Legendary star

Chapter 834 Thunder on the edge of the cliff

"Great victory, the Spurs beat the Thunder in an away game, kicking off the prelude to revenge!"

"Sweeping opponents? Popovich admitted that he never thought about it, and praised the Thunder as a great opponent."

"The collective slump of the two juniors, the Thunder lost to the Spurs at home!"

"Infighting broke out? Thunder players are suspected of accusing each other in the player channel. Where will the Thunder go in the future?"

When the Western Conference Finals kicked off, after the Thunder, the No. 15 in the Western Conference and the favorite for the championship, lost to the Spurs in the first game, almost all the focus in the United States was gathered on the Thunder and the Spurs on the second day. After all, the Thunder's loss to the Spurs by [-] points at home is considered sensational news.

No one expected that the first game between the Spurs and the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals would be like this. Although the Spurs swept the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Thunder almost fell to the feet of the Grizzlies, but in terms of overall strength, Most people think that the Thunder has more advantages. After all, the Thunder's core and main lineup are younger, while the Spurs' lineup is old and young. In the playoffs last season, the Thunder was easily eliminated. After the Spurs, even in terms of playoff experience, the Spurs have no advantage. After all, the Spurs have not reached the conference finals for four consecutive seasons, while the Thunder only experienced the baptism of the finals last season. Strength, experience, Even psychologically, the Spurs are all at a disadvantage.

However, in the first game of the Western Conference finals, the situation between the Spurs and the Thunder was completely reversed. Almost from the beginning of the game, the Thunder was beaten by the Spurs. Ways to change the situation on the field.

In this game, due to the targeted defense of the Spurs, as the core of the Thunder, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook played very averagely. Kevin Durant made 16 shots from the game. In 6, he scored 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. You must know that in the series against the Grizzlies, Durant averaged 35 points and 10 rebounds per game, and Durant There were as many as 7 turnovers today. As for Russell Westbrook, he made 24 of 8 shots in today's game.

When the Spurs beat the Thunder in the away game, the Spurs fans who hadn’t experienced the conference finals for a long time seemed to be going through a carnival. After all, the last time the Spurs reached the conference finals was five seasons ago, and the Spurs’ A trip to the division finals was eliminated by the Lakers, and for this Western Conference finals, almost all Spurs fans firmly believe that the Spurs will complete their revenge against the Thunder and then enter the finals again.

On May 5, the second game of the Western Conference Finals between the Thunder and the Spurs was played again at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. In this crucial game, Scott Brooks once again made a gamble, placing Kevin - Martin arranged into the starting lineup, sent Serge - Ibaka, Kevin - Durant, Thabo - Sefolosha, Kevin - Martin, Russell - Westbrook such an almost complete Abandoned the inside lineup.

In today's game, although Durant's nominal position is a power forward, when he was on the court, Durant was always floating on the outside. Scott Brooks' purpose is obvious, that is, to strengthen the Thunder's outside line The offense also increased the blockade and oppression of the Spurs' outer space, and even pressed the Spurs for a certain period of time, trying to achieve the goal of defeating the Spurs, but the final result still made Scott- Brooks was disappointed, even hopeless.

After the Pacers relied on full-court press defense and won six championships, the full-court press tactic seems to be a good medicine for omnipotence on the defensive end. The current NBA teams, the Heat, the Thunder, are even slightly worse. The Pacers, Grizzlies, and full-court pressing tactics are standard. The Spurs suffered from the Thunder's full-court pressing last season, because the Spurs' main lineup is too old, and the full-court pressing tactics, whether it is It is very exhausting for both the offense and the defense, but now the Spurs are different, because the Spurs have the best players who are most familiar with the press defense.

Sapo Sefolosa's full-court press on Meng Xu did not have the expected effect, and it was not even possible to limit Meng Xu. Therefore, when the Thunder still couldn't restrain Meng Xu, and because only the game Serge Ibaka is an insider, and when Tim Duncan made trouble, the Thunder's failure was already doomed in advance.

Finally, when the game ended and the Spurs defeated the Thunder 106-95 in the away game, Scott Brooks standing on the sidelines was already trembling uncontrollably, while the Thunder players on and off the court were all A look of disappointment and bewilderment.

Obviously, after losing two home games in a row, the Thunder are now cornered. If there is still no improvement in the next game, then the Thunder may really be swept out by the Spurs.

Due to the Thunder's change of formation and the gamble with Scott Brooks, in today's game, Durant no longer has to take on the task of assisting Meng Xu, and Durant finally no longer has to face Meng Xu's attack. Defensive, because Meng Xu's defense of Durant means that Thapo Sefolosha will always be in the wrong position, so in the second game of the series, Kevin Durant's performance It also improved, scoring a game-high 33 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, but Durant's outstanding performance could not bring the Thunder a victory, because in addition to Durant's 33 points, and Williams Except for Sbrook's 21 points, no one in the Thunder team scored more than 10 points.

The performance of the Spurs in today's game can be said to be more blooming. Tim Duncan scored a team-high 27 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds. Meng Xu scored 4 points, 25 rebounds, and 9 assists in a quasi-triple-double. Manu Ginobili, who came off the bench, even played for only 8 minutes. He made 20 of 13 shots and scored 9 points. The three of the team scored 23 points. With such an outstanding performance from the Spurs, it is understandable for the Thunder to lose this game.

However, such a result is unacceptable to the Thunder. Sitting on the home court advantage, but losing two home games first, under this situation, the Thunder is basically hopeless, because in the entire history of the NBA, The team that came back after falling behind 0 to 2 is rare. As for the example of first losing two home games and then coming back, there was only one time in the history of the NBA, and that time was not long after the game. It was confirmed that the referee on duty participated in gambling and artificially manipulated the result of the game.

So after the Thunder lost Game [-] of the Western Conference Finals, the Thunder and the Spurs completely switched positions, and the championship favorite was put on the Spurs' heads. As for the Thunder, which was already on the edge of a cliff, in this Where the focus is on the winner, who cares about a team that's about to go out.

　Let me say it again in hindsight, the Thunder letting Harden go is really a big failure, and it can even be selected as the most stupid deal in the history of the Thunder. There is no one. Let’s not talk about Harden’s current performance. The Thunder is sending Harden away. In the next two seasons, he was first defeated by the Grizzlies and then ruthlessly beaten by the Spurs. It can be seen how important Harden is to the Thunder. , because no one can score except Durant and Westbrook.

　　Time flies so fast. Looking back, when I first watched the game, GDP was at its peak. Now, Duncan has retired, and Baldy has also retired. Time flies, and the past is like the wind.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)