The strongest basket king

Chapter 552 Stronger Xiang Chu

The Warriors didn't make people wait too long for the Western Conference semi-finals. In the fifth game, they simply dealt with the Mavericks, even if Nowitzki tried his best.

The Mavericks can't defend Clay at all. Many people thought he was just a 3D player before, but an All-Star is an All-Star. The Warriors can achieve such a good record in the regular season, and the team is definitely in the top tier.

Now that Curry's injury is a bit repeated, he didn't play this game.

The quick comeback was actually a bit sloppy, and the first round was not necessary at all.

They have to face the Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals, and if Curry can't recover in time, it may be a big problem.

The game between the Eastern Eagles and the Celtics finally came to an end.

The Hawks relied on Horford's super offensive and defensive performance in the third quarter to establish an absolute advantage, sent the Celtics home, and joined the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The weakness of this Celtics is quite obvious. The top four teams in the Eastern Conference may not have absolute dominance except the Cavaliers, but they are definitely a better and more balanced team.

Of all the matchups in the first round, only the Raptors and the Pacers were the most inked. The Pacers returned home and evened the series to 3:3. They also became the only tiebreaker in the first round.

This defeat was also made by the Raptors. In the inexplicable downturn of Lowry and DeRozan, how did the two core teams not score at all win the victory?The duo's self-deprecating trash brother has now become their moniker as well.

Competitive sports food is the original sin. If the two cannot perform well, it will definitely become a joke after dinner.

The first round is not over yet, and the second round of the Western Conference playoffs is about to begin.

At the end of April, at the Pepsi Center Arena, the Nuggets' game against the Thunder officially began.

Both sides are the same starters as in the regular season. Everyone is familiar with it and knows how to defend.

However, some impressions of the regular season may have given the Thunder the illusion that they played against the Clippers too smoothly, and their defense against Xiang Chu in the first quarter was a bit conservative.

They expect Adams to hold off for a while, and then the team uses offense to gain an advantage.

However, just after Xiang Chu upgraded his magical skills, he showed a brutal side when he came up.

After the Thunder reacted, Xiang Chu had already scored in double figures, and because of his containment, both Gallinari and Middleton played very well.

On the contrary, Durant's defensive efficiency against Gallinari is not high. Gallinari is in very good physical condition now, and his defense is obviously better than Mbah a Moute and Jr. Rivers.

The main reason is the interference of height, and Durant was slightly more affected in front of Gallinari.

But it doesn't mean that Gallinari can completely limit Durant. The Thunder are obviously not used to the Nuggets using big moves when they come up.

The Nuggets led by double digits in the first quarter, which no one had thought of before.

The Thunder blew up the Quartet's rotation in the previous games, and they also ran into trouble this time.

Waiters is still so-so. Although he can score without being very efficient, Kanter is restricted.

Many people have always thought that the Nuggets' bench lineup is a weak link, but now they have discovered that the Nuggets with a complete lineup actually have no obvious weak links at all.

The Thunder's ten-million-level substitute Kanter was restricted by Nurkic. The Nuggets' rotation lineup can be said to be both offensive and defensive, and it is extremely stable.

Even the rookie who doesn't play much is playing very organized. It's hard to imagine that it's just his first year in the league.

At the beginning of the season, many people felt that the Nuggets' lineup was not good. Now it seems that they can only say that they are really strong.

McConnell didn't play much in the playoffs, but Josh Richardson, who had no chances before, performed well on both offense and defense, and the Thunder didn't find any opportunities at all.

During the intermission, Xiang Chu said to others: "Everyone played very well in the first half, but they will definitely adjust in the second half. We can't give the opponent a chance, let us win the victory in one go."

The Thunder's strength must be more than that. In the first half, the Nuggets caught their opponents by surprise. They hit the hammer hard enough, and they must continue to hit.

After all, the adjustments during the intermission cannot be so thorough, and they can only react to many things afterwards.

In the fight between strong teams, it is very important to take the lead.

For the Nuggets, the Thunder may be a more troublesome team than the Warriors and Spurs.

In the third quarter, the Thunder adjusted some tactics, but mainly on the offensive end.

Ibacara went outside to play Jokic successfully several times, and the score gap between the two sides did not continue to widen.

But the Thunder's defensive problem has not been resolved, and Xiang Chu has already scored 30+.

Adams was a little puzzled when he faced Xiang Chu, probably because he wanted to know how the player he was facing could be so strong.

Xiang Chu can now catch the ball further outside, so that there is no need for Jokic to make a turn, and then flexibly back hit, turn left and right, start hard, and after a set of consecutive moves, the defensive players will panic.

The Thunder's rotation also performed better in the second half, and it should be said that this is their true strength.

However, it's too late to make an effort now. The Nuggets' defense has improved to another level in the playoffs. It is very difficult for the Thunder to chase points.

Not long after the start of the last quarter, the Thunder replaced the double juniors to prepare for the last fight.

The Nuggets didn't pretend to compare, and honestly replaced Xiang Chu. They didn't play so long in each game in the regular season, just to play longer in the playoffs.

Sometimes the difference between the regular season and the playoffs is this aspect, better players play longer.

"Damn it, he hit it again, is he a monster, so it can be dunked."

"It must be the home court advantage. The league can't let the Nuggets put their home court at a disadvantage to other teams."

"What kind of defense is this? Except for Shuangjun, everyone else in the Thunder is scum. Donovan is dismissed."

Every time Xiang Chu scored, it hurt the hearts of Thunder fans, and the good mood of the first round was completely gone.

It is obviously a lineup with no shortcomings, but after meeting the Nuggets, it feels that there are loopholes everywhere.

To be honest, both Durant and Westbrook's shooting percentages improved in the second half, but the double-digit gap cannot be recovered with a few shots.

With Jeremy Lin's goal in the last minute, the Thunder's hope of chasing points was completely shattered.

In the first game of the Western Conference semifinals, the Nuggets won the Thunder by 12 points.

Thunder coach Donovan said after the game: "We have to do better in terms of defense."

"Our players are very competitive and they will respond and when they come back to training tomorrow they will correct what went wrong in the game and improve."

George Karl talked with reporters, "We performed very well, but they experienced a bad night. We have experienced this kind of thing before, and everyone in the NBA has experienced this."

"I didn't think about the championship, I thought about every game, and don't waste the advantage in my hand."

(End of this chapter)