The Mavericks defeated the Timberwolves 115-108 at home on Jan. 8. In this game, Doncic once again showed his dominance, playing 39 minutes and hitting 26 shots, including five three-pointers and eight free throws, scoring 34 points alone, grabbing six rebounds and diching out eight assists.
While 34 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists is already quite good for most players, for Doncic's level this season, it's only average performance, and it's not even as good as his season average. Because this season, Doncic's average per game is 337 points 82 rebounds 92 assists.
In addition to Doncic, Irving also had an excellent performance in this game, playing 39 minutes, hitting 14 shots, including six three-pointers and one free throw, contributing 35 points, eight rebounds and five assists, as well as three steals and two blocks.
The Mavericks held the lead in the first three quarters of the game, but were overtaken by the Timberwolves in the fourth quarter, and at the critical moment, Irving stepped up and hit two consecutive three-pointers to help the Mavericks regain the initiative. In addition to Doncic and Irving, there was another Mavericks player in this game who performed very well, which can be described as "amazing" - Derrick Jones Jr.
Jones Jr. played 35 minutes, hit 12 shots, and finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks and 1 steal. With two minutes left in the game, the Mavericks led the Timberwolves 109-106, but there was still a possibility that they could be overturned. At this time, Jones Jr. received a pass from Doncic, and with Gobert and Towns, he used a dunk to widen the difference to 5 points.
In the next offensive round, the Timberwolves went on offense, and Lee Kyle served to Towns on the sideline, but Jones Jr. jumped high, interfered with the pass, and regained possession. It is worth mentioning that in the second quarter, Jones Jr. also gave a pegboard hat. At that time, Gobert was about to dunk under Conley's pass, but Jones Jr. slapped the ball down behind him.
Gobert is arguably one of the highest-paid players of the moment, but Jones Jr. is no slouch in this game. And his salary this season is only 2.01 million base salary. For a player with an annual salary of only 2 million, Derrick Jones Jr.'s performance this season is definitely qualified.
So far, he has played in a total of 36 games, 35 of which are starts, an average of 254 minutes of playing time, averaging 10 per game3 points 38 rebounds 10 assists 10 steals 09 caps. Although Jones Jr. doesn't have many offensive tools, his performance on the defensive end is impressive. Jones Jr. uses scoring as the main way.
At the moment, he is quite efficient in scoring, with a true shooting percentage of 596%。However, his three-point shooting percentage needs to be improved. This season, he's averaging 4 3-pointers per game2 times (a career high), but only 347%。In recent games, he has hit just one of six shots, especially missing a lot of open three-point shots.
Defensively, however, Jones Jr. was very aggressive. He was excellent on the defensive end, able to jump up and grab rebounds and fight for the ball. The stats also show how important he was: This season, players against Jones Jr. have dropped 1 percent from two-point range9%, and the three-point shooting percentage dropped by 27%。
By comparison, Jones Jr., who played for the Bulls last season, played in 64 games, all off the bench, averaging 140 minutes, contribution 50 points 24 rebounds 05 assists, completely underutilized. Jones Jr. has almost doubled his stats this season compared to last season, and it is worth mentioning that this season he has even scored the highest points of his entire career.
It's not an exaggeration to describe him as "the best performance of his career". For Jones Jr., many fans may still be stuck in the 2020 Slam Dunk Contest. That year, he faced Gordon in the final and eventually won the championship with a little "little help" from Wade. However, despite winning the dunk championship, it did not bring any substantial changes to Jones Jr.'s career.
At the end of the 2019-2020 season, he left the Heat and joined the Trail Blazers, but only played for one season before switching to the Bulls. Whether it's with the Heat, Trail Blazers or Bulls, Jones Jr. doesn't have a lot of playing time, and his role is more ambiguous. As much as he wants to move in the direction of an all-round player, his three-point shooting percentage is on the low side, which makes his positioning a bit awkward.
However, his athleticism is really good, which is the main reason why the Mavericks fancy him. After joining the Mavericks, Jones Jr. was given more playing time due to the team's understaffed frontline, and he seized the opportunity. At the moment, he has firmly occupied the starting position of the Mavericks. With his impressive performances so far this season, he could well get a multimillion-dollar contract in the offseason.
It is worth mentioning that Jones Jr. is not the only player who has re-emerged in the Mavericks this season, but Exum, who was once a "glass man" and was almost eliminated by the NBA, also performed eye-catching.
Back at Jones Jr., even though he's been in the league for eight seasons, he's not even 27 years old since he entered the NBA at the age of 18, which is the pinnacle of a player's career. In the past, he has played for teams such as the Suns, Heat, Trail Blazers and Bulls, but has never received the attention he deserves and has failed to perform as expected.
However, now that he has moved to Eastern Europe, it offers him the perfect opportunity to show himself. Let's wait and see how he continues to do so and add another trophy to his career.