The First Player to Control the Score in a Finals Game 7
Durant hadn't stepped up to rally his teammates, and Harden and Irving were even less likely to do so.
In the end, Nash had no choice but to do it himself.
But a coach could only say the same few things.
With them trailing by 22 points, those words of encouragement didn't seem to help much.
Soon, the third quarter began.
And right from the start of the third, Durant suddenly went off.
In just two minutes, he hit three three-pointers and converted an and-one.
The Kings were scoring efficiently too, but compared with Durant's sudden eruption, they still fell short.
Durant's outburst gave Nets fans hope again.
"The Reaper never dies!"
"Kevin, get 'em! Kick their asses!"
With Durant leading the way, Harden and Irving also caught fire one after another.
The three of them had all exploded at once in the third quarter.
Whoever shot it, it went in.
The combined force of the Big Three firing on all cylinders was terrifying.
Their offensive surge also made the Nets far more energetic on defense.
They threw everything they had into stopping the Kings.
As a result, Danny was stifled on the perimeter.
As for Wang Yi in the paint, they used fouls to stop him.
He could take free throws, but they absolutely wouldn't let him dunk.
And they certainly wouldn't let him shoot threes.
So Wang Yi took a lot of free throws that quarter.
Nineteen in all.
But even his free throws couldn't withstand the Nets Big Three's offensive onslaught.
By the end of the third quarter, the Nets had cut the lead to 12.
Of course, they'd paid a steep price for it.
Two of their three centers had fouled out.
The only