Luka Doncic vs Baskonia | 19.06.2018 | Baskonia - Real Madrid ACB Finals Game 4

Game 1 

Game 2

Game 3

#1 Play - Offense

Great angle of attacking and going early for the jump works in moments like this where all the defenders load up on the same place and there's noone to challenge the shot in the perimeter.

#2 Play - Offense

Steal was clean, bullshit call. Garino made a mistake and helped one pass away, Doncic's mistake was not passing to Llull to punish Garino's mistake as Llull also was cutting to an even better angle too.

#3 Play - Offense

Doncic misses Llull on the strong side once again, which was the right passing option instead of Thompkins.

Then turns the ball over after what looks like a carry (angle not super clear), which means usual dribbling transition in tight space problems.

#4 Play - Defense

Good rotation but precisely great positioning and active hands on the rotation which prevents Voigtmann taking an open 3 or him finding an open Vildoza at the same time.

#5 Play - Defense

Good defensive playmaking to punish Poirier's memorized read.

#6 Play - Offense

Very good passing execution, put Ayon in a favourable finishing position even if Gustavo himself didn't realize it.

#7 Play - Defense

If a wing is guarding a point guard, he never should play aggressive like that. Usually the guard will be quicker and beat a defender who does a move like that. The wing always should react calmly and let himself cover up distance with size instead of trying to be as quick as the smaller point guard. Luckily for Doncic, Vildoza isn't a pull-up threat so it didn't cost Real Madrid defense a bucket.

#8 Play - Offense

Great passing execution from Doncic.

#9 Play - Offense

Was a solid 1-2 on the shot footwork actually. But he rushed his shot too much, there was still time left on the clock for his normal release speed on the shot.

#10 Play - Defense

This is how a wing should defend a point guard. Betting on size, covering distance, not reacting unnecessarily fast and without gambling.

#11 Play - Offense

He had good position to turn around right shoulder without pivoting inside due to Poirier. Broke up his position with passing and Granger pushed him around for the 2nd ball.

#12 Play - Offense

Great cut by Ayon and good passing execution from Doncic punishing Baskonia loading up on Doncic post-ups with Poirier.

#13 Play - Defense

Doesn't run back in transition. First sign of him being tired. Has played 10 minutes straight without rest, but 10 mins isn't that big of a deal. Must improve conditioning.

#14 Play - Offense

Good to see him beat an overplaying guard with ease at first, but more importantly that crossover when Shengelia helped. He doesn't do that crossover often which limits his vertical attacking game. Here he does it horizontally and it sets up his leveraged position to be able to fake out Shengelia.

He doesn't miss that Bodiroga move often, my theory is that his ball control issues affected it and he front rimmed it due to not handling the ball properly to release it. It's just a theory though, as it cannot be seen on tape and only the player who attempted the shot knows it whether it's true or not.

#15 Play - Defense

11 minutes straight playing isn't ideal lineup management by any coach. Doncic shouldn't be on the floor that much until he improves his conditioning. Clear exhaustion causes unbalanced close-out.

#16 Play - Defense

Basically same as what I wrote in play #15. Just instead of an unbalanced close-out, he shows heavy feet and inability to change directions due to exhaustion.

#17 Play - Offense

As good as he is at moving around smaller guys on the post when he has the ball, two possessions from this game show how bad he is at fighting for post position when he doesn't have the ball.

#18 Play - Defense

Not exactly a perfect defensive play as Huertas makes the 3. However, I'm very fine with this. His rotation to Shengelia was necessary and pretty good as Shengelia is more of a threat to make that open spot-up 3 compared to Huertas even if Huertas ended up making it in this possession. Doncic also immediately challenges for the pass to Huertas in the air as soon as he sees Vildoza changing his pass to the corner and tries to stunt Huertas when Huertas is attempting the shot.

#19 Play - Offense

Pretty good recovery afterwards but notice how he gets the ball disrupted due to exposing the ball with a carry which he wouldn't be using had he had elite ball control in between his high and low dribbling.

#20 Play - Offense

Not smart to get a foul like that for an OReb.

#21 Play - Defense

That's just such a poor post defense technique. Doesn't even make contact on the catch, doesn't lower himself to lower his center of gravity against a bigger player. Started to not care on defense in the 4th quarter of this match. Honestly, not on offense either.

#22 Play - Offense

Good vision, but that area of the floor is the place where you don't throw a no-look pass because on the execution of the pass, it needs to go under the rim. He threw a no-look to fool Voigtmann & Janning but the pass ended up a turnover.

#23 Play - Offense

I like the way he used closing out defender's momentum against himself as a close-out attacker but obviously not enough time on the clock and it ended up forcing him to throw up a floater.

Crazy shot that will always make his career highlights obviously, but crazier that this isn't even the craziest shot of this series. Going against Llull in that department is always an impossible task, to be fair.

#24 Play - Defense

Loses Huertas here.

Luka Doncic vs Baskonia | 17.06.2018 | Real Madrid - Baskonia ACB Finals Game 3

First game

Second game

#1 Play - Defense

Real liked to leave Huertas relatively open and load up on the strong side when Huertas wasn't the ball handler in their PnRs this game. Great close-out on the initial action by Luka technically, active hands and forcing Huertas' drive path left.

On the secondary action, he goes under the screen as the ball handler's PnR defender and doesn't leave Diop in a favorable position after the switch. Nice work.

