The problem faced by the Celtics is indeed very difficult.
After all, there is a saying circulating in the outside world now.
"Who on earth can stop Lu Yao!"
Even players like Duncan who are at the forefront of the league in interior defense cannot restrict Lu Yao, and they still hope that the now disintegrated Celtics can send people to restrict Lu Yao.
The only way to restrict Lu Yao is to double-team.
As for why so many teams did not choose to double-team Lu Yao before, it was because of the offensive threats posed by Durant and Westbrook.
If you let them both go short, your opponent will still pay a heavy price.
After all, these three people all have excellent personal offensive abilities.
But now, Durant can only sit off the court and watch the game due to injury, so the Celtics can focus on Lu Yao and Westbrook.
After all, in this game, Thunder players other than Westbrook and Lu Yao did not perform very well. Therefore, the Green Army's tactics against Lu Yao and Westbrook have a high probability of success.
On the sidelines, the Green Army head coach was closely arranging tactics. On the Thunder side, Westbrook and Lu Yao looked relaxed, even talking and laughing, feeling no pressure at all.
Soon, the short inter-section break ended and the second quarter officially began.
Both sides made substitution adjustments, replacing all the main players on the field and replacing them with the substitutes who were gearing up.
Although it is said that the Big Three of the Green Army have been lost, the departure of the Big Three of the Green Army has also given the Green Army a lot of bench resources.
Just like the Thunder bench led by Smart, which is both offensive and defensive, the Thunder's bench is still slightly worse than the Celtics' bench.
As soon as they came up, the Green Army showed a ferocious offensive and caught the Thunder by surprise.
Smart blocked West and led the Green Army to attack the frontcourt.
As the Green Army hit two points, the originally silent atmosphere of the North Shore Garden Arena became active again.
In just three minutes, the Green Army's strong bench took the lead.
The Thunder were obviously in a bit of a disarray, but the Green Army's solid positional warfare style did not give the Thunder a chance and slowly expanded the score advantage.
On the other hand, the Thunder continue to have flaws that are caught by the Green Army, which becomes an opportunity for the Green Army to expand the score.
…
Donovan on the sidelines looked at the gradually widening score and called a timeout in time.
At this moment, on the scoreboard, the Green Army led the Thunder by 8 points 36:28. In the second quarter, the Green Army bench fired one after another, which can be said to have every advantage.
The Thunder's bench was naturally beaten.
Donovan licked his lips. The Thunder have been a substitute for so many years and have been unable to exert their strength.
You need to find a suitable time to make some changes.
The two teams naturally understood each other and replaced their main players with a tacit understanding.
Lu Yao and Westbrook stood up from the bench chairs, took off their shirts, revealing the jerseys underneath, and walked onto the court again.
The same goes for Director Long and Jeff Green on the opposite side. The duel between the two main players has begun again.
The ball was handed to the Green Army, and Olynyk served from the sideline, looking for the position guided by Long on the court.
Rondo waved towards Olynyk. Seeing this, Olynyk passed the ball to Lu Yao without hesitation.
Did you ever think that at this moment, a black shadow suddenly came out.
It was Westbrook who had been lurking for a long time. He was hiding behind Rondo, looking for an opportunity to steal the serve.
Apparently, he found this opportunity.
Westbrook stole Olynyk's serve, and Rondo reacted quickly and chased Westbrook, who was constantly running towards the backcourt.
Did you ever imagine that Westbrook made a casual upward move and threw the ball into the air.
Rondo was shocked, could it be that Westbrook did this.
Turning his head, he saw that Lu Yao was already chasing behind him. The moment Westbrook threw the ball upward, he took off one step in front of the free throw line!
Lu Yao jumped high, caught the alley-oop from Westbrook, and slammed the ball into the basket with both hands!
Lu Wei connects again!
After Lu Yao landed, he celebrated with Westbrook colliding in the air, igniting the Thunder's bench.
Even Durant, who still had an injury on his leg, jumped up from his chair and pumped his fist in excitement to celebrate.
I have to say that the atmosphere of the Thunder team is truly one of the best in the league.
Lu Yao and Westbrook used this alley-oop to tell everyone in the North Shore Garden Arena that this goal would be the beginning of their Thunder's comeback.
Immediately afterwards, Lu Yao blocked Rondo's layup in the paint and grabbed the rebound strongly.
Lu Yao pushed the ball towards the frontcourt and led the team to launch a new round of offense.
Arriving at the top of the arc, Lu Yao's ever-changing dribbling dazzled Olynyk in front of him.
Suddenly, Lu Yao started to accelerate and rushed straight to the inside.
Naturally, Olynyk would not miss this opportunity, sticking close to Lu Yao and interfering with his breakthrough.
But Lu Yao's purpose is not to take action, but to pass the ball.
Westbrook accelerated directly from the outside and cut inside. Lu Yao made a fancy behind-the-back pass and sent the ball to Westbrook.
After Westbrook received the ball, he jumped up and hit a one-handed tomahawk dunk, wreaking havoc on the basket!
There was an explosion from the basket, and another connection came from Lu Yao and Westbrook.
The Green Army was stunned for a moment. At this moment, Rondo was the first to react and directed his teammates to double-team to restrict the two men.
However, these two people who are in a fiery state are simply useless.
Lu Yao forcibly broke into the paint against the defense of two people, jumped up under the basket, and scored a layup.
Naturally, Westbrook did not dare to show weakness. During the fast break, he passed two defensive players and broke into the inside with an explosive dunk.
The second quarter became the performance time for the two of them.
In the second quarter, the player defending Westbrook became his old teammate Jeff Green. Facing his former good brother, Westbrook naturally could not show mercy and scored a layup over Jeff Green's head.
Naturally, Olynyk was unable to restrain Lu Yao. He was tricked by Lu Yao with fancy dribbling. He could only watch as Lu Yao easily passed him and scored a layup.
Even though he was double-teamed, Lu Yao was still able to make unanswerable pull-up shots, and the score was constantly widened by Lu Yao and Westbrook.
At halftime, with the help of Lu Yao and Westbrook, the Thunder successfully overtook the Green Army and entered the second half with a 5-point advantage, 53:58.
Returning to the bench, Lu Yao and Westbrook were greeted by cheers from their teammates.
In the second quarter, Lu Yao and Westbrook scored 12 and 13 points respectively, and they were in full condition.
And Lu Yao scored 28 points in the half, making the noisy North Shore Garden Arena silent!
As that sentence says, who on earth can stop Lu Yao!
