Chapter 407, Championship Ownership (II)
At this time, in addition to Harden, who broke out first, Durant also came out of the half-time slump, and after the Spurs narrowed the gap to 4 points, he shot back and caused a foul, and scored 3 points with free throws, and the Thunder extended the gap again at 93-86. Mobile
After Spurs teenager Leonard received a strong hit from the tackle and returned a shot, Durant drifted and shot again, and then the Spurs blossomed more, but Durant had an excellent hand, and scored twice in a row, with 2 minutes and 48 seconds left in the game, he scored an empty relay basket and caused a foul, and after adding free throws, he extended the advantage to 100-90.
Then Durant felt hot, and then shot again, covering all 16 points of the Thunder during this period, although Leonard hit two three-pointers, but the Thunder could return the color every time, and Harden was not to be outdone After hitting a three-point shot, the Thunder led 105-96 into the final minute.
The Spurs couldn't close the gap to within six points, and Durant made two free throws with 20.5 seconds left before the end to give the Thunder a 108-100 lead to seal the win.
Durant only scored 8 points in the half, but scored 18 points in the fourth quarter, contributing 36 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds in the game, Ibaka shot 11 from 11, surpassing Yao Ming's 9 shots that year, ranking second in NBA history playoffs shooting, with 26 points and 3 blocks, Harden also exerted his strength in the final quarter, scoring 11 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds.
The Thunder only had Westbrook 10 shots and only 2, 7 points and 5 assists, although there were media reports before the game that Harden went to a nightclub, but according to the game, the person who went to the nightclub seemed to be Westbrook.
The Spurs lost two in a row, Duncan scored 21 points and 8 rebounds, Leonard had 17 points and 9 rebounds, Parker 12 points, Dio 12 points and 7 rebounds, and Ginoli contributed 13 points, but made 6 turnovers.
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The Western Spurs and the Thunder drew 2-2, and the East was the same as agreed, the Heat won two cities at home, but they were dizzy by the Green Army when they arrived away, and even the little emperor in the fourth game made 6 fouls to leave the game, you must know that James has been in the league for almost ten seasons, and there are very few cases where 6 fouls are full, which shows how difficult the Heat plays.
Falling behind 2-0, Celtic will have to give it their all if they want to save this season, and if they fall into the abyss of falling behind 0-3, it will almost mean the end of the season.
The Celtics worked hard enough to push the Heat into overtime, but unfortunately it fell short. The "Big Three" and Rondo combined for 96 points, the most since the four got together, but Pierce was out with six fouls late in the fourth quarter, and the Celtics ended up with overtime. Celtic haven't come back from 2-0 down since 1969. Both history and the present situation are against the Celts, and they must rise up.
If the Celtics want to win, it's not enough for the Big Three to come forward, and Rondo has to keep his form in both games, because once his form is up and down, it's definitely the rhythm of the Celtics.
After the opening, the Celtics, who were already desperate, wanted to take advantage of the situation to solve the opponent's heat, and the two teams started the game directly with an attack. In the first half of the first quarter, James took 6 of the Heat's 9 shots, and in the first half, James shook off Pierce to make a basket, and the Heat led 19-18, but 14 seconds later, Pierce hit a step-back jumper, and the Celtics overtook again.
James then scored back-to-back shots, including a three-pointer, and the Heat took a 28-22 advantage. Unfortunately, in the last 2 minutes and 38 seconds of the quarter, James missed three consecutive shots, and the Heat failed to score again, and the Celtics scored six points in a row to exceed 30-28.
The Heat took a total of 18 shots in the quarter, with James himself accounting for 12, Wade and Turiaf each shooting one, and Chalmers shooting 2 out of four.
As for the Celtics, the problem that many fans were worried about before the game really appeared, it was the problem of the life rate, and everyone else was very good, but Pierce and Rondo were the two, Pierce was okay, 9 shots hit 4 goals, although the hit rate was only 44%, but there was Rondo in his life rate was very high, and Rondo shot 0 out of 4! Whether it was distance or three-point shooting, he missed all the shots in the first quarter, and only relied on free throws to score 2 points in the first quarter.
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Although the Heat were in a difficult situation, others could only rely on James for inefficiency, and they failed to score after playing 4 minutes and 32 seconds in the second quarter, counting the first quarter, they had not scored a point in seven minutes, while the Celtics slightly found the feeling to complete a 17-2 attack wave and lead 39-30.
