Despite the back-to-back combat, and the team's second boss is also as the guardian of the inside of the Kristaps Porzingis, due to the trigger of the health and safety agreement can not appear, but the Lone Ranger is still not bloody, the home team to defeat the Denver Nuggets, after three consecutive wins, the Lone Ranger also seems to be out of the haze, they have the opportunity to continue to improve their ranking.
The Lone Ranger's record and form this season have been fluctuating and have a very direct relationship with the core of the team, Luka Doncic. To be sure, after a stunning super evolution of the past two seasons, Doncic started the season with even a bit of no-rise. Some improvement was not easy, and he suffered ankle injuries and triggered health and safety protocols, which also directly affected the lone ranger's record and ranking. But on this back-to-back trip, Doncic officially announced his comeback, and the Lone Ranger also laughed to the end, and now successfully ushered in a wave of three consecutive wins.
Unlike most top stars, Doncic's scores are often not too much, but his importance to the Lone Ranger is self-evident. Doncic is the real stadium commander, and in the two games after his comeback, Doncic has cut a quasi-triple-double. In the game with the Nuggets, Doncic played a career masterpiece, this is because he not only made a big splash on the offensive end, but also the defense was unambiguous, Doncic sent a total of 4 steals, plus +25 plus minus and scoring, these statistics are at the top of the team. Under Doncic's organizational tandem, many role players who had previously performed generally were also activated and played a vital role.
The first to bear the brunt is starting center Dwight Powell, who has averaged only 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game so far this season, and Powell's strengths and weaknesses have always been obvious on the court, and he is also one of the players who worked best with Doncic in the team. Against the Nuggets, Powell scored 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting and was second on the team behind Doncic in plus-minus. Although the data looks average, Powell is very good at seizing opportunities, his shooting rate is nearly 60%, and the offseason efforts to add three points have also received good results, this season Powell's three-point shooting rate reached a career-high 42.9%. Doncic's comeback can be said to have played Powell's role, otherwise he would have been an offensive butter player and a defensive bottle player.
Porzingis' absence means that Maxi Kléber also needs to start, and he has averaged 7.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game this season. In the two games after Doncic's return, Kleber had a good performance, against the Thunder, he hit the three-pointer that killed the game. In the game with the Nuggets, Kléber once again cut a comprehensive stat of 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, as far as possible to make up for the loss of Porzingis unable to play.
The first two are both interior players, and as the Lone Ranger's heaviest offseason reinforcement, Reggie Bullock has never found a form this season, and his three-point shooting rate is only more than 30%, which is obviously unsatisfactory for a player who relies on outside projection. In the past half a month, Reggie Bullock was suspended because of the triggering of the health and safety agreement, and he did not expect that after his comeback, he would be like opening the second pulse of Ren Dou. Against the Nuggets, Reggie Bullock scored 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting from outside the three-point line. Especially in the final moments of the game, Reggie Bullock received two passes from Doncic, and the three-point accurate bag completely lost the suspense of the game.
However, some people are happy and some are sad, and the first few players are in good shape, or with the help of Doncic, they have played better. But Hardaway Jr., who has returned to the sixth man position this season, has performed a lot of times and is still a bit difficult to say. Speaking of the original Hardaway Jr., it was treated as a negative asset, he was a pure addition to the Porzingis transaction, but Doncic's evolution coupled with the fact that former coach Rick Carlisle knew how to use it well, making Hadaway Jr. quickly reverse the wind. Last summer, the Lone Ranger successfully completed a contract extension with him, but the outside world's evaluation is that the contract is slightly on the high side. You should know that Hardaway Jr. is a typical nerve knife type player, and once the attack cannot be opened, the role on the field is very limited.
Against the Nuggets, Hardaway Jr. was also a player with a poorer performance on the team, scoring only 6 points on 2-of-8 shooting and having the lowest -7 plus-minus on the team. To know that hardaway Jr. since the salary increase, the annual salary of nearly 20 million US dollars, this is only the first season of his new contract execution, for the lone ranger, because he already has two top salary players of Doncic and Porzingis, hardaway Jr. must play a matching performance, otherwise the lone ranger even if he wants to buy him, other teams may not want it, the lone ranger can only finish his contract, then in the short term want to compete for the championship, I am afraid it is a fool's dream.