12-25-2020, 02:26 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-25-2020, 02:29 PM by SleepingHero.)
(12-25-2020, 09:56 AM)Thukydides Wrote: Sure he had 32 points. Still he couldn´t punish neither Ayton nor Smith on the switch. Couldn´t go one-on-one against Bridges either. He obviously doesn´t have the pop in his step, which made him totally unguardable by PG and KL in the playoffs. Many many times Westbrook has had 32 points and I called it a bad game. If you´re super inefficient AND make very bad clutch decisions, that´s a brutal game (for Luka´s standards) -> I give you that appendix.
He´ll always be able to score 30 on 20+ shots. Guess what, the great players don´t need so many and we happen to have had one of the most brilliant examples in Dirk. How many times did he score 25 on 12 shots?
Just saying Luka having 32 makes any argument against him impossible is short-sighted and will result in complaceny and in the end lack of success.
At the end of the day you're right. I think we all agree that this game was not a good game according to Luka's standards. But I also think you have to put stock in the fact that he still scored 32 which isn't an easy feat. It inherently has value. Luka has warped our expectations of what normal NBA players can do.
Sure it took him 26 shots (though 4 of those came off of wild potential tip ins in the first where he was trying to get a rebound), thus sabotaging his efficiency, but the dude still stepped up and scored. How many times did Kobe have 30 points on 30 shots? Quite a few. Sometimes your best player needs more shots to score cause of an off night, and you know what? They deserve those shots because they're our best player.
If we take out the first quarter, Luka's statline would've been 25 points 4 rebounds 4 assists on 53% shooting. That's a flipping fantastic game. The bad start all left a bad taste in our mouths.
I think it's too early to make broad conclusions about Luka. Like omahen said it's legit 1 game. It's the same reason why even if Powell has looked terrible, I can't write him completely off yet because it's just too early.
Luka has said he's out of shape and he's working everyday to get back to where he was. I'm glad he at least recognizes it. And I'm also glad Luka still can be a prolific scorer when he's not 100%
14x All-Star, 12x all-NBA, 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP, 1 NBA Championship: Dirk Nowitzki, the man, the myth, the legend.