LeBron James and JJ Redick had an interesting discussion about Luka Doncic on the latest episode of the 'Mind The Game' podcast, discussing the unstoppable aspects of Luka's offense and why sending a double-team at Doncic often ends badly for teams.
JJ Redick: "What's interesting about Luka is that he's one of the handful of guys in this era who can make any pass out of a double-team. You are one of them, James (Harden) is one of them, and Luka is one of them. So why do you blitz him?"
LeBron James: "I don't understand it. Especially with the shooting they surround him with... He's gonna make every read. When Tim Hardaway is hitting six or seven threes, you're done. Kyrie is going to do what he does, Luka is going to do what he does. When you get Tim Hardaway hitting six or seven threes and in our game earlier this year, we blitzed Luka and Dante Exum hit five or six threes."
JJ Redick: "If people want an answer for the scoring outburst, it's because there's no good f***ing answer. Atlanta blitzes the most in the NBA. They decided to not blitz Luka Doncic because they were worried about the consequences, and he scored 73."
This was an illuminating conversation about the realities of modern NBA offenses. Casual fans and analysts have been criticizing Doncic's style of play and claim teams don't play defense against him, which was a popular talk point after his 73-point game.
LeBron and Redick discussed the same with technical nuance, with James essentially agreeing with the Hawks' decision to not double-team Luka that game because of how dangerous he can be as a passer.
Luka is averaging 33.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 9.8 assists this season, arguably among the greatest modern offensive season we have ever seen. The Mavericks could end the season as high as the fourth seed. His scoring prowess is incredible and it's interesting to see that even a player like LeBron doesn't understand what he and the Lakers need to do to stop Doncic from scoring.
LeBron James Vetoed Coaching Decisions In Win Over Clippers
LeBron wasn't a fan of the strategy that involved blitzing Luka Doncic. He also wasn't a fan of Darvin Ham's defensive strategy against the Clippers in an incredible 20-point comeback orchestrated by James earlier this season. LeBron revealed he vetoed Darvin Ham's game plan in that game to get the win.
"In the Clippers game, we had switching built in versus Kawhi, versus James, whatever the case may be and I vetoed it in the second half because I know Ty Lue, more than any other player that's ever been with Ty Lue and I know he plays target ball too and It got a point. I knew in order for us to get back into the game, switching anybody else onto Kawhi is not favorable for us or I might as well get ready for Wizards, so I vetoed it."
He's one of the smartest players we have seen in the NBA. With his 21 years of experience in the league, it's hard for any coach to try and overrule anything James has to say. You have to trust him in these situations, and Ham trusted James to come up with a strategy that would win them the game.
James is averaging 25.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 8.1 assists this season.
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