The time has come to May 6th.
Oklahoma, Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Spurs Thunder's Western Conference Semifinals ushered in the third battle.
Everyone at Thunder, who returned to the home court, appeared one by one following the DJ's announcement in a familiar environment.
A roar like a tsunami came from the scene, and as far as the eye could see, there was a blue ocean.
Fans all put on T-shirts belonging to OKC to cheer for their home team.
Westbrook came out jumping up and down to the music. After high-fiving Teammates one by one, he sprinted towards the audience and let out his own roar.
This is a pre-game ceremony unique to Westbrook.
Then, Westbrook came to the technical stage, and Chen Xi Butler looked at each other and smiled. The three of them did the "kangfu" movement together, then put their hands together and bowed slightly.
This is Turtle Turtle's idea. He has been coveting the moves of Harden and Jeremy Lin for a long time. Chen Xi happened to be here, so come on! Show!!!
The emergence of this set of actions also caused heated discussions in China.
"Wocao! It's Harden's pre-game ceremony!"
"To be precise, it's Harden Jeremy Lin Parsons' pre-game ceremony."
"Ye Qingjie!!! The last time I saw this was in 2014!"
"Okay, it's full of Chinese elements."
"Qi, it's just for show. He just wants to come to China to make money. This Chen Xi is not even Chinese."
"Hot Knowledge, Chen Xi said in the interview that he is very willing to change his nationality back to China."
"He is Chinese American. His grandparents are Chinese, but he grew up in the United States. This is not his fault. Besides, his Chinese is much better than Jeremy Lin."
"The heat is rubbing on my Harden head, damn it!!!"
"It's extremely sweet. You have a good personal relationship with Chen Xi Westbrook. Don't leave this disgusting person alone."
Returning to the venue, the game started quickly without any further delay.
The players on both sides were prepared and focused.
Beep!!!!
The whistle blows and the game begins.
Pau Gasol, who was lifted back to Starting Lineup, used his long arm to hook Basketball, and Parker caught the ball and advanced.
It's still a classic hammer tactic, this time the person responsible for finishing is Danny Green on the weak side Corner.
Three-Pointer hits, Spurs takes the lead.
Thunder attack, Chen Xi Little Sabonis lifted up at the same time, blocking defender Parker from both sides, and then Westbrook used the cover to break through, attracting Danny Green's defense and then passed back, Pick-and-Roll completes Pop Out's Chen Xi, then catches Little Sabonis's screen and throws off the defensive Parker, receiving the ball at a 45-degree angle, Three-Point Shot.
Huh~~
An answer ball back to Spurs.
Spurs, who attacked again, guided the ball to Kawhi.
Leonard caught the ball and turned to face Butler. This was their third game and they were also old rivals.
Butler really couldn't guard against Kawhi, but the interference he caused was Thunder that no one else could do, so Donovan never considered trying another person.
After continuous shaking to no avail, Kawhi pulled out his hand directly one step away from the Three-Pointer line.
Three-Pointer also enters!
6 to 3
Westbrook holds the ball to the left side of the Three-Pointer line, Little Sabonis steps forward Pick-and-Roll, and at the same time Chen Xi starts running to the right on the left side Corner.
Westbrook started to bypass the screen and came to Top of the Key. Facing the defending Aldridge, he flicked the ball and flew far to the right Corner. Chen Xi, who had just bypassed the screen of Baseline Adams, caught the ball and shot.
Three-Pointer is still in!!
6 to 6
Touch, who started the show on both sides, was pretty good, and the Starting Lineup lineup was as close as ever.
The next Possession Kawhi Pick-and-Roll Mismatch scored two points from Chen Xi. Westbrook started again and broke through Parker. Mid-range made a hit. The game was very lively.
Spurs is obviously not in a hurry to use the previous strategy immediately. After all, Thunder's Starting Lineup lineup is seeking death if double-teamed.
Thunder strives to take advantage in the Starting Lineup stage and suppress the opponent's score.
Finally, at eight and a half minutes, Timeout and Thunder replaced the Transition Period lineup. But to Popovich's surprise, Thunder no longer led the attack with Transition Period from Chen Xi, but Butler.
After replacing Chen Xi, Westbrook, and Little Sabonis, they were replaced by Grant, McDermott, and Morrow. With the appearance of two shooting guards, it was obvious that this was a change of formation. Transition Period was replaced by a lineup dominated by Butler.
This is the answer given by Donovan. Butler is a Wing player who is very good in passing and controlling. This is Wing who can be placed at the point guard position. He can organize the offense and match the three-shooter lineup to perfectly handle Spurs's flanking strategy.
In fact, the effect was really good. The first two Possessions of Mills tried to attack from a flank, but Butler passed the ball quickly and accurately, easily tearing apart the defense. McDermott scored 6 points in a row. Popovich yelled anxiously from the sidelines, causing Mills to stop moving.
"Now you can let Butler be the master, but you can't have all Transition Period be Butler master."
Of course Popovich did not give up so quickly and patiently waited for the opportunity.
But he didn't wait.
Donovan carefully divided the time of Butler and Westbrook, and they led the team organization separately, while Chen Xi tied the two of them to appear at any time.
When there was an excellent organizer in the team, Spurs not only did not dare to double-team Chen Xi, but even had to face Mismatch of Chen Xi calling out Isolation, but there was nothing he could do.
In this case, Chen immediately became a positive effect on the court, and the effect was very obvious.
Chen Xi, who returned to his old career, restarted the task of taking over where Off-Ball left off. Through tactics and movement, he ensured that when receiving the ball, he faced either an open space or Mismatch.
Then there are the indistinguishable Isolation, Three-Pointer Floater Layup, which bloom more and make it feel like entering a deserted land for a while.
Chen Xi's current positioning is still that of Shooting Guard who mainly focuses on finishing without the ball. He has a little bit of defense and a little bit of passing control, but it is just barely enough. After increasing the intensity, it seems a bit stretched.
Regular season You can safely leave your time to him and give him plenty of training opportunities, even Playoffs First Round can also be used as a whetstone. After all, he is still very young and has a lot of room for growth. Thunder is also strong enough and there is no need to worry about overturning. But Second Round is different, especially when the opponent is still Spurs.
The team doesn't have much time for him to grow up slowly. No one can guarantee whether he can get better in a short period of time and break the game on his own. Therefore, to be on the safe side, instead of counting on probability, it is better to change the strategy and put him back to his original position. Binding his playing time to a high-level organizer and maximizing his finishing ability is the optimal solution under the Playoffs ecosystem.
For things like exercise, next year and the year after, there will be plenty of time to practice slowly, so there is no need to rush.
What? Let Chen Xi go? Are you kidding? If Presti were let go, Presti would be sprayed by the angry Thunder Fans!