#2 Play - Defense

He goes under on Huertas' PnR as the ball handler and switches to Diop again.

This is a smart play by Diop (and Janning). While Doncic has the strength to fight for position and doesn't allow any leverage for the center inside when he's switched onto him, he doesn't have any knowledge at the 5 as a defender at all. Diop answers to Doncic's effort there by sealing him inside when Luka is merely focused on Diop and cannot react as the initial help defender inside.

Nobody is stupid enough to give Doncic minutes at the 5, and Real Madrid doesn't go under screens when Huertas is the ball handler just because Doncic is horrible at navigating through screens. But still shows how Doncic's biggest weakness defensively, his inability to navigate through screens and especially on-ball ones, can affect his team's defense as they have to switch here when Luka avoids the screen by going under (again, going under there isn't solely due to Luka's inability) and Luka's lack of knowledge as a center defender is exposed by Diop's Marcin Gortatesque subtle trick with the timing and positioning of his seal which works as the assist to Janning's layup.

#3 Play - Offense

As Llull relocates to a better stop after the pass, Luka could have easily drive just a little and later find Jeffery Taylor on his backdoor cut, but he doesn't have the confidence to handle between the triangle 3 defender forms which is a tight space.

Benefiting from Ayon's screen isn't a bad decision either, but pretty subpar mechanics going to his left. As always, his upper body mechanics are almost always clean. His left leg is the issue where it's unbalanced and weird position kills lower body force generation = front rim.

#4 Play - Defense

What he can do when switched to a traditional center though, is to get the defensive rebound.

#5 Play - Offense

Bad footwork on the shot, not a 1-2 not a hop. Actually, a travel that's tough to catch in live in real time. A good portion of the blame is on the pass, but a shooter with elite footwork could backpedal and had a nice 1-2 on the shot possibly.

#6 Play - Offense

 Not being aware of the shot clock is always bad.

#7 Play - Defense

Nice rotation and then good close-out technique. Real's game plan contained risking Huertas' shot and loading up on the strong side on non-Huertas pick and rolls and Huertas is up to NBA range on this one, so not contesting the shot and a non-aggressive close-out is on purpose.

#8 Play - Defense

Shot clock is running out and you bite on Ilimane Diop's pump fake? From there?

#9 Play - Offense

I liked this play, he wanted to wait for Ayon's roll initially and jailed his defender while waiting but then Diop committed to Ayon and he went for the shot attempt. If he isn't going to take that final dribble to stunt defenders in tight spaces and go for 1-2 motion finishes (which he should), at least going for these kind of shots when that space is available is better than nothing until he adds that finishing repertoire. These shots aren't in his arsenal too though, and needs to work on these finger rolls and floaters in workouts.

#10 Play - Offense

Baskonia doesn't have meaningful creation opportunities with this lineup especially with Shenglia off the court, except some flex stuff they could run with the bigs on the court which aren't exactly in their playbook. So they keep trying to take advantage of Doncic going under on Huertas & switching PnRs.

Real defense trying to compensate for Doncic's inability to navigate through screens (even if it's not the sole reason they go under Huertas) needs communication from Doncic. It isn't here and costs 2 points.

#11 Play - Defense

Meh play. Pulling the chair that close to the basket is poor post defense strategy. At least good contest allowed Ayon enough time to erase the shot though. Worth mentioning it's a goaltend in the NBA, obviously.

#12 Play - Defense

Doncic communicates this time with Ayon on the switch. Disruption eats time off the clock.

#13 Play - Offense

He's good at punishing overplaying defenders. Baskonia really loads up on the strong side on a Doncic post-up entry. Good portion of the credit goes to Ayon too, for that beautiful entry pass.

#14 Play - Offense

And we see why Baskonia loads up the strong side, Luka moves around defenders with smaller size and frame to where he wants and can finish after spinning with good arc.

#15 Play - Offense

The deceleration he created against Garino after the switch moves Vildoza over to help and Llull is open for the shot.

#16 Play - Defense

Slide your feet and don't take the contact there, that's call ball handlers get a lot in Europe. He should know, he knows to get these calls.

#17 Play - Defense

Jumpy on the pump fake again.

#18 Play - Offense

Nice to see him being able to attack on players who sit on his deceleration and dare him to drive inside. Couldn't do that quite a lot of times this season. Does it here and Vildoza fouls. But could have done it quicker with better handles. His ball handling is easily adequate but he needs work in ball control as it can be seen here. Also the infamous high-low dribble transition issue I talk about all the time is about ball control too.

#19 Play - Offense

Used a carry to transition to low dribble when accelerating to beat his defender and jumped off two feet instead of a 1-2 motion finish but nice to see him attacking into the spaced area and put pressure on the rim.

#20 Play - Offense

Much better footwork on the shot compared to 1st two 3PAs. Feet are better balanced, good 1-2, and total body motion is pretty fluid after the dip.

#21 Play - Offense

Punishing that meaningless, structureless press by two players nicely.

#22 Play - Defense

Awesome close-out technique and then forcing Timma left... Then played post defense like somebody who had 4 fouls, which wasn't the case at all.

#23 Play - Offense

Good to see him attack through a tight space like that. Vildoza was in position to take the charge so Doncic slowed down which messed up his layup attempt, which is why he needs to attack in these possessions more, gain more reps and know how to control his body while finishing the play.

