Battier, Battier again!

Unexpectedly, when it came to the critical juncture of the Western Conference finals, it was the veteran Sean Battier, who averaged less than 6 points per game in the playoffs this season, who stepped up and harvested the game twice.

It can be said that it is luck to play well once, and it is definitely a reflection of strength to kill people at the last moment with strength both times.

When Brooks was asked about Battier's perception of killing the game with three points in two consecutive games, he also had to admit that the Thunder didn't pay enough attention to Battier's defense and paid a lot of price for it.

Ruan Erniu even sent a beautiful word after the game: "Some people say that the Clippers are my team with Paul, and some people simply say that the Clippers have me as a core, but Sean's performance proves to everyone that we are a whole!"

When we finally chose to take Sean in the summer, a lot of media said that we just took a spare tire from the Heat, a veteran who was about to mix up a retirement contract.

What I'm trying to say now is that I wish there were more of these senior retirement contracts. ”

The Thunder, who are 2-0 down, are not entirely hopeless and need to return to Russian City to regroup as they have two more away games to play.

Relatively speaking, the Clippers don't have much pressure up and down, and a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference means that they have won 10 consecutive playoff games this season, and the likelihood of a comeback that OKC wants is also slim to none.

On May 31, Clippers arrived at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, which was called Ford Center before the start of the season.

Before the start of G3, many media reporters and basketball experts speculated that Brooks might change lineup in this game, but the result was still disappointing.

Scott Brooks has done a good job of making chicken soup and developing new talents, but this kind of thing is really not something he can do.

The Thunder hasn't changed, and neither have the Clippers.

In the third game of the Western Finals, the two sides continued to use the starting lines of the first two games, and whether they can change in the game depends on how the actual game develops.

Durant, as the leader of the team, said frankly in an interview before the game: "We have no way back, and in the two home games in Russian City, we have to do our best to win, otherwise it will be difficult for us to become the champion of the West." ”

This is the second consecutive season that the Thunder have reached the Western Conference finals, losing to eventual champion Dallas Mavericks last season, and they certainly don't want to repeat that mistake this year.

Back at home, the Thunder held their breath and wanted to make a difference.

In the jump ball, Ibaka replaced Perkins in the center circle and was one step ahead of Jordan Jr. to successfully dial the ball to his own side.

It's quite clear, and G3's OKC is bound to fight for every ball!

Westbrook held the ball across the half court and sent the ball to Durant for the first time, and Durant raised his hand for a three-pointer.

"Bang!"

Didn't hit.

Ibaka jumped hard, and although he couldn't get the rebound in the frontcourt, he touched the basketball one step ahead of Erniu......

Soflosa, who was on the wing, was right on the ball and immediately pulled out his hand as soon as he got the basketball.

Very resolute shots, which have been hard to see in the last few games.

"Bang!"

It's a pity that I still didn't win!

Erniu took the opportunity to protect the backcourt rebound and ended the Thunder's offensive round.

The overall situation of the first quarter of the game was almost equivalent to this first offensive round of OKC.

The Thunder will play very actively, unfortunately, only blossoming and not bearing fruit, often the opportunity is spelled out, but the moment the ball is put in the basket, it still seems to be ungrasped.

However, the Clippers are not much better, and it seems that they have not yet adapted to the basket of the Chesapeake Energy Arena, and there are also a lot of iron sounds, but they are slightly better than the Thunder in terms of shooting percentage.

At 24:22, the Clippers, who were playing away, also played a low score in the first quarter, leading the opponent by only 2 points in a single quarter.

After a fierce confrontation, the Clippers have long since lost the calmness they had at the beginning of the game.

The Thunder, who are two games behind, really didn't want to give up, and they are really ready to fight the Clippers to the death in G3.

Erniu was even more faintly uneasy in his heart, the Thunder's shooting rate in the first quarter was not high, but they shot too resolutely, and the style of not fearing death was the easiest to turn over.

It's like playing a MOBA game, a low-end player who has been killed several times in a row, still doesn't give up hitting and rushing, and in a very accidental team battle, the entry time is right, and after a fight, maybe the game will be reversed, and if you're lucky, maybe you might get a magic record like four kills or five kills.

