NBA: Starting with Jokic template

Chapter 245: Dominate the League, Aim for the Championship

As the NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans ends.

The NBA has entered the second half of the regular season.

After the All-Star break, the Thunder have 26 games left on their schedule.

Currently, they are still on a 17-game winning streak.

The current hot topic has shifted from the All-Star Game that just ended to who can break the Thunder's winning streak again.

Let them lose again.

In the All-Star game, although the Western Conference had all five starting players of the Thunder, they only won by seven points in this game which was more entertaining than competitive.

Even if Curry hadn't made two consecutive three-pointers at the last minute to kill the game, the East would have had a chance to beat the West.

Such results also give many teams hope.

It seems that the Thunder is not difficult to defeat!
Although they only lost one game in the first half.

But up to now, the players have been tired for a long time and it is difficult for them to maintain their best game condition.

Not to mention, their team's starting point guard, All-Star Stephen Curry, has a history of injuries, and the Thunder will not use him to their death.

Although it seems that the Thunder can probably refresh their record and improve last season's 74 wins and 8 losses to second in history, and create a new history this year, among the 29 teams in the league, no one expects them to win more than 80 games.

If that happens, it will be a humiliation to all other teams!
The first game of the second half begins.

The Thunder flew to Oakland to face the Warriors.

Although going to the opponent's home court is generally called a challenge, the record gap between the two teams is too large. For the Thunder, even if the opponent has the home advantage, it is just a challenger.

In other words, for the Thunder at this time, all 29 teams in the league are challengers.

This matchup is also the second matchup between the two teams.

Before the game, Presti flew to Oakland to meet with the Warriors' general manager.

At this time, Miles had taken over as manager of the Warriors.

Miles saw Presti's puzzled look and guessed that he was confused because of the change of personnel, so he spoke first.

“The previous manager was fired and I took over his job.”

Hearing this, Presti could only smile awkwardly and asked,
"Westbrook is not bad, it seems your performance has improved a lot this year, already ranked fourth in the Western Conference."

"Hey, it's really good. If it weren't for that monster on your team being so dazzling and having such a record, Russell would even have a chance to win the MVP this season."

The two sat in the box and looked towards the venue.

At this time, Westbrook was standing with Lin Chuan and Durant, seemingly reminiscing about the past.

Curry, Thompson and others also stood together and chatted with their old teammates.

It was clearly a crucial battle concerning the regular season ranking, but there was no smell of gunpowder between the two teams.

Presti's eyes also fell on Westbrook and he smiled.

In his opinion, this deal is a complete win-win situation.

Westbrook was completely liberated in the Warriors. As the boss, no one restricted him anymore.

This season, he even averaged a top triple-double of 31.1+10.0+10.1, which is no less than Lin Chuan who averaged 26+ triple-doubles.

He also successfully led the Warriors to their current record of 36 wins and 20 losses, fourth in the Western Conference.

He himself has remained on the MVP list this season, regularly ranking in the top five or even top three.

Of course, the first and second place are still Lin Chuan and Durant.

The same thing happened to Curry, who turned his gaze to Curry in front of Westbrook who seemed to be communicating with him.

Although Curry's statistics this season are not as good as last season and he only averaged 20.1 points per game, he perfectly filled the most lacking link of the Thunder: three-pointers and space.

This is also the biggest reason why the Thunder have only lost one game so far this season.

This is also why Presti did not feel heartbroken even though Westbrook played at an MVP level in his first season after leaving the team.

It's all about adaptability.

But when the two people in the box didn't notice, Westbrook and Curry, although their faces were calm, were provoking each other.

"With this level, you are only fit to be the third child."

"That's better than being traded."

"what?"

Westbrook laughed in anger, and a # appeared on his forehead.
"It took adding a top rank to change me, and I thought I was so great."

Curry chewed his braces and said with a fake smile,
"That team values ​​me more, otherwise why would they trade me here?"

"Oh, the competition will tell the truth. I want to see what level you are at."

"You'll know after you fight."

The two people's tone became more and more intense, but no emotion could be seen on the surface.

Lin Chuan and Durant were stuck in the middle and didn't even dare to say a word.

On the court, they even lost the jump ball to the Warriors.

