NBA: Starting with Jokic template

Chapter 199 Durant in a trance
Seeing that a poisonous snake was caught from Durant's closet, the others also seemed very nervous.

Lin Chuan was also much more cautious when opening the wardrobe. After confirming that everything was correct, he put his things in.

Apart from him, other players did not encounter these strange poisonous creatures, which was a blessing in disguise.

Lin Chuan took a deep breath and closed the cabinet.

All I can say is that the Spurs are at least not too ruthless and will not set up an unconventional strategy in every place.

In the pre-match interview in the home team's locker room, Popovich was asked by reporters,

"Pop, what are your goals for this game?"

Popovich spread his hands and moved the microphone in front of him.

"Of course, we beat the Thunder and tied the score to 2:2 at home."

He took a deep breath and said to the reporters in the audience,
"For this Western Conference Finals series, our entire team prepared for a long time. Unfortunately, in the two games in Oklahoma, although we successfully suppressed this 74-win team for a long time and maintained the lead until the end, it was a pity that we still fell short at the last moment and were defeated by the opponent twice at the buzzer, which made us miss the victory."

"In fact, it's not just me. Everyone on the team feels very unwilling to accept this result, especially Tim Duncan."

When Duncan's name was mentioned, the reporters in the audience obviously became interested.

Although he has won numerous honors since his debut, and even became the undisputed No. 1 power forward in NBA history after only playing for a few years, this player has always been known for his low-key style.

He's never been known to express any emotion during a match.

Unexpectedly, Popovich actually said that he was very unwilling to play these two games.

But it makes sense if you think about it.

After all, even though they were nearly 20 games behind their opponents, they were still able to unite and maintain their lead.

However, he was defeated twice. Lin Chuan, who made the buzzer beater, was always defended by Duncan in this series.

To put it nicely, it was because Lin Chuan's touch was so good and his condition was so great that he was able to survive and kill them in the extremely dangerous situation.

To put it bluntly, this is all Duncan's fault.

We failed to defend for two consecutive games and were defeated.

Even at the end of his career, Duncan's performance against opponents like this inevitably made people doubt his ability.

People on the Internet questioned how such a player deserves the title of the greatest power forward in history.

Although most of the people who say such things are fake fans who don't watch the game, but a little bit adds up to a lot, and after two games, there are more and more such remarks against him.

Even if Duncan doesn't care much about these things, it is absolutely impossible to say that he has no thoughts at all.

"In this game, we will continue to give our all to break our opponent's unbeaten streak and defeat them."

Popovich announced the interview was over in a firm tone, pushed the microphone away from himself, and walked out of the media room.

After experiencing a near-death experience, Durant's mood was obviously much worse.

He also looked very bad when he entered the court to warm up.

"It looks like Durant didn't sleep well today. He looks so pale and his shooting is not accurate."

Jeff Van Gundy, the live commentator of the game, pointed at Kevin Durant and spoke to the crowd.

"Look, his biggest killer move is the mid-range shot. He was able to make several shots in the warm-up without anyone guarding him. It looks like Durant is going to have another iron-fisted season."

“Well, even though the warm-up performance doesn’t count and has little to do with the actual game, I still have to say that it looks like they can only rely on Lin Chuan in this game.”

Jeff Van Gundy folded his arms across his chest and expressed his opinion.

"On the contrary, watching the Spurs warm up, I felt that they were holding back their energy and were full of determination. I always felt that they would perform unexpectedly again in this game. Perhaps, the situation in the last game was not a flash in the pan."

On the field, the game is about to begin.

Lin Chuan and Duncan entered the center circle again.

This time, with the blessing of the home court, Duncan beat Lin Chuan in the jump ball for the first time, which surprised Lin Chuan. He didn't expect that the old man could make a breakthrough.

Immediately afterwards, the Spurs quickly launched an attack.

