Lauri “The Markksman” Markkanen would have had a fair-to-good chance of beating his career high of 33 if he had been allowed to play more than one minute in the fourth quarter of this game. He only needed six more points after scoring 27 in the first three periods and, at points, looking unstoppable while doing it. You think he couldn’t destroy, like, Juan Hernangomez and Trey Lyles? He totally could. And did. And will do it again.
Now my question is, why does Jim Boylen hate Finland so much? It’s obvious that he hates Finland, because if he didn’t hate Finland, he would have played Lauri the entire fourth quarter to help facilitate a new career-high. So it has been conclusively established that he hates the entire country that Lauri calls his homeland. Why? Did he eat too much mämmi? Does he hate Moonsorrow? Is he jealous of the fact that Finnish people are depressed by default? There could be many reasons why Boylen hates Finland (and by extension Lauri) but none of those reasons are obvious to me. Maybe he just hates Finland because Lauri is from there. It’s like a cyclical hate.
Anyway, this isn’t a career high for The Finnisher, but it’s still a pretty good game against one of the best teams in the league. Even Boylen’s hate for Finland couldn’t stop that.