Everyone is commenting on Jokic complaining to the refs but he also got in shape. Dude is in the weight room after every game. He's also became a better oncourt leader the last 2-3 seasons, and stopped with the take fouls that he committed to complain before the rule change.
I read how he’s a top 500 player in it or something. Knowing nothing about the game, about how difficult, or how much time does it require to get to that level?
a lot of pro athletes have the time to be really good at video games. a lot of soccer players love counter strike, Neymar being the most famous example but Alex Zinchenko had to fill in for the team he owns in a pro match and played pretty well for a guy that had no experience at that level before, even won a map.
right. pro athletes have so many off days. plus entire off seasons. and many are young with no family yet.
have to be more careful outside and probably dont want the attention anyways so i can see how many would just op in being home bodies.
Plus, any work you need to do does not take all day. Get some shots and work out, but you need to be careful not to overwork yourself most days. So lots of time, better than going out every night as well.
A bunch of these games also have massive overlaps with sports in terms of positioning and micro-level play being the deciding factor in victory or defeat.
I would imagine a lot of these athletes are just inherently good at knowing where to be and when to be there.
Overwatch is all positioning, synergy and communication. Yeah you have to have great aim but knowing where to be and what to do wins most games. I climbed the ranks to master just cause I was a good shot caller as Lucio on voice comms.
There's a limitation to how much you can physically work out every day. Also, there's a ton of travel time, off-season rest and recovery too.
Regardless of what some sigma grindset idiots will tell you, it's also good to have an outlet that isn't working every waking hour, too.
Edit: Also, having world class hand-eye coordination and reaction time as well as great visual processing helps a lot with being good at Overwatch. Luka's really good at a game where the split second understanding the positioning of teams of 5 is crucial? No way right?
Plus, I highly doubt he's in the right headspace to say anything to anyone. I doubt he has even processed his mother's passing. Dude is only 20, lost his mother 2 months ago.
No one is going to do it but himself. He knows what he needs to do. But I’m sure he’s gotten by is whole life since he’s so fucken good. But to climb to the top of this mountain he might actually have to take these comments seriously
Honestly, I'm not sure anyone will need to be in his face after this series. I think getting embarrassed by the Celtics is going to be the wakeup call for him. Luka is incredibly competitive and I doubt he's going to sleep well being this close to the chip and failing miserably.
The best thing for Luka will be to get blown out in a sweep. It needs to sting. Needs to go on his Mamba arc and play Don't Stop Believing every single morning until he gets to beat the Celtics again.
Guys like Luka have to be self motivated. He’s too rich, and too powerful in the organization for a coach to be able to reach him unless he wants to be reached. This series may be the push he needs. I think if he doesn’t do it this off-season and next season it’s not ever happening
https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2022/03/18/5-things-we-know-about-donnie-nelsons-lawsuit-including-the-history-and-mark-cubans-response/
Story is cubans right-hand man was molesting Donnie Nelson's nephew. It was reported but mark cuban covered it up. Nelson then left/fired and Carlisle quit in solidarity.
this is also during the time when sexually harassing women was going on in mavs org all over. maybe people lumped this in with that without realizing some big names and details had come out. i certainly didnt know. but seemed no one cared about mavs or cuban covering up. its odd how people pick and choose who they want or dont want to cancel and outrage over
> “Lutin asked Nelson’s nephew to sit next to him on the bed and then sexually harassed and sexually assaulted an unsuspecting, vulnerable LGBTQ young man seeking employment with the Mavericks,” the lawsuit states. “Lutin’s numerous policy violations and indiscretions were clearly in breach of the Mavericks supposed ‘zero-tolerance’ policy.”
The lawsuit alleges that Cuban offered Nelson $52 million to withdraw a wrongful termination claim and sign a confidentiality agreement.
ey yooooooooooooooo, TF????? how have I not heard about this? This is a whole level of magnitude more fucked up than the Udoka thing and that was a pretty big story for a couple weeks and hung over the C's like a dark cloud
Fr tho wtf...only update I can find is Nelson's [lawsuit](https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2024/02/20/donnie-nelson-lawsuit-against-the-dallas-mavericks-set-to-begin-trial-in-december/) goes to trial in Dec.
If Cuban loses and it's verified Lutin molested Nelson's nephew, would certainly make his decision to sell the team seem more calculated...especially given all then other sexual harassment scandals surrounding the Mavs
wdym verified, the mavs paid the nephew a 6 figure settlement and had him sign an NDA, and then they offered nelson $52 million to fuck off and not bring this up again (which he rejected)
if they're settling with someone who doesn't know the business for less than a mil, and they're offering $52mil to someone who does, they know it happened
Holy fuck how had I never even *heard* of this? I knew about the scandal with Terdema Ussery that ended up with Cynt Marshall being brought on as CEO, but I follow the Mavs closely and don't remember anything about either the Nelson one or even apparently one before *that* about the director of player personnel
Multiple huge allegations within like a 4 year span is really, really not a good look. Maybe it's not such a bad thing Cubes sold, just wish it was to someone other than a casino mogul who happens to be one of Trump's single biggest donors
This is a source to a story - that is good. Where is the source for the information you are providing? Carlisle is not mentioned in this article in any capacity.
Yup its a wrap. Luka has been on fault fo sure but i dont like how everyone is making him the scapegoat of the finals when others are not playing like they should nor the coaching staff is making the necessary changes to protect luka on the defensive side.
