On April 16, the much-anticipated playoffs officially started.
In the Eastern Conference, the first teams to play are the Heat, Digital Men, Celtics, and Knicks.
In the Western Conference, the first teams to appear are: Mavericks, Nuggets, Lakers, and Trail Blazers.
After these four games, there were no upsets, and the top-ranked teams all won.
Among them, the game between the Mavericks and the Nuggets was simply a massacre.
In the playoffs, the Mavericks stopped pretending and showed off their strength. The Nuggets were unable to fight back.
Dayao felt the strength of his teammates and felt happy.
He had never had such an easy time on the Mosaic team before. Even if he tried his best, he could not break through the first round.
If he had known that this was the case, he should have agreed to Kobe's invitation in the first place. The championship was not yet within his reach.
After the first game, Dayao was full of confidence and followed the team towards his first championship.
…
On April 17, the playoffs continued in full swing.
However, it was different from the first day. This day was full of surprises.
The first game was played between the Bulls and the Pacers.
The two sides played extremely anxiously, and the result was not known until the game was dragged into overtime.
In the end, the Pacers defeated the Bulls 105-101.
Paul George, who played in the playoffs for the first time as a rookie, performed well.
Although his offense was in shambles, his defense was very good. He prevented Rose's breakthrough at the critical moment and helped the Pacers win.
Next up is the game between the Magic and the Hawks.
Even though Howard scored a double-double with 46 points and 19 rebounds, the Magic failed to defeat the Hawks and lost the game in an upset.
Then, it's the Western Conference's turn to start.
The first game was between the Spurs and the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies relied on their iron-blooded defense to narrowly defeat the Spurs by 3 points and get a good start in the playoffs.
Ginobili's absence is really hurting the Spurs. Fortunately, he can return to the savior in the next game.
Three consecutive top-half teams lost, allowing fans to discover their blind spots.
If the Warriors lose to the Thunder, all of today's top teams will be dead.
The big news of a collective upset loss is very likely to happen, because the Warriors and Thunder are similar in strength, and either one is likely to win.
Under such circumstances, the game between the Warriors and Thunder suddenly heated up and there was a lot to watch.
The Oracle Arena is now packed to the rafters.
In the auditorium, fans wearing the Warriors' home jerseys turned into a golden ocean.
On the Warriors bench, Curry was wearing a small suit with a smile on his face.
Although he cannot play, he can contribute to the team in other ways.
Amid the enthusiastic cheers and shouts of the fans, the pre-match opening ceremony began.
After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups of both sides were displayed on the big screen.
Thunder starting lineup: Westbrook, Sefolosha, Durant, Yin Baka, Perkins.
Warriors starting lineup: Morrow, Tony Allen, Sun Yi, David Lee, Chandler.
In the jump ball session, Chandler took off hard and was the first to hit the basketball and move back to the backcourt, giving the Warriors the first opportunity to attack.
After receiving the ball, Morrow quickly dribbled toward the frontcourt.
Sun Yi immediately ran forward and started a pick-and-roll.
Just when the Thunder thought the Warriors were going to play a mismatched isolation tactic, Morrow bypassed the pick-and-roll and jumped directly to shoot.
Sevlosa was always on guard against Sun Yi cutting inside and failed to step forward in time to change defense.
Swish!
Hollow into the net!
0:3!
The audience burst into applause, and cheers and shouts resounded throughout the arena.
"Although this shot was unreasonable, the Warriors' offense has to be played this way."
In the sports channel commentary hall, Director Zhang, who served as a guest commentator, expressed his views.
On the court, Westbrook dribbled to the three-point line. When he saw Tony Allen guarding the free throw line, he was not angry, but patiently organized the offense.
In the high post area on the right, Durant leaned on Sun Yi and reached for the ball.
Other Thunder players opened up the space and created singles opportunities for Durant.
Durant received the pass and felt the defensive pressure brought by Sun Yi behind him. He had no way to turn around and could only dribble forward to open up space.
