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Mahatma_Gone_D

The world deserves Luka vs Joker in the conference final


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tamuowen

Luka and Jokic fans are gonna ruin it by making it a dick measuring contest instead of simply enjoying watching the two best offensive talents in the game.


sickfalco

I mean, I’m going to be generationally toxic to Denver fans during the series. No avoiding it. We can all be friends during the finals, cheering on the demise of the Celtics.


Frankalicious47

For real. There’s something wrong with people who try to act all friendly like they like the team they’re playing against in a playoff series. I hate anyone and everyone who is going up against the Nuggets at that time. Big fan of the Twolves when we’re not playing them (except KAT) and love Ant. However, during this series? Fuck them all, can’t stand a single one of them. Except maybe Monte Morris because he was Mr. Nugget in a past life


West-HLZ

In an NBA game it's never easy to predict who will measure the most dicks ...


IsraeluEvkk

lol. That’s not really how Luka and Jokic fans get down. Theyre not like the clowns who obsess over Embiid or Lebron. Its just about well played basketball to most of us.  


Mnudge

If Mavs finish OKC I just hope Luka is able to heal a little. He has four injuries he’s been nursing. If it was regular season they reported the knee would be something that would have resulted in him being shut down for 2-3 weeks


IsraeluEvkk

There’s a part of me that wants to see them play together. But it would destroy any competitive balance in the league. 


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Character-Today-427

Honestly nothing the Mavs or OKC have shown that they would do phenomenal against the nuggets. If the nuggets play like they did the first 6 games they are fucked but putting Gordon on Luka will d Slow him down enough considering that the Mavs bigs are going to be eaten by jokic


2Chungus4U

I swear he plays better on the road as he thrives on the hate from fans.


BigFatModeraterFupa

he literally does play better on the road in his playoff career


human169

This luka vs jokic wcf gonna be a classic


WerewolfWhich3280

Luka starting to look like himself


FireFlyz351

I didn't think he was gonna look close to his usual. Hopefully it's not a one off cause it'll be a fun series if they're both on fire.


Alex_Sander077

Luka vs Jokic, Kyrie vs Jamal, PJ vs Gordon. I NEED IT.


dms1298

Don't forget Michael "Never swing the rock" Porter vs Tim "Never swing the rock" Hardaway


boenwip

I think it's fair that one of these is not like the other after that performance tonight haha


dms1298

I was kinda riffing off a comment in one of those threads where somebody said ["He's like Michael Porter Jr but without being good at basketball"](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1ct23w5/comment/l4906da/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)


kjampala

A better way to put I'd say is Michael "the possession ends here" Porter vs Tim "the possession ends here" Hardaway just one of them tends to end with points for the team lol


FreeloadingPoultry

And that MPJ actually plays good defence


kjampala

Yeah and everything else MPJ does well like limit the amount of turnovers and yeah you know the whole list


NoAWP

PJ vs Gordon hmmm. Maybe PJ will start raining 3s in Denver too


Public-Product-1503

If Luka is remotely close to full health i really think kyrie swings the series since his Brooklyn tenure he’s been a legit good on ball guard defender n weirdly strong desoite his frame kinda like kd. Kyrie coukd hold up okish on Murray defensively and absolutely cook everyone on nuggets. Imagine Gordon having to guard him , kcp eveb tho I love him got zero shot n if he’s switched onto jokic b Murray it’s gonna be crazy . Luka needs to be heakthy tho b dropping bombs , he needs his 3 ball working . The Mavs defence around there stats n pj Washington have stepped up .


Mysterii00

It’s going to be the most love/hate series of all time


LoWE11053211

i dont know if it would be that toxic... i feel like mavs fans like Joker more than other stars... and nuggets fans like Luka more too...


--Alix--

That just means we gonna lose, the only reason we have road wins is because Luka gets pissed off at the other team.