#24 Play - Offense

Attacking Huertas in space is always a good idea. Can't see the ball all the time, but seems to be a perfect low-high ball transition & high-low dribble transition which accelerates him with the crossover past Huertas. Then he takes the final dribble instead of jumping early. And jumps with a 1-2 motion even if it's not great. That 1-2 allowed him to get past two defenders and throw the pass, don't think he could get past both of them with a 2 feet jump there.

#25 Play - Offense

Look at that hop on the stepback. If he didn't use the hop and instead just pull back his left foot to where his right foot is which he does almost as much as he uses the hop, I'd bet a lot this would be missed. He's good at generating force through 1-2 in certain situations too, but pulling one foot of his to where the other is to line up for the shot here isn't even a 1-2 and the hop generates much better results for him in his stepbacks while where 1-2 works for him is mostly in certain kind of off-ball shots.

#26 Play - Offense

And here while he takes the shot with the confidence of the make earlier, footwork isn't the same. Not a hop, not a 1-2. Just pulls his right foot to where the left is. Not even close to the rhythm he gets with a proper hop on off-the-dribble shots.

#27 Play - Offense

Don't let the jump pass fool you, he looks at who's open before and is confident enough on his read to adjust mid-air since he's able to throw a look-away pass on this one.

#28 Play - Offense

Good passing vision and timing, okay passing execution.

#29 Play - Offense

Where the athleticism question marks are all valid. A perimeter player with elite quick twitch athleticism would blow past around Janning's contact there before Diop was able to come.

What non-elite athletes can try to compensate with are either elite skills or elite BBIQ in certain situations. This possession requires BBIQ mainly out of that as it requires vision. Not passing vision, vision of space or vision of drive paths. There are space and drive path to his left but Doncic drives to the right even as he sees incoming Diop. When you don't have the elite athleticism, you compensate with decision making in these possessions. Doncic didn't.

#30 Play - Defense

No contest, no close-out. He's guarding Janning on top of that, not Huertas.

#31 Play - Defense

Good positioning and close-out. Is aware of the screen, Vildoza pulls-up as he looks at the incoming screen but Doncic reacts fast & it's a longish range contested 3PA.

#32 Play - Defense

Good positioning again and threatens the passing lane which eats off the shot clock a little. Was a pretty great defensive possession as a whole from Real to be honest.

#33 Play - Offense

Even though Janning slides his feet pretty well, that in-between-legs crossover done right according to defender's position allows him to accelerate around two players. For a player with Luka's range of athleticism, it usually comes down to his decision making of where to go and more importantly his ball handling which decides the margin of whether he's able to get past his defender or not since he doesn't have the margin of error of players who have elite athleticism who could potentially get past their defenders even without having great high-low dribble transition or great decision making of locating.

#34 Play - Offense

Luka loves post-ups out of BLOBs and SLOBs. Again, good to see him being able to move around players like Janning with smaller size and frame to where he wants.

That's a shitty call though which caused us not being able to see the end of the play as replay shows Janning putting his left arm in between Doncic's body but there's no contact.

Luka Doncic vs Baskonia | 15.06.2018 | Real Madrid - Baskonia ACB Finals Game 2

Game 1 possessional thoughts are here

#1 Play - Offense

Not necessarily a bad shot in terms of mechanics. Feet could have been better balanced and more apart from each other.

What interested me here was that he gave up on driving once he looked at the shot clock. There was enough time on the clock to penetrate inside and even find a pass later on. Doesn't look like he has the confidence to drive through traffic off-the-dribble, does it?

#2 Play - Defense

I sucked at defending these and never even understood how to do it let alone execute it. So I have no idea what he does wrong here lol, but obviously subpar transition defending. Even when I see players defending these plays well, I go "Well, he defended well" and am still oblivious to how exactly these should be defended to this day.

He complains to the ref but replay clearly shows him hitting Garino's arm.

#3 Play - Offense

Good pass. Shows how much Baskonia interior defenders are aware of his passing as Timma rotates to potentially close out to Llull and Diop's awareness is decent.

The reason he needs to pick up his dribble since he can't to through the needle of two Baskonia defenders (Huertas & Beaubois in this, many others in Game 1 and throughout the series) is that he's not confident enough in his handle to go outwards and beat them. He had the momentum to blow by Huertas' left with an in & out dribble but that would require the transition from a pound dribble (high dribble even if Luka's body is low) to the in and out crossover (low dribble).

#4 Play - Offense

Tremendous passing execution. Ayon being able to touch pass with both hands indicates he would have caught the ball if Thompkins wasn't there and he needed to catch it.

#5 Play - Defense

Good to see him running towards his man's space with small steps instead of hopping into the close-out but just... never stops running? Was about to run to the stands if Timma started his attack half a second later.

#6 Play- Defense

We see Doncic as the screener's defender in the PnR. Good positioning to cut off Huertas' drive path, and great awareness to run back to his man before Huertas is able to complete the pass. Should have contested the shot though. Finish the play.

#7 Play - Defense

Tags Diop while in position to close-out to his man if necessary, his help allows Ayon to fully commit to the driver and alter the shot but that leaves Ayon out of position for DReb. Doncic battles with Diop enough to prevent an easy OReb. Ayon comes back and secures the board to Llull. Little things erase 2 points a lot in the course of a basketball game.

#8 Play - Offense

Again, he's good at punishing defenders overplaying his cuts to the perimeter. We can't see the whole play but it seems like that's the situation again.

