But after Doncic did this, the situation completely changed.
After going through the successive Grizzlies and Cavaliers dynasties, after witnessing the tragic experiences of superstars James and Durant, everyone in the league knows who not to mess with who, but only Doncic dares to provoke Hansen.
Doncic seemed indifferent to Jokic’s reminder. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚•𝕟𝕖𝕥
There are quite a few players who have dominated Europe before coming to the NBA, but he’s the only one who did it at the age of 19.
In a way, he is the "Chosen One" of Europe.
Moreover, playing through the preseason, he felt the intensity of the NBA is lower than in Europe, and his consecutive scoring at the start proved this point.
Since that’s the case, he has no reason to keep his dissatisfaction bottled up.
Especially tonight, the Cavaliers are cheering and paying tribute to Hansen, which made his dissatisfaction boil over.
Hansen is not a petty person; he called for the ball from Mitchell when he reached the frontcourt and then signaled for the clear-out to go one-on-one.
Having won multiple championships, Hansen knows the key to winning lies in utilizing the team’s strength, so he allocates possession to Mitchell and Sabonis, allowing them to do what they excel at, then he fills in the team’s weak links.
In summary, it’s relatively simple: others handle the easy ones, and he takes care of the difficult ones.
However, tonight this strategy seems ineffective.
The crowd was in an uproar.
Doncic’s performance at the start was stunning; many in their hearts even hoped this newcomer who can be traded one-on-one with Hansen could become the "next Hansen."
But nobody expected Doncic to get "carried away" after just two rounds.
However, some still held expectations, not necessarily to defeat Hansen, but if Doncic could have a standout performance against him, he surely would have a promising future.
But before the fans could think more about it, Hansen made a crossover on the court and left Doncic behind.
At this moment, Doncic hadn’t gotten chubby yet; his speed and defense were actually okay.
Of course, these things are relative; facing Hansen, his defense at most counts as league-average, which is clearly inadequate.
In the blink of an eye, Hansen had already charged into the paint.
The advantage brought by a longer wingspan is all-encompassing; it makes Hansen’s low center of gravity ball-handling more swift and stable, usually taking only two dribbles to get there.
At this point, Jokic retreated to the basket, seeing Hansen’s serious expression, he knew he was in trouble.
Amidst the crowd’s exclamations, Hansen jumped out of nowhere, dunking the ball over Jokic.
The enormous force directly pushed Jokic out of bounds.
The Kings’ bench erupted, and Guy was waving a towel and shouting.
Jokic glanced at Doncic, his eyes full of helplessness.
It was Doncic’s trouble, and he was the scapegoat.
Then turning around, Doncic signaled Hill to set a pick for him, mismatched against Hansen, and also signaled a clear-out!
This made the scene not just restless but somewhat feverish.
Doncic completely embodied the term "young and restless."
Dribbling, with a probing step to the right, he tried to break through, then made a big crossover back to the left with a fake shot glance, and swiftly dribbled straight to the inside.
Doncic’s dynamic talent isn’t outstanding, but his static is maxed out, including his dribbling and passing.
He may not become the "next Hansen," but he has more potential than James to be the "next Magic."
Doncic broke through to a step inside the free-throw line, the closest he could get to the basket, but Hansen had already blocked his breakthrough route entirely.
His choice was to jump, look for contact, and then gracefully elevate the ball.
He was confident in his contact handling; even if the shot couldn’t go in, he was confident it would result in a foul from Hansen.
Then reality quickly taught him a lesson.
Hansen didn’t get knocked away by the contact like Tatum did previously; instead, Doncic felt as if he’d collided with a thick wall.
And the next second, Hansen appeared above him like an insurmountable mountain, then delivered a descending slap.
Hansen blocked Doncic head-on, sending him sprawling onto the floor!
The crowd was in an uproar, with some fans covering their eyes in disbelief.
But at this moment, O’Neal at the commentary booth was ecstatic.
"Welcome to the real NBA, Luca!"