Luka Doncic in the win: 35 PTS, 8 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL, 60% TS, +14
Full Statline: Luka Doncic vs Knicks: 35 PTS, 8 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL, 6 TO, 5⁄16 3FG, 8⁄10 FT, +14
Lakers win. Knicks lose.
I listened to radio for this game, experience is way better.
https://www.espn.com/nba/game?gameId=401810777
Luka out of the top 10 in MVP voting after this one.
well have you looked at how fat he is? he shouldn’t even be in the nba and should instead focus on competitive eating and beer drinking
And his horrendous defense despite being the only guy on the team that can score consistently, is the sole offensive engine AND averages 1.5 steals!
Don’t forget the fat guy somehow still played 40 minutes and finished +14. He’s cooked.
Oh come off it. No one gives James Harden as much grief for having a gut. Athleticism is not the most important part of playing basketball.
LOL
Jalen Brunson just became better than him, because he had 3 more assists.
Same shit different team. Its so infuriating.
They rather give it to Cade fucking Cunningham. League is not serious.
The Luka hate is so forced sometimes. He’s one of the greatest offensive hubs we’ve ever seen lol
The discourse is locked In, I cannot wait for the playoffs. For all the slander or all the glory baby
It’s because the Lakers still have 2 glaring issues that they haven’t fixed that’s going to take them out. They have no rebounding or defensive talent, while not flashy its whats going to stop them even if their offense (which is great) will be blamed
It’s not gonna change in the playoffs. They will be exposed to no fault of his own and youll see haters crippling back in.
always a chance at a 2022-esque explosion to make it out of the first round 🤷🏿♂️
what are you implying will change come playoff time?
Luka is jokic with worse PR
Its funny Jokic’s Nuggets are now below Luka’s Lakers in the standings but Jokic is still treated like a lock for #2 in MVP while Luka is below Jaylen Brown. Both teams have dealt with substantial injuries so not much of an argument there.
And Luka has played more games. Jokic PR is unmatched
It really is unmatched.
I swear to God if Bron or Curry ever lost a game 7, at home, after being up by 20 in the second half they would forever be roasted. But Jokic? It just slipped off of him like butter
And then Luka completely decimated that same team Jokic lost to. And everyone was just like oh no they were just “built to beat Denver” it’s okay Jokic lost.
Lol yah.. everyone ignored how good their wolves defense was on the perimeter as well that year, but Luka dominated everyone they matched up with him
That Wolves team had Murray in Alcatraz, with game 1 being one of the greatest displays of perimeter defense that I have ever seen.
While my mind jumps to Jokic having a horribly injured team, I can’t help but think about the narrative behind 2016, which is that Curry choked despite being injured since the first round (and he went on to miss the Olympics). Unfortunately, it isn’t firmly in the discourse at all that Curry did not choke, whereas like you said, no one is criticizing Jokic for losing that game 7.
Well in fairness, Curry did lose after going 3-1 against the Cavs with an all-time supporting cast. And Bron obviously had his fair share of upsets, mainly the 2011 series. So as much as I agree with Jokic’s PR being unmatched, it seems like every star ends up having bad series here and there, And of course Jokic wasn’t even bad in that series, he came across what some said was one of the greatest defenses in recent history with their double big and averaged near a 30 point triple double on ok averages outside the 3p line
Jokic PR is unmatched
You can thank the Ringer mob for that.
Bill Simmons and Lowe glazing him and finding excuses for him every week is something special.
Yep! It’s insanity, he can do no wrong in their eyes.
I’m sure Bill would flip on him if he somehow ended up on the Lakers lol. That’s probably the only thing that would do it.
I legit thought Lowe knew a lot about basketball before I listened to his pods the way people talked about him, but I just realized he just talks a lot and when you concentrate, you realize he is just saying words and not really analyzing a whole lot. His only argument against Luka has been his complaining, I don’t remember hearing him analyze him as a basketball player
Jokic has an all-timer PR team.
Strahinja kicks your ass if you don’t write well about his bfother
It’s not forced, he brings it upon himself.
Whining all the time, foul baiting, it gets tiring.
Jokic does all that too
It’s very forced but with so many Laker/Bron haters they fall for it so easily. They’ll be conveniently quiet after this one though
r/NBA in shambles and Max Kellerman just fell to his knees at an In And Out
The Lakers not being a well built team is unironically where 60% + of his criticism comes from.
