

Yes he did outplay him also had 2 blocks on kyrie in that game 5 to i remember

This shouldnt be a hot take, but when any of us said it we got downvoted to hell

Not a hot take. Anyone who saw that series with their eyes opened knows SGA was phenomenal and was the better player in the series. Luka was doing his elite playmaking stuff, but his scoring was much worse than usual (he was also clearly not healthy)

Also Josh giddey was one of the mavs best players that series

Yeah PJ couldn’t miss that series

That isn’t a hot take at all

I would cheer when Luka got the ball bc it meant PJ didn’t have it

PJ, DJJ shotmaking then non Chet big minutes is what killed us

Pj got open shots because of Luka tho. I think like 50% of PJs 3s were wide open assists from Luka. It was okcs gameplan to double and let the roleplayers beat them, I think that’s important context

Washington shitting the bed the next series against the Wolves made every Thunder fan so angry because he couldn’t have had like ONE bad have against us?!?!

That was the series where everyone who was dreaming woke up to the reality that our whole team combined had like 15 playoff games between them and they were 12 years old.  Gotta take some knocks and learn some lessons, and boy did your bigs teach us lessons. PJ, gafford, lively, just wrecked us.

We got destroyed by PJ, we had no one to deal with his size. That’s why the Hartenstein signing was so important, and looked forward to a rematch but then oh, Nico happened…

And that series was a foul call away from going 7

He was insane and gafford and lively destroyed us on the boards.

Outplayed Luka in a series. Outplayed Jokic in a series. Won mvp, FMVP, scoring title. And I’m crazy for calling him the best player in the world

narratives about luka have legit gone insane since the trade, like people legit act like luka carried G leaguers on his own to the finals or WCF.

the trade was bad enough that people dont need to exaggerate but they do

Luka was doubled and tripled non stop that series. OKCs strategy was to have others beat them. The Mavs strategy was to single cover Shai for the most part

Yeah people clearly dont watch the games and like to ignore Luka was injured and looked awful ³⁄₄ series because of it. It involves watching the games and not just looking at old boxscores but it is what it is.

probably because luka was on one leg that entire playoff run

A significantly hurt Luka but yes he was better

With how vitriolic r/NBA likes to be against okc, y’all need these clapbacks

Shai’s just better

Someone said Ant is better than Luka lmao, this is a good old fashioned hater thread

Definitely

He clears luka all time idk why people still make this a convo

Is it time for the MJ vs SGA convo? Probably Kobe vs SGA for now.

True 

It’s really not even up for discussion at this point

At the position of point guard what does Shai do better than Luka? Because it certainly isn’t playmaking or passing, which are perhaps the most integral assets to a PG.

History

Tbf the lakers blowout of the thunder at the end of last year happened 40 days after the Thunder clinched the 1 seed

Every dog has there day I guess.

Thank you sir. Time to take a break from this cesspit.

It should actually be more like Curry vs Harden, but for some reason Luka’s hypothetical rings and MVPs are proving to be a tough battle against SGAs actual MVP and ring.

Not really, those guys were even

This is like comparing Steph to lamelo

Flagg will be just 23 years old by the time this OKC dynasty starts to fade away in 5ish years

He already had the 1 team that beat them..? Are you dumb?

i can see the vision, you have AD being who he is (always stands out v okc -atleast pre hartenstein) you have bigs so he can play stretch and cover for him defensively - coop, pj washington and klay offer wing play and you have generational handle kyrie who can get buckets to get the offense going. Shame no one stays healthy

That is a load of BS, Luka is a 5 x time 1st team all NBA player (probably 6 this year).

Mostly agree and this is what I keep droning on about when it’s pointed out SGA had slightly better box score stats against Jokic in last year’s series.

Sure, he did - and yet, if Jokic is given the best defensive supporting cast in league history (for a #1, who’s had it better than SGA on that side of the ball? Maybe ‘96-‘98 Jordan?) we all know how that series goes.

Way better

shhh you’re supposed to ignore all context and shame the fat white boy

Exactly. Shai had to play against the 20th rated defense. Luka had to play against the number one defense by a comfortable margin. 

OKC have one of the best defender in the league coming off the bench, despite having two all NBA defender not playing tonight. That’s how absurdly better OKC’s defense is compared to the Lakers. 

Swap teams and I can assure you that Luka’s numbers against Shai would be insane. 

And if he does even as a thunder fan tou can’t deny they won’t be allowed to guard him the way they do other players

If you swapped teams Lukas stats would be much better. Could you imagine if Luka had the best defense ever behind him with two all star teammates 😭😭

If Haliburton didn’t tear his Achilles and the pacers won is shai randomly not a championship winning player?

What if the Mavs played the 8 seed heat instead of god squad Celtics? Dumb narratives

6 of these games Luka was injured and played against what is the best perimeter defense ever by a country mile. Although context doesn’t fit your narrative

It’s the same argument as Bron vs dynasty and MJ (as a dynasty) vs others.

It doesn’t matter. What matters is the result. You can’t blame SGA if there are no great defenders against him. That’s not his fault.

Shai is always healthy and Luka is often injured, that’s another reason Shai is better

That’s why he showed the individual stats and efficiency…

nice try Nico

They won’t have similar stats

If sga is a all nba defender then Luka is a good defender