............
The half game ended quickly, with the score fixed at 67-77.
The Lakers lead by 10 points at home.
The Thunder walked back to the locker room with dark faces. This game gave them a headache.
They were still forced to this point by Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen scored 42 points in the first half, dominating the game with his outstanding personal ability.
Although the Lakers were in the lead, Zhao Chen was not careless at all. Instead, Zhao Chen was very cautious.
The current lead of the Lakers is still not safe enough. 10 points is only a matter of a few rounds. As long as you are not careful, the Thunder's offense can be smoothed out in a short period of time.
The Thunder had two major comebacks in the last round of the series.
One game was a reversal of the Clippers when they were trailing by up to 25 points, and the other game was a 13-point comeback in the last half of the quarter.
Although the Clippers have their own problems, it also illustrates the Thunder's resilience on another level.
Zhao Chen is always a little worried about the touch of his teammates. If he is not on the court and his teammates are still in the same state as the first half, the Lakers will still be in a bit of danger.
"Zhao Chen went for a super high score again in this game. He scored 42 points at halftime. It was so easy."
"A true super giant can withstand the test, and Zhao Chen has obviously withstood it."
"Zhao Chen is awesome, Rose is awesome, Booker is awesome, and of course Westbrook and Durant are also awesome. I like to watch this kind of performance between superstars."
Away locker room.
Donovan made tactical changes after discussing with the assistant coach: "Zone defense, 3-2 zone defense, focus on defending their outside lines, their inside attacks are not enough."
"OK!"
"OK!"
The Thunder responded to Donovan from top to bottom.
As Zhao Chen expected, their morale did not decrease, but remained high.
Zhao Chen is indeed very good, but the Thunder do not lack confident defenders. Whether it is Robertson or Durant, they are not afraid of being beaten.
Westbrook's eyes were solemn as he was thinking about how to deal with the Lakers in the second half.
Zhao Chen is definitely the most difficult player to guard in the league. They have sufficient rotations in all positions, their offense and defense are very balanced, and it is difficult to play out of position.
Even in the most obvious matchup between Ibaka and Tucker, Tucker's defensive ability is beyond their imagination.
Westbrook took the initiative and said: "I will attack Zhao in the second half to see if there is any chance of causing him to foul out."
Durant also said: "If Zhao's foul cannot be caused, the Serbian will be beaten."
Jokic's style of play is so smart that he can often form a connection with Zhao Chen, making it difficult for the Thunder to use its defensive power in Zhao Chen's direction.
"Okay, Russell, both you and KD should step up their breakthroughs. If you have the chance to foul him, go for it. It doesn't matter even if you make a mistake." Donovan shouted.
...........
The Lakers here.
Rose knew that his rhythm in the first half was average, but he just picked up a little bit later.
But Rose was not afraid of his poor state. He expressed to Scott that he hoped to continue attacking.
Ross could tell that Zhao Chen had a certain amount of consumption and that someone else needed to step forward to help Zhao Chen.
You can't really compete with a single player in the playoffs. Such a game would be too brutal.
........
"Although Zhao Chen performed very well and scored 42 points, he was very tired playing like this. If the Thunder can seize the opportunity to recover the score in the game when Zhao Chen is not on the court, then they still have hope in this game."
"Although the Lakers are ahead, they need to solve the scoring problem when Zhao Chen is not on the court."
Both Zhang Weiping and Xu Jicheng can see that compared to the Thunder, the Lakers now rely more on the singles of superstars.
In the second half of the game, Scott let Zhao Chen rest first.
There was no way, Zhao Chen rested for more than a minute in the first half. Such a confrontation was too big, and Scott still didn't want Zhao Chen to be on the court without being able to rest.
This is a series and all things need to be considered.
The second half of the game started quickly.
Thunder offense.
Westbrook and Adams were in a pick-and-roll. After the pick-and-roll, Westbrook hit the ball to Adams.
Adams caught the ball and directly ate the cake, knocked Jokic away with his body, and barely succeeded in a layup.
8 points difference.
The Thunder's intention to attack the inside was obvious. Adams wanted to find Zhao Chen for this ball, but unfortunately, Zhao Chen was not there at all.
Lakers offense.
Rose organized the offense, and Rose gave the ball to Booker who cut inside.
Booker is very brave and directly challenges Ibaka and Adams.
It's a pity that Booker is still too immature now, and he ignores Ibaka's physical fitness.
Booker's pull-up jump shot was interfered by Ibaka.
The rebound was won by Adams.
The Thunder's offense comes again.
This time, Westbrook used Adams' pick-and-roll to complete a lightning breakthrough.
Jokic focused on guarding Adams, but was surprised by Westbrook, who scored a layup.
6 points difference.
The cheers at Staples Center fell silent.
Scott wiped his sweat off the court with a towel.
He hopes the Lakers' second lineup can hold on for a while longer.
But unfortunately, it didn't happen. Rose broke through and passed the ball to Tucker in the bottom corner.
Tucker's ball was open, but he still made a three-pointer.
Durant grabbed the rebound.
Durant dribbled the ball forward himself. When passing by the bench, Durant shouted to Zhao Chen: "If you don't come up, they can't do it."
Durant's words were very arrogant, not only for Zhao Chen, but also for the Lakers players.
The next few rounds did prove the validity of Durant's words.
Without Zhao Chen, the Lakers couldn't beat the Thunder with the state of the other Lakers players tonight.
The same cannot be said for Jokic.
The Lakers were instantly hit by an 8-0 offensive.
The point difference came to 2 points. Fortunately, Rose had a big heart at the critical moment and hit a step-back three-pointer, opening the difference between the two teams to 5 points.
Rose's key three-pointer is very impressive....
Just when everyone thought the Lakers would slowly return to form, Durant exploded again.
Durant hit two consecutive three-pointers from the top of the arc against Covington's defense.
Directly led the Thunder to overtake the score.
The third quarter only lasted 4 minutes, and the Thunder gave the Lakers a 14-3 shock wave, completely turning the score over.
"pause!!"
Scott was angry.
He didn't even have a chance to call a timeout, and the Lakers were blindsided by a series of Thunder attacks.
Fans at Staples Arena could not have imagined that the Lakers without Zhao Chen would be so far behind the current Thunder.
In just a few minutes, the Thunder completely reversed its momentum.
Zhao Chen off the court was also speechless.
It was difficult for him to take a break.
The cruelty of the playoffs is evident in this moment.
Against the Rockets, the Lakers won too easily, but against the Thunder, they were in real trouble.
How strong were the 2016 Thunder in its previous life?
The 72-win Warriors were once behind them 1-3. If it weren't for Curry's super three-pointer and G6 super soup, the Warriors might have been killed by such a Thunder team.
It wouldn't be surprising for the Thunder to win the championship. Their strength is already in place.
The situation of the Lakers makes Lakers fans a little worried.
