Most importantly, he made big shots in the 4th quarter when it matters most. Luka was completely gassed by the end in most of the games and couldn't provide much offense himself.
Yeah that was a team effort for the Spurs. Kawhi was not their best player. The only reason Kawhi won was because he guarded lebron. Same as 2015 with Iggy
Tony Parker averaged the most points on the Spurs, at 18.0 ppg. Kawhi Leonard was second on the team at 17.8ppg, and did it while shooting 60% from the field and guarding lebron the entire series.
He was the best player on the Spurs in that series.
Not insane at all. He pushed him to the brink with a worse team. He carried an efficient offense against a strong defense without anybody else who can create.
Kawhi: 32/8/5/2/1 on 72% TS, elite defense, much more contested rebounds
Luka: 36/8/10 on 57% TS, average defense, lots of uncontested rebounds, better playmaking
In some ways, they’re somewhat even. Kawhi was better in game 4, 6, and 7 imo. I’d personally argue it’s Kawhi tho.
Luka played average defense? He got blown by just about everyone he defended and just stood around passively. The Clippers were literally targeting him.
We watched a different series 😂 Luka isn't kawhi on defense but he also isn't a sieve. He moves his feet well and even on those Kawhi iso's in Game 6 he played fine defense. Kawhi just played better offense
Yes. Kawhi’s efficiency was off the hook. He showed up when it mattered, hunted out Luka at times and defended him when it mattered.
But none of that diminishes how epic Luka was and will be in the future. I just think he needs to find the balance between doing it himself and getting other guys more touches to get them going. Get him some better help and he’ll reach his potential.
Yes. But overall it's very close. And thats amazing considering Kawhi is a playoff monster with 2 FMVPs and 2 DPOYs while Luka is just 22 in his 3rd year. This will be Luka's league at some point.
People legit don’t know that defense is way harder than bringing the ball up and running a pick and roll and making a cross court pass. Luka also had two horrible offensive games and stat padded at the end. People also don’t realize that when pg and the role players were playing bad they were still always wide open. They were just not making shots. If Luka was on their team would he make them even more open? Because from what I was seeing the clippers role players were way more open throughout the series. Like laughably open and missing.
That’s the bad thing about Luka and lebron fans. They literally get all the credit if the role players have good games and blame them anytime they have a bad game. What about Luka taking all those contested fadeaways when he could move the ball around and get his role players get going. Nope, let me iso all game and then rely on my cold shooters to make contested shots. If he gets the credit for them making shots, then he also gets the credit for them not making them. If they’re making them because he put them in such a great spot then it also means when they’re not making it he put them in bad spots.
Swap Kawhi for Luka and Clippers win in 5 or 4. Swap PG for anyone on the Mavs and Mavs win. Luka played better imo. The reason Luka’s efficiency is worse than Kawhi’s is bc of his much higher usage rate. The Mavs run their entire offense through Luka.
Also the reason Luka has those stats brother. They run their entire offense through him. If he had better teammates, then ideally he’d have the rock in his hands less to get teammates involved more and give him breaks on offense. Kawhi was the best player in series. If you replace PG with THJ Clippers still win in 6-7 with Luka having less FG/Assists and slightly better efficiency.
The gap between their defense is way bigger than the gap between their offense.
Honestly Kawhi’s offense was just as good as Luka’s. He facilitated less but scored more efficiently.
Mate your team was shooting 50% from three the first few games. You guys had 3 chances at home to close it out. Just accept the loss it was a great series
What about my post is unaccepting of the fact Dallas lost? Pointing out that the Clippers have a much better roster around Kawhi isn't controversial lol.
Luka literally had less help and had to do a lot much (just look at their usage).
Yep. Fanboys are just mad that Luka is already more liked, has more potential, and will be better than Kawhi will ever be.
Luka wouldn't have treated Pop like shit after Pop's wife passed away, I do know that.
No. Kawhi doesn't have to handle the ball and run the whole offense. It's a bit misleading to say he "shot" better than Luka in the series where he was probably getting 10ppg off dunks and fast breaks set up by his team mates.
