The playoffs are still in full swing right now, and some players are getting better and better as the schedule progresses. For example, Alexander of the Thunder, although the team easily swept the Pelicans in the first round series, his personal performance has declined compared to the level of MVP in the regular season, but in the series against the Mavericks, Alexander's state is even better than the regular season, and he can average 32 points, 9 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game in the last four games, in addition to 1.5 steals and 2.5 blocks.
There is also Tatum, the star of the Green Army, whose performance in the early playoffs is simply unimpressive, and he has not shot even 40% in four of the first six playoff games, so many people even thought that the Green Army would lose to him if they were eliminated this year. However, Tatum's state in the past four games has finally slowly picked up, averaging 29 points, 10.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 2 steals per game.
However, there are also some players who have started high and gone low in this year's playoffs, and now they are getting worse and worse, such as the Thunder's second-in-command Jalen Williams, who averaged 21.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5 assists and 1.8 steals per game in the first four games. But I don't know if it's been thoroughly studied, his performance in the second round against the Mavericks is getting worse and worse, averaging only 14 points per game in the last three games, and the total three-point shot is only 1 of 7, because of his decline, the team is now in a desperate situation.
Not only Jalen Williams is like this, but the Nuggets' Porter Jr. also fell off a cliff in the second round, and he was like a "Durant possession" against the Lakers in the first round. Porter Jr. averaged 22.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game throughout the series, shooting 55% from the field and making four three-pointers on 49% shooting per game.
In the five games, Porter Jr.'s worst performance scored 19 points with a 53.3% shooting rate, and he scored 20+ in the other four games, of which G4 contributed 27 points and 11 rebounds, which is also his best game in the entire playoffs so far. And James, the star of the Lakers, said helplessly on his blog after he was eliminated that they were not defeated by Jokic and Murray, and Porter Jr.'s outburst was an important reason why the Lakers were swept by the gentlemen, and they couldn't limit his offense at all.
The most important thing is that Porter Jr.'s smooth offense also drove his defense, and he did a good job of rebounding protection and assistance defense in that series, and even his worst single defense has improved. At that time, everyone was also saying that the general manager of the Nuggets was too wise, and they reached a five-year 173 million early contract extension with Porter Jr. as early as 2021, and it seemed that the latter had every chance to help the team complete the achievement of two consecutive championships.
However, now it seems that the fans are obviously happy too early, and in the second round against the Timberwolves, who have better defensive resources, a more rigorous defensive system and discipline, Porter Jr.'s true level will be revealed. In the face of the Timberwolves, the defenders of Porter Jr. are Edwards, Alexander Walker, McDaniels, and other players with long arms and heights, who are not much worse than Porter Jr. in terms of static talent, on the other hand, the Lakers at that time, many times it was Russell and Reaves who came to defend Porter Jr., and they couldn't interfere with his shooting at all.
And the most important thing is that through this round of the series between the Nuggets and the Lakers, the Timberwolves have fully seen Porter Jr.'s ability on the offensive end, so in this round of the series, they don't give Porter Jr. a chance to shoot easily, and when defending the transition, they will also send people to stare at Porter Jr. all the time, because once he finds his touch, the Nuggets are easy to play an offensive climax, and he also has the ability to score continuously.
This has to say how bad the Lakers' defensive discipline is, especially Hachimura, who moves slowly and often leaks people when he defends without the ball. And many times Hachimura's defensive enthusiasm is also problematic, knowing that Porter Jr. is very accurate, but he will still hesitate when he pounces.
Now in the six games against the Timberwolves, Porter Jr. has failed to score in double figures in four games, and even the last three games add up to only 18 points, and his efficiency has also dropped sharply while the production is average, shooting 30% from the field and only 3 of 15 three-pointers. In the most critical G6, the Nuggets were abused for 45 points, and Porter Jr., as one of the "culprits", turned off the fire again, shooting 3 of 9 from the field, and 1 of 6 from three-point range only contributed 8 points, and the team was dragged into the tiebreaker.
And due to Porter Jr.'s frequent offensive setbacks, his defense is not far less active than in the first round, averaging only 4.3 rebounds per game in the past three games, and it is worth mentioning that the Nuggets lost to the Timberwolves in G6, the rebounding gap between the two sides is 43-62. And if Porter Jr.'s form doesn't recover, even if the tiebreaker is on the Nuggets' home court, then they will also be the disadvantaged side, especially considering that the team's second leader Murray is affected by injuries, Porter Jr. will have to break out on the offensive end to help the team.
In fact, Porter Jr. has proved more than once in the playoffs that his state is not very stable, due to the shortcomings of the ball-holding ability, unless the three-point hand is really explosive, otherwise he is easy to steal on the offensive end, if he can find the touch on the outside, his confidence can come up and he can play more freely and diversely on the court.
Now that Porter Jr.'s state continues like this, his 176 million contract will also be more and more premium, and if the championship fails, the Nuggets probably won't be able to sell it if they want to. Porter Jr.'s technical characteristics suggest that he is not that highly replaceable, and if he can't be a consistent scorer for a team on the offensive end, then his value will be greatly reduced. But after all, the Nuggets' playoffs are not over yet, and they must and can only believe that Porter Jr. will try to maintain an offensive state of at least 15+ per game in the future, otherwise let alone win the championship, there is a high probability that they will not even be able to win a tie-break.