It wasn't until 5:57 left in the quarter that the Heat turned around and shot a shot from James, but they still couldn't get their groove back. The Heat missed another shot in the final 2:12 of the quarter, and Ray Allen hit a three-pointer before the end of the quarter, and the Celtics scored five straight points to end the half with a 55-42 lead.
A game for the Heat benefited from 47 free throws, but today they didn't have the advantage in free throws, Wade didn't even get a free throw in the first half, and James only made 1 of 5 free throws.
Although the half-court performance, Heat fans were mentally prepared, but Wade's offensive desire today was not particularly strong, and the gap between the two sides began to widen in the third quarter. With 7:09 left in the quarter, Daniels hit a buzzer-shot shot and scored a 3-pointer with free throws to give the Heat a 21-point lead at 67-46.
In the case of Wade not opening a tie for a long time, James had to continue to attack and score consecutive games after that, but the Celtics returned the color every time, and the two sides maintained a nearly 20-point advantage. With 4.2 seconds left in the quarter, Pierce made a decisive three-pointer and the Celtics went into the final quarter 85-62.
The big score behind finally burned, and the fourth quarter fought back, and in the absence of desire to score, Wade delivered three extremely comfortable assists, the beneficiary was Mike Miller, who also hit three three-pointers when he played less than halfway through the fourth quarter, and the Heat started the quarter 19-6.
After playing halfway through the quarter, the score was tied at 82-91. Garnett's dunk was also in color, Rondo was also on the fast break, and the Celtics held their ground.
With 2:24 left in the game, Wade scored a dunk to put the Heat up 89-97. That was the end of the Heat's comeback as they continued to shoot back-to-back baskets while Garnett and Rondo scored two points each to give the Celtics a 101-89 lead as the game entered the final minute. The Heat finally gave up and pulled out all of their main forces, and the Celtics also let the starting five rest.
James scored 20 points in the half and contributed 34 points, eight rebounds and five assists, Wade missed the free throw line and had 18 points and four assists, and Chalmers had 14 points and six assists.
Garnett had 24 points and 11 rebounds, Pierce 23, Rondo 21 points, 10 assists and six rebounds, and Ray Allen 10 points and five rebounds.
The next game is still home to Celtic. After the Heat lost one game, it is possible to let Bosh play, once the Heat lacks offensive points, the scoring pressure is all on James, although Wade scored 18 points in this game, but it is slightly sluggish.
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The Eastern and Western finals will be extremely similar, and if the Celtics win Game 3 against the Heat again, it will be exactly the same, and the team will win on their home court.
So in the playoffs, why grab the home advantage, because only after the home defeat is the real beginning, and the two teams have not yet entered the most tense stage.
And in the playoffs, another major factor in winning "free throws" is also a bellwether that affects the outcome of the game.
In the second game, the Heat made a total of 47 free throws, Wade and James caused kills at the free throw line again and again, and in the third game, Wade failed to get a free throw opportunity, and James only made 5 free throws.
Before the start of the fourth game, Wade gave an interview, saying that the slump in the third game will not carry over to the fourth, and they are confident that they will take a win in Boston.
It's a pity that he couldn't get back his feeling after the opening, and his 5-shot 1-shot hit rate is not as good as 1-1 in a game! And the Heat got into trouble earlier.
Rondo scored two consecutive breakaways shortly after opening the game and the Celtics started the game on a 6-0 run. After nearly 4 minutes of play, the Heat only shot one shot, and the first 4 points came from Chalmers. The Celtics went from strength to strength, with Pierce and Ray Allen hitting back-to-back three-pointers to give the Celtics a 15-point lead at 21-6 halfway through the quarter. Nine minutes after the game,
Wade still didn't score a point, and with 2:35 left in the quarter, he finally broke through the basket to make it 17-23 for the Heat. At the end of the first quarter, the Heat trailed 23-34.
Ray Allen and Durin hit back-to-back three-pointers at the start of the second quarter to give the Celtics a 17-point advantage at 45-28. The Heat managed to find their defensive touch and didn't let their opponent shoot for the next three minutes.
Wade finally got a free throw opportunity, with 4 minutes and 24 seconds left in the quarter, Pierce easily passed Battier and prepared an easy basket, Wade shot out from behind, grabbed the ball directly from Pierce's hand with his head and face, and directly went down the fast break to cause a foul, and after two free throws, the Heat chased the score to 36-49.
Despite the improvement defensively, the Heat were unable to close the gap to single digits. With 1:31 left in the quarter, Allen hit another three-pointer to give the Celtics a 61-43 lead. At halftime, the Celtics held a 61-46 advantage.
