Five points in a row in this minute laid the foundation for the Thunder to open up the score. In the following minutes, the Thunder played an 11:2 wave, directly opening the score to 28:13. The Thunder won in the first quarter. Already fifteen points ahead!
They already led by fifteen points in the first quarter. Such a game was enough to be called a massacre of their opponents.
After all, if you can lead by 15 points in the first quarter, there is a high probability that you will maintain a big lead in the second and third quarters. At the same time, this will have a great impact on the opponent's morale.
Just after the Thunder expanded the score to 15 points, Donovan called a timeout. There were still 3 minutes and 43 seconds left before the end of the first quarter.
Donovan replaced all the main players on the court and put on substitutes to fight with the Mavericks on the court.
The Mavericks did not make substitution adjustments. After all, this was only the first quarter. As long as they worked hard, they might be able to reverse the score in the second half.
Even so, everyone knows that the probability of such a thing happening is low. After all, reversing the score does not happen often, and there is also a player on the opposite bench who can reverse the score in just one quarter.
Most people believe that in this game between Lu Yao and Westbrook, they may be able to get off work in the third quarter. As long as the substitutes are strong, it is normal to get off work in half a quarter.
Now the two of them were sitting on the bench, chatting and laughing, looking extremely relaxed.
The Mavericks players on the court looked nervous, with three of the five paying attention to the two on the bench.
Feeling the fiery gaze, the two of them turned their heads with doubtful expressions on their faces, especially Lu Yao, who scratched his head blankly.
The referee blew the whistle, and at 3 minutes and 43 seconds of the first quarter, the game started again, with the ball in the hands of the Mavericks.
Nowitzki at the baseline received a pass from the referee and passed the ball to Rondo who was waiting. The moment Rondo received the ball, it was announced that the game had begun again.
In the next game, people thought that although the Thunder bench could not match the Mavericks' main force, it could still stabilize the score and prevent the Mavericks from regaining the score in one wave.
Unexpectedly, the worst may still happen.
An accident suddenly occurred on the Thunder's bench. West, who was leading the team, fell to the ground during a breakthrough, clutching his ankle in pain. The referee immediately blew the whistle.
The Thunder's team doctor immediately stepped forward. At the same time, teammates on the bench saw this scene and gathered around to pay attention to West's condition.
West clutched his ankle and roared in pain. After the team doctor checked, he signaled the staff to carry West back to the locker room. West could not play in this game.
This news is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for the Thunder. As a major strength of the Thunder, West is also the leader of the Thunder's bench. Without him, the Thunder's bench firepower will be greatly reduced.
Sure enough, in the next game, the Mavericks seized the opportunity of the Thunder losing West, fought hard to catch up, and scored 9 points in a row, bound to reduce the score as much as possible before the end of the first quarter.
Because of the loss of West, the Thunder's bench was leaderless and had no one who could stand up. Without West's connection, the Thunder's bench offense was in disarray and was unable to fight back.
With 31 seconds left before the end of the first quarter, Rondo resisted Robertson's defense from the outside and forced a mid-range shot. The ball drew a beautiful arc in the air and then fell steadily into the basket.
At this moment, Donovan's face was already very unsettled. After Rondo hit the ball, the score difference between the Thunder and the Mavericks was directly reduced to 3 points. In other words, the Mavericks scored in these three minutes. Within, I chased for 12 points in a row!
Without West, even Donovan didn't expect the Thunder's bench to be so miserable.
Donovan immediately called a timeout, preventing the Mavericks from continuing to play steadily, and hit a three-pointer to directly tie the score.
At this moment, there was an atmosphere of tension throughout the Thunder team, except for two people, one was Westbrook and the other was Lu Yao.
The two of them still had the same chatting and laughing expressions, as if they were not affected by the competition at all. Even when the score was tied, the expressions on their faces did not change much. They still looked like that.
The fans at the American Airlines Center were already crazy and cheered loudly. The Mavericks chased 12 points in three minutes, which gave them hope of victory once again.
Soon, the short timeout ended, and the Thunder's Donovan quickly made substitution adjustments and replaced Lu Yao and Westbrook on the court again.
The game started again. Due to Rondo's goal in front, the ball rights in this round were handed over to the Thunder.
Lu Yao served from the baseline and handed the ball to Westbrook, who then passed it back to Lu Yao. It seemed that at the last moment of the first quarter, the Thunder chose to let Lu Yao complete the offense by himself.
Lu Yao looked up at the time and saw that there were 18 seconds left in the attack time. He calmly crossed the half court and reached the backcourt.
Just after halftime, Lu Yao received special care from the Mavericks.
Nowitzki and Rondo were on the left and right, sandwiching Lu Yao in the center of gravity like a sandwich. They were bound to stop Lu Yao's attack this time.
On one side is Dirk Nowitzki's tall body blocking him, and on the other side is the little Rondo constantly trying to steal. As long as Lu Yao is not paying attention, he will be stolen at any time or the ball in his hand will be destroyed and go out of bounds.
Facing huge defensive pressure, people could not see the slightest wave on Lu Yao's face, as if Lu Yao could not feel any psychological pressure at all.
The fact is of course Lu Yao. Lu Yao has already dealt with such scenes, so there is no need to panic too much.
What he should think about more is how to find opportunities to score in the remaining time and open the score to five or more points again.
Immediately, Lu Yao made a large change of direction in front of his body, directly shook off Nowitzki, and chose to directly single on Rondo.
This is indeed a clear choice for Lu Yao. With Iverson's ball-handling package, there is no need to worry about being restricted. He only needs to use his body to continuously impact Rondo.
As expected, Rondo seemed a little unable to cope with Lu Yao's confrontation and could only hold on and resist.
After Rondo was pushed away again, Lu Yao retreated directly to the three-point line and faced Rondo with a direct three-point shot, without giving Rondo any chance to react.
After the ball drew a beautiful arc in the air, it fell steadily into the basket.
Three point hit! The score was 31:25, and the Thunder led by six points.