#9 Play - Offense

Vildoza was actually in perfect position to take a charge. Feet set. Doncic sees this, and accelerates to the right. How? With a left to right crossover and is in position to blow past Vildoza. Vildoza takes a step to the left instead and his set feet break up, so it's a foul on him.

This is in transition, having the same confidence to pull off that crossover close to the defender in a tight space and accelerate to the rim in the halfcourt is more important for Doncic's improvement.

#10 Play - Offense

Can't criticize much here, Garino defended greatly. Nice to see not giving up on the play once Garino defended in the post perfectly. Not giving up created the open hook after Garino jumped on the fake but Doncic didn't take the shot. That's the only mistake I can point out. That open half hook was the best shot available to them in the possession, regardless Thompkins making a contested 3 after Ayon's pass to him in the corner.

#11 Play - Defense

Hopping into the close-out messes up with his balance in the subsequent lateral slide and gambles to compensate. Foul.

#12 Play - Offense

Rescreening & using right angles to benefit from the screen are usual positive Doncic PnR ball handler attributes.

This play is like %80 of the ideal halfcourt attacking possession for him. He goes from high to low dribble without problems and uses the in & out dribble towards the big to attack. But that one last dribble to go towards left to the rim to completely leave the defender behind isn't there. It's a tight space and he doesn't do it. That's why he can't extend to the rim to use the glass. However, because of that in & out dribble towards the big and perfect high to low dribble transition, he had some good acceleration and that acceleration allows him to get closer to the rim more than usual in his "stop and fadeaways" and more power on the shot. Made basket.

#13 Play - Defense

Good help D fundamentals from Doncic. Jeffery Taylor should have not committed to the roller %100 and stayed between his man and the roller with active hands. Janning made the 3 when he didn't.

#14 Play - Offense

Flawless passing execution against the hedge. Again. His eyes look at the weakside shooters before throwing the pass to roll man. Again.

#15 Play - Offense

Nice to see Luka being able to fill the lane for once when he's not the transition ball handler.

#16 Play - Defense

Yes. This. Small but quick steps and running into the space of his man. No hopping and stopping when necessary. And contesting the shot with his left against against a right-handed shooter. Muy bueno.

#17 Play - Defense

Shengelia is the best mid-post player I've seen in Euroball since Smodis and Vujcic and Baskonia offense uses a lot of Shengelia mid-posts for creation. #16 Play was like that. This play, too. Look at Doncic reading the backscreen and Toko's cut, then anticipates the pass and steals. Great defensive playmaking.

#18 Play - Offense

This isn't a play where he has a choice to pick up his dribble or not, so I won't criticize that again and there wasn't an opening to the rim. He made the right play, didn't do anything where there was a better alternative. Tremendous vision and decent execution on the pass.

#19 Play - Defense

Not on his toes as much as he should be when trying to deal with on-ball screens.

#20 Play - Offense

The deceleration, timing, and the execution of the pass are all elite. World class PnR ball handler.

#21 Play - Offense

Bad passing execution, good hands afterwards.

#22 Play - Offense

I thought this was a good shot. Good ball handling, effective spin, stepback with rhythm. But a miss is a miss obviously. And you don't make every shot where you didn't make a mistake before, during and after shooting it; just as you don't miss every shot where you made a mistake before and/or during and/or after shooting it. Should try to minimize the misses on the ones you don't make a mistake and don't expect anything on the ones with a mistake.

#23 Play - Offense

Yep, lots of this. Firstly, that deceleration. No issue with the low to high ball transition. No carry. Then no issue with the high to low dribble transition & right to left crossover into the defender in tight space without problems accelerates him all the way to the rim and he finally uses the glass on a quick 1-2 motion finish with extension. Look how much he celebrates haha.

#24 Play - Offense

Where all the overblown athleticism question marks are actually %100 valid are plays like this. Doesn't seem to do anything wrong. Baskonia forms a wall (shoutout SVG). Is this something that can be improved by gaining better core strength, or improving the body in any way, really? Genuinely asking because I have no idea. I would think not, but I don't know for sure. This is only a play where an athletic player who can get the contact and rise along with the shot blocker can finish with his touch. Doncic isn't that player as it stands, possibly not ever.

#25 Play - Defense

Not on his toes enough again and should have went under the screen against Beaubois when the screen was that far out and he would met him behind the 3pt line anyway.

#26 Play - Offense

So he pulls off the low to high ball and then high to low dribble transition after the initial deceleration and with the left to right crossover again like in the #23 play. That allows him to beat his defender. But doesn't dribble the ball around FT line and picks up his dribble instead. With not dribbling into the dropped big, he doesn't gain any acceleration towards the rim and even if Diop fouls here, Diop was in a much more favorable position to defend than Doncic to finish.

#27 Play - Offense

Bad passing vision, bad passing execution. Granger was in the perfect position there, Real offense didn't have any leverage anywhere. Too early of a pass. Don't do memorized reads like that.

#28 Play - Defense

Exact copy of play #11. Hop into the close-out messes up his balance in the subsequent lateral slide and fouls.

#29 Play - Offense

Decent footwork and clean mechanics. What I wrote for play #22 exactly applies here.

Luka Doncic vs Baskonia | 13.06.2018 | Real Madrid 90 - 94 Baskonia ACB Finals Game 1

In the unlikely chance that you've run into this in the deep corners of the Internet without me not linking it for you, firstly wow. Secondly, it's written for RealGM forums, Draft board and Luka Doncic thread and hence the references and writing follow that format.

