Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 219 Before the Second War
"The series is far from over. We just defended our first home game. The Spurs are a very tenacious team. Their resilience is destined to prevent them from being knocked down so easily. With Greg here, Tim and Kawhi, I think it's too early to be happy..."

At the press conference after the game, Li Sheng expressed his unwillingness to open the champagne in advance when faced with questions from reporters.

In the end, the Thunder won the game with a score of 115:107. In fact, the fourth quarter was a bit thrilling. The Spurs, who were considered to be at a physical disadvantage, once set off a counterattack and chased the point difference to 5 points.

In the end, Durant stood up, successfully stabilized the situation in three consecutive singles, and then maintained an 8-point lead until the end, winning the first home game without any risk.

The fourth quarter is also considered to be the most exciting quarter of the game. The head coaches of the two sides battled wits and courage, dispatched troops, and both sides ran out of timeouts in the last minute or so.

The Spurs obviously knew the importance of this first game, especially when they were about to catch up to the score in the fourth quarter. Popovich even allowed Duncan to play for 36 minutes in this game, because the defense of the Spurs except him was not comparable to the Thunder's charge.

Leonard also played a Spurs-high 39 minutes. For the Thunder, Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka all played 40 minutes. Although Li Sheng has tried to adjust their playing time, facing the offensive pressure of the team, these three dare not let go easily.

Now that I have made a good start, I can finally relax a little in my heart, but on the surface, I still have to send a signal to the outside world and the team.

One day later, in the second game at home, they will definitely continue to win. As long as they firmly hold on to their two home games and then steal an away game, basically the problem will not be a big problem. After all, the probability of a 3:1 comeback is too small.

Of course, the reporters also asked about Durant, who scored 39 points in this game, especially Durant, who scored 9 points in a row at the critical moment of the fourth quarter, suppressing the momentum of the Spurs' counterattack. Durant only said that all of them were surrounded by Coach Lee.

Westbrook on the side nodded approvingly and said, "Me too."

This time Westbrook played well. Although his offensive efficiency was a bit poor, he only made 14 of 5 shots, but his frequent inside kills were still effective. He got to the free throw line 6 or 7 times and only missed two free throws. He also controlled his turnovers very well. He only had three times, but he had 11 assists.

全场威少砍下了22分7篮板11助攻，在防守端还有2次抢断1次盖帽的贡献，可以说在攻防两端都压过了对面只拿到15分的帕克。

Ibaka also performed well in this game. With the help of Gobert, he limited Duncan's performance. He also played well offensively. He made 4 of 2 three-pointers and scored 13 points, 14 rebounds and 4 blocks.

There are also four rookies who also performed well, and they are the best performers of the Thunder outside of the "Big Three".

It was also because of their performance that the Thunder team won this game, and Dewey Erbaka, the "Big Three", was also mentioned by many media after the game.

Li Sheng just smiled and said: "I don't care about any giant lineup, because KD, Russell, and Serge are all cultivated by the team, and we still have Giannis, Rudy, James, and Andre. In the future, we will only be better..."

Let other teams envy and hate!

Yup……

After Li Sheng's kind reminder, everyone realized that the Thunder's rookie is still as fierce as ever, and this does not include Harden who has already gone to Houston to become the head star.

Good guy, is the league going to be dominated by Durant and the others now, and in the future the league will also be dominated by Antetokounmpo and the others, and then the Thunder will dominate for eight years like the Celtics did?
A reporter asked Lei Ting the secret of cultivating rookies. Li Sheng just said mysteriously that it was vision and luck. "They are very talented people. We just gave him a chance to show their talent, and then they used their efforts to give a satisfactory answer."

Of course, no one believes this. People are always used to attribute success to reasons. Although Li Sheng did have a reason, to some extent he is considered lucky.

Isn't his rebirth just luck?

After this game, in addition to the "Thunder Big Three", the four rookies were also mentioned again.

One best rookie in the regular season, two rookies first team, Robertson and Ennis' data ceiling is not very impressive, especially Ennis, it feels like an addition, who would have thought that the later the playoffs, the better the performance.

