02-03-2022, 11:11 AM
(02-03-2022, 10:59 AM)sefant Wrote: Bold statement when 3 of the 4 best lineups in the game had Brunson and no Luka. Brunson was +11 without Luka. The defense was comical bad with Luka on the floor.
One thing is for sure: Brunson is a questionable fit in the starting 5, if Luka decides to mimic Trae Young on defense. This was Hawks from the first 20 games. Luka = Trae Young, amazing on offense but complaining to the refs is back on full force and doesn't give a shit on defense.
The defense went back to criticial condition, where Luka single-handedly killing the entire team defense. It was just 6-8 weeks ago where Itzok questioned the entire defensive system of Kidd/Sweeney, if its even going to work with Luka.
Defense won the Mavs the majority of the games. And its been trash right now. Went from top 5 to bottom 5 against two lottery teams. If you can't even have a capable defense with Luka on the floor, you are not winning lots of games, unless you are scoring 130 pts. Doubt KP fixes anything. This is the same defense the starters played early in the season with KP. Where the starters net rating was on similar levels as the Pelicans starters.
- OffRtg was 114.0 overall (2nd best offense in the league)
- DefRtg was 117.6 overall (30th best defense in the league)
- Worst defense in the league: Rockets at 115
- DefRtg with Luka on the floor: 128.4
Luka was unplayable yesterday, unless paired with 4 plus defenders.
Its very much the same as the last two years in the playoffs. You cant expect Luka to create the entire offense on every possession and also have a decent energy level on defense. The Brunson appeal is that he can help alleviate this and in back to back games he has disappeared down the stretch and teams are starting to figure out his game is very much limited against length.