Chapter 443: Spring Breeze Triumphant Durant
With a home win over the Orlando Magic, the SuperSonics also moved to 14-2.
When beating the Magic, the SuperSonics really didn't expect that a win in this game would allow them to close the gap to the second-place Rockets in the West.
The Rockets faced the Golden State Warriors back-to-back on November 29, 2007 after a battle of the century.
In the end, the Rockets lost to the Warriors with a score of 113-114 on the road.
This game between the Rockets and the Warriors is not the first back-to-back game of the season for the Rockets.
But it was the Rockets' first game of the season.
In this game, the Rockets chose the three leading players of the rotation rest team, Yao Ming, Maddie and Roy.
In this game against the Warriors, the Rockets' starting lineup is Karl Landry, Louis Scola, Gerard Wallace, Artest and Aaron Brooks.
The Warriors are now the twelfth team in the West, and although they are only the twelfth in the West, the Warriors are not weak, just because there are eleven teams in the West that are stronger than them.
The Rockets' back-to-back losses to the Warriors on the road didn't make the Rockets feel weak.
On the contrary, the power of the rocket makes people have a more intuitive understanding.
As the Rockets' bench inside, Landry and Scola actually scored 40 points together in this game!
The Big Three took turns to rest, and in the face of the strong team Warriors, they still played inextricably.
The Warriors are not an Eastern Conference team!
Even if there are many strong teams in the West now, the only one who can do the three bosses of the team can still play inextricably with a team like the Warriors.
Even if it is the Suns, if the Suns take turns to rest Nash, Stoudemire and Marion, they will definitely be cut by the Warriors!
But in any case, a loss is a loss.
After losing to the Warriors, the Rockets' record came to 15-2, and they were only half a win away from the 14-2 of the SuperSonics!
On November 30, 2007, on the last day of November, the Seattle SuperSonics took on the challenge of the Eastern Conference powerhouse Pacers.
The Pacers have been a breath of fresh air in the East this year.
This team has changed a lot this summer.
Last season's head coach, Rick Carlisle, who was known as the Yes Finisher, chose to leave the team to join the Mavericks.
One of the centerpieces of the team last season, Thorn Stephen Jackson left the Pacers for the Spurs.
Jamal Tinsley, one of the team's cores last season and one of the NBA's top three Rondo-style point guards, followed Carlisle to the Mavericks.
This is a team where the head coach is gone, and the two cores of the team are gone.
Generally speaking, such a team is definitely going to be reduced to a fish belly.
What is surprising is that the Pacers have a pretty good record this season, with a 7-9 record so far this season.
That record puts the Pacers in fifth place in the East.
The Pacers' performance under new leader Danny Granger has been quite impressive.
This game against the SuperSonics is the second stop on the Pacers' road trip to the West.
The first stop for the Pacers was Portland, where they lost 95-99 on the road to the Trail Blazers led by Aldridge, Conley and Webster, Gortat and others.
Next up are the Pacers playing the SuperSonics, Clippers, Suns and Mavericks in the West.
This western tour for the Pacers is not as ferocious as the Orlando Magic.
But for most Eastern Conference teams, this season's trip to the West will be a nightmare.
Whether it's against the so-called Fish Belly Clippers, Trail Blazers and Timberwolves, or against the Rockets and Suns, they can't win anyway.
Of course, this is for most of the Eastern teams that are not pursuing.
The Pacers are certainly not an Eastern Conference team without pursuits.
In fact, the Pacers are a very aspiring Eastern Conference team.
The Pacers are rebuilding this season, and if the rebuilt Pacers make the playoffs in the weak East this year, it will be a huge reward for the Pacers.
In order to achieve their goal of making the playoffs, the Pacers' road trip to the West was very brutal, but the team's new head coach, Jim O'Brien, still had a lot of ideas.
Jim O'Brien spent ten years as an assistant coach and head coach with the Celtics and had a relatively successful experience with the 76ers.
It can be said that he is a very experienced manager.
It's also quite powerful.
Such a head coach has a lot of ideas relatively speaking.
His plan for the Pacers' trip to the West was to give up games that seemed impossible to win and try to win games that seemed winnable.
