After hitting the extra free throw, Jimmy Butler helped the Clippers re-establish their lead in the second quarter.
The Thunder's attempt to turn the game around was temporarily suppressed.
Brooks yelled at the referee on the sidelines and received a technical foul.
Harden made a free throw with a technical foul, and the Clippers further widened the point difference.
Brooks could see that the referee's two penalties in the round just now made the situation unfavorable to the Thunder again.
If the referee calls Butler a defensive foul, there will be no fast break counterattack dunk, and there will be no 2+1.
Durant scored consecutive goals just after he came on the field and felt hot, and the two sides were tied after scoring again.
Okay now, 6 points behind, let's start chasing points again.
But at this time, the Clippers mobilized their troops, Randolph returned inside, Curry replaced Harden, and Tyronn Lue did not replace his talented general Jeremy Lin, but replaced him with George.
George and Butler partner in the backcourt, which will undoubtedly punish Durant to death.
Young players like Butler and George are most indispensable for their vitality and biting mentality.
Facing Durant, both of them are underdogs. You should be able to make a shot. You are the scorer.
But if I bite you and stop you, it will be you, Durant, who is embarrassed.
The Clippers began to let Butler guard Durant alone, and Paul George assisted in defense.
You can put Sefolosha in this spot if you can. You have already made the move for the Swiss. It's up to you.
Suppressing Durant is the Clippers' top priority.
Durant faced a double team and was not decisive enough in his shot.
The pass was wrong and was intercepted by Curry again!
Curry held the ball to launch a counterattack, and George and Butler came down quickly.
Curry passed the ball to George on the left, and George made a pass and passed it to Randolph.
Randolph caught the ball and made an easy layup.
This defense, this fast break, he played so smoothly.
Min Congda's brain was bleeding when he saw it. What kind of thing could this thunder hit?
Of course, the main fault lies with the referee. It was about to be a tie, but two whistles changed the trend of the game!
The first half became very difficult for the Thunder.
However, a superstar like Durant cannot be easily prevented.
He immediately changed his attack method and no longer went to the ribs, which was too easy to be double-teamed.
From the high post, a simple screen, a double team, and a through ball to Ibaka, who easily cut into the basket and dunked.
Then Ibaka blocked George's layup on defense. The Thunder counterattacked and Durant caught the ball and hit a three-pointer!
The Thunder chased for five points in a row. This is the way Durant is good at scoring, scoring points randomly, like picking out objects from a bag.
Curry immediately retaliated. After a single block in the high post, he directly hit a three-pointer!
"Damn it, just throw it with a single block. Are you still playing basketball? Sooner or later, basketball will be ruined by your style of play!"
Min Congda watched Durant and Curry throw three-pointers to each other and sighed inwardly.
In the past, it was not that easy for players to make three-pointers.
The entire team only took a dozen shots in one game.
Only when an open opportunity comes, will he try a three-point opportunity.
Now it's okay, I'll throw a three-pointer on counterattack, or I'll throw a three-pointer if I block the gap.
The Clippers rank first in the league in three-point attempts per game, with 28.
Ten years ago, in 2002, the team with the most three-pointers in a single game in the league was the Celtics, with 23.
Because they have Antoine Walker who throws eight three-pointers every game. He was really born in the wrong era.
His shooting percentage was only 34%, and he made less than 3 out of 8 throws.
Curry, who takes the most three-pointers on the Clippers, averages 7.5 shots per game and can hit 45% from the field.
There is also 39% James Harden, who also throws 6 per game. The two brothers took 13.5 three-pointers per game.
There are more than the entire team of some teams that are weak in three-pointers in the current NBA.
But that doesn’t mean the Clippers don’t have mid-range jumpers.
Randolph, George, Gasol, including the improving Leonard and Butler, all have mid-range abilities.
Especially George and Leonard, their improvement in shooting is visible to the naked eye.
Durant took another shot from mid-range and hit the ball. After receiving the ball at the top of the key, CS was unable to defend.
Turning around, George circled around to receive Curry's pass and hit a mid-range shot!
The two sides started an offensive battle in the middle of the second quarter, with the score rising step by step.
The Clippers always have the upper hand against the Thunder.
Durant is still difficult to defend. Even if double-teamed, Durant's ball play and his strong pull can still be solved.
But the problem facing the Thunder is that the Clippers are more difficult to defend.
