Chapter 400: The Turnaround Starts Now!
Bidding farewell to Da Yao, Xu Xuan once again threw himself into intense training.
Xu Xuan didn't pay attention to the following draft draw, but he only knew that in the end, the Philadelphia 76ers drew the top pick, the Lakers drew the list, and the Celtics drew the Tanhua pick.
Since entering the rebuilding period, the 76ers have tried to build a core roster through the draft, but in the past few years, they have been at the bottom of the league for a long time, but they have not been able to get the coveted No. 1 pick. In the regular season this season, the 76ers have a record of 10 wins and 72 losses, which is the bottom of the league.
This year, the 76ers finally got the top pick. It's worth mentioning that the last time the 76ers won the No. 1 pick in history was back in 1996, when they chose Allen Iverson.
For the second year in a row, the Los Angeles Lakers picked up two-way guard D'Angelo Russell from Ohio State.
The Boston Celtics' pick came from the Nets.
On May 21, the G3 battle of the Pacers and Cavaliers series finally began.
Returning to the home court to play this time is naturally a different feeling for the Pacers players.
The noisy shouting and scolding was gone, replaced by cheers and cheers in the sky.
In the playoffs, there is still a big difference between home and away, otherwise there are not so many teams that will hit the rankings at the last moment, don't you just want to play at home again.
In this game, in the MVP cheers in the sky, Xu Xuan once again played a full 48-minute game.
Now even those Cavaliers fans in front of the TV have some admiration for Xu Xuan.
This hanging man is really a big mess.
can play three games in a row, or in the East finals.
This Nima couldn't even think of it.
However, although Xu Xuan played the full 48 minutes in this game, the final winner was still the Cavaliers.
After losing the first game, the Cavaliers pulled back two games in a row to push the big score to a 2-1 lead!
The Cavaliers are starting to get on the bandwagon.
In this game, the old man shot 7 of 13 and 9 of 17 free throws, and scored a super triple-double of 23 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds.
Irving finished with 26 points, three assists and four rebounds on 12-of-22 shooting.
Love had 19 points, three assists and five rebounds.
The Big Three combined for 68 points, 17 assists and 20 rebounds.
This statistic seems to be down from the previous game, but it is even more intense than the previous one.
In this game, Xu Xuan scored 30+ points again, and his scoring ability still dominated the whole court, but the rest of the Pacers began to show varying degrees of fatigue.
The likes of Lavoy and Pickle Pepper are fine, and veterans like West and Hibbert are having fitness problems.
Hibbert, in particular, is likely to miss the next game, or even all of the Pacers' remaining games.
His tendons and ankles couldn't bear him running back and forth like this, and something was going to happen if he was running.
As mentioned earlier, the veterans of West and Hibbert, who have a lot of playoff experience, are the most indispensable part of the Pacers' road to winning the championship, but now something is wrong with the veterans.
It's starting to get harder.
However, the Pacers fans were not disappointed, and they were still very determined and enthusiastic to cheer for the team after the game.
They were challengers in the first place, and the fact that they were falling behind now doesn't mean anything.
And the fans on the Pacers' side couldn't be happy, although it was 2-1, but the kid named Xu Xuan on the opposite side still played the whole game, and they are really worried about whether Xu Xuan will play the whole game in the future.
The Cavaliers won away from home, leading 2-1.
This makes the odds of the Pacers in the major markets jump up.
No way, judging from the current situation, the Pacers really don't seem to have a chance, and the Cavaliers will definitely not stupidly send this advantage back, as long as they play steadily, the Pacers have no chance at all.
The next day.
The third battle between the Warriors and the Thunder also began.
The Thunder also returned to their home court in this game, but the result was different from the Pacers' side.
Durant only played in the first three quarters, scoring 33 points and 8 rebounds, and Willow did not play in the fourth quarter, scoring 30 points, 12 assists and 8 rebounds, and even Roberson scored a double-double today.
The Thunder team turned into Thor, and the big hammer was a bombardment of the Warriors.
The previous two games were tied 1-1, and the Warriors lost home-court advantage. They were aiming to win at least one of their two away games, but they fell behind in the first half of the day and fell apart in the third quarter.