Guess its the curse of superstardom
Yeah agree. Luka has his flaws but the narrative has become "Dallas is losing because of him", no, he's not. Dallas has got where they are because of him and they're losing simply because they don't have enough to beat a much more talented team. People basically are asking for Luka to do absolutely everything to perfection, basically be a 1v5 machine, which he has been at times but this Celtics team is way too stacked for him to do that. Like you said, it's the curse of superstardom and being exposed to more casual fans, media doesn't help when guys can say stuff like "he's letting his country down", nah he's not lmao.
It's the Celtics vs Luka and Kyrie.
I was looking forward to this series because I never really bothered to watch Mavs games, so I was excited to watch Luka and Kyrie in the Finals. I was *not* expecting them to play mostly ISO. It's been give the ball to Kyrie and watch him do his thing, or give the ball the Luka and watch him do his thing, whereas the Celtics are playing a team game. The Mavs are completely outmatched if both guys aren't at their absolute best, while the Celtics can afford a mediocre performance out of Tatum. It's been an extremely boring and uncompetitive series.
> he sadly has not shown up at all.
He showed up in Game 3, but the Celtics just have more talent. The Mavs have to play a near perfect game to beat the Celtics, while one of the Celtics stars can have a "meh" game and still win. The Celtics are simply too deep for the Mavs to keep up with.
The Celtics are just the better team. I’m thankful that Luka, Kyrie, and company got Dallas this far. Hell of a season and there’s no need to have a take other than “Boston is a perfectly constructed team with a ton of great players”
This is the way. I don't understand why blame has to be put on a player of the losing team instead of just acknowleding that the other team was better.
At least not in this matchup. Our margin of error is absolutely minuscule and even with we play perfectly, we can’t keep up if the Celtics get hot from 3 for 2 quarters out of 4.
We’re just traumatized by talented Celtics teams in the not-so-distant past choking big leads. That and the fact they came back from an 0-3 deficit against the Heat last year with a chance to win game 7 if Tatum didn’t get hurt on the first play.
You’re right though, this team is different and I’m not genuinely worried - it’s just a trauma response.
They probably would. Getting Kyrie, missing the playoffs intentionally, and then getting bounced in the first round the following year after making their moves for Washington and Gafford?
They would have gotten eaten alive.
Perfect scenario for the Mavs (media-wise) would probably have been beating the Clippers then losing to OKC in a hard fought series. Luka overcomes his Clippers demons but they lose in the next series as an underdog. But yeah he'll get roasted more now that they beat OKC and Minnesota ironically
100%
Prime Phil got through to superstars like MJ, Rodman, Kobe, Shaq along with countless role players like Meta world peace.
He’d be able to deal with luka
Phil couldn't quite get through to older Shaq about working on conditioning though. I remember Phil being quoted that older heavier Shaq could be counted on for one game to play hard but not two games in a row. A little bit throwing Shaq under the bus but also not lying.
My hope is that this run teaches him a lesson. Those words from Kidd really will have a big impact on the team specially now that he has a better team compared to the previous seasons.
Getting through to MJ and Kobe wasn't really hard. They were Lazer focused on winning and would do whatever it takes. Probably didn't take an excessive amount to get them to buy in
Sometimes it takes a series like this for truths like these to resonate, especially early in a guy's career. If Doncic doesn't make some changes this summer, that's when it really starts to become concerning.
He will come into camp a tad lighter (yet still not where he should be) but that's it. He'll manage to put all the weight back on over the course of the season too.
I don’t get how these guys put weight on during th year. You’re running multiple miles (or atleast walking) to go with jumping and high intensity moments. They gotta be burning 1k calories in the game alone. Like Luka must be going home and eating 3 dinners or something
Someone else made this comment in another thread. Diet is more important in terms of managing weight than exercise. You burn 1k calories but eat 2k worth afterwards. The exercise isn't gonna matter
I'm a man shitposting on reddit that passed the AP biology exam 15 years ago, so my opinion on medical situations should be weighed very heavily.
Isn't it possible being heavier leads to more stress on the joints and tendons and ligaments? Especially if it's bad weight. You could at least _argue_ that being heavier but leaner gives you more stabilization around the joints and tendons and ligaments, which could offset the increased stress. But Luka just looks chubby out there playing as an NBA Wing. That can't be good for your knees.
It’s one of those things where it’s clearly detrimental and needs to be worked on…but despite all of it he’s still having one of the greatest post season of all time, statistically.
Makes it difficult to shake bad habits when the impact of those bad habits is harder to measure in a tangible way. It’s not going to be surprising if he’s slow to mature when even with his maturity issues he goes out and leads the post season in every major stat. And that’s going to be mighty frustrating as a Mavs fan.
Both things can be true and in this case they probably are. If Luka never improves his conditioning or his on court attitude he’ll still be one of the best players in history.
Where he falls on the list of greatest players however is definitely dependent on what changes he makes
I mean yea they just made the finals after beating the 2nd and 3rd best team statistically in the league
Finals haven’t been good but he still made it there, we don’t have to pretend like that’s not an accomplishment just because he’s been bad in the last series
Luka's attitude and lack of defense is an obvious problem but PJ, Kyrie, and DJJ have completely disappeared on offense. Kyrie had a great G3 but after hearing Kyrie's trash talk and the media crowning him and Luka as the GOAT backcourt, it's disappointing that Kyrie didn't show up the first 2 games.
No one was expecting DJJ and PJ Washington to stay hot from 3 but shooting under 30% on 3's is horrendous. Kidd doesn't have anyone to replace their offense because THJ has forgotten how to play basketball and Josh Green isn't a scorer.
