Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 211 The Western Conference is Coming
After the game ended, the last bit of suspense in this series was lost, and the Thunder did not give the Blazers another chance when they returned home. They simply won 4:1 and successfully advanced to the Western Conference Finals, and then waited for the winners of the Spurs and Clippers.

The Blazers ended their season with regret. Aldridge scored 36 points and tried his best. Batum also scored 18 points, but Matthews missed all three points. Lillard seemed to prove that he suddenly made another 21 of 6 shots, which directly ruined the game.

As for the other teammates, there is no way to count on it.

Little Lopez?

Rookie McCollum?

The playoffs have always depended on the performance of stars, just like Ennis scored 20 points in the last game, but the key to winning the game is still Durant's 37 points, Westbrook's 14 assists, and Ibaka's 15 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Even Robertson's blocking of defenders such as Lillard on the defensive end has a crucial impact.

In this game, Li Sheng also specially arranged for Westbrook and Lillard to face each other. Robertson, Sefolosha and others helped defend from the sidelines. As a result, Lillard couldn't get rid of Westbrook who had put down his attitude without relying on cover, and was even cut off twice.

Westbrook used Tony Allen as a template when he entered the NBA. Although he has been trained crookedly over the years, his physical fitness is there. In fact, as long as he can correct his mentality, he can still do his own defensive tasks well in most stages of a single game.

Sometimes Li Sheng even wondered if the former Brooks didn't have any defensive requirements on him at all and didn't put pressure on him, otherwise he wouldn't have developed such a bad habit.

And Westbrook's performance on the defensive end has also become the last straw that overwhelms Lillard. After all, he was able to use this as a breakthrough before, but now he can't.

At the end of the third quarter, it can be seen that Lillard has completely lost confidence and can only rely on the pick-and-roll to pass others. As a result, Antetokounmpo, Ibaka and Gobert will take turns taking care of the inside line.

In the playoffs, the Thunder's defensive strength has reached a new level. After a season of running-in, they have a tacit understanding inside and outside, and the flank sweep can be said to be the most effective proof of the Thunder's defensive deterrence.

Because many of the Blazers' tactics need to be launched from both sides, which is also the role of Batum, and then it happened to hit the Thunder's defensive strength. The Thunder's current flank defense can be said to be the strongest in the league, and the offense is not weak.

If this state continues, Li Sheng feels that even if the Spurs really find their championship status slowly, they will be worthwhile.

Now the Spurs are still fighting hard against the Clippers in the Western Conference semifinals. This round of the series is indeed very intense. Both teams played tiebreakers in the first round, but they didn't expect to go to Game [-] in the second round.

For the Spurs, the more they play the game, the better they are, but whether their physical strength can last is a big problem for the old team.

As for the Clippers, they have never been a resilient team, so it's hard to say whether they can continue to hold on.

Thunder once again waited for work with leisure, and once again received some good news in the process.

During this period of time, other regular season awards came out one after another. The best sixth man Reggie unfortunately failed to win. The Clippers' Crawford was obviously more competitive, and the Most Improved Player was won by the Suns' Dragic.

Conley of the Grizzlies won the Moral Style Award. This award is not very important to everyone, but it can explain a player's character from the side.

It is impossible for those obvious criminals and technical foul winners to be associated with this award.

The best defensive team is also released, with the steals king Paul, Iguodala, Paul George, Noah, and Ibaka of the Thunder.

Ibaka's performance on the defensive end this season has improved to a higher level. He definitely deserved his name for a while, and he has created career highs in rebounds and blocked shots. He has a record of 72 wins and 10 losses in the Thunder. He can find a few bright moments in any game.

If the record can reach this historical level, the offense may not be so good, but the defense is definitely ranked in the top three in the league, and there are also absolute defensive strongmen in the team.

The Thunder's most eye-catching defensive performance this season is not only Ibaka, but also rookies such as Digital Mother, Robertson and Gobert, but they must not be able to enter the defensive lineup.

The defensive second team is Beverly, Jimmy Butler, James, Leonard and Hibbert.

There is no suspense, all of them are players from the strong teams in the playoffs, which also shows that it is difficult for weak teams to defend. No matter how good your personal defense is, it is useless to have bad statistics.

Noah also became the only player to get one defense this season, and even became the final DPOY.

Although the Bulls have already regretted being out, for Noah, this season is considered to be no regret.

The Thunder won the best rookie, and Antetokounmpo won it without hesitation.

He averaged 13.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. With this data, he does his part. McAway, who drives high and low, is completely incomparable with him, let alone others.

It is reasonable for the outside world to say that this year is a small year in the draft. At least in the rookie year, there are no outstanding players who can completely surpass all sentient beings. On the contrary, there are many players who have played in the next few years.

However, Brother Antetokounmpo did not get unanimous votes. Obviously, some people still have different opinions.

In addition to Antetokounmpo, Gobert was also selected to the rookie first team with an average of 8.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Ennis and Robertson were unfortunately not selected for the second team because their regular season data was not good enough.

In fact, if we really want to discuss the results, Ennis still hopes to squeeze in.

However, this kind of honor also has the situation of splitting the cake. It is predictable that Ennis will be sacrificed when there are already two rookies in the team.

It can't be all the benefits are taken by your family, right?
On May 5, the sixth game between the Clippers and the Spurs was played in Los Angeles. Li Sheng felt faintly that if the Clippers could win, they might be able to eliminate the Spurs.

It's a pity that the Clippers team can always disappoint you when you have hoped for him.

They got off to a perfect start in the first quarter, directly leading the Spurs by [-] points, and Li Sheng felt that they would be able to drag into the tiebreaker if they stabilized behind.

As a result, I didn't expect that the Spurs had been catching up at the beginning of the second quarter, tying the score in the first half, and then starting the second half, the Clippers would not play directly in the third quarter.

When Paul came to this kind of time, he seemed to suddenly become very confused.

Judging from the scene, he seems to have been in very stable control of the ball.

But the problem is that you are behind. When you are behind, you have to think about chasing points quickly. Is it useful to control the ball?

As a result, the point gap for his control was widened. At this time, Paul became anxious, but it was useless.

In the end, the Spurs defeated the Clippers 107:96, thus winning the series with a big score of 4:2 and sending the Clippers home to fish.

After the game, Duncan had a friendly talk with Paul in his arms, and he didn't know if he would say "the future is yours" to him.

After all, Paul is not young anymore...

In any case, the East-West semifinal match has been completely over here, and the schedule has also been set. The division finals will start on the 18th. At that time, the Thunder and Spurs, the Heat and the Pacers, and Mars will hit the earth.

It's on the verge!
(End of this chapter)