Relying on Kevin Durant's sudden burst in the second half of the second quarter, the Oklahoma City Thunder at home led the away Indiana Pacers with a score of 49:45 at the end of the first half. The team scored four points. As on-site commentator Jeff Van Gundy said, the Oklahoma City Thunder guys barely took control of the game and took the advantage. Star star Kevin Durant, who scored 17 points in the first half, is undoubtedly the biggest contributor to the Oklahoma City Thunder's lead over the Indiana Pacers.
Although the Indiana Pacers' leading scorer Danny Granger also scored 12 points in the first half, compared with Kevin Durant, Danny Granger's performance was still slightly inferior. Some. In the second quarter, Danny Granger had no way to stop Kevin Durant's offense on the defensive end, and his offensive efficiency also declined, which led to the team falling behind at halftime. Four points. []
"Facing an opponent like Kevin Durant, there is no use in escaping!" In the player locker room, head coach Larry Brown said to Danny Granger seriously, "Although Your performance in the second quarter was slightly worse, but we can still say that you are fully capable of defeating Kevin Durant! There is still a lot of game time, and you still have a chance to beat you in the first half of the game. What was lost was regained in the second half of the game!¡±
At this time, Danny Granger's mind was completely occupied with the idea of ??going one-on-one with Kevin Durant, defeating Kevin Durant, and leading the team to overtake the score and win the game. Winning the game became secondary. Coach Larry Brown hoped that Danny Granger could use his failure against Kevin Durant as motivation to lead the team to catch up, but it did the opposite.
In the first offense of the second half, Danny Granger missed a mid-range shot under Thabo Sefolosha's defense. After Serge Ibaka grabbed the defensive rebound, Oklahoma City The City Thunder team immediately launched a rapid counterattack. Although he promised to start at the same time with shooting guard DeMar DeRozan and quickly return to defense, Russell Westbrook still assisted Kevin Durant to score an alley-oop dunk, Oklahoma City at home. The Thunder once again extended their lead.
"Now the Oklahoma City Thunder are six points ahead of their opponents!" Jeff Van Gundy, sitting courtside, shouted, "Now the Oklahoma City Thunder have taken the game into their own rhythm! "
DeMar DeRozan watched the ball fall from the net, grabbed the ball and slammed it to the floor. "It's so abominable!" DeMar DeRozan cursed hatefully.
"I hope Danny won't always be so impulsive. If Danny still regards the victory or defeat between himself and Kevin Durant as the most important thing, we will fall further and further behind!" Xu Nuo said.
DeMar DeRozan shook his head helplessly.
¡°It¡¯s probably very difficult to do this!¡± DeMar DeRozan whispered.
Xu Nuo didn¡¯t say anything else. After catching the ball, he started to advance forward. Although Danny Granger was still reaching out to Xu Nuo for the ball, Xu Nuo handed the ball to power forward David West inside.
¡°That kid made a promise and actually changed his tactics without permission!¡± Coach Brian Shaw, the team¡¯s chief assistant coach, who was sitting on the coaching bench beside the court, said.
However, head coach Larry Brown did not seem to have any blame on his face.
¡°It¡¯s really the right choice!¡± Coach Larry Brown said.
Coach Brian Xiao couldn¡¯t help but frowned.
"Now we can't continue to hand the ball to Danny. If we still let Danny attack with the ball, his offensive efficiency will decline, and we will fall further and further behind." Coach Larry Brown continued. , "And if we use the interior as the core of our offense, our offensive efficiency will be better."
Coach Larry Brown was talking off the court, and on the court David West assisted center Roy Hibbert with a layup through a hand-to-hand pass. Danny Granger couldn't even touch the ball during this attack, so he was naturally a little unhappy.
"When you attack next time, you must give me the ball!" Danny Granger ran to Xu Nuo and said to Xu Nuo in a commanding tone.
Kevin Durant's long outside three-point shot aroused Danny Granger's competitive spirit. After passing the ball from Xu Nuo's hand, he jumped directly from the three-point line and shot. The ball missed the basket. Roy Hibbert grabbed the offensive rebound and made a second attack. However, his tip-in missed the basket again under the defense of many Oklahoma City Thunder soldiers. Oklahoma City Thunder Chinese??Kendrick Perkins got the ball.
