After playing against the Raptors, the Thunder will return to Oklahoma tomorrow night to face the Golden State Warriors, ranked second in the Western Conference and an old rival of the Thunder.
Many fans are paying close attention to this game. After all, after the Thunder defeated the Warriors, the Warriors lost their dominant position at the beginning of the game. On the other hand, the Thunder soared and headed towards the All-Stars in an invincible manner.
The grudge between the two teams was inexplicably settled. This was undoubtedly a focus battle, not to mention that in last year's game, Thunder star Kevin Durant scored 54 points against the Warriors in a single game. The highest score in his career, leading the Thunder to defeat the Warriors.
Today's Warriors have been completely reborn. They have suddenly advanced from a team that could only linger on the edge of the playoffs to a strong team in the league that can win 60 games. But the same thing is that the current Thunder are also completely reborn.
After the addition of Lu Yao, the Thunder's overall strength has directly improved by at least two levels. Both the offensive and defensive ends have been significantly improved, and Lu Yao's personal performance is still at a historical level.
According to the championship odds given by the outside world, the Thunder occupy the first position in the league in off-season, followed by the Warriors with the second odds, and the third place is the Cleveland Cavaliers.
As for the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers, which have been very strong teams in recent years, they are still a little inferior compared to these three teams. Therefore, basic fans believe that this year's championship will be born among these three teams.
The original Thunder, before Lu Yao joined at the start of the season, had far lower odds of winning than the Cavaliers and Warriors.
But after Lu Yao joined, the Thunder's odds increased all the way to the top of the league. This shows how Lu Yao's addition has improved the Thunder.
Even the efficiency of Durant and Westbrook has been significantly improved due to the addition of Lu Yao. One person can drive the progress of the entire team, which is extremely rare in NBA history.
After all, a person with a height of 2m16 and a wingspan of 2m31 can beat people on the outside, and can fly in the inside to kill opponents. He can also make a huge contribution to the team on the defensive line, and can even defend the league's top defenders alone. And play a significant limiting role.
What's more, Lu Yao's ball-handling ability and offensive IQ are top-notch among power forwards. Lu Yao's dribbling is even said to be comparable to Iverson.
People once imagined how terrifying it would be if a player of 1.9 meters, 2 meters, or even 2.1 meters or above could possess Iverson's dribbling ability.
The appearance of Lu Yao made this existence that had been considered impossible for more than ten years become a reality.
Lu Yao, who has the template of peak Durant, Iverson's ball-handling skills, McGrady's pull-up shooting package, and gold medal defensive talent, is a complete all-around player, and this all-around player is also a historical level all-around player.
What the Durant template has given Lu Yao is that he can maintain the level of peak Durant at all times. Looking at the entire history of the league, no one can compare with his singles ability, not even the god of basketball Michael Jordan. , but also had to be inferior by three points in front of Durant's singles.
Unresolvable pull-ups, guard-like dribbling, and super high efficiency allow Durant to score smoothly at any time.
This is why Durant can be hailed as the strongest man in the history of the league. After all, the changes he brought to the league are no less than the changes Curry brought to the league.
He made it possible for those tall and thin players to enter the NBA, and even gradually became a trend after that. However, over the past ten years, players who have been able to maintain ultra-high shooting percentages and have the ability to attack tough tasks as a top forward have Players, only Kevin Durant.
And Lu Yao wants to become the second person after Kevin Durant, and even surpass Durant later.
For the current league, Lu Yao is completely a super model. This is why so many star players praise Lu Yao so much, because there is no shortcoming in Lu Yao, whether it is on the court or not. Even off the court, Lu Yao is impeccable.
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In a podcast show, the program team invited Curry to the show for an interview.
"Stephen, do you have anything to say about your away game against the Thunder tomorrow night?"
Curry stretched his body a little, and then slowly said: "This time, we are stronger warriors. We will not lose to them again. The Thunder's winning streak should end tomorrow night."
"We will prove that we are the stronger team."
"You know, although Lu Yao is very strong, we are a team, and a united team can work together to defeat everything."
Curry's eyes are full of desire and confidence for victory. After experiencing a short period of trough, the Warriors have regained their strength and become a fearless challenger to pick out the Thunder in the Energy Center tomorrow night.
At this moment, an unexpected piece of news appeared.
On the famous American social media Twitter, the Oklahoma City Thunder released an official announcement.
"Tomorrow night, in the Thunder's home game against the Warriors, our team's players Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook will not return due to special reasons."
This news undoubtedly caused a stir.
Thunder fans even gathered under this tweet and put a lot of question marks, feeling very puzzled.
The obvious meaning of this tweet is that Durant and Westbrook will take turns in this game. But if such an important game takes turns, is it possible that the Thunder want to cut off their own retreat?
At the same time, on the Hupu forum, a group of Chinese fans launched a heated discussion on this matter.
"Wtf? The Thunder management is crazy. Durant and Westbrook were absent from the game against the Warriors. If you want to end the winning streak, just say so!"
"Although Lu Yao is strong, he can't use it like this? No team needs to let a rookie play against the top teams in the league, let alone a single-core team."
"It's simply unreasonable. The Thunder management is so confused that they made such an unbelievable decision."
"Is it possible for Lu Yao to score 50+ or even 60+ points in a single game, but he is facing the second-best Warriors in the league!"
"This year's Warriors can also be regarded as a historical team. Let Lu Yao face the Warriors with a single core. Isn't there something wrong?"
Although netizens were angry about Lu Yao's single-core performance against the Warriors, they were powerless.
