I was determined to be bad, but I went straight to the Basketball Hall of Fame

Chapter 516 Falling into a Trap
The Clippers easily took a 2-0 lead at home.

In the first game, the Clippers scored frenziedly and won easily.

In the second game, the Clippers' scorer and the duo faced each other, overwhelming the Thunder.

It fully demonstrates what it means to be hard-pressed with two fists.

After the game, the confidence of the Clippers team was once again boosted to a higher level.

Confidence is very important for a team on the road to the playoffs.

Like last year when the Dallas Mavericks played against the Trail Blazers in the first round, their 2-0 lead was tied, and it seemed to people that they were about to overturn in the playoffs.

As a result, the defending champion Lakers were eliminated 4:0 in the second round, which not only made the outside world optimistic about them, but also inspired the team's confidence.

You know, from 08 to 10, the Lakers have won the Western Conference championship for three consecutive years, which can be said to have dominated the Western Conference.

At that time, experts, players and fans felt that the Lakers had no opponents in the West, and Kobe was too stable.

The first three quarters were evenly matched, and once Kobe got the ball in the fourth quarter, he was sure and deadly.

The Mavericks have been pulling their hips since 07, and they have been pulling their hips for several years, and the Lakers have home court advantage.

Who knows, a 4:0 bald head is beyond everyone's expectations.

Stepping on the body of the defending champion, the Mavericks completed a transformation.

Then the Western Conference finals and the finals, the Mavericks went all the way to the end, 4:2, 4:1, it didn't take much effort.

Now the Clippers have faint shadows of last year's Mavericks.

The strength of the Thunder is not to say that it is not strong, and the two juniors add Gordon, and the firepower is extremely strong.

Perkins, Ibaka, and Sefolosha are all defensive champions.

The Thunder's lineup configuration, five or six years earlier, can definitely compete with the bulls and horses at that time as the strongest in the West.

This configuration of Thunder is also based on the original idea.

The heavy-duty insiders deal with the Lakers' three highs, Duncan, Nowitzki and other Western insiders.

The outside offensive firepower is extremely strong, and the offense and defense are integrated. Who will fight for the front?

It's a pity that the Thunder did not follow the pace of the times. The team has just formed, and the configuration has fallen behind.

Perkins was introduced to deal with the three highs, but the three highs disintegrated, and the Lakers also played double guards.

The Clippers have risen suddenly, and there are two heroes on the inside. As a result, they are stronger on the outside, and the team's shooting ability is excellent.

The entire league began to accelerate towards the externalization and three-division.

In the 2011 season, the Thunder's three-pointers per game ranked 20th in the league, which is a very low position.

This season, their number of three-point shots has increased to 20, and their ranking has increased to 15th, but the Clippers have the highest number of 31 shots in the league and the highest shooting percentage of 40.05%.

This number of shots has created the highest record in NBA history. At the same time, this shooting percentage is also the only three-point shooting percentage in the league with 4-character shots.

Before the playoffs, many experts believed that a three-point team like the Clippers would suffer a lot in the playoffs.

Because the three-pointer is unstable, one game will be a hit, and the next game may still be a hit. The number of games is small, and every series that must be contested will be fatal.

There is nothing wrong with this view, and the instability of the three-pointer is indeed a big problem.

But the Clippers don't completely rely on three-pointers. They still have Randolph and Gasol Jr. inside, as well as several good players who make breakthroughs and air cuts.

In the first two games, the Clippers' three-point shooting percentage increased to 44%, which can be said to be quite terrifying, and the Thunder are hard to guard against.

Especially for Curry, the three-point production is stable and the threat is huge. Brooks has nothing to do with him.

The series soon came to the third game. The Clippers went to Oklahoma City to challenge the Thunder away.

Thunder fans naturally gave a "warm welcome" to the Clippers team. Last season, the Clippers eliminated the Thunder in Oklahoma City and ruined the Thunder's dream of advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

The energy center has become a blue ocean tonight, and huge waves of sound hit the Clippers players' eardrums wave after wave.

Losing two consecutive games in Los Angeles, the Thunder took a deep breath. This time they will definitely win at home.

In the first two games, Durant "pretentiously" wanted to appear to be very versatile, to drive his teammates and lead the team.

Then it turns out it's all fake!It's all fake, and nothing is as important as scoring.

So he didn't pretend at all in this game. From the first quarter, Durant was full of firepower.

Breakthrough, mid-range, three-pointers, free throws, omnipotent.

The Clippers' wheel battle has nothing to do with Durant in the playoffs.

In the regular season, Durant still paused and took a break to give his opponents a chance to entangle.

