DISGRACEFUL - Stephen A. sounds off on Hawks’ defense vs. Luka Doncic | NBA Countdown 

Stephen A. I get it, Luka is not black. That doesn’t mean you gotta disrespect his 73.

Oh but when Embiid drops 70 on San Antonio’s horrific defense he doesn’t bat an eye..

I agree the Defense in the NBA is atrocious now, but downplaying Luka’s 73 with super efficiency is absurd. But yet, they slobbered all over Embiid when he faced the worst defensive team in the league with more free throws and shots. It’s pure prejudice at this point.

Horrible take. Hopefully they get called out for this BS. This dude just had the most efficient 70 point game in history and they are trying to downplay it, but didn't say anything when Embiid did it. What they both accomplished is amazing and should not be downplayed. They are pathetic for attempting to diminish this incredible feat.

I believe Stephen A. Is actually mad that Luka dropped 73 pts. You can see it in his face, expressions, etc, he's Hella mad, maybe because he outscored Embiid. Idk, but the way the media treat the most talented player in the nba now for years is shameful

Luka doesn't get any love in the media. That is shameful

Defense or no defense. Luka dropped 73 points on 39 true shots. That’s a 91% true-shooting percentage. Insane efficiency rarely if ever matched.

The Disrespect and the Hate that Stephen A. has for European players like Luka,Jokic and Giannis is insane!!!

KAT drops 62 on 21-35 scoring in a loss: "Kat Is Back!" "Refs ruined his night" Devin Booker drops 62 on 22-37 in a loss: "No one else wanted to step up" "He tried his best" 🥺 Embiid drops 70 and 18 with 21 free throws against one of the worst teams in the league: "3 level generational scoring talent" "MVP" Luka drops 73 points 10 and 7 on 75% fg percentage and 25-33 shooting: "Selfish Ball Hog" "Stat Padder" "There was no defense"

so when Luka scores 73 with 33 shots and less freethrows and more threes that is bad? But when Embiid scores 70 with 30 freethrows and a million shots that is better? Something is wrong here and we all know what

Don’t be swayed by the media. This is actually the best offensive game ever. Luka took 33 FGA and only missed 8 times. It took Wilt 63 FGA to get 100.

Then why doesn't every star player drop 73 on the hawks if they are that bad

73 points on 76% shooting is WILD and will never be broken

"the fans didn't want what they saw last night..." Stephen A clearly didn't pay attention to the game lol. The Atlanta fans were cheering Doncic on. It was just a special performance, and every big performance like that comes with a lackluster performance on defense.

This is shameful, with no respect given to Luka. Guy obliterated a NBA team.

Bob Myers saying that is just hilarious. I guess he forgot he was the Warriors GM. A team that LOVED physicality.

So embiid drops 70 against a bottom 5 defense it’s COOL but when Luka drops 73 against another bad defense ITS “NO DEFENSE” ? KOBE DROPPED 81 ON THE 2ND WORST DEFENSIVE TEAM IN THE LEAGUE DAWG 😂

Stephen cant handle a non brother doing this

I watched the highlights. Luka just schooled his defenders, and he was getting double teamed a lot. He hit his shots and was on fire. The defense may be bad, but I doubt another superstar would score a 73 under the same circumstances

Luka should be the MVP this year!! He’s had insane numbers the last couple years. It’s not his fault if the organization can’t put a team around him. He’s prolific!!

Stephen A definitely hating, there were times where Luka just hit step back threes with a hand right in his face

Throwing dirt on 73 points in 33 shots and putting it on the Hawks is just sad. You gotta feel for Luka at that point .

I was stunned by this ESPN segment, when SAS says Atlanta was a disgrace, at 5:19 it cuts to Woj, Wilbon and Myers and their facial expressions are shocked at what is actually coming out of his mouth, but they say nothing. . .absolutely appalling!, he mentions KAT having 58 in 3 quarters, Luka had 65 in 3 quarters and then in the last quarter Atlanta double teamed him as soon as he crossed half court, if some of his team mates made their lay ups, never mind shots it would have been a 73 point triple double, he did it on 41% usage rate much much lower than Booker, KAT and Embiid games.

Have you seen the game? Watch the breakdown of Luka’s game. The Hawks tried different coverages and actually played good defense on Luka. They just had no answer for his counters. Just spewing nonsense is dumb just because Luka scores 73 you are devaluing his performance? Stop this BS!

