Lock MVP + 290 million maximum salary, regular season data brush, playoffs exposed shortcomings! It is difficult for you to win the championship

After the semi-finals of the playoffs this season, the top three in the league in regular season record: the Cavaliers + Celtics + Thunder all capsized at home. In the game between the Cavaliers and the Pacers, the Cavaliers gave the Pacers too many three-pointers on the outside, and the key is that they can't hit the ball no matter how hard they shoot! The Celtics despise the Knicks too much, believing that they can defeat the Knicks by throwing a three-pointer casually. They made 60 three-pointers in the game and only hit 15 goals. They were turned over by the Knicks in a good situation of 20 points, paying the price for underestimating the enemy. But the most surprising thing is the matchup between the Thunder and the Nuggets. From eliminating the Clippers in the tiebreak to fighting the Thunder in the second round, there were only 46 hours of rest time, but under Jokic's score of 42 points and 22 rebounds, Gordon completed the three-point finale! Is Thunder strong?

The answer is yes. Even if you lose your home court advantage, the probability of the Thunder's promotion in this round of series is still 80%, the probability of winning the Western Conference championship is 71.6%, and the probability of winning the championship is 55.8%! The regular season Thunder's net winning score broke the NBA record, with defensive efficiency first in the league. Even if they reach the second round of the playoffs, they still have a luxurious configuration of nine players to rotate, especially Caruso on the bench, which is simply the top 3D in the league. It has three points and defense, and can also participate in the organization of offense, play offensive and defensive transformation, and assist in defense and fill-up awareness. After all, it was an absolute merit for winning the championship with the Lakers. But as the playoffs deepened, the Thunder began to expose the problems, and the main problems were focused on the team's core Alexander, who was overrated! In the regular season, Alexander averaged 32.7 points, 5 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game. Judging from the confirmed MVP votes, Alexander led Jokic by more than 100 points. Windhorst bluntly stated that it is already a consensus that Alexander was elected as an MVP this season, and Jokic is also very strong, but the outside world has aesthetic fatigue with him, and Alexander is the most closest super giant to Jokic in the regular season. The Thunder swept the Grizzlies 4-0 in the first round of the playoffs, and the result seemed to be a big gap, and G1 scored a 51-point victory. But in the next three games, the Thunder won 19 points, 6 points and 2 points respectively, and the gap became smaller and smaller. In the words of Memphis reporters, if Morant is not injured, he firmly believes that the Grizzlies will win at least two games back. Alexander averaged 28.8 points, 6 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game in the playoffs, and the data is pretty good!

Look at two more sets of data! In the regular season, Alexander's On-Off value is +11.2, which can be simply understood as the Thunder with Alexander is the first in the Western Conference cliffs in the regular season; without Alexander, the Thunder is also the third in the Western Conference. In the playoffs, when Alexander was present, the Thunder won 7.5 points in a hundred rounds; when Alexander was not present, the Thunder won 37.6 points in a hundred rounds. In Alexander's playoff On-Off value becomes -30.1! Especially in the semi-final G1 with the Nuggets, when the Nuggets put up the lineup of Westbrook + Murray + Brian + Gordon + Jokic, the Nuggets' net efficiency value for 100 rounds is +68.6. Why do they win so many points? Because the three with the highest net efficiency value in the Thunder's regular season: Alexander + Dortmund + Homgren, the three lost 18 points on the court!

is indeed surprising! Compared with the regular season, Alexander averaged 8.8 free throws per game, and the average 8.4 free throws per game in the playoffs has not decreased significantly, but the referee's referee's call for Alexander to cause damage at critical moments has begun to tighten. For example, the G2 Thunder beat the Grizzlies in the first round 19 points, Alexander only got 4 free throws in 29 shots. After the game, the media of Russia City criticized the referee for calling for favoritism. But to be honest, Alexander is the one who gets the most whistle to the whole league this season! In the regular season, he narrowly defeated the Clippers with two points. Alexander ignored Zubac's foul and broke through to the basket. The Clippers players called the foul before they could move. In the game against the Warriors, Alexander scored 52 points in a spare time and scored 21 free throws in the game, but he still lost, which attracted ridicule from the Bay Area media!

As the playoffs intensified, Alexander's shooting percentage in both events was as low as 41% + 26%. He has never been a qualified outside pitcher. His effective shooting percentage in the playoffs was only 45.3%, and there are only 110 people included in the league, and he ranks 100th! Although he locked in MVP this season, he also locked in a super top salary of 290 million this summer (he was selected into the Best Team for 23 and 24 years, triggering the super top salary clause), becoming the first NBA's 80 million gentleman. However, he exposed three shortcomings: excessive reliance on free throws, and his competitiveness in the playoffs declined; without shooting stability, he was easily targeted at critical moments. The last shortcoming is easily overlooked: when he comes to the playoffs, he cannot lead his teammates, unless he has to, Alexander is too persistent in fighting alone, and often gets half the result with twice the effort.

The Thunder have been the biggest favorite to win the championship this season since half a year ago, and the Thunder's entire lineup does not seem to have many flaws. But Alexander, the core of the team, gradually dropped the stage in the playoffs. He was a bit like Embiid or Doncic during the Mavericks. He could defeat all sides in the regular season, but as the playoffs deepened and his opponents found more solutions, he couldn't change the situation. To put it bluntly, he was still young! The Nuggets only had more than one day off to knock the Thunder back to reality. For Alexander, the regular season MVP is not the best player in the league. In the playoffs, many stars will struggle and stand up, which is worthy of recognition. At least it will be difficult for the Thunder to win the championship this season.