In the NBA there is a king (LeBron James), a large nobility (Durant, Embiid, Antetokoumpo, Curry, Jokic, Harden…) and a good handful of candidates, increasingly precocious and dominant, who intend to overthrow night following night to the established order. This trend was confirmed in the last day of the NBA. Four names and four exhibitions, those of Luka Doncic (23 years old), Trae Young (23), Ja Morant (22) and Jason Tatum (24), a puerile constellation that urges the old guard to step aside, because his basketball is a tsunami right now. The Dallas Mavericks, following a busy summer and with the arrival of Jason Kidd on the bench, have taken a step forward in their aspirations and, despite being a team of specialists, without much carat, they are fifth in the Western Conference. Yesterday they beat the Golden State Warriors (113-122) for the second time in three days and Luka Doncic was once once more the guide for the Texans. The Slovenian went up to 41 points, 19 of them in the first quarter, and once once more gave the feeling of being that indefensible player, authoritarian in all facets of the game, from the assistant (9) to the rebounder (10).
The @ATLHawks they smile at the Bulls:
Trae Young: 39 points and 13 assists pic.twitter.com/nTqscvxLhJ
— NBA Spain (@NBAspain) March 4, 2022
His rival and friend Trae Young, despite not enjoying such a happy season with his Atlanta Hawks (tenth in the Eastern Conference), showed once more last night how unattainable his talent is for rival defense. The point guard added 39 points and 13 assists to knock down the reborn Chicago Bulls (124-130), one of the most fit teams in the NBA, third in the East. Young wriggled around the area and was a sniper from the three-point line, hitting seven of nine attempts. Finally, the Boston Garden, with its perennial parquet, saw an epic game between the Celtics and the Memphis Grizzlies, the big surprise of the season. Epic because two thoroughbreds dueled, Jayson Tatum and Ja Morant. The first reached the figure of 37 points and the second, with his supernatural athleticism, 38. A brilliant exchange of baskets that the Greens finally won (107-120).
The night of @jaytatum0 we have enjoyed it in @MovistarNBA
37 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists#cowardlysleeping pic.twitter.com/H8VAD5ppTJ
— NBA Spain (@NBAspain) March 4, 2022
The generational change proposed by these four stars is not only perceived by sensations, but also statistically. All of them are among the top ten scorers in the league: Young is fourth (28.1), Doncic sixth (27.8), Morant seventh (27.8) and Tatum ninth (26). Among both youngsters, only LeBron James (28.8) and Stephen Curry (25.7), undisputed dominators of the last decade, keep the pulse of an inevitable countdown.