The bias Stephen A Smith has towards Luka and Jokic is laughable at this point, he consistently seeks to downplay everything these 2 great players accomplish it's just embarrassing. Just say that you can't stand the fact that two Europeans are making the NBA child's play, it will go faster than giving us such fraudulent arguments.

It's cool when Embiid does it but Luka does it and everyone has a problem now?

You still have to hit shots, open or not, and he hit a ton of 3s. Hate to say it, but Stephen A would not have have focused on the defense of the Atlanta hawks if this was Jason Tatum or Dame lillard. Give luka his flowers. He clearly got on a treadmill before this game.

America is sick because of these people.. They are jealous on Luka.

33 shots 73 points. GTFOFH.

Dear Stephen Hate Smith, Lebron never scored 70+ Durant never scored 70+ Curry never scored 70+ Harden never scored 70+ Those guys are still in the league right? Those guys have played against these same Hawks and Spurs teams right?

It seems there is a racial bias against Luka. He faces the most double teams in the NBA yet he s averaging 34.6 points not to mention the rebounds and assists. Noone mentions the fact that the 73 score was also a near triple double with 10 assists. An absurd performance by a great player. All I hear is it was due to bad defense. Kobe s 81 was also in the no hand checking era. Give the man his flowers ! Luka is doing it on a consistent basis against all NBA teams.

Small thing. Remove the 3 second rule. That rule was implemented because of how crowded the lane was inside the 3 pt line way back then, and they needed some players to get into the paint for highlight finishes. Now with how spaced out the game is, that 3 second rule just makes playing defense infinitely harder instead of only not allowing rim protectors to play braindead easy.

Can’t even lie this segment was disrespectful. That man shot 25-33 on less FT and shots than Embiid and Kobe. To say “it was a layup line” is pretty low even for this crew apparently

All of a sudden this discussion about the defense in the league begins right at the time Luka’s 73 point game, the coincidence is uncanny!

Most of his points were either with a hand in his face, making tough and-ones, changing speed to get defenders off balance and other tough shots. It's not a question of defense because the guys on him were doing the best they could - it's just players today are just so immensely talented that it doesn't even matter.

Did SAS even watch the game? Every time they threw doubles at Luka he juts out a BEHIND THE BACK pass to Hardaway at the top of the key, over the head lob to Lively, pass out to Brunson. Luka and Jokic are near impossible to guard with their Lebron like double threat, scoring and facilitating - passing out of double teams. Players who can do both are peak level offensive talents - think Curry 2016-2022, not to mention the schemes these days generating open shot after open shot. This "not enough defense" is stupid with how many tough shots Luka shot and how easy it is to manipulate defenses with passing and spacing. We live in a time of PEAK offense and in no other time can you find a better collection of shooters, passers, or coaching.

It’s becoming obvious that the media isn’t interested on elevating Luka’s name. They don’t want him to be the face of the NBA and they constantly diminish all of his accomplishments. This has been the narrative since his draft day. Unbelievable….

This performance was SIGNIFICANTLY better than Embiids, less FGA, less FTA, more assists. Embiid even let a rookie drop 33pts on him in return.

How disgraceful is this analysis of what Luka did last night? I'm truly ashamed of the way they disrespect this unbelievably talented player. They just refuse to come right out and say that he is better than everyone else, it's truly a bias point of view and it's sickening. Rather than talk about the unbelievable skill set that Luka has, they want to ignore that reality and blame it on the defense of the other team, it's truly pathetic. I'm ashamed of everybody on this media cast. The reality is that there are a lot of no calls in the league, Luka has probably been the most targeted player of the referees, that's why he has complained so much about it. I've seen him go to the basket getting his arms ripped off with a vicious foul and the referee is right in front of it and doesn't make a call, it's disgraceful. The way they are trying to portray Luka as if he has a free pass to score whatever he wants is absolutely ridiculous. If it were that easy every player would be doing it, but obviously Luka is the very best in the game, and that's why he is able to do it, but that's what they refuse to acknowledge. I give this entire cast an F, failure. I hope they all get fired because they're not earning their money

I hate what these people are doing to Luka. They never cover him, and when they do, they dismiss his obvious, overwhelming greatness as the other team's bad D. 50 points on the Suns? Yawn. 60 20 and 10 on the Knicks last year for the OT win after grabbing his own free throw miss to tie? Who cares? Drops more than Bron, MJ, or Bird ever did in a single game? It's the Hawks, they should've tried harder. If every team's defense looks bad against Luka, it's not the defense. It's the Don.

