The Mavericks advanced 4-2, illustrating 4 facts: the future belongs to the Thunder, and Irving is too strong

Dearest Basketball Jun

2024-05-19 11:52Published in Guangdong

On May 19, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, with 2 groups of seven in the east and west, and the G6 of the Thunder and Mavericks was also in high demand. In the first quarter of the game, the Thunder started the game with a 16-6 lead, showing the momentum of winning the game, leading by 7 points in a single quarter. In the second quarter, the Mavericks fought back 15-2 to overtake the score, but the Thunder made another effort, relying on SGA's 14 points in a single quarter, and played a 24-6 climax, and the Thunder led by 16 points at halftime.

Doncic and Irving dominated the offensive in the third quarter, and the two combined for 18 points and 4 assists, and the Mavericks recovered 9 points. In the last quarter, the Mavericks continued to chase points, and the two sides entered a white-hot stage, with more than three minutes left, the Mavericks completed the overtake, and Alexander shot a key three-point shot, but at the last moment, Washington won three free throws and three free throws, and the Thunder lost the game by one point. The Mavericks advanced 4-2, illustrating 4 facts: the future belongs to the Thunder, and Irving is too strong

This game fully illustrates the Thunder's youth and inexperience, with a lead of up to 17 points in the second half, but after being chased continuously, the mentality still made waves. Especially in the last 1 round, Alexander first sent a foul when defending a three-point shot, and then coach Dagneault applied for a challenge when the foul was not in suspense, and the result was that at 2.5 seconds, the Thunder failed to challenge and lost another timeout. In this case, you can only make free throws in the backcourt, and the possibility of shooting a shot is already very small. From the head coach to the head coach, they are making mistakes, and the Thunder have indeed paid enough painful tuition for their youth.

However, this is only their first season of rise, and with the experience of the playoffs, the youngsters will grow faster, and this team is just too young. Alexander is 25, No. 2 scorer Jalen Williams is 23, Chet is 22 and is only in his rookie year. So what about paying tuition fees for young people? The future belongs to the Thunder, in addition to the existing young talents. The Thunder have enough salary space in the offseason to sign a max-paid player, and they have a lot of draft picks and can get another max-paid player through a trade. I believe that in the next 5-8 years, the Thunder will always be the top team in the West.

Irving's strength is too strong, he has repeatedly performed superbly in the second half of this year's playoffs, and has scored 40 points in a single game in the first round, and today, Irving scored 4 points in the first half and 18 points in the second half. In 14 matchpoint games in his career, Irving won all of them, which is also a record in NBA history. The bigger the scene, the better Irving performs and is the best helper next to Doncic.

I have to praise that the management of the Mavericks is too good, in the past year or so, in addition to getting Irving, they also kept the first-round pick last season, and finally selected Lively, in this series, Lively has a plus/minus of +71. In addition, players such as Washington and Gafford were acquired through trades, and they have all performed well in the playoffs.

Now, the Mavericks look to have some championship strength, two superstars with unsolved individual ability, and a group of role players who can defend and step up in key moments, and Kidd's coaching ability has been recognized, and maybe just this year, the Mavericks can do wonders.

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