"Here it comes! The Spurs' unique passing, they keep attacking the basket while the others are also running to open up the Thunder's defense! But in this game, it seems that the Thunder have adapted to their opponent's style of play. The Spurs passed the ball six times but couldn't find an open space. It looks like they have to go head-to-head! Give the ball to Leonard, is he going to single out Durant?"

Jeff Van Gundy commented excitedly. He didn't expect the game to start so interestingly.

As a rookie, Leonard actually had to play against Durant who scored 49 points in the previous game!
"This is really a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers. So what if he is the MVP? Didn't I defend him to less than 20 points in the first game?"

Jeff Van Gundy watched the game between the two with great interest, not knowing what the outcome of this round would be.

Durant was still a little shocked. Seeing Leonard holding the ball and preparing to have a 1v1 with him, he was stunned for a moment.

Leonard keenly captured the moment in the blink of an eye. He took a big step, dribbled the ball, passed Durant, and went straight into the paint area.

Then a layup completed the finish.

"What happened? Was Durant pinned to the spot by Leonard?!"

Jeff Van Gundy felt incredible when he saw this scene.

He knew that Durant was a player who was strong on offense but weak on defense, but the same was true for Leonard on the opposite side. No matter what, it was too exaggerated to be passed by a rookie in one step without even making any defensive moves!
"The defense was like this because the player didn't pay attention to the attacker in front of him. Could it be that Durant was confused because of the previous incident?"

Jeff Van Gundy's words made several Spurs fans wearing team hats and jerseys not far from him couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Damn, are you talking about that incident with Scarlett? That makes sense. I guess this guy is thinking about how to win her back now, so how can he focus on basketball?"

"This is so funny. This story was trending on Twitter yesterday. It was revealed by the garage security guard. This guy is so funny."

"Isn't this great? He played badly, allowing our home team to win easily. If we can advance to the finals by stepping on a team with 74 wins, we will be great."

Hearing what the fans said, Van Gundy couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth and revealed a smile.

In the offensive round, Durant wanted to play the same way as in the previous game. Reggie had no objection and passed the ball to Durant as soon as he passed half court.

1v1, Durant prepares to hit a response shot.

However, just as he started dribbling the ball, when he changed his look and saw Leonard's flying hook hairstyle with several small braids at the end, Durant couldn't help but look around and thought of the damn extremely poisonous rattlesnake that had just appeared in his closet.

In an instant, he didn't even have control of the ball. The basketball was shot from his right hand and flew directly towards his left wrist when it hit the ground.

This dribble forced Durant to stop and readjust, but Leonard's reaction was much faster than he thought. Before he could regain control of the basketball, an extremely huge hand had quietly arrived, instantly causing Durant to lose control of the basketball. The next moment, Leonard was seen madly advancing with the ball, and ended this offensive round with a one-handed slam dunk under the basket.

The fans in the stadium cheered.

Can this be called a rookie?
In the first two rounds, he completely blew up Durant on offense and defense! Isn't this the real No. 1 player in the league?

Barely a minute into the game, shouts of MVP were heard throughout the stadium.

This situation is very uncommon in the NBA, even Lin Chuan couldn't help but look sideways.

"Focus! Kevin!"

Brooks on the sidelines saw Durant's look and couldn't help but stand up and yell.

He seldom yelled at his players and criticized them, and he didn't say anything even when Durant didn't play well in the first game. But now he didn't even move on defense and got the ball stolen as soon as he broke through on offense, which made him unable to help but criticize him immediately.

"If you want to play well, just focus on basketball. If you have any other thoughts, wait until you get off the court!"

This attitude is not a winning attitude at all, and if Durant is so weak, then he really can only be kept on the bench.

Durant had no choice but to swallow his grievances.

He wasn't distracted on the field because of some bullshit reason like missing Scarlett and wanting to win her back.

As a professional basketball player, he never brings his emotions outside the court back to the court.

The two times I lost consciousness just now were all because of that damn rattlesnake!