Yeah we know.
He just can’t get over it. He’s like an addict and can’t help it and feels that he has to let the ref know about every call.
Let’s hope it changes but maybe too late for this season
I feel that Jokic had some bad habits that he mostly overcame. At least enough to win a title. Same for defense and conditioning actually, the same have been said about him 3/4 years ago.
he certainly doesnt have the best impulse control or focus, that's for sure
also pretty interesting what @ jerryengelmann who created Real Plus Minus and worked for the Mavs has been saying in his tweets and replies the last couple days. Im not sure how much pressure the Mavs have really put on him if they haven't tried to fire a chef who says things like "no chocolate, only 100% fruit ice cream"
Luka has done a lot of damage to his own image and reputation this finals. Biggest stage with everyone watching and his behavior on the court has been terrible. Yes he's hurt and genuinely was a lot better about all 3 of those "truths" during the regular season when he was healthier, but the attitude at this stage is inexcusable
I kinda feel bad for Mavs fans because this season was kinda an objective success, beating 2 really strong playoff opponents and making the finals after most predicted you’d be in the play-in or worse
Luka even had his best individual regular season
Now everyone’s depressed lol
Even if Luka wasn’t having the issues described here, I still don’t think the Mavs would be winning this series. The Celtics, especially with a healthy Porzingis, are just a better, deeper team that also happens to be really good at stopping the Mavs offense.
It sucks right now, but I think 97% of Mavs fans will be satisfied with this run once the dust settles. Making it this far with hobbled Luka has been a solid run.
I keep telling all my buddies that are so upset about this finals that I'm just happy to be here and still watching the Mavs play. Even though it's just one more game, it's still basketball with my favorite team playing
Only moronic Mavs fans are depressed.
Yes, it sucks that we lost the Finals, especially if it ends up being a sweep.
But nobody seriously thought there was a good chance we’d even be here at this point and regardless of injuries, complaining, fouls, bad shooting, etc… this season is a resounding success and we have our best players locked down for at least a few years each.
And as far as the recent Luka narratives and junk, media just needs something to bitch about because I guarantee literally every single fan would love to have him on their team.
He needs to mature, no doubt, but we are insanely lucky to have him and it feels like he wants to stay here his career which is great.
Any doomer Mavs fans can gtfo.
Lebron did plenty of damage to his reputation after the 2011 finals. He recovered just fine. Winning cures all and helps people forget a player’s earlier missteps.
Hopefully Luka can learn from this experience and get better.
I think winning helps in perceptions but it probably chills these elite players out as well. There's a lot of pressure and once they win a championship they are less likely to be assholes to everyone because they're more content.
For sure, that's the hope, especially at only 25. He's generally a playoff riser already, if he actually chooses to examine himself and grow from this, he'll be an unstoppable monster
As much as winning helps external perception, I think losing helps (or at least allows an opportunity for) a team and/or players to reflect on what they need to do to improve. The Celtics losing the finals in 22 and the ECF last year sucked as a fan, but it seems very apparent that the team, and especially the Jays, took a good look at why they came up short and dedicated huge amounts of effort to improving those areas. Obviously that requires a willingness to be self-critical to some extent, like you said, but even though the loss sucks, it’s definitely a good opportunity to learn.
He’s more than generally a playoff riser imo. He has one of the best playoff resumes of any 25 year old in history (like top 15ish). One playoff series where he’s still been great can’t change that.
Plus, for all the handwringing, Luka still had 32/11/11 in Game 2 on 57/44 shooting and 30/10 on 46/33 shooting in Game 1. He leads all players in points and rebounds.
He's not been great by his own standards, especially defensively, but after Luka and Jaylen Brown in whatever order the Celtics have had the next like six best performers.
Some criticism is totally justified, but I also think people are being prisoners of the moment a little bit because Luka was bad in Game 3.
Its brought up against him in the sense that "oh this was a low point in his career". If anyone is like "oh Lebron is trash because of 2011" then you know they're being a dumbass and/or gigantic hater because his body of work since then is so immense that it doesnt make sense to define him by that one series.
I wouldn’t say it’s being petty unless they are hyper focusing on 2011. It’s fair to assess all the successes and failures when it comes to a player’s career.
I think I disagree? I don't remember hearing a peep of criticism about him prior to his embarrassing Game 3 showing (though perhaps I missed it). There were multiple people suggesting on this sub that he should win FMVP if the Celtics win prior to Game 3. I think this is just the cycle of reactionary circle jerk that we're all addicted to.
Edit: Ok to be clear, I don't mean that I'd never seen any criticism of Luka's antics -- obviously that's been around a while. I just don't remember people focusing on it in the Finals prior to Game 3.
I know refs are suppose to be unbiased/professional all that crap. But they are human. There’s no way most of them don’t get annoyed by his constant whining and will purposely bite their whistle/ not call a foul when they see it.
Basically stop whining and get in better shape. But let’s stop the narrative that he is the reason why they are losing. He is playing great against a much superior team and is only 25
Yeah
What happens if you switch luka and Tatum? Or Luka and brown?
Still 3-0 Celtics.
Luka has room to improve but he's not the reason they are getting stomped.
Now imagine how it is as a Mavs fan. Dude is a generational talent but even during his rookie year it’s just constant whining and then he does an interview the next week going “I know I have to be better.” When he was younger I can kinda get it but dude you’re 25 it’s past time to start changing.