“If everybody can score 70 then how special is it?” Do these people hear themselves talk lol

Now that Luka scores 70 that means "everybody can score 70" according to Wilbon. Disrespect it clear to see

Luka could have gone for more than 81, but he kept on making the right passes till the end.

Why isnt everyone scoring 73 then???

Luka makes it look so easy that you have Stephen A blaming the lack of defense for it, like they wasn't double or triple teaming him during most of the game

Bad take. He's just that good. They were doubling him.

Stephen A was throwing all praise for the other players but when Luka drops 73 he ends up hating lol.

Embiid scores 70 everyone is happy not one negative comment. Doncic scores 73 and everyone is pissed and critical lol.

Stephen A Smith appears to be hating on Luka. That's the way it came across. He wasn't talking that way when Joel dropped 70. Keep that same energy when Luka drops 73! #MFFL

This has to be the most hypocritical thing i've ever seen. Joel drops 70 on monday 'Best offensive player in the league' 'MVP', but just 4 days later Luka puts up an even better game 'Atlanta didn't play defense' 'It was a layup line' dawg the spurs are the bottom team in the west and the hawks are in playin contention. embiid dropped 70 on a skinny teenager. not one positive thing to say about luka, matter of fact he didn't even mention luka's name the entire segment, just bashing it on poor defense

People were praising how special Embiid was for scoring 70. Now that Luka scored 73, scoring that much suddenly isn't that special.

Embiid scores 70 on 24 of 41 from the field with 21 of 23 free throws against the Spurs and he is the best offensive player in the league. Meanwhile... Luka scores 73 on 25 of 33 from the field, 8 of 13 from 3pt, 15 of 16 free throws and 7 assist (would had more if teammates weren't bricking the shots) and Stephen A. blames the Atlanta defense. Unreal.

The level of disrespect in this video is insane !!!! This is really sad to see . Luka deserves his flowers smh

You know something is wrong when a player drops almost a 73 triple double and the line of the video is "DISGRACEFUL". The hate on Luka is real man

Need JJ in here to set the old heads straight

Mane the NBA is not soft they just don’t want to admit that the players now are more talented you can’t stop them it’s not the defense like Gil said they are just more talented the game and the players have evolved 💯

Dude had 73 points on 33 shots. Thats incredible. Only 16 free throws as well. Kobe took 46 shots to get 81 and 20 free throws. That game went into OT too. Put some respect on this mans name. Luka is takented

If it is so easy to score 70+ against Atlanta, then why doesn't everyone do it?

Luka didn't humiliate just the Hawks alone, he humiliated the Sun's before.

Last year they were all over Jokic, now Luka, but numbers don’t lie.

when embiid scores 70 with over 30 freebies it’s a great performance, when Luka goes over 70 on better shooting with only half the free throws, it’s bad defense….

Disrespect towards Luka is crazy. Bet it is because they didn’t like it when Luka called out their little buddy journalist the night before

SAS said fans didn't like it.. LOL... Hawks fans where actually cheering Luka.

Its so hard to give a man his flowers insane these anaylists are rigging the mvp in their favour by downplaying and not talking about luka at any point this season, you should be ashamed of yourself Stephen A.

They never talked about the new defensive rules for Embiid. Instead, it was all "bully ball" etc. Embiid scored his 70 against number 1 pick overall chasing Spurs KAT scored his 62 against the 10-33 Hornets that lost to the Pistons But Luka scoring 73 against a play in team in the Hawks is when we call out defense

Luka was absolutely magnificent last night and the downplay of his performance is simply egregious. This guy is just barely entering his peak and has already given us SEVERAL memorable moments in his young career that can only be described as masterful. A 50 piece on Christmas day, a 60/20/20 game just last szn, and now a 73 pt outing! Not too mention this dude averages 33 9 and 8 (for the playoffs!!!!) and many more incredible feats. So Instead of diminishing a TOP 4 SCORING PERFORMANCE in NBA History from a 24 YEAR OLD, lets just appreciate greatness man. #MFFL

Stephen A. should be ashamed! What would the fool have said if Anthony Edwards scored 73 against the Hawks!!??

Tbf there was no defense that could contain that man that night

Stephen A clearly just doesn’t watch the games , the hawks were trying the absolute hardest the whole game to stop him he was on fire and there’s no stopping him at that point.

