On March 25, the NBA regular season continued, and the Lone Rangers lost 109-117 to the Hornets, eating a three-game losing streak. The team missed a 21-point comeback, and after this losing streak, the record reached 36-38, sliding from eighth in the West to 11th in the West. Doncic had a quasi-triple-double of 34 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists, and Irving shot 6-of-16 from the field and was sluggish.
The game had a tumultuous process, with the Hornets playing back-to-back, but they were doing well, scoring 37 points in the first quarter to build an 11-point lead. By the end of the first half, the Hornets were already leading by 14 points. When Thor hit both free throws in the third quarter, the Hornets were already leading by 20 points, and then Hayward went on a 2+1 run, and the Lone Rangers trailed by as many as 21 points at 69-90.
From the second half of the third quarter to the early part of the fourth quarter, the Lone Ranger, led by Irving and Doncic, fought back frantically, and they went 27-7 to narrow the gap to just one point.
Unfortunately, the Lone Ranger continued to waste opportunities, including Irving's missed three-pointer, Bullock's empty three-point shot did not shoot, during which Doncic did not play, and the Hornets burst a wave of 10-0 to stop the decline while widening the gap to double digits again.
Doncic immediately helped the Lone Ranger stop the slump and close the scoreline. It is a pity that it was still not able to turn over, and the lone ranger suffered defeat.
During the game, the owner of the Lone Ranger, Cuban turned livid, and in this focused game, the Lone Ranger did not reverse, eating 3 consecutive losses, and the team's playoff situation became very bad.
The key point in this game was in the fourth quarter, when the Lone Ranger chased the point difference to only 1 point, they did not send Doncic to continue to attack, trying to achieve a comeback and establish an advantage, but let Doncic continue to rest, during which Irving's single-core leadership was very bad, resulting in a continuous wave of waves by opponents. Doncic came on the court late, but time was running out and the opponent had already come out of the previous slump, and it was a pity that the Lone Ranger lost.
Irving's poor performance, the Lone Ranger did not have the opportunity to stage a 21-point comeback, which has a lot to do with his slump, and he can't shoot three-pointers at key moments, especially in the fourth quarter, and Doncic's "Eastern European combination" is still a little unsuitable and needs time to run-in.
The Lone Ranger's loss, eating 3 consecutive losses, the ranking plummeted, the team originally had a chance to hit the top six in the West and go straight to the playoffs, but now even the ticket to the playoffs is in jeopardy, which is indeed a big gap. A losing streak in the sprint of the regular season had a fatal effect on the Lone Ranger.