“Only reason y’all in the finals!” Charles Barkley comes to Luka Doncic’s ‘defense’ over brutal criticism of Game 3 performance

There is growing criticism that Luka Doncic's defensive lapses and fouling out caused them to lose Game 3.

“Only reason y’all in the finals!” Charles Barkley comes to Luka Doncic’s ‘defense’ over brutal criticism of Game 3 performance

Charles Barkley defends Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic after criticism for lack of defense leading to 0-3 record in NBA Finals

Luka Doncic put up a mighty performance in tonight’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Despite his efforts, the Dallas Mavericks still ended up losing their 3rd straight game, with many pointing the finger at Doncic for his lack of effort on the defensive end as well as fouling out when they were within striking distance of the lead. But Charles Barkley came out in defense of the superstar.

During the post-game analysis of the game by NBA TV, Charles Barkley went off on a reporter whose questions were targeted at Luka Doncic’s lack of defense. It was suggested that it caused the 3 straight losses.

YouTube video
To act like Luka's defense is the reason the Mavericks are down 3 zip. He's not a great defender. He's trying. But to act like he's the reason they're down 3 zip, that's total BS in my opinion. Kyrie finally had a good game. Luka's actually played 3 pretty good games. But the other guys have not stepped up. FOr this dude to ask that question to Luka and to Jason. First of all, Luka's the only reason y'all in the finals. Get that out of the way. That p*ssed me off.
Charles Barkley said

Charles Barkley thought that the reporter was trying to make a point that was not warranted. He felt Doncic was the reason they were in the NBA Finals. Grant Hill acknowledged Charles Barkley’s point. After all, Luka Doncic with his scoring and playmaking is what led them to the NBA Finals. Without his contributions, it would not have been possible to come out of the heavily loaded Western Conference.

FS Video

So, insinuating that the losses were primarily due to a lack of effort on defense was inaccurate. As the Hall of Famer pointed out, Doncic’s other Dallas Mavericks teammates did not show up in any of the games.

Charles Barkley suggests Mavericks to work on their game to help Luka Doncic

As the discussion continued, Charles Barkley and his co-panelists suggested that playing all those additional games has taken a toll on the Dallas Mavericks. 

If you the Mavs players, you got to really work on your game over the summer. You can't rely on Luka and Kyrie giving you wide open shots. You got to learn to take advantage of mismatches. Luka and Kyrie had to do all the heavy lifting, had to get these guys wide open shots. Unless they get lob dunks, they can't score. That's too much pressure to put on Kyrie and Luka.
Charles Barkley added

Barkley is not wrong here. Other than Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic creating scoring opportunities, the other Mavericks players do not create their own shots. The big men are either getting lob dunks or the others are getting wide-open threes. Other than this, they do not have the ability to create scoring opportunities for themselves, which means, if either of the two superstars have a bad day, the Dallas Mavericks will struggle.

If they are to win an NBA title, the other teammates will have to start making some shots on their own. Then only can they counter the problem they are facing in the NBA Finals.

In case you missed: