“Hall of Famers played Magic and Bird, Luke plays with second-round picks” JJ Redick defends Luka Doncic after Mavericks plight in WC Finals

The Dallas Mavericks and the team’s top scorer, Luka Doncic, were the target of many analysts for his poor performance in the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors, but former NBA Star JJ Redick defended Luka Doncic with some key advice.

Golden State Warriors lead 3-0 at WConference Finals. While the Dallas Mavericks struggled to keep things under control, TV analysts and reporters made life even more miserable for the Mavericks, criticizing them on various aspects of the game. Some targeted their weak defenses, scorching depth and/or offense in the 2nd half. Luka Doncic has been heavily targeted as the franchise’s leader and marquee striker. JJ Redick gave him some support when he responded to Max Kellerman’s comments.

Max claimed that Luka, a guard on the team, should involve other players in the game and make plays so that his teammates perform at a higher level and look better in the game. He gave examples from Hall of Fame players such as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. But JJ Redick had other thoughts.

JJ Redick casts the doubt on Luka Doncic

The Golden State Warriors dominated all 3 games of the Western Conference Finals and the Mavericks looked weak in the process. When Max Kellerman pointed to Luke’s fault for not doing better on other players like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, Redick pointed out that Luka is mostly from the runoff picks and has an undrafted supporting cast.

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Redick was hinting at team composition where Magic Johnson had some Halls of Famers like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bob McAdoo as a backup – one point MVP, sharp scorers like James Worthy and Byron Scott; Larry Bird had Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge.

Many of the players named on the teams above are Hall of Famers and even The NBA’s 75th Anniversary team. Returning to the Dallas Mavericks in 2022, Luka has only received support from Spencer Dinwiddie, Jalen Brunson, and another star, Tim Hardaway Jr. was unavailable due to injury. These players have shown irregularity in their games and are even in the development stage. So, with Luke’s Team and Showtime Lakers or Bird-led Celtics very “unreasonable”.

JJ Redick extends its support even further saying “Magic & Bird played with the Hall of Famers. Luke plays with 2nd round picks and undrafted players like DFS. The shooting quality he created for his teammates – #1 in the last 2 seasons.”

Redick is spot on to some extent as Luke is the only fighter during the season’s end. He averaged 32.1 points, 8 assists, 9 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game and is in the top 5 for most of those stats. In the last game, teammates Maxi Kerber and Reggie Bullock made gaps in 15 tries, leaving Luka helpless in the game.

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