The first two games in the Finals for the Dallas Mavericks went predictably in one aspect – Luka Doncic was at his offensive best. He had 30+ games but was outgunned by the Boston Celtics while his own team couldn’t keep up the momentum. The Game 3 defeat was a whole other side of Luka, though. He barely managed 27 points, got fouled out, and took issue with the refs. Meanwhile, he’s being mocked for the glaring defensive flaws in his game. All season he’s been a strong contender for MVP, which he was runner-up to. But that was not seen in Game 3. Gil’s Arena was among the many basketball watchers who tore up Luka’s lack of defensive game.

Gilbert Arenas was particularly harsh in describing Doncic’s imbalanced abilities. While he praised his offensive contributions, in contrast, No Chill Gil bluntly stated that Doncic looks “stupid” when he plays defense. He said, “Luka is dumb defensively because if he was smart he had known that most of his work has to be done way before this person gets there to make it look like he’s doing some s***.” 

To put it in numbers, Luka has now allowed the three highest blow-by pct on drives in a series in the last decade. Against the OKC Thunder, it was 59%, the LA Clippers it was 65.2%, and in these Finals against the Celtics, it has been 67.7%. Blow-by is when the ball-handler goes past the primary defender towards the basket. Nonetheless, Arenas was much more appreciative of the Slovenian star’s offense.

“You can tell his IQ is very high just from his offensive ability, right? When I’m looking at someone offensively, I can tell like… by his offense where he’s shifting, he turns right, when your hip turns. He knows when to snatch back knowing you can’t get there. When he does the pump fake, fake like he’s passing right so you go here to here then he pulls back ’cause your arm went down like just little… there’s little details and how he plays offensively they like he’s a very high IQ guy,” Arenas said on the Gil’s Arena podcast.

Arenas gave two very prominent examples of the contrary. He cited Dennis Rodman and current 4x DPOY winner, Rudy Gobert, as two players with high defensive IQ. When they switched to the offensive, they didn’t look like clowns (though Gobert is literally a meme guarding Doncic). Yet Arenas and the larger NBA community have a point that this is not the time to enforce the Luka on defense strategy.

Gilbert Arenas changed his tune

Game 3 showed the Celtics have Doncic all figured out. What the Minnesota Timberwolves’ strong wall of defense couldn’t do, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum accomplished after two games where Doncic was the leading scorer. In the Western Conference Finals, Gobert’s sudden defensive decline was the joke of the series. Even Arenas ripped into him.

But when he compares the Finals Doncic to playoffs Gobert, even Arenas admits that the Wolves center had the IQ to anticipate and reach the point to make a block. Arenas described watching Game 3 and seeing frustrating incidents of Doncic’s blow-bys. He threw the words ‘dumb’ and ‘stupid’ repeatedly for what he saw.

If this series isn’t lost for Dallas already, Gilbert Arenas is counting on Doncic to recalibrate before Game 4 on Friday. Or it’s a sweep for the Mavs.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.