Lauri Markkanen was the best player in the Cleveland Cavaliers when the NBA basketball club he represented collapsed in the final and decisive match of the season, narrowly out of the playoffs, Sports reporter Timo Uusitalo writes.
About Lauri Markkanen hatched for the first time in the 282nd match of his NBA career to feature a basketball alpha male that simply couldn’t be missed. It was a great pity that the Cleveland Cavaliers lost their 14-point lead in the decisive playoff qualifier and froze in the second period in front of their fanatical home spectator for the Atlanta Hawks with a score of 101-107.
With the defeat, the trick in the history of the crown jewel of the Finland basket was left undone; no Finnish player has been seen in the NBA playoffs. The 24-year-old Markkanen finished the fifth season of the NBA this weekend. The irony is that his old club, the Chicago Bulls, now made it to the playoffs for the first time in years – as soon as Lauri had changed landscape.
Although Cleveland’s season as a whole was clearly on the positive side, the youthful team had a bitter taste of the final matches and matches throughout the rest of the season. The Cavaliers Playoffs place wasn’t caught up in one match or a bad half. The injured youthful team won just nine of their last 26 games of the season and lost embarrassingly to Detroit and Orlando, among others.
The loss-making Atlanta match had a bigger significance for Markkanen’s personal career, which many even realized. If Lauri hadn’t hesitated and found the inside Larry Birdia, so there might have been little question marks left around him. Markkanen played a good season in itself, but based on the seasonal statistics, he fell short of his career average in terms of points average, rebounds and triple throw accuracy.
However, against Atlanta, Markkanen was the only player on his team to have personally internalized the necessary level and intensity of NBA playoffs. Markkanen and the newcomer star Evan Mobley played at their own level, other Cleveland members did not. Lauri played brilliantly in the stakes for the best match of his Cavs career: 26 points, 8 rebounds, 2 exploits, 1 fight and three-point throws sank (6/12).
Garland and Bickerstaff froze
Cleveland lost to the Hawks as a star player, a backman running the game Darius Garland froze mentally playing his worst match in many months and coach JB Bickerstaffin the finger went into his mouth in both defensive and offensive play as well as player rotations. The exchange bench was badly negative and the third cannon of the whole season, even competing for the title of the sixth player in the series Kevin Love forgot to stand on the bench even though the basketball tangled the entire second episode (only 40 points).
Garland threw in the losing game as many as 27 times with a weak 33 percent. If the coach had instructed Garland to distribute the ball more to the throwing Markkan and Mobley, then I dare say Cleveland would have won the game. Garland had a stage in the final period in which he failed four times in a row (passing, passing, losing the ball and passing).
Coach Bickerstaff was also unable to react to the Atlanta butt virtuoso, who became a superplayer in the second period. Trae Young punished time and time again, for example, in Markka’s one-on-one situations. The Hawks made small changes and spread their game, not Cleveland’s auxiliary defense – mostly Jarrett Allen and Mobley – had time to secure when Young took his team backpack practically alone.
Markkanen’s hand went exactly in the opening period when Cleveland took a break in the 61-51 lead. At that point, the best player on the field had bagged 17 points and five out of three. The Finn seemed misleadingly young on the parquet floor From Dirk Nowitzk being, for good reason, his team’s second option for throws. In the second half, the ball was no longer played in the same way for Lauri, and the hot basketball player was left with Cleveland’s fourth option.
Garland and another player who incubated the ball, Caris LeVert miraculously succumbed to solo performances and bounced the playing instrument without a sense of reason. That’s why the game from the other Cavs players went mostly to stand behind the arc. When the ball finally came into the hands of the others, the toss was already over. Therefore, the companies were left in a hurry and bad. Again, home team coaching was unable to make a change in the second half, which went to Atlanta at 56-40.
Markkanen’s match would have been perfect against Atlanta if he hadn’t slipped the ball into his opponent’s great ball. To Kevin Huerter, with only 25.8 seconds left in the three-point losing position, with a score of 99-102. The groundbreaking performance was a bit stuck. However, a more clever coach would have taken Cleveland overtime in the situation when the Atlanta crease was quite in that corner situation.
Cleveland can now begin to focus on improving next season’s team and making important follow-up deals. Garland gets $ 184 million in maximum paper for his grapple and all-season knee-high To Collin Sexton a long follow-up contract may be imposed. Takamieskonkari Ricky Rubion back recruiting would be a wet sleep for fans. The Cavs substitute department will see changes next season at the latest, with at least LeVert, Love and Cedi Osmanin contracts expire.
The great game of a Finnish NBA pioneer will remain in the memory of everyone who follows the sport for the summer season and will leave a nice feeling for Lauri herself. A potential Cleveland should not reasonably need to actively seek a replacement for Markkanen. Although Lauri doesn’t have an NBA playoff game on his belt yet, it was not clear to anyone that the Finnish comet would continue to be a man of important games.