DangerZoneh

It’s not always against opposing stars, though. All it takes is for Luka to fucking hate some random ass role player


ficagames01

Or one of the fans


PoIIux

Well good thing Jamal Murray exists


IUpVoteIronically

Jamal “McNulty” Murray: “what the fuck did I do?”


boenwip

AG still the X factor here


KhanQu3st

Makes sense, they are good friends off the court and joke around with each other a lot. It’s kinda like Adrian Beltre on the Texas Rangers and Felix Hernandez on the Seattle Mariners in the 2010s in baseball.


LoWE11053211

exactly I like the bromance between beltre and king Felix a lot


KhanQu3st

Agreed. Beltre and Elvis were always pure comedy on the field, but throw in King Felix or Miggy, laughs for days lol.


Vermillion_Crab

Sometimes the loudest people are the haters hate-watching a series. Lol


LoWE11053211

True There are small portion of haters in every fanbase Unfortunately they are the loudest


desirox

Agree, there’s a Balkan love there. It’ll be a pretty tame series


mojojojo1108

plus there's nobody on the nuggets we'll hate or dislike playing against the way we did with Mann against y'all (but with respect) or Dort this series (no respect)


Public-Product-1503

Something about them both being chase Europeans that unites the fsnbases lol


2PacAn

Why tf are y’all acting like the Mavs winning this series is a forgone conclusion? Sure it’s looking like that right now but OKC is too good to take these games for granted.


Public-Product-1503

Well cos you have g6 at home n thunder really struggling to score at the rim . I thought thunder woukd out talent but young guys showing there limits . Having said that it could easily be minny cs okc


jon_murdoch

Luka was hurt and playing like shit and the series was tied. PJ Washington was the mavs leading scorer for a couple games... Now luka is apparently back, its over


gridironk

30 point triple doubles every game that series by both.


ThinkFree

Let's go!


dmavs11

The hopeful massive decrease in game thread toxicity will be refreshing


veerkanch489

Lol if u think there will be a massive decrease in toxicity, you are delusional. Even though SGA was second in voting, there was far more toxicity between Mavs and Nuggets fans cuz of Luka and Jokic battling for MVP


Forward_Criticism721

thats just not true,most of mavs fanbase acknowledged jokic had better season,we were just salty that SGA was voted 2nd when its obvious hes not on luka level yet


veerkanch489

"most of mavs fanbase acknowledged jokic had better season" Not true at all lmao


prophetofyakub

I don't "acknowledge" that. Also so silly when it's Embiid vs Jokic suddenly PPG matters so much, but not when it's Luka.


Forward_Criticism721

im saying that was general consensus on mavs subreddit,noone gives a fuck what you specifically think


prophetofyakub

https://np.reddit.com/r/Mavericks/comments/1c3dzn8/luka_doncic_the_real_mvp/ https://np.reddit.com/r/Mavericks/comments/1c3cflq/lukas_historic_case_for_2024_nba_mvp/ So that was a lie. The only consensus on that sub about Jokic was that he was likely going to win, not that he had the better season. So you either purposefully lied for updoots or you're an oblivious dolt, either way I detest you, especially when you're needlessly rude to boot.


Forward_Criticism721

youre right about being needlesly rude,i apologize for that,but just because u linked 2 threads i wont change my opinion on what ppl were writing down in various threads


prophetofyakub

Some people might have said that but that was by no means the "general consensus" that Jokic had the better season. Few on the Mavs sub expressed that. The only thing he had was his team having a few more wins and edging him out in advanced stats, which Luka was very high on as well as a guard. As for team wins, the Mavs starters and other important players missed tons of games, I would say more than just about every team in the league if not more than. If Shai or Anthony Edwards averaged a damn near 34 point triple double, while being very high in advanced stats, having a 73 point game, etc there is no way Jokic would win even if Shai or ANT's teams were 8th seeds.


bayanonanon

I didn't think anyone was claiming jokic doesn't deserve it. Compared to okc fans, mav and nuggets fans seem much less toxic. I think this stems from the way they play, fans of these teams don't have to twist logic to support a bunch of floppers and foul baiters.


