Super Evolution of Basketball

Chapter 491 Durant's Trumpet
The polarization in the second round of this year's playoffs is very serious. The strong teams are one-sided and basically easy to win, while the evenly matched matchups will take a while to fight.

The first player in the league to break out of the second round was the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron took Bill to sweep his old club, the Washington Wizards. In this round of the series, LeBron James averaged 23 minutes per game, scoring 24 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are playing better and better. From the perspective of the starting lineup, they have been able to upgrade JR Smith to Bill, which has achieved great success. After a season of running-in, Bill has adapted to the position of the Cavaliers without the ball.

He's doing his best to be LeBron James' Klay Thompson.

Love's playing time is also strictly controlled within 25 minutes, so that his easy injury problem is solved. The Cleveland Cavaliers are in very good condition until the Eastern Conference finals. From this point of view, it is much better than last year.

The Golden State Warriors failed to catch up with the record of the Cleveland Cavaliers. They lost the game in the fourth game. Westbrook scored 50 points, 17 rebounds and 13 assists, and finally won the game on his own.

In this game, Cole realized the danger at the beginning of the third quarter, allowing the strongest lineup of Curry, Thompson, Iguodala, Durant and Green to play until the end, but unfortunately still failed to suppress the Thunder.

The Thunder's home court was extremely crazy that night. Durant recalled that from the day he was selected by the Thunder to the day he left, he had never seen such a hot atmosphere.

Durant also failed to save the Warriors!

The local Oklahoma newspaper published such a report the next day, and Durant threw the newspaper directly on the dining table after reading it.

Cole returned home with an unexpected defeat. Warriors fans pulled up banners at the airport to express their dissatisfaction with the team, and some even began to question Durant.

Chasing Dream Green said in an interview that the Warriors' defeat was caused by underestimating the enemy, and it did not depend on how well someone performed.

Green posted this sentence on his Twitter, and Durant wanted to use the trumpet to comment below: Come on, if you were willing to give the ball to Kevin Durant, you would have advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

It's a pity that his so-called trumpet was picked up by enthusiastic fans, and the atmosphere in the Warriors was extremely embarrassing for a while.

In the past few days after returning home, Cole scratched his head every day on how to deal with the relationship within the team. Both Curry and Thompson are good players who can be met but not sought after, but they are not suitable to be leaders.

After Downs saw this embarrassing thing about Durant, he almost laughed like crazy. He showed it to Yuan Qingshan, and Yuan Qingshan couldn't help but laughed directly.

Then these guys on the Lakers couldn't help but think of the fact that NBA2K's victory over the Thunder can get Durant's allegiance.

The third game between the Lakers and the Rockets was held in Houston. Although D'Antoni didn't think of any good way to restrain the Lakers, after all, he returned to the home court, and he must have confidence.

The Rockets started with the iconic Dellavedova and Harden.

The difference is that Harden started his own offense from the first ball in the game. To be honest, he really caught the Lakers by surprise. The Rockets led by 10 points in the first quarter.

This is the first time the Rockets have led by double digits in the series.

Walton was not in a hurry and still played the regular rotation. He did not believe that the Rockets could defeat the mighty Lakers with the strength of James Harden alone.

D'Antoni's heart is also a little guilty, and he doesn't know if this kind of fighting style is okay.

But there is one person who is full of hope.

That's Harden himself.

Knowing that Westbrook won the Warriors by himself, Harden has confidence and expectations. He wants to be like Westbrook, one person, one city, and be the hero of Houston!
Harden scored 17 points in the first quarter, setting a new season high in a single quarter.

Faced with such a metamorphosis, Jamal Murray's self-confidence was shattered again. Harden didn't score a goal, and Murray's face became more numb.

Yuan Qingshan suggested to Walton to defend Harden by himself, or at least send Beverly to play.

This proposal was flatly rejected by Wharton. Wharton's reason was simple. He couldn't defend Harden this round, so what would he do to defend Klay Thompson and Bill in the next round and the next round?
Yuan Qingshan didn't insist anymore, he also knew that for Murray, this was a hurdle, which he would have to face sooner or later.

In the second quarter, Murray's defense was not very effective, but Harden's own physical fitness had problems, and the continuous high-intensity singles shots quickly consumed his physical strength.

Harden's shooting rate began to decline, the others barely touched the ball, and the touch was even colder. The Rockets entered a scoring drought.

On the other hand, the Lakers have been playing step by step. They have hit Yuan Qingshan, Paul George, Towns, and even Whiteside.

Before the end of the first half, the Lakers recovered the point difference and the two sides tied.

D'Antoni had no choice but to replace Harden, and at the same time told Griffin to attack with all his strength to continue the Rockets' attack.

Griffin became the only core of the Rockets, Walton adjusted the defense, transferred Whiteside to the fourth position, and Towns rested.

Griffin had a little difficulty facing Whiteside. Although Whiteside couldn't block him in one step, he could always cause him a lot of trouble.

Therefore, the Rockets' changes did not achieve much effect. Griffin continued to play hard, and the scoring efficiency was not high.

At the end of the first half, the Lakers overtook the score.

During the halftime break, Harden lay on the bench, too tired to even go back to the locker room, so D'Antoni had to ask Ariza to help him leave the field.

Back in the locker room of the home team, D'Antoni knew that the players were exhausted, so he didn't tell them any more tactics, but asked the team doctor to relax the players, hoping to recover their strength as soon as possible.

The visiting team's locker room and the Lakers' side were also very calm. Harden's crazy appearance at the beginning really shocked everyone, but by the second quarter, everyone had already adapted.

In Wharton's words, the rest only needs to be played as usual, and this victory cannot be escaped.

Game back.

In the third quarter, Harden made his debut again. After recovering his physical strength, he opened up his firepower and made two consecutive three-pointers. The Rockets took the lead again.

Every time Harden scored a goal, Murray would look back at Walton. Walton didn't give him any instructions. He wanted Murray to learn to deal with the situation at hand.

Yuan Qingshan couldn't stand it anymore, and began to help Murray double-team Harden.

With Yuan Qingshan's defensive intervention, it will be difficult for Harden to score goals. He has no choice but to turn around and mobilize his teammates.

It's a pity that every point of the Rockets except Harden was taken care of by the Lakers. Harden created a lot of opportunities, which were wasted by his teammates.

(End of this chapter)