The Jazz remained on four defeats in a row and therefore needed to win, especially against a team like Orlando, so as not to lose precious meters in the race for the “play-in”. It was not easy, but as so often this season, the Utah team was able to count on Lauri Markkanen.
The Finn scored four important points in the last 75 seconds of the game. By finishing with 31 points, he added another good performance to his tally and confirmed that he is having a great season, the most successful of his career by far.
Worthy of winning the trophy for best progress, for which he has been the big favorite for several months?
“It’s an extra motivation, but I don’t really think about it,” he assures ESPN. “I appreciate this challenge and we will see if the individual trophies arrive. For that, I have to keep playing like that and we have to keep winning matches. Obviously it would be cool to have that trophy at home, but that’s not my main focus right now. »
The competition exists, with for example Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Brunson or why not Tyrese Haliburton. But Lauri Markkanen has for him this impression of explosion, after disappointing seasons. Last season, in Cleveland, he averaged 14.8 points at 44% shooting success and 36% at 3-pts. This season ? He is 25.3 points at 51% shooting success and 40% behind the arc.
“I was not the same player”
The “Finnisher” became the undisputed boss of Jazz, which did not seem obvious given the performances he had shown in Cleveland or Chicago, sometimes interesting but often average and without relief or regularity.
“We can always look back” he comments. “I was probably not the same player as today. I was a power forward in Chicago and a winger in Cleveland. From now on, I play in a team which evolves with tall players. I have no resentment towards my former teams. They used me in the best way for them and I was not the same player. I also appreciated the more complicated moments, because they built me. I was bad mentally because I had high expectations and I was not good. »
Quite the opposite of his experience in Utah. In a few months, he became an All-Star and finally showed the extent of his offensive potential.
“I’m in the right system, with the right coaching staff, and I’m using my strengths. I am the player on whom we rely at the end of the game and it is pleasant when we have had difficult times. I am more and more comfortable in these situations elsewhere. The hard times, it makes you appreciate the All-Star Game even more. »
It is on this role of decisive player that Will Hardy wanted to insist to describe the progression of the winger of 25 years.
“There is a lot of pressure every night and you have to have a different mentality,” analyzes the coach. “He is well aware that this approach is as important as scoring, because he is the leader and the rest of the team will follow him. I’m proud of how he approaches encounters as the season progresses because he’s kind of become the leader of this group. »
| Lauri Markkanen | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2017-18 | CHI | 68 | 30 | 43.4 | 36.2 | 84.3 | 1.2 | 6.3 | 7.5 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 15.2 |
| 2018-19 | CHI | 52 | 32 | 43.0 | 36.1 | 87.2 | 1.4 | 7.6 | 9.0 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 18.7 |
| 2019-20 | CHI | 50 | 30 | 42.5 | 34.4 | 82.4 | 1.2 | 5.1 | 6.3 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 14.7 |
| 2020-21 | CHI | 51 | 26 | 48.0 | 40.2 | 82.6 | 0.7 | 4.6 | 5.3 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 13.6 |
| 2021-22 | KEY | 61 | 31 | 44.5 | 35.8 | 86.8 | 1.0 | 4.7 | 5.7 | 1.3 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 14.8 |
| 2022-23 | UTH | 59 | 34 | 51.2 | 40.8 | 86.9 | 1.9 | 6.6 | 8.5 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 25.3 |
| Total | 341 | 31 | 45.6 | 37.3 | 85.6 | 1.2 | 5.8 | 7.1 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 17.1 | |
