Chapter 122: Defending the Home Field
Ibaka hit both free throws, Kings serve in the backcourt, and Isaiah hits the ball. Thomas dribbled across the halfcourt, hit a two-point pull-up jumper, and the game was over!
In the end, the Kings lost 104-109 at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder, suffering three consecutive defeats and a record of 20-10.
However, although the game was lost, after the game, the home fans still gave their home team a long applause, and in the absence of three main players, the team still fought with the Thunder, the league's No. 1 record, to the last minute, such a performance is enough to win people's respect.
The Thunder team Durant scored 42 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists in luxury data, Westbrook also contributed 23 points, 9 rebounds and 14 assists in the quasi-triple-double data, Harden also performed well off the bench, scoring 21 points, the Thunder played perfectly, in this case, the Kings can still bite the score In addition to the team's iron-blooded defense today, the most important thing is Tyreck's super play.
Tyrek played almost the whole game, scoring 61 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, 61 points is not only Tyreek's career high, but also the league's single-game personal highest score this season, and it is also the single-game personal highest score in Kings team history!
Looking at the entire history of the NBA, there are only a handful of players who can score more than 60 points in a game, which is not a well-known name! Just today, Terek has become one of them, entering the 60+ club!
After the game, all the media praised Terek, but in the post-match press conference, Tyrek did not pay too much attention to the great things he had created, and Tyreco kept emphasizing that the team is now suffering three consecutive defeats, the team is still in trouble, and no record of winning is worth mentioning.
But the outside world has seen the potential of the Kings from this game, with Cousins, West, Cuaron. In the absence of the three Butlers, relying on Tyrek to lead a group of role players to make the talented Thunder team almost capsize, no one dares to underestimate this Kings team that lacks soldiers and major generals, can force the Thunder team to such a situation, and who can say that they can beat them steadily?
However, the Kings will not be satisfied with being able to fight with the Thunder until the last minute, and if they lose, they will lose, and at this time their record has been overtaken by the Spurs and Clippers, and they have suddenly fallen to the fourth place in the West, and the Kings urgently need a victory at the moment.
From the game against the Thunder, it was proved that the team's tactics of focusing on defensive counterattacks are feasible in the absence of three main players, and as long as everyone tightens the clockwork and maintains the concentration on the court, the Kings still have a competitive strength in the future games.
The next five games are still taking place in Sacramento, against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors.
Two days later, the final regular season meeting between the Kings and the Timberwolves kicked off at Sleep Train Arena.
In the previous three meetings, the Kings had a 2-1 record, and this season's Timberwolves are now 14-16, a big improvement from last season's 17-65 record, and three more wins will catch up with last season's wins, and this season is still a shortened season.
Timberwolves star Kevin Brown. Love was named to the All-Star team for the second time this season, and the Spanish golden boy Ricky who landed in the NBA this season. Rubio also showed good organizational skills, and was promoted to the starting strong European interior Nicola Murphy. Pekovic also became an ideal interior partner for Lefou, and the draft selected Derrick for the top spot. Williams, although Tyrek knew he would eventually become a parallel commodity, he was a promising future star in the eyes of the outside world at this time.
In the absence of Cousins, West, Cuarón. After Butler, the book strength of the Kings is not necessarily much higher than that of the Timberwolves, purely from the perspective of staffing, the two teams can be said to be half a pound at this time.
Against the Timberwolves, the Kings' starting lineup was the same as when they played against the Thunder, with Evans, Jimmy, Garcia, Farid, and Whiteside starting the game, and the Timberwolves sent Ricky. Rubio, Luke. Ridnow, Wesley. Johnson, Kevin. Lefou, Nicola. Pekovic started the five-man group.
After the last game against the league's No. 1 Thunder team, the Kings felt a lot less pressure against the Timberwolves in this game, and the Kings, who continued to insist on iron-blooded defense, caused a lot of trouble for the Timberwolves.
Wesley, who was named to the All-Rookie Second Team last season. Johnson is still heavily used this season, but his already unremarkable stats have also declined across the board. Johnson's on-court performances are gradually validating what Terek said last season that he was a parallel import.
The game Wesley. Johnson was completely blown up by Garcia, who has greatly reduced playing time this season, on both offensive and defensive ends, and the Timberwolves' backcourt is even more prone to mistakes under Jimmy's defense, and Pekovic's strong but slow meat shield interior performance is ordinary under Whiteside's defense.
The only one who has maintained a high level of performance is their All-Star interior Kevin. Lefou, Kevin who can be inside and out. Love shot 12-of-22 from the field and 2-of-4 from beyond the three-point line, scoring a big double-double of 33 points and 15 boards.
However, no matter how well a person plays, it is impossible to match a team, just like in the last game, even if Tyreco scored a team record of 61 points, it was still a fine line away from the Thunder Three, who all played well, not to mention the Kings and Tyrek that Love faced.
Tyrek played in this game with the determination to end the losing streak for the team, continued the firepower output of the previous game, and once again scored 48 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists! It fully demonstrates the strength of a super all-round scorer!
In the end, the Kings defeated the visiting Timberwolves 113-102 at home, avoiding a four-game losing streak and defending their home court, and all four meetings between the Kings and the Timberwolves in the regular season this season were over, and the Kings held an absolute advantage of 3-1.
The win over the Timberwolves gave the Kings more confidence at a time before the injured team returns, and there are still many challenges ahead. However, although the team is now moving forward in difficulties, it has given more playing time to the young players in the team who have not had many opportunities, and in this adversity, people can be more trained, stimulate their potential, and let the young players in the team grow. At the same time, Tyrek, the absolute core of the team, has also become more aware of his responsibilities as a leader during this difficult time, and he is slowly moving towards a better version of himself......