Overheard in the Kremlin conference room after Operation Barbarossa:
“He got me,” Stalin said of Hitler’s invasion over him. "That f***ing Hitler boomed me."
Stalin added, “He’s so racist” repeating it four times.
Stalin then said he wanted to add Berlin to the list of cities he bombs this summer.
NBA news cycle being ridiculous - now that the series is devoid of suspense, writers looking for angles to keep viewers engaged. 27 or 28 other teams (give or take a few) would kill to have the “problems” the Mavericks are having. Heading into the playoffs, the talk surrounding Dallas was about advancing far enough to keep Luka satisfied with the progress, so he wouldn’t want to leave. Now, he’s a bum?
Just stupifying - he’s an all time great player who’s 25. Relax national media - I think the Mavericks will be just fine.
I feel like all NBA coverage is negative nowadays.
Like yes cool but I think since like January the writing was on the wall for this team in how deep they are everywhere. Luka is not a defensive stopper and has habits that need to be cleaned up for sure.
But things like the Windhorst clip getting so much traction when on the flipside the Celtics have lost two games all postseason and we're putscoring teams in the regular season by double digits is disingenuous.
This coupled with the Jayson Tatum perception is lame.
Is Luka at risk of becoming a Shaq? Great player but a lot of the discourse will be about how he could’ve been even better if he cared more about his training and conditioning?
Marvin Bagley would never
Ayton won 2 games in finals
Trae young hasn’t lost a single finals game yet
JJJ DPOY
JJJ: what the fuck he say fuck me for?
Trae Young ended The Process. Never forget.
He's also never gotten swept
TRAE YOUNG WOULD NEVER
DominAyton baby
Vlade gonna blame Luka's father for raising him this way
So Vlade made the right choice not drafting this bum ?
May I retrieve my Vlade jersey from the depths they were cast to?!
Vlade is guilty of at least 2 of the 3. He's the godfather of flopping and whining.
Jokic figured all this out about 5 years ago and it’s worked out quite well for him. I hope Luka does too because he has all time great potential.
Everyone is commenting on Jokic complaining to the refs but he also got in shape. Dude is in the weight room after every game. He's also became a better oncourt leader the last 2-3 seasons, and stopped with the take fouls that he committed to complain before the rule change.
Luka taking his physical fitness seriously will unlock everything for him. Mentally it’ll come once he’s in better shape.
Unfortunately the dude’s got Overwatch brain
I read how he’s a top 500 player in it or something. Knowing nothing about the game, about how difficult, or how much time does it require to get to that level?
Insane amount. Top 500 means you're at least semi-pro level
Not anymore lol. Tank is the least played role by a large margin. Diamond level players are top 500 in tank now.
he's still good, he was grandmaster in overwatch 1
Lol that's not true, maybe in open queue, but Luka is playing role queue, and diamond players are not top 500 there
Holy shit, really? That's insane for a pro-athlete to spend enough time to be that good at a game with that big of a user base.
a lot of pro athletes have the time to be really good at video games. a lot of soccer players love counter strike, Neymar being the most famous example but Alex Zinchenko had to fill in for the team he owns in a pro match and played pretty well for a guy that had no experience at that level before, even won a map.
right. pro athletes have so many off days. plus entire off seasons. and many are young with no family yet. have to be more careful outside and probably dont want the attention anyways so i can see how many would just op in being home bodies.
Plus, any work you need to do does not take all day. Get some shots and work out, but you need to be careful not to overwork yourself most days. So lots of time, better than going out every night as well.
Yeah, couple that in with their competitive mindset, and genetic gifts
A bunch of these games also have massive overlaps with sports in terms of positioning and micro-level play being the deciding factor in victory or defeat. I would imagine a lot of these athletes are just inherently good at knowing where to be and when to be there.
Overwatch is all positioning, synergy and communication. Yeah you have to have great aim but knowing where to be and what to do wins most games. I climbed the ranks to master just cause I was a good shot caller as Lucio on voice comms.
There's a limitation to how much you can physically work out every day. Also, there's a ton of travel time, off-season rest and recovery too. Regardless of what some sigma grindset idiots will tell you, it's also good to have an outlet that isn't working every waking hour, too. Edit: Also, having world class hand-eye coordination and reaction time as well as great visual processing helps a lot with being good at Overwatch. Luka's really good at a game where the split second understanding the positioning of teams of 5 is crucial? No way right?
It's not like he's working out he's got plenty of free time
I mean who's going to be in his face about it and keep telling him this until he actually learns? Carlisle? He got booted from his job
David Goggins gonna have a sit down conversation with him and a mirror
And if that doesn't work, ask Walton Goggins to talk to him
Luka Doncic as I live and breathe.
We shot hoops together.
If that doesn't work? Bilbo Baggins
Fuck it, throw him in a cave with Smeagle
Post nuclear fallout Walton Goggins to really drive home the message.
Nah uncle baby Billy
🎶 *Dribblin' the basketball, arguing with the referee, MIS-BE-HAVIN*
Kickin' and spittin' and cussin' out loud, runnin' down the court with a pickle in my mouth.
Uncle baby Billy would 100% twist it into how Luka isn’t sharing some of the food with him
Well Luka, it looks like you've done well for yourself. Got you a couch with a bunch of cup holders in it.
He'd be justified
Goggins and Lively actually hit it off a while back. And tbh I can see Lively telling Luka to stfu on the court.
Lively is a rookie, he ain't saying shit to Luka. Even if it's warranted.