¡°Be careful of their quick counterattack!¡± Xu Nuo shouted loudly, and immediately started to defend, always guarding against Russell Westbrook¡¯s attack. Although Russell Westbrook did not have a chance to score a layup under the promised defense, power forward Serge Ibaka, who was always following Russell Westbrook, received a pass from Russell Westbrook. Westbrook passed for a dunk. At 56:47, the home team Oklahoma City Thunder has led the visiting team Indiana Pacers by nine points!
"The Oklahoma City Thunder have really taken over the team's initiative now!" On-site commentator Jeff Van Gundy shouted loudly, but soon his voice was drowned out by Chesapeake. Amidst the cheers like a roaring tsunami in the Grameen Energy Arena.
¡°Well done, guys!¡± shouted a home team fan sitting courtside.
I saw coach Larry Brown on the sidelines making a gesture requesting a timeout, promising to quickly advance to the frontcourt after getting the ball. At this point coach Larry Brown stood up and requested a timeout.
"We have to ensure our offensive success rate!" Coach Larry Brown said loudly during the timeout. "We can't keep running behind the Oklahoma City Thunder. We have to find ways to incorporate the rhythm of the game into the game. We are under control! After the game starts, we need to slow down our offensive rhythm and complete each of our attacks steadily!"
Although coach Larry Brown did not mention a word about Danny Granger during this timeout, when the game started, Danny Granger sat on the bench to replace Danny Granger. Granger played the team's backup small forward Rudy Fernandez. Danny Granger sat on the bench with a depressed look on his face, covering his head with a large towel in frustration.
"In this way, the team must use David and Roy inside as the core of our offense!" Xu Nuo thought in his mind, "Maybe we can make the game more of a positional battle. Compared with the Oklahoma City Thunder's positional warfare and quick counterattack, it is still a little bit worse"
Promise dribbled to the frontcourt and handed the ball to power forward David West, who was supporting in the high post. At the same time, in addition to center Roy Hibbert, Rudy Fernandez, DeMar DeRozan and Xu Nuo were all running without the ball at the same time. DeMar DeRozan used a Roy Hibbert screen to escape the defense and get the ball from David West. Meanwhile, Thabo Sefolosha once again stood between DeMar DeRozan and the rim.
"Hey" DeMar DeRozan smiled slightly, and with a sudden flick of his wrist, the ball came into Xu Nuo's hands. Promise passed the ball as soon as he received the ball. Rudy Fernandez, who cut through the air, received the ball and faced the defense of Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins for a layup.
"Finally the team's scoring drought has been ended" Xu Nuo sighed in his heart.
However, immediately afterwards, the two core players of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, scored shots respectively. The Oklahoma City Thunder actually expanded their lead to double digits! At this time, the Oklahoma City Thunder requested another substitution adjustment, and the team's sixth man, James Harden, returned to the court again.
"Three Young Masters of Thunder have gathered together again. Are they planning to strike while the iron is hot and destroy us in one fell swoop?" Xu Nuo thought bitterly in his heart.
"I said, our strength should not be so inferior to them!" DeMar DeRozan said next to Xu Nuo.
Xu Nuo could not help clenching his fists as he looked at the three Thunder young men lined up on the court.
¡°No matter what, we will definitely win in the end!¡± Xu Nuo said.
On the sidelines of the court, coach Larry Brown couldn't help but adjust the glasses on the bridge of his nose.
"This is indeed the key to victory or defeat" Coach Larry Brown said to himself.
Next to him, coach Brian Shaw turned his head and looked at coach Larry Brown.
"If we can withstand this wave of attacks from the Oklahoma City Thunder, then we still have a chance to win this game." Coach Larry Brown said, "And if we are defeated at this time If the opponent completely widens the point difference, this game will be very difficult"
¡°And this is exactly the purpose of the Oklahoma City Thunder sending James Harden at this time.¡± Coach Blair Shaw guessed.
Coach Larry Brown nodded.
Xu Nuo came to the baseline and took the ball from Rudy Fernandez. In front of the promise, Oklahoma City Thunder main point guard Russell Westbrook has already bent down and prepared.
"Although we are eleven points behind you now, the one who wins the game in the end must be our Indiana Pacers!" Xu Nuo said through gritted teeth.