This is the third year in a row that the Trail Blazers and Hornets have met in the playoffs.

In the first two encounters, both sides won once.

The Hornets stepped past the Trail Blazers and reached the finals.

It's a bit of an old enemy.

Especially this year, this feeling has become more pronounced.

There were three encounters in the regular season, and each time the media of both sides were sprayed against each other before the game, which pulled the whole emotional value to the highest.

In terms of the final result of the regular season, the Hornets are slightly ahead.

It's not just their regular season record that is better.

At the end of the 18~19 season, the Hornets ranked second in the West and the Trail Blazers ranked third in the West.

And they played a total of three games in the regular season, with a big score of 2-1!

The Hornets won 2 games.

However, the Hornets, who had the advantage in the regular season, gave the Trail Blazers a "head start" in the first game of the series.

The Trail Blazers changed their lineup and directly used Leonard against James Harden, limiting the "superstar" who averaged 37.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game in the regular season.

The effect is obvious.

Leonard played James Harden with a pair of big hands, which is called a struggle and a weak heart.

After the first game, James Harden only made 6 of 19 shots, and although he made 9 of 11 free throws, he still scored 24 points, but it was far from his regular season score.

Without his scoring and the 37.6 points per game that brought them back, the Hornets fell back from the start of the game, being held down by the Trail Blazers from the start to the last of the game, and they didn't lead even once.

The Trail Blazers finally took the lead in getting off to a good start on the road, 117 to this 108, and the 9-point difference beat the Hornets, with a big score of 1-0!

The Portland media suddenly found an opportunity to export, and the New Orleans media went crazy with output.

If you fall behind, you will be beaten, and this is also true in the media world.

The distraught New Orleans media can only wait for the Hornets to get back on the field in Game 2.

Not to mention, D'Antoni, as the only "four-in-a-row" head coach in the league, has a quick ability to adjust.

In the second game, he adjusted his use of James Harden and began to use Harden more to organize the offense.

How to describe James Harden in this game?

Well......

Let's put it this way!

"Steve Nash II"!

James Harden began to output more shells for his teammates.

The Trail Blazers didn't adjust for a while, allowing the Hornets to take the opportunity to play a wave of 17-4 scoring to end the game directly, and then the Hornets carried a 13-point deficit until the last minute.

The big score equalized back to 1-1......

James Harden's score in this game was not high, only 21 points, but the efficiency has improved a lot, and the shooting rate has returned to 40%, facing Leonard's defense, to be able to do this, honestly, it is really enough!

On top of that, his brilliance tonight was clearly not on the offensive end, but on his team-mates.

In the end, James Harden delivered a total of 19 assists!

Each of these teammates has received at least three or more passes from James Harden.

Anthony Davis was even more full, he received a total of 8 assists from James Harden, and he scored 16 points just by relying on James Harden's pass, no, it should have been 18 points, and on two of them, he played 2 plus 1!

In the end, Anthony Davis scored a playoff high 35 points, along with 13 rebounds and three blocks.

Without a doubt, this is a "super level" performance!

The New Orleans media, which had been held back for a day after the game, finally had a chance to fight back.

It's just that the Portland media didn't have a dumb fire.

Well......

There is no way, even if the Hornets win this game, the score on both sides is 1-1, but ......

The next two home games are home to the Trail Blazers!

In other words, the Trail Blazers have taken home court advantage and they will have more home games in the future, so even if this game is lost, so what? Don't panic at all, right?

And the Trail Blazers' ability to adjust is really good enough.

They haven't changed their defensive approach to James Harden......

Jokes aside, James Harden has been forced to be "Steve Nash", which shows that the Trail Blazers are very effective in targeting him, and the bigger problem is how to limit Anthony Davis.

Oden stepped up in Game 3 and threw himself into defence.

Compared with Anthony Davis, Oden's static talent is not bad at all, as for dynamic talent, there is nothing to say, and he is a little older than Anthony Davis, but Oden still gritted his teeth and held on for about three quarters, the first three quarters of the game ended, Anthony Davis only scored 9 points in the whole game, and it was not until the fourth quarter that he scored more, 9 points in a single quarter, but only 18 points in the whole game!

He couldn't make a difference, and James Harden's assist count in this game went down.

James Harden, who also had 19 assists in the last game, immediately became 11 assists in this game, a total of 8 less. And his own score, whether it is output or efficiency, has not changed significantly from the previous game.

He took a break, Anthony Davis also went off, and the Hornets naturally stopped eating in Game 3 of the series.

The big score is 2 to 1!

The Trail Blazers held on for the first game back home.

Now the Portland media can start to get excited again.

And the media in New Orleans are a little more worried in addition to being silent again, the series is a total of 7 games, the first game is lost, it doesn't matter, the series has just begun, but the third game of the series is lost, this problem is serious. First, there have been a lot of changes between the two sides, and second, there are not many games left!

The key is that the next home of the Trail Blazers is the home court, and if you lose this game, the big score will be 3-1!

The two sides have a bit of a "rival" feeling, so that while the Hornets will be eager because they don't want the big score to become 3-1, the Trail Blazers will also be full of enthusiasm to become a big score to become 3-1!

The fourth game of this series looks like it's only the fourth game, but in fact, it's equivalent to the "Battle of Tianwang Mountain" for both sides!

In other words, every next game is a "battle of Tianwang Mountain" for both sides!

The New Orleans media is worried that the Hornets won't make any big changes ahead.

Because Anthony Davis and James Harden are both restricted, the core of the Hornets is only Jimmy Butler.

That's why a lot of New Orleans media outlets are putting pressure on Jimmy Butler.

