Don’t let the Heat’s insane trio of career-high performances by role-players distract you, this career-high performance by De’Andre Hunter is plenty good by itself! If it occurred in another game, maybe a game against the Knicks where you know none of the Knicks players would score above 10, then I would be really hyped for it. I mean, I’m still really hyped, because it’s a rookie scoring a ton of points and hitting a ton of buckets, but I admit I’m a little frizzed out from doing all those Heat videos.
Hawks fans may not be super eager to relive this one on account of how bad they choked away this game (notice how Hunter’s last bucket comes with 4 minutes left, he stopped scoring along with everyone else), but fans of rookies in general will find a lot to like here. The main likeable aspect: Hunter’s jumper. People can pretend all they want, but the truth of the matter is that the better Hunter gets with that thing, the better he will be. He cannot be content with mediocrity. Otherwise he’s going to end up looking like DeAndre’ Bembry (note the successful apostrophe placement) minus the hustle. Hunter having another game where he hits a bunch of threes (“a bunch” being defined as “5”, thus Duncan Robinson hit “a double bunch”) gives yet another data point to the growing collection that show him to be a legit NBA player.
Also, is it just me, or does his face look really lifeless in that thumbnail? Like he’s a figure in a wax museum or something. Something about the eyes, there’s no life or twinkle or what have you in those things. I know the concept of an “uncanny valley” is meant for meant humanoids and not real humans, but that’s the vibe I’m getting here.