Volume 5: Unrivaled

Most fans had short memories. They remembered Lillard's godlike performance in Game 7 clearly, but had nearly forgotten his poor showings in the previous few games, even tossing aside Curry's 33.5 points per game in the first round. Gentry's adjustments worked: the Trail Blazers' points in the paint and offensive rebounds plummeted, their outside threes were not accurate enough, and with the Pelicans holding home-court advantage, The Brow descended like a god and posted a monstrous 44-point, 16-rebound double-double. The Pelicans defeated the Trail Blazers 114:102 at home, tying the series at 3:3 and sending it to Game 7. After the backcourt duo fell into traps, he provided timely outlets and delivered the ball to the teammate with the best opportunity. The Trail Blazers' offense did not stall because of the Pelicans' traps; instead, the four-on-three situations made it flow even more smoothly. Yet with the media and various allied forces standing behind the Trail Blazers, the Warriors somehow failed to gain the upper hand in public opinion, which was quite surprising. But now, the Warriors could only face the Trail Blazers, and that was with Klay ruled out for the season. The media came up with many such reasons. In short, if the Trail Blazers could beat the Pelicans, that meant Green defended The Brow well, and he could surely defend Antetokounmpo too. No matter how slim that possibility was, the media could only rack their brains to find reasons for the Trail Blazers to win in order to stir up hype. The Warriors' support rate was not low only because they were too strong and swept everyone they faced. And Green had established himself in the paint despite being under two meters tall through his tremendous strength and physicality, so he surely would not fear Antetokounmpo's post-ups. As