Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic can do a lot of things on the basketball court at a high level, but defense remains a vulnerable aspect of his game.
Former NBA superstar Reggie Miller brought that to everyone’s attention during a pause in Tuesday’s game between the Lakers and the Detroit Pistons at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Calif.
While watching a replay of a driving play by Detroit big man Jalen Duren, Miller highlighted the apparent lack of defensive effort on the part of Doncic.
“Look at Luka right here. It’s OK, Luka, to move your feet a little bit over and help out,” Miller said.
“What does he do? He just throws up his hands. This would be frustrating for me.”
Hall of Famer Reggie Miller calls out Luka’s defensive effort: “Look at Luka right here. It’s OK, Luka, to move your feet a little bit over and help out. What does he do? He just throws up his hands. This would be frustrating for me.”
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Miller simply wanted to see Doncic show a little more sense of urgency in stopping an attacking player to the basket.
But the Slovenian’s first instinct wasn’t to slide over to help out on defense, but to ask for what he believed was an offensive foul on Duren, and that seemingly did not sit well with Miller.
Defense wasn’t just an issue for Doncic in that contest.
The entire Lakers team had trouble all game long slowing down Detroit’s offense. The Pistons shot 63% from the field, knocked down 11 of their 24 attempts from deep and outscored the Lakers in the paint by 30 points (74-34).
No wonder Los Angeles lost, 128-106.
