In the NBA playoffs on May 5, Beijing time, the Lone Ranger lost again, away against the Suns, leader Doncic scored 24 points in the first half, once leading the Lone Ranger to the lead. Can enter the final quarter of the Lone Ranger was single-handedly held by Paul, the 36-year-old cannon first 6 shots, a single quarter swept down 14 points, 11 of 16 in the whole game contributed 28 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists, completely destroyed the Lone Ranger defense line, and finally the Lone Ranger was defeated 109-129, the big score was 0-2 behind, the series situation was very dangerous, if the third game was lost, basically declared out early!
And this round of the series against the Suns, Doncic is a common situation, due to the mid-season trade to go 2 meters 20 high Porzingis, now the overall height and hardness of this lone ranger have declined, this disadvantage to the playoffs is particularly obvious, to Doncic, Brunson, Dinwiddie three main offensive system, the body size is at an absolute disadvantage. Among them, Brunson's play was the most disastrous, encountering the Sun's strong forward group Bridges, Crowder and others, Brunson performed abnormally, averaging 11 points per game in two games, as a comparison, the first round of the series against the Jazz, Brunson averaged 27.8 points per game, is Doncic's best helper.
In these two rounds of the series, Brunson needs to match the types of players are completely different, playing Jazz against Conley, Mitchell, the former is a veteran, Brunson has the advantage in speed, Mitchell is similar to Brunson in style, are small ball-holding scoring guards, Brunson is not afraid at all.
But in the series against the Suns, Bridges, the strongest 3D in the active campaign, the tough Crowder, as well as Johnson and Shamet, each player in the Suns Front group is much larger than Brunson, and has a solid defensive system that can achieve unlimited changes, Brunson is difficult to adapt, and even against Booker, Brunson is at an absolute disadvantage in size. To that end, Brunson's average of points per game slipped to just 11 points per game, a performance that was unqualified as the lone ranger's second-in-command.
From the current stage of personnel arrangements, the Suns side has an absolute advantage in the thickness of the lineup and response, the stadium commander Chris Paul can always solve the problems given by lone ranger coach Kidd, limit Brunson to put Doncic into a single-handed situation, use the change of defense to force Doncic and teammates to form contact, while the Suns have Ayton, McGee and Biyombo and other tall interior lines, position warfare is enough to make the Lone Ranger defense line overwhelmed. Today's situation is: the Lone Ranger is far inferior to the Suns in attack and defense, only Doncic can output the strong point of the outside line with the ball, and the high toughness of the inside line is not enough. After falling behind 2-0, the Probability of the Lone Ranger being eliminated was more than 90%, and the Suns were equal to one foot to enter the Western Conference Finals.
Of course, for the Lone Ranger, Cuban will abandon Porzingis this year and let Kidd build a system around Doncic completely, in order to break through the embarrassment of stopping in the first round for the past two seasons. Now that the Lone Ranger has completed his goal, frankly speaking, at this stage, this Lone Ranger is absolutely flawed in the lineup, and it is not up to the level of the championship team, but when Doncic experiences the taste of the division semi-finals, I believe that in the future he will like this feeling, and then continue to improve and strive to lead the team to a higher peak!
(Lin Xiaoxiang)