With 8:35 left in the first quarter, Curry hit an unreasonable three-pointer to put the Warriors up 9-8, but it was their last lead of the game. The Thunder shot over 50 percent from the field on 23-of-44 shooting in the first half, and scored 23 points from 25 free throws, with Durant contributing 23 points and six rebounds, and Willis scoring 16 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
The Warriors shot just 19-of-55 from the field, shooting just 34 percent from the field and scoring just four free throws to score three points. In rebounding, the Warriors were at a 19-33 deficit.
They trailed by 25 points in the first half, the most the Warriors had since April 22, 2014, when they trailed the Clippers by 26 points (the Warriors ultimately lost by 40 points).
The Thunder played more and more smoothly, while the Warriors' defense began to crumble, and the gap between the two sides continued to widen in the third quarter. With 5:07 left in the quarter, Robertson received a pass from Willis and hit a three-pointer with no defender left unguarded to give the Thunder a 95-59 lead.
There was no suspense about the outcome of the battle, and the two sides let the main force rest in the last quarter. The Thunder finally lost the momentum of the first three quarters, their shooting percentage began to decline, and they didn't play aggressively enough, and the Warriors' bench players couldn't do a miracle and could only narrow the gap slightly.
In this game, Duraire really played with style, scoring 33 points in the third quarter of the playoffs, which is already very terrifying.
Didn't you see Xu Xuan playing for 48 minutes, only 30+, 60 points is also a rare time.
If the Thunder win, the Cavaliers will have even lower odds to win the championship.
There is no way, the Warriors' two losses can only show one point, they are unstable, they are not as stable as the Cavaliers.
They may have an accident, assuming that it is really the Warriors who turned the tables and finally reached the Finals to meet the Cavaliers, and everyone is now bullish on the Cavaliers rather than the Warriors.
No matter how well you play in the regular season, you don't know how much you pulled your hips in the playoffs.
And the odds on the Warriors' side to win the championship are decreasing, so the next game is important for the Warriors!
If they lose the next game, they will face a 3-1 situation.
Of course, the same goes for walkers.
The two brothers and sisters happened to have the same record, and those "ancient blows" and "middle shots" stood up again and attacked the three-point shot.
After all, the Pacers and the Warriors are both known for their three-point shooting, and they are currently the two most ferocious three-point shooting teams in the league.
But now there is a tendency to pull the crotch, how could those ancient blowers not seize this opportunity.
For a while, the saying that any three-point shot is mentally retarded and that only hand-to-hand combat is the king is flying.
Hand-to-hand combat is okay, at least Xu Xuan is not averse to this kind of attack.
But in today's league, in the era when you encounter sweat and hair, you will foul, and the scene of bloody fighting in the 90s can only be seen in WWE.
Soon, the time came for the fourth game between the Pacers and the Cavaliers.
From a distance, the whole body of the greenhouse-style circular building is shining, like a super-powerful generator.
The arena is now full.
Before Xu Xuan's arrival, the attendance of the Bankers' Life Arena was not very high.
But now, attendance at almost every game is horrible!
Fans know that this game is important.
If the Pacers lose this game, they will be 3-1, and the probability of advancing is basically zero.
Want to turn the tables 3-1?
It's too difficult.
So far, there have been a total of 9 teams in the NBA that have come back in a 3-1 playoff situation.
They are: Celtics 1968, Lakers 1970, Washington Bullets 1979, Celtics 1981, Rockets 1995, Heat 1997, Pistons 2003, Suns 2006, Mosaic 2015.
Among them, Celtic twice completed the comeback in a desperate situation of 3-1.
How else can it be said to be a wealthy family?
But the Pacers fans are also sensible, they don't make noise, they just cheer the players on the in.
They don't want to put pressure on the players, and that pressure can be motivating but it can have a negative effect.
If you want to win this game, you must stabilize the morale of the army and let go of the fight.