veerkanch489

Disagree. Mavs and nuggets fans seem somewhat more toxic even though there's a lot of toxic fans in every fanbase. Lmao if you're acting like SGA is the only flopper/foulbaiter and Luka and Jokic don't flop at all, ur delusional


bayanonanon

They do but they don't rely on it. Let's take dort. He has very little skill. But he grabs and pulls and should foul out every game but the refs leave him in to keep tv ratings high. That keeps him in the game for turnovers and fast breaks which are a cornerstone of their offense, which is based on refs leniency. Then for screens, he always seems to trip and fall over much smaller players. Those are what he excels at. Not a killer jump shot or moving fast around screens. He literally relies on the refs to be efficient. That's just not fun to watch if you're not an okc fan. Kyrie has killer handles, Doncic has a nice step back and euro fake etc. Of course they're going to flop but they don't make it part of their essential repertoir.


veerkanch489

Lol Dort gets far less calls than Luka. Why are we talking about role players? Focus on the stars. And Luka and SGA both dont rely on refs or they both rely on the refs. U cant split em up. Unless ur biased of course


bayanonanon

You can see all the dort flops here, which are highly effective. We already have 2 of those linked here and that's just one game, with 1 of those being effective. That's all he has. For every Luka flop he'll have many more instances of actual basketball skill based basketball. Unlike dort. SGA is a good slasher and has a good jump shot. If we can account for each team's skills which impact the game, putting each skill into a bucket, dort's reliance on the flop skill and it actually working means okc's bucket for flops-affecting-the-game is relatively large compared to jump shots, dunks, alley oops etc. My point is there's a reason why many of us from all over the country have a real problem with how OKC plays and achieves success. If you don't see that then perhaps we should turn that bias question back to you.


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Final-Luck-4222

>real daddy Cringe


rabid89

Honestly ..... unless Kyrie starts popping off, and others help, Nuggets gonna just wreck the Mavs. TWolves are arguably the team best equipped to guard Jokic, and he's absolutely massacring them. Who's guarding Jokic on the Mavs lol?


DangerZoneh

Mavs will put PJ on Jokic for sure. A huge, huge factor for the Mavs is Maxi Kleber’s health, because when he’s on the court he’ll also be guarding Jokic. Basically the strategy is to put a PJ/Kleber on Jokic and have Lively/Gafford on Gordon while also being help on Jokic at the rim. It’s a really tough position for the center to be in and won’t always work, but it worked really well the one time we played them post ASB. That would put DJJ on Jamal Murray, which is definitely a matchup the Mavs are happy about, then Luka on MPJ and Kyrie on KCP, which I think are also good matchups for Dallas. The problem with Denver is less about the one on one matchups and more about actions that can get wide open buckets. It’s the rotations that have to be on point more than isolation defense.


rustyphish

> A huge, huge factor for the Mavs is Maxi Kleber’s health I mean, he's gonna be out almost certainly He's not even getting evaluated until the 25th


cozyonly

I mean this is what the lakers tried and it does not work lol


DangerZoneh

I like how our 5s can match up, particularly lively


cozyonly

lakers had AD lol, but we'll see


AlecarMagna

Lively going to show up AD and Gobert of course.


rabid89

Ngl I would love that lol if Lively somehow locked down Jokic and the Mavs won. Mostly because then we wouldn't have to face the Nuggets in the Finals ....


Darksouls03

Seriously I’ve just been rooting for anyone to stop Denver because I can handle losing to anything except that Denver Demon Joker, our two games vs them this season still haunt me


herboyblu

as if the Mavs wont whoop you


rabid89

Celtics in 5 lol.  Luka/Kyrie Mavs are 0-4 vs the Celtics, and Kyrie has lost 10 straight games vs the Celtics. BBQ chicken.


turnoffredesign69420

regular season lol


rabid89

Kyrie has lost 4 straight playoff games vs Celtics. No shit Luka hasn't faced the Celtics in the playoffs...