Nobody gives a shit about his whining or anything else when you’re winning. Because they’re the Lakers and have LeBron the noise is amplified 100x
100%. Now go beat OKC in the WCF for all of us lol
Luka has already beaten OKC in the playoffs. Lakers need to put the right pieces around him
No shit
Damn I wish we would’ve thought of that!
you gotta let rob pelinka know man
Lmao I knew I shouldn’t have deleted his contact info
The pendulum will always swing back the other way. It does for everyone. Every single player that’s relevant enough to get massive discussion will get it both ways.
As for Luka, if you’re on the side of him not being an all time great and franchise player/top 5 player in the league, it’s so obviously going to put you on the wrong side of history when his career is over. Anyone with eyes can see he’s one of the most talented basketball players to ever step on the court and anyone with a memory that last longer than a couple of years knows you can build a team around him and be a contender, regardless of whatever faults he has.
Well said. The problem with this sub is that it’s filled with 14 yr olds who think they know everything about the game. Just like everything else in the world today, it has to be the most epic thing ever or it’s trash. Nuance can be a thing.
Everything is black and white on social media now and people hate for the sake of hating before even checking if theyre right.
Dopamine addiction left and right.
That is true, and eventually when he is older, he will be out of the top 5. But so far in his career, some people tried to bring him in Trae, Ja Morant, Booker convos. All that ended up being about as stupid as if I said Sengun is better than Jokic. Some were attempting to crown Ant before the Mavs series and that fell apart. Then as that Boston superteam beat him while he was limping the whole playoffs and the team collapsed, Tatum was brought in and that always sounds ridiculous to people without agendas and bias. Now we are in the Cade, Brown phase, I even saw some idiot say Murray is better than him this season. That will be gone soon as well.
So basically, the media has been trying to kick him off lists for new shiny toys for years and the only one that succeeded ended up being SGA, with a fantastic team built around him, the best you can do in the modern era with the limits. We’ll see where that goes as their careers continues
So LeBron is the problem
Lakers are just better without Lebron. they’ve had a better net rating without Lebron on the court the past 2 year
Great game from Doncic but why 16 3’s lol
Because this is America, god damnit.
And we don’t put up with no bullshit
Gotta drop straight bombs
I feel like half of those were late shot clock after the play broke down and the ball ended up back in his hands
Yeah that’s one problem when people just look at the box score. I’m sure there will be many comments somewhere on his percentages today, but he easily could have thrown the grenades to a teammate but decided to hold and shoot himself. Not many players do that, especially ones of his calibre
Several of his turnovers were also not his fault. Teammates didn’t help or got wildly out of position and he had nowhere to go with the ball and got trapped.
Because he was doubled all game. What people don’t realize is that it any other player in the league was doubled as much they physically could not get off the shots look against off.
Yea they are “bad” shots but if there was an open man to find he would have found it.
100% those last 5 minutes were Luka just passing out of a double team to a wide open teammate and then bricking so he went back to taking the shot himelself.
i empathize with smart cause he was playing through something but jesus those shots were rough
Still had one of the most impactful 1⁄10 shooting games I ever seen
Yep +27, the 2nd best is almost half at +14 (Luka).
The true Smart experience. Head scratching shots, low fg%, and an undeniable impact on winning.
He’s a center who is forced to be a guard.
he is such a good player who also loves building palaces with all the bricks he throws
Both teams were ice cold from 3 for the second half, nobody on either side could make shots at all the last 5 minutes
I’m assuming you didn’t watch and won’t get serious answers from other Luka haters
A lot of them were end of shot clock or on a failed offensive possession, they’d hand it back to Luka an he had to take the tough 3
That’s his MO. I wish he would chill on the threes a bit and drive more. I swear he’d average 40 like that
he tends to shot chuck more when his shots are not falling
BECAUSE HES THAT GUY
Because he’s been lights out since the start of year. 40+% Why not
Because he would rather miss one while double teamed than have Marcus Smart whiff his 5th wide open shot in a row.
Because there are no 4s
Because they don’t make 4’s?
He decided he was not going to take a single good shot today.
Because his teammates couldn’t make wide open shots unfortunately
shoutout to AR who had a great game as well. he’s getting back to his form
Lakers are just better without Lebron. they’ve had a better net rating without Lebron on the court the past 2 years
It’s hard being the 3rd option, just ask Chris bosh, Kevin love, Westbrook, and dlo how it feels to play next to someone who dominates the ball so much.
