On May 14th, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and today the Mavericks and Thunder ushered in the series G4 competition, after the Thunder fell behind 1-2, they also want to win this game to regain the home court advantage, and the Mavericks sit at home, they must want to win the game point, and a vicious battle is inevitable, then let's briefly talk about the game process, and then talk about the players' play.
Contest Recap:
At the beginning of the first quarter of the game, Chet's inside kill gave the Thunder the lead, Doncic and Gafford responded with 4 points, and Jay responded from mid-range, and then the game entered the rhythm of the Mavericks, led by Washington and Jones, the Mavericks led by 10 points in the first quarter. Giddey and Jewway combined for five points in the second quarter to help the Thunder narrow the gap, and then the two sides fell into a tug-of-war, which was around five points all the time, but at the end of the quarter, Doncic and Irving scored five points in a row to help the Mavericks lead by 11 points to end the first half.
Yibian replayed Washington hit a three-pointer to help the Mavericks extend their lead, Alexander and Dort combined for five points in response, Washington scored four points in a row, and at the end of the quarter, Alexander and Wallace scored five points in a row to help the team chase down to only four points to end the third quarter. In the final quarter, Doncic made consecutive offensive passes to extend the lead to eight points, but then Alexander led the team to catch up with the score and overtake in the last minute, after which the Mavericks missed many key free throws, Chet and Alexander made all four free throws, and finally the Mavericks lost to the Thunder 96-100.
Alexander is too good
This campaign is Alexander's interpretation of what is a real supergiant, he shot 14 of 27 from the field, 0 of 1 from three-point range and got 34 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, the most speechless thing in this game is that in the first half the Mavericks relied on the package Alexander has achieved good results, but in the second half it was not covered, as a result, Alexander scored 22 points in the second half of 18 shots and 12 of 18 shots, leading the team to a reversal.
Chet shot 6 of 9 in the game, 1 of 2 three-pointers got 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists, Jay Wei shot 5 of 19 and 0 of three points and got 14 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists, although they are young, but it is true that they play a tough battle, but it is also a fact that the two suffer in terms of confrontation, Jayway's defensive No. 3 position is fundamentally against a lot of Washington, and Chet is tall enough, but the confrontation is too much worse than Gafford , they are rookies in the playoffs after all, and it is understandable that their instability is not stable.
Maybe the Thunder should be able to find some way to break the game from this game, what if the Mavericks continue their strategy of pinching Alexander in the first half? After all, other players didn't handle the ball well, and their offense could easily stall as long as they couldn't shoot open three-pointers, but after Giddey came on the court in the second half of the third quarter, his playmaking ability helped the team, and the team reopened at the end of the third quarter.
Giddey has been abandoned in the past two games because of the loss on the defensive end, but without him, the Thunder's offensive firepower has been reduced by at least two percent, to be honest, the Thunder can play Giddey at a certain moment, and the two sides play against each other, which is not an opportunity for the Thunder, after all, they are young and have better impact.
Doncic can't be so alone
Doncic's state in this game is obviously not good, he is still affected by injuries, not only the personal offense is inefficient, but also frequent mistakes let the opponent play a counterattack, he shot 6 of 20 from the field, 2 of 6 three-pointers got 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, and 7 turnovers, he can't be so alone, because this game is obviously better in Irving's possession time, when Doncic can sacrifice data in order to win, then he is really mature, he should really learn from Irving.
This campaign Irving still continued the style of play in the past three games, connecting the team on the offensive end to feed his teammates, so that they can play confidently, they can score, and they are willing to defend, and Irving stands up again when the team needs to score, this game Irving got 9 points, 1 rebound and 9 assists in 4 of 9 shots, don't look at the points are not much, almost every time the score is very critical, under his tandem, the team scored double-doubles, but there was no ball in the fourth quarter.
Washington continued the form of the past two games, this game 19 shots 8 of the game, 5 of 11 three-pointers got 21 points and 12 rebounds, three consecutive games scored the top two of the team, Jones shot 7 of 12 and got 17 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, the impact of these two fronts is too good, now what the Thunder lack is a qualified forward, otherwise they are really not afraid of the Mavericks, Gafford scored 10 points and 8 rebounds in this game.
The Mavericks team is honest, if it weren't for the presence of Irving, they really couldn't beat the Thunder, the Mavericks team also has a lot of young players, they will be high-spirited most of the time, and often make some low-level mistakes, to be honest, if Doncic gave the ball to Irving at the last moment, the result of the game may be different, after all, Irving is a player who has played in the Finals, and his experience and ability are better than the injured Doncic, and Doncic was completely blown out by Alexander in this round of the series.