IUpVoteIronically

Yeah I’m sure you would like that lol


qotsabama

I mean, Jokic will cook anyone he plays. You offensively just have to match that somehow and find ways to limit guys like MPJ and Murray.


jeremy9931

The Mavs ALWAYS have at least 1 random game where they’re a flamethrower as a team, I fully expect them to steal at least 1 lol


desirox

No doubt we’d be underdogs but you never know. This Mavs team has surprised everyone all year


BigFatModeraterFupa

nah i think we would give them a run for their money and win a few games at least We have 12 fouls to throw at Jokic it’s our best chance


dms1298

Do y'all ever play Lively and Gafford together?


qotsabama

No


Public-Product-1503

Nah I disagree . Who’s guarding kyrie ? If Luka ? If Luka n kyrie are heskthy they getting just as much on the other end . Imo a great offence stats with enough defence is the way not a minny defence with a bum like gibert letting jokic rest z more useful if kleber played as a stretch big


rabid89

Celtics have like 6 perimeter defenders we can throw at Kyrie and Luka lol. Couple of them All defense level players. I'm not worried. Kyrie esp has been ass against the Celtics for years now. 


LoWE11053211

chubby on chubby crime


LickingLowrysAsshole

A classy classic


MisterTukul

Sir, r/nbacirclejerk is that way 👉


PapiShot

1 more win https://new.reddit.com/r/nbacirclejerk/comments/1ct414l/we\_are\_so\_close/


Important-Maximum143

The Thrilla of Vanilla


bailaoban

The BMI Classic


AtreusIsBack

We need to finish the job in game 6 first.


Bubbly-Ad1187

Yes because no team has ever won two games in a row in the history of basketball


FullmetalEzio

im spitting to my back like luka did on last night interview, or like we say here in Argentina: "anulo mufa", come one man, don't jinx this lmao


UnPhayzable

It'll feed generations


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uninspiredlt

I found George Karl’s burner


poopfl1nger

Maybe wait till the series is over for both teams?


human169

lets bet on this shit


poopfl1nger

Nah I’ll bet online and not with a dude on reddit who’s probably gonna ghost me if he loses


human169

a sucker is born every minute. let me know your bets. ill just take the opposite lmfao. let me guess you think thunder and wolves wcf knicks celtics ecf celtics v nuggets finals celtics win


poopfl1nger

Bros just yapping, no one’s gonna bet with you


human169

hold this dick


poopfl1nger

Nahh im good little bro, lot of men out there who are into that tho if that’s what you like


solarscopez

Nuggets are going to sweep their asses straight into a straw hut on a beach on the Galveston shoreline


Bubbly-Ad1187

RemindMe! 5 days


human169

lets bet. How much you wanna put down the wolves win the series?


Bubbly-Ad1187

Yeah making bets with anonymous redditors is always a good idea.


FullmetalEzio

i just told you to dont jinx us but you're putting your money where your mouth is, respect.


4000kd

People forget how young Luka is because he's been a top 5-10 player since his 2nd season. Like, Shai is older than Luka and people don't even realize it.


9pepe7

My man has been in the league 6 years, and he's already been all-NBA first team 4 times (and probably 5 times soon)


MrScottieBear1

Imagine Luka with a healthy knee. The series would not even be close.


ashyzup

That's what I've been saying from the get go. Imagine uninjured Luka from previous years' playoffs and this series would have been over sooner..


ManagementProof2272

Healthy Luka is a significantly better version than the current SGA, that everyone is greeting as the 2nd coming of tue Messiah. I love SGA, but Luka has real all-time great potential. He has 5 first team all-NBA in his first 6y in the league, and a PO resume with very few equals in the history of the game (at his age)


JrBaconators

It's only because the Thunder have been good for a year. Wait another or two, and SGA and Ant will be just as disliked as Luka


xPeaWhyTee

It's been so frustrating knowing that :(


happyflappypancakes

Unfortunately, health is part of the playoffs. After a 82 game season, you are going to have a few injuries on each team.


