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.