Luka vs. the Celtics Made One Thing Very Clear... 

Boston is playing like they have 5 players at each position at any time. 5 guys that can play power forward, shooting guard, center, point guard and small forward. They have a skilled and deep enough bench that they can rest starters for 20 minutes a game. This is a well rounded team right now. I think Red Auerbach would be pleased the way the Celtics are playing. A Red quote, "Individual honors are nice, but no Celtic has ever gone out of his way to achieve them. We have never had the league's top scorer. In fact, we won seven league championships without placing even one among the league's top 10 scorers. Our pride was never rooted in statistics."

When people hate on Luka for handling the ball too much, I want them to look at the game first and then comment. When his teammates miss often he is not going to risk losing a game. He will then be a scorer and not a playmaker. Kyrie was good but he also has bad nights, Hardaway is utterly bad this season, and that are all his options. Lively was fantastic with 100% from the game, but he is a rookie, you can't blame him for nothing. Excellent breakdown as always! Godly content!

Luka was up against a borderline All-Star lineup that game.

Kidd went for a four-guard lineup vs. the Celtics, who have a few really tall players like Porzingus. That's when the Celtics built their lead of more than 20 points. Kidd needs to be fired.

How in the world does this channel only have 66K? This is literally the best brakedown of a game ever. Am I tripping or what?

As a Celtics fan the only number I care about is 18

My take watching the Mavs all season long, and especially last night: Kidd needs to get fired for his awful rotation. They have the pieces for championship contention, its the coach. Gafford needs to play 20mpg instead of Maxi Kleber to provide rim protection and lob threat. Luka needs to hog the ball more and orient his scoring more in the post where he is literally unstoppable. Any guard guarding him is a mismatch, he bullied Jrue, White, Jaylen and Tatum all game long there. His fadeaways in the post go in 70% of the time, and when he fakes and lay it in, it'll either go in with a foul, or not but still 2 shots at the FT. When operating in the paint, make sure to have kyrie on the strong side for an easy wide-open 3 if double teamed. When Luka is benched, Kai should always take more iso pick n roll, mans a magician w midrange and 3s after pick n roll. When he drives, he can make plays for others but he needs to be more aggressive and possessive of the ball. Most importantly, give THJ's minutes to DJJ, THJ is a defensive liability with horrible shot selection. You cannot put this man in when Luka and Kyrie are in. DJJ can shoot decent and defend, as well as slash threat like PJ washington, needs to play more minutes. Underrated players are Josh Green and Exum who hustle and glue the team. It is so obvious when they are in, Kyrie and Luka dont expend their stamina as much on the court because they cover them so much on every facet, from defending to rebounding, loose ball, and bringing the ball up the court. My rotation: Kai, Luka, Green, PJ and Lively starting, with Lively subbed w Gafford (sometimes Maxi), PJ and Green with DJJ, and Kai and Luka w/ Exum, Green and sometimes THJ. Kai or Luka will always be in the game.

So basically the Celtics hitting their shots and Lukas teammates missing, story of his career

Man... I got people arguing with me that LUKA played bad in this game... I tried to show them just how wrong they were but of course, they are right no matter what 🤷‍♂️😪

mvp is an individual award not a team. luka is more valuable to the mavs than jt is to the celtics simply proven by the most of celtics are better than lukas teammates which utterly raises the contrasted value of luka to the mavs not a question. luka is playing like a player ive never seen its simply unbelievable its like he has a certain touch nobody else does.

Started this convo as a debate about MVP: offensive juggernaut vs two-way star, but didn’t mention a single defensive stat. Luka got scored on at a very high rate as the closest defender. Celtics literally attacked him. Tatum on the other hand locked up almost everyone who tried to score on him. Would’ve loved to see those stats included in this breakdown

Love it. Great presentation of NBA game overall with an emphasis on key details. Keep it up man, this is going places 🙌🏼

Holiday, Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, and Horford!! geeezz brad stevens really is a genius as a coach and now as gm is the same. how did he manage to assemble this 5 players in one team. smh!

9:39 i remember this moment so specifically. jason kidd put THJ in the game, who is a defensive liability. everytime he went in, the Celtics went on a run

Great video! Loved how you broke down the film. Really great!

Very nice,clear and balanced summary of the game. Keep up the good work.

I dont understand how Luka isnt the MVP front runner, bro is nearly averaging a 35 point triple double, crazy statline

Pro-Luka analysis. Every team has days when they miss shots. That’s why you have to get stops to help reduce the impact. Players are not robots to shoot well all the time. All the Mavs players are lethal from 3 except PJ.

Great video HV!

You just earned a Subscriber, loved the break down - well done

The Celts targeted Luka on the other side of the court. As great as he was on offense, he gave it all back on defense.

