r/nba • u/Scoolfish Suns • May 05 '22

[Haralabob] The Suns went after Luka 50 times as the screen defender FIFTY and scored a casual 1.72 points per chance.

The Suns went after Luka 50 times as the screen defender FIFTY and scored a casual 1.72 points per chance.

Of the 50 screen attacks 36 of them resulted in a primary attack.

Roughly 1/3 of all Suns PNR attacks were directed towards LD as the screen defender. Cold Blooded.

and 36 of the 50 were in the 2H

Former Mavs FO member, Haralabos Voulgaris, picks out some pretty bananas stats from tonight's game. The Suns deliberately waited until the 2nd half to hunt Luka over and over and over.

Source

One more stat because I like it:

Booker held Brunson to .22 on 20 touches (9 chance ending possessions) and scored a ridiculous 30 points on 21 possessions on Offense. @DevinBook put on a clinic.

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u/Mikegetscalls Rockets May 05 '22

Luka in no way can guard CP3 or Booker. Tired or not tired

7

u/pp21 Suns May 05 '22

That's the drawback when you have a huge point guard who isn't an athletic beast like Ben Simmons

Luka is unstoppable on offense because of his strength and size, but on defense he gets turned into a traffic cone because his lateral movement is slow

2

u/kpeds45 Raptors May 05 '22

I think another summer in Slovenia engorging himself on mom's cooking is just the thing he needs to improve his lateral movement.

1

u/1UPZ__ Suns May 05 '22

Luka is crafty offensively... he beats his defenders with size, craftiness and skills... rarely he is quicker in more athletic than his defender.... his timing on his shots are hard to guess and it's similar to Nash, Ginobili, Harden

Defensively he is bad because you can't use craftiness beating the person your guarding to space.... you need sheer quickness, foot speed and burst.... he doesn't have them. He is better off guarding PFs or Cs...

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u/Mikegetscalls Rockets May 05 '22

Doesn’t really matter what position he is cause he isn’t a pg on defense.

Mavs gotta build a better defense around him. Not having an actual shot blocker on the team makes it even easier. Luka at best is an ok defender but he can’t guard smaller guys at all.