"Segi, be tougher and more ruthless in the second half. This is our home court. What are you afraid of?"
In the home team's locker room, Stike Brooks was teaching his players, but the words coming out of his mouth were a bit surprising.
Ibaka had a helpless expression on his face, "Coach, I'm already very tough. His body is very strong. If I try harder, the referee will probably call a foul..."
Brooks had an expression of dissatisfaction on his face, "I can't see how difficult it is for him to play. In the second half, give me a good fight. If you foul, I'm here. What are you afraid of?"
"I know..." Ibaka lowered his head.
The twenty-minute break passed quickly, and Durant didn't even feel like he had a good rest. The finals were obviously much easier than the conference finals, so why did he feel tired more and more easily?
The coach next to him came over and paid attention to Durant. The arrogant latter naturally did not say that he was tired or anything. He shook his head and strode towards the court.
At the beginning of the second half of the game, the Thunder team really strengthened their defense. After a twenty-minute rest, the players' physical strength also recovered a lot. Coupled with the cheers of the home audience, the players' spirits were also very high. They showed Due to their defensive attitude in the third game of the series, the Wizards' perimeter defense was indeed somewhat uncomfortable.
Brooks nodded with satisfaction when he saw this situation, but when he saw Ibaka and Perkins inside, he frowned again.
The outside line was held down by high-intensity "defense", so Li Kaiming on the inside naturally had to take advantage and bombard the Thunder's penalty area. After Ibaka came up in the second half, his attitude seemed to be much tougher than in the first half. There were several times He would rather intentionally foul and pull the ball down than let Li Kaiming go for an empty layup.
But as he was playing, Ibaka discovered a problem. The number of fouls he fouled unknowingly exceeded 4. The third quarter had just begun. If he hadn't been the only one in the Thunder who could defend Li Kaiming, he would have been beaten long ago. Brooks was replaced.
But even so, Brooks on the sidelines still reminded Ibaka to pay attention to fouls. When the latter heard this, his face almost became angry!
md, it’s you who makes me tough, and it’s you who makes me pay attention to fouls! You want this and that, right?
He was feeling unhappy, so his attack on defense was of course careless. Li Kaiming seized the opportunity and broke through directly. Ibaka subconsciously tugged on Li Kaiming's clothes. The result was too obvious. The referee directly caught him and called him his fifth foul...
When the whistle sounded, Ibaka reacted, and Brooks on the sidelines also covered his face.
It’s over…
The third quarter has already been fouled 5 times before it is over. Ibaka will definitely have to come off the court to protect him. So the question is, who will Li Kaiming let him defend?
The Thunder players looked at me and I looked at you. Finally, everyone turned their attention to Kevin Durant, who was looking down and breathing heavily.
Durant felt the eyes of everyone and thought of his determination before the series. He gritted his teeth and said to Brooks, "Coach, I'll do it!"
"Are you really okay?" Brooks hesitated.
"Of course, I will definitely live up to your expectations!" Durant turned his head and walked towards the court. His back looked like a warrior preparing to die heroically, which was extremely tragic.
When Li Kaiming came up and saw that his main defender had changed from Ibaka to Durant, he also had a mysterious smile on his face!
It’s finally time to wait for you. You need to practice more when it comes to cooking, so let’s practice more on you tonight!
What happened next in the Energy Arena was the biggest shadow of Durant's career and a shame that he never wanted to mention again in his life!
Li Kaiming faced Durant's defense and used muscle against muscle to fight, which made Durant realize what dominance from the inside is. What made Durant even more embarrassed was that Li Kaiming was sitting in a sitting position. After he got to the basket and dunked, under the gaze of tens of thousands of Thunder fans and cameras, he roared at Durant:
"This is the inside track, not a place for a weakling like you!"
This short sentence directly broke Durant, who was on the verge of collapse. From this round on, he kept asking for the ball on the offensive end for singles, and used various big moves on the defensive end to fight against Li Kaiming. .
It's a pity that his physical strength was not as good as that of Li Kaiming. In addition, he was squeezed by Li Kaiming in the paint, which caused his physical strength to drain faster. Therefore, not only could he not guard Li Kaiming in the end of the game, he received several fouls and turned around to attack. He had no energy left, and even voted for three no-sticks!
At this level of the game, there was no suspense about the outcome. The Thunder's home fans left the game early with five minutes left in the game, and Brooks also replaced the starting lineup with a dejected look.
At the end of the game, the Wizards defeated the Thunder 115-102 in Game 4 of the series and got the match point in the finals. They were only one victory away from the final goal.
Li Kaiming played for 39 minutes and scored a super triple-double with 37 points, 16 rebounds, 12 assists and 3 blocks. Thompson hit 3 three-pointers and scored 12 points and 2 rebounds. Leonard scored 8 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals. 2 blocks.
