Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[audiosway]

What I remember was BOS blitzing Luka at mid-court, forcing the ball out of his hands, then running back to a balanced M2M defense. Luka, due to injury/fatigue/conditioning, didn't move a lot without the ball. Kyrie tried to work his magic, but the BOS length gave him fits (we've seen that other times as well). After that, the offense just seemed to grind with BOS helping off non-scorers as needed. Add in the 5-out "bombs away" attack by BOS and the writing was on the wall. I felt like the series was over after DAL could not respond in game 2.

Conversely, I like the sharing and movement with the "Munchkin Mavs". 4 of 5 is at least encouraging. I would really like to see this team operate this way with some size back in the mix. At some point, having to play small all the time is going to prove an Achilles' heel.

Totally agree. The blitz would hit to get the ball out. He just can't play off the ball. He also hasn't learned to move and cut off the ball with a serious issue. He is a high usage player. If you are going to be high utilization in this NBA you have to be able to dominate anyone in front of you on offense or defense. The only player to ever do that was Michael Jordan.

I'm with you, once they lost game 2 it was over.

The ball movement is the way to go. You can't win now without that. For example, when Denver won the finals Jokic's usage was 30%. It feels like Jokic always has the ball but it's not true. His usage that series was not far off from Kyrie in the finals or even Brown and Tatum for that matter. Luka was at just under 39%.

LeBron in the bubble title was at 29% usage. LeBron beating the Warriors in the finals he was at 33% USG and Ky was 30%.
Prime LeBron in 2013 with the Heat only had a USG of 29.7%.

If you plan to win in the current NBA you have to move the ball and defend. Defense has always been the case for winning but now you just have to move the ball. The only player I'm aware of having a USG in the Luka range was Jordan who would hit 55% at times. It was a different era and a different player.

It gives you a better chance of winning when you have a team that shares the ball.