"Hello viewers, this is the live broadcast of the NBA2015-2016 Eastern Conference Finals G4 game on the sports channel, against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Indiana Pacers, and the Pacers are at home." Yu Jia continued: "Hello everyone, I'm Yu Jia, and today we still invited Coach Zhang to explain this very important game with me. ”
Next to him, Zhang Lili also said hello to the audience, and then nodded in agreement with Yu Jia's statement: "This game is very important, it is very important for both sides, if the Pacers lose, the big score is 3-1, basically it has gone far, and if the Cavaliers lose, the big score will become a 2-2 draw, then this round of the series is likely to be dragged to the tie-break, which is absolutely unacceptable for the Cavaliers, they definitely don't want to tie seven." ”
Yu Jia nodded, yes, how could the Cavaliers want to tie seven?
They wish they could finish the Pacers in four games and then prepare enough energy to prepare for the finals, and now spend more energy, and the finals will be less energy, and they will still calculate this account clearly.
"So, this game is going to be quite bloody! Please prepare in advance, this game may be more intense than we imagined! ”
Scene.
The starting lists of both sides are shown on the big screen.
On the Pacers' side, Xu Xuan still appeared in the starting list.
In addition, they are still paired with the same regular-season lineup, CJ Myers, Paul George, PJ Tucker and Javier McGee.
In fact, many people didn't expect Tucker and McGee to perform so well.
Performances during the regular season aside, the 11 games in the playoffs alone are impressive enough.
Tucker is currently averaging 37.4 minutes per game, averaging 11.4 points per game, in addition to 1.7 assists, 7.5 rebounds, 0.7 blocks and 1.7 steals, shooting 45.5% from the field and 45.6% from three-point range, which is higher than Xu Xuandu.
As the main player on the defensive end of the Pacers, he also has a defensive efficiency close to 105, and has not allowed anyone against him to score even a single point in every game.
And although McGee's stats are not as good as Tucker's, he is very active in the basket and plays with opponents every day.
This kind of player is easy to like even if you make a slight mistake.
There's no way, this kind of stunned player is everything.
You are fierce to you, I can't understand it anyway.
At Xu Xuan's suggestion, Frank's tactics for McGee were simple and could be completed almost without brains.
There is no best, only the most suitable.
On the Cavaliers' side, the G4 series is still the lineup of the previous games.
The start of the Big Three is in conjunction with JR and TT.
They must maintain their athletic ability or they will be killed by the walkers.
Bang!
While the fans were cheering on, McGee jumped to the basketball and got the first offense for the Pacers.
This is the third time McGee has won the opponent with a jump ball, and TT's nose is about to be crooked, but there is no way, McGee is too fierce and jumps like a monkey.
In the first attack, Xu Xuan was not in a hurry, and patiently transferred the ball on the outside.
Game 4 of the playoffs, in fact, the guys are all out, and now it's up to you to see if you can hold it.
This attack, to CJ Myers in the bottom corner, missed the three-point shot.
The rebound was protected by TT, and James on the Cavaliers' side took the lead, straight through the middle, and Irving had a chance on the outside, and he shot a three-point volley.
Nor did it.
Both teams opened the game with one empty three-pointer each.
The rebound was taken by Pickled Pepper, and Xu Xuan motioned for him to push forward by himself.
In the front court, after a cover, Pickled Pepper directly distributed the ball to McGee, who pulled it up and scored directly.
The Cavaliers' defense was slack, or rather, their energy was too much to be had.
Xu Xuan without the ball is even more difficult to defend than Xu Xuan with the ball, just like that, JR has been thrown away by him twice, if it weren't for the Cavaliers' timely defense, Xu Xuan would have been able to get a vacant opportunity.
0-2, Cavaliers attack.
James opened up the space in the front court and went directly to the inside.
The ball broke through.
Love covered on the wing, TT blocked McGee, and Tucker stepped up after James hit the basket.
Facing James, he pulled out a hot pot hat on the spot!
James gets capped!
There were bursts of uncontrollable cheers from the scene.
Yu Jia also praised Tucker for playing this ball hard, it was James who rushed over, Tucker rushed up like this, and the hat fell off, it's not simple!
The role players of the Pacers are not favored by everyone, after all, Tucker and McGee are not well-known at this stage, and West and Hibbert are too old to support George Hill and CJ Myers in the eyes of outsiders, but they didn't expect McGee and Tucker to give them such a surprise.