Everyone laughed at me when i said current luka and 2015-19 harden the same player in a way, ones just white the other black. One has post work while the other used to athletically slam on people🤷‍♂️

This has to be Boston’s Chip. If they don’t win it’s a choke. Nuggets are the only team that can beat them in 7.

my boy keep up the work like your content.

I think this game killed Luka's chances at MVP unfortunatelly

Anyone who has played organized basketball knows its very hard to stay in rhythm playing alongside someone like luka. To those who dont play ball. Theres a huge difference between just touching the ball and feeling it and dribbling goes a long way when you finally get a chance to shoot. As steve kerr himself said. As a roleplayer from the bulls he felt a sense of being involved just by touching and passing the ball which in turn he would put a lot more effort on defense. The bulls run a system where you dont need that high of an IQ. You just need to study and master the system to know where to pass instinctually. The mavs dont have that. Not to mention. You have to cover for luka defensively. The best example of this is this game itself and the player who played for both teams porzingis.

BEST BREAKDOWN ON THE INTERNET!! GREAT JOB!!!

W vid as always nd we getting a that chet vs wemby matchup breakdown? ik u did something similar earlier but would be interesting as both have matured

I like how you just didn’t bring up his horrible defense at all. The difference is Tatum is a solid defender as is most of the Celtics. Luka routinely gives up on defense , even just this game let’s see how many points he gave up on easy drives to the lane. Bro is literally the white James harden

If Luka wants to get his teammates heads in the game, he really needs to work on his defensive skills. Nothing gets a team going more than a good defensive play.

most nba fans don't understand that basketball is a team sport. it's the same thing with football. qb's in football get all of the credit for winning games when there are 53 players on an active roster. if steph curry played on the wizards or bobcats/hornets his whole career he wouldn't have won a single ring.

Great video man.

Why are people so mad about the Celtics being that good? Sorry for the feels I guess. I'm a GS fan but it is what it is. They are better. Get over Your emotions.

In their two matchups this season, Jayson Tatum outscored Luka Doncic, 71-70, while attempting 15 fewer shots. Also in those two games, Tatum was +44 and Doncic was -33. We'll just leave it at that.

This was a very sound analysis. Very reminiscent of Ben Taylor from Thinking Basketball. I just subscribed - Well done.

Being able to go 5 out WITH size like the C’s do is a huge reason I wanted my Mavs to get Poku when OKC waived him. Dude is hella young and can dribble, pass, and shoot. We have an open roster spot and didn’t bother signing him. Dude just wound up signing w/ Charlotte of all teams…

i think this can be easily reduced to 3 main points: 1. having 1 or more net negative defensive players on the floor compromises your defense. this is the something the celtics dont have so they can easily load up, stunt and recover, etc at luka. take away luka and the mavs engine breaks down. this is what happens to heliocentric/star player induced systems. see harden, james on the rockets. 2. the celtics play team ball akin to the spurs teams of old. take away one guy and the offense doesnt break down. the others keep it going. everybody is empowered to read, react and playmake unlike the mavs where only 1-2 players do that. this also means everyone on the celtics stays engaged on offense instead of standing around in the 3 point line waiting for the primary playmaker to pass them the ball (at least for the starters). 3. luka's not going to win nor get the MVP respect he deserves until he realizes he needs to do less. this is what JT realized. learn to give the game what it needs. uplift your teammates and make them better. this doesnt mean just creating easy shots for them. its about turning them into threats. turning them into decision makers who can playmake. he's not going to win either until he contributes more off-ball either. this means defense, screen assists, deflections, acting as a decoy and using his scoring gravity to let others create off mismatches (ala steph), etc. this is what teams realize easily against the mavs. take away luka or take away his teammates (turn luka into a scorer) and they falter. the mavs system is predictable. blame it on kidd or blame it on luka. everyone knows the possession starts and "ends" with luka. he decides if he shoots or passes the ball to someone who will shoot. there's no secondary creation or initial action where luka is off-ball. everyone also realizes that luka is a weak link on defense. even Crypto-P wanted to go at him. that tells you how bad/lazy he is on that end. And no, it's not about Luka's physical limitations. Sam hauser turned from a bad defender to a good defender in a couple of years. its about energy, effort and "thinking" the game on that end. so to summarize: good team>1 great player.

People need to stop carrying the weight for Luka, we get it you can score now do something in the playoffs

Love your vids!!!❤

Mavs probably need to move Green, Hardaway, & Eczema if they're gonna be serious. I like Washington, Gafford, Lively. I just don't think these guys provide much for them, and there's probably better point of attack defenders out there. One KCP (or DFS) is probably worth 2 of them

Luka is playing tennis, the celtics are playing team ball.

For all of Luka’s stats. He gave up 30 points and Celtics shot 70+% when Luka was the primary defender. That’s not even close to acceptable for someone who HAS to be on the floor

Excellent analysis, this is the type of content ESPN needs to promote.