The problem is Bosh and Love complemented his other 2 stars. Lebron is like another version of the 2 stars he has and they share the same strengths and weaknesses, so it’s hard to build around that.
The entirety of the issue is LeBron’s shooting. If he shot 40% like Rui, the Lakers would be the best offense in the league with him. But he’s shooting 31% making them league average with him on the court. Defense is a wash.
LeBron would have been perfect as the 3rd option a couple of years ago. He was the athletic wing that they need right now. But the man is 41 years old..
What a ridiculous thing to say lol
Don’t they have a positive rating with LeBron, just not him with both Reaves and Luka on the floor together?
He was great on defense today. Made some great plays vs Brunson and OG.
everyone was pretty good on defense today
I feel like it’s the only way the Lakers players can be good defenders, if the team overall is defending well. Too many good off ball defenders, so they have to all be on point switching and playing the passing lane
I think that’s why we saw more small ball 5 from Maxi. The all-switching defense allowed them to really sit in the gaps and be in passing lanes much better.
He’s been pretty good (for his standards) on defense for a couple of months now. That’s why it drives me crazy the amount of slander he was getting for it recently as if he wasn’t putting in effort at all. People just see one lowlight of him not getting back on defense, that admittedly are bad, and discount the rest of the game. Last time I checked he averages more steals than SGA, but no one gives a damn. Not saying he’s a better defender than SGA, but it seems like for other offense heavy players people will point out steals to pump up their defense, but never do the same for Luka
Brunson did the same thing (not getting back on defense, after not getting a call) in this game. I’m sure it will be all over the internet and people will blame him for the loss…
What will probably happen is people waiting for Luka to have a bad game and then start saying Brunson (or any other similar level player), is better than him, because he just scored 40 or something…
It must be so easy being competition for Luka with the media we have, legit, you can be ok defensively and the media will consider you a defensive god to compare you to Luka. Like Ant for example is a good defender but his own teammate was like he gotta lock in, and if you watch him play, his worst habit is losing focus sometimes and missing some plays, but I heard Zach Lowe mention him as one of the best perimeter defenders in the league and I am like what? When he locks in maybe but for the season?
Also I am willing to bet my life savings that if you put Luka on an all-time defense where you have elite defenders all around you like Dort, Caruso, Cason, JDub, Chet, iHart, and you do the MiB thing to make people lose their bias against Luka, people would think omg this guy is a good defender because its so much easier to defend in a team like that, than it is where you have only 1-2 good defenders on the whole roster
doesn’t help that Luka is Lebron’s teammate so the Lebron PR machine has to downplay all his teammates
When SGA was leading the league in assists it was the main talking point how an amazing defender he is.
His defense is actually very decent, to average.
But you can always rely on an OKC fan to post a lowlight following a loss to make it out like Luka is the worst defender ever to grace a court.
Lakers are now tied with the media darling Jokic led Nuggets while Luka is averaging 33-8-8 on great efficiency and played more games than Jokic yet he’s fighting for 1st team and Jokic is borderline MVP. Makes no sense especially since Jokic has almost all the same flaws as Luka. Obviously Jokic has better efficiency and rebounding / assists but the gap shouldn’t be as big as it is. Just like in 2024
Neither should be in Cade/Brown talks. SGA is the runaway IMO rn and then Jokic and Luka
As a Luka fan I’ve never minded most of the conversations around him and SGA since SGA is legitimately an all time guard
On the other hand Jaylen Brown convos are just completely absurd, they aren’t even close to the same tier as player
It’s most valuable player, not most talented player.
In terms of importance to the team, they’re at least comparable.
OKC is a playoff team without SGA.
BOS is a play-in team, without Brown, in a weaker conference.
Since 1990, the Lakers have had 2 players with MVP seasons
Kobe and Shaq with one each.
It’s a rare thing for a Laker to win MVP these days
LeBron also should’ve won in 2020
His arrow was pointed up so much when the season got interrupted. LeBron would have taken it for sure
Plus giannis going down
In Dallas there was not enough media attention to win the MVP, in LA there is too much of it.
Jokic is held to a different standard than any other top 1-3 player in the league, so it makes no sense comparing how Luka is treated to him. Luka is getting the same treatment Harden got for example.
