If you are not good at fighting a tough battle? Why did Alexander, the Thunder, decline sharply in the playoffs?

Although the Thunder defeated the Nuggets to tie the score in the crucial fourth game, Alexander's performance of 8 of 19 shots and 25 points still cannot be compared with him, who was defeated in the regular season. So why did the Thunder's new king Alexander decline sharply in the playoffs? This issue of the column will help you understand through in-depth data analysis.

Alexander averaged 27.6 points per game, ranked sixth in the league, with shooting percentages of 43.6% and 23.4% respectively in the two games. Although this performance is still the top scorer in the league, compared with his regular season averages of 32.7 points, 51.9% and 37.5% per game, it has dropped too much. Moreover, the opponents faced by the Thunder in the two playoffs are the Grizzlies and the Nuggets. These two teams are actually not the overall defensive efficiency, which is the team with the least points per 100 rounds. Therefore, Alexander, whose scoring ability in the playoffs, has also been questioned a lot. So why did Alexander experience such a decline? Is it really not good to fight hard?

From the perspective of offense outside the three-point line, Alexander's score assist rate in the playoffs has declined a lot compared to the regular season, which means that in the playoffs, Alexander scored fewer three-pointers when receiving and passing the ball to his teammates. Of course, this may not be that his teammates did not pass the ball to him in the playoffs:

From the perspective of shooting proportion, Alexander's three-pointers when receiving and taking and dribbling the ball, still 16.7% of the three-pointers when receiving and dribbling the ball, which accounted for 17.5% of the regular season, and there is no big change, but more than 7 dribbling three-pointers when dribbling, which means that Alexander actually mainly takes the dribbling rhythm and completes three-pointers when taking and dribbling, and the shooting method has not changed much.

But the difference is that Alexander's shooting percentage in the playoffs has changed a lot. His three-point shooting percentage after dribbling 0-2 times is 0. It can be said that he missed a goal. You should know that Alexander himself is a player who needs to control the ball for a long time to find the offensive rhythm. In the regular season, he can also try to play the role of an unball shooter, but in the playoffs, his three-point shooting was cut in half, and his already unstable catch shot showed a cliff-like decline, which seriously affected his overall three-point shooting. Alexander within the three-point line is his best area, but the dribbling shooting percentage in the playoffs has shrunk to varying degrees compared to the regular season. His shooting percentage after 3-6 dribbling times has fallen below the 50% mark. Such changes will occur not only because of his personal competitive state, but the opponent's defensive strategy has become the key.

When Alexander in the regular season shoots within the three-point line, he will have different shooting rates when facing different defensive distances, especially the defender's close defense within 2 feet of himself, his shooting rate has dropped to 43.8%. Therefore, Alexander's offensive method actually relies on techniques such as ball-holding dribbling and slightly opens up the shooting space, which is easier to cause opponents to foul, and also enables him to achieve the best efficiency;

However, in the playoffs, the penalty scale is more relaxed and encourages confrontation. The opponent is obviously more targeting this feature to enhance confrontation, making his shots not as comfortable as the regular season. The longer the defense distance faced by Alexander in the playoffs, the higher his shooting percentage will be. When facing defense within 2 feet, the shooting percentage will drop to 28.6%. The change in the penalty scale will be more intense against the opponent, making his singles no longer as stable as before.

Judging from the shooting situation of Alexander facing various opponents in the playoffs, Bain, Jaren Jr., Aldama and Westbrook of the Nuggets have lower hit rate, and his shooting rate is higher against Braun, Pippen Jr., Jokic Jr. and Murray. From this perspective, it can also be seen that Alexander's score is more likely to be affected by which type of players:

When facing opponents with slower movement or slightly less confrontational ability, Alexander can have a higher finish success rate; when facing opponents with flexible movement and physically against stronger opponents, his finish success rate is relatively lower.