Basketball: The Chosen Victim

Chapter 287 Dominate this city!

During the intermission, rap king Jay-Z joined hands with Rihanna and Kanye to sing "Run This Town" for Goose City fans.

"The only thing on my mind right now is who will dominate this city tonight
The brothers are ready to play the final battle hymn

Life is an unfair game

Trampling on conventions and showing disdain
Stride forward despite the wind and rain, and catch a glimpse of the dawn of triumph
When we get to the end, never give up

Who will dominate this city tonight..."

Jay-Z originally wanted to invite his diva wife, Beyoncé, but because Beyoncé recently exposed his affair with his business partner, Rachel Roy, and was in the midst of a divorce, he could only invite his own Artists Rihanna and Kanye came to support Durant.

Rihanna sang particularly hard, she is a die-hard James, but Wu Di eliminated James in the second round!
After James won the regular season MVP in recent years, he began to flaunt himself as the league's No. 1. What's even more arrogant is that after he formed a giant alliance with two All-Star starters, he even made wild promises to win seven championships!
The result was that he was slapped in the face by Wu Di, and his playoff record got worse every time. Not to mention the championship, he didn't even get to the stage of the finals...

The league's No. 1 is at this level, James and his friends are so embarrassed!
Ordinary James can still be invisible, but James, a highly exposed star like Rihanna, cannot avoid it, so she pins her hopes on the Thunder's victory over the Cavaliers.

If the Thunder beat the Cavaliers, they could still be as tough-talking as last season, saying the story is not over yet, etc.

Kanye's singing is a bit false. He is not from a lower-class black background. His mother is a well-known university professor. He grew up in a wealthy family and lived a white middle-class life. Therefore, not only is he unable to sympathize with the concept of "protecting the NBA, a black league," but There is also some rejection.

It's just that his relationship with Jay-Z is still a close one as both a mentor and a friend, so he agreed to come over to help out.

Several people sang hard on the court, but everyone in the Thunder turned off the broadcast screen in the locker room. They were arguing fiercely.

The Four Thunder Young Masters are full of energy and will not maintain superficial harmony when encountering difficulties but choose to muddle along:

"Russell, pass the damn ball to me! If you feel bad today, you have to control your shots, otherwise you don't have to wait for them to guard me, you will guard me to death!"

Durant clapped his hands angrily.

"KD, are you kidding?! Of the 8 shots you took in the second quarter, 6 of them had to be passed to you by me!"

Westbrook kept making gestures excitedly. Seeing that Durant wanted to refute again, he quickly added:
"I also want to pass to you more, but many of your positions for the ball are too bad. It's not like you don't know the horror of Wu Di stealing the ball. I can't pass it at all! And if you think about it from my perspective, if I If you don't take action when you have a chance, how can you adjust your touch?"

But obviously this explanation cannot impress Durant:
"Nonsense! Just like in the third round of the second quarter, I was standing at the free throw line. You just pass it forward. I can dunk after receiving it, but you just hit hard..."

Durant was frothing and arguing with him, while Harden on the side looked like he suddenly realized:

"I think the whole problem is that we played too hastily. Russell, you are not wrong, KD is not wrong, the Cavaliers' defensive arrangement is to let us go up. If we wait..."

However, before Harden finished speaking, Ibaka pushed him away:

"They're all wrong. I think our offense is actually fine, but our defense is blown away by the Cavaliers. Now Wu Di keeps picking and rolling to beat KD. We should attack hard and double-team him instead of avoiding him. What we are fighting now is physical strength, and he cannot have unlimited physical strength..."

The father-in-law is right and the mother-in-law is right. The four people all have good intentions, but it is not that simple to reach an agreement.

The Cavaliers' locker room is much simpler and pure.

If Wu Di doesn't speak, no one will talk about the problems on the field. Even Scott will not give him chicken soup for no reason.

Everyone took a shower when they were sweating, picked up the soap when they dropped it, massaged when they were in pain, dozed off when they were tired, listened to music, scrolled through Twitter and made phone calls when they were bored...

The state is very relaxed.

The reason why the Thunder's four young men are arguing endlessly is that, in the final analysis, they still do not fully understand the four words of team basketball.

No matter what the intensity of the game, there will always be problems on the field, but some problems are fatal, and some problems are insignificant.

Finding problems is easy, but solving them is difficult, especially in a time-limited compression situation like a competition.

One minute on stage and ten years of hard work off stage. Most of the fatal problems cannot be solved on the field at all. They require a lot of practice and grinding off the field to solve.

Just like Durant is now counting on Westbrook to impress and conduct more, the translation is to ask Westbrook to stop Westbrook.

It's hard for a strong man!

The Cavaliers have a different understanding of team basketball. During game time, it is not fair basketball where everyone can speak freely, but everyone has their own position and division of labor.

Only Wu Di or Scott can ask questions, and others can just implement them. It should be simple and efficient.

If Wu Di were Durant, he would point out Westbrook's problem, and then let Harden control the ball, while Westbrook sacrifices the ball and some of his lethality to play without the ball.

Everyone else should shut up. If they really have a problem and don't want to complain about it, they will have to wait until the post-game video analysis time to talk about it.

To put it bluntly, in fact, a team without division of labor is no different from a gang.

And the division of labor means inequality, it means there is master and there is priority, there is superiority and inferiority.

