On the verge of defeat, the Thunder, led by Russell Westbrook, still did not intend to give up. After returning from a timeout, they launched a final counterattack.
Westbrook's energy of never admitting defeat on the court happens to be the trait that attracts fans the most.
In order to respect such an opponent, Wang Zelin also tried his best to fight against him in the final showdown.
Westbrook advanced quickly with the ball in the backcourt. Just when everyone thought he would attack the frame, they saw him suddenly pull up half a step away from the three-point line...
"Wha—!"
A three-pointer hit, 120:122, and the Thunder quickly recovered the point difference, with only two points left.
Judging from the large sample data of his career, Westbrook is not actually a player who is good at three-pointers. His technical characteristics are similar to LeBron James. Both of them play with the ball and are especially good at attacking the basket.
It is no exaggeration to say that when Westbrook, who is at his peak at this time, plays a ball-holding and big-core style, his efficiency and influence are no less than those of the two James in the East and West.
But at this time, he just dared to take a three-point shot that he was not good at, and he actually scored!
Although Westbrook has had a breakout year in his career this season, all statistics have reached career highs, including three-pointers.
So far this season, he has averaged at least 7.2 three-pointers per game, which is much higher than any previous season.
You must know the splash brothers of the Warriors. Curry only averages 10 three-pointers per game this season, and Thompson only averages over 8 per game.
In terms of shooting percentage, the three-point shooting percentage of 34.3% also set a career high. This allowed Westbrook to average 2.5 three-pointers per game. Combined with his violent attack on the basket, it is not difficult to understand that he now averages close to 32.0 three-pointers per game. Horrible output.
By the way, Westbrook's scoring in the final quarter this season is also quite terrifying. Although it is still not as exaggerated as Thomas's average of 10 points per game in the final quarter, he is still among the best among outside stars.
Westbrook's tough counterattack immediately caused the Energy Arena to fight. The Thunder seemed to see hope of overtaking the score, and the entire arena immediately turned into a blue ocean.
"MVP! MVP! MVP!"
All the Thunder fans at the scene stood up and cheered.
Although Westbrook has not won an MVP trophy, in Oklahoma and in the hearts of all Thunder fans, he is the well-deserved hero and the only MVP in this city!
This time Westbrook scored a three-pointer in less than five seconds, with 31 seconds left.
Lillard received Wang Zelin's serve in the backcourt and slowly advanced.
The Blazers are not panicking at all, they just need to be patient and achieve success.
Soon, Seth Curry's two consecutive counter runs confused the opponent.
Seeing this, Thunder forward Ty Gibson remembered the coach's instructions during the timeout, decisively let go of Wang Zelin, and pounced in the direction of Seth Curry.
There is no way, no matter who makes Seth Curry's performance tonight be too terrifying, any slight disturbance will cause a riot in the Thunder's entire defense.
Wang Zelin never thought that one day he would be missed by his opponent. He is the current scoring leader!
Lillard, on Lillard's side, discovered that Wang Zelin was left open and passed the ball decisively. Wang Zelin received the ball and shook away Biyombo, who was defending him. However, he did not rush to take action, but quickly moved to the three-point line. Turn around and hit a dry pull.
When a seven-foot-long man with a height of 2.16 meters, a wingspan of over 2.3 meters, and top jumping plays a pull-up in front of you, you can imagine the despair it brings to the defender.
At this time, no matter how much defense you do, it will be useless. The only thing you can pray for is that his touch is not good.
Unfortunately, in the end, it was like a full moon scimitar, splitting open the Thunder's basket.
Alas~~~
The fans at the scene immediately let out sighs of disappointment.
The familiar scene also reminded many fans of a hot man-Kevin Durant!
In the past nearly 10 years, Kevin Durant has often shown off his unstoppable pull-up jump shot in front of the home fans at the Energy Arena. I don’t know how many nights, powerful enemies from all over the league have hated this killer move of his. under.
But last summer, Kevin Durant left Oklahoma City, where he had played for 10 years, and joined the Golden State Warriors.
Oklahoma lost Durant forever, and also lost this help. They immediately defeated the enemy's killer move.
At this time, when Wang Zelin made a pull-up jumper that was even more unsolvable than Durant's on the court, the Thunder fans in the Energy Arena seemed to have suffered a real injury and were silent, and the scene fell into silence.
125:120, the point difference returned to 5 points.
There are 17 seconds left before the end of the game.
Thunder offense.
Westbrook wanted to repeat his old trick, but this time the Trail Blazers were on guard. Wang Zelin pounced out the moment he took off. Although he failed to hit the ball, it caused great interference.