In the final analysis, wasn't it because of the Spurs' cheating that caused him to get off to a bad start?
But who could he tell such words to? Even if he did, it would be considered an excuse.

As for the Spurs, they will most likely use the accident as an excuse.

Only he can bear this kind of psychological pressure!
Damn the Spurs!
Durant cursed angrily.

Then he held the ball again and prepared to launch an attack.

However, after Leonard continuously took advantage of Durant on both offense and defense, his confidence obviously improved with each game.

This time, although Durant ignored his snake-like hair and focused on the basket, he still couldn't get rid of Leonard's close defense after repeated dribbling.

"Fuck, this kid is following me so closely!"

Seeing that there was not much time left in this offensive round, Durant had no choice but to choose to pull up and gamble on his touch.

He just jumped up and was about to raise his hand, but Leonard in front of him also jumped up almost synchronously with him without saying a word, like a robot.

A pair of big hands came over and covered the basketball in Durant's hands. His two hands formed a dragnet.

Under this extreme one-on-one defense, Durant struggled to raise the arc at the last moment, thus avoiding the possibility of being blocked.

However, this kind of forced shot will only have one outcome, which is to miss the target.

With a "clang" sound, the ball bounced up and the rebound was protected by the Spurs.

Launching the attack again, Leonard held the ball and played more and more confidently. In this offensive round, after Duncan stepped forward for a screen, he dribbled one step and shot a three-pointer directly!
"Shh!"

The ball went neatly into the net.

With this ball, the Spurs beat the Thunder 7:0 at the start.

These seven points were all created by Leonard.

The Thunder immediately called a timeout.

Brooks found that if he didn't adjust himself, he suspected that the rookie on the opposite side would give him 20 points in a single quarter.

What? They are getting more excited with each game. Are they going to beat them in just one quarter?
"Well, this is indeed a bit surprising. Durant actually suffered so much on both offense and defense. Let's see if the Thunder can perform better after the adjustments."

The game continues.

But after Durant was restricted, the Spurs continued to pull away.

At the end of the first quarter, the score difference had widened to 14 points.

During the intermission, Van Gundy added,

"Given Durant's performance in this game, the prerequisite for the Thunder to play better is to give the ball to Lin Chuan and hope that the Spurs don't play so hard."

That being said.

But with a huge score difference and an opponent who was very motivated.

Even though the Thunder began to change their thinking in the second quarter and let Lin Chuan be the main attacker, they could only keep the score close. However, every time the Thunder wanted to close the score, a player from the Spurs would suddenly appear and start scoring for the Spurs.

After two quarters of attack, Lin Chuan's personal score has reached 27 points.

But looking at the scoreboard, he couldn't help but feel distressed as he was still 12 points behind.

The Thunder is obviously the best team in the league, but we can't just expect them to win every game.

In the fourth quarter, the Spurs intensified their attack on Lin Chuan, who had been attacking alone for two quarters, and even started double-teaming him from time to time in some defensive rounds.

Although Lin Chuan has good passing ability, he is not afraid of double-teaming. On the contrary, the more double-teaming he is, the more he likes it.

This gives other teammates open opportunities.

However, in this game, it was not only Durant who lost his sight. In the depressing atmosphere at the Spurs' home court, other people's sights were also lost and they missed opportunities again and again.

Lin Chuan was so angry that he wanted to rush up to his teammates and hold their hands to teach them how to shoot.

With everyone else missing shots, Lin Chuan was the only one left on the Thunder team struggling to hold on.

In the final moments, with one minute left, Durant missed another three-pointer, and the ten-point difference became completely insurmountable, and the Thunder lost the last chance to catch up in this game.

The Thunder also gave up the tactic of rushing for free throws and rushing for time to attack, and watched Parker control the ball and waste time until the stopwatch ran out.

As the final whistle sounded, the score was fixed at 98:109.

A 11-point difference!

The Spurs, who were already trailing 0:2, successfully defeated the Thunder at home and defended their home court!
(End of this chapter)