Chapter 815: Immature Comrade Donovan
Westbrook had 40 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Durant had 31 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. It seems that the Thunder's double lack of data is very scary, and it stands to reason that the Thunder should not lose.
But the fact that both of them hit less than 40 percent of the field makes the high scoring pointless. Durant and Wei Shao played like crazy, KD shot 12-of-31 from the field and 3-of-11 from three-point range. Wei Shao was not much better, shooting 11 of 28 and 3 of 8 three-pointers, the two of them accounted for the majority of the team's shots, and they still chose to go it alone despite the poor shooting percentage.
Moreover, the two combined had as many as 10 turnovers. The passing path between Westbrook and Durant was cut off by Yiyang and Iguodala, and those mistakes allowed the Mavericks to have a lot of offensive opportunities.
And what about the Mavericks? Yiyang was not obsessed with scoring after his return, although his 38 points were not low, but the performance of 12 assists also allowed the Mavericks to play a five-man double-double performance.
Wade scored 27 points, Dirk 15 points, DeLong 14 points, Iguodala 11 points, plus Yiyang, the Mavericks' offense made the Thunder unguardable.
After the game, Durant had a black line on his face. After Yiyang returned, the Thunder team completely lost their rhythm. The fluid offense is gone, and Durant's comfortable shot is gone.
"Kevin, what do you think of the loss in this game? Will you be able to get back on track after this game? Before Durant could walk into the tunnel of the players, reporters surrounded him.
"We're going to win, and today's loss won't affect the whole series. Back in Oklahoma, we'll advance to the Western Conference Finals. Durant replied angrily that he just wanted to get out of Dallas as soon as possible.
"Even if Westbrook and you play crazy today, you're going to make it to the Western Conference Finals?"
Mougins asked relentlessly, in exchange for Durant's eyes. He didn't answer, but pushed through the crowd and left.
"What do you see in his eyes?" Watching Durant's back disappear into the depths of the tunnel, Mougins asked the photographer next to him.
"Unwilling?" The young photographer replied.
"No, it's fear, boy. Durant was scared, and Yi's return made him not fully sure of the game. Mougins looked at the big screen on the scene, even Oklahoma can't be your refuge, Kevin.
The day after the end of this game, the Thunder were immediately pushed to the forefront. obviously has an advantage, but he was beaten at the center of the American route and was powerless. Everyone is questioning whether the Thunder can still handle the Mavericks.
Billy. Donovan didn't care about the media's cynicism about the Thunder, which was the closest the Thunder came to success! It would be a shame to have no way to crush the Mavericks with a 3-1 lead!
Yiyang's return made Donovan discover many problems, not only on the defensive end, but also on the offensive end.
After Yiyang's return, Westbrook couldn't tear through the defense. As a result, there are very few gaps in the Mavericks' defense. And this is also the reason why Durant and Westbrook did not have a high shooting percentage in the last game.
Defensively, Westbrook's poor defensive habits made it easy for Yiyang to tear open gaps. And Yiyang's lethal pass can activate everyone in the Mavericks.
Although it was just a Yiyang, Donovan needed to make too many changes. The power of a person is sometimes immeasurable.
On the other hand, the Mavericks have already made their way to Oklahoma. Oklahoma is a place for Yiyang that will never be forgotten, and the season after the Mavericks won the championship in 2011, it was the Thunder who knocked out the defending champions.
This season, the Thunder officially also played the slogan that they will eliminate the defending champion again. And in the first four games, they did a great job.
But after the last game, the Thunder fans, who were still leading the Mavericks 3-2, collectively fell into a panic.
Obviously they are the ones who lead, but Mavericks fans are more confident.
Almost everyone believes the Mavericks can win in Oklahoma and then come back to advance in the tiebreaker in Dallas!
The magic of this guy Yiyang has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
In these two days of training, all members of the Thunder team were very serious. No one wants to be counterattacked, no one wants to be nailed to the pillar of shame in history. The pressure on them was so great that Donovan even told the rest of the coaching staff to deal with the media and not let them interrupt the players' training.
The Oklahoma game will be the key of the key, and a second consecutive loss to the Mavericks at home would be a morale blow for the Thunder.
Even if they still have a chance to make a comeback in Dallas, it will be difficult to turn the game around.
So Game 6 of the series is almost the last chance for the Thunder. Donovan will not allow his players to miss out and they must win at home.
However, Donovan was always just a college coach who had just come up from the NCAA, and the NBA stuff, this guy had a lot to learn.
On May 10, Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference Semifinals. Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma.
It's been a long time since Yiyang returned to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs, and the Thunder fans in the stands turned the entire arena into a sea of blue. Fans here won't sit quietly in their seats until the Thunder score their first goal.
So the fans in blue short sleeves look no different from the raging waves.
"It's probably one of the craziest home games in the NBA." Looking around, Yiyang couldn't help but sigh.
"What is this? It's a far cry from Salt Lake City. Delong smiled slightly, and when he was 2-3 down, Yiyang was the only reason why he could still laugh.
