And the back of the Suns does not stop there. With a glare, he launches (his lips do not deceive a priori…) to his Texan counterpart that he is a “ whore (of player) soft « . Despite a technical fault collected, the rear had sent his message.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9lsjJaOZA
It’s unclear how much of an impact this scene may have had on the rest of the game from the back. But the latter, in addition to worries about personal fouls which limited his playing time, had a galley and incomparable evening with his production in the first round.
He took the overwhelming majority of his shots from inside the arc but with limited effectiveness. The former Villanova star struggled to close close to the circle, while some finishes looked pretty easy. Like his team, the back finished better with a 4/7 on shots in the last quarter but his overall performance remained poor: 13 points (6/16 on shots), 4 rebounds and 3 passes.
We would obviously not be as attentive to his performance, and demanding, if he had not carried the Mavs so much against the Jazz with his 28 points average. » For a player of his size, he is really good in the racket, with his support, his ability to pivot to unbalance the opponent. We used our size to make life difficult for him “, Devin Booker analyzes more politely after the match.
Hasty shots?
Spencer Dinwiddie, the Mavs’ third strongman in the first round (15 points on average), also had a very average night with just 8 points at 3/8 on shots. While Jalen Brunson attacked the circle a lot, the former Wizards player was more passive.
How much the scale of the Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder or even Devin Booker could have hindered them? » Good question, I don’t know…”boot into touch their coach, Jason Kidd. “We will have to ask them. As a coach, I try to put them in a position to perform. I found that we rushed our shots a bit because we had a complicated start. »
His team quickly took on water but managed to return to the locker room 13 points behind. He can thus thank Luka Doncic, author of 26 points in the first period, as well as Maxi Kleber, with his five award-winning baskets in the same period. » Maxi and Luka kept us afloat because we could easily have trailed by 30 points at the break. »
Fewer assists
Jason Kidd believes that his Slovenian playmaker, who finished the game with 45 points (15/30), 12 rebounds and 8 assists, made » everything he wanted, when you look at the shots in the key, behind the arc, at half distance, and I also think that he created for his teammates some good shots, that we go back in normal times « .
Maxi Kleber therefore, as well as Dorian Finney-Smith, were the main supporters of a team much less balanced in terms of « scoring » than were the Suns with six players at 11 points or more. » Every time a guy puts in 45 points, you look at that total and you don’t like it. But I look at their number of assists. Only 16. Kleber made 3-pointers but overall no one else played the way he can “, can welcome Monty Williams, whose training has generated 27 assists.
For his part, Luka Doncic does not think that » the attack was the problem tonight “And, like his coach, points to defensive shortcomings, inside in particular, and difficulties in rebounding (51 to 36 in favor of the Suns). Jason Kidd is still waiting for a reaction from the Slovenian’s supporters: » Someone just has to join the party. »