During the timeout, although the Raptors coach gave a speech, it had little effect.
The Raptors do not have the off-stop offensive firepower like the Thunder, and they have absolutely no confidence in continuing to maintain their lead.
Perhaps the huge 19-0 lead was simply due to the Raptors' good luck and catching the Thunder's sluggish state.
Now, the Thunder's state has recovered, and it is natural to catch up the score. After all, for the previous teams, the Thunder can usually open up a big score in the first quarter.
What's more, the Thunder still only have Westbrook and Lu Yao. Now that Durant has returned, the Thunder's firepower has become even more fierce. It doesn't seem strange to recover the score.
Lowry slumped in his chair. After the last timeout, his touch became very cold. Not only did he repeatedly miss shots, but he also made frequent mistakes, causing the Raptors to constantly recover the score.
If the Raptors want to stabilize their advantage, they must let Lowry recover from the slump, but at present, this is impossible.
Even though DeRozan sat aside to comfort him, Lowry still felt deeply guilty for this, and he seemed to have lost the courage to face it.
The pressure the Thunder put on Hazy was so great that the Raptors couldn't bear it at all.
After the timeout, the ball was handed over to the Raptors. The sluggish Lowry was replaced, and Lou Williams took charge of organizing the Raptors' offense.
Lu Wei slowly brought the ball to the frontcourt. As the league's top sixth man, he can stand in this position because of his stable scoring and court control ability.
When he came to the top of the arc and faced Westbrook's defense, Lu Wei did not choose to pass Westbrook by dribbling. At present, it is completely impossible to pass Westbrook who is in hot form.
Therefore, Lu Wei directly chose to use his body to push Westbrook forward, and Westbrook was forced to directly face Lu Wei's confrontation.
After fighting all the way to the wing, Lu Wei faced Westbrook and took a direct mid-range shot. Even under Westbrook's blockade, Lu Wei was still able to take the shot.
The ball came out of his hand, drew a beautiful arc in the air, and then fell steadily into the basket.
This goal immediately attracted cheers from the fans at Toyota Bank Center. This goal finally allowed the Raptors to recover a little and opened the score to 9 points.
But then, the originally excited Raptors fans couldn't laugh anymore. The Thunder directly handed the ball to Lu Yaolai to handle by himself, while others provided him with screens in this round.
When Lu Yao slowly dribbled the ball across half court, Pierce, who was standing at the top of the arc to greet Lu Yao, already felt an invisible sense of oppression.
As the number one player on the MVP list, Lu Yao's personal ability is not inferior to that of any historical superstar at his peak. Even Michael Jordan bluntly said that Lu Yao can rival him at his peak.
Now Pierce has reached the twilight of his career, and his defensive ability has declined greatly. He is no longer the man who single-handedly turned the tide in the 2008 Finals and made Kobe Bryant hate the Finals.
Lu Yao brought the ball to the top of the arc, facing Pierce, in the same position, still the same choice.
Facing Pierce, Lu Yao directly chose to raise his hand and pull out. Pierce still couldn't touch the edge of the ball and could only watch the ball fall into the basket.
Lu Yao turned around, made a three-point gesture, and then beat his chest to release the thunderous momentum.
Now, with 2 minutes and 14 seconds left before the end of the first quarter, the Thunder are six points behind.
As long as the Thunder can recover the score within these 2 minutes and 14 seconds, then they will once again create a miracle of reversing 15+ points in a single quarter.
The last time he reversed a score of more than 15+ was against Paul's Clippers. In the first game, the fledgling Lu Yao scored 20+ in a single quarter and finally made the final decision, helping the team achieve a 20+ reversal. .
Now, the Raptors have become the target of the Thunder.
This time, Lu Wei missed the mark and the ball hit the basket. Ibaka, who was at the bottom of the basket, had been waiting for a long time. He steadily took the rebound into his arms and then quickly passed it back to Westbrook.
The Thunder suddenly accelerated their offensive pace. From the looks of it, they wanted to hit more and less.
There are only three Raptors players in the backcourt, while the Thunder have five, taking advantage of all the heaven and earth.
Relying on his tacit cooperation with Durant, Westbrook used the screen to get directly into the paint, and faced the defender with a difficult pull shot.
This goal couldn't help but ignited the Thunder's bench once again.
The substitute players on the court raised their hands in the air, and Donovan clapped his hands excitedly and shouted to the players on the court.
"Well done Russell, that's what you should do! Fuck him for me!"
After this goal, the Thunder had already chased the score to 4 points. In the blink of an eye, the score had been chased to within five points. This was undoubtedly a crisis for the Raptors.
They were beaten 17:2 in just four minutes. This was a huge blow to the Raptors.
The Thunder did not intend to let the Raptors go just like that. Although the Raptors managed to save some situations with DeRozan's mid-range shot, they were just covering up.
Durant received a pass from Westbrook from the outside. Facing the defense, he directly passed the defender with his signature double change of direction. Then he retreated to the three-point line and made a decisive three-pointer!
The ball drew a beautiful arc in the air, and then hit the basket. After this ball, the score had been reduced to 3 points by the Thunder.
Only one three-pointer is needed for the Thunder to tie the score before the end of the first quarter!
In the next game, the two sides fell into a stalemate. After feeling the threat, the Raptors completely shifted their focus to defense. Since I don't score, you don't want to score either.
After a lot of back and forth, the gap between the two teams was maintained at three points until thirteen seconds before the end of the first quarter.
Lu Yao caught the ball in the frontcourt, and Pierce followed closely behind him, sticking close to Lu Yao and not giving Lu Yao any chance.
But Lu Yao relied on his large physique to push Pierce forward. Pierce could only watch helplessly as Lu Yao carried him through.
All the way to the three-point line at the top of the arc, at this moment, there are still 2 seconds before the end of the first quarter, and there is not much time for Lu Yao.
Lu Yao gritted his teeth and took a direct shot towards Pierce's three-pointer, even his movements were deformed.
Pierce was anxious and put his hand directly on Lu Yao's shooting hand, and the referee blew the whistle without hesitation.
However, Lu Yao's ball has been shot, and the result has not been determined yet!
Under everyone's attention, the ball spun in the air and then fell into the basket.
Lu Yao! 3+1 scored!
While the score was tied, it also announced that the Thunder had a chance to take the lead. They would achieve a 19-point reversal in a single quarter.
Lu Yao walked to the free throw line, faced the boos from the Toyota Center fans, took a deep breath, and then took the free throw.
Free throws, sure hits!
