On April 24, 2022, the Dallas Mavericks played the Utah Jazz on the road. In the previous three series, the Lone Rangers led the Jazz 2-1. In this game, Doncic made a comeback. Throughout the game, the two teams went up and down, with the Jazz leading by 12 points in the first half. But in the third quarter, the Lone Ranger scored 39-24 in the single quarter to reverse the situation. In the final quarter, the two teams were stuck in a stalemate and didn't win until the last minute. In the end, the Jazz narrowly defeated the Lone Rangers 100-99, pulling the score to a 2-2 draw.
In this game, one of the Lone Rangers players can be said to have changed from hero to sinner. The player is Dwight Powell. Powell shot 3-of-3 from the game, made 5-of-8 free throws, and scored 11 points, 7 rebounds and 1 assist. If you don't look at the last minute, Powell's performance is definitely commendable, and he has given the Lone Rangers a great help on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. But at the critical moment, Powell failed to withstand the pressure.
With 39 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Doncic hit a three-pointer from the outside and gave the Lone Rangers a four-point lead. At this point, as long as they don't make mistakes, the Lone Rangers should be able to win the game. In the next round, Mitchell threw himself into a 2+1 run to chase the point difference to 1 point. In this round, Powell actually slipped while scrambling for rebounds, and failed to protect this key rebound, which should not have been. Unexpectedly, in the later rounds, Powell made a bigger mistake. After being chased for a point, Doncic attacked with the ball, he passed to Powell on the inside, who then caused the Jazz to foul and won two free throws. Unexpectedly, Powell, who had previously made 6 free throws and 5, actually failed to withstand the pressure and lost all two free throws. You know, this season, Powell's free throw shooting rate in the regular season is as high as 78.5%. And that gives the Jazz a chance to come back. But whenever Powell hit a free throw, the Lone Ranger could at least pull the game into overtime. Doncic should also be helpless, he chose to pass to Powell at that time, which was undoubtedly a correct choice, but he did not expect Powell to be so unable to withstand the pressure.
From the team hero to the final moment of continuous mistakes, Powell really let the Lone Ranger fans have a good ride on the roller coaster. Fans who watched the live broadcast one second were still playing Powell, and the next second they were punched in the face by him. After today's game, Powell really has to take a good look at it and avoid making this unnecessary mistake in the next game.