Basketball Legends: Strikers Are King

"OK!"

After seeing Durant hit the ball and West collected the rebound, the Pacers fans perked up and watched George quickly rush out with the ball.

But the Thunder's defense was not a block. Westbrook, Soprosa and Durant quickly returned to defense and did not give the opponent a chance to make a fast break.

"Give him one back!"

George was not someone who could tolerate his opponents showing off their power in front of him. He brought the ball to the frontcourt, took advantage of Durant's retreat, and shot a long three-pointer.

"clang!"

As expected, the basketball jumped out of the frame and was won by Perkins.

"Give me!"

The Thunder, which had just prepared to defend, rushed towards the Pacers half under the leadership of Westbrook.

Westbrook overtook Hill and hit Qi Tian for a layup.

George followed up with a rebound and rushed toward the Thunder half court.

This time he didn't take the shot himself, but after attracting the defense, he passed it to West who followed up.

Ibaka immediately came over to defend, and when West took action, he jumped up to block the shot.

"Dangdang."

The basketball was not blocked by Ibaka, but he also didn't score.

Westbrook saw Ibaka accept the basketball and immediately reached for the ball again.

"Can't run anymore!"

Durant hurried over to get the basketball, and instead of starting the second fast-break counterattack, he slowly came to the frontcourt.

"Huh~~"

The fans on the sidelines and the audience in front of the TV let out a sigh of relief.

"I know you are young, but you can't play like this, right?"

In less than 40 seconds, the two teams actually played three rounds of defensive counterattacks and failed to score on the fast break.

Even if you are an old football fan, you have never seen someone who can run like this.

Durant gestured at his teammates and forced a break through George's defense, but George followed his opponent closely and gave him no room to break through. Durant could only force a jumper.

"clang!"

No hits again.

West and Qi Tian grabbed rebounds, but Hibbert and Hill missed their shots. Instead, the Thunder relied on Durant's free throws to get within 1 point.

"2-1."

This is the score after three minutes of the game. Their shooting was a rare 2-for-6 and 0-for-4.

Fortunately, the offensive feel of the two teams quickly recovered. Westbrook and Durant teamed up to score points, and West and Qi Tian also hit consecutive jump shots.

"8-7."

Westbrook overtook Hill again, attracted the defense to Durant, and assisted his teammate to score.

"Nitrogen Tomb!"

Hill looked at the energetic Westbrook and shook his head secretly.

Westbrook's offense is so rough that it makes people speechless, but it is effective enough for him.

He can defeat you with his speed and body, he really doesn't bother to use other methods.

But for the defensive Hill, it was such a challenge to his basketball philosophy:

Does a point guard really need no skills?

The two teams quickly entered rotation time, Qi Tian and Hibbert were replaced by Stephenson and Mahinmi, and the Thunder also replaced Durant and Perkins with Kevin Martin and Nick Collison.

The newly debuted Kevin Martin showed his strength. He first received a pass from Westbrook and hit a three-pointer. After George scored a jumper, he caught the ball and hit a second three-pointer. The last two minutes became Martin's performance.

He scored 6 points in a row to help the team take the lead after the first quarter.

"22-25."

Unexpectedly, the first quarter of the match between the two teams was not the duel between Durant Westbrook and George Qitian that fans expected. Instead, other players stole the spotlight.

For the Pacers, West scored 10 points, while for the Thunder, Kevin Martin scored 13 points in just 5 minutes.

"The opponent's strength cannot be underestimated!"

The head coaches of both teams made conclusions at the same time.

The difficulty lies in defending a team with almost no shortcomings. You never know who will suddenly break out. In other words, the opponent may have more than one or two players who cannot be defended alone.

In this regard, the Pacers are more determined than the Thunder, because Westbrook and Durant will definitely explode, so they must be prepared defensively.

On the contrary, it is Thunder. I wonder if George, who has the attribute of switching between gods and ghosts, is a super ghost today.

"Mainly defense against Westbrook!"

Vogel looked at Hill and Stephenson and said,

"Today you two take turns guarding him!"

Westbrook does not have the same stable shooting range as other point guards and his weakness of preferring breakthroughs makes the Pacers head coach boldly use Stephenson to defend him.

He must break through anyway, so using Stephenson to engage in physical confrontation with his opponent is a good choice.

On the other side, the Thunder also found the opponent's weaknesses, or in other words, used what they were good at to force their opponents to show weaknesses.

"Beware of insiders!"

Brooks looked at Perkins and Ibaka and said,

"Don't let your opponent get to the basket easily!"

This is easy. Perkins, the meat shield center, just matches up with Hibbert, and Ibaka's defensive attributes make him worthy of matching up with West.

In addition, neither Soprosa nor Kevin Martin on the back line has the ability to hold the ball. The other teammates are just tool men, and the offense can only...

"Kevin and Russell take turns attacking, others must help them!"

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Thunder sent out a full substitute lineup of Maynor, Soprosa, Kevin Martin, Nick Collison and Thabeet;

The pacers are Augustin, Stephenson, Qi Tian, ​​Hansbrough and Mahinmi.

With Harden leaving, or even if Harden doesn't leave, the Thunder's interior rotation is not as rich as their outside rotation, so that now only Thabeet and Nick Collison on the bench are averaging less than 5 single-digit points and rebounds per game.

Rotate.

But even Nick Collison could score 4 points in a row in front of Hansbrough to help the team maintain the lead.

Fortunately, Qi Tian and Augustin scored 6 points in a row to help the team cling to the score.

"28-31."

"Substitute!"

Brooks also knew that the substitutes were weak and quickly replaced Durant.

"clang!"

Maynor hit a three-pointer, and Nick Collison grabbed an offensive rebound over Hansbrough.

"clang!"

Kevin Martin's three-pointer was blocked by Stephenson. Thabeet grabbed the rebound over Mahinmi and made a tip-in.

"I'll do it!"

Qi Tian took the basketball, broke through quickly, squeezed out Durant, and scored a jump shot.

"30-33."

Maynor responded to Augustin's jump shot. Collison stole Augustin and passed it to Durant.

"Defend!"

Qi Tian and Stephenson quickly returned to defense. Seeing Durant's breakthrough, Qi Tian immediately rushed over and physically confronted the opponent in an attempt to intercept the opponent.

"Clang!"

Durant jumped up quickly and made a drift shot.

Kevin Martin followed up and grabbed the rebound, causing Stephenson to foul and go to the free throw line.

Vogel looked at the time and quickly replaced George, Hibbert and Hill. The Thunder also replaced Westbrook and Perkins, ending the substitute time early.