The first to stand up was none other than James Harden!

In the face of Nick Young's serious defense, the beard was full of firepower, and in just a few rounds, he made a series of sudden shots, leading the team to an 11:3 attack wave and gaining the lead in one fell swoop.

In the last two games, the Thunder have never had a leadership advantage of more than five points in the second quarter.

Harden, who shot 2 of 2, including 1 of 1 three-pointers and 4 of 4 free throws, scored 9 points in a single quarter and was the best player for the Thunder in this quarter.

More crucially, Harden's outstanding performance has led to the efficient performance of all Thunder players, even if he himself does not get too many assist statistics.

It is impossible for Nick Young alone to completely get Harden, this is the consensus of the Clippers coaching staff after G2, so the Clippers have developed a game strategy for Nick Young from the beginning to rotate time and replace offense and defense.

Yang Shaoxia's performance tonight can't be checked, after all, he shot 1 of 3 three-pointers, turned over 2 of 2 free throws, and scored 5 points in a single quarter, but he did not have much impact on Harden on the defensive end tonight.

At the end of the day, Harden's superstar-level qualities are there, and it's possible to lock him down in a game, but it's almost impossible to defend him every game.

Superstars are superstars because their performance on the offensive end can be adjusted through their own subjective awareness. To put it more simply, they say the same thing as one of the advertisers in the movie "Big Shot": "It's super error-correcting!"

If Harden played well alone, the Clippers would never be without the ability to fight back, but in the following time, not to mention Durant, Westbrook, even Perkins, Soflosa, Ibaka and others were able to hit the ball repeatedly.

I bloom a lot and bear fruit one by one!

The Clippers' performance on the offensive end is not bad, after all, the two bulls and the three guns have contributed a lot of points, but under the indiscriminate attack like the Thunder shotgun, the Clippers still suffered the most serious offensive since the start of the Western Conference finals.

At 25:32, the Clippers lost by seven points in the first quarter.

At 49:54, the Clippers trailed by five points at halftime wasn't much, but it was the first time they had trailed in the first two quarters since the start of the Western Conference finals.

Coach Brooks said in an interview at halftime: "I ask the players to play a little bit more resolutely, we have to go all out and fight for a win, there are no Thunder three here, just a group of OKC players who want to win." ”

This is the secret chicken soup that Brooks has carefully brewed for G3, and for a coach like this who is good at bringing out the talent of young players and giving future superstars room to grow, there is no point in talking about tactics.

It's not so much that these people don't understand tactics, but that they firmly believe that sometimes chicken soup is far more effective than those tactics that don't know if they can be played in the end.

The course of the first half basically proved this argument.

The Thunder is a team full of talent, and when the talent of these people can be fully utilized, but in terms of individual ability, in fact, the Clippers as a whole do not have as obvious advantages as G1 and G2.

The winning side doesn't need to be blamed, but the Los Angelesers, who have won two games in a row, are not without their weaknesses.

When the two bulls, three guns, Nick Young, and Battier performed well, in fact, the performance of the Clippers' other role players was suppressed, which can be considered both the Clippers' firepower overflow and the Clippers' integrity is still lacking.

If you have to find a place on the Clippers that is not as good as the Thunder, the run-in is undoubtedly the biggest hidden danger of LAC, after all, they are a team that has just been formed this season, and people like Yang Shaoxia just joined before the trade deadline.

The Thunder team, with three young as the core, has been cooperating for more than one season.

At the moment of the fight, Brooks dared to mobilize all the players to fight for their lives, and he was also sure that the Thunder would be able to play their integrity at this time.

In the Clippers' locker room, Thibodeau roared over and over again about the importance of the defensive end, and scratched the board again and again, with black lines that almost didn't paint the entire board.

Not to mention the Clippers players, even if Thibodeau himself is dizzy or not, it's hard to say.

Erniu stood up again and said to everyone: "Clean your head, remember, we only trailed by 5 points at halftime, don't think it's a disaster."