Bro this was an excellent breakdown

68% on corner 3s!!!!!! Jrue in the corner must be the most efficient shot in the nba rn

Luka allowed 30 points on 11/15 shooting in this game. He is a huge defensive liability and cancels out a lot of his offense.

Finally analysis worth watching.

Great video

SGA or Tatum In 2024?

I love Luka but it's starting to get ridiculous that super fans like to gloss over the fact that Luka plays little to no defense. The Mavs have a excellent roster but there is also the coaching that helps them beat themselves. The lack of athletic wing defenders will always kill the Mavs. Kidd should've played DJ & Prosper more than Hardaway and Green.

7:25 that's the JT that's needed in the Finals down the stretch.

Celtics fan. Luka is more of an MVP candidate than Tatum. So is SGA and Jokic. I don’t say this begrudgingly because Tatum himself said that what matters is winning. And our team wins more when the wealth is shared and the individual is de-emphasized. I know that Tatum is playing amazing. But the one thing that really impressed me this year was his leadership. His clear statement that the team is what matters. I’m not saying that Luka or Joker or SGA don’t believe this. They surely do. But they are just much more important on their team

Nice analysis.

8:28 thats crazy cant lie. with P.J Washington it allows him to do these bailout passes if defenses overhelp! such a good addition to space the floor

Tatum had 32 more efficiently than Luka and he actually plays defense. In your video you keep saying Luka did everything possible but there's one integral thing he doesn't do. He doesn't play defense well at all. Literally any player on the Celtics could score on him, he's a liability. Tatum isn't weak at all on either side of the ball, and he playmakes just doesn't get assists since Celtics are a pass 3 times and shoot instead of a catch and shoot type of team.

mvp ladder, power rankings, etc these things are literally rolled out by the NBA to make their product more consumable for casuals so if you see one arguing the hell out of their stans they could either be a die hard fan or they're casuals. (nothing wrong about being a casual tho, they definitely make the game more interesting)

That’s first clip of Luka driving with Pozingas in drop is the perfect example of his genius. About the 0:47 mark I think. Watching it in slow motion you can see that he keeps Porzingas in two minds perfectly the whole way to the rim is just brilliant.

At 6:22 you can see that he has an option to either hit DLive in the middle or he knows that Tatum is going to cut in on the help defend and Luka could make the pass to PJ in the corner, but he chooses the middle because he trusts that Lively is going to make that shot and he doesn't trust that PJ will make what would be a wide open 3...

I'm a Celtics fan and as much as I would love to see my boy Tatum win that MVP there's just too much talent on this Celtics team and I still maintain from a championship perspective that KP is the x factor and most important player in enabling us to win a championship. Therefore, Luka is more valuable to his team's ability to push the needle forward as a team and his numbers reflect it. What we witnessed last night is the Celtics' immense superiority as a team.

This game had a lot to do with Kyrie missing shots too. He was brought there to be a key player so even if he’s not the team captain he’s strong number two.

There's a difference between 'not capitalizing' and just not good enough - if it was just a case of not hitting shots in that particular game, then the Mavs wouldn't be the 8, they're the 8 because they're an average team with a great player

checking in for the finals

You said it in the first 30 seconds, Luka’s “offensive brilliance”, but the man’s a straight liability against any decent threat on the defensive end. Tatum plays both ends of the floor exceptionally well. We can’t give the award for the leagues best player solely off of offensive prowess. There’s two sides of playing basketball, Lukas only good at one.

I was at this game and as a Celtics fan it was SO fun and entertaining! I got my hat signed by Jayson Tatum, Jaylin Brown, Derrick white, and Cedric Maxwell!!! I was row H and I had the best game I’ve ever been too and as a HUGE Luka fan it was fun to watch him cook with 37 12 and 11 but still get blown out to my C’s!

Tatum is a top 10 player but respectfully he isn’t in that MVP tier this season maybe in the future though 🤷‍♂️

Man, this video is an excellent example of what I've been saying about Luka all year. When people talk about how he doesn't make his team better, I want to show them this video.. he finds them, but he can't shoot for them too.. they miss sooooooo many open shots, that he has to basically take the game over because he loses trust in his shooters.. if he had a consistent 3pt shooter, he would be averaging 15 assists a game.. He has lost any and all trust in THJ, who is supposed to be the third scorer on this team.. He has more trust in his big men now, so of course they are eating at a high volume.. Luka can absolutely make his team better, but they have to be able to hit the open shots he creates for them..

I be wanting to blame it on the lack of ball movement & how Luka will not just pass sometimes but also we need more.. Kyrie is my favorite player but something is missing

As a Dallas fan this one hurt, we have been trading waters since the AllStar game and the role players are not playing their roles after the break. I tell this to everybody, this is why wins and record should play a part in the MVP, it is a team sport and there is no value in losing ugly, even if you are playing well, this would incentivize players expressing themselves and asking for more. We have waisted many Luka years and this years seems like it is going to hurt just as much as we missing the playoffs last year.