#1 Play - Offense

Doncic is a decent attacker off the catch, knows the angles to attack when the defender is closing out. That is the case here as well. Good lowness and splitting of the feet allows him to get ahead of Timma and puts him in a good position for a floater. Sees Poirier's rotation and changes his shot to a pass to Tavares. When I first watched the game I thought this was a floater attempt by him, didn't think much of it as I focused on watching the overall game. Looking at it again to scout Doncic's game specifically, I think the pass was attempted after he went to the air as his eyes seem to focus on Tavares and not the rim.

#2 Play - Offense and Defense

Two different possessions...

Offense: I have criticized his high to low dribble transition and him having to apply carries due to that. It limits his attacking ability. Here, he has pretty decent multiple transitions in necessary areas. To be clear, he has a good high dribble and a good low dribble. The transition is usually problematic.

Uses high/pound dribble when pushing in transition, switches to low dribble without problems when decelerating for the initiative offensive action, switches to high dribble back again when using the screen, uses the perfect angle to jail his defender after the screen... Now Timma is on his back, there are pass options to Tavares and Campazzo. Chooses Campazzo. Facundo should have either shot the initial shot instead of pump faking or should have attack after the pump fake. He doesn't have good enough a base on his shot to make what he attempted. His feet alignment is messed up on that 3PA too. Finally, Luka challenges for the OReb pretty well.

Defense: Drops in a stance pretty quick, and disallows for Timma to get past him. Then, is beaten by Timma's hesitation in the halfcourt. Campazzo helps him, makes the effort to chase down a relocating Timma and puts up a great contest. The thing is here that, Timma isn't a player who's gonna put pressure on the rim in transition. Smartly, he chooses to pass and relocate for a corner 3. Luka makes the effort to finally challenge the shot pretty well. The important part is, him getting beaten by that halfcourt hesitation can happen against Timma. It can't happen against someone who could get all the way to the rim for a layup/dunk/FTA. Rodrigue Beaubois of Baskonia, for instance.

A defender can't give maximum effort all game (not even Kevin Garnett does that) nor can he drop in a stance all game. Even the greatest defender ever in Bill Russell is known and seen to approach certain possessions differently, because just like offense, defense is part of the game where you have to pick and choose where and when to apply a certaina amount of effort. Best defenders do that amazingly well. Here, cutting off Timma's initial chance, and then slowing & getting beaten by him on the halfcourt and then showing effort to heavily contest his shot is smart energy conservation. Doing that against Beaubois or quite some NBA perimeter players in the NBA will result in layup/open shot/dunk/FTA. Of course, there are quite some NBA perimeter players who couldn't do anything more than Timma did, and again, this approach would work against them too.

#3 Play - Offense

I think he's better as an off-ball shooter when he receives the ball from the sides instead of the top of the key. Footwork is better causing better rtythm. Uses 1-2 here and can't use the hop. He's good at 1-2 when shooting off-the-dribble mid-range shots but needs the hop off-the-catch. There's nothing mechanically wrong with his 1-2 here in the mechanics during the shot. However during the landing, his feet look onwards to the right. That shouldn't happen. However, he's open. Makeable shot. Not every make has perfect shot mechanics, and there's only an issue in the landing with the mechanics, rest is the perfect. So yes, makeable shot.

#4 Play - Defense

This is a foul on him but I think it's a good foul. It's a good help as the pass to his man there would

a) be a dumb pass
b) only transcendent big passers could have made it successfully

and then he actually blocks the shot clean imo, but the foul is called on the contact of his body/left arm. I'm not gonna criticize timing as this could have been a layup erasing help if Poirier caught the ball clean and Doncic still adjusts mid-air to get a clean block with his right even if he makes contact with his body/left arm. Plus, Tavares wouldn't be there if Poirier caught the ball clean & even if Poirier made both FTs, it's a better decision to send him to the line rather than allow an open dunk/layup.

#5 Play - Offense

There isn't much to say really. Baskonia executes the hedge pretty great and Doncic passes to Causeur as a means of secondary creation, not that there was an opening. Basket is due to Causuer's skillset and Janning's slight mistake in lateral movement technique.

I'll just put this on to say that I think he can try to drive a little before making the pass for the secondary creation in these plays. Or even spin to the left and see what happens. This type of coverage could reveal some things after an either spin to the left or driving straight inside the 3pt line, and if nothing happens, then pass for the secondary action. There's time left on the clock to try it, and the hedge coverage could allow some opportunities.

#6 Play - Offense

Much better on the next possession. Goes further to the back to disallow Poirier to trap him on the hard hedge, sees the two passing options to Tavares and to the corner 3. Freezes Vildoza with his eyes by looking at the corner but passing to Tavares. Right choice, as Tavares guarantees the finish there but Campazzo doesn't with the open 3.

#7 Play - Defense IMPORTANT

Good base, good stance, good hands initially. Then Timma gets the screen, Tavares has to return to his man to disallow a pass/lob after the help and Timma stays open for at least the release of the shot.

Have always said, biggest weakness on D and biggest area of concern defensively. Not 1-on-1 defense, not at all. It's navigating through screens. Completely sucks at it. The play and his initial good base&stance&hands as well as Tavares' good help completely falls apart when he dies at the screen. If it was an effort thing, it wouldn't be the biggest area of concern defensively, but it's the same result even when he gives effort too, like the play above. Actually I've never seen him not giving effort against non-switchable screens since he knows how much he sucks at them and has to give effort all the time even in games where he doesn't give effort on other things on defense.

