On April 19, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs broke out of the big cold! In the absence of Doncic, Brunson played an explosive performance to help the Lone Ranger win 110-104! He blasted down 41 points, 8 boards and 5 assists in the whole game, becoming the number one contributor to the Lone Ranger's victory. And what's staggering is that the player who plays Doncic's stand-in has only earned $1.8 million this season. The Jazz also exposed their biggest weakness, and Mr. Gobert was shot by his opponents.
In this campaign, Doncic continues to be absent, so the outside world is obviously optimistic about the Jazz winning again. However, Brunson exploded at the beginning, scoring 15 points in the first quarter and 21 points at halftime. Under his leadership, the Lone Ranger trailed by just seven points at 48-55 at halftime. In the third quarter, the Lone Ranger was close to the point difference, trailing only 4 points into the final quarter.
In the final quarter, Brunson stepped forward again, first hitting Bogdanovic to throw a score, and then instigating the attack on Bullock's three-pointer. Brunson then crushed Conley to score, Smith's three-pointer, and the Lone Ranger had already come back 94-93. Brunson then broke through and hit the shot again, and the Lone Ranger surpassed by 3 points to directly stop the Jazz.
After the timeout, although jazz O'Neal hit a three-pointer Mitchell broke through the score. But Brunson then assisted on Kleber's three-point shot, and then Kleber hit his eighth three-pointer from the bottom corner! The Lone Ranger leads by four points at 102-98. After that, Finney Smith also hit a three-pointer, Gobert was completely unable to change to the outside, and the Jazz lost the game.
In the whole game, Brunson shot 15 of 25 and shot down 41 points, 8 boards and 5 assists. You know, Brunson's salary this season is only $1.8 million, but he has played a superstar performance. If he can continue to perform so well in the following games, Brunson is very hopeful that he will get a good contract after the contract expires this season. On the Jazz side, they need to think about the problem of Gobert's defensive outside, after all, Doncic has not yet played, and once he plays, Gobert's weakness will be more magnified.