This season is destined to be extraordinary from the regular season, with the Thunder and Timberwolves in the West popping up, and two young men, Alexander and Edwards, lead by example in offense and defense, occupying the top three positions in the West for a long time; Young teams like the Magic, Pacers, and Knicks in the East have also been pleasantly surprised. After the first round of the playoffs, the three giants of the East Bucks + Heat + 76ers were gloomy; The Western Warriors couldn't get into the playoffs, the Clippers were eliminated by the Mavericks, the Lakers were swept by the Nuggets 4-1 gentlemen, and the Suns were shaved by the Timberwolves. Of course, a large part of the core factors that determine a team's ceiling depend on the team's boss's ceiling ability.
There are many stars who are at the regular season level, such as Embiid, the center's stature and guard's style of play, and the average of 33 points, 10.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game is also quite gorgeous, but in the playoffs, without Harden, Embiid can't lead the team to pass the first round! To put it bluntly, Embiid's weak on-court performance is a direct embodiment of the data brush, the super high proportion of ball possession, and the data obtained in exchange for unscrupulous shots cannot support the team's progress. But there is another star who is the regular season scoring champion this season, averaging 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game, and the statistics are also perfect, and he is Doncic. In the six years since he entered the league, Doncic's stats have improved almost every year, but he has only made it to the Western Conference finals once, still with Brunson. 50 points for a blast, 73 points for a blast! The playoffs directly exposed the shortcomings! It's hard for a data brush to win a championship.
Since Doncic entered the league, he has been set as the cornerstone core of the Mavericks. Since the second year of his career, the number of shots has exceeded 20, and this season's regular season has reached an average of 23.6 per game, to be honest, coupled with an average of nearly 9 free throws per game, it is normal to get 30+, and any player who can gain a foothold in the NBA can basically do this. And because the regular season competition is not so intense, Doncic often plays some super statistics this season, such as facing the Hawks, Doncic exploded 73 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, setting a new single-game scoring record for active players. Another example is when facing the Suns, he scored 50 points, 6 rebounds and 14 assists; Including 49 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists against the Nets. As long as Doncic wants to, he can hit 40+ per game, and Irving can't grab the ball with Doncic. But what about the playoffs?
In the first round against the Clippers, Doncic averaged 29.8 points, 9.5 assists and 8.8 rebounds per game, and the data was still gorgeous, but the two-point shooting rate was only 45.6%+23.9%; In the first four games of the second round against the Thunder, Doncic averaged 22 points, 10.8 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game, and the shooting rate was as low as 39.0%+31%! What is the level? Doncic's effective shooting percentage in the playoffs is 45.4%, ranking 107th out of 112 people included in the league's statistics! And Doncic's shooting rate at key moments is as low as 33.3%, which has set a new low for Doncic's playoff career! One thing to emphasize is that the Clippers and the Thunder are two different things for Doncic's defense, the Clippers have almost no defense, but what about the Thunder? Dort specifically restricts Doncic, to say a joke, maybe Doncic goes to the toilet in the middle of the court, and Dort follows! Naturally, Doncic's confrontation is indeed large, from ankle to knee, there are injuries of varying degrees.
This is an objective condition. But where is Doncic's subjective problem? In addition to his low efficiency due to the scale of confrontation, there are three shortcomings: First, Doncic is easy to be targeted on the defensive end, to put it simply, whoever plays against Doncic will be the main offense + main finisher, because Doncic is slow-paced, does not care about the defenders behind him, and often misses key positions because of supplemental defense. Second, Doncic's temper and personality are really a hidden danger, Doncic can get free throws when he encounters a little confrontation in the regular season, which also makes him develop a dependent character, but the scale of confrontation in the playoffs has increased, can Doncic still get so many free throws? If there is a slight disappointment, Doncic will spread his hands and complain, or even output directly to the referee. Fortunately, Doncic is the league's favorite successor of the Mesozoic generation, and the referee is passable. If you treat Green by the same scale, Doncic will be ejected almost every game!
Finally, Doncic's habit of playing is easy to overlook, averaging more than 24 shots per game in the playoffs, which is very undesirable to build on such inefficiency. Doncic is not allowed, and Irving! But Irving averaged 19.5 shots per game in the regular season and only 16 in the playoffs! It's not that Owen can't touch the ball, it's that he also has to take on part of the organizational work, delivering shells to the inside. To put it simply, because of Doncic's style of play, his function has been weakened! To put it mildly, Doncic adheres to the method of winning and losing, forcibly holding the team on his shoulders, and Irving can't play his value! It's certainly a good thing to have a heart and attitude, but the two games won by the Mavericks and the Thunder series contributed to Washington's outburst. The key Irving didn't know how to play, so he could only work the defensive end and on the tandem.
In fact, Doncic is still very young and has enough malleability. But the way he's been pampered by the Mavericks and the league over the past few years has just constrained his ceiling. There is data support, but there is no upper limit guarantee, the ability to resist pressure is poor, and the mentality is easy to be unbalanced, the key is that this style of play is relatively "selfish", why can Brunson be the boss when he arrives at the Knicks? Why is Irving's playoff this season different from the past few years and not playing his game? To be sure, if Doncic continues to play with this brush, it will be difficult for him to win a championship. Starting from the defensive end, starting from leading the team, his future is actually very bright, and he is afraid of living in the beautiful bubble woven for him by the outside world.