Zach Lowe pinpoints two Luka Doncic problems impacting the LA Lakers in series with Minnesota Timberwolves https://t.co/kGDJoQfbsS— LakerTom (@LakerTom) April 29, 2025
Zach Lowe pinpoints two Luka problems impacting Lakers
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April 29, 2025 5 Comments
FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:
Zach Lowe thinks Luka Doncic needs to fight more defensively
“He’s just helpless defensively, off the ball too,” Lowe stated bluntly on his podcast about Luka Doncic.
“How about you put up a fight in like game one. And now you’re down 3-1 and you’re probably going home.”
The criticism highlights a weakness that has followed Doncic throughout his career but has been particularly exposed in this playoff series against the athletic Timberwolves.
Despite the Lakers’ defensive needs against Minnesota’s explosive offense, Doncic has struggled to provide resistance on that end.
Where’s the Luka magic as a playmaker
While Doncic poured in 38 points in Game 4, Lowe pointed to another concerning statistic that suggests the superstar isn’t having his typical impact as a playmaker.
“One interesting stat from this series is that Luka only has 20 assists in four games, which for him is not very many,” Lowe explained.
lol. Zach Lowe should look at some of the advanced stats a little more closely before popping off.
No other Laker has contested more shots than Luka (makes sense, they’re making him work on defense).
The Timberwolves are shooting the lowest FG% against Luka.
Those are the numbers, don’t much matter what the opinion’s around them are.
The thing that doesn’t show up in the stats is how often guys blow past Luka to get in the paint, causing everyone to scramble, and wreaking havoc on the overall team defense. Especially problematic when we have no rim protection
Sure but the same could be said for Reaves, somehow the 40 year old is one of the better players at moving their feet…
…and this is what I’ve been seeing for a coupla years now. We’re always gonna struggle against great guards. We just got one of the greatest offensive players in the game but we lost 2 of our best two-way guys in Max and AD. Good teams figure out how to beat the gimmick defense Redick has been running. Now if we somehow beat MIN 3 straight, we get a rested Steph & JimmyB.