Jokic? Can quit in the playoffs in a game 7, make it past the 2nd round once in 5 years, be a bad defender at the most important defensive position, and he will get excuses lined up for him that any other “best player in the world” could only dream of.
He also had the easiest finals matchup of all time. Hes the best player in the world to me but the double standard is ridiculous.
The worst part is If Luka got to play the 8 seed heat and won and Jokic lost to the Celtics the media would flip
My guy def gets a massive pass for some reason. Feels like he’s the least criticized superstar right now lol
Facts, and it’s not fair that Jokic coasts in MVP discussions off of reputation alone. He’s been playing like ass (for his very high standards) since he came back from injury and has been worse defensively than Luka at a more important defensive position, yet no one talks about putting other players over him like they were about putting Cade and Brown above Luka
Luka was so good off the bat hes suffering from voters fatigue despite never actually winning the award.
That being said pretty much every time someone had a better case than him so only 1-2 years were really arguable for him to win.
I’d go SGA, Wemby, Luka Jokic (in that order) before I’d ever even consider Cade/Brown. Then I’d so Wemby over SGA if they can take the 1 seed. They are only 2.5 games back
Yeah my MVP takes are much like my BITW takes. I think there’s a massive drop off from Luka, Jokic, Giannis most years, Shai and now Wemby. Ranking them can be somewhat subjective but any order is not “bashful” to me
I’ll entertain Ant talk but anyone else I can’t take seriously
The Cade and Brown convos are absolutely ridiculous. I have my criticisms of Luka but there is legitimately no reason he should be getting compared to those two. Cade actually has a lot of the same flaws that people criticise Luka for: Bad efficiency (even worse than Luka) and turns the ball over a ton
Yea I guess if you don’t compare rebounds,assists and efficiency Luka does look better on paper and so does anyone else.
He’s better the further away from the basket. He was 0/6 from 24-26.5 feet, and 5⁄10 from 26.5+
i distinctly remember seeing him overshoot one of his threes and thinking “if he was further away it’s cash” fun to see the numbers backing that up
Undisputed top 4 player. A couple less-than-generational performances on a team he’s still adjusting to that also exposes his weaknesses and people are quick to criticize him.
generational talent but i fear the ring-rotten discourse won’t be able to appreciate him until he gets one. i’d like him to get one just because i really love him as a player.
Absolutely. I might be biased but I think the finals was closer than the 4-1 too, if Kyrie steps up in game 2 that can go to a game 6 in Dallas, and possibly a game 7, where anything can happen.
The true swing was how dominant KP was in his minutes in game 1. It might have changed the entire momentum of the series.
That mfer hit 4 shots, with most of them being over Kyrie Irving lol.
It’s funny seeing ppl act like KP did anything significant other than take advantage of a terrible string of defense by DAL.
First of all, he scored 20 points in 21 minutes. and He also was amazing protecting the rim with 3 blocks.
He basically went amazing defensive play —> post up floater —> block —> silky jumper —> block —> 3 —> steal —> 3 —> block in the space of like 5 minutes.
obviously anything can happen in your incredibly convenient hypothetical
Brunson disasterpiece
He’s honestly not been that great lately
Luka straight up chucking those threes all willy-nilly and still somehow having an efficient game.
The duality of TS% lol.
The Lakers have found LeSecret to beating good teams.
Burn
Damn 16 3’s attempted? What was going on with the offense lol, few assists so was no one else making shots from his passes?
He had a decent amount of secondary assists but the team struggled shooting after the first quarter and a half
It’s just that New York offensively was shittier
Not great offensive game from either team but I thought the Lakers looked really good on D. Knicks D was also solid especially from Shamet
What does New Yorks offense have to do with Luka’s assist numbers
Mikal Bridges with his 1st 0 pt game of the season in 27 minutes. And the Knicks team shot just 8-34 from three.
He wasn’t good on the 3’s he took himself but a bunch were other players trying to create something, nothing happens so they pass it out to Luka with 5 seconds on the clock
He had some of most diabolical shot selection in this game I’ve seen even for his levels. (Not hating, very entertaining to watch) and actually played very good defence aswell.
Lakers were very streaking from field this game. Some time they wouldn’t miss for half a quarter and then they wouldn’t make a single one.
Pretty much. No one on either team was hitting many shots.
