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Even Lebron himself had to give respect to Luka for what he did to the Lakers.
Watch the chess game that went on on the court. In order to get the favorable matchup of Austin Reaves on Doncic, the Mavs use him as the screener. And Hardaway’s quickness forces Prince to switch and close down the lane. So Dallas get what they want, and now we got the easy blow-by here by Luka despite going 2 miles an hour, forcing the defense to close down on him.
Even with 3 guys around Doncic doesn’t panic and finds Exum wide open in the corner for the 3.
Right here we got 1 screen and a switch, and another one which the Lakers also switch.
At this moment there is a lob threat, which both Lebron and Reddish are ready to intercept,
Williams is open on the wing but Exum is right next to Luka all alone as well off because James helps down low off of him.
And with all the time in the world to get set, Dante hits another three.
This one needs no additional commentary.
The way that Doncic makes these finds look so easy is unbelievable. Exum benefited a lot from all the attention that Luka attracted from the defense and there’s a reason why he shot 7 for 9 from downtown. He was wide open on all of these.
Now this is where things get interesting with Exum.
I guess the Lakers followed the scouting report saying that he was 8 for 28 from downtown coming into the game,
but what they may not know is that Donte shot 42% from beyond the arc during his 2 seasons in Europe.
And if you can knock it down in Serbia in this type of atmosphere, you know that this is legit.
So why the slow start then? Well, due to limited playing time he couldn’t really get into a rhythm, and has a bunch of 0 for 1 and 0 for 2 games. That’s not enough shots and rhythm.
So now in the last 3 games, with Kyrie, Josh Green and Derrick Jones Jr not playing- Dante has been getting 35 minutes per game and he’s been using that to the fullest.
Going back to Luka tho, just watch what happens here. On the second consecutive screen, he gets in front of Reddish and it’s a 2 on 1 against Lebron. He does a good job initially of staying in the middle between Doncic and Lively on the potential lob, but did you catch that?
Let me run it back to show you how Luka raises his arm faking out James for the pass, and that leaves the lane wide open for him on the layup.
That type of patience in a split second situation is incredible, and he does it again here on the drive as he stays patient with 3 guys on him he just pump fakes- sending everyone flying, and puts it in.
This is a similar situation like the Lebron example, with a double screen on Luka only this time AD doesn’t stay in the middle and attacks Doncic instead. So we got…
Not only did he completely dissect the Lakers defense for the entire game, but he’s been on an absolute tear for the last 8 games scoring at least 30 everytime, he got 35 point triple doubles and a bunch of other crazy stats. He’s been on a rampage lately.
But I gotta give a special shoutout to Tim Hardaway Jr for his effort.
You see the 32 points on efficient shooting, and of course that’s phenomenal, but what you won’t see in the boxscore are sacrifices like this one right here getting the offensive foul.
Then the same thing in the second quarter against Reaves.
And in the fourth we got yet another charge for Hardaway forcing another turnover.
He’s second in the league in this category actually, but despite that, I just love the role that he’s got with the team this year coming off the bench and being efficient.
Almost 18 points per game on 39.0% from downtown, that’s how you help Luka and Kyrie and make this team dangerous in the west.
With 4 wins in a row, the Mavs have been rolling lately, and contrary to them- the Pelicans have been up and down this season, and Zion heard the comments about him being fat and out of shape so here’s what he did. Check out the video right here. Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.
20 авг 2024