The Thunder are not a weak team, and such a counterattack is reasonable.

What we need to do is to hold our ground and compete with the opponent one ball at a time, and I want to emphasize that we should be as resolute as the Thunder in the first half, whether it is in shooting or defending!"

The bull's words only slightly eased the mood of the stunned Clippers players, but the dominance of tonight's game was still firmly on the side of the Thunder.

The short break passed in a flash, and the main players of both sides quickly returned to the court.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the meat grinder-like defensive battle began again.

Wrestling, falling, standing up, wrestling again......

Such a scene was seen everywhere on the court for a while, and the referee's whistle was only slightly relieved for a moment and a half, and in the blink of an eye, the two sides were entangled again.

With this intensity of defense, almost no one can maintain a normal shooting percentage.

However, the biggest X-factor of the game has emerged!

On the offensive end of the Clippers, Erniu pulled out his hand from mid-range, and Ibaka sealed it to the extreme......

"Bang!"

Strike iron!

Durant won the backcourt rebound, immediately advanced with the ball, and launched a defensive counterattack.

It is difficult to score points in the fierce positional confrontation, so the offensive and defensive switch is the best opportunity to increase points.

Leonard has a weak presence on the offensive end, but his defense against Durant is not bad in this game.

Before he could get past halftime, Du Shao was haunted by kawaii's death, and the two sides continued to fight, and this level of physical contact was not enough to be judged a foul in the playoffs.

Durant snapped his arms around, but kawaii's hands shrank fast enough.

Du Shao, who failed to cheat and foul, also disrupted his shooting rhythm, he didn't force his shot, and immediately sent the ball to the wing.

Ambushed there was Sapo Soflosa.

Dry pull!

"Brush!"

This is not the end, because Soflosa's performance has only just begun.

It is said that the Thunder focused more defensive attention on the two bulls, the three guns, and even Nick Young and Redick, in fact, on the other hand, the Clippers did not focus most of their defensive attention on Durant, Harden, and Westbrook.

Especially Wei Shao, once he chooses to impact the basket, Erniu and Jordan Jr. shrink at an amazing speed, which is also the key to the Clippers being able to defend against the Turtle for two consecutive games.

But in this game, the X factor of the Thunder finally woke up, and no one would have thought that it was not the Thunder three young, not Ibaka, not even the old fish, but a Sofrosa who is good at defense would suddenly stand up.

"Brush!", "Brush!"

With 3-of-5 three-pointers and free throws in the quarter, Sofrosa scored 12 points in the quarter to help the Thunder establish a double-digit lead.

The Clippers, who were mired in the quagmire, were difficult to drive, and Nguyen Erniu scored a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds in a single quarter, but this was not a decisive help for the entire team.

At the end of the third quarter, the total score of the two teams in G3 came to 70:82, and the Clippers had fallen behind by 12 points.

In the final quarter of the game, Nick Young ushered in an explosion, he hit two three-pointers in a row, and then hit a shot from mid-range, closing the score to less than 5 points in a short time.

But James Harden is also not a vegetarian, and he hit the basket several times with the ball, facing the complementary defense of Yi Jianlian and Martin, and played twice 2+1 respectively.

AFTER THAT, DEWEY AND THE PICKLE GIRL DUO RETURNED TO THE COURT AT THE SAME TIME, AND THE TWO SIDES EITHER HIT THE IRON TOGETHER OR EACH HIT THE ANSER-BALL.

Just when everyone thought the game was going to drag on to the final tiebreaker, the X-factor of the game, Soflosa, stepped up again, and he continued to score in the basket with an empty cut or a ball-carrying attack basket under Battier's defense.

Erniu and Jordan Jr. were even dragged by Ibaka and Perkins, and they didn't succeed in organizing Sofrosa once.

With Soflosa's difficult three-pointer and another three-pointer from Battier, the difference between the two sides reached double digits again.

Game time is running out quickly, and the Clippers are powerless.

96:102, even though Erniu hit two three-pointers in the next moments, it still couldn't help the team save the defeat.

2:1, the Thunder pulled back a game at the home of G3!