Trailing 1 to 3 with a big score, this series is basically over for the Thunder. In the entire history of NBA, so far, only 8 teams have come back from being behind 1 to 3 in a series. One is the 2006 Suns.
As for the comeback from 3-1 down in the finals, there was none!
So after the fourth game, almost all fans and sports media believed that the Wizards' era was coming.
Of course, there must be a response to the previous game after the game. Li Kaiming said tactfully in the interview, "My inside skills are still too bad. After Kevin Durant's reminder, after the last game After learning from the experience, I decided to practice more inside skills in today's game. Don't tell me, it really worked. I would like to thank Kd here!"
Seeing Li Kaiming's serious way of telling lies, the reporters at the scene could hardly hold their nerves!
You are really a giant panda ordering takeout - the (damaged) bamboo shoots are here!
For the Wizards players, in addition to celebrating the hard-won victory in this game, the more important thing is to rush back home and win the damn championship trophy at the mcI Center two days later!
Winning the championship at home is simply one of the most perfect endings to this season. Therefore, under the supervision of Sanders, the players did not relax just because they were leading the series. On the contrary, they worked harder to prepare for training and games. , waiting for the moment to reap the fruits of happiness...
June 21, 2012, Americana, Washington, DC, mcI Center.
Even though night has not yet fallen, the street in front of the arena is already busy with traffic. Countless vehicles, pedestrians and media people carrying cameras are rushing towards the arena. A large number of LED screens in Washington are also playing continuously. With the preview of tonight's game, team posters have been posted everywhere, and there is also a huge Wizards poster on the huge glass wall outside the mcI Center.
This poster is actually a group photo of Wizards players, but it has been processed using technical means. Li Kaiming is in the middle, holding the ball with both hands on his chin, looking resolutely forward, and the remaining Wizards players are distributed on his left and right. The two sides look like they form an arrow, and Li Kaiming is the head of the arrow!
Under this poster, countless fans wearing Wizards home jerseys are taking photos with the poster behind them. In the square in front of the arena, an endless stream of people have gathered in front of the big screen that is scheduled to broadcast the game simultaneously tonight. , and there is still a full hour and a half before the start of the game!
The Wizards are also promoting it very hard. After all, this is the second championship in team history after more than 30 years. It certainly deserves vigorous publicity.
At eight o'clock in the evening, several cars drove straight into the underground parking lot of the arena. The car doors opened and there were familiar faces.
Sun Jianguo, Sun Lan, Jiang Shan, Elliott Williams and Leonard, the former University of Memphis athletic director.
In a hospital in Chicago, Derrick Rose was lying on the bed and asked the nurse to move the TV closer to the bed. Looking at the excited faces of Wizards fans on the screen, Rose couldn't help but smile.
If I can lead the Chicago Bulls to win the championship, Chicago fans will be as excited as them...
Tonight's game is definitely star-studded. In addition to many well-known actors, more current or retired stars from the league came to watch the game. Of course, NBA President David Stern also appeared in the audience. At the table, because it is possible to decide the champion tonight.
The league staff also prepared two glittering trophies behind the scenes, one is the tall O'Brien Cup, and the other is the shorter Finals MVP trophy.
Of course, there was also a heavyweight guest who also appeared at the scene, that is the famous NBA superstar, Bill Russell!
Starting in 2009, NBA has named the finals mVp trophy the Bill Russell Cup. As the name of the trophy, Russell will also attend the award ceremony and personally present awards to the winning players.
When they saw Russell appear in the camera, the Wizards fans in attendance also cooperated with applause and cheers to give the historical superstar enough respect.
In addition to Russell, the Hall of Fame superstar who will attend the award ceremony, Wes Unseld, the first player in Wizards history, the top 50 superstars in NBA history, and the only FmVp winner in Wizards history, is also invited. Come to the scene and witness this historic moment!
During the warm-up session before the game, Li Kaiming went over to communicate with the senior. Unseld was 66 years old and seemed to be in good spirits. The two communicated in a friendly manner for a while. The senior encouraged Li Kaiming to win the game tonight. , and will lead the Wizards to win more championships in the future!
At 8:30 in the evening, after the pre-match ceremony, the players from both sides were ready. Zhang Weiping in the broadcast area, with a bright face, spoke the opening remarks of tonight's game.
"Dear fans, welcome to the sports channel. What we bring to you today is Game 5 of the 2012 NBA Finals. The Washington Wizards played against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Before this game, the Wizards led by Li Kaiming They have already won 3 games, which means that as long as they win this game tonight, the Wizards will become the championship this season!"
"What is the result? I believe the answer will be revealed in two hours. The two sides jumped the ball and the Wizards won the opening ball again!"
A game that determines the outcome of the series has officially begun!