"Hello audience friends, welcome to ESPN! This is Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals, where the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder are about to start a do-or-die battle! "The players on both sides are still warming up, Mike. Brin's voice has already jumped into the ears of every fan watching the game at home.
"For both the Thunder and the Mavericks, it was a game of winning the cut and losing the fishing. The Mavericks have no room to retreat, and if the Thunder lose again, it will be an incomparably huge blow to them. So today, both teams will fight to the last drop of sweat and fight until the last person falls! ”
"No, Kevin, Coach Donovan doesn't have the capital to fight until the last man falls. In fact, as long as Westbrook and Durant fall, they're out of the picture! "Mike. Brin looked at the data sheet for the first five games, "Westbrook is averaging 39.7 minutes per game in the playoffs this season, and Durant is averaging 40.4 minutes per game in the playoffs!" Do you know what that means? Coach Donovan relied too much on his own star players. In fact, it's too much reliance on starters. ”
Mike. Brin's eyes fell on Donovan, who was anxiously strolling on the sidelines. Donovan, an absolute good comrade, a great man. But before the Thunder, the March Madness tournament was a knockout system, and as long as the main force of the dead grass was killed, the opponent could be killed.
But the NBA playoffs are a war of attrition, and one or two games are not dead. If you kick me today, I'll cut off your head in the next game!
And Donovan's approach to the main force of dead grass will obviously not work in a war of attrition. In the last game, Durant and Westbrook played like crazy, and there were actually some physical reasons as well.
As for Carlisle, the guy sitting on the bench with Erlang's legs crossed is already an old fritter. He knows exactly how to control the tempo in the playoffs.
As soon as the game started, Yiyang didn't let the fans in the Chesapeake Energy Arena sit down safely. Fans don't sit until the Thunder score the first goal, which is a tacit rule among Oklahoma fans.
But the efforts of Yiyang and the whole team made the Thunder team not score in the first three minutes! Westbrook and Durant are still playing like crazy, and when these two can't score, the Thunder's offense is basically paralyzed.
It wasn't until the third minute and 20 seconds of the first quarter that Ibaka forced a foul on Nowitzki in the three-second zone that the Thunder broke the scoring drought with two free throws.
Soon, though, the Thunder came to their senses. Under Donovan's direction, the Thunder stepped up their defense. Before the game began, absolutely no one could have imagined that this game would turn into a dull defensive battle.
There are no fast-paced offenses and defenses, no hearty fast attacks, just endless iron-striking and sleepy positional battles.
The Mavericks contained the Thunder double less, and the double less also limited Yiyang's play. At the very least, it didn't make his scoring too easy.
The Thunder's defense paid off, and they had a six-point advantage until the first five minutes of the fourth quarter!
But perhaps killing Donovan didn't expect that the Mavericks would rain three-pointers like a warrior in the final moments.
First, Yiyang scored six points in a row with two dry pulls from outside the three-point line on Westbrook's head, closing the disadvantage in one fell swoop. Subsequently, Yiyang assisted Wade to impact the inside. As a result, Wade made a no-look pass in the air after jumping, helping Dirk to shoot a three-pointer again!
After so long in the game, the Mavericks' strengths began to show. Carlisle is better suited to the NBA rotation so that everyone on the Mavericks can still play in the final moments of the game. And in the last five minutes, the exhausted Thunder Sanshao, whose performance can only be described by the word "disaster".
In the last 5 minutes, Yiyang and his teammates made 5 three-pointers, and Durant made 0 of 3 shots in the last 5 minutes, scoring 0 points, 2 turnovers and 1 foul. Westbrook was prevented from getting only one shot, 0-of-1, scoring 2 points, 4 turnovers and 1 foul. The two failed performances in the final five minutes allowed the Thunder to end the game with a 19-5 attack wave from the Mavericks in the final five minutes.
"An incredible reversal! He also led the Dallas Mavericks to fight back in the last five minutes! They turned the game around and leveled the series 3-3 on aggregate! It's a draw, it's a draw on aggregate! With just one more win, the Dallas Mavericks can successfully complete the miracle of a comeback from 3-1 down! "Mike. Brin was stunned, and the Wang Bomb combination played crazy iron, and Durant shot only 10 of 31 shots, and 1 of 8 three-point shots. Westbrook shot 10-of-27 and 0-of-5 from three-point range, and although the two combined for 57 points, 16 rebounds, 14 assists and 6 steals, they were still no match for the calm Yiyang in the last five minutes.
Durant lost, Westbrook lost, Billy. Donovan, the college coach, also lost.
Although this is the Chesapeake Energy Arena, after the game, Yiyang became the object of all reporters watching.
"Can you and the Mavericks come back on a comeback when they get home? In the last five minutes of this game, how did you turn the game around!? ”
Yiyang looked at the group of reporters, his expression was extremely calm.
"I just want to go home now and go home and see my wife and children."