After the first quarter, the score between the two teams reached 31:24, with the Thunder leading by 7 points.
Clippers fans are furious, this is only the first quarter!
Lu Yao played the entire first quarter, scoring 6 points, 5 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals!
Judging from the data, it doesn't seem to be very explosive, but anyone who has watched the ball knows that Lu Yao's presence is too strong.
Although he doesn't take many shots and gives all the opportunities to his teammates, he is simply everywhere on the defensive and organizational ends!
At the beginning of the second quarter, both sides put on full substitute lineups, and Lu Yao also went to rest.
All the teammates came over and high-fived Lu Yao.
Lu Yao has become the soul of the Thunder team, with Durant and Westbrook eclipsed.
This is dominance on the court.
The Clippers' bench lineup is very strong, because for teams that want to compete for the championship, the management will strengthen the bench thickness. After all, the game lasts 48 minutes.
Wesley Johnson, Pierce, Josh Smith, Jeff Green, plus Rivers, the overall strength is stronger than the Thunder bench.
After more than 2 minutes of the second quarter, the Clippers caught up with the score.
Donovan replaced Durant with a wave of his hand.
This is a strategy of the Thunder to let Durant come off early in the first quarter and play with the bench for a while in the second quarter.
Durant has no complaints, because Lu Yao is getting better and better as he plays, and he can save a lot of energy and play more easily.
Even at his peak, Durant's physical strength was a problem.
In the parallel world before Lu Yao traveled through, the Thunder mainly relied on Young Master Dewey to switch.
Westbrook's physical strength is fine, and he is still hot even if it goes into overtime, but Durant cannot.
If the first three quarters are full output, then the shooting percentage in the fourth quarter will plummet.
But Westbrook is unstable, and if he wants to win, he will most likely have to rely on Durant to take action. Therefore, in the following years, the Thunder always missed out and did not enter the finals again.
The arrival of Lu Yao allowed the Thunder to solve this problem of the century.
Lu Yao can still drive the team and play strong offense and defense when Durant is not on the court, so Durant is not in a hurry to play.
Durant was full of energy. After coming on the court, he faced the Clippers' substitutes and went on a killing spree, suddenly opening up the score again!
Although the Clippers' bench is also very strong, no matter how strong it is, it can't be better than Durant!
After more than 4 minutes in the second quarter, the Thunder led by another 8 points.
Rivers had no choice but to call a timeout again.
The main force must be replaced in advance. The Clippers' substitutes are really unable to guard against Durant.
Durant was very excited. He hadn't played so well in a long time. He had no worries at all and just played the way he liked.
Attacking without psychological burden can often make one's condition better.
It feels very smooth when I take action!
Durant took 7 shots in the second quarter and hit 6 goals.
The efficiency is too high.
In fact, the Clippers' bench offense is good and they can score, but Durant's scoring seems easier.
After the timeout, both sides replaced their main lineups.
The Clippers fans at Staples Arena felt bad. They played too passively in this game. If the Thunder maintains this state in the second half, the Clippers will really not be able to beat them.
Although Paul has great rhythm control, he is weaker than the Thunder on both the offensive and defensive ends.
Griffin, who is almost omnipotent against other teams, seems to be unable to play in front of Lu Yao.
And Durant, who is full of physical strength, is even more of a killer on the offensive end.
The main players of the two sides faced off. Led by Paul, the Clippers withstood the pressure of the Thunder and the score was stalemate.
The score difference between the two sides swayed between 5 and 10 points, with the Thunder always leading.
Although the Clippers are still behind, the point difference has not widened, which shows that Paul has adapted to the Thunder's style of play and found a way to deal with it.
Donovan was a little dissatisfied and yelled loudly from the sidelines.
He knows that Paul is very powerful. If Paul really finds a way to deal with the Thunder, the game may be rewritten.
With more than 3 minutes left in the first half, Donovan called another timeout.
He hopes to widen the point difference before the end of the first half, leading by at least 15 points.
This will give you a psychological advantage in the second half.
So during the timeout, Donovan issued an order——
"Give the ball to Lu Yao and let him distribute the ball rights. The others will cooperate well!"
If the head coach said this in the previous games, the Thunder players would definitely have some ideas.
After all, Westbrook is a point guard.
But now that I say this, no one will have any objection, because Lu Yao has proven that he can lead the team to win!
Especially in the last game, in the absence of Dewey, they defeated the Warriors who were in full swing.
Lu Yao's prestige is even higher.
The teammates all nodded in agreement, and the timeout ended.
Thunder offense.
Lu Yao received the ball and slowly dribbled the ball at the top of the key, while Griffin pressed hard.
Griffin really had a feud with Lu Yao, because Lu Yao had a total of 5 blocks in the first half, but he blocked 3 of them.
So Griffin got a little angry. He signaled to his teammates not to double-team and defended Lu Yao alone.
Lu Yao found it funny. Although Griffin worked hard, he was no threat to Lu Yao at all.
Thinking about it, it certainly doesn't matter to Lu Yao, who is facing both Green and Iguodala, and Griffin.
With a feint, Lu Yao moved Griffin's center of gravity away.
Then he accelerated towards the penalty area.
Jordan hurriedly came to help defend, but Lu Yao actually used another amazing move, which was a difficult move by the defender, worship!
Since Lu Yao had hit two mid-range shots just now, as soon as he raised his head, Jordan jumped up as a conditioned reflex.
But Lu Yao didn't hit the ball. He bent down and passed to the left of Jordan.
Little Jordan's heart went cold, he knew he had been fooled, but he was in the air and there was nothing he could do.
Lu Yao went to the basket, jumped high, and made a shocking dunk. Bang!
The Staples Center was silenced again.
Rivers vaguely felt something was wrong, and immediately waved to the players, indicating that everyone should strengthen defense.
However, it was useless to strengthen the defense. After Lu Yao succeeded in his attack, he attracted defensive firepower. Unexpectedly, he started passing the ball again.
Whizzing……
Lu Yao scored some good goals for Durant, Adams, and Ibaka.
The Thunder had a small climax.
With 52 seconds left in the first half, the Thunder already led by 17 points.
Paul was really anxious. He didn't allow the team to be opened up by so many points in the first half, so he grabbed a long three-pointer.
Although Paul is different from Curry in that he does not use three-pointers as his main offensive weapon, his three-pointers are also very strong and often surprise the team at critical moments.
Uh-huh!
Paul hit a three-pointer!