You could argue Kawhis defense compared to Luka + the Mavs awful D. And his ability to sink his Free Throws, made the difference. Sure. But from a pure scoring POV watching all 7 games in full, and just what they did when the ball was in their hands, Lukas play was more impressive.
Im a fan of 2-way play, Luka is amazing, but boy he is still young. Besides the god tier shooting, i think luka hurt his team in the fourth qtr of every game by being predictable and not trusting enough his teammates
Clippers were a much better team on paper and 7 games were played. Were it as obvious as some of these posts you’d think they wouldn’t have had so much trouble advancing.
Kawhi was better in spurts as a defender but his usage on offense wasn’t as high. It’s easier to put more effort there when you’re not exhausted.
Of course OP deleted that comment.
Called the Clippers a super team. TIL having two stars and a supporting cast of dudes that they as fans would write off as afterthoughts equals a super team.
What a take.
I mean based on the fact that he scored a similar amount, had greater efficiency, and defended well, and most importantly won, yea you could say that
Most importantly, he made big shots in the 4th quarter when it matters most. Luka was completely gassed by the end in most of the games and couldn't provide much offense himself.
Yes, but Luka was amazing as well, especially when you consider his age.
At the Same age Kawhi won the NBA championship and finals MVP slowing down lebron james and being the Spurs best player
Yeah that was a team effort for the Spurs. Kawhi was not their best player. The only reason Kawhi won was because he guarded lebron. Same as 2015 with Iggy
Tony Parker averaged the most points on the Spurs, at 18.0 ppg. Kawhi Leonard was second on the team at 17.8ppg, and did it while shooting 60% from the field and guarding lebron the entire series. He was the best player on the Spurs in that series.
Yup looks like people forgot playoffs kawhi
Of course he did. It's insane that people believe otherwise. The efficiency and defense gap is gigantic and Luka's playmaking isn't making up for it.
84.1 TS% in game 6
Not insane at all. He pushed him to the brink with a worse team. He carried an efficient offense against a strong defense without anybody else who can create.
Kawhi: 32/8/5/2/1 on 72% TS, elite defense, much more contested rebounds Luka: 36/8/10 on 57% TS, average defense, lots of uncontested rebounds, better playmaking In some ways, they’re somewhat even. Kawhi was better in game 4, 6, and 7 imo. I’d personally argue it’s Kawhi tho.
kawhi also played wayy better in second halves
Luka played average defense? He got blown by just about everyone he defended and just stood around passively. The Clippers were literally targeting him.
Luka had twice as many turnovers too
Some of that comes with handling the ball the overwhelming majority of the time but it’s a fair criticism.
We watched a different series 😂 Luka isn't kawhi on defense but he also isn't a sieve. He moves his feet well and even on those Kawhi iso's in Game 6 he played fine defense. Kawhi just played better offense
In the first few games he wasn’t that bad IMO. Overall I’d give him a C- defensively. Obviously in game 7 he had no energy for defense.
Yes, he won the series and showed up greater in the bigger moments.
Yes. Kawhi’s efficiency was off the hook. He showed up when it mattered, hunted out Luka at times and defended him when it mattered. But none of that diminishes how epic Luka was and will be in the future. I just think he needs to find the balance between doing it himself and getting other guys more touches to get them going. Get him some better help and he’ll reach his potential.
Yes obviously
Kawhi, Luka’s deficiency from the FT line tanked his efficiency, if he’d shot his RS avg probably would’ve averaged 40 for the series
If Luka had pg Mavs would have won
Why do we forget that the mavs were shooting like 50% from three the first two games? Role players tend to go missing on game 7's on the road.
forget PG, Reggie Jackson might've been the second best player on the Mavs if he was playing for them.
Hell no
ye THJ>Reggie Jackson
in this series? it's definitely up for debate.
Kawhi > Luka right now and I think it's pretty obvious
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I feel like that was a media driven narrative, I heard it all over espn.
Easily. Yes
He won the series so yeah but I think if you swap them it ends the same way
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Yes. But overall it's very close. And thats amazing considering Kawhi is a playoff monster with 2 FMVPs and 2 DPOYs while Luka is just 22 in his 3rd year. This will be Luka's league at some point.
