On March 20, Beijing time, the NBA ushered in a cold door. The 5th Lone Ranger of the West suffered an embarrassing rout in a away game against the Hornets. The Lone Rangers trailed by 11 points in the first quarter. In the third quarter, the Lone Ranger collapsed, and the opponent scored 41 points in a single quarter. The Hornets led by 32 points at one point, and the game lost suspense early, and the Lone Ranger suffered a fiasco 108-129.
The Lone Ranger is at a critical moment in their pursuit of the Fourth Jazz of the West, with a win difference of 1 win. But the last Lone Ranger lost to Philadelphia, and they shouldn't have lost against the Hornets. But the Hornets also have pursuits, and they are currently ranked 9th in the East and need to work hard for a better playoff ranking.
After the opening, the Hornets had the upper hand, leading by 11 points in a single quarter. Although the Lone Ranger briefly overtook in the second quarter, the Hornets led by nine points into the third quarter with a small climax in the final quarter. In the third quarter, Doncic exploded, scoring 21 points in a single quarter. But the rest of the Lone Rangers played badly, totaling seven points in a single quarter. At the end of the third quarter, the Lone Ranger trailed by 22 points. In the early part of the final quarter, the Hornets pulled away completely and finally won at home.
In the whole game, Doncic scored 37 points on 13-of-20 and 8-of-12 three-pointers, but only had three assists and four turnovers. This shows that Doncic did not do a good job of tandem work for the whole team in this game. Below Doncic, the most points scored were only 12 points for Nilikina and 10 points for Brunson. Doncic's own plus-minus is also an awkward -30. In the final moments of the game, the camera finds Doncic, who is also hanging his head and looking blue.
For the Lone Rangers, such an unexpected fiasco has made their battle for the top four a bit unfortunate. After the loss, the Lone Ranger trailed the Jazz in front of them by 1.5 wins, the Nuggets behind them by only 1 win, and even only 1.5 wins ahead of the 7th-place Timberwolves. Next, the Lone Ranger will face the Timberwolves in two consecutive games, a little careless, not to mention entering the top four, even falling into the playoffs is not impossible.