25 points on 16-point shooting and 32 points on 14-point shooting, the gap between Alexander and Doncic came out
On February 11, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, in a game that just ended, the Mavericks defeated the Thunder 146-111, it can be said that the Thunder was pressed by the Mavericks from the beginning of the game, the team was behind the opponent by 17 points in the first quarter, although they once chased to only 4 points in the second quarter, but then the Mavericks regained control of the pace of the game, and gradually expanded the lead and finally they won the victory, and the team won 4 consecutive wins.
After the loss, the Thunder fell to third in the West, while the Clippers won today, and they finished second in the West, and the Mavericks are now only one win away from the sixth-place Kings after the win. For the process of this game, we won't say much, let's talk about the players' play, this game Thunder side Alexander shot 9 of 16 from the field, and scored 25 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block on 0 three-point shots.
Friends who have often read my articles before should know that when the Thunder were in the top two positions in the division, I questioned whether they could maintain their ranking in the second half of the regular season, because I am not optimistic that Alexander can still average 30+ per game in the face of high-intensity defense, and in this era of scoring blowouts, it seems that it is difficult to guarantee the team to win 30+ in a single game, Alexander's offense is easy to be limited, because his three points are not stable, and the absence of three points also affects his scoring explosiveness, and he cannot play an output like 60+ in a single game.
Holmgren played well in this campaign, 4 of 7 shots, 2 of 3 three-pointers got 13 points, 12 rebounds and 1 block, many fans are optimistic about Holmgren's future, the main reason is Holmgren's talent and ability, he has the ability to handle the ball as a center and has no dead ends in offense, as long as the confrontation is increased in the future, his ceiling is indeed worth looking forward to, and he will be an epoch-making player like Wemban in the future.
Jayway didn't play well in this game, he got 9 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists on 4-of-10 shooting, the Thunder has been lacking a qualified forward, Jay is too short, Giddey is too poor, so they took Hayward through operation at the trade deadline, Hayward is a former All-Star, his jack-of-all-trades attributes and experience can help the Thunder, and the reason why the Thunder won him is also to impact the good results of the playoffs.
But to be honest, I don't expect the Thunder to do well in the playoffs, on the one hand, because they are too young, experience and on-the-spot adjustment ability is not good, and then on the Western side with the start of the second half of the season, many teams have begun to exert their strength, and it is difficult for young teams to stabilize the ranking, and if they lose their home court advantage, it will be very passive for them, and now the Mavericks, Lakers and Warriors have all begun to exert their strength.
On the side of the Mavericks, Irving shot 11 of 19 from the field, 2 of 7 from three-point range, got 25 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 steal.
The current Mavericks lineup is more reasonable, they lacked a suitable forward height before, Gwee was too short only 1.98 meters, and only Lively was more than 2.01 meters in the previous starting 3, and now although PJ Washington has not yet entered the starter, but it is a matter of time before he enters the starting lineup in the future, he came off the bench in this game, and scored 14 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist on 6-of-10 shooting, his athleticism and defense make the Mavericks have a perfect complement on the front line.
The arrival of Gafford has made the Mavericks' interior stronger and better finishing, he is also a substitute in this game, and there is a high probability that he will enter the starting line in the future, and he scored 19 points and 9 rebounds in 15 minutes of the game. Key Gafford and Washington are both very young, and they could play alongside Doncic for a long time in the future.
The Mavericks finally made a few good trades to give Doncic the right instant power around him, in terms of personal ability, Doncic is definitely the top five in the active ranks, but he has been unpopular on the MVP list, is his ability inferior to Alexander? No, even his ability is better than Alexander, but because of the lack of record and squad strength, Doncic has been despised.
Doncic shot 9 of 14 from the field, 4 of 8 three-pointers got 32 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists, in terms of personal ability, Doncic is better than Alexander, he has better outside finishing ability, and organizational ability, Alexander and top stars compared to the biggest gap is the comprehensiveness and explosiveness of the score, his scoring can be limited, but it is difficult to defend at the level of Doncic.
Speaking of which, what do you have to say about the Mavericks and the Thunder now?