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In the second half, the Heat fought back with a 10-4 run to make it 56-65, while the Celtics shot just two shots in the first seven minutes of the third quarter, and although Ray Allen and Doerin stepped up again to hit three-pointers to bring the deficit back to double digits, the final two and a half minutes of the quarter were scoreless.
Wade, who had been in the doldrums, began to go berserk, hitting two shots, including a three-pointer, and the Heat trailed by only five points at 68-73 after three quarters.
The Celtics scored 61 points in the half, but the third quarter dropped in the third quarter under strict defense, scoring only 12 points, if you just look at it this way, it is definitely the Celtics who are limited by the Heat's defense, don't you know that the Heat only scored 21 points in this quarter, is it a problem of the shooting rate? The Heat 178 Celtics 165, the difference is not very big.
What really narrowed the gap between the two teams was free throws, the Heat had a total of 7 fouls in the third quarter, and the Celtics only had 2 kills and 4 chances! The Celtics also fouled 7 times, and the Heat caused 3 inside kills and got 6 free throws, so the gap is not much, and the full free throws are only 2 points away.
But the problem is in the free throw shooting rate, the Heat made 4 of 6 free throws and scored 4 points, while the Celtics only made 1 of 4 free throws and scored 1 point.
A little bit here and a little bit there, causing the Celtics to lose 9 points in a single quarter, the reason why the Heat will further narrow the point difference, most of the time the victory or defeat of the game is caused by inconspicuous small details, such as the famous shark cutting tactics, how to cut, when to cut, who to let go, all need to be considered by the coach, not what you want to use.
The Heat's comeback continues. With 9:19 left in the fourth quarter, Battier received a pass from Wade and hit a three-pointer, Wade followed up with a steal, James scored a fast-break basket, and after Kerr also scored a basket, the Heat completed an 8-1 attack wave and led 76-74 for the first time.
Ray Allen's three-point break gave the Celtics the lead again, and the two sides fought more fiercely, which also made the main players of both sides, James and Pierce, both fight on the court with five fouls on their backs. With 2:56 left in the quarter, James made just one of two free throws and missed a good chance to equalize.
After Garnett returned a one-shot shot, the Celtics led 87-84.
James stepped up at the critical moment, and with 37.5 seconds left in the quarter, he received a pass from Wade and decisively hit a three-pointer, and the Heat tied the score at 89-89. Garnett then fouled on offense, and the last offensive opportunity was left to the Heat, although the Heat head coach's stunner tactics were very good, but they were seen through by the experienced Celtics, and the ball was running off, and Haslem could only make a stunner in a hurry, but the shot was not, and the two sides went into overtime.
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There was no sixth foul in the fourth quarter, but after 38 seconds of overtime, Pierce was whistled for an offensive foul and left the court with a full foul, which kicked the Celtics directly to the edge of the cliff, and then the two teams missed shots one after another, and Haslem dunked with 3:30 left in the game, and the Heat led 91-89.
In the face of the Heat's overtake, the Celtics were not impatient, Daniels made 2 fouls and scored 1 point on 1 free throw, and then the Heat attacked Garnett to send a big hat, Rondo grabbed the ball, scored a fast break basket, and the Celtics exceeded the score again.
With 1 minute and 51 seconds left in overtime, James was also whistled for a foul because of excessive defensive action, committing 6 fouls and leaving the court 6 times, James stands, the Celtics' defensive pressure is greatly reduced, although the Heat score one less, but the Celtics also gave a chance, both teams failed to open the points, and Rondo made only one free throw in 21.4 seconds before the end, only leading 93-91.
The Heat's last shot was given to Wade, who shot from outside the three-point line, but unfortunately failed to die, and the Heat fell short.
The Celtics scored another game at home, narrowly beating the Heat 93-91 in overtime to tie the game 2-2.
Pierce had 23 points and six rebounds, Garnett contributed 17 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks, Rondo had 15 points and 15 assists, and Ray Allen had 16 points. Brandon Bass had 11 points and seven rebounds, and Kenyon Durin had 10 points. All six players in the team scored double-doubles.
James had 29 points, six rebounds and three assists, Wade had 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists on 7-of-22 shooting, Chalmers had two points and Haslem came off the bench to contribute 12 points and 17 rebounds.
The two teams will face off on June 6, and the winner will likely win the series, though the Spurs will take the Thunder first in Game 5 the day before.