Definitely don't learn the negative teaching material of the Cleveland Cavaliers, they have already arrived in the West, and they still think that they are a strong team, and they think that they are the chosen ones, they want everything, and in the end they can only suffer six consecutive defeats!
In the end, he was humiliated by a team like the Clippers.
Walkers certainly can't afford to repeat the mistakes of the Knights.
The game that should be abandoned must not be trafficked.
In this five-game Pacers West tour, the SuperSonics and the Suns are definitely going to give up, and the gap is too big.
The Trail Blazers and Clippers are going to try for victory.
And in the last game with the Mavericks, you can't give up, as long as you have the strength left, you will strive for an upset.
What's more, playing the Mavericks is so special for the Pacers, this is a team led by the team's former head coach Carlisle.
How can a successor prove that he is better than his predecessor?
Of course, it was a direct KO of the ex!
Jim O'Brien's idea is very good.
But to O'Brien's great embarrassment, the Pacers, who went all out in the first game, lost to the Trail Blazers.
This game really taught O'Brien what it means to 'not be in the West, not know how weak you are'.
After playing this game against the Trail Blazers, O'Brien was frustrated, but also happy.
How many places are the Trail Blazers in the West right now?
Suns, Rockets, SuperSonics, Spurs, Lakers, Grizzlies, Nuggets, Thunder, Mavericks, Jazz, Clippers, Warriors, Trail Blazers, Timberwolves, Kings.
The Trail Blazers are only 13th in the West this season!
According to O'Brien's estimates, this season, no team in the East, except for the Celtics, dares to guarantee that they will enter the playoffs in the West!
It's also too brutal.
He, the fifth-best team in the East, doesn't look like even the bottom three teams in the West.
It's no wonder that the Cavaliers' hard-powered team ran around the West and lost them all.
It stands to reason that even if James and the Cavaliers want everything, it won't stop there.
Every Eastern team will play 30 games this season as a Western team.
The results of these 30 games against Western teams will directly determine the top eight rankings in the Eastern Conference this season!
After the loss to the Trail Blazers, O'Brien now has no idea of defending two and three.
Winning one of these five games is a gift from God.
Of course, in this race against the supersonic, it is time to give up or to give up.
In the end, in the face of the Pacers, who beat themselves twice last season, the SuperSonics easily defeated this Eastern Conference powerhouse 115-93 at home.
At the end of the game against the Pacers, Ye Si could clearly feel the ugly face of the new Pacers Granger.
Granger couldn't help but hug Ye Si and leave the arena with a cold face.
The team gave up the game, and that was the manager's consideration.
But giving up too much, there will always be side effects.
Not everyone in the NBA has the same heart as a head coach.
In this game, the Pacers gave up more than just a team victory.
And Granger's dream of becoming famous in one fell swoop.
Granger has been preparing for this game for a long time.
Looking at Granger's unhappy back, the supersonic players were very happy.
Who wants to stay on such a team if there is no way?
Who doesn't want wins, data and big contracts if there is no real way?
It's just that most of the players can't do it.
They were lucky.
Most of them have been with Yes from the beginning.
Wins, stats, big contracts, all of them.
Compared to Rondo, Durant, Millsap and other real rookies.
Kwame Brown, Milicic and Quentin Richardson, who have suffered in the past, are more sympathetic to Granger's mood right now.
After beating the Pacers at home, the SuperSonics moved to 15-2.
This is the same record as the second-place Rockets in the West, but because of the rules of the same region, the Seattle SuperSonics are still ranked behind the Rockets, third in the West and third in the league.
But even so, when the supersonic record and the rocket came to the same level, it still drove the media and experts across the United States crazy.
Until then, the Rockets and Suns had been the first group teams in the West.
There are only two First Group teams in the entire league and in the West.
Now that 17 games have been played, more than 1/5, the SuperSonics still haven't fallen from the third place in the West, and they have temporarily squeezed into the first group!
The current record of the supersonic is indeed a surprise to everyone.
It is precisely because of this that on December 1, the league announced the best player of the month in the East and West, and on the most watched side of the West, Ye Si defeated Nash and Yao Ming, two fierce rivals, to win the Western Conference of the Month.
