As the creator of the best record in the NBA West this season, the young Thunder team, led by the core Alexander, swept the first round of the playoffs and advanced, and faced the Mavericks led by Doncic and Irving in the semifinals, and also won the first game, showing very strong combat effectiveness, but in the second series, Doncic fought with an injury, staged a good show of the return of the king, helping the Mavericks end the Thunder's ten-game winning streak from the end of the regular season, and also regained the home court advantage of the series, after a full day's rest, Whether the Eastern European combination took advantage of the victory to defend their home stadium and achieved a big overtake, or Alexander led the youth army to bottom out and avoid two consecutive defeats in the playoffs, which became the biggest highlight of this game! After the game started, Alexander led the Thunder and once established a 10-point lead, but unfortunately the first score in the West was weak in the second half, allowing the Mavericks to play a scoring climax, and finally defended the home court 105-101 and took a big 2-1 lead!
Alexander was left alone
As the absolute core of this Thunder team, Alexander is second only to Jokic in this season's MVP selection, which is enough to prove his strength.
The same plot played out again in this game, as the Mavericks' key target of defense, Alexander maintained a very efficient scoring efficiency in this game, hitting 10 shots from 23 attempts, contributing 31 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 4 blocks, but basketball is a team sport after all, and his teammates did not play as expected, so Alexander fell into a situation where he was difficult to beat all four.
Genius dumb fire, fairy savior
In the second game of the series between the two teams, Irving's offensive desire was not strong, and the Mavericks relied on Doncic's 29 points with an injury to take away a victory from the road, but after returning to the home court, the European genius who continued to start was obviously affected by injuries, and his explosiveness declined significantly, which also affected his scoring efficiency, hitting only 7 of 17 shots, and the score slipped to 22 points, but fortunately, he grabbed 15 rebounds and contributed 5 assists.
In the last game in the case of Doncic's full firepower, Irving's offensive desire was not strong, only 9 points scored, in an interview after the game, Uncle Drew said that when the team needs him, he will stand up and save the team with points, this game Irving fulfilled his promise, 17 shots 10 handed over 22 + 5 + 7 + 1 + 1 all-round performance, and the last game of the rampage Washington, continued the hot offensive feel, continued as a wonder soldier hit 5 three-pointers, and scored 27 points to become the biggest contributor to the Mavericks' home victory.
After winning this game, the Mavericks took a big 2-1 lead in the first three games of the series, and the fourth game is crucial for both teams, if the Thunder can't pull one back on the road, they will fall into a desperate situation of falling behind 1-3, with Irving's playoff experience, they will not give them the opportunity to stage a shocking comeback, whether Alexander can lead the team to conquer the Mavericks' home court, let's wait and see!