Because they have the possibility of breaking out at almost every point.
When defending the Thunder, every team knows that the focus is Durant, and the secondary focus is Westbrook.
If someone else explodes, there's nothing you can do about it, but there's a high probability that it won't happen.
The Clippers can almost only play man-to-man, and it is difficult to find the defensive focus.
Mainly defending Curry? Randolph taught about life.
Mainly defending Randolph? Xiaojia and Harden let you understand what spirituality is.
Mainly defending Harden? Jeremy Lin will step up.
Anyway, the Clippers are threatening at every point.
The Thunder are a strong defensive team in the league, very oppressive, and their individual defense capabilities at every position are above average. In theory, they are the best team in the league in man-to-man defense.
For such a strong defensive team, once the Clippers gradually accelerate and get into shape, they still can't stop them.
Near the end of the second quarter, Butler remained on the court. He received a pass from Gasol, made a mid-range jumper from the bottom corner, and hit the buzzer in 24 seconds!
Butler scored 7 points in the second quarter, and his performance on both offense and defense tonight was impressive.
The Thunder had one last chance in the second quarter.
Durant missed a long three-point shot and the first half ended.
The Clippers led the Thunder by 7 points at 67:60, and the two sides entered the halftime break.
During the halftime break, Min Congda looked very depressed. How come even a player like Butler ate dumplings?
"The Clippers' style of play is really special, the offense is very smooth, and the bench is full of talents. To be honest Smart, the way this Clippers team plays reminds me of the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers. A young, talented team."
Adam Silva was born in 1962 and was a New York Knicks fan when he was a child.
The Knicks experienced glory in the early 1970s, reaching the Finals three times and winning two championships. They are a top team that has left its name in NBA history.
However, in the mid-to-late 1970s, the Knicks were no longer good. The NBA was competing for supremacy, but the game became very ugly.
Because the style is too conservative, it is not as wild as the ABA next door. There are super scorers like Irving, Thompson, and Gervin who give wonderful performances, and they also have the wonderful thing of three-point line.
Fortunately, the ABA was poorly run and was annexed by the NBA. Irving came to the NBA and led the luxurious 76ers to the Finals in 1977, facing the Portland Trail Blazers who had just entered the league.
That Trail Blazers team was led by Walton. In the fourth year of his career, Walton led a group of second-year and first-year rookies. He came back from a 0:2 deficit and overturned the 76ers to win the championship, creating a classic in NBA history. Pioneer Mania.”
This championship is of great significance to the NBA. It is a classic battle between academic basketball and performance basketball.
In a certain sense, the 1977 Finals was actually a showdown between the ABA and the NBA on the basketball court.
The ABA forces represented by Dr. J. Irving lost the series in front of the NBA forces, proving to the world that the NBA is the orthodoxy of the basketball world.
Adam Silva was 16 years old that year and was still in his youth. The Portland Trail Blazers won the championship and the wonderful performance of the red-haired monster Bill Walton left a deep impression on Silva.
To this day, Silva looks at the group of young people on the Los Angeles Clippers, plus core center Gasol, who are so similar to the Trail Blazers back then.
A center who is good at passing and organizing, a group of young and talented young people, playing team basketball.
If they can win the championship, it will also be of far-reaching significance to Silva and mark the beginning of a new era.
Silva imagines that if the Clippers can enter the finals, it is best to face the Cavaliers and defeat James, just like they defeated Irving, bringing the old era to a complete end. It is perfect!
Min Congda listened to Silva's words and thought, why the hell are you still cursing me?
How can I, a little piece of shit, be compared to a championship team?
Min Congda didn't want to talk to Silva about such a depressing topic, so he asked instead: "Adam, can I have popcorn?"
Silva shook his head, "No, you better stop eating it. Don't eat it again."
"This is a free country and you are interfering with my freedom."
"Freedom also has limits. By the way, you should think carefully about the boss's affairs."
"Consider? How should I consider it? I can be the boss if I want to?"
"I don't know, but Sterling listens to you so much, I think you must have something to do, right?"
Silva still changed the topic to the team owner.
Min Congda fell into silence. To be honest, he was a little moved.
If he becomes the boss, even if he is a small shareholder, he will have more resources at his disposal.
The more resources you have, the greater your ability to spread your business.
