The Way of the Center

When Anjie and Lillard began to cooperate tacitly, the Thunder's defense began to be a bit overwhelming. However, when Aldridge also joined this offensive ranks, the Thunder's defense can be said to be instantly defeated!

In the past, Anjie's team gave people the impression that defense was stronger than offense, but today the Trail Blazers showed their super attack power.

When a team has three efficient scoring points, and these three scoring points happen to be hot today, it is difficult for this team to be suppressed by the defense. Anjie, Lillard and Aldridge have become these three solid scoring points today.

No matter how hard Durant and Westbrook work, it is impossible to limit the hands and feet of the Trail Blazers on both ends of the offense and defense. What's more, the cold shots of Wesley Matthews and Iguodala were also fatal.

At the end of the third quarter, it completely turned into a performance stage for the three Trail Blazers. Their smooth and wonderful offense on the offensive end made the Thunder watch helplessly as the point difference gradually widened.

The small-scale cooperation between Durant and Westbrook was successful, but the efficiency of the two of them was still no match for the surprisingly good trio.

The end of the third quarter indicates that the Thunder will enter the fourth quarter under tremendous pressure. 75 to 64, in the case of Durant and Westbrook executing tactics very successfully, the Thunder were still beaten by the Blazers!

"Bledsoe, Russell, both of you played at the same time in the last quarter!" The Blazers had their trio, and Jeff Van Gundy also planned to create a trio that belonged to the Thunder. Although it turns out that Bledsoe will play a greater role in the second team, but now in order to win the final victory, Van Gundy has to push this "small James" into the starting lineup.

However, it turns out that this is indeed an impossible solution. As a superstar, Durant's most commendable point is that he can accept playing off the ball. But both guards, Westbrook and Bledsoe, need the ball in their hands to be effective.

So in the first offense of the fourth quarter, although Bledsoe used his personal ability to make a strong layup, it is obvious that,

His presence may break the connection Westbrook and Durant have just established.

In contrast to the Blazers, Ricard sent all of his second team up with peace of mind.

Batum's state is as bad as ever. Just after his three-pointer hit the frame just now, his data today has become 1 of 9 shots.

I have to admit that Durant did a good job of restraining the Frenchman who used him as a substitute last season. But when he is physically exhausted and faces Iguodala who is fully rested, can Durant still defend well?

The starting five Tigers of the Thunder can't control so much now, they can't save their energy for the final few minutes of the decisive battle. If you don't quickly close the gap now, you won't even have a chance for a decisive battle.

But J.J. Hickson's performance has slowed down the Thunder's pace of chasing points. Maybe it's because they underestimate the enemy, maybe it's because Hickson has always been a blue-collar player, or it's possible that Morris and Ibaka plan to stay in Aldridge. Qi and An Jie. In short, these two guys are very lax in defense against Hickson and Meyers Leonard.

Although Leonard has a height advantage, his strength is too weak compared to Morris and Ibaka.

Hickson is different. Although this guy doesn't have superb skills, head-to-head is exactly his style of play.

When Batum missed a shot, Hickson actually picked off offensive rebounds on Morris and Ibaka twice, and succeeded in the second attack.

When Courtney Lee made a breakthrough, Morris and Ibaka would also "habitually" ignore Hickson. The result of this was that Lee repeatedly used tricks to help Hickson score easily.

Although a mere j.j. Hickson's offensive firepower is not enough to compete with the Thunder's strong starting lineup, but at least he has won enough rest time for the Blazers' starting five. And this is exactly the purpose of Ricard's second team.

Westbrook is now in a state of rage, this guy is the type of getting more and more courageous.

In an attack after 4 minutes and 35 seconds of the fourth quarter, Westbrook and Durant completed the pick-and-roll cooperation tacitly. At this time, J.J. S. Leonard is also rushing to the basket.

Leonard's slow foot movement made it impossible for him to complete the defense in time. Westbrook went straight to the basket like a bullet. When he took off to dunk, Leonard had just arrived!

Facing Leonard who was only three centimeters shorter than Anjie, Westbrook didn't have the slightest fear! At this point in the game, there is nothing that can scare Westbrook.

His take-off height made Durant and Bledsoe's mouths grow wide in surprise. Leonard planned to block Westbrook, but seeing Westbrook rushing so quickly, he subconsciously jumped in the air. He crossed his body and prepared to protect himself with his shoulders.