"This goal can't be scored!"
As soon as Westbrook took action, Wang Zelin was sentenced to death in his heart.
Sure enough, there was a crisp sound of iron coming from behind, followed by Jokic's roar.
"king!"
Hearing the sound, Wang Zelin immediately took up his long legs and sprinted forward. An incredible scene happened. Westbrook, who is famous for his speed, was actually thrown away by Wang Zelin.
A defender can't catch up with a center?
Are we watching a science fiction movie?
The fans at the scene fell into silence again.
Jokic in the backcourt was always observing Wang Zelin's position. Seeing that the distance was almost there, he grabbed the ball with one hand and swung it hard, completing a long pass that looked across the court.
Then……
"boom!"
When the ball arrived, Wang Zelin took one step into the three-point line and jumped decisively. He looked back at the moon and grabbed the spinning basketball. After completing a 180-degree turn in the air, he slammed into the basket with one hand.
"Oh ho!!!!"
"Brothers, are we in a dunk contest now?"
"I officially announce that this must be included in the top ten best dunks of the 2016-17 season."
"Counting Wang Zelin's previous two free throws, he alone occupies three of the top ten dunks of the season. He is truly the strongest dunk king in history!"
In front of the TV, the fans watching the game couldn't help but cheer.
The screens of all the major live broadcast platforms have been filled with barrages of "The King is awesome!"
After a while, the live broadcast platform even experienced a brief downtime. Countless fans looked at the black screen on their mobile phones and couldn't help but cursed like crazy.
Back to Energy Arena.
Wang Zelin almost killed the game with his own hands at this moment. 127:120, the Trail Blazers still led the Thunder by 7 points, and there were only 4.2 seconds left.
At the end of the game, Westbrook was unable to fight back. The Thunder lost to the Trail Blazers 120:127 at home. Not only was their two-game winning streak ended, but the Trail Blazers also completed three kills against them in the regular season.
At the same time, this game has another very important significance.
Wang Zelin and Westbrook are the two favorites for the regular season MVP this season. Every time the two play against each other, they will attract countless people's attention and huge traffic. It can be said to be the focus battle among the focus battles.
However, after the two met three times in the regular season, the Trail Blazers defeated Westbrook by big scores.
In the first match, the score between the two sides was 131:115. Wang Zelin scored 45 points, 25 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks and 2 steals!
In the second match, the score between the two sides was 121:94. Wang Zelin scored a super invincible quadruple-double of 35 points, 36 rebounds, 10 assists, 11 blocks and 2 steals, which was a career masterpiece.
In this match, Seth Curry's last-minute performance certainly stole a lot of shots, but the reason why the Trail Blazers were able to fight the Thunder in the first three quarters with a incomplete lineup was mainly due to Wang Zelin's superb performance. .
At the end of the game, Wang Zelin played for 41 minutes and made 16 of 28 shots, including 5 of 10 three-pointers. Including free throws, Wang Zelin scored 45 points, 28 rebounds, 4 assists and 8 blocks. He deserved to be named the best of the game.
In this battle, Wang Zelin unlocked another milestone in his personal record. His 40+ times in a single game this season reached 29 times. In the same unit of playing time, he has refreshed the record of last season.
Last season in 2015-16, Wang Zelin had 40+ points in a single game in the regular season as many as 42 times, setting a new record since the merger of the NBA and ABA.
According to the current trend, Wang Zelin will not only be able to achieve the great achievement of averaging 40+ points per game, but it is only a matter of time before he once again refreshes his historical record of 40+ points in a single game of 42 times just last season.
After this battle, the Trail Blazers' record reached 56 wins and 5 losses, and they were only 4 games away from becoming the first 60-win team this season.
They are only 14 games away from reaching 70 wins again.
In fact, they are still one and a half months away from the end of the regular season, and there are still 21 games left. If they don't expect to break 75 wins, but just get 70 wins, they can still look forward to it.
The only team in NBA history to win 70 points in the regular season for two consecutive years!
Such a powerful title makes people extremely excited just thinking about it.
…
…
When the 2016-17 regular season schedule enters March, it completely means that all teams in the league have entered the final countdown.
At this time, except for a few top teams that have basically established a home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, all the remaining teams that are expected to make the playoffs are desperately striving to reach the top.
After all, the playoffs are a more cruel battlefield than the regular season. Being able to occupy the home court from the start is naturally the best advantage.