However, if you really want to say, Jimmy Butler's performance in the first three games is really not too good, with about 18 to 20 points per game, which is indispensable and not much, just like borrowing a cup of "goji berries" from anyone.

If his performance were normal, the Hornets fans would feel qualified.

But the problem is that in the past three games, the Trail Blazers have limited James Harden and Anthony Davis again, and after these two people have contained a lot of offense, Jimmy Butler's performance stage is supposed to be bigger!

In such a situation, just such a little performance is a bit too much to say......

Jimmy Butler doesn't know if he saw these comments, in the fourth game of the series, after Anthony Davis and James Harden were both found a way to limit each other, he suddenly exploded in this game, all kinds of unreasonable mid-range jumpers, the posture is called a familiar Chicagoan, the ball drilled into the basket one by one, and finally Jimmy Butler used a career-high 43 points in a single game to help the Hornets equalize the score again, and take the home court advantage back to New Orleans!

Hornets fans were still complaining there before the game that Jimmy Butler should not be exchanged for the Hornets, and immediately after the game, they raised their hands and shouted "Jimmy Butler, forever!" ”

Overnight, the whole of New Orleans became a complete Jimmy Butler fan.

Jimmy Butler glanced at his phone from time to time on the way back, there were many congratulatory text messages, and he also saw the compliments on the Internet, but what he wanted to see most now was the familiar name.

- Well done, man, if I meet in the finals, I'll have to ask everyone else to be careful!

Finally, as soon as he got off the plane and returned to New Orleans to turn on his phone, the text message he had been thinking about finally came.

The affirmation from Li Wan made him smile happily.

As far as Li Wan's sentence is concerned, in his case, it is worth 10,000 sentences from others!

The pressure came to the Trail Blazers' side, and Jimmy Butler's outburst gave the Hornets another point of reliance, but the Trail Blazers' defensive limitations made it difficult to have more restraints on Jimmy Butler.

In short, this is a difficult thing to do.

Before the fifth game of their series, the other set of matchups in the Eastern Conference semifinals came to the fifth game of the series, and after winning the previous game, the Toronto Raptors were completely in an advantageous position, which allowed them to easily win the fourth game of the series, beating the Bucks 4-1 and becoming the other team in the Eastern Conference finals.

The roster for the Eastern Conference Finals was also officially announced at this time, and like last year, it was still the Columbus Explorers vs. the Raptors.

It's just that this year's Raptors are not only more experienced than last year, but they also have more powerful resistance, and they have a barrier to rely on inside.

Therefore, in the eyes of some media, this year's Raptors are likely to cause problems for this Columbus Explorers.

However, before the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals began, the "Battle of Tianwang Mountain" in the Western Conference semifinals officially began.

The Trail Blazers really don't have more power to limit Jimmy Butler, and their approach is very simple, if you can't limit Jimmy Butler, I won't limit it.

They started from the inside today, and Aldridge couldn't make a kill in the low post.

The Hornets' interior partners are P.J. Tucker and Anthony Davis.

The two of them, the former to mark Aldridge, is to give Aldridge the opportunity to constantly score with "turnover jumpers". There are hardly any distractions.

And if Anthony Davis is used to defend Aldridge, in addition to consuming his physical strength, it also gives Oden the opportunity to make a difference on the inside.

In addition, on the defensive end, in addition to keeping Leonard's strategy of defending James Harden unchanged, the entire outside line also played joint defense with him as the core.

In other words, Leonard needs to work with his teammates to contain their defenders in addition to keeping an eye on his defenders.

But for Leonard, who has already won two "Best Defensive Player Awards" in his hands during this period, this is really not a big deal!

He took the manager's account very calmly. And the quality is very good.

At one point, the Hornets were in a huge passivity.

By the end of the first half, the Trail Blazers had built a 10-point deficit.

As soon as the second half started, James Harden and Anthony Davis played a little more desperately, and the two of them frequently used blocking and pick-and-roll to help James Harden create open spots.

And Harden's touch did come up at this time, and he continued to use step-back three-pointers to help the team keep approaching scoring.

Leonard continued to respond with mid-range, and the two sides entered a battle of points.

And from the beginning of this star matchup, until the end of the game, it never stopped.

How to describe it?

Let's put it this way......

You sing and I'll appear!

After James Harden and Leonard faced off for a while, Jimmy Butler and Mike Conley also entered the moment of confrontation, and it was not until the end of the third quarter that the "ball planets" on both sides gradually subsided.

It was certainly a great time for the crowd, but it was a bit uncomfortable for the Hornets fans because the game was supposed to be in the fourth quarter and they were still eight points behind.

As it stands, the Hornets are a bit of a "boiled frog".

"So it seems that the four stars of the Trail Blazers this year are really complementary!" Kenny Smith gave the Trail Blazers a very big credit for the "quad core".

The reason is also very simple, after the fifth game of the series, the match point is in the hands of the Trail Blazers.

If they do get match point, it's a different team in this year's Western Conference Finals!

Barkley also affirmed: "The arrival of Leonard and Mike Conley has given this team more possibilities, and there are more players who can stand up at critical moments!" ”

The worries of Hornets fans are not unreasonable, the struggle of the Hornets in the fourth quarter became more intense, but the Trail Blazers still took turns to have someone to stand up, and finally the 8-point difference was finally narrowed to 5 points, but there were only 13.4 seconds left in the game, James Harden's impatient three-point chase did not score, Oden protected the key rebound, and in the end, the Hornets were gone, 109-104, the Trail Blazers won another victory, the score was 3-2, and Portland had a match point!

(End of chapter)