Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: vintage style, but effective
Basketball fans, enjoy. Because if you love basketball, it can’t help but be magnetic for you. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander he is now a star of the first magnitude and is also proving it in the playoffs. This is beyond the fact that his Thunder are down 3-2 against the Dallas Mavericks. It does not matter. It’s the way in which the former Clippers guides his team that stands out. His silent leadership, but effective. His game is never centralizing, yet always so dominant when needed. His numbers in the post-season speak of almost 30 points average, with over 37% from three (which isn’t bad for not being his real specialty). The facts speak of a point guard who took the mid-range game to a new level. A style that can be defined vintagebut no less effective. If he targets his opponent in a one-on-one situation he is able to use a thousand or more tricks (also called “fundamentals”) to create separation between himself and the defender. He changes speed and rhythm during the penetration, seems to stop, then starts again, perhaps feints and the opponent is already off balance. Or, he turns on the pivot with an associated change of direction for a comfortable shot from the elbow. Simple, linear, without too many frills, he doesn’t pass the ball between his legs a thousand times and he doesn’t jump a meter off the ground. However, for the MVP of the season, after Jokic you could very well have knocked on his door.
Luka Doncic: the scream of Game 5
Luka Doncic wasn’t playing well before the Game 5 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder. If you want, she was pulling even worse. Quite an embarrassing shot selection for a player with his basketball intelligence. Several forced shots for nothing in the rhythm that all opponents love: they are low percentage shots, which don’t move the defense. And, in fact, the Slovenian’s percentages remain suspicious despite everything: 41.3% from the field and 28% from three. Certainly not numbers for rulers of the universe. Then comes Game 5, quite decisive, which could lead to a 3-2 draw Mavs with the next game to be played in Dallas (to close out the series). And here Doncic doesn’t miss the opportunity to get noticed, because his fundamentals are so well refined that he doesn’t need to go at hundred miles an hour with ball in hand or even fly over the heads of his opponents to dictate the law. . For the Maverics star, therefore, 31 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. A spectacular triple-double, with some passes for his teammates that only a boundless talent for the game can explain. Like the alley-oop for Jones coming down the right lane in transition in the first quarter. Or the give-and-go closed with a lob for Lively at the start of the second quarter. Will it be enough for the Conference Final?
Nuggets vs T-Wolves: si va a Gara 7
I Minnesota T-Wolves they force i Nuggets towards a Game 7 which promises to be one of those unrepeatable moments, which is worth losing hours of sleep for. Well done, they deserve it. Both teams deserve it. It was a series of adjustmentsOf aggressive defenses, of “the best attack always beats the best defense”, true, but also of “if you defend really well, maybe the best attack doesn’t materialize”. Denver stunned after the first two games. Jokic forced (thanks to the defense and quick rotations) to “think” of himself as a scorer rather than a passer. Unnatural for him, who has to imagine basketball without constraints to stay in character. And since the Serbian is a “game system” and not just a player, both he and his teammates were affected. Then in Game 3 and Game 4, with the Joker freer to create for the others too, the Nuggets were back to what they always were. The ball started to circulate better again, players more involved, shots taken with better selection, two-man games between Jokic and Murray again rebus indecifrabilAnd. Because Denver basketball, the one in the team’s DNA, is a altruistic basketball, where it doesn’t matter whether it’s Gordon, Murray or Jokic who scores 30. The fundamental thing is to shoot in rhythm, and if a teammate has a better shot than yours, you pass the ball to him and stop. In Game 5, here is the masterpiece of the three-time MVP. On the pivot foot you do against Hakeem Olajuwon. AND Rudy Gobert he also defended worthily at times, with often correct lateral slips. But nothing. You can contain real talent up to a certain point. For the Nuggets center: 40 points and 13 assists, shooting 66.7% from three. But the defence of Minnesota is not episodic, it is structural. We saw it in Game 6. Quick rotations (again) with the aim of closing the passing lines. Towns on Jokic like in Game 2 and Gobert in help. Jokic with 2 assists. Murray 10 points with 22.2% from the field. Game 7? If the T-Wolves defense is what it was in Game 2, I am virtually unbeatable for anyone. But if they give Jokic the freedom to attack continuously on short-rolls, and don’t put sand in the gears between the Serbian and Murray, the situation is in the Nuggets’ favor.
That’s all Folks!
To next week.
2024-05-17 14:06:21
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