Facing a double-team, Lu Yao did not panic. He first protected the ball and looked for opportunities to break through.
The two defensive players who double-teamed Lu Yao were a bit too small compared to Lu Yao in terms of physique alone. This allowed Lu Yao to force his way out of the double-team through confrontation.
Suddenly, Lu Yao leaned over and pushed the ball forward, catching him by surprise. Although Lawson on the side quickly followed, he still couldn't catch up with Lu Yao's pace.
Lu Yao's one step can almost match Lawson's two steps. The speed of the two is not at the same level at all. What's more, Lu Yao's ball control skills are still at the level of Iverson, which makes his breakthrough impeccable.
Lu Yao broke through all the way to the basket. Farid at the bottom of the basket had been waiting for a long time. From the look of Lu Yao, he wanted to shoot directly against Farid's defense without any fear.
Farid took a step forward, wanting to intercept Lu Yao in advance. Did he ever think that Lu Yao would seize Farid's gap, turn around and pass Farid neatly, and come to the bottom of the basket to dunk!
"Boom!" There was an explosion from the basket, and Lu Yao turned around and passed Farid for a two-handed dunk! After scoring eight points in two minutes, one person went on an 8-0 run.
Trailing by eight points at the start, not to mention facing the single-core Thunder, with other Thunder players barely participating in the offense, even if they are the last team in the Western Conference, they should not be playing like this.
But Lu Yao was completely invincible. The five main players of the Nuggets stepped forward to stop Lu Yao, but nothing could stop Lu Yao from breaking through or taking action.
To them, Lu Yao was completely unstoppable.
After Lu Yao scored eight points in a row, the Nuggets finally scored the first point of the game through the aerial connection between Lawson and Faried.
But immediately afterwards, Lu Yao responded with a step-back three-pointer from the outside, beating the entire Nuggets team with one person.
The other Thunder players were just watching from the sidelines. All they needed to do was pass the ball to Lu Yao, wait until Lu Yao needed a response, and then continue to pass the ball to Lu Yao.
From the Thunder's offensive end to the Thunder's defensive end, Lu Yao takes care of everything by himself. Looking around the league, there is no such player.
Even LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, who are known as offensive and defensive players, could not reach this point during their peak years.
Only those who watched this game with their own eyes can understand how outrageous Lu Yao was in this game, so much so that it made people marvel.
In the commentary box, the familiar Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley appeared in the commentary box as scheduled, serving as commentators for the Nuggets' home game against the Thunder.
At this moment, the two of them praised Lu Yao endlessly.
"Lu scored 11 points in a row! He scored 11:2 on his own. Farid was completely beaten by Lu Yao in the paint!"
"OMG! I have never seen a player who can take over the offensive and defensive ends of the team. The rest of the Thunder are like spectators watching the performance at this moment, and Lu is the performer of this ultimate personal performance."
Lu Yao's opening performance was something the two of them had never witnessed before after working together for so many years on game commentary.
Lu Yao's coverage area on the court is really outrageous. Compared with the original Michael Jordan, it is even worse.
Looking away from the court, after the Nuggets Chandler broke through inside and caused a foul, he walked to the free throw line, hit the iron with the first free throw, and steadily hit the basket with the second free throw, handing the ball to the Thunder.
Lu Yao is still in charge of the ball. Just as the two people in the commentary box said, the other people on the Thunder field seem to be the audience watching the performance, watching Lu Yao's performance.
Lu Yao brought the ball all the way to the top of the arc, waving to his teammates inside to signal the pick-and-roll screen. After changing direction in front of his body to test, the teammate who was on the pick-and-roll was already in place.
Lu Yao cross-stepped and broke through in the direction of the pick-and-roll. Chandler, who was guarding Lu Yao, turned around, but he ran into the pick-and-roll for Lu Yao. Lu Yao successfully broke through and entered the inside.
Just when Farid inside was thinking that Lu Yao was going to break through and make a strong shot, Lu Yao suddenly stopped in front of Farid and made an emergency jump shot.
The ball came out of his hand. This kind of close-range, interference-free jump shot was a snap for Lu Yao, who had the template of peak Durant, and he could hit it steadily.
It was only more than three minutes into the game, and Lu Yao had already scored 13 points!
What's more, he didn't miss a single goal in these few shots. He was able to perform like this despite the defensive pressure of the Nuggets team, which shows Lu Yao's dominance.
There is no doubt that after this game, Lu Yao will once again reach the peak of popularity, and his superb performance will once again be talked about by fans.
The Thunder are currently leading by eight points, and the Nuggets called a timeout to prevent the Thunder from expanding the score.
This also gives the Thunder a chance to make some adjustments. The current situation is relatively stable and Lu Yao does not need to stay on the court to fight.
Therefore, Donovan took advantage of this free timeout to take Lu Yao off the court and replace him with a substitute power forward.
Originally, Donovan wanted to call a timeout to replace Lu Yao, but he thought that the Nuggets' move would save him a timeout.
When the timeout ended, players from both sides stepped onto the court to make adjustments for the next round.
After all, they are facing the last team in the Western Conference. For the Thunder's bench, it is easy for them to expand some advantages.
In the blink of an eye, there was only one minute left in the first quarter, and the two sides continued to struggle. The Thunder once led by 15 points, but then the Nuggets Chandler and Lawson stepped up and played an 8-0 climax. The score was chased to 33:27.
The gap between the two teams is only six points. As long as Lu Yao does not play, the Nuggets still have a chance to tie the score.
Immediately, Farid played hard inside and not only scored a layup, but also drew a foul.
Going to the free throw line, Farid showed his big heart and made the free throw steadily.
The Nuggets chased the score down to only 3 points. When Faried made a free throw, the Thunder took the opportunity to make substitutions.
Lu Yao, who had rested for nearly 80% of the first quarter, finally put on his jersey and appeared in front of the public.
This means that the Thunder are about to exert their strength.
After Farid made the free throw, the ball was handed over to the Thunder. Now that Lu Yao is on the court, all the ball will be in Lu Yao's hands.
It was Lu Yao who was still dribbling the ball toward the frontcourt alone, appearing calm and unhurried in the face of the Nuggets' double-team.
At the beginning, the Nuggets used this trick to deal with him, but it turned out that it didn't work. Lu Yao scored 13 points in a row, laying the foundation for the Thunder to take the lead in the first quarter.
The next game is still the same.
