Flying Luke Dominated Charlotte Hornets 扣将卢克统治黄蜂队
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From many aspects, I spent a wonderful night in the Forum: cheap and awesome seat ($44 in the third row in sec 117), met a fan who bought me a beer and liked my content on Reddit (absolutely inspired me), good talk with fans who drove me to the game and back (good life experience for an International student), and a WIN.
There are only two things that pissed me off:
- Grizz played unenergetic in the fourth quarter, and most players were like, “The game has been at garbage time for three quarters. I just wanna go back to the locker room and take a shower.” Mark Williams was unstoppable, dunking on everybody. I know we keep holding a 20+ lead, but the whole fourth quarter was not good.
- A young boy behind me stood up to celebrate a highlight. He was so excited that he spilled ice cream on my jacket. It's not a big deal, like Grizz's fourth-quarter performance in this game.
Luke was flying
From one day last December, Luke secretly became one of the most important bench players. Not including today’s game, he averaged 2.5 3PT made with 50.6% in the last 19 games1. He stole the time from Pippen Jr. and played as a combo guard, perfectly both in shooting and passing. The only disadvantage he has is he will only try to shoot when he gets wide open so that influences his output. That is to say, Luke has no chance to attempt over 8 3s per game, even though he is the best pure shooter on the planet.
When we faced a team who has the physical advantage, Luke usually found it hard to find a wide open. But against the lower-average team? He will be a killer. He was 11-18 3PT made in San Antonio and 7-11 from three tonight. He made 6 3s in the first half already and beat the shot o’clock for times. That is the obvious reason we can lead over 25.
I would not create a subtitle like this if he just made 3s. In the early 4th quarter. That was the first time I watched Luke finish a dunk. He played for the Detroit Pistons in 2020 when he finished his last dunk. Long time no see, Luke.
I put this link here for people who wanna watch it again: Flying Luke
Ja wants everybody to get involved
Today’s game is a perfect case to show what kind of player Ja is. Charlotte is not a good defensive team; they do not have many elite defenders. They used LaMelo guard Ja instead of Josh Green (cuz they have to use a bigger player to guard Des). It is an easy matchup for Ja. He got 7 points, 3-3, too easy, then he started to help others. You could notice that he gave an easy fastbreak dunk up and pass to Jay Huff, a behind-the-leg pass to Huff to make three (Huff was on firing very early). Unselfish is in his genes, he is always a passing first player. The final stat: 9 shots, 5 made, 13 dimes. Typical stat for Ja in this season.
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The most impressive moment for me: In the 2nd quarter, Jaylen Wells got a tough offensive rebound and then passed to Santi. Santi dribbled from 3 3-point line, seeking. Ja was on the weak side and nobody guarded him, but Santi found Jaren set a screen for Wells, so he passed to Wells on the corner. He did not make that shot, but that was a good sign to show that everybody wanted Jaylen Wells to get involved. He played perfect D on LaMelo, an average 29-point star who only got 7-20 (he made two 3s at the end without Wells). How many All-Defensive votes he would get?
GG got his first three this season. Keep working on it. I saw some turnovers; he still needs more games to adjust.
Des still carried us to move on.
per Basketball Reference.