Celtic’s record is not from a MVP player, it’s because their starting 5 is Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday & Porzingis… That starting 5 is insane

The rest of the league is concerned with Luka MVP Celtics fans are concerned about number 18. Says really all that needs to be said.

i dont think there is any chance for mavs if they dont fundamentally change the way they play.

Good vid idea 👀

luka is a defensive liability, and an absolute legend offensively

Luka getting that Young Lebron treatment

Please explain the GSW vs Celtics game, i wan wondering is that a basket ball game, seems like a torture 😂

At 3:40 that jrue Holiday shot was just filthy

Guys like Jokic and Luka couldn’t care less about MVP talks 😂 they treat that like the All Stars. Rightfully so.

Luca would win the argument if he defended more, passed the ball more and won. Not a team player.

I think it was a bit of both. The Celtics being the best in the league and Dallas not being on that lvl just yet. Kyrie was off and the mavs shot like 26% from 3 while the Celtics shot almost 50%, not gonna win that way. But even if the Mavs play better, I still think it's like a 5-8 point difference between the two teams which is fine as the Mavs aren't there just yet.

0-10 Love to see it 😂😭 Tatum owns Kyrie!

People dont hate on Luka, his style of play will lead to stats, not chips. The thing that these spread offense teams havent caught up to yet is they still have volume shooters as their sharp shooters. Guys like Luka have to be surrounded by sharp shooters not volume shooters catching and shooting on the wings and corners. If this keeps up Kyrie should be leaving (no reason to stay if hes not eligible for a max deal.) and Hardaway should be asking out also. Look how many ppl wanted out of dallas. Watching him play its easy to see he wont get far, snd since hes been s pro since 15 i wonder if his shelf life is shorter because of it. Mentally can he stay engaged cuz he gave up a chunk of childhood. He doesnt stay in tip top shape so attrition will play a part earlier than expected in my opinion, and be dont play enough defense to warrant him being so ball dominant. Im guessing his teammates who he can keep cold at times, have to feel its all or nothing with luka at the helm. They cant help decide the teams fate.

I’ll take the guy who plays all around ball and at least makes a representative effort on D… Luka can ball but he’s only offense, nothing else

If Kristaps Porzingis stay healthy this season & consistent 2024 playoffs Boston big chance get #18 banner 💪💪💪

The coach has a lot to do with that and Luka's big ego combined with brilliance makes others sometimes less motivated because they rely too much on him. Players are ordinary people and playing is their job and on the job, you are not always 100% motivated. We tend to lean on a teammate to carry the load while we take the path of least resistance". If they are all locked in and motivated they are hard to stop. This game was "close" till the fourth quarter and the Celtics played at their best possible the whole time, if Dallas had their heads together and play their best, they could win.

luka is the greatest offensive weapon basketball has ever seen.

To be honest I will wait for playoffs especially for holiday because regular season defences are a joke. This year multiple players had 50+ games in regular season than all NBA history

The problem with the Mavs also happens to be the only thing right about the mavs… it’s Luka but it’s not really his fault. It’s undeniable his offensive brilliance. That man can score from anywhere, he is a great decision maker and most importantly he’s without a doubt one of the best passers in the league alongside lebron, jokic, Tyrese, etc. but because the team revolves so heavily around Luka’s offensive production he doesnt play consistent defense.

I still can't believe stats like WS, WAR and VORP aren't the main sources to determine MVP: it's literally called "Most Valuable", what more value can you find than the player who contributes the most to the team (or whose team fares the worst when they're not on)?

Even great offensive teams can have bad nights. Perhaps a change of defensive tactic (or coach lol) will be their last resort before playoffs come...

why dont you show the plays in chronological order, just wondering

This aged well

porzingis is a such a difference maker , i think he was meant to be the 3rd star like bosh was

Jayson Tatum is MVP and it's not even close ☘

Offense is only half the game, would have liked if you talked about their individual defense. Then the Luka Lovers could get a more complete picture and stop being delusional.

great video!!

If you face the number 1 team be sure everyone in the team play thier best... Yeah those open shot assist by Luca will not able to capitalize so sad... Everyone from the Mavs are off in this game! Hoping everything will be resolve they're still in the game for having division championship 🏆 nor NBA championship 🏆 who knows

When people use Luka’s teammates as scapegoats when they have a bad game occasionally based off of their record as opposed to Luka being a defensive liability all the time is when I will tell people to look closer. BTW, they still got destroyed.

IT's the MAVS VS the damn celtics come on.

6:31 gives me PTSD of the 2017 Finals

My bad, I forgot there’s only offense played in basketball. I missed the part where defense doesn’t matter.