NBA Season 2025-26

[Goldstar88]

Good game on between the Spurs and Pistons. If Boston plays Detroit in the playoffs, they are going to need Queta big time. Duran is a beast.

[Phantom255x]

Spurs could be on their way to 9 straight wins now, and less than 3 games back of OKC

Even though they haven't had much playoff experience in recent years, if Wemby's healthy that's a formidable foe for anyone including OKC who the Spurs have done well against too.

I'm excited for the West playoffs this year. There's 5 teams who I legitimately think has a chance at making the Finals, and I'm not sold OKC will make it this year. There's more resistance.

[Who]

Man, Luka is taking 10 threes per game. Even more incredible he is averaging 10 FTAs per game as well. 10 threes + 10 FTAs a night.

That is an freakish combination.

22.0 FGA
10.3 3PTA
10.8 FTA

10.8 FTA / 22 FGA. That is a near 50% FTr (48.8%).

I know some stat heads back in the day used to subtract 3PTA from FGA and then divide by FTA. They did this because fouls on 3PTA were so rare. You hardly ever get them relative to the number of 3s you take. It was interesting to see how often volume 3 point shooters got to the FT line when you just isolate their 2 point attempts and could then compare them to other stars who (back in the day) took fewer 3 pointers. Say to DeMar DeRozan today. Now everyone shoots 3s though. Not as interesting today but still has some interest.

So Luka has 10.8 FTA / 11.7 2PTA. Almost 1:1 FTA : 2PTA ratio. That is crazy. Especially at that volume. Nearly 11 FTAs per game. And still maintaining that ratio.

[Who]

On the Luka topic, I saw some great numbers - on/off stats for the Lakers Big 3 yesterday

Iztok Franko
@iztok_franko
Lakers are -4.2 per 100 possessions this season in 1416 possessions with both Luka & LeBron on the floor.

I tried to dig deeper to see if there is more context behind these numbers, and what could the Lakers do to navigate this in the second part of the season

So you have the Big 3 together numbers. You have individual member without either of the Big 3 next to him (all have positive +/- by themselves), and you have 2 of the Big 3 together (only Luka / A Reaves is positive).

Fantastic data

This season alone, in 171 minutes where that trio plays together, they're at -7.47 (112 Ortg, 119.7 Drtg). It's a small sample, but that trio has been worse this year than last. They've shown zero ability to defend with those 3 slower stars on the court together, and the offense hasn't worked.

[Phantom255x]

On the Luka topic, I saw some great numbers - on/off stats for the Lakers Big 3 yesterday

Iztok Franko
@iztok_franko
Lakers are -4.2 per 100 possessions this season in 1416 possessions with both Luka & LeBron on the floor.

I tried to dig deeper to see if there is more context behind these numbers, and what could the Lakers do to navigate this in the second part of the season

So you have the Big 3 together numbers. You have individual member without either of the Big 3 next to him (all have positive +/- by themselves), and you have 2 of the Big 3 together (only Luka / A Reaves is positive).

Fantastic data

This season alone, in 171 minutes where that trio plays together, they're at -7.47 (112 Ortg, 119.7 Drtg). It's a small sample, but that trio has been worse this year than last. They've shown zero ability to defend with those 3 slower stars on the court together, and the offense hasn't worked.

Someone asked Mazzulla post-game about facing Lebron/Luka/Reaves, and he made a comment that everyone asks how to defend them, the answer is "we need to attack them".

It worked beautifully in the 2024 Finals and it continues to work when the C's play Luka. And even Reaves isn't a great defender in my eyes if, again, you attack and try to exploit him on that end.

Also on social media, Doncic has been getting lit up about his constant complaining to the refs almost every play. Some of those moments have also led to terrible defensive lapses on the other end like we saw Sunday. He's a historically great scorer but his defense/attitude can get in the way. Think of Harden too. Even Harden has made a Finals and made a handful of deep runs in the West. Never got over the top though, although I'll admit Harden's defense has improved a little in recent years where he's not a pure turnstill out there.