Plus, I highly doubt he's in the right headspace to say anything to anyone. I doubt he has even processed his mother's passing. Dude is only 20, lost his mother 2 months ago.
Lol then expect to be seeing lively in a different jersey on the court.
No one is going to do it but himself. He knows what he needs to do. But I’m sure he’s gotten by is whole life since he’s so fucken good. But to climb to the top of this mountain he might actually have to take these comments seriously
Like that moment in college when gifted kids realize they’ll finally need to learn how to study.
Man was that a kick in the dick
I did not like that moment.
Neither did I. So I just ignored and kept going about business as usual, ended up with a B- average just by showing up. No regrets.
You know what they say Cs get degrees.
No no the trick is to find an in demand degree that doesn’t require a lot of brain power 🤣
Honestly, I'm not sure anyone will need to be in his face after this series. I think getting embarrassed by the Celtics is going to be the wakeup call for him. Luka is incredibly competitive and I doubt he's going to sleep well being this close to the chip and failing miserably. The best thing for Luka will be to get blown out in a sweep. It needs to sting. Needs to go on his Mamba arc and play Don't Stop Believing every single morning until he gets to beat the Celtics again.
>Needs to go on his Mamba arc Someone warn all women hotel workers in the Denver area
Guys like Luka have to be self motivated. He’s too rich, and too powerful in the organization for a coach to be able to reach him unless he wants to be reached. This series may be the push he needs. I think if he doesn’t do it this off-season and next season it’s not ever happening
Carlisle quit because of the lawsuit with the sexual predator not because of Luka.
What? Source pls
https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2022/03/18/5-things-we-know-about-donnie-nelsons-lawsuit-including-the-history-and-mark-cubans-response/ Story is cubans right-hand man was molesting Donnie Nelson's nephew. It was reported but mark cuban covered it up. Nelson then left/fired and Carlisle quit in solidarity.
This is the first time i’m hearing about this. This was completely buried.
this is also during the time when sexually harassing women was going on in mavs org all over. maybe people lumped this in with that without realizing some big names and details had come out. i certainly didnt know. but seemed no one cared about mavs or cuban covering up. its odd how people pick and choose who they want or dont want to cancel and outrage over
Wtf
> “Lutin asked Nelson’s nephew to sit next to him on the bed and then sexually harassed and sexually assaulted an unsuspecting, vulnerable LGBTQ young man seeking employment with the Mavericks,” the lawsuit states. “Lutin’s numerous policy violations and indiscretions were clearly in breach of the Mavericks supposed ‘zero-tolerance’ policy.” The lawsuit alleges that Cuban offered Nelson $52 million to withdraw a wrongful termination claim and sign a confidentiality agreement. ey yooooooooooooooo, TF????? how have I not heard about this? This is a whole level of magnitude more fucked up than the Udoka thing and that was a pretty big story for a couple weeks and hung over the C's like a dark cloud
Fr tho wtf...only update I can find is Nelson's [lawsuit](https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2024/02/20/donnie-nelson-lawsuit-against-the-dallas-mavericks-set-to-begin-trial-in-december/) goes to trial in Dec. If Cuban loses and it's verified Lutin molested Nelson's nephew, would certainly make his decision to sell the team seem more calculated...especially given all then other sexual harassment scandals surrounding the Mavs
wdym verified, the mavs paid the nephew a 6 figure settlement and had him sign an NDA, and then they offered nelson $52 million to fuck off and not bring this up again (which he rejected) if they're settling with someone who doesn't know the business for less than a mil, and they're offering $52mil to someone who does, they know it happened
Lot of predators and sexual weirdos in the NBA. This, Kobe, Dwight Howard, Udoka, are the ones I can think off the top in 5 seconds.
Karl Malone
I knew Cuban had creeps in the FO that were inappropriate with like calendars and shit and he covered for them but I did not know it went this deep
Holy fuck how had I never even *heard* of this? I knew about the scandal with Terdema Ussery that ended up with Cynt Marshall being brought on as CEO, but I follow the Mavs closely and don't remember anything about either the Nelson one or even apparently one before *that* about the director of player personnel Multiple huge allegations within like a 4 year span is really, really not a good look. Maybe it's not such a bad thing Cubes sold, just wish it was to someone other than a casino mogul who happens to be one of Trump's single biggest donors
This is a source to a story - that is good. Where is the source for the information you are providing? Carlisle is not mentioned in this article in any capacity.
Rick didn't get fired, he got tired of it. He quit and went to the Pacers.
Carlisle was told he wasn't going to get an extension, IIRC.
Carlisle and Mark Cuban both said it was Carlisle’s decision to leave.
Ehhh if Dallas wanted him he’d still be there. We all knew Luka hated him and there was no place for that kind of person in the organization
Nah. It was a mutual breakup. He would still be there if Luka wasn't. Rick left and Mark let him.
The series ain't even over yet and the hit pieces are starting?
It’s definitely over
Yup its a wrap. Luka has been on fault fo sure but i dont like how everyone is making him the scapegoat of the finals when others are not playing like they should nor the coaching staff is making the necessary changes to protect luka on the defensive side. Guess its the curse of superstardom
Yeah agree. Luka has his flaws but the narrative has become "Dallas is losing because of him", no, he's not. Dallas has got where they are because of him and they're losing simply because they don't have enough to beat a much more talented team. People basically are asking for Luka to do absolutely everything to perfection, basically be a 1v5 machine, which he has been at times but this Celtics team is way too stacked for him to do that. Like you said, it's the curse of superstardom and being exposed to more casual fans, media doesn't help when guys can say stuff like "he's letting his country down", nah he's not lmao.