Like the Clippers building a new arena, Min Congda has put in a lot of effort and only now has some clues.
If he is a shareholder of the team and mobilizes other owners to use various resources, the speed will definitely be faster.
But who should he find as another partner?
It can’t be Ballmer anyway, this guy can’t be too rich.
Are you looking for your fellow countryman Yao Ming? That won’t work either. Those who will go bankrupt in the future will have cheated Dayao.
It’s best to find someone who has the attributes of a plague god, who has played in the NBA circle, and doesn’t have a lot of money...
A name gradually emerged in Min Congda's mind.
Min Congda leaned into Adam Silva's ear and said a few words.
Silva looked at Min Congda and said: "But he is now the owner of an NBA team, so it is impossible for him to buy another team. Besides, if the Clippers changes ownership, there will definitely be more people who want to buy it. There are wealthy owners in Los Angeles one after another. It is said that Steve Ballmer has always been interested in the Clippers."
Min Congda definitely doesn't want Ballmer to take over. With tens of billions of dollars in blood transfusions, when will it go bankrupt?
"I want to talk to him when I have the opportunity. Do you think we can make arrangements? You also know his name. If we can negotiate, I have the means and methods to let Sterling sell the team."
Adam Silva was silent for a while. He thought about it seriously and said, "Okay, no problem, I will arrange it."
The two of them sat in the audience and quietly touched each other to decide a far-reaching event in the NBA.
They each had their own concerns and ideas, but in the end they reached a consensus.
Min Congda needs better resources to help him complete his bankruptcy plan.
Although the chess piece Sterling was obedient, his energy was too low to be of much help.
Moreover, he has made a lot of money in the past two years, he has not done any work, and does not have to make any decisions. All the meetings are held by Min Congda for him, which is not very comfortable.
It might not be a bad thing for him to let him out at this time.
Now that I'm old, it's not a good idea to do something else with so much money, so just do whatever you love.
It has been three years since Min Congda came to the United States, and he already has a rough idea of how this society works.
After the "bar fight" turned into an "anti-racial discrimination incident" in the summer of 2009, he became very clear about many things.
The game quickly entered the second half, and the Thunder still couldn't find a good way to deal with the Clippers in the third quarter.
Perkins will only become more and more useless. In the playoffs, facing the Clippers' offensive strategy of widening the space, Perkins will be useless.
And Durant still has to face the endless consumption of the Clippers' young forwards.
George, Leonard, and Butler take turns playing, putting pressure on Durant on both offense and defense.
Westbrook is the Thunder's most outstanding and stable point.
In the third quarter, he was still the first to sound the offensive horn.
His pull-up jumper was pretty accurate tonight.
Kill a zombie and shoot, the hit rate is surprisingly high.
But the Clippers remained unmoved and continued to implement their offensive strategy.
High-post passes and cuts, a lot of movement, air cuts, and three-pointers from Harden and Curry.
The Thunder were always beaten by the Clippers and could not find a point to turn around.
Compared with the beginning of the season, after most of the season, the Clippers' biggest improvement is that their stability is gradually improving.
It can be seen from the Clippers' long winning streak that they can cope with various situations and win the game steadily.
The Clippers had a hard time beating the Thunder at the beginning of the season. They went into overtime and finally won the game with a buzzer beater, which was very thrilling.
Moreover, Sefolosha was absent due to injury in that game, and the Thunder lineup was not complete.
In this game, the entire Thunder team played at home, but they were overwhelmed.
Throughout the third quarter, the Clippers continued to implement a wheel-and-wheel strategy, with George, Leonard, and Butler taking turns to serve Durant, resulting in a serious disconnect between Durant and the entire Thunder offense.
Although he can still score points with his superb personal ability, he is out of touch with the Thunder's overall offense.
At the end of the third quarter, the Clippers led the Thunder by 11 points 90:79.
On the Thunder bench, the players were sweating profusely and silent.
Can't beat it!
Durant scored 20 points in three quarters, which is reasonable to say that he performed well.
Another 10-pointer in the fourth quarter was another easy 30 points.
But the momentum of the game was firmly in the hands of the Clippers.
When the game started in the fourth quarter, Durant returned to the court.
Tyronn Lue sent a fourth player to defend Durant alone-PJ Tucker!
Durant is destined to have to go through all the moves with the Clippers' third position today!
Some people died, but not completely...