For the entire month of November, the Seattle SuperSonics had a 14-2 record and the Suns had a 15-game winning record!
Throughout November, Yes's stats were 31 points, 7 rebounds and 12 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.
Throughout November, Nash averaged 28.5 points and 8.5 assists per game.
In terms of record, Nash is certainly the best man of the month, with 15 consecutive wins in a single month, which is rare in the history of the NBA.
Of course, Yes's current performance of 31 points and 12 assists in a single month is also quite rare in the NBA.
And this month, Yees also had a miracle of 82 minutes and 35.13 seconds in a single game.
After the league announced the Western Conference's monthly awards, Nash immediately expressed his congratulations in an interview.
"The award of the Great Teacher is well deserved, and it is an honor to be defeated by the Great Teacher in the month of total victory!"
Nash looked genuinely excited during the interview.
It may seem controversial that the Western Conference of the Month award was not awarded to the all-winning Nash, but there is actually no controversy.
And on the other award, it's really controversial.
That's the Rookie of the Month award!
There's no suspense about the Rookie of the Month in the East, with the Hawks' Al Horford averaging a double-double throughout November, the best of any rookie in the East.
The key is on the Western side, where the league's Rookie of the Month of the month went to Durant......
Statistically speaking, the Western Conference of the Month has no problem with Durant at all.
Durant is now the core workhorse of the Seattle SuperSonics, who are now third in the West.
Seattle's current record is also an astonishing 15-2.
What's more, Durant's current statistics are also quite ferocious, averaging 42 minutes per game, and his average data per game in a single month has also reached an astonishing 34.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.2 steals.
When a rookie player with 33+4+1+1+1 data leads the team to a 15-2 record, if he can't win the best of the month, it is the real shady.
What can be controversial about this?
But in fact, Durant's data really can't be studied in detail.
With an average of 34.5 points per game, ranking among the current scoring champions, Durant is about to become the fifth rookie scoring champion in NBA history, which is really shocking the world.
In the pre-game interview for the first game at the beginning of the season, the statement that Durant of Yes would not affect the team's record even if he won the scoring title is still true.
No matter how much the SuperSonics won before, most people were actually still skeptical, with Durant's strength, is the price that a team like SuperSonics can afford to train him to be a scoring champion?
Now the first month has passed.
Supersonic not only withstood it, but it withstood it perfectly!
Third in the West, with a record with the Rockets, should you be so ferocious?
It is said that this year's western region is very ferocious.
Compared to the supersonic record, any ferocity has become less ferocious!
It's just that every time I see Durant's shooting percentage and number of shots, it's really hard to calm down!
With an average of 33 shots per game, the shooting percentage per game is only a little more than 34%, and if it weren't for the fact that Durant's shooting percentage has increased a little in recent games, Durant's shooting percentage is actually just over 34%.
The top scorer with a shooting percentage of 34%!
In the history of the NBA, there is only one scoring champion with a shooting percentage of less than 40% from the field, and Iverson in the 01-02 season.
Iverson shot 39.8 percent from the field that season, which was more than 5 percentage points higher than Durant!
Don't look at it as just five percentage points, this is the difference between Nick Young and Kobe this season!
Then there's Durant's average of 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocks per game, which looks pretty good.
But his defense is too easy to lose position, defending with the ball is excellent, but defending without the ball is a disaster!
Regardless of the strength shown on both offensive and defensive ends, Durant was blown out by Oden, who is now averaging 18 points, 11 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.
They would love to say that Durant's scoring title is brushed.
But what makes them helpless is that the supersonic record is so good, saying that Durant can't find an argument basis!
I could only watch Durant smile and lift the Rookie of the Month trophy.
In the end, they can only sigh that Yes's ability to train teammates is too strong.
This is a complete anomaly of the Chosen One!
Durant has been quite proud lately.
He had just beaten Auden to lift the Rookie of the Month trophy amid the world's malice and boos.
And......
"KD: Congratulations, you have fully adapted to this weight in two months, and now move on to the next stage of the two-month weight gain plan of 2 kilograms."
Scott Brooks' expression was complicated.
"Work hard."
The smile on Yes's face made Rondo jealous and supersonic up and down.
It also makes Durant excited!