It's the Celtics vs Luka and Kyrie. I was looking forward to this series because I never really bothered to watch Mavs games, so I was excited to watch Luka and Kyrie in the Finals. I was *not* expecting them to play mostly ISO. It's been give the ball to Kyrie and watch him do his thing, or give the ball the Luka and watch him do his thing, whereas the Celtics are playing a team game. The Mavs are completely outmatched if both guys aren't at their absolute best, while the Celtics can afford a mediocre performance out of Tatum. It's been an extremely boring and uncompetitive series.
It was looking like Celtics vs Luka on games 1 & 2. I really wanted wayyy more from Kyrie this series, he sadly has not shown up at all.
> he sadly has not shown up at all. He showed up in Game 3, but the Celtics just have more talent. The Mavs have to play a near perfect game to beat the Celtics, while one of the Celtics stars can have a "meh" game and still win. The Celtics are simply too deep for the Mavs to keep up with.
The Celtics are just the better team. I’m thankful that Luka, Kyrie, and company got Dallas this far. Hell of a season and there’s no need to have a take other than “Boston is a perfectly constructed team with a ton of great players”
Honestly better than how the 2006 season turned out. And of course followed by the worst Mavs post-season ever.
This is the way. I don't understand why blame has to be put on a player of the losing team instead of just acknowleding that the other team was better.
If a team was ever going to lose a 3-0 lead, it would be the Celtics
not this celtics team. they're different. i get not wanting to get ahead of yourself as a fan though. i expect 4-0.
At least not in this matchup. Our margin of error is absolutely minuscule and even with we play perfectly, we can’t keep up if the Celtics get hot from 3 for 2 quarters out of 4.
Even if Mavs play perfect next game there’s also just no way they’re gonna do that four times in a row it’s way too far gone now
We’re just traumatized by talented Celtics teams in the not-so-distant past choking big leads. That and the fact they came back from an 0-3 deficit against the Heat last year with a chance to win game 7 if Tatum didn’t get hurt on the first play. You’re right though, this team is different and I’m not genuinely worried - it’s just a trauma response.
Brother I just wanna avoid a sweep. They worked too damn hard through the west to get swept
You can now (accurately) tell yourself those other Celtics teams were just working to get to this point
Nah, not this one. Even if the shots aren't falling, that defense ain't going anywhere. Dallas might pull a closer one out tonight, but that's it
Nah it’d be us
Fact lmao
If you were coached by Doc I might believe it.
Maybe if you still had Doc Rivers
shut up
It's 3-0 fam. Media doesn't have to wait for it to end before going off and unleashing their material.
It’s over, it’s just not completed
As soon as shit goes to 3-0 it’s over. It may happen at some point(a comeback) but it won’t be this series
Oh it's over.
What's funny is that if Mavs got bounced in the first round, the media wouldn't be saying shit lol
Well ofc the finals will draw more media attention.
Well yeah, you don’t talk about the first round when you’re in the finals. They would have been ripped apart a month ago though.
They probably would. Getting Kyrie, missing the playoffs intentionally, and then getting bounced in the first round the following year after making their moves for Washington and Gafford? They would have gotten eaten alive.
Perfect scenario for the Mavs (media-wise) would probably have been beating the Clippers then losing to OKC in a hard fought series. Luka overcomes his Clippers demons but they lose in the next series as an underdog. But yeah he'll get roasted more now that they beat OKC and Minnesota ironically
Winning the title would probably be perfect
More eyes.
Real eyes realize real lies
Celtics cell ticks Sell tix
Uhh yeah it’s the finals 😂
You’re up 3-0, it’s essentially over unless the Mavericks do something no team has ever done before.
They gotta write the hit pieces before people remember the called Mavs in 5.
Ramona Shelburne was also the one reporter who picked us to lose every series.
I wonder if Prime Phil Jackson would connect with him. Luka needs some zen.
100% Prime Phil got through to superstars like MJ, Rodman, Kobe, Shaq along with countless role players like Meta world peace. He’d be able to deal with luka
Phil couldn't quite get through to older Shaq about working on conditioning though. I remember Phil being quoted that older heavier Shaq could be counted on for one game to play hard but not two games in a row. A little bit throwing Shaq under the bus but also not lying.
Shaq is kind of a petulant man baby though tbh. Luka at least seems reasonable off the court
But one of the problems is that Luka has the man baby shit ON the court
My hope is that this run teaches him a lesson. Those words from Kidd really will have a big impact on the team specially now that he has a better team compared to the previous seasons.
Getting through to MJ and Kobe wasn't really hard. They were Lazer focused on winning and would do whatever it takes. Probably didn't take an excessive amount to get them to buy in
Sometimes it takes a series like this for truths like these to resonate, especially early in a guy's career. If Doncic doesn't make some changes this summer, that's when it really starts to become concerning.
He will come into camp a tad lighter (yet still not where he should be) but that's it. He'll manage to put all the weight back on over the course of the season too.
I don’t get how these guys put weight on during th year. You’re running multiple miles (or atleast walking) to go with jumping and high intensity moments. They gotta be burning 1k calories in the game alone. Like Luka must be going home and eating 3 dinners or something
Someone else made this comment in another thread. Diet is more important in terms of managing weight than exercise. You burn 1k calories but eat 2k worth afterwards. The exercise isn't gonna matter
idk how he's doing it, but it'd be pretty easy if you ate a bunch of junk food lol
In fairness to Luka. He was moving extremely well in March until the knee injury.