Knicks was playing extremely physical with him all game.
Also he made a few great passes, rest of the team just ain’t hitting.
Idk man. Lakers kept looking for 3s
Lakers roleplayers couldn’t buy a 3 so they passed it back to Luka with a few seconds on clock
Luka wasn’t hitting his 3s and tried to get the feeling back after the nice one-legged to beat the shot clock. They had the cushion for that. And apart from Smart, everyone scored decently. The ball moved pretty well, surely some hockey assists instead of the usual ones.
Shooters shoot
Lakers started out shooting well but both teams were sub zero from 3 the second half
“Great game by Luka. Beating Brunson in a H2H is a statement. This bumps Luka below Brunson and out of my top 10.”
I see a bunch of jokes about this, is it something some reporter said?
It’s about the latest MVP rankings. Cade Cunningham ranked above Wemby and Luka, and Jaylen Brown over Luka. Luka putting up better numbers than Cade and JB but somehow he ain’t even top 5.
oh, I see hating on Luka is trendy 😅
Yep, he’s a certified Laker now.
Ppl hate on his constant ref complaining but he’s always been that way since the Mav days. The LA spotlight just makes it more noticeable. Still, it shouldn’t take away from his numbers and impact on the court. SGA and Jokic flop quite often, but they deserve the top 2. Wemby seems to be the most ethical MVP candidate lol.
Wemby seems to be the most ethnical MVP candidate lol.
I thought about this for a second and I think I agree with you.
Agree
lol where are all the Knicks fans who said “couldn’t be us” when lakers were losing? 😂😂😂
He gave effort defensively today. Good for him.
Let it be know before the game started I predicted the lakers could win this one
Why wouldn’t they be able to win?
Some salty Knicks fan acted like they had no chance. They were getting too confident
Brunson played like Luka haters say Luka plays lol
People really pretend this guy Luka is washed lol
The entire team played great. This is a completely different team without Lebron James and the proof is in the pudding all season.
Oh stfu LeBron is not the problem and has on multiple occasions been the best player in this team
The problem is that Luka and LeBron don’t fit together. It is like Wade and LeBron in the first Miami season, but both are terrible defenders instead of elite defenders.
I can agree with that but I’ve watched 90% of all lakers game this season and trying to say “this is a different team without lebron” as if he hasn’t done serious work with the roster is actually a wild take.
16 threes is hilarious he hit the shots he needed to tho I honestly think AR was the best player today tho
16 3 point attempts is crazy.
Knicks “beat a team w/ a good backcourt” challenge.
🤣 you would think OG,Mikal, or hart would help.
NICO really saved the Lakers franchise
Luka and AR much better with lebron out or off the floor. Its more free flowing offense and others get more involved. Great win over a real nba contender
Lakers play fast without bron
Why’d they play so slow today then?
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those shots are a core part of Luka’s game, they aren’t going anywhere
5⁄16 might be crazy but hey a win is a damn win 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Hitting crazy shots in the 4th
Nothing scares me more than off balance Luka/Jokic threes and SGA middies. If they get it off comfortably im surprised if it doesnt go in.
I saw Luka smile, drop him to bottom 35 in MVP race.
LAKERS KNICKS FINALS!
‘#’emptiedtheclip
Refs were balanced in this game
Looked good but he had weird turnovers from handling the ball
Great game
I don’t live in usa, how to listen to radio?
You can get the league pass, it should be cheaper outside USA. You can also try Sirius XM radio app, 3 months free trial
This Luka guy is pretty good
And the lakers won’t even contend lol
I don’t understand why he is shooting so many threes
Can he start fucking attacking the paint?
Luka made me forget about gas prices and how to survive the coming months.
5⁄16 good GOD
If you watched the game, he deferred to an aggressive Reaves many times (and AR had a good game), but he also chucked many shots lol I guess just to be an effective focal point (got doubled most of the time). I think Luka still had a very good game, one of his better defensive game overall.
LIKE A CURRY GAME 7
Most of those were when he got the ball with like 5 seconds left, after failed offensive possesion. He probably shot 7 or 8 shots like that and made 2
Giving more effort on D and if he would stop picking the ball up in weird positions he wouldnt turn the ball over as much
How many complaints a game is he averaging a game tho?
Can’t wait for Bron to leave next year, I love how this team plays when he’s out. We fit together so much better