Of course, Li Sheng definitely wants to get this, because Ennis has Roy's template card, although it is only a yellow card, and now after nearly a season of training, he is estimated to be able to play [-]% to [-]% of this template. To be honest, this strength is enough for some weak teams to play in the second and third positions.

But in this Thunder team, he is only the team's possible No. 11 or even No. [-] player. On the offensive end, he is only the seventh choice besides Durant, Westbrook, Antetokounmpo, Reggie, Ibaka, and Lamb.

If it hadn't been for the Spurs, Perkins would have played a lot with a smaller lineup. Even if he was capable, he wouldn't have had so many opportunities to show off.

Of course, this is a good thing for the Thunder now, but it may not be a good thing in the future, because the players will naturally want more possessions and even ask for higher salaries. Both of them are difficult for the Thunder to satisfy. Maybe they will leave directly at the end of their rookie period.

Li Sheng didn't think about keeping him forever, after all, he had a good fight-although it was actually because of his relationship, there is nothing wrong with wanting to have a better future, it's best to get together and part ways, at least "goodbye will not be red-eyed".

But it's too early to think about this, let's focus on the game first.

……

The Thunder temporarily lead 1-0 in the series. As a side with home court advantage, this is not beyond the expectations of the outside world. Of course, the discussion is still very intense, especially the Thunder fans. Before the game, they were really worried by the rhythm of the media.

Even though everyone thinks that the Thunder have the highest probability of winning the championship this season, there are also many dissenting voices, and there are also opinions that they must forcibly seek out the strengths of other teams. For example, the Spurs are more integrated and have more experience in the playoffs.

Thunder is too young here, inexperienced and mentally unstable, and it is very likely that they will not be able to perform at their due level.

As a result, looking at it now, hehe, the defending champion is nothing more than that.

The Thunder did not say that they played much better than expected, but they were able to win.

In fact, it is not that the Spurs are not strong, but that they are not strong enough, or that the Thunder are indeed stronger, and both sides can win if they play normally.

Many people think that the Spurs are slow to develop, and they did not show their true strength until the finals. Li Sheng now feels more and more that the Heat are really bad, especially in defense. The Spurs have the biggest point difference in the finals. For a team at the finals level, this must be a big problem.

And look at the Spurs' playoffs in the Western Conference. The Mavericks almost overturned them. They met the Blazers in the second round.

When facing the Thunder, Ibaka was injured again, so he still played six games. After returning from the injury, he actually played a 2:2, which can be regarded as back and forth.

Of course, the referees in this playoffs are indeed a bit biased towards the Thunder. There are some controversies in the first and second rounds, and there is a gap in the strength of the Western Conference Finals.

However, if the Thunder and the Heat face off in the Finals, they might be evenly matched, and regardless of Ibaka's injury problems, the Thunder also have a faint advantage.

And in this time and space, because of Li Sheng's participation, the Thunder team has changed a lot now. Westbrook is playing more reasonably, Durant is in a hotter state, and there are better role players. In terms of overall strength, they should have an advantage.

And the technical and tactical play is not bad, especially in the area outside the three-point line. The Thunder has been strengthened at an epic level, and has a crazy outside rotation defense, which can in turn suppress the performance of the Spurs and halve their three-point advantage.

In this case, it is a rare thing not to win.

Of course, the same sentence, there is only one game now, and there are at least three more games in the series. It is too early to discuss the real win or loss. The Spurs are still not to be underestimated, especially their ability to adjust. Li Sheng also told the players not to take it lightly.

And he and the coaching staff watched the playing video repeatedly without rest, including the previous video of the Spurs playing the Trail Blazers and Grizzlies, in order to find more and better ways to target them.

Li Sheng wants to go to the away game after 2:0, which will be much easier.

……

"I reiterate that I am very optimistic about the Thunder. I think they will be the championship this season."

The Thunder fans in front of the TV couldn't help but tremble when they heard Lord Baguo's swearing prediction.

It's really that the name of Badu milk is too powerful. Even if I sometimes know it's just so-called metaphysics and jokes, I can't help but feel a little bit in my heart when I see this, and subconsciously lower my expectations a little.