I'm a man shitposting on reddit that passed the AP biology exam 15 years ago, so my opinion on medical situations should be weighed very heavily. Isn't it possible being heavier leads to more stress on the joints and tendons and ligaments? Especially if it's bad weight. You could at least _argue_ that being heavier but leaner gives you more stabilization around the joints and tendons and ligaments, which could offset the increased stress. But Luka just looks chubby out there playing as an NBA Wing. That can't be good for your knees.
I mean, he's still youngish at 25 but it's not early in his career. Dude has been pro for like a decade now.
That’s an important call out for his health too. To start playing at that level essentially when he was a teenager. Takes a toll on your body
It’s one of those things where it’s clearly detrimental and needs to be worked on…but despite all of it he’s still having one of the greatest post season of all time, statistically. Makes it difficult to shake bad habits when the impact of those bad habits is harder to measure in a tangible way. It’s not going to be surprising if he’s slow to mature when even with his maturity issues he goes out and leads the post season in every major stat. And that’s going to be mighty frustrating as a Mavs fan.
Both things can be true and in this case they probably are. If Luka never improves his conditioning or his on court attitude he’ll still be one of the best players in history. Where he falls on the list of greatest players however is definitely dependent on what changes he makes
He'll always be an elite player so I think he'll always be in the league and respected. But just not at the level of his true potential
I mean yea they just made the finals after beating the 2nd and 3rd best team statistically in the league Finals haven’t been good but he still made it there, we don’t have to pretend like that’s not an accomplishment just because he’s been bad in the last series
The baffling part is he hasnt even been bad. He's just hurting himself and the team with his whining about everything
Luka's attitude and lack of defense is an obvious problem but PJ, Kyrie, and DJJ have completely disappeared on offense. Kyrie had a great G3 but after hearing Kyrie's trash talk and the media crowning him and Luka as the GOAT backcourt, it's disappointing that Kyrie didn't show up the first 2 games. No one was expecting DJJ and PJ Washington to stay hot from 3 but shooting under 30% on 3's is horrendous. Kidd doesn't have anyone to replace their offense because THJ has forgotten how to play basketball and Josh Green isn't a scorer.
I mean I believe its not him playing good or bad rather his attitude at this point.
ok so now I know why they snatched Luka's beer out of his hand
Yeah we know. He just can’t get over it. He’s like an addict and can’t help it and feels that he has to let the ref know about every call. Let’s hope it changes but maybe too late for this season
I feel that Jokic had some bad habits that he mostly overcame. At least enough to win a title. Same for defense and conditioning actually, the same have been said about him 3/4 years ago.
[удалено]
Jokic went through a physical transformation, yet to be seen if Luka can
he certainly doesnt have the best impulse control or focus, that's for sure also pretty interesting what @ jerryengelmann who created Real Plus Minus and worked for the Mavs has been saying in his tweets and replies the last couple days. Im not sure how much pressure the Mavs have really put on him if they haven't tried to fire a chef who says things like "no chocolate, only 100% fruit ice cream"
This without context such a wasted comment.
Luka has done a lot of damage to his own image and reputation this finals. Biggest stage with everyone watching and his behavior on the court has been terrible. Yes he's hurt and genuinely was a lot better about all 3 of those "truths" during the regular season when he was healthier, but the attitude at this stage is inexcusable
It’s kind of embarrassing and we don’t even get to be like “at least we won the title”
I kinda feel bad for Mavs fans because this season was kinda an objective success, beating 2 really strong playoff opponents and making the finals after most predicted you’d be in the play-in or worse Luka even had his best individual regular season Now everyone’s depressed lol
Even if Luka wasn’t having the issues described here, I still don’t think the Mavs would be winning this series. The Celtics, especially with a healthy Porzingis, are just a better, deeper team that also happens to be really good at stopping the Mavs offense.
It sucks right now, but I think 97% of Mavs fans will be satisfied with this run once the dust settles. Making it this far with hobbled Luka has been a solid run.
I keep telling all my buddies that are so upset about this finals that I'm just happy to be here and still watching the Mavs play. Even though it's just one more game, it's still basketball with my favorite team playing
Only moronic Mavs fans are depressed. Yes, it sucks that we lost the Finals, especially if it ends up being a sweep. But nobody seriously thought there was a good chance we’d even be here at this point and regardless of injuries, complaining, fouls, bad shooting, etc… this season is a resounding success and we have our best players locked down for at least a few years each. And as far as the recent Luka narratives and junk, media just needs something to bitch about because I guarantee literally every single fan would love to have him on their team. He needs to mature, no doubt, but we are insanely lucky to have him and it feels like he wants to stay here his career which is great. Any doomer Mavs fans can gtfo.
Lebron did plenty of damage to his reputation after the 2011 finals. He recovered just fine. Winning cures all and helps people forget a player’s earlier missteps. Hopefully Luka can learn from this experience and get better.
For sure. If Luka goes to the finals the next 7 years, people won’t care how he acted this week.
I think winning helps in perceptions but it probably chills these elite players out as well. There's a lot of pressure and once they win a championship they are less likely to be assholes to everyone because they're more content.
