I get questions about whether I’ve improved my opinion of Luke, since his last series against Minnesota was brilliantly, above Larry Bird-level.
I’ve long thought he has the potential to be a quality, “best in the NBA” (or second best?) player. But he has never been there either. Let’s hope that the regime has changed.
But remember, eleven days ago ESPN wrote an article ranking him as the 5th best player in the playoffs in the first two rounds. At that time no one took enthusiasm from such an accurate assessment. Yeah that’s still pretty cool, but not the Luke we’ve seen lately. So we will see which Luke we take forward. Top players make huge improvements in their games as they progress, but we also need to temper the latter bias here. Prior to the playoffs he was ranked #2, meaning his performance in the first two rounds was a bit of a disappointment.
Generally in the playoffs:
…Doncic’s production (28.3 points and 9.1 assists per game) and efficiency (49.7% effective field goal percentage) are down significantly from his historic regular-season numbers (league-high 33.9 points, 9.8 assists, percentage 57.3 effective field goals).
Of course part of that is good news as well. Luka has dropped his usage rate from 40.3% in the playoffs two years ago (he missed the playoffs last year) to 32.1% this year, the high usage rate being his biggest mistake. And some Mavericks have really stepped up to close the gap. Remember when ESPN labeled the Kyrie Irving trade a “D”?
By the way, there is no need to use injuries as an “excuse” – they are common among players who use a lot, and are counted as “quality” as often as healthy performance on the field.
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