Of course, there are currently four teams in the conference finals, and there are also four commentators for the judges, so the four have different positions. Of course, not everyone supports different teams, so everyone can see that they are playing their positions.

So in the end, two supported the Thunder, one supported the Heat, and one supported the Spurs.

Compared with the Heat becoming the only seedling in the Eastern Conference, everyone is obviously more concerned about the tit-for-tat confrontation between the Spurs and the Thunder.

"Hey, David, you can't be partial to San Antonio just because you are a famous Spurs player?"

"Admiral" David Robinson, a famous Spurs player, two-time champion, one of the top 50 stars, and one of the four major centers, also received an invitation from Turner Sports this time, which somewhat increases the effect of the program.

In fact, he could have already imagined his biased position. Kenny Smith asked this question because he wanted to make things difficult for him in front of the audience and let him give a reasonable reason.

Robinson immediately said some specious things, which were similar to the opinions of the outside world supporting the Spurs. Barkley immediately laughed and said, "I can refute every point of yours, do you believe it?"

"OK, OK...I'm just expressing my own point of view, I don't care if you approve or not." Robinson is not good at words, and he knows that his verbal skills are not as good as theirs, so he won't be stupid enough to argue with them.

On the other side, the Heat legend O'Neal who also had a "preset position" laughed and said, "David, I have to say, I suddenly like you a little bit."

"Hey, since everyone can't convince anyone, let the facts speak for themselves. I believe Oklahoma will stand on the final winner's seat. Hey, Thunder, don't let Lord Baron down!"

……

"What do you think about the second battle?"

The media commentary is warming up the momentum, and the fans are of course very lively.

In China, the attention of the Western Conference Finals is much higher than that of the Eastern Conference Finals. This is not to say that the Heat or James fans think they are invincible and retreat. In fact, as long as they can’t play in the finals, there is a reason to be stubborn. After all, they have reached the division finals, and there is no point in showing weakness.

The problem lies in the opponents. If the Thunder and the Spurs can barely be said to be evenly matched, the defending champion has indeed attracted many new fans, and because of the existence of Li Sheng, the Thunder has gathered the attention of passers-by fans. Then the Heat's round against the Pacers, because the Pacers are not popular enough, the discussion is not high enough, and naturally there is no controversy.

Although Paul George, the Pacers' new boss, played well this season and attracted many fans, he is obviously still inferior to historical stars such as James, Wade, Durant, and Duncan.

The opponent is not good enough to make this round of the series look suspenseful, and even the Heat may fail, especially the weakness of the inside line is easy to be caught, but the attention of the fans will inevitably be attracted by the other side.

So much so that on the day of their game, the most heated post on the forum was actually the second game between the Thunder and the Heat the next day.

"I watch it on TV!"

"I'll lie down and watch..."

Even in forums that claim to be professional football commentators, it is not uncommon for netizens to go awry, with serious discussions starting after a dozen or so floors.

"I think the Thunder still win. Their advantage is too great. I even think that the Spurs didn't have the real strength to force the Thunder in the first game."

"I think the Spurs won the first game. They had a physical disadvantage in the first game, and the coaching staff didn't have time to study their opponents in the next round. They were more hasty than the Thunder, but they almost came back. This round of the series is definitely not as big as everyone thinks. The Spurs obviously didn't play their best in the regular game."

"I also agree that the two teams are at the same level, but I think the Thunder is still half a level ahead. Everyone should be clear that 72 wins and 60 wins are really not at the same level. If there is no accident after the Thunder, I will not be surprised if they win consecutively or even establish a dynasty."

"It must be brainless to support Thunder, because of Brother Sheng."

"Brother Sheng is still not as good as Zhuge Weiqi, I vote for the Spurs."

In fact, this kind of discussion is that the public says that the public is right, and the mother-in-law says that the woman is right. There are different opinions, and it is difficult for anyone to convince anyone. In the end, it depends on the results to speak, and these discussions do not actually affect the results. How to play is still up to the two teams themselves.

And just after Game 107 of the Eastern Conference Finals ended, the Pacers unexpectedly and reasonably won their first home game. As expected, Bosh stretched his hips. The Pacers were all soldiers, and six players scored in double figures.

(End of this chapter)