#8 Play - Defense

We can't see the whole play, but the same again. Simply doesn't know how to navigate through a screen without being in contact with the screener and that contact always makes him stuck there while his man gets open on non-switchable screens like this one. Biggest weakness on D because the area which he costs the most to his team's defense. And biggest area of concern on D because I can't see how he improves at it (unlike high to low dribble transition for instance, where he can improve and has already a solid high and a solid low dribble separately).

#9 Play - Offense IMPORTANT

Most important weakness offensively. No, it's not attacking off-the-dribble one-on-one in the halfcourt. It's the high to low dribble transition. That's why sometimes people say "Handle is loose" despite him having solid high and low dribbles separately. I do think attacking off-the-dribble one-on-one in the halfcourt is a weakness of him offensively even without the high to low dribble transition there. I just think it's overblown in terms of quickness and athleticism. I think he's quite quick. Gets many Gallinari comps for instance, but look at the drive after the crossover, he's clearly faster. Don't watch the play, watch his body and especially his legs. At his height, that's not slow by any means. So why he can't jail his defender like he does after screens using angles?

Well, firstly, during the initial crossover from left to right, his high to low dribble transition is simply great. That's why he's not slow when attacking first. Then uses a hesitation and that puts Timma on his hip. All these are reasons why I say his handles are solid despite thinking his high-to-low dribble transition being the important weakness offensively. And then just when Timma is on his hip and he should drive towards the basket, he loses the ball. Why?

Help defender is on the right. Timma is on his hip. Basket is towards the left. He's driving right. Ball is on his right hand. So all he needs to do is throw the ball to his left hand and he'll be ahead of Timma for the finish. He loses the ball there. Throws the ball to defender's feet. When you don't have Giannis/Kawhi/Jordan hands, you need to work on high to low dribble transition. You know why he looks quick at his height in the initial drive and gets Timma on his 1v1 in halfcourt here? Because he pulls of the high to low dribble transition in the crossover and in the hesitation. Can't pull off while trying to throw the ball to his left hand to attack the rim because it needs work. That's why I always said "H to L transition needs work/improvement", etc. in Doncic threads instead of straight up saying it's not existent and he sucks at them like I do with his inability to get through screens. It's there in the same possession, then it's not. But that's not affordable. It always needs to be there. And it's often absent more than existent. Good high to low dribble transition allows the ball handler to control the ball there, allows his hands to be on top of the ball and in control after low dribbles with crossovers and hesitations.

He's not super quick, not a top acceleration guy. But he's decently quick for his size when he has good high to low dribble transition like in the beginning of his drive and he's not when it doesn't work and his constant dribbling gets him nowhere. That's why I think high to low dribble transition > athleticism with him with regards to 1v1 halfcourt issues when attacking off the dribble. The merit to athletic issues there is overblown. If he improves his high to low dribble transition immediately next season, people will think he improved with an NBA athletic program, offseason etc. just as an athlete. That won't be the case as gained quickness will be due to improvement of high to low dribble transition. And even if he doesn't improve there I still think people who think he's slow will remark his speed on the open court when he can dribble just high and push. He's faster than a lot of people in his position even in the NBA, quicker than some players in his position when he pulls of the dribbling transition, and his acceleration issues are due to his handles not athleticism. Although a better quick twitch athletic built would cover up the issue there, just as much better high to low dribble transition would cover up the lack of elite quick twitch athleticism and explosive acceleration.

#10 Play - Defense

Perfect help. Doesn't overhelp, yet his positioning disallows an open pass to Poirier on the PnR. And then great close-out technique with small steps, active hands and great stance. I criticize his close-out technique a lot as he hops during close-outs even when he gives effort quite a lot (which is a big no-no, hopping to a close-out results in 5vs4 play) but it's just great here.

#11 Play - Offense

Hockey assist, simple but flawless pass to short roll, etc. But I solely put this play to underline his carries. He carries after the between-the-legs crossover because his low-to-high dribble transition sucks. So he applies a carry instead of a legal transition. I mention him having to use carries a lot which doesn't properly replace an adequate high-low dribbling transition ability even if carries were legal; and this is an example. Not matters a lot in this possession as he has to pass out of Baskonia's hedge coverage to the short roller anyway. But worth to point out.

#12 Play - Offense

Perfect mechanics. No reason he should miss the shot. Perfect mechanics don't equate to a guarantee make, just as imperfect mechanics don't equate to a guarantee miss, but it's better if you don't miss on perfect mechanics. He was open too. Just to be clear, I don't believe in correct mechanics for jumpers. Everyone has their own shot. I mean perfect mechanics with regards to player doing his own mechanics perfectly and imperfect mechanics with regards to player doing his own mechanics imperfectly. Notice his carry before the crossover to transition from high to low dribble.

#13 Play - Offense

Again, perfect mechanics. Gorgeous 1-2. Very makeable miss.

#14 Play - Offense

Good to see at least trying some 1-2 finishing pattern even if not by choice. If you look closely, he literally starts the 1-2 finishing pattern due to having to get just one step and pick up dribble to move forward from the needle that is between his defender and Voigtmann. Disappointing to see him not getting elevation from 1-2 finishing pattern as much as off two feet but good to hold off the defender and protect the ball by putting his left hand to his body. Fouled on lower body.

