Games like this are why he's such a frustrating player. Like where the f**k is this guy all the time. Every seam available he was getting downhill and scoring or getting to the line. Even if he didn't attempt a 3 this would have been a great game. This is what we are talking about when we say this team needs an top perimeter scorer, the whole team can be off or a step slow and one guy can keep you in it, we 100% lose this game without Green. I just wish we got something resembling this guy more often instead of the guy who jacks up contested 3's.
Banchero played the first 5 games: Wagner averaged 12.8 FGA's and 17.8 points. Banchero has been hurt since & Wagner has averaged 20.3 FGA's and 25.4 pts. (14 gms) I said the other day if Sengun went down, Jalen Green would become "March last year Jalen Green." https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/wagnefr01/gamelog/2025/
It's just what I think is funny about the league. They don't want to promote flopping but Jalen who doesn't flop gets no calls. So it's like he needs to flop.
It's hard to score against good rim protectors when you rely on just athleticism and speed. At least Green can still punish people on the paint once in a blue moon when the rim protector is week.
What is the point of this comment? Just hating on a 22 year old kid to hate on him. He scored 41 points and doesn't complain when he is not getting touches. We are not getting Wagner or Mobley or suggs so why keep bringing them up,? To be miserable? Sports are supposed do the opposite. Cheer up
I was worried that after he hit a few 3s in the first quarter, he'd be chucking 3s all game long. But he used that space to attack. That's how he needs to play.
This type of up and down play is fairly in line with players like Jordan Clarkson or Kelly Oubre. Guys where if you give them the ball enough, they will generate these type of results every few games. It's a MLE player skillset, not future star skillset. In fact there is a superior version of Jalen in Utah right now called Collin Sexton, and he's nowhere near a star that many here are clamoring Jalen could be.
Gotta disagree with you there, I don't think these guys have the same high end performances that Jalen does. The idea is the same with the "sometimes good but not always", but the level of those top performances is not equal. Jalen's high end is very special, way above those guys. Which is what makes it so so frustrating.
If yall haters really understood what you’re watching then you would know Jalen got more opportunities and was put in better positions to score the last 2 games. Last game he played terribly no doubt about that. But Udoka has given him more opportunities. He is on the wing much more last 2 games instead of the corner. They run a simple screen with FVV or Amen then DHO with Sengun or reverse/DHO into screen. This is to free him up to get to the paint. They still run the corner backdoor baseline and wing cut but unlike the last several games since the 7th game of the season Udoka has been going to these sets more instead of leaving him in the corner.
I think this is a perception bias. Because you watch Jalen all the time and he gets so many shots each game that he will have more elite games just from pure sample size. For comparison, Sexton last year had 39 games with 20+ points, while Jalen also had 39 such games. Sexton had 45 games with 5+ assists and Jalen had 21 such games. And I'm not even factoring efficiency here. In fact, Jalen only having 21 games with 5+ assists is a pretty damning figure for his "leading man" upside. Because the guy is a not a good passer.
Anthony Edwards and Ja Morant were pretty superstars at 22. So if I may ask, are we putting Jalen in that tier? If yes, then the team need him to improve his 20+pts consistency. If not, then he needs to be in a different tier. Everyone also needs to lower their expectations about Jalen. Folks are expecting him to be a superstar being drafted at #2.
More importantly, you could argue the current defense Green plays is better than any single one of those players has ever played defense in a season. That’s half of basketball. Green is not a great defender, but they’re atrocious and he’s been around average defensively for 40-50 stretch now. Can’t ignore that statistically.
While this is true, defense is definitely not half of the value for guards. Nobody views alex caruso and steve nash as equal, and caruso is a better offensive player than nash on defense.
Has nothing to do with him going downhill more or whatever. He goes downhill fine most games. He went 4/6 from 3. Every game he's scored 30+, he was probably efficient from 3. Always been the issue with him. When he's on, this is what he looks like. Issue is he's usually not and needs to be mitigated. But credit to him for showing up when almost everyone else didn't. Maybe this'll be a good stretch of games from him which would be really helpful against some good opponents.
He got to the line 14 times and went 8-14 on 2 pointers. This was nothing like most games, this was his lowest 3 attempt rate of the season on finishes...by a lot. Maybe the early 3's helped his confidence, but we've seen him have games where he make early 3's, and he just keeps jacking them up until he misses. He played noticeably different than usual, this was Dwayne Wade basketball not volume chucker stuff we normally see. I expect him to go back to normal like he always does, but for at least today it was a thing of beauty.
And make his threes. make his shots. thats his problem people keep acting like its something different he does in his good games than his bad. the answer simply is he makes his shots lol