NBA historical experience tells them that a team with home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs will always have a greater chance of advancing than a team without home court advantage.
Of course, the Trail Blazers belong to the former. With a record of 56 wins and 5 losses, even if they fish in troubled waters in the next month and a half, and after winning 60 games casually in 4 games, they lose all the remaining 17 games, it will not matter. Affecting their party's home-field advantage in the first round.
However, their goals don't stop there.
Both Wang Zelin and other teammates have greater ambitions for this year's regular season.
Driven by ambition, the entire Blazers team was able to maintain a strong desire for victory in the long regular season.
This is one of the main reasons why the Blazers have achieved such a proud record.
On March 2, the Trail Blazers faced the Bucks led by newly-minted All-Star Antetokounmpo at home.
Although Antetokounmpo has gradually realized his talent and showed the style of the Greek monster in the future, coupled with the assistance of Middleton who has the reach of a quasi-All-Star, it is enough to ensure that they can dominate the Eastern Conference.
Unfortunately, what they faced tonight was the defending champion Portland Trail Blazers who were better than them in all aspects.
It's actually very simple to defeat the Bucks. You just need to control Antetokounmpo. In the tactical system carefully built by Jason Kidd, Antetokounmpo is the absolute core of the Bucks' tactical system.
Get rid of him, and the Bucks will defeat themselves.
Therefore, after Wang Zelin took the initiative to ask for a match, Antetokounmpo suddenly became a small letter. Played 36 minutes in the entire game, made 5 of 21 shots, 0 of 1 three-pointers, plus free throws, and barely scored 14 points, plus 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal.
His contribution on the defensive end is still outstanding. Wang Zelin is not a god. He is already very powerful if he can suppress the opponent's offense. Isn't it embarrassing to ask him to limit the opponent's performance in defense?
This Alphabet Song was purely undercover. Although Middleton kept going wild, facing the turns of Patton and Harrell, he still made 11 of 22 shots, 3 of 3 three-pointers, 1 of 1 on serve, and scored 26 points efficiently. Even if they score points, it will be difficult to restore the team's decline.
In the end, the Trail Blazers easily defeated the Bucks at home 120:93.
Fortunately, for the young Antetokounmpo and Middleton, losing to the defending champion is not something difficult to accept.
The result of losing the game must be bitter, but when you think that the opponent is a dynasty that has dominated the league for three years, the bitter result immediately becomes acceptable.
After all, countless strong teams have lost to the Trail Blazers in the past three years. Although the Bucks lost more than they won when playing against those strong teams, at least they were not as uncomfortable as they are now against the Trail Blazers.
Therefore, after feeling a little uncomfortable for a while after the game, Antetokounmpo and Middleton still greeted Wang Zelin very enthusiastically.
At the same time, Wang Zelin did not forget to encourage these young people with unlimited potential after the game, saying that he hoped that the Bucks could bring him more surprises when the two sides meet next time.
At this moment, Wang Zelin had already painted a picture in his mind.
In a future season, Antetokounmpo has grown into a complete Greek monster, and Middleton has also become a real rice god. When the two lead the Bucks to break out from the East and meet him in the finals, he will definitely give these players The two brothers left a deep playoff journey.
When the time comes, he may have to follow the example of his predecessors and say something profound to Antetokounmpo: "Come on, Sao Nian, the future is yours!"
That picture makes people feel exciting just thinking about it.
…
After getting off to a good start in March, the Trail Blazers originally planned to continue their efforts and achieve greater success.
Unexpectedly, on the back-to-back trip to San Francisco on the 4th, they suffered a heavy blow from the Warriors.
Tonight, every one of the Warriors was as if they had taken aphrodisiacs. They played so fiercely and were in such good shape that they shot 48% of their three-pointers in the game!
They are a well-known three-point team in the league. While they shoot nearly 50% from the field, they can also maintain a defensive efficiency around the top five in the league. It is difficult not to win.
In the end, the Trail Blazers lost to the Warriors 119:125, and their winning streak was ended.
In the next three games, the Trail Blazers quickly adjusted their state. First, they easily defeated the Wizards 131:93 at home, and then played against the Suns and Pelicans in two consecutive away games. Facing these two Western Conference teams, In the new year, the Trail Blazers abused vegetables so much that it felt so good.
After a wave of three consecutive victories, the Trail Blazers' record successfully broke through to 60 wins and 6 losses, becoming the first 60-win team in the league.
The Trail Blazers official website immediately updated a shocking announcement after the game:
Now that we have 60 wins, will 70 wins be far behind?
(End of chapter)
