On the evening of May 8th.
Spurs Thunder G4
With a big score of 1 to 2, the Spurs team has reached the edge of the cliff. If they lose again, with a score of 1 to 3, there is basically no chance of a comeback. Although Thunder was overturned last season... but no one is willing to bet on such a slim possibility.
Losing to Thunder for two consecutive years is somewhat unacceptable to Spurs.
The game starts soon
Spurs still prioritizes winning the ball.
After High Wing's Pick-and-Roll, Parker once again put the ball in the hands of Kawhi, and Spurs still chose to attack the strongest point.
Kawhi caught the ball and lunged to the right. After reaching Midcourt Line, he turned over and took a shot. Unfortunately, he missed the hit.
In the crisp sound of Brick, Westbrook took off Rebound and advanced rapidly. In just a few seconds, he rushed all the way to the basket, completely ignoring Danny Green's obstruction, and took off directly in two steps.
Beng!!!!!!
"Russell!!!!!!! Westbrook!!!! Dunk from behind!!!"
Amidst the on-site DJ's shouts of excitement and lack of oxygen, Westbrook once again performed the standard celebration movement of a rocking doll.
It started with a dunk from behind, which undoubtedly had a huge impact on the team's morale.
Spurs, who attacked again, once again dropped the ball into the hands of Kawhi, playing with a low post.
After the continuous Dribble Contact, follow the shaking of the shoulders, then turn over and lean back.
Even though Butler is not swaying, the exaggerated shoulder width still allows Kawhi to easily sway out of the space of Shot.
Dang!!!
It's a pity that today's Leonard and Touch are not doing well. They lost both of their opening shots. This will have a fatal impact on Spurs.
Butler took Rebound and threw it to Westbrook. The latter charged again and killed Spurs in half. This time Kawhi retreated very quickly and successfully blocked it at Free Throw's position.
Seeing this, Westbrook turned around and threw the ball to Chen Xi, then ran back to the outside to catch the ball and returned to position to attack.
Pick-and-Roll called Chen Xi, and then broke out. Chen Xi caught the ball from Shot Fake, aroused Parker's defensive focus, and then rushed to Paint. At a distance of one and a half meters from Basket, Floater shot with a high arc.
Two more points.
The opening of Thunder was so impressive that the blue ocean on the sidelines also started to dance.
Spurs had the ball, Parker did not choose to let Kawhi move again, but directed Teammates and Off-Ball Pest to make a Backdoor Cut tactic.
Aldridge mentioned Free-Throw Line, and made a Off-ball Screen for Kawhi. Kawhi went around the screen to catch the ball and attack the frame. In conjunction with Adams, Contact threw the ball.
Although he didn't make it, Referee blew the whistle and got Free Throw.
Even if Touch is not good, Leonard can still rely on causing damage and sharing the pressure for the team. At the same time, Free Throw can also rely on Shot Touch.
Popovich nodded with satisfaction.
My beloved disciple is becoming more and more mature.
Touch Everyone has bad times. The key is whether they can stay calm and find ways to break the situation. Turtle Turtle can learn this ▽
The first free throw hit the front edge of Basket, which bounced three times before entering the frame. Kawhi's Touch was indeed not very good. Maybe the hit rate in the first three games was too high, and now it has been adjusted back.
The world is a huge 2k.
Fortunately, after adjusting his breathing, he successfully hit the second free throw.
Thunder's attack is still High Wing's Guixi Pick-and-Roll. Thanks to Chen Xi's finishing skills getting higher and higher, this move will soon become Thunder's signature starting move.
Spurs's response to this Defensive strategy is to actively switch defenses and don't give Chen Xi a chance to make a move, and then face Westbrook's breakthrough, Kawhi Midcourt Line Swipe, Gasol Interior blocks it.
Judging from the previous three games, the effect was pretty good, but today was different.
On the contrary to Leonard, Westbrook is in surprisingly hot condition.
After the breakthrough, due to a change of defense, facing Danny Green's Westbrook, he shot a dry Long Two directly in front of him.
Basketball cuts into the frame and barely even touches the net.
A perfect hollow, 6 to 2
The balance of victory gradually began to tilt towards Thunder. Thanks to Westbrook's outstanding Touch, Thunder led Spurs 34 to 20 in the first quarter by a full 14 points. This was the first time in the series that there was such a smooth start.
Thunder generals couldn't help but smile and interacted with Fans on the sidelines.
Chen was frightened to hear some words.
"No! Brother! You have to open the champagne at halftime!!!"
But fortunately, Donovan was still calm. He said a few simple words to suppress everyone's rising emotions and emphasized the importance of the second quarter.
"Keep calm, stay humble, the game is not even halfway through now, put away your contempt."
Sure enough, Thunder ushered in a crazy counterattack by Spurs in the second quarter.
Perhaps because of Popovich's chicken soup, Parker regained his former high level as an FMVP. He made continuous breakthroughs and penetrated Thunder including Chen Xi from the outside again and again. He made the iconic turn Floater and extended Spurs's life again and again.
So Butler took the initiative to ask for a single defense against Parker, and McDermott went to support Jonathan Simmons.
Needless to say, Wing is a player who started out as a defensive player under Thibodeau. JB's single defense had an immediate effect, immediately pouring cold water on Parker's blazing offensive flames.
Then Chen Xi attacked from the flank, and successive Mismatch singled out Mills, causing Popovich to immediately call out Timeout.
"Putting Parker and Mills on the court at the same time is undoubtedly a huge mistake on the part of Popovich. For Thunder, this means giving away points. They are both short guards of 1.88 meters. The perimeter defense formed by them is terrible, especially when there is no Leonard on the court to wipe their butts."
Waves of attacks were launched again and again, only to be extinguished again and again. This caused Spurs's morale to drop little by little, and his hard work gradually dissipated.
Even though Popovich emphasizes discipline and defense over and over again, Thunder is not that strong.
But in the hearts of the team members, the desire for victory failed to rise again.
Bobo's heart also sank a little bit. At this time, he suddenly felt a little bit evil, and he inevitably thought of some off-the-chart moves.
But I don't know if it's because I'm getting older and wants to save some face for my old age, or if I really don't have a "clumsy" defensive hero like Bowen's Horry. In the end, Spurs was able to play normally.
The time came to 22:28 in the evening, Thunder defeated Spurs 130 to 112, and the score of the series became 3 to 1. This also declared that basically, Thunder is already the Western Conference Finals team.
To be more arrogant, Chen Xi is already qualified to say "I am already thinking about my opponents in the next round."
Of course, he doesn't dare to raise this flag yet, mainly because Chen is by nature steady and down-to-earth and has extremely high quality.
Anyone who goes out to inquire will not know that Chen is Oklahoma who is famous for not trolling Trash Talk and is a first-class civilized and honest person.