Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 171 The momentum is up

"...Splitter received a pass from Duncan at the basket, then gave it to Leonard, and made an emergency stop jump shot...The Thunder made another three-pointer! This time it was Ibaka's shot from the bottom corner, which came from Reggie Jackson's sudden point."

"The situation changed suddenly in the third quarter. As soon as the Thunder came up, they played a wave of 10:3. Popovich called a timeout, but there was still nothing to do."

"I don't know if the Spurs' physical strength is not enough, or what reason..."

Of course, it's not because of lack of physical strength. Even Duncan is playing at a low level now, with less than 30 minutes in a game, allowing the young Parker and Leonard to play more.

It's just that the three of them don't seem to be in a good state today, and I don't know whether it is a personal state problem or the reason for the Thunder's defense.

Of course, the commentators are more inclined to the latter. After all, the Spurs have won ten consecutive victories. How come no team has caught their bad state?

What's more, after the first half, many people were waiting to say that the Thunder is a pseudo-strong team.

And in fact, anyone who has watched the game can see that after the third quarter, the Thunder's defensive strength is obviously different from that in the first half. I don't know if it is Li Sheng's strategy, or he scolded these disciples in the middle of the field and made them correct their attitudes again.

In fact, it is understandable for the Thunder to be slack in the first half. The last game against the Bucks was too easy. In addition, during this period of time, the game was played every three days, and the schedule was also very loose. This made it difficult for the players to quickly get up to speed.

Then after the beating in the midfield and the stimulation of falling behind, I finally corrected my attitude and let myself enter the state as soon as I returned to the court, and my performance was naturally different all of a sudden.

Since they have been able to reach their current position, how could it be possible to rely entirely on the schedule? The Spurs are not as invincible as they imagined. In fact, as long as they calm down on the defensive and offensive ends, the Thunder can match up.

Westbrook on the sidelines was in a bit of a complicated mood at this time. When he was on the sidelines in the first half, he was always watching anxiously, thinking that if he played by himself, the situation might be different.

And according to what Li Sheng said before, if they lose, they will probably get a chance to play later.

Who would have imagined that Westbrook's chance to play would start to become extravagant?
Of course, this was also because he didn't want to ruin the current team's good situation, so he didn't fight with Li Sheng, and suppressed the agent's actions.

Otherwise, the outside world should have revealed their conflicts long ago to put pressure on the team and Li Sheng himself, let him lift the ban and let Westbrook play.

In fact, if possible, he would prefer to be able to play side by side with his teammates now, and then go to hit the team's winning streak together. He feels that the team is playing so well now, and joining him will definitely make it stronger and more hopeful.

At least this time against the Spurs, he is very confident.

However, after the third quarter, the situation changed, and the Thunder suddenly began to close to the score, and then kept clinging to the score, even tying it at one point.

On the one hand, Westbrook is helping the team cheer, but on the other hand, he has some regrets in his heart.

Not today, not today...

For some reason, he believes that they can win this game more than Li Sheng and his teammates, because he can feel that the momentum of the team has returned.

During this period of time, he was sitting on the sidelines. Of course, he also witnessed the team's performance with his own eyes, and knew how terrible it was when they played aggressively.

The fact is also that in the last two minutes of the third quarter, the Thunder finally took the lead for the first time in this game.

At 9 minutes and 17 seconds, Durant received a pass from Antetokounmpo and made another three-pointer from the outside. This was his second three-pointer of the game. His performance in the first half was not good, but so far in the third quarter he has scored 2 points and 11 assists, successfully leading the team to even out the 3-point difference and overtake the score.

Then the Spurs returned a three-pointer from Mills, but the Spurs' three-pointer performance in this game was actually not good.

目前为止帕克两次出手全丢，伦纳德4投1中，格林3投1中，吉诺比利也是3投1中。

On the contrary, Diaw and Mills performed well from beyond the three-point line, and both have hit two three-pointers.

As for the Thunder, Durant made 7 of 2 three-pointers, but Sefolosha, Ibaka, Lamb, and Ennis all performed well. At the beginning of the third quarter, they relied on three or four consecutive three-pointers to catch up with the score. So far in the third quarter, they have made 10 of 6 three-pointers.

At 10 minutes and 03 seconds, the connection between Reggie and Ibaka helped him fly an alley-oop layup and scored his 15th point in the game.

Then in the last 2 minutes, the scores of the two teams rose alternately until the end of the third quarter. The Thunder ended the three quarters with a 77:73 lead over the Spurs by four points and will enter the decisive stage of the fourth quarter.

If the Thunder were in poor form in the first half, then there was a problem with the Spurs in the third quarter. One reason was that after the Thunder emphasized playing fast, it did disrupt some of their rhythm, and the other was their own ups and downs.

The Spurs this season don't look at the previous record is not bad, but their state in the game is not so brave, more is to slow down the rhythm and then use their rich experience to defeat the opponent.

But facing the Thunder who suddenly woke up in the third quarter, it turned out that they couldn't do it themselves.

In the fourth quarter, the two teams began to prepare for a bayonet battle. Whether it was the contest in the substitute rotation stage or the collision after the return of the main players, the game was suddenly raised to a higher level.

Both teams were in bad form before, but they seemed to have recovered in the fourth quarter. In terms of defense and offense, it was really a fight between gods. This is the scene that fits the battle for the top spot.

Countless spectators who were watching the game in front of the screen were shocked, only to feel that there was really a good show to watch.

They were not disappointed either. After Durant returned to the court after resting for half a quarter at 7 minutes and 54 seconds, he immediately caught the ball in the diagonal area and faced Leonard.

15 seconds later, in the Spurs' offense, Ginobili snaked through to the basket and was slapped out of the court by Gobert with a big cap.

Another frontcourt pass, Parker breaks out to Green, Robertson quickly defends, Green passes to Ginobili, Ginobili faces Durant and passes to Duncan, Duncan attracts the defense back to Split, Ibaka returns to the defense in place, he wants to pass the ball but forgets that the time is up, 24 seconds.

Although neither of these two rounds was achieved, and there were more such rounds without goals, the offense and defense of the two teams went back and forth, and it was very good even if they did not score.

Because of this game process, the gold content of each ball is higher, and it also makes the fans more excited.

Otherwise, how can so many people like to watch football? There are only so many goals, and what you basically watch is the offensive and defensive game between goals.

Then when the goal is finally scored, the emotions will explode in an instant, very happy.

In basketball, because the venue is small, there are few people, and the rules are different, it is very difficult not to score goals all the time, and what is even more difficult is that both sides do not score goals.

However, if this stalemate continues, it will be unfavorable for the Spurs, because the Thunder are leading now, and they are chasing points instead.

"Before this timeout, the Spurs were struggling to chase points, but the Thunder were able to stand up and respond every time. Durant, Ibaka, and Reggie are all in good condition at this time, and Antetokounmpo and the others have also recovered."

Director Zhang nodded and said, "If this game continues, it will be more unfavorable for the Spurs, because they will definitely be the one that suffers in the later stage."

(End of this chapter)