Luka Doncic: Genius in the attack, problem in defense for Lakers
James Harden, Houston Rockets version? The Lakers were 1-3 against the Timberwolves. The next preseason will be crucial for the Slovenian.
Luka Doncic It is a phenomenon of Basketball. No one discovers anything saying this. But one thing is when he has the ball in his hands and a very different one when he has to bend down and defend.
It is something like that, like Harvey two faces. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A short blanket: cover your feet to uncover your torso. And vice versa.
More words, less words, Nico Harrison Perhaps, perhaps, the worst change in the history of basketball. But it has a point. Today, in Playoffs, When you really play, it is evidenced.
It is no longer about Doncic complaints to the referees. It is not a topic of form or interpretation. It is empirical test: Luka is at this time version 3.0 James Harden that we met in Houston Rockets. Lethal in attack, a cone in defense. Is it used? Of course it serves. But to gain important things it is insufficient.
Harrison was right in something: you can’t play with a physique like this at the age of 26. It is really a waste. Because Doncic, in fullness, is the Total basketball. He does things that others cannot try even in dreams. But it is not enough with the back passes, the assists without looking or the impossible shots. The NBA, and more precisely the playoffs, require more than this. The Lakers know it. Fans begin to understand.
Luka Doncic He already took note about it.
LeBron Jameswith 40 years, in its 22nd season, it is saving the Lakers from the amount of mismatches that are produced by defensive cracks. You have to resort to the extraordinary to solve basic situations of the game. MATCHUP ZONAL DEFENSES WITH PORTABALON ADJUSTMENT, COMPANIONS WITH DEFENSIVE DISPLACEMENT AND SIZE AS Rui hashimura In constant movement, fast legs to pedal what another does not pedal.
This is the Lakers, in a all for one that does not reach because, at the end of the matches, Doncic gets tired and finally reveals the age of LeBron. It is no accident that at that time be Austin Reaves the one that has to appear in the main plane.
Are we going to the numbers? In the last quarter, LeBron and Doncic scored seven combined points, with 1-8 in field shots. The Lakers wasted a 13 -point advantage in that period.
If we add that the second unit did not exist for JJ Redick in the fourth game, the thing becomes even more worrying. James, Doncic, Reaves, Dorian Finney-Smith And hashimura played the second full weather, and it is, as AM850 STATs tells us, of the first time that a quintet does not make a substitution in the last 25 years.
The Lakers played three excellent quarters, solving dubbing over Doncic, with a player in the high post to receive and one or two extra passes to find open shooters. Basically, the same thing Minnesota did in game 1 at the Staples Center with dubbing to Anthony Edwards. It was so good about Los Angeles that matched their maximum franchise in triples turned into a game (19), but they also reached their ninth defeat in a row as a visitor. A diabolical streak that reinforces a maxim of sport: “The attack gains matches, but the defense wins championships.”
Of the last 18 series that the Lakers were 3-1 below, they lost 17. And Sunday’s defeat at the Target Center, loaded with hopelessness due to the dilapidated advantage, is nothing more than one more push towards the abyss.
Reddick, at a press conference, complained and said that Jaden McDaniels He had made a zancadilla to Doncic in a transcendental play in the last minute of the game that forced them to spend the last dead time available, which would have been key to trying a triple comfortable to tie and go on extra time. Doncic, faithful to his style, took advantage of the same post -game chair to reinforce his gaze at the same time.
Excuses work like this. Keep the tree instead of seeing the forest. Doncic is today, in defense, the primary objective of any offensive: they attack it because it has no legs. Because it cannot stop any NBA perimeter in one against one. In attack they wear out, bother him, push him and of course, a young and intense team like Minnesota, achieves the goal: the Slovenian reaches the end of the games exhausted and without reservations in the tank.
Those who thought at some point in the season that the Lakers could be NBA champions today that was something like a mirage. Logical bombardment in large markets: shared illusion blurs concrete reality. And that the Lakers did not do it well in regular series: they made it fantastic. Well above what was thought of the previous one, beyond that this team, in its genesis, was different: it is not the same Anthony Davis What a maid. Better? Worse? We don’t know. We will only say different.
Luka Doncic is a blessing to the NBA. A miracle born in Slovenia with growth in Madrid. But to miracles, you have to help them. Better companions? Maybe. But first he needs to change to change. Michael Jordan knew. KObe Bryant. Stephen Curry. LeBron James also knows.
Talent, by itself, is hysterical: it seduces, but does not concrete. Food, rest, gym and also, of course, basketball.
The next preseason will be more important than ever. Do what is necessary and stay. The Lakers have it in attack. They also need it in defense.
Harrison ruled out because he concluded that he couldn’t. Only one person can teach with facts otherwise: Luka Doncic.
It is never too late.
We will all witness their actions.
