NBA Finals Preview | Alexander PK Halliburton, who is the new generation of first point guard?

Reprinted from: Mass Newspaper·Qilu One Point

Qilu Evening News·Qilu One Point Feng Zihan

The 2024-2025 NBA Finals kicked off, and an unprecedented youth storm is about to sweep the arena: The Thunder and the Pacers meet on a narrow road, and both sides want to win the first O'Brien Cup for their city.

Since "Magic" Johnson kissed Isaiah Thomas on the cheek, there has been almost no point guard player playing such an important role in the finals.

In the 1988 finals, Johnson, wearing a Lakers jersey, averaged 13 assists per game. The main beneficiary James Worthy won a triple-double in the championship game and won the FMVP; Isaiah Thomas broke through the Celtics level for the first time that year, and started his journey to reach the finals with the Pistons three consecutive times. The friendly kiss between the two before that game also became the "world famous painting" of the season series.

In the long years since then, in the spotlight of the finals, although point guards occasionally lead the finals, they will not see both sides being the point guard as the core at the same time. Even in the era of "Carry and Brave War", Curry and Irving staged classic duels many times, but the star of the Cavaliers is still LeBron James.

Therefore, when Alexander and Halliburton face each other in the center of the finals, this itself was a affectionate resounding for history, a long-lost point guard collision. The NBA's long river finally ushered in another showdown of two flagships led by point guards.

Alexander and Halliburton have different styles. As a regular season MVP winner, Alexander averaged 6.4 assists per game this season, which is a career high. He is better at solving problems with shooting: he averaged 32.7 points per game, leading the league, the sixth highest average in full-time point guard history.

Halliburton is a traditional organizational defender who has scoring attributes. It is common for double-pointers (and zero turnovers) to play in a single game. At the same time, he is also a dangerous scorer. He scored more than 30 points twice in the division final, which directly "shocked" the Knicks.

Although the game is still undecided, the basketball world's eyes are convinced that "Yesterday" that dominated the finals stage by the point guard master will reappear today in the most vivid way. The names of Alexander and Halliburton are destined to become another pair of dazzling stars that illuminate the future point guard road, just like those great predecessors.