Chapter 1758 Westbrook, Good Brother!

The Lakers and Thunder were almost 50-50 in the first half. This was not beyond people's expectations. The Thunder could advance to the Western Conference semifinals with two tricks, but no one expected it. The one who performed the best was not Ji Feng, Kobe and Durant were the three names mentioned most before the game, but Westbrook.

Although Westbrook is the second in charge of the Thunder's three young men, his status in the Thunder team is second only to Durant. Brooks is also very optimistic about this guard who has explosive physical fitness and dares to fight on the court. But from the past two seasons, , he is still the second or even third offensive option on the court.

There are many reasons. The most important ones are Durant's strong rise and Westbrook's own playing style limitations. Westbrook plays with his body. Most point guards have experienced his lateral movement when facing him. Moving quickly, no one can deny Westbrook's incredible athleticism and explosive power to the basket.

He is not a point guard who focuses on passing. He is good at straight-line breakthroughs. He has amazing explosive power, long steps, and high altitude. Facing high-intensity defense, although his finishing ability at the basket is not efficient, he can cause a lot of damage and rely on free throws to score. .

Westbrook likes pull-up jumpers and lacks effective scoring methods near the basket. Although Westbrook can rebound and steal well, his defensive evaluation is very average. He has problems with defensive concentration and defense without the ball. Sometimes it will be embarrassing, allowing the opponent to easily cut or shoot three-pointers, requiring teammates to help cover the defense.

Logically speaking, such a point guard is not the best match with Durant and Harden. What Durant needs is guys like Nash and Paul. Only in this way can Durant be able to play his biggest off-ball threat and become an All-Star. It can be seen that when Ji Feng and Durant are on the court at the same time, Durant enjoys the cake and eat the most. When he holds the ball and attacks by himself, although it is also very good, the efficiency cannot be reduced. Avoided.

Harden's role overlaps with Westbrook's to a certain extent. He also needs a lot of ball rights to play in isolation.

However, these three people were lucky enough to meet Brooks. He made Durant and Westbrook become the internal and external dual-core on the court, and allowed Harden to sit on the bench and become the team's sixth man. This solved the three problems very well. Human compatibility issues.

The Thunder do not pursue the ultimate tactical configuration. The tactic they play on the court is to take turns creating singles opportunities for Durant and Westbrook. Whoever has the better opportunity will win. This tactic is called the "schoolboy basketball tactic" by many people in the industry, but as everyone knows This is the most suitable tactic for the second young master. Forcing cumbersome and complicated tactics will definitely be counterproductive, because Westbrook is not the defender for this.

After Harden came on the court, Harden acted as an outside fort, shooting three-pointers and two-pointers. This season, Harden made 3.4 three-pointers per game with a three-point shooting rate of 42.2%, averaging 3 points per game. By 12.5 points, he was once a popular candidate for the Best Sixth Man.

The rest of the Thunder play around the three young men. Perkins and Ibaka are the tools on the inside. They are only responsible for grabbing rebounds, defending the opponent's big center and protecting the frame inside. Sessions on the outside is a pure defensive player. The shooting guards and even the substitutes also have a lot of defensive players. The core of the offense on the field is these three people!

It can be seen from here that Brooks really has something.

In the first half of the game, we can also see that they were very well prepared. The scoring was basically concentrated on these three people. Except for Ibaka who missed 2 points, Perkins scored 3 points from free throws, and Sessions made a shot. Except for a three-pointer, the other scores were all scored by these three people.

Brooks expressed that he was very satisfied. Although this was not what he expected, his original tactic was to let Durant play crazy singles. Although the opponent was Ji Feng, he believed that Adu had a way to solve it. In fact, at the beginning of the game This is basically the case. Durant and Ji Feng played well for a few minutes. Although it stopped because Ji Feng did not continue to attack, in his opinion, Ji Feng's failure to fight meant that Durant won.

Then Westbrook beat Fisher, which seemed like nothing to Brooks. Fisher was already old. Of course, even if Fisher returned to his youth, he couldn't beat Westbrook, so he was beaten. This is absolutely natural.

"Russell, well done! Continue to be aggressive in the second half. They may use Blake or Shannon to guard you, but I believe you will still beat them, right?" Brooks said to Westbrook in the locker room. .

"Of course! Coach, believe me, I feel great!" Westbrook waved his hands very excitedly. He has reason to do so, because 22 points in the half is his personal playoff half-time scoring record. According to this game If he continues, it is certain that he will score over 30 points. This will also be his first time reaching 30 points in the playoffs.

Fans don’t need to be surprised. It’s completely normal not to score 30 points in the playoffs. More than 80% of players have never scored it. Westbrook will have a chance to achieve it in his second playoff appearance. He is already very good. People can't always compare to Ji Feng.

But is the situation really so smooth...

The scene shifted to the home team's locker room, where Lao Yu, who was being sprayed by fans outside, was accepting Ji Feng's praise.

"Well done Derek, let's continue playing with him later." Ji Feng said with a laugh.

"Hehe, he must think it's easy to score tonight, but that guy is really not a human being, his body is too hard!" Fisher rubbed his shoulders.

"Ahem! Please stop your damn speech! We just need to make him believe that he is the best tonight. If you continue to play like this for 5 minutes, it's your turn to perform, Shannon Brown!" Ji Feng said to Xiang Nong sitting aside.

"OK! I can't wait!" said Shannon Brown.

"It looks like the atmosphere is good, that's it, keep this rhythm, get points, and send Thunder home!" the Zen master said with a smile.

Fifteen minutes later.

The second half begins.

No one knew that the atmosphere of the Lakers would be so relaxed in these 15 minutes, and Westbrook did not expect that his smooth game would soon change.

However, the first five minutes were still the same as before. The old fish was getting slower and slower. Westbrook scored a lot of points through several breakthroughs. Although Ji Feng felt good and hit two three-pointers in a row for the Lakers, the point difference remained at the same level. About 1 minute.

Finally, the Lakers called a timeout. Thunder fans had already seen the hope of an upset. But when they returned to the court, they found that Fisher, who had played for so long, was replaced by Shannon Brown, but no one cared. Shannon Brown Who is as proud as Westbrook?

Shannon Brown stuck to Westbrook when he came up. Westbrook felt the difference. Although Shannon Brown was not well-known, his body was definitely strong enough, and his weight also had an advantage. When he defended with all his strength, Westbrook also felt a little uncomfortable.

"It doesn't matter, I can do it!" In the past, Westbrook would have passed it out and let Durant play, but tonight, he showed confidence, no matter what, he just kept his head down and just did it!

But this time, the Lakers seized the opportunity, and Ji Feng counterattacked with a fast break. He also made a free throw from Durant, and the Lakers went ahead by two points!

"Westbrook, good brother, it's up to you!" Ji Feng looked at Westbrook and nodded approvingly.