In the playoffs, Durant went all out, with extremely fast speed, receiving and handling the ball cleanly, just attacking the basket.

The Clippers knew that he was going to attack the rim, but they didn't have a good way. Anyway, they left it to George, Leonard and others.

In terms of experience and ability, the three little pigs on the Clippers' front line are still far behind Durant, and they can't stop Durant from scoring consecutively on them.

After scoring 35 points and 37 points in the first two games, Durant scored 13 points in the first quarter of this game, and the whole game was aimed at 40 points.

The Thunder was 32:27 in the first quarter, leading the Clippers by 5 points.

Back at home, the Thunder team has fierce firepower. The whole team abandoned the previous awkward style of play and focused on Durant and Westbrook. Eric Gordon added that all the energy of the others was put on defense. superior.

Brooks knew that the Thunder no longer had an advantage tactically and could only rely on the players' personal abilities and on-the-spot performance.

In the playoffs, the superstar Carry can also win the series.

In fact, if the Thunder were more patient and more meticulous in formulating tactics and strategies, there would be no way out.

As a young team, the Clippers still have many flaws.

The offensive end is unstable, and the defensive end lacks an absolute core point.

Insufficient inside mobility and lack of experience.

If the Thunder can hold their ground, arrange carefully, set traps for the Clippers, and regain the initiative in the series, they have every chance to overwhelm the young Clippers.

It's a pity that Brooks, the Thunder coaching staff and Durant himself agreed to abandon the more detailed and sophisticated tactical arrangements and return to their accustomed strategies after the first two defeats.

The three young masters let go, and the others tried their best to defend, defeating the Clippers with morale, hardness, and overwhelming momentum at home.

At least this move had a very good effect in the first half. Durant's preemptive strikes, Westbrook's bravery, and the Thunder's high-intensity defense inside allowed them to firmly suppress the Clippers.

At halftime, the Thunder continued to maintain a 59-point lead over the Clippers at 52:7.

But this kind of suppression is not tactical suppression. After the start of the third quarter, the Clippers can still play tactics steadily and complete the game according to their established ideas before the game.

Tyronn Lue stood on the sidelines to direct, and took out the small card in his suit pocket from time to time to look at it.

The above are some on-the-spot command points summarized by Min Congda, Cole and others before the game.

Tyronn Lu basically adjusted and arranged personnel according to these points.

Anyway, the Thunder did not make too many targeted arrangements, which did not damage the Clippers' rotation and battle speed deployment.

I just want to rely on the talents of Durant and Westbrook to overwhelm the Clippers. At least they can win a game at home, right?

As a result, halfway through the third quarter, the Clippers began to chase points back bit by bit.

The first gun for the Clippers to chase points is neither Curry, nor Harden, nor Randolph, but Milicic!

According to the arrangement on Min Congda's note, Tyronn Lu requested that Milicic should be given more opportunities to play in this game.

Especially when Perkins is forced to rest, he should use Milicic more and play more pick-and-roll cooperation.

After Milicic came on the stage, he had a lot of pick-and-rolls with Harden and Curry. After the pick-and-rolls, he cut inside and had no other ideas.

Harden and Curry shot if they wanted to, and he rushed in to grab the rebound.

If there is a chance to pass the ball to Milicic, he will choose to finish.

After all, Milicic was the No. [-] player at the time, and he is talented on the offensive end.

Although he is trying his best to build himself into a defensive villain after coming to the Clippers, he feels that this thing will not be lost.

Once Perkins is gone, Milicic's pick-and-roll layup is almost like no one's land.

Both Harden and Curry have strong passing skills, and their own offensive power is even more terrifying. How dare the Thunder relax their defense.

As a result, the one on the left and the one on the right, Milicic couldn't stop eating cakes inside!

A small hook on the catch, a small hook on the catch, he had a pretty good touch tonight.

Ibaka's defense is excellent, but his height is much lower than that of Milicic.

In a static defensive state, it is difficult to completely block Milicic's pick-and-roll attack.

Milicic hit four goals in a row!Even scored 8 points!
What happened to Brooks was that his scalp was numb?
Why can't he prevent such a simple pick-and-roll?
When Brooks called a timeout and Perkins was about to come on stage, Tyronn Lue looked at the note:
"When Perkins comes on, put Bonner on. Don't forget, Bonner needs to match Leonard and shrink the defense properly."

Tyronn Lu followed the instructions carefully, and when he saw that Perkins was going to play, he replaced Milicic with Bonner.

As soon as Bonner came up, Perkins was going to be blinded again in this point of defense. Can you guard against Bonner's point?How to prevent?
As soon as Bonner came on the field, he hit a three-pointer from the middle, and the Clippers overtook the score!
This time the Thunder panicked, but the referee was still leaning towards the Clippers at this time. Durant quickly counterattacked and rushed to the basket and knocked down Leonard. The referee blew Durant's offensive foul.

