The NBA regular season continues with the Mavericks hosting the Trail Blazers today, where they won 117-111. Irving and Doncic continued to be injured, and Thompson was expected to play very well in this game, but he did not start today, scoring only 3 points on 1-of-6 shooting from beyond the three-point line. So he was also abandoned by head coach Kidd at a critical moment in the last quarter of today. Hardy was even better today, scoring 25 points on his own, including 5-of-9 from beyond the three-point line.
We've seen Thompson dropped in the final moments more than once this season, and as long as Thompson's performance in the first three quarters was very sluggish, Kidd would not hesitate to press him to the bench in the last moments. And Thompson has no complaints about the coach's arrangement. Even when pressed off the bench, we can see that Thompson is often cheering on his teammates off the court, which is simply not possible under the Warriors.
After Thompson joined the Mavericks, his temperament has been smoothed out, and he doesn't have the haughty posture he had before. When he was with the Warriors, he didn't tolerate being dropped at a critical moment, and when he was dropped at a critical moment, he would be very frustrated, which would affect the overall atmosphere of the team. And Kerr will often be questioned after the game for abandoning Thompson, and the relationship between the generals and coaches will become less harmonious.
But after joining the Mavericks, Kidd didn't have to think about these things, and Thompson was not a veteran of the Mavericks after all, he entered the Mavericks as an outsider. So at present, Thompson joins the Mavericks, his mentality is completely different from the Warriors, in the Warriors he must have the so-called respect, and in the Mavericks he is willing to accept any role, accept any arrangement from the coach.
Thompson has averaged 13.8 points per game and 38 percent from three-point range this season, but he's shot just 41 percent from the field this season. He also averaged only 27 minutes per game. Although he is a starter, his playing time is actually the playing time of the substitute. And Hardy's individual performance this season has been outstanding, with his shooting percentage and three-point shooting percentage being no worse than Thompson's in his limited playing time. There is a good chance that he will one day be the candidate to replace Thompson.