#15 Play - Offense

The reason he has no issue at all with attacking off the catch and biggest offensive issue with attacking off the dribble? He doesn't need a high-low dribble transition when attacking off the catch. He gets low before receiving the ball, as he should. Continues low, quick and flawless crossover due to being already low. Only goes high when he picks up the dribble for the lob.

#16 Play - Offense

He's good at punishing overplaying defenders on his cuts. Does it here again. But I think he had the opening for the finish and should have went for it. He was about to pass to Thompkins instead before Beaubois fouled. Thompkins was open but that's a risky pass, that's why I suggested finishing as the better option.

#17 Play - Offense

The only thing I can fault him here is that he didn't go deep into the corner to make Randolph's pass easier. After Randolph's bad pass, making that shot when the defender closes out easily on him with little in the shot clock would have been extra. But the reason that's a bad pass is %50 on Randolph and %50 Doncic. Luka does deeper into the corner and Randolph makes the pass without fault, Timma closes out later and it's a semi-open shot at worst. Jamal Murray, JJ Redick, etc. are awesome at this. Make the pass easier for the passer when he's in a tough situation with bodies all over.

#18 Play - Defense

Worthy gamble? Possibly. Should have recover back to Janning way earlier though, that is an absolute.

#19 Play - Defense

Perfect help in Real's aggressive scheme, disallows the pass to an otherwise open Poirier and his short roll. Okay close-out to Timma. Okay because he uses small, quick steps at first but then uses that unnecessary and wrong hop. Luckily, Timma isn't the best attacker there. Then two great switches back-to-back: effort & awareness. But lack of communication. We can't be sure, maybe he communicated but doesn't seem so. With the communication, Ayon returns to Poirier sooner and the dunk doesn't happen. Felipe is too old for the weakside help lol.

#20 Defense

Going under the screen means he doesn't have to go through it so he doesn't get stuck like always. You can't afford going under screens when Timma shoots off-ball, but he's not a good shooter off-the-dribble compared to off-ball and Luka could have afforded going under the screen on-ball here. Contested pretty well since he went under & didn't die at the screen.

#21 Play - Offense IMPORTANT

Play of the game considering his strengths and weaknesses.

Good high to ball dribble transition. And hence beats his defender due to that. Goes smaller mid-air when Poirier challenges him, goes bigger mid-air for the finish after he gets past Poirier. Extends pretty well to the rim considering the distance he jumped. And lastly but most importantly... a 1-2 finishing motion! Fom Luka Doncic... What a sight!

Two of his biggest weaknesses,  at high-low dribble transition and complete non-existence of 1-2 finishing motion corrected at the same play. These kind of flashes targeting his main weaknesses (not his elite plays with his elite strengths) make me think that if there are actually better NCAA prospects than he is, they must be unbelievable prospects and I'll be happy for my NBA viewing.

#22 Play - Offense

Lol at Timma's effort here. But regardles, good lowness and attacking position, followed by another required 1-2 finishing motion started by the required first step and dribble pick up to get through between the space of Timma and helping Shengelia.

#23 Play - Offense IMPORTANT

He's good at making these stop-and-fadeaways usually but if you remember I was criticizing his makes there from the beginning of the season and emphasized the needs for 1-2 motion finishes. Do you think he's not getting past his defender because he's slow, can't accelerate, not athletic, etc.? Nah, it's high-low dribble transition again. Let's look at the frame.

He's already past Timma, isn't he? Vildoza is the help man. If Vildoza completely commits to blocking his drive path, pass to Campazzo for open 3. Teams don't do that though as they know he can't finish with a 1-2 motion here. The rim is to his left. He is driving right. Ball is in his right hand. Remember this. On the exact same play, on the exact same situation, he lost the ball there. He had to go left to the rim, and he had to throw the ball to his front and left hand and then pick up and finish. If Janning (weakside defender) comes to help at the rim, he passes to corner shooter for the open shot. So he has already beat his defender, he's in front of him. To jail his defender, to get him completely on his back instead of on his hip; he simply has to get the ball to his left hand before picking up the ball and attack towards the rim to the left. 

He doesn't trust his ball control there for a good reason. His high-low dribble transition needs work. He tried to do it in the first half, ended up in a turnover. Doesn't have the confidence. Not because of that TOV, in general. People think James Harden improved at acceleration from his youth. I didn't watch him at NCAA obviously, but have watched his rookie, sophomore, etc. season in the NBA. I don't agree he improved at accelerating, is he really a better accelerator now compared to then? Or his handles have tightened and he looks better at beating his opponent to the rim? I think the latter, but that general consensus is why I think and said above that if Luka improves high-low dribble transition, people will say he improved athletically in the NBA and his Euroball tapes are still slow. 

Anyway, so he has to from right with his right hand, can't take advantage of the blatant opening and Timma catches up and contests the shot. 

#24 Play - Offense

Passing vision & execution. These type of crosscourt passes without pulling the defense to one action, take time on the air for the help & recover to settle though if it's not a terrible defense. Still the right pass anyway.

#25 Play - Defense

What sticks out to me here isn't the disruption. It's taking advantage of the space between Voigtmann and Timma to slide up and cut off Timma's path which sets up the disruption from behind. Well done.

#26 Play - Offense

Could have found a better passing angle to Tavares if he didn't jump so soon. Then world class deceleration on the secondary creation. So balanced on his shot after decelerating so well.