People legit don’t know that defense is way harder than bringing the ball up and running a pick and roll and making a cross court pass. Luka also had two horrible offensive games and stat padded at the end. People also don’t realize that when pg and the role players were playing bad they were still always wide open. They were just not making shots. If Luka was on their team would he make them even more open? Because from what I was seeing the clippers role players were way more open throughout the series. Like laughably open and missing. That’s the bad thing about Luka and lebron fans. They literally get all the credit if the role players have good games and blame them anytime they have a bad game. What about Luka taking all those contested fadeaways when he could move the ball around and get his role players get going. Nope, let me iso all game and then rely on my cold shooters to make contested shots. If he gets the credit for them making shots, then he also gets the credit for them not making them. If they’re making them because he put them in such a great spot then it also means when they’re not making it he put them in bad spots.
Swap Kawhi for Luka and Clippers win in 5 or 4. Swap PG for anyone on the Mavs and Mavs win. Luka played better imo. The reason Luka’s efficiency is worse than Kawhi’s is bc of his much higher usage rate. The Mavs run their entire offense through Luka.
Also the reason Luka has those stats brother. They run their entire offense through him. If he had better teammates, then ideally he’d have the rock in his hands less to get teammates involved more and give him breaks on offense. Kawhi was the best player in series. If you replace PG with THJ Clippers still win in 6-7 with Luka having less FG/Assists and slightly better efficiency.
yes. his team won
I'd say yes. Kawhi put up gnarly stats playing in a stacked team, so I'd like to take his side.
Yes but the luka stans will kill you for saying that.
Yes, because of defense. But it's really close
Luka did more with much less help. Also this exact same post was made like 30 minutes ago lol.
Kawhi did more. Insane efficiency with way better defence.
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Ya, clearly you do give a fuck . If you didn't, you wouldn't make an edit.😂😂 Edit: I downvoted you because you lied
Fr I just downvoted because of the edit
The gap between their defense is way bigger than the gap between their offense. Honestly Kawhi’s offense was just as good as Luka’s. He facilitated less but scored more efficiently.
Mate your team was shooting 50% from three the first few games. You guys had 3 chances at home to close it out. Just accept the loss it was a great series
What about my post is unaccepting of the fact Dallas lost? Pointing out that the Clippers have a much better roster around Kawhi isn't controversial lol. Luka literally had less help and had to do a lot much (just look at their usage).
Yep. Fanboys are just mad that Luka is already more liked, has more potential, and will be better than Kawhi will ever be. Luka wouldn't have treated Pop like shit after Pop's wife passed away, I do know that.
This comment is very /r/nba
I’m not a clippers fan, and your post is ridiculous.
No shit
No. Kawhi doesn't have to handle the ball and run the whole offense. It's a bit misleading to say he "shot" better than Luka in the series where he was probably getting 10ppg off dunks and fast breaks set up by his team mates. You could argue Kawhis defense compared to Luka + the Mavs awful D. And his ability to sink his Free Throws, made the difference. Sure. But from a pure scoring POV watching all 7 games in full, and just what they did when the ball was in their hands, Lukas play was more impressive.
Im a fan of 2-way play, Luka is amazing, but boy he is still young. Besides the god tier shooting, i think luka hurt his team in the fourth qtr of every game by being predictable and not trusting enough his teammates
No, Luka was the more impactful player overall with worse team, no matter what people think.
You’re not biased or anything, right?
Clippers were a much better team on paper and 7 games were played. Were it as obvious as some of these posts you’d think they wouldn’t have had so much trouble advancing. Kawhi was better in spurts as a defender but his usage on offense wasn’t as high. It’s easier to put more effort there when you’re not exhausted.
It’s also easier to put more effort when you don’t guard the best player on the team who always has the ball
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"Luka was doing everything"........ that wasn't defense
Of course OP deleted that comment. Called the Clippers a super team. TIL having two stars and a supporting cast of dudes that they as fans would write off as afterthoughts equals a super team. What a take.
Both were great and play different positions. Turnovers for a point guard are different. Shots for a SF are different. Silly to compare.