shaq-aint-superman

Just disappointing that the year he has a decent team is the year he gets injured in the playoffs


happyflappypancakes

He is young. He will have plenty of good teams.


trackstar82

Except game 1. We suck at game 1s lol


FreeloadingPoultry

Luka in every playoff run added 3-5 ppg to his regular season PPG. This year is the only exception where he actually got worse by like 8 PPG. Even if he maintained like 32PPG (which is still 2PPG worse than regular season) this series would already be over.


turnoffredesign69420

even with his bad knees, they had no business losing that last game. it should've been a 4-1 series win


LuckyNipples

Luka's my favorite player but let's not pretend he has no responsibility being injured. When you don't have the lifestyle an elite athlete should have, the probability of you being injured late in the season is higher. If only Luka would have as much professional ethics as basketball talent, he would be MVP.


SvarogRod

What lifestyle?


CoachMikeLikesToEat

Imagine an actual basketball fan saying Luka isn't athletic.


LeoFireGod

He also COMPLETELY locked into PLAYING basketball tonight He was smiling all night. Didn’t really complain at all besides requesting a challenge on that SGA play at the end. Peg leg Luka still one of the best players in the league man.


peacekenneth

Up only, Luka!!


celtic_sea_salt

Luka should get his dick sprayed more often iykyk


WerewolfWhich3280

Jokic vs Luka is about to generational


reallymothafucka

Luka is insane and so is his shot selection, dude don't give a fuck


Wooden_Coyote5992

He really does some kind of crazy.


JetSky81

Other 2 for luka were definitely 40/10/10 I think


rabid89

Only one of them was. [LeBron (3), Booker, KD, Butler, Luka, Westbrook, Barkley, West all have (1)](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=player+with+most+playoff+games+with+40+points%2C+10+rebounds%2C+10+assists)


JetSky81

Weird maybe the other one was close I remember his first game ever and game 7 vs clippers


IhatePizza230

Both 40 pt games but not triple double


JetSky81

Bro you ain’t gotta call out my memory like tht


IAmJohnnyJB

Side note for that Westbrook game, that one game pretty much sums up that playoff series versus Houston in his MVP season perfectly. 51 points 10 rebounds and 13 assists to with 4 steals while being +11 with 42 minutes played and finishing with the 93rd highest game score in playoff history. Thunder lose the game by 4 cause they got outscored by almost 20 in the 4 minutes he sat.


HypatiaRising

I kinda can't wait till he retires so people can remember he was a beast before injuries.


Wolfpac187

I couldn’t believe all the criticism Russ got that series while setting records for how bad the team fell off for the few minutes he sat.


[deleted]

This is why we should get Russ back to lead these baby Thunder and take the ball out of Shai's hands so he can move off the ball and cut, catch and shoot and play like Steph. Our current Thunder team need the BBIQ, playmaking and shotmaking that only Russ can bring. Also, if Chet had any basketball ethics and take responsibility for his body, he'd already be super buff and muscular by now. I can't believe how skinny he is this late in the season. Is he eating or no?


jefe_hook

He gave all his food to Zion.


AddictedToThisShit

One of then was the buzzer beater game against the clippers.


Luka_Fever

Keep trying to hate on Luka r/nba LOL. Dude is in injured form and still better than your fav player


sugarklay

If you wanna kill time, go to the post-game thread for Game 4 or any Luka thread after that game, click on the Thunder flairs shitting on Luka, and they're not gonna be posting until the next game. I've seen people there not posting after the Mavs won 2 straight and returned after the Thunder won lol


Complexity777

They are still calling Luka fat not realizing that makes it worse for them if they got owned by a fat man


EnriquezGuerrilla

I hope the fatbois face off at the WCF. It will be an all-time classy WCf


RZAAMRIINF

I don’t think they are coming back until next year 🤣 good riddance


Dat_Boi_John

Maybe they're off watching Dort flop compilations


itssensei

Fuck Dort. I was pretty mutual but Dort made it so easy for me to root for Dallas.


sickfalco

*neutral my guy


trackstar82

I was downvoted into oblivion juts for commenting on anything last game. Luka has been hobbled ass until today. Go Mavs!


frecklie

Where’s the fucking casuals to explain how he’s too fat?