Luka: ~hits defended 3-point stepback shots off his back foot using skills that didn't exist in the 90s~ ESPN analysts: 90s defense would have stopped him. Defense is bad now. Luka is only scoring because of the rules. Michael Jordan is the GOAT.

"Embid is that dude, I mean that brotha can play" "Ya know I really hate seeing all this scoring, it's a darn travesty" Skin tone really makes all the difference in the NBA. Sad.

This is the most honest commentary I have heard in a while about the state of NBA basket. It is horrible! The NBA is caterimg to fans who know nothing about sports, let alone the original rules of basketball. Now NBA games are like all-star games. 150 points being scored with zero defense being played! All of these "team record" scoring outbursts by players mean absolutely nothing when you consider how much soft this era is. All of these players getting accolades, and being called future HOF players in under five years of playing because of inflated numbers! Instead of improving the sport is actually dying! All of these offense-friendly rules are killing the game!

I can't believe these guys are just discrediting a 73 point game. It's wild.

He said "how special is scoring 70 if everyone can do it" like that's not Joel Embiid and Luka Doncic

I started watching the NBA in the mid 70's. So I get what Bob Myers and Wilbon are saying. I would like to see more resistance but like Woj said, they're not going back. 😞

Skipp complained about the Knicks in Luka’s 60-21-10 game, Stephen A. complains about Suns in Game 7 and today. I wonder why?

This is a perfect example why ESPN is unwatchable.

It’s all cool until the white guy scores more points

If you'd watched the game you'd have noticed that Snyder actually decided to not double on Luka until he got close to 70 and then knowing he was gonna go for a 70+ piece put 2 guys on him expecting him to take force his way into bad shots... which he didnt. So good coaching, but better discipline from Luka. And his patience paid off. But stats sheets and game reports dont necessarily show that.

The most efficient 70 points ever scored and Stephen A Smith wants to discredit Luka like it was so different than when joel dropped 70 on the Spurs. The difference is Luka did it more efficiently and should have had the tripledouble had his teammates hit those open looks. Sas mad racist he is totally drenched and consumed in it.

What a terrible take. What's with the Luka hate? The fans loved this, they knew they were witnessing an incredible performance.

When Embiid scored 70, these fellas were literally going wedding nuts.. Luka does it and it’s a funeral..

This segment was so laughable in so many ways, are they hearing themselves lmao

Never seen Stephen a say anything good about a white dude

If this isn't racism then I don't know what is

73 points on 91% TS and they bitching about it. This show is a joke.

What's disgraceful, Stephen, is Embiid is still in the game against the Spurs up 20 when he scored 70---Luka's 73 came in a competitive game!

Finding a way to downplay 73 pts is crazy

Nothing good was said about Lukas ability to get 73pts. Give the man his credit.

Bruh, Smith was drooling all over Embiids 70 pts & simping all over him calling him the “Best Big Man in the League” but can’t even give some credits to Luka’s 73? Make it make sense 😂😂

The Hawks played defense, Luka just countered them every time. They show two plays out of context to make it seem like Hawks gave him whatever he wanted, but they were generally making the right play on most possessions. If prime Kawhi Leonard and Paul George couldn’t stop a motivated Luka why is it surprising the hawks couldn’t?

It’s pretty clear what ESPN is doing… it just depends if everyone wants to admit it

downplaying Luka like it was nothing. while when Joel did that it was all hype. ESPN hates it if the front news isn't Black superstar.. if its lebron or KD it will be the talk for 2 weeks.

This has been moving this way forever. Offensive Stats are inflating and inflating and it's been going this way since the late 90s. As an NBA fan... maybe the late 80s and 90s were a bit much, but this is ridiculous.

lol Luka touched a nerve in Stephen A Smith…. dude, a white boy is better than most players in the NBA, deal with it

Had the Hawks not doubled up on Luka the last 4-5 minutes, he may have exceeded Kobe's 81!!!

Luka scoring 73 is absolutely amazing, and his team needed all 73 of his points to win. I really hope this huge scoring game is a one time occurrence this season, because if Dallas was coached better defensively then Luka wouldn’t have to do this.

Stephen A racist AF. Had no issue with embiid scoring 70.

Embiid does it with 30 FT and against a almost to last team in san antonio against a 89 pound Wemby -“ohh my goddd Embiid is the GOAT” Luka does it- “ defense is trash”

Nobody said that when donovan mitchell, dame lillard or embiid dropped 70. Thats super annoying to me. The implication is that all of theres was legit and Lukas was because of horrible defense.