The firepower of Thunder is not weak. The main problem is that it cannot limit the attack of Warriors at all.
The excellent passing and cutting cooperation, coupled with the outrageous shooting level of the outside trio, caused problems in the defensive rotation that the Thunder relied on for survival.
When the library chases Pick-and-Roll after Green Roll, Pachulia will make a strong Pick-and-Roll for Klay or kd. Pop Out, which is the same as Curry, has to be guarded against.
League Thunder, who has the highest defensive efficiency, actually seems to be a little stretched in the outside defense that Regular season is proud of.
Even though it has been emphasized countless times, people still can't help but sigh at the horror of Warriors.
With a defensive disadvantage, the game reached eight and a half minutes of the first quarter, and both sides began to make substitutions one after another, entering the Transition Period competition.
Thunder replaced Grant and McDermott, replaced Westbrook and Adams, and the lineup became Chen Xi, McDermott, JB, Grant, and Sabonis.
Warriors replaced kd, Pachulia and Klay, and the lineup became, Livingston, Curry, Green, Iguodala, McGee.
Look at this tmd Transition Period! The Starting Lineup of ordinary teams are not as bright as him!
Chen Xi held the ball to the Three-Pointer line, called McDermott Pick-and-Roll, took advantage of the screen to break through quickly, passed Curry who was half a beat too slow, reached Midcourt Line, and shot Floater in the face of McGee's high arc.
Scored two points.
The margin is back to...9 points.
Warriors attack, Curry high lob, Livingston low ball, Post-up McDermott, simple swing and then turn over jump shot, easily into the net.
Little Sabonis serves quickly, Chen Xi passes long to JB, Butler catches the ball, waits for Teammates to land, and then breaks the ball to Grant, Grant catches the ball and makes a jump shot, Long Two Brick.
McGee easily picked off Rebound and passed it to Curry. The latter caught the ball and moved it to Frontcourt leisurely, waiting for McGee to be in place. Then Three-Point Shot took a step forward with Pick-and-Roll and hit again.
"Md! Damn holding the ball and blocking!" Facing McGee's generous body, Chen Xi was unable to interfere with Curry behind him.
Warriors in the substitute stage is even more troublesome. Starting Lineup Thunder can still make excuses. It is just because Touch is not good that it leads to the score falling behind. However, in the substitute stage, it is really hard to do.
McDermott placed in order to open up the space became the breakthrough point for Warriors, Curry Livingston named Isolation one after another, forcing Butler to help out in defense. However, this resulted in Green's first brother following Backdoor Cut, which was difficult to restrict.
At the end of the first quarter, Thunder 24 was 14 points behind 38.
Donovan had a headache off the court. Looking at the players on the bench who had been dropped by dnp, his headache became even worse.
It is not useless, but no matter it is Roberson, Morrow, Payne or Lovington, each has its own shortcomings. In the ecological environment of Playoffs, it is really easy to target.
Even McDermott, which has relatively complete functions, has been targeted as the opponent's tactical end point. If these people go up, Thunder may die faster.
We can only count on the main force, Donovan is a little helpless.
Second Quarter started, Westbrook Chen Xi led the team, rushed on the field, and started the bayonet battle with Warriors in advance.
The first ball came from the familiar Weixi Pick-and-Roll. Westbrook broke through McCaw and rushed into Interior with a dunk. David West on the side didn't even have time to return to defense.
"Nice! Turtle Turtle!" Chen Xi high-fived him while retreating.
When behind by a big score, it's time for team Leader to step up.
Warriors attacks, Durant holds the ball, Isolation Grant, one Shot Fake, easily shook Grant's center of gravity, and then dropped the ball and rushed into Interior. Taking advantage of the gap that Adams could not get out, he collected the ball and Mid-range made a jump shot.
Snap!!!!
Back of the head block from Westbrook!!!
"Tsk, Turtle Turtle's hat is late, but it's coming. It's his predecessor." Chen Xi shook his head, what a tragedy in the world.
Grant of Chase Defense received the flying Basketball, and then immediately passed a long pass to Westbrook of Fast Break. The latter received the ball and rushed into the paint area. Tomahawk Slam Dunk smashed the ball into Basket, causing the basket rack to groan in pain.
Durant was in the position of Midcourt Line, looking at the familiar figure and the familiar chop, and smiled helplessly. This time, the points added were not his own team's.
Warriors attacks again.
Kd still catches Isolation, Jab Step and then directly pulls out Three-Point Shot, making an easy hit.
Grant can't help it. This is what Durant has no solution for. Grant has no choice but to defend him. In the absence of Butler, Thunder has formed a three-back lineup. The others are not tall enough. You can't let Adams defend him. Then you have to be broken into a sieve?
Adams serves quickly, Westbrook catches the ball and rushes, pushes back quickly, and increases the number of Possession, which is a necessary method when chasing points.
Quickly arriving at Frontcourt, Westbrook, who was playing one on two, first passed Klay with a non-decelerating Front Crossover, and then faced McGee with a quick turn and lowhand Finger Roll, scoring two points.
The scoring performance from Westbrook has officially begun.
Although the score difference is a bit big, for the neutral Fans, this game is still very interesting to watch. Starting Lineup fought against each other in the first quarter, and Second Quarter's Dewey scored a lot of points.
At 4 minutes into the second quarter, Butler replaced Chen Xi to improve the team's height.
Second Quarter's Chen Xi is somewhat invisible. Facing Klay's defense, he did not deliberately attack and left the ball completely to Westbrook himself.
Westbrook, who was in high spirits, was full of momentum and scored consecutively to bring the score difference back to 6 points. However, we have to admit that Durant is synonymous with stability and used mid-range shots to cut back the score.
At halftime, Thunder 59 was 10 points behind 69.
Westbrook came off, sweating profusely, took the towel from Teammates, and adjusted to rest.
Today will be another 40-minute day.
Regrettably, the situation of Second Half's competition did not improve much. Warriors's firepower was still strong, but Westbrook's condition declined, making Thunder further and further away from victory.
Even with the tacit cooperation of Butler and Chen Xi, they could barely withstand "Warriors' Third-Quarter Frenzy", but they were unable to close the score.
When the final whistle sounded, Thunder defeated Warriors 110 to 124 without any suspense, ending the G1 showdown of Western Conference Finals.
After the game, on the way back to the hotel, Chen Xi could clearly feel that the atmosphere was abnormal.
Teammatess finally feel how powerful this Golden State is.
It would be okay if only Starting Lineup was strong. The problem is, Warriors's strength on the bench is too exaggerated.
Imagine, 23 Nuggets can also have Daron Fox and Adebayo sitting on the bench. What level is this?