Capela's performance successfully inspired his teammates. In the next quarter, the whole Mosaic team played a very high offensive wave, and the score on the court suddenly became anxious.
With 17 seconds left in the first quarter, the Mosaic team's frontcourt tactics turned into iron slag and Ariza missed the three-pointer after receiving the ball.
Capela grabbed an offensive rebound and gave it to Harden.
Harden reorganized the offense and took a mid-range shot after picking and rolling with Capela.
"Wha—!"
Harden hits consecutive mid-range hits!
In this game, Big Beard entered the killer mode immediately, relying on his 10-point performance in a single quarter to allow the Mosaic team to hold on to the score at 29:30.
On the timer, there were 6 seconds left, and the Trail Blazers still had a chance to make the final attack.
Wang Zelin made a quick start from the backcourt, and then quickly sprinted forward.
"Quick break! The king is rushing towards the audience at full speed, and Ariza is thrown away!"
In the Tengxun studio, Wang Meng suddenly shouted loudly.
When Wang Zelin passed Ariza, he pressed the latter and continued to accelerate and sprint.
At this time, Capela, who had just grabbed a valuable offensive rebound over Wang Zelin, moved over to block Wang Zelin.
Capela, who replaced Howard as the Mosaic's starter at the center position, really fulfilled the old saying tonight - newborn calves are not afraid of tigers!
In this quarter, his performance was quite eye-catching, scoring 4 points, grabbing 3 rebounds, and blocking a shot, which surprised Mosaic fans.
You know, in the first two games of the past series, the original starting center Warcraft Howard lost his performance in the matchup with Wang Zelin. He scored 7+6 in the first game and 10+8 in the second game, averaging 8.5 points per game. He scored 7 points and 7 rebounds, which was not a slight drop from the double-double of 13+12 in the regular season.
It’s no wonder that D’Antoni would make such a decision. Anyway, all beings are equal in front of the Trail Blazers No. 36, who is going up?
Unexpectedly, Capela gave everyone a surprise as soon as he came up. In a single quarter, he got data that Howard needed half a game to get in the series.
After seeing him take the initiative to face the Trail Blazers No. 36, the eyes of the surrounding home fans were full of anticipation.
Boy, you must hold on!
…
When Wang Zelin saw this rookie trying to block him, he showed a cold look on his face, put force on his feet, and bumped into Capela before he could get into position.
"Bang!"
The sound of muscles colliding caused all the players on the field to look over.
The next moment, Capela was shocked. His physical fitness was not bad, but he was knocked away like this?
Wang Zelin slowed down and stumbled slightly, then accelerated again and quickly rushed past Capela.
On the sidelines, D'Antoni, sitting on the bench, sighed.
In this head-on confrontation, he was quite satisfied with Capela's performance. The latter did not shrink back because of the size difference. Instead, he faced the difficulties and chose to fight head-on.
But what makes him regretful is that compared with Wang Zelin, Capela's body is still too thin. It seems that he will practice more this summer.
After Capela's block, only Harden and pseudo-point guard Thornton were left in front, and he rushed straight over.
Harden and Thornton reacted quickly. They quickly closed the door and blocked Wang Zelin's way.
But at this time, other Trail Blazers players had already swarmed in, and the Mosaic team's two inside big men failed to keep up, so a brief five-on-three situation formed in the Mosaic team's frontcourt.
The ending came quickly. With so many open spaces, Lillard quickly passed the ball to Batum, who took off from outside the three-point line on the right wing.
"Wha—!"
The three-pointer at the buzzer was hit, and the Trail Blazers added another three points.
At the end of the first quarter, at 33:29, the Trail Blazers' lead reached 4 points.
However, Mosaic coach D'Antoni was quite satisfied with the team's performance in the first quarter. At least this game did not fall behind by double digits in the first quarter like the previous two games and was defeated in half the game.
In fact, he also has a feeling in his heart, that is, the Mosaic team will most likely be swept 4:0 by the opponent in this series. The gap in paper strength between the two sides is really too great.
Whether it is stars or rotations, there is a qualitative gap.
What's more, he now has a conflict with Howard, the core inside player, which makes him even more pessimistic about the future.
Before this game, Howard's agent had contacted the Mosaic team management and informed the management that Howard planned to trade in Surabaya this summer.
To put it bluntly, the labor and management are no longer willing to play for you next season!
This is one of the reasons why D'Antoni chose Capela as the starting center tonight, because he wanted to see if Capela had any value worth cultivating?
Now it seems that Capela, who scored 4 points, 3 rebounds and 1 block in the matchup with Wang Zelin, has shown his worth and has been initially recognized by D'Antoni and the management behind him.
If nothing else, after Howard leaves the team next season, Capela will be vigorously trained by the Mosaic team.
So from a certain perspective, this game was destined to be a training and preparation game from the beginning. After all, the Mosaic team no longer had high hopes for this season.
In other words, they became the first team among the eight playoff teams in the Western Conference this season to start preparing for the 2016-17 season!
Ahem, the future is promising.
…
…
Entering the second quarter, the gap in the depth of the benches between the two teams was once again reflected. Just like in the previous two games, the Trail Blazers' rotation once again defeated the opposite rotation.
However, what is more surprising is that the Mosaic team's center forward Howard has not been played for a long time. It is not clear whether he does not want to play or is suffering from pressure from the team and has to sit on the bench.
Halfway through the second quarter, the substitute lineups of both sides played a 22:9 wave. The total score of both sides was rewritten to 55:38, and the point difference widened to 17 points.
In the next four and a half minutes, the head coaches of both sides replaced their main players and competed.
After returning, Wang Zelin worked hard and beat Capela wildly under the basket. With the latter, he felt the passion that he had not seen for a long time.
Howard seems to have been autistic by him, so it would be nice to have a new taste now.
Then...halftime ended...68:46...
Unlike the expected return of the opponent's main lineup and continuing to fight, the opponent seems to have collapsed!
All the main players of the Trail Blazers stepped up their defensive intensity as soon as they came up, preparing to lock down the opponent. As a result, the opponent became more and more aggressive, as if they had made an appointment with someone and wanted to take an early vacation to go fishing.
At the end of the half, the game returned to a familiar rhythm. Just like the first two games in the series, the Trail Blazers held a huge advantage at halftime and almost sealed the victory.
This made Wang Zelin, who was just getting excited, feel like he was punched in cotton!
What's going on?
You fell down before I even exerted any force!
(End of chapter)