So, Westbrook completed this crazy dunk across the 2.16-meter Leonard! And Leonard was just protecting himself in embarrassment, which made Westbrook look even stronger!

After this goal was scored, the Thunder team finally reduced the point difference to single digits, only eight points away. And this dunk undoubtedly boosted the morale of the Thunder team.

Ricard called a long timeout at this moment, and everyone in the Thunder team knew that this was the start of the decisive battle!

"Go on like this! Morris, Serge, your defense is critical! I don't want to see Hickson's easy scoring happen to Ann and Aldridge. Russell! Get me that damn Damn Lillard, I’m talking about both offensive and defensive ends, you have to handle him!” Jeff Van Gundy knows that his players are excited now. In this quarter, he plans to let his starting five tigers beat one whole section. How to make up for their lack of physical strength? Psychology is undoubtedly an important factor.

When one wants to win, one wants to tear the opponent apart. Physical strength is simply not enough to be a shackle that restricts his hands and feet.

Jeff Van Gundy really missed last season's Western Conference finals. At that time, he only had to isolate Anjie, and the Blazers had no power to fight back.

But today, everything has changed. There is not only one Anjie in this team!

"It's time, this game has dragged on for long enough! Go on the field and come back with victory!" Ricard's explanation was much simpler, and he was full of confidence in the five players he was about to send to the field. . Those guys from the Thunder are just a bunch of guys who are already exhausted. The Blazers will use more violent attacks to destroy them in one fell swoop!

When the timeout ended, the most intense part of the game officially began. The Thunder, as a side that does not have the upper hand in physical strength, instead pulled the pace of the game very fast. And what about the Trail Blazers? They were not led by the nose by the Thunder, and with Anjie's command, Lillard had to slow down and fight honestly.

Because of this, when Lillard gets a fast break opportunity, he will run wildly like a wild horse that has been suffocated for a long time. And Anjie's backcourt long pass as accurate as a cruise missile is tailor-made for a guy like Lillard who is as fast as lightning.

The Thunder were forced to slow down their speed and play more cautiously after a few turnovers by the Blazers turned into fast breaks.

And when the Thunder slowed down, they unknowingly fell into the rhythm of the Blazers.

Both Bledsoe and Westbrook are the kind of guards who like to play forward. It is really difficult for these two guys to play positional warfare like traditional guards.

Bledsoe's off-ball movement isn't great, and his catch-and-shoot ability isn't as good as his drive to the basket.

Westbrook was very willing to pass the ball today, but Iguodala's desperate entanglement made Durant, who was physically exhausted, miserable. Durant, this guy, played the longest time among all the players who played the game today. To say tired, he is also the most tired one.

Pass to Morris and Ibaka? It is indeed not easy for these two defensive insiders to score under the basket guarded by An Jie.

Morris and Ibaka each completed a hook and a mid-range shot, but these two goals were also the only two goals they scored after the Blazers started the five tigers.

The Blazers' offense began to become efficient, but the Thunder, which had just played aggressively, began to fail frequently.

Bledsoe tried to break through several times, but was ruthlessly strangled by Anjie's defense. Anxious Westbrook started shooting from the outside, but his shooting percentage was not high.

Only Durant remained calm and was still playing the way he was good at. It's just that he was tired enough to meet one of the best defensive small forwards in the league.

Time passed by every second, but the point difference did not follow. On the contrary, the Trail Blazers have widened the point difference.

The five members of the Thunder did not give up. They continued to attack fiercely, but they couldn't improve their efficiency because they were in a mess.

Anjie was already sore from Morris' entanglement, but the game was not over yet, and he had to persevere.

In an attack, Westbrook desperately threw himself into the air. An Jie didn't care so much, and immediately jumped up to interfere.

These two strong guys collided violently in the air, and the result was a loss for both.

Anjie fell, but quickly stood up under the pull of Aldridge and Iguodala. What about Westbrook? The guy actually lay on the floor for a while instead of getting up as quickly as before.

This strong and iron-boned guy has also been physically and mentally exhausted by Portland's terrifying fighting power.

With 40 seconds left in the game and the point difference between the two teams was still in double digits, Jeff Van Gundy and the crowd on the court knew that it was time to give up...

It was indeed the Thunder that defeated the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals last season, but the current Trail Blazers are no longer the original Trail Blazers.

In terms of hard power, the Thunder completely lost to the hard power of the Trail Blazers.

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