Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 205 Strength gap
On April 4, local time in the United States, the first round of the playoffs began. The first four games were the third and sixth places in the East and West, the second and seventh places in the West, and the first and eighth places in the East.

The Clippers and Warriors, the old enemies who clashed in the regular season, have begun to fight to the end in the playoffs again.

Relying on David Lee's efficient performance, the Warriors took the lead. Although Paul scored a game-high 28 points, he had 6 turnovers and 5 fouls, and he tried his best to catch up in the fourth quarter but failed to recover from the decline.

The Nets defeated the Raptors and wanted to go up and down. In the playoffs, veterans such as Deron, Joe Johnson, and Pierce recovered one after another. Garnett also performed well on the defensive end. On the contrary, DeRozan has already started the "junk brothers" mode in advance.

The Spurs beat the Grizzlies 97:88. Both teams had a slow pace. The Spurs were obviously in a better state because of the weakness of the Grizzlies' flanks. The teenager Leonard played well in this game. Under the control of Da Dai, Er Dai scored 21 points and 8 rebounds.

The three elders of GDP also scored 15+ points. The Grizzlies seem to have been worn to death by themselves. Both bears are not in good condition, and others have not been able to stand up.

The Pacers stumbled and lost at home, George felt cold, and the Eagles were all soldiers.

Of the four games on the first day, three of them belonged to "down to top", which suddenly made people feel that the situation in the playoffs was chaotic.

But the more chaotic the better, except for the home team, the others are just fun people, just want to watch the fun and exciting games.

In fact, in Li Sheng's impression, it seems that since this year's playoffs, there have been more tie-breakers in the first round. Considering the existence of jokes, it is hard not to suspect that this has something to do with them.

People who don't watch the game look at the data and interview materials afterwards, and think so. In fact, if the penalty is not hugely controversial, it is difficult to attract the attention or discussion of others, and then it is easy to be recorded in the history books.

However, for games where the strength gap is too large, the referee's influence is not as great as imagined. The first game of the second day is the Thunder facing the Mavericks. The Mavericks struggled for a quarter and a half before simply losing.

Although everyone had predicted beforehand and stood by Thunder, they still didn't expect Thunder to be in such a violent state.

杜兰特首战就拿到了34分10篮板7助攻，威少也得到了21分5篮板11助攻，再加上伊巴卡18分7篮板，三人一起就打崩了对面。

Alice was held down, only made 12 out of 4 shots, and had 2 fouls. Durant shot directly above his head twice, scoring 1+[-], which was a shame.

Nowitzki and Marion took 14 shots respectively and only hit 4 goals. If the main players are in this state, it is impossible to win.

The only fig leaf for the Mavericks is Devin Harris. He is in good form outside the three-point line today and scored 16 points, which is of no avail.

The Thunder won 107:85 and won by 22 points. There is no suspense in winning.

With this kind of victory, no one cares about the performance of Gobert and Antetokounmpo.

Except for Robertson, the other three are obviously more nervous, but the reason why Robertson is not so nervous is that he only needs to take care of the defense, the offense is not his job, and the defensive end has increased in intensity in the playoffs and the home court whistle is relatively loose. Even rookies who lack experience can handle it well, let alone Robertson's maturity is still very high.

However, the help that victory brings to people is still great, and the first time is born and the second time is familiar.

Two days later, the second game was still at the Thunder's home court. With the shouts of the blue ocean and "OKC", the Thunder made another victory like a rainbow, 123:111, and the series took the lead 2:0.

This game is almost a copy of the previous game, but this time the Mavericks lasted a little longer.

Alice's state has recovered, but she only hit 21 of 7 shots, and her efficiency is still not high.

On the contrary, the breakthrough created a lot of opportunities for Marion. Marion made 11 of 7 shots and played efficiently, and Harris once again contributed more than ten points on the bench.

Today, the Mavericks played their own offense and put some pressure on the Thunder.

But on the defensive end, they couldn't stop the Thunder's offense.

The Thunder has not only the single-point blasting of Durant and Westbrook, but also the collective performance of role players.

Durant had 36 points and 11 rebounds, and his performance was still stable. Westbrook started to play assists with 17 points and 12 assists.

Because of the height of the Mavericks inside, Li Sheng mentioned Gobert, who performed well in training, as the starter in this game. He did not disappoint. He recovered his form in time and scored 6 points and 8 rebounds.

Especially forcing Alice to use a more difficult shot, although there is no block, the effect is actually the same.

Antetokounmpo also recovered. During the rotation stage, he swapped positions with Reggie and played well. He scored 11 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. His excellent wingspan caused great trouble for the Mavericks' wings to pass the ball.

After two games, the outside world no longer has any hope for the Mavericks to overthrow the Thunder, even though it was just an extravagant hope before.

During the regular season, the Thunder team actually had a problem. They liked waves when they had an advantage, and sometimes they had to create difficulties for themselves if there was no difficulty.

Even the head coach Li Sheng sometimes has a somewhat casual attitude.

It's a bit of an "I'm invincible" and "I'm too crazy" attitude, and I like to make people face me at every turn.

But there is really no moment of being slapped in the face, at least it can be remembered, Li Sheng will change immediately after a little slap in the face, he is very "modest".

But in the playoffs, the Thunder were so stable that it was frightening. After they gained a certain advantage in the two games, they would never give their opponents any more chances. Seeing that the point difference was only getting bigger, the Mavericks gradually became desperate and gave up.

In fact, the resilience of the Mavericks is not bad. Most of the team are veterans, so they can hold their breath.

It’s just that the difference in hard power can’t be helped. Nowitzki is no longer the king who won the championship. Marion and Carter only have a little fuel left in their fuel tanks. Alice has never been stable. After all, Harris is just a substitute.

Although when leaving Oklahoma City, Cuban still insisted in an interview that "we will fight back at home", but this red neck is destined to cry.

The third game came to the Mavericks' home court, and everyone said "the underdog must win", and the atmosphere at home was also very frenzied. After all, the Mavericks struggled to make it to the playoffs this season, and it is considered a success if they can get in.

In Redneck's home court, the atmosphere was so noisy that people felt that someone would fire a gun in the auditorium at any time.

However, the Thunder still played the scene silently in the end. Durant, Westbrook, and Reggie scored 20+ points. Reggie broke out suddenly during the rotation stage of the third quarter and scored 12 points in a row, directly setting the tone of victory.

Durant didn't feel good today, and he took fewer shots. He only scored 22 points, but he had 10 assists, relying on his ability to attract double-teams to help his teammates.

Westbrook actually shot 5 of 4 three-pointers today, scored 27 points and had 13 rebounds. Several times he grabbed a rebound and directly launched a long pass to launch a counterattack.

Robertson and Antetokounmpo ran fast, especially Antetokounmpo's long legs. He went from the three-point line to the basket in two or three steps. The continuous dunks completely ignored the basket.

Carlisle's admirable on-the-spot performance didn't work at all against Li Sheng. It wasn't that Li Sheng was stronger than him, but that the team's style was restrained, and the Thunder was stronger and younger.

After all, the Mavericks are old, and they can't compete with the Thunder in terms of speed, but the Thunder can directly attack them with talent time and time again.

The Spurs can still perform because they have advantages, but the Thunder have advantages over them in almost every point. On the defensive end, they can also limit their main players. How can they play?
Vote now!
(End of this chapter)