The ball came into Westbrook's hands.

He dribbled the ball, looked at Curry who was defending seriously, and suddenly accelerated.

In the first attack, he chose to go straight to the heart of the enemy, rushing all the way into the inside, and dunked against Ibaka's defense, which ignited the atmosphere of the whole stadium.

Then he turned around and trotted past Curry, saying sarcastically,
"It's better not to defend against this body, it's better to save some energy."

Curry, who was also traded, was not inferior to his opponent. He dribbled and dribbled with his back several times to shake off Westbrook's defense and made a quick three-pointer.

Then he showed a look of disdain,

"That's it? Your strong body can't defend against me?"

The two of them were on the verge of a fight.

The next few rounds turned into a one-on-one duel between the two.

As the game went on, even the strongest players on the court, Lin Chuan and Durant, became supporting roles.

Let the point guards of both teams perform on the court.

Finally the game is over.

The Thunder defeated the Warriors 123:108.

此役，库里砍下30分5板7助攻。三分球10投7中，效率极高。

Westbrook scored 46 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists in this game, another triple-double.

Although Westbrook won the statistics, he still couldn't beat the Thunder team with five All-Stars.

He left the field dejectedly after the game.

The Warriors, led by old teammate Westbrook, are already a relatively strong and more resilient team compared to the Thunder's next opponent.

In the following month, they won all the games.

No team could get them into the clutch.

Most of them were taken away by the Thunder in the third quarter.

So far this season, in at least 30 games, the Thunder defeated their opponents with a super offensive wave in the third quarter, often leading by more than 10 points in a single quarter, and shooting through their opponents with an endless rain of three-pointers.

This also made the Thunder's third quarter a meme.

The teams that can survive the third quarter without collapsing are all strong teams. In the subsequent games, the Thunder continued to advance triumphantly.

No team could even stand in their way.

Until the 75th game.

The Thunder just won the game and achieved the same number of wins as last season.

Curry felt unwell during the game and left the court early.

After examination, it was found that it was a sprained ankle, which made the entire Thunder team worried, fearing that the opponent would miss the next game again or even be reimbursed for the season.

Fortunately, the subsequent examination showed that the problem was not serious and I just needed to rest for a while.

This also made the Thunder team, who had been focusing on improving their record, wake up.

The regular season is not everything; the playoffs, championships, three consecutive championships, and establishing a dynasty are their goals.

In the last month, in the final games, the Thunder also began to rotate and rest their players. Lin Chuan and Durant's playing time also dropped to just over 30 minutes to prevent injuries.

A few days later.

The Thunder's 81st regular season game of the season.

Home game against the Knicks.

This campaign is about whether the Thunder can achieve a historic record.

But they seemed lukewarm about it.

Including Lin Chuan.

He still remembers that in the first game before the start of this season, he boasted to Brooks that he would win 80 games this season, but was scolded by the other party, who said he was ignorant.

But in the blink of an eye, the 80th win in the regular season is within reach.

Even so, Lin Chuan was not in a hurry and did not seem to take the interviews with reporters before the game very seriously.

In this game, Lin Chuan and Durant were both rested, sitting on the bench and watching others play, citing hip tightness and cold as the excuses.

Curry also sat next to them, waiting for his ankle to heal.

They also lost to the Knicks in this game, suffering their second defeat of the season.

The winning streak that lasted half a season was interrupted.

The winning streak also stopped at 41 consecutive wins.

The current record is 79 wins and 2 losses.

"Lin Chuan, you didn't play in this game. You lost to your opponent and missed the record of winning 80 regular season games in a single season. Do you think it's a pity?"

After the game, facing the reporter's questions, Lin Chuan smiled slightly and shook his head.

"It's not a pity. We still have one game left this season, 80 wins, and we decided to win it in the final game."

The final battle that Lin Chuan mentioned was against the Heat at home!
The hatred for someone in this team also became the reason why Lin Chuan had to win this game!

A few days later, the Heat came all the way from Miami.

Before the game, James listened to the reporter repeating Lin Chuan's words from a few days ago, and said with a grim face,

"Then I'll shatter his dream!"

The words are arrogant and the ideals are good, but the reality is often the opposite.