This goal can be called the turning point of the game. Durant, who has already scored 31 points, made a pass at the referee, and the referee decisively gave Durant a technical foul.

On the Clippers side, Curry stood on the free throw line and made a free throw. The score became 78:80, and the Clippers overtook by 2 points.

Then, Bonner received the ball from outside again, and Durant misplaced to defend Bonner.

Leonard was able to cut to the basket, catch the ball and hit Perkins with a small throw, 78:82, overtaking by 4 points!
The Thunder came to the edge of a dangerous cliff. If they lose this game again, the Thunder will face the desperate situation of falling behind 0:3.

0:3 behind is no hope of a comeback, and definitely can't beat the Clippers.

Durant immediately hit a three-pointer, chasing the score to only 1 point.

But Harden immediately responded with a three-pointer. In terms of talent, the Clippers' outside line is no worse than the Thunder's outside line.

The two sides began to enter a tug-of-war, and the little advantage the Thunder established in the first half has disappeared.

Durant is still efficient, but their defense can't prevent the Clippers' smart passing and cutting offense.

It can be said that throughout the season, Brooks has not solved how to consume the Clippers on the defensive end.

The result is that in the series, they tried their best to fight the Clippers offensively, but they couldn't fight the Clippers.

This series is like the 2005 Western Conference finals, with the Spurs playing against the Suns.

The Suns seemed to have strong firepower, and Stoudemire Jr. was unstoppable. Duncan was humiliated in one-on-one play, and he averaged 37 points per game in the series.

As a result, the Suns were unable to contain the Spurs' offense as a whole, and were desperately beaten by the Spurs' offense. They were beaten 0:3 in the first three games and almost had their heads shaved.

Now the Thunder's fight against the Clippers is quite the embarrassment of the Suns' fight against the Spurs. They thought they could pass the trick, but found that they couldn't beat them at all.

Now that Presti sees James Harden's performance, he will definitely regret the deal that traded him for Eric Gordon.

Although Gordon is also very good and has a better defense, Gordon's defense is obviously not as important as Harden's organizational talent.

It can only be said that Presti's ideas are still outdated, and he underestimated the role of organizational offense in the current and future NBA arena.

After all, in the past 10 years, organizational ability has been ignored in the playoffs.

Top point guards have never been able to lead the team to the championship in the playoffs, because there are not so many tactical opportunities in the playoffs, and singles ability is the key.

Organizational ability is often considered to be an ability to collect records and assists in the regular season. Like Phil Jackson, the biggest winner in the NBA in the past, he never had a position as a top backcourt organizer in his triangle offensive system, and everyone else shared a little organization. The task will do.

Nash, Paul, and Kidd were all successful in the regular season, but they suffered in the playoffs, which proves this point even more.

Therefore, Presti's original practice of replacing Harden with Gordon is not wrong from the perspective of the past. Three players with strong single-playing ability and single-defense ability are combined together. If you finish playing in the playoffs, I will play for sure. Very powerful ah.

Unexpectedly, since last season, the wind direction has changed.

Kidd won the championship, and his field scheduling ability made the Mavericks' offense unbreakable.

The current Clippers' offense also makes the Thunder's defense extremely headaches. Harden's scheduling and imagination make the Thunder lose sight of others.

Bonner only hit a three-pointer in this game, but the Thunder's defense has been terrified. Perkins is even more hesitant. He doesn't know whether he can't come out or should come out to help defend.

Harden broke through the basket. Perkins didn't know whether he was going to pass or shoot himself. He hesitated and Harden made a throw and scored two points.

Durant responded immediately, but Curry immediately took the ball to the basket, passed the ball to Leonard who made an empty cut, and made a layup.

With a beautiful and imaginative attack, the Clippers expanded their advantage little by little.

Min Congda looked at the Clippers' offense and thought, "It's too early for the Thunder to compromise. They entered their own inertial style of play early. They don't even have a surprise soldier. How can they fight me?"

He felt at ease in his heart, and it was rare for him to feel happy that the Clippers played well. After all, the Clippers' strategies and policies were controlled by him behind the scenes.

Facing the emotional trap set by Min Congda since the first game, Brooks fell into the trap without making a decent resistance.

And another one who fell into the trap was Kevin Durant.

At the end of the third quarter, he had already scored 36 points, and the score went straight to 40 points or even higher.

But looking at the point difference, the Thunder are still 8 points behind!
This was a huge blow to his confidence.

He has really gone all out, is the Clippers really so strong?
(End of this chapter)