Basketball's most talented forward is on the left

On the court, the confrontation between Zuo Li and Durant lasted for a full 6 minutes, and it came to an end only in the 7th minute when Brooks was afraid that Durant was injured and replaced him.

Zuo Li had 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 offensive rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks.

Durant had 13 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.

The fans at Madison Square Garden kept shaking their heads and lamenting that they had never seen such a pure, determined, and shameless star scoring a point in a battle.

No wonder O'Neal said after watching it: "It seems that these two people have some grudges."

"The Thunder scored 20 points in 8 minutes, while the Knicks scored 22 points. It can be seen that these first eight minutes were the personal performance time of Durant and Zuo Li. Although they did not face each other, the entire stadium was bursting with their energy.

The sparks that came out were covered." Kenny Smith said, shaking his head.

Generally speaking, the so-called star battles in the NBA will not last too long. The first is that it destroys the team's tactics. The second is that the physical fitness required for individual holding the ball in singles increases exponentially. It is true that you have to fight to the death for a short period of time.

no need.

But tonight, Durant and Zuo Li were clearly playing with real fire, and neither of them was willing to take a step back. If they hadn't been replaced, they probably wouldn't have been able to play enough in the entire first quarter.

No, Durant was not very happy to be replaced. He ignored Brooks's slap on him and just sat on the bench sulking.

Because he hasn't responded to the goal that Zuo Li scored just now, and he was playing so excitedly, why should he change himself?

Durant played 18 minutes, took 16 shots, and scored 21 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.

So in the few minutes after Durant left the game, Zuo Li scored 8 points from inside and outside shots. After a back and forth, Zuo Li had already scored 23 points.

54-47!

But I must be fair to Brooks here. If he couldn't get the ball at the last moment, it really wasn't all Westbrook's or Brooks' problem.

After all, there was no need to worry about Zuo Li's physical fitness. During practice, no one in the entire Knicks could compete with him. Even in the three overtimes of the Finals, the physical monster Kobe Bryant couldn't run anymore. That's called a fierce performance.

But he also knew that it would be very detrimental to Durant if he continued to play like this. Even if he was playing happily now, he would have to pay it back in the second half!

As mentioned before, Durant has outstanding physical talent and a soft touch. It is rare that he can be restrained one-on-one.

Turning around to the left, he immediately made a pull-up jump shot in return.

Westbrook does take the lead at certain times, making many mistakes and failing to make shots, but most of the time, he will turn to Adu as his first choice.

This has been analyzed before, so I won’t go into details here.

Zuo Li played 24 minutes, took 16 shots, scored 31 points and 10 rebounds, including 5 offensive rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks.

It can be said that the head coach who can use Durant best is undoubtedly Brooks, and he also gives Durant the most respect.

What's even more frightening is that Zuo Li was almost not injured, and his fatigue seemed to be cured by just supporting his knees.

But tonight is different. Not to mention Durant's real fire, Zuo Li's fire is no less than his. He not only wants to win tonight, he also wants to win completely!

Brooks understands Durant very well. He knows that Durant is in good shape tonight and has a strong desire to win, so he gave Durant almost all offensive opportunities.

However, Zuo Li generally takes good care of his body, and he spends a lot of time on maintenance. He can rest during games and never force himself.

Durant's shortcomings are also very obvious, the first of which is physical fitness.

Even on the defensive end, Brooks was very tolerant of Durant, in order to allow Durant to put his power into offense as much as possible.

On the first shot, Durant had a very difficult shot. It was almost an extreme shot. Durant hit a floating mid-range shot.

but!

It can be seen that Westbrook not only did not take as many shots as Durant, but also had a higher shooting percentage.

At halftime, the Knicks had a 7-point advantage.

If Zuo Li, who was also replaced after two rounds and had a rest, knew what Durant was thinking, he would definitely yell: "I replaced you to protect you. As expected of Brooks, he still has two brushes."

Zuo Li told D'Antoni directly that he did not need to rest, and D'Antoni would naturally not object.

Durant couldn't wait to play, he couldn't wait any longer.

For example, let Westbrook control the ball, or let Harden control the ball, and let the two share many offensive rounds.

The reason why the outside world followed Westbrook and tricked Durant is nothing more than impression and hype.

If the shot fails, we can only say that the "Reaper" does have shortcomings.

In the fourth quarter, in seven games, Durant made 43 outstanding shots and only made 12 goals, with a shooting percentage of only 27%.

Second, heavy physical exertion will make Durant directly inaccurate. This was vividly demonstrated in the 2016 Western Conference Finals.

The first is that opponents will double-team Durant like the Knicks did tonight to increase his intensity. Regardless of whether he can score or not, he will consume you anyway. At the same time, there will definitely be an opening when double-teaming. Needless to say, Durant himself will

Will throw the ball.

As the head coach of the Thunder, how could Brooks not be aware of Durant's problem? Even now, a large part of the Thunder's tactics are designed to make up for Durant's shortcomings.

This is still a last resort, because Zuo Li didn't rest for even a minute!

It's really not true. Zuo Li will also be tired, but his body is strong enough, and at the same time he has more physical energy and stronger recovery ability, which makes him feel like a perpetual motion machine on the court.

In the same 16 shots, Zuoli scored a full 10 points more than Adu.

This shortcoming is also the reason why Brooks replaced him. You can play like this in the first quarter, but you can't keep it up in the last quarter. What if the team leader needs to come out to score at that time?

It’s no wonder that many fans ridiculed Zuo Li for showing fatigue in order to confuse his opponents.

Many people will attack Westbrook because Durant was unable to get the ball at critical moments in many games. They will also attack Brooks, saying that he is not a good person, that he cannot use Durant well, and that he is an undercover agent.

So Durant was directly put on the bench and was not replaced until three and a half minutes into the second quarter.

Westbrook hit 12 goals in 30 shots, with a shooting rate of 40%.

The fans were amazed that the pair started fighting again!

This is determined by the two players' playing styles. Durant's points all come from jump shots and free throws, while Zuo Li except for three three-pointers, the rest come from face-to-face breakthroughs, secondary attacks under the basket, post-up singles and free throws.

It can be seen that Zuoli has more scoring methods and is more efficient.

But 21 points in the half were enough to excite Mr. Du fans. After all, they were scored under severe double-teaming. In addition to Battier and Danny Green, Klay Thompson and Beverley also joined in to encircle Durant.

In the camp, the strength is indeed full.

So a famous Rand fan said: "We have reason to look forward to Durant in the second half."

Unfortunately, the real God of Death would not have such obvious weaknesses.