In this game, the Thunder rarely fielded all their main players, and even Curry, who had just recovered from injury, returned to the starting lineup.

Facing the Heat, the Thunder are clearly ready to go all out in this final game of the season.

Although Lin Chuan said before the game that the team's move was to adapt to the full main lineup in advance for the playoffs and to send all the players who were originally resting to the court, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Thunder's move was to blow up the Heat.

In the studio, O'Neal and Barkley teamed up to commentate on the game.

O'Neill explained Lin Chuan's words.

"The Thunder have reasons for this move, especially since if the opponent loses this game, they will drop to fifth in the Western Conference and lose their home-court advantage in the playoffs. In addition, if they win, they will get their 80th victory of the season and create new history. If they win this game, they will lose others and benefit themselves, so the Thunder will definitely go all out."

In this game, just as the first quarter began, the Thunder's terrifying three-pointers came down like a torrential rain.

At the same time, the defense was also at full strength, and in just 12 minutes at the start, they defeated the opponent 40:18.

The game was ruined in one quarter.

James' pre-match boast turned into the hardest slap in the face.

Obviously, the Thunder were not satisfied with this. They did not replace their main players in the next 2 and 3 quarters and continued to slaughter their opponents.

By the end of the third quarter, the score had reached 100:56.

After replacing the substitutes, the Thunder did not hold back. Rookie Antetokounmpo was in full swing, scoring 14 points in a single quarter, even 2 points higher than James' score in the entire game.

At the end of the game, the Thunder defeated the Heat by 66 points and won their 80th win of the season.

The regular season also officially came to an end today.

With the long regular season over, the Eastern and Western Conference rankings are all released.

This season, the Thunder still ranks first in the Western Conference, with 80 wins and 2 losses.

The second place in the Western Conference was replaced by the Los Angeles Clippers.

Led by Paul and Griffin, the Clippers have made great strides this season, with a record of 62 wins and 20 losses.

The team usually ranks first in the league, but this season it is only second in the division.

The third and fourth teams are the Spurs and Warriors respectively.

With the same record of 58 wins and 24 losses, the Warriors ranked fourth due to their win-loss record.

Following them are the Rockets, Nuggets, Grizzlies and Mavericks.

With Kobe's injury and Nash's retirement, and Howard being traded to the Rockets during the offseason, this Lakers team failed to even make the playoffs, ranking only tenth in the Western Conference.

The team only achieved a record of 41 wins and 41 losses in the season, which was surprising.

The most anticipated first round is the Thunder's first-round battle against the Mavericks. The core players of both teams are non-Americans and are both excellent shooters.

Moreover, the Mavericks selected the Chinese player Wang Zhizhi very early on, which also made many Chinese fans have some filters about this.

Many fans are looking forward to this.

In addition, the 4th and 5th places in the first round are the Warriors and Rockets.

The leaders of both teams are guards who were traded from the Thunder in the past two seasons.

As the two guards who left the Thunder, they have also grown into MVP-level players this season.

Westbrook also maintained an average of a triple-double at the end of the season, becoming the only one after Lin Chuan.

Harden was only 1.1 rebounds away from achieving this feat, and his versatility is obvious to all.

In the last official MVP list, Westbrook and Harden ranked 4th and 5th respectively, which made people exclaim at their strong strength.

This also adds a lot of interest to the game between the two teams.

In the Eastern Conference, the Knicks are still ranked first with 59 wins and 23 losses.

The Celtics, Pacers, and Bulls ranked 234th, while the Heat were crushed by the Thunder in the final game of the season and fell into the lower half. Moreover, due to the win-loss relationship, although the record is the same, they are still surpassed by the Raptors and ranked sixth.

The 78th place is the Nets and the Hawks.

No matter how you look at it, the Eastern Conference teams are much inferior to those in the West. After all, the leader of this season's Eastern Conference leader admitted defeat after the first game of the season, believing that there was no hope of competing with the Thunder for the championship this season.

Although Anthony's remarks were gradually recognized by many people as the season progressed, their early surrender still made many people pessimistic about them, and they would rather hope that other teams would qualify to compete against the Thunder.

(End of this chapter)