Sun Yi immediately followed up and defended closely, not giving Durant a chance to easily turn around.
Durant felt inexplicably irritated when he saw Sun Yi clinging to him like a dog-skin plaster and couldn't shake it off, so he immediately passed the ball to Westbrook.
The Turtle was not polite after receiving the ball and started directly to break through the penalty area.
Teacher Tony immediately moved laterally to block the ball and defended beside Westbrook.
Westbrook carried Teacher Tony and broke through to the mid-range area on the right, stopped and shot a mid-range jumper.
Teacher Tony immediately stopped retreating and rushed to interfere.
Bang!
The basketball bounced out of the frame and missed!
Under the basket, Chandler grabbed the backcourt rebound, found Sun Yi immediately, and passed the ball over.
Sun Yi received the pass and launched a defensive counterattack. With the bonus effect of the badge [King of Counterattack], he advanced towards the frontcourt at lightning speed.
Durant, who was retreating, saw this situation and immediately ran forward to block Sun Yi, hoping to delay Sun Yi's advancement.
Sun Yi, who was dribbling quickly to advance, saw Durant coming, and immediately changed direction without slowing down, rushing past Durant like a wooden stake.
The fans in the audience gasped when they saw the scene on the field.
Is this something a forward can do? !
Back on the court, Sun Yi rushed into the penalty area from the right, attracted the defensive attention, and passed the ball to the center.
David Lee, who followed up, received the pass comfortably, took a step forward, and scored a layup.
"What a great shot! This kind of coordination, I really won't get tired of it no matter how many times I watch it!"
In the live commentary box, gold medal commentator Mike Breen said with emotion.
On the court, Sun Yi high-fived David Lee, and then exchanged a few words with Teacher Tony while retreating.
"Tony, remember the defensive tactics the coach assigned before the game."
"Sun, don't worry! I will complete the task."
After Teacher Tony finished speaking, he ran forward and pressed the whole court to consume Westbrook's energy.
Westbrook protected the ball with one hand and resisted Tony Allen with the other hand, advancing steadily towards the frontcourt.
After arriving in the frontcourt, the Turtle saw that Durant failed to run out of opportunities, so he waved to the inside and called for pick-and-roll cooperation.
Perkins quickly ran forward from near the penalty area to cooperate with the pick-and-roll.
Chandler did not follow out and stayed on the right side of the penalty area, always ready to switch defenses.
Westbrook quickly bypassed the screen and broke into the three-point line.
Teacher Tony quickly squeezed through the screen to pursue the defense.
Westbrook broke through to the free throw line. Seeing that the penalty area was full of Warriors players, he gave up his plan to break through and directly shot a "zombie jumper."
At this moment, Teacher Tony rushed over and rushed to interfere from the side.
The ball was interfered with and the shot was short. The basketball hit the front of the basket and bounced out.
The Warriors protected the backcourt rebound and launched a defensive counterattack.
Sun Yi received the pass and took the lead in dribbling toward the frontcourt.
The Thunder's players retreated quickly, each marking their own defender.
Sun Yi dribbled to the top of the arc, made a fake move to shake off the defender, accelerated into the penalty area, attracted the defense and passed the ball to the right corner.
Morrow, who just ran to the right corner, received the pass and immediately took off to shoot.
"when!"
The basketball knocked out of the frame and bounced away.
"It's a pity that the opportunity has come out, but I just couldn't seize it." Director Zhang said regretfully.
At the basket, Perkins, who came back from defense, used his weight to get stuck in position and excitedly prepared to take off to grab the rebound.
At this moment, a figure wearing No. 10 jersey suddenly jumped to the highest point and dunked the ball into the basket through Perkins.
The audience immediately burst into cheers and shouts like a mountain roar and a tsunami.
On the Thunder bench, head coach Scott Brooks saw that the situation on the court was not good and immediately requested a timeout and called the players back to the bench to adjust.
