Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 217 Turn-Based

Of course, the Spurs will not sit still. They can hold on to the score in the first half, and it is impossible to give up lightly in the second half.

As for the old man, as the oldest core player in the league who is still playing in the playoffs, Duncan is obviously not satisfied with his career being completely characterized last season. Although he does not have the momentum of a comeback in his previous life, Duncan is not weak in determination.

As soon as the third quarter came up, he first faced Ibaka again and hit the board from an oblique angle in the cross screen, and then he immediately passed the ball to Green after covering the screen and the latter hit a three-pointer from the outside.

At the same time, Leonard also intercepted Westbrook's pass and assisted Green to hit consecutive three-pointers. The Spurs came up and played a wave of 8:2, quickly narrowing the point difference to only 2 points, forcing Li Sheng to call a timeout here.

"The Spurs haven't given up yet. They looked aggressive. After the halftime break, the Thunder seemed to relax a little bit. As a result, the Spurs took a chance!"

In the CCTV live broadcast room, the two commentators were also feeling a little anxious for Thunder.

"That's right. Coach Li's midfielder must have told the players to be patient and stay vigilant. However, compared to the Spurs, the Thunder are too young in terms of ability and lack in experience. Especially in this lineup, there is no veteran who can hold the field."

The so-called "veterans who can hold the field" in their mouths are naturally champion-level veterans like Perkins and Fisher.

It's a pity that, in Li Sheng's view, these two people are now more than capable.

Even if you put Perkins on the court, the situation will not change in the slightest, and it may even be worse than Gobert's result, because Perkins moves too slowly today, and the Spurs are one of the teams that like to use the pick-and-roll to create dislocation attacks.

Once Parker's breakthrough or Green catches the ball and shoots a three-pointer from the outside, Perkins can't even interfere with them at all.

In the first two rounds against Alice and Lillard, this kind of scene happened. When Perkins was on the court, it was too easy for those two to break through, so Li Sheng gave him less playing time in one round than the other. In the Western Conference Finals, he even started Gobert directly.

The difference in strength between the Blazers, the Mavericks and the Thunder is too great. It’s okay to share some playing time with the inside players on this obvious defensive weakness. Anyway, the others can be saved, but facing the Spurs, Li Shengke dare not do it.

If this one is not careful, it is really possible to overturn the car.

As for Gobert's experience, it will definitely cause him to make some mistakes, but Li Sheng thinks it's worth it. After all, Gobert is a player who is relatively calm and doesn't mess around on the offensive end.

In fact, the Thunder's current lineup is still based on Westbrook, Durant, and Ibaka, who have been to the finals. Players who have been to the finals once are naturally more stable in mentality than other young players, and they can also infect their teammates to keep them calm.

During the timeout, Li Sheng emphasized that he must keep up as much as possible on the defensive end. Even if the defense is misplaced, he must interfere with the opponent as much as possible, and others will wait for the opportunity to help defend.

"Everyone has to concentrate. You can't relax at this time, but you must also know that the opponent is more nervous than us at this time, so you do what you should do. I believe that victory will still be on our side."

On the contrary, Li Sheng felt that the Thunder's wave just now was mainly due to his poor offense, which gave the Spurs almost a chance to overtake. If they could score one more goal, it would be different.

In response to Westbrook's mistakes, he also emphasized that he should not pass such dangerous balls facing the defense at close range.

It may be because he is too concerned about the evaluation of the unexpected world. Westbrook has always liked to make some tightrope dangerous passes. The pass is indeed a good ball and it will be impressive, but vice versa.

Westbrook has rarely done this in the past, but now he obviously feels the pressure that the Spurs are different from other teams.

It can even be said that this Spurs team is no longer the same team they faced in the regular season.

"Okay, let's go up. Come on, shout with me one last time for this game—"

"OKC!!!"

The shouts from the coaches and players seemed to be a signal. Under the mobilization of the on-site DJ, the home fans quickly responded. The shouts of "OKC" were heard endlessly.

Under the background of the home atmosphere, the players also felt a fire burning in their hearts.

Especially Durant, he didn't play much in this game. He just scored 13 points in the first half without any pain.

It's just that he had been leading before, and he was also willing to let his teammates stand up, but now he knows that although the coach didn't say it clearly, he did mean to let him stand up to stabilize the situation.

So in this round after playing, he immediately took the initiative to ask for the ball in the elbow area for singles. Facing Zhang Tielin's top defense, he did not compete with the opponent, but turned around immediately after receiving the ball, and shot directly without looking at the frame.

He has already made countless shots of this kind of ball, and he has scored countless times. He has already formed muscle memory.

The Spurs' two men are good at defending him, but as long as Durant is not in poor condition, he can also play his own ability in the face of their defense. It is because of mutual understanding that he can better show his strength.

Popovich is also helpless about this, but he also knows that it is impossible to completely kill Durant, not to mention that their offensive opponents cannot be defended.

Unstoppable is unstoppable, but it is also impossible for the Spurs to score every goal.

Looking back, the Spurs also made mistakes in their cooperation, because Li Sheng brought Robertson up, and the outside defense was improved a little bit. After all, Sefolosha's athletic ability is not as good as Robertson's, and Robertson's defensive sense is not worse than him. The interception of this ball is very beautiful.

Westbrook immediately picked up the ball that was stabbed out, and then took the lead to kill the blue frame on the opposite side, and ended with a relaxed and freehand dunk, further widening the point difference.

"As soon as the timeout came back, Durant and Westbrook each played a ball and brought the score back!"

"That's right, the Thunder's offensive and defensive rhythm has suddenly returned. Now it's up to the Spurs."

It looks like a turn-based game, but in fact, the two teams are fighting each other.

The Thunder can't kill the Spurs in one wave, and the Spurs also can't keep rising, they always have to slump a little.

After that, the two teams increased their points one after another, but the point difference remained at 7-8 points. Until there were more than three minutes left in the third quarter, Li Sheng suddenly replaced Antetokounmpo and Robertson's partners on the inside, and Ennis, Lamb and Sefolosha on the outside. This lineup surprised even Popovich.

"The lineup of the Thunder is a bit strange. Although Antetokounmpo and Durant are sufficient in terms of height and size, it feels like everything is misplaced on the court..."

(End of this chapter)