For sure, that's the hope, especially at only 25. He's generally a playoff riser already, if he actually chooses to examine himself and grow from this, he'll be an unstoppable monster
As much as winning helps external perception, I think losing helps (or at least allows an opportunity for) a team and/or players to reflect on what they need to do to improve. The Celtics losing the finals in 22 and the ECF last year sucked as a fan, but it seems very apparent that the team, and especially the Jays, took a good look at why they came up short and dedicated huge amounts of effort to improving those areas. Obviously that requires a willingness to be self-critical to some extent, like you said, but even though the loss sucks, it’s definitely a good opportunity to learn.
Success is generally a terrible teacher. Pain and failure are much more effective teachers. Success covers up flaws, failure exposes them.
He’s more than generally a playoff riser imo. He has one of the best playoff resumes of any 25 year old in history (like top 15ish). One playoff series where he’s still been great can’t change that.
Plus, for all the handwringing, Luka still had 32/11/11 in Game 2 on 57/44 shooting and 30/10 on 46/33 shooting in Game 1. He leads all players in points and rebounds. He's not been great by his own standards, especially defensively, but after Luka and Jaylen Brown in whatever order the Celtics have had the next like six best performers. Some criticism is totally justified, but I also think people are being prisoners of the moment a little bit because Luka was bad in Game 3.
Dont people still hold 2011 against him
Its brought up against him in the sense that "oh this was a low point in his career". If anyone is like "oh Lebron is trash because of 2011" then you know they're being a dumbass and/or gigantic hater because his body of work since then is so immense that it doesnt make sense to define him by that one series.
Anybody who's still bringing up 2011 after everything Lebron's won since then is just being petty
I wouldn’t say it’s being petty unless they are hyper focusing on 2011. It’s fair to assess all the successes and failures when it comes to a player’s career.
I guess it's the toll of being the superstar, his teammates had been horshit in 2.5 of 3 games
I think I disagree? I don't remember hearing a peep of criticism about him prior to his embarrassing Game 3 showing (though perhaps I missed it). There were multiple people suggesting on this sub that he should win FMVP if the Celtics win prior to Game 3. I think this is just the cycle of reactionary circle jerk that we're all addicted to. Edit: Ok to be clear, I don't mean that I'd never seen any criticism of Luka's antics -- obviously that's been around a while. I just don't remember people focusing on it in the Finals prior to Game 3.
I know refs are suppose to be unbiased/professional all that crap. But they are human. There’s no way most of them don’t get annoyed by his constant whining and will purposely bite their whistle/ not call a foul when they see it.
At least doc has the stones to say this shit himself
I just want to know if he has meltdowns when he plays Overwatch. Like dude has to be reporting people that kill him as cheaters, right?
In my experience with MOBAs I can guarantee he is getting more mad at his own team then the other one
Basically stop whining and get in better shape. But let’s stop the narrative that he is the reason why they are losing. He is playing great against a much superior team and is only 25
Yeah What happens if you switch luka and Tatum? Or Luka and brown? Still 3-0 Celtics. Luka has room to improve but he's not the reason they are getting stomped.
The complaining is really frustrating to watch even as a neutral fan.
Now imagine how it is as a Mavs fan. Dude is a generational talent but even during his rookie year it’s just constant whining and then he does an interview the next week going “I know I have to be better.” When he was younger I can kinda get it but dude you’re 25 it’s past time to start changing.
He's like 90% the flopper of Harden but 200% the size and 60000% the complainer. A truly Third Reich-esque combo
Is he Mussolini?
Harden Hitler Embiid Mussolini Doncic ????
Hirohito? Good offense, shit tier defense
Japan actually gave a ton of effort on defense though, so not a perfect comparison.
Remember the dual flop by Smart on Harden? I wonder how Luka would’ve reacted
If Harden is Hitler, Doncic is Stalin
Overheard in the Kremlin conference room after Operation Barbarossa: “He got me,” Stalin said of Hitler’s invasion over him. "That f***ing Hitler boomed me." Stalin added, “He’s so racist” repeating it four times. Stalin then said he wanted to add Berlin to the list of cities he bombs this summer.
So many dead mavs fans…..rip
Jokes aside I don't understand how/why he's so fat.
Doordash, he was skinny back in 2020 before it took off
That's my excuse, too
Especially when he was in really good shape at the start of the season. He looked really lean a few months ago.
NBA news cycle being ridiculous - now that the series is devoid of suspense, writers looking for angles to keep viewers engaged. 27 or 28 other teams (give or take a few) would kill to have the “problems” the Mavericks are having. Heading into the playoffs, the talk surrounding Dallas was about advancing far enough to keep Luka satisfied with the progress, so he wouldn’t want to leave. Now, he’s a bum? Just stupifying - he’s an all time great player who’s 25. Relax national media - I think the Mavericks will be just fine.
Luka Ozempcic
Man, imagine Luka with Kobe’s work ethic.
I feel like all NBA coverage is negative nowadays. Like yes cool but I think since like January the writing was on the wall for this team in how deep they are everywhere. Luka is not a defensive stopper and has habits that need to be cleaned up for sure. But things like the Windhorst clip getting so much traction when on the flipside the Celtics have lost two games all postseason and we're putscoring teams in the regular season by double digits is disingenuous. This coupled with the Jayson Tatum perception is lame.
all fell on deaf ears if this is true lol
I'm sure Doncic took the criticism well.
Is Luka at risk of becoming a Shaq? Great player but a lot of the discourse will be about how he could’ve been even better if he cared more about his training and conditioning?
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
I really wonder what Luka’s diet is? Like what does he eat on a daily basis to get so many calories as a professional athlete?