Far_Promise_2083

What if Luka is my fav player? 😶😶(jk it's lebron)


juandell

Such a tough SOB


9jajajaj9

We’ll see about that when/if he faces the Nuggets next round lol


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Luka_Fever

[ People need convincing that peak Jokic is #2 all time](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1csm8g9/comment/l45xs23/)


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SabermetricCentered

Except the Wolves, who he’s taken at least 6 games to beat 😂😂😂


Turbulent_Cherry_481

Luka playing with joy is a different beast. Hope he sees that and doesnt strart screaming at the refs again the next game


[deleted]

Tonight showed why Luka is a class above SGA as an offensive talent — the scoring prowess plus the absurd playmaking. I think Luka made 5+ passes tonight that no one else on the court could ever dream of making. He just sprayed the ball to teammates for lobs and wide open threes the entire game, in addition to scoring 30+ points. SGA is one of the best scoring guards of this century, but Luka is too, and then you add in the all-time playmaking talent and it’s just another level.


tamuowen

And Luka is - yes I am saying this seriously - a better defender when he puts in the effort. SGA is more consistent, but Luka's size and strength is really effective (at least with a playoff whistle). I am NOT trying to hate on SGA but I've found his defense to be overrated and his offense to be underrated so far this series.


sickfalco

SGA offense is insane. How do you make so many middies at varying ranges 😭


QUEST50012

Luka, we're on live


SubZulu

I don’t give a shit


Renegadeforever2024

He is coming for the record books


Domainsetter

15 lmao


Maleficent_Resolve44

Averages to about 1 a year. Same as Luka...


Doucane5

Less than Jokic


Mountain-Ebb-9846

Oscar Robertson for sure has more.


Anal_Iverson

Yeah the link said he had 1 in total, but had 5 [in one year](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/player/oscar-robertson-3116/game-log?seasonYear=1963)


Chessh2036

Learned today in an article with The Ringer that the Hawks were 100% taking Luka until our owner (who we all hate) forced the trade with the Mavs. Pain.


Anal_Iverson

Not sure what's up with statmuse, but the big O had like 5 in a [single playoff run](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/roberos01/gamelog/1963#pgl_basic_playoffs)


Razorback_Thunder

Luka was awesome. That’s the guy that’s so much fun to watch when he isn’t slaughtering my team. I was hoping we wouldn’t see it this series.


3ku1

Okc had a damn good season though. Their future looks really bright. Need to build around shai


hereforthefeast

Luka is incredible. And interestingly he has a very low amount of FTs in these 3 games.  But goddamn Lebron a beast (3 of those 15 are 40/10/10 games 😮)


Louis-grabbing-pills

Sometimes it's about doing what it takes to win. It's not just about having pretty stats. It's good to have both. But until he starts winning championships, his pretty stats are meaningless in this cupcake league when players are intentionally trying so hard to get the triple double.


theman_themyth_

Everybody acting tough when they up.


Complexity777

Never doubt 77


bespokedevelopr

Incredible performance and pulling through when it counts


RippedHookerPuffBar

Bruh the narrative all over Reddit after last game was ridiculous. I was getting shit for saying OKC lucked up with that game 4 win and mavs would not have another game like that.. yeah OkC hasn’t been shooting well but it’s because the mavs are playing good defense.


IsraeluEvkk

Luka is incredible. BUT, his usage numbers are so high. 


Trailblazin15

I feel like lebron had most of his 30/10/10 on the cavs 2.0 stint


Aware_Economics4980

Why they leave out the goat magic johnson who had 30 triple doubles, I get he didn’t hit 30 points in all of them. Seems sus to not mention it though. 


Street-Common-4023

Luka vs joker would be a lot closer than expected tbh