#27 Play - Offense

Again, good & decently quick attacker off catch. Nice to see 5 games worth of 1-2 motion finishes in this game, actually I even doubt we see this much 1-2 motion finishes in 5 random Luka Doncic games.

On the other hand, you know why he always flies for such a long distance in all of them? Yeah, again high-low dribble transition. He doesn't confidence in his handle to take that second dribble and attack more closely and decisively to the basket as the 2nd dribble would need to be closer to all the help defenders and would require careful crossover to the left hand in tight space, he instead picks up the dribble and jumps from distance. He's fouled, can't say he isn't. But it's a fast whistle too. I think foul affects his layup, but with how much far he jumped and him trying to finish with a finger roll over that distance, he would have got a front rim miss at best without a foul too.

#28 Play - Offense

Not much to say, good pursuit of the OReb and decent hands I guess.

#29 Play - Defense

That pseudo-rim protection that he showed much more in 2016-17. In position to help on the big, bothers Voigtmann's shot before Tavares fouls him. Replay showed Doncic clearly affecting the shot without fouling and Tavares fouling Voigtmann after Luka's contest as the whistle blew after his contest as well.

#30 Play - Offense

Looks simple for a passer his caliber but the execution of this pass is tremendous because he looks at Campazzo while throwing it due to stunt two interior defenders for half a second to make them help late.

#31 Play Offense

Good on him to recover the ball after not getting the call (which he shouldn't have... at all) at least. I really wanted to nitpick on this possession but can't find any mistakes. He wanted to drive to the middle and was decently fast with the ball. Just superb transition defense from Baskonia.

#32 Play - Offense

Can't have a Doncic game without this Bodiroga move. Good and the right pass but should finish there with the right hand half hook after the fake inside when the big doesn't help off his man. In this case, Voigtmann helped off his man.

#33 Play - Offense

We shouldn't get accustomed to a 19 year old being this adept at executing the pass to the weakside shooter when the PnR defense play aggressive coverage and the help defenders load up on the strong side. We shouldn't wrap our heads around that vision when he needs less than half a second to spot the open man when dealing so comfortably with the screener's man. But here I am, looking at this play like it's the most basic thing in the world after a few hundred of these Doncic passes in the last couple seasons. Hockey assist, I believe.

#34 Play - Defense

The reason his pseudo rim protection volume and potential being much higher in 2016-17 is plays like this. He would have slide over and contest that shot with his body last season.

Off-topic: Btw, they did an interview with Kristaps Porzingis in the timeout which I didn't see when watching the game live due to viewing in different channels. His Spanish is amazing. Not that I understand too much Spanish, nor I am exactly surprised with his. Still, didn't expect it that much. First time heard him talk in Spanish. Pronunciation is flawless somehow despite not having the accent. Top 5 thing I'm most impressed in this game lol. First being Llull's batshit crazy left handed 3 pointer floater over two defenders in crunch time, of course. Never forget. Will be a sad day when he retires.

#35 Play - Defense

Don't hop into the close-out, run into his space.

#36 Play - Offense

Real doesn't even run Obradovic PnR properly here (I'm not calling a play that has been in Obradovic's playbook for like two decades "Spain PnR" so all the credit goes to Sergio freaking Scariolo; calling it Spain PnR wouldn't belittle Obradovic, but hilariously glorifies Scariolo) but Huertas sucks ass at defense to unimaginable degrees so Timma still needs to help despite no screens lol. Anyway, Luka is open for that reason. I won't say it's perfect mechanics, not much rtythm. As I said, his footwork is much better on the sides rather then top of the key on off-ball jumpers. No glaring issues on the mechanics though. Another makeable miss.

#37 Play - Offense

Nice too see that lowness and aggressive penetration. And doesn't jump that far this time. Still pretty far however. He needs to use the glass here, it's that type of a layup finish. One more dribble and he can extend enough to use the glass, doesn't take that dribble, picks up his dribble one step early and can't use the glass despite extending himself to the rim pretty decently.

#38 Play - Offense 

Remember when I claimed his athleticism issues in 1v1 halfcourt off the dribble creation were overblown but still problematic and existent? This is an athleticism issue. Hunts Huertas pretty well, but can't get elevation out of one foot not nearly as well as he gets from two feet, so cannot extend all the way to the rim with his left.

#39 Play - Defense

He plays the 4 in this lineup technically as Ayon is the center. But he guards the opposing center in Voigtmann and Ayon guards PF Shengelia. His interior defense is much more needed in this role. Good timing with his rotation to the short rolling Shengelia, blocks the pass to Timma and allows Ayon to switch to Voigtmann. Baskonia needs to reset the offense.

#40 Play - Defense

While a great defensive rebounder, he doesn't choose to box-out often and doesn't need it much in terms of who he usually guards. And Luka guarding centers while playing PF isn't a sustainable lineup. But if you want to take advantage on the other end, him showing the help he did in the previous play and boxing out the opposing center here in this play just enough to tip the ball to his teammate and disallow an OReb are kinds of edges you need to have to have advantage of Luka playing PF on the other end.

#41 Play - Offense

And on the other end, when the opposing PF has to guard him this happens. World class deceleration again. Should have take the shot though. Rudy wasn't even open compared to him. Doncic was wide open for the shot.

#42 Play - Offense

Finds the open man against the hedge and great execution on the pass once again. But Voigtmann is pretty mobile here, Beaubois helps nicely and even Vildoza's rotation is good. Baskonia defended Ayon well.