MVP popular? The playoffs exposed deadly points, if Alexander cannot break through the bottleneck upper limit, it will not be high

Although he led the Thunder to the league first place this season and was a popular candidate for the regular season MVP, in the critical playoffs, Alexander still showed his immature side. In the first round of the series against the Grizzlies, although the Thunder swept them out, Alexander's shooting efficiency was not ideal. In the semi-finals, facing the Nuggets, Alexander's shooting weakness was further exposed. They were behind 1-2 in the total score, and the situation of advancing is not optimistic.

and the Nuggets played in these three games. Except for G2, the Thunder beat their opponents 43 points, and the score difference between the other two games was only single digits, Alexander's performance was not ideal. He made 2 of 6 from outside the three-point line in G1, and in G3, Alexander became the culprit of the Thunder's loss. After playing 44 minutes in the whole game, he made 7 of 22 shots and 1 of 6 three-pointers, with only 18 points. He did not take any moves in overtime, passed the ball in 6 consecutive rounds, and was 0 in all five statistics: scoring, rebounding, assisting, stealing and blocking.

Considering that the next G4 is still away, if Alexander really continues to be targeted, then the Thunder are indeed very likely to return to their home court with the disadvantage of falling behind 1-3. In fact, for the Thunder and even Alexander himself, the sudden emergence of this season is indeed a bit sudden. After all, they have only played in the playoffs last season in the past few years, and they can handle it in the regular season. However, in the playoffs, they not only have to compete for the on-the-spot dispatch of the coaches of both sides, but also for the adjustment ability of the stars. Projection has always been Alexander's weakness. In this round, facing a team like the Nuggets with balanced offense and defense, Alexander finally suffered a defeat.

So far, although Alexander can deliver a brilliant 28 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks, his shooting percentage and three-point shooting percentage are as low as 43.8% and 26.2%. The shooting percentages of the two events have indeed declined significantly compared to the regular season 51.9% and 37.5%. In modern basketball, the most important thing is space. If an excellent guard does not have superb projection, he will only think about how to commit fouls and ask the referee for a whistle. The upper limit will indeed be limited to a certain extent. Regardless of whether the Thunder can cross the Nuggets in this round of the series, I believe that after the semi-finals, it will definitely be a baptism for Alexander, making him realize the importance of projection.

In the regular season career, Alexander's three-point shooting percentage was only 35.5% of the average, and only in the 20-21 season, the three-point shooting percentage exceeded 40%. Although his three-point shooting percentage increased to 38.9%, there were indeed very few samples, and the frequency of shooting on the outside was relatively small. The 43.2% three-point shooting percentage last season was based on the fact that he averaged only 3.7 shots per game. If an offensive core like him could project his outside to improve, the future would be unlimited. As mentioned earlier, no matter how far the Thunder can go this season, I hope Alexander can improve his projection this offseason and take himself to a higher level.