No matter how good the relationship between Wu Di, DeAndre Jordan and others is, it is unquestionable and unquestionable at this time, but Durant's leadership is far from reaching this level...

Therefore, with the Cavaliers tailwind, Wu Di even had time to open Snapchat and flirt with Beyoncé.

Beyoncé: "Baby, your heroic appearance has occupied my mind. Now come to VIP box No. 16, I want to kneel in front of you..."

Wu Di couldn't help but swallowed as he looked at a series of explosive texts that disappeared after reading on the screen of his mobile phone.

He knew that VIP box No. 16 was booked by Kelly before, but now Jay-Z is still singing on stage, isn't it?

Beyoncé: "Come on, break time is only 10 minutes left, we miss you so much!"

Then she posted a series of seductive photos of herself and Kelly that disappeared after reading.

Fortunately, there is exclusive Snapchat, otherwise these photos that are enough to drive all men in America crazy are leaked on the Internet, and Wu Di would be drowned in spit.

Back on the court again, the Thunder's four young players were still arguing when they came out of the tunnel, but this time Brooks listened to their opinions and came up with the final plan.

That is, Westbrook conducts more, Durant moves more, the overall rhythm is slower, and the defense becomes stronger...

The result was that at the beginning of the third quarter, Westbrook hesitated a few times on the wing, and then when he passed to Durant, he was intercepted by Wu Di!

The Energy Arena exclaimed, "Isn't it going to die?"

They also expected the Thunder to chase points in the second half, but this is the result?

Wu Di dribbled the ball and ran towards the basket. When he crossed the center line, he looked back. The other Cavaliers players were running behind him. The fastest one was Westbrook, followed by Durant.

So the biggest threat to him is Westbrook!

Westbrook also knows that he messed up this time, so he really wants to make meritorious deeds!

His speed is a little faster than Wu Di holding the ball, and he can catch up with the blocking window at the last moment!
But it didn't work!

After Wu Di came to the penalty area, he took a sharp step and then suddenly stopped!

Westbrook had no time to react and rushed out of bounds!

At this time, Wu Di turned around 180 degrees and jumped up. His eyes lightly swept over Durant who was running over, and then he folded the back buckle with a stretched posture!
57-47!

"We can't let the opponent be so arrogant!" Davis slapped the table fiercely in the commentary box!

"It's completely disorganized! This is the highest stage of competitive sports. People all over the world are watching the game. How could such a low-level mistake happen?!"

Gary Payton on the side even criticized sharply on the spot!

Brooks was also scratching his head. He wanted to resort to the strategy of killing Joe, but as if he had anticipated his mentality, the Cavaliers replaced DeAndre Jordan with Jamison at the beginning of the third quarter.

Westbrook lowered his head with a guilty look on his face.

The Cavaliers' defensive strategy magnified the shortcomings of his play, but the Thunder did not come up with a good solution...

He spontaneously passed the ball to Harden.

Harden wanted to help his second brother regain his confidence. He took the ball to the wing, quickly observed the situation on the court, and immediately came up with a countermeasure.

He called Westbrook for a pick-and-roll, and then went straight down. The speed was not fast. Butler did not change defense, but chose to go around and chase.

But the more detailed thing is that it was also because Harden was not very fast that Thomas wanted to block Butler. At this moment, Westbrook turned around and started!

Harden flicked his arm, and Westbrook caught the ball and made a layup!

57-49!

The cheers were not very loud. Although the goal was scored, it was not very exciting at all. I don’t know why it was scored...

It is really difficult for Westbrook to play without the ball. He needs to hold the ball to find the feeling of rushing. He can't even dunk without the ball.

But Wu Di immediately told Scott that he was ready to make a substitution, and the latter immediately made an OK gesture.

They have deduced before that if Harden can replace Westbrook as the ball-handling core, the Thunder's overall lethality will immediately increase to a higher level.

Bearded Deng looks harmless and cute, but his ability to sort out offense is what the impetuous Thunder urgently needs!
Scott quickly came to the bench and patted Baron Davis on the back, indicating that he was ready to play.

Thomas advanced to the frontcourt with the ball and handed it to Jamison. Jamison used a fulcrum to play a cross-cover tactic. Wu Di cut in from the wing to attract the defense, and Butler used the screen to catch the ball for a layup!
But when it was time to take the shot, Ibaka came over and interfered with Butler's layup!
The basketball hit the frame and Perkins grabbed the rebound!

Harden held the ball again. He slowly swayed to the frontcourt, grabbing Butler's harassing hand while moving around from the top of the arc to the three-point line toward the wing. However, just two steps later, his left arm suddenly slapped hard. , the basketball went straight from his crotch into Durant's hands!
Even Durant was startled, but in a blink of an eye he realized that because Harden was moving while also shifting the center of the Cavaliers' defense, everything in front of him was empty!

He paused for half a second and then immediately took out the mid-range shot, but Wu Di reacted the moment Harden wanted to pass the ball and jumped up to block the shot!

Bang!
The basketball hit the basket and Durant was disturbed at the last moment!

Love stuck out his butt and grabbed the rebound, and the ball returned to the Cavaliers' hands again.

The response at the scene was not great. The Thunder obviously hadn't realized Harden's role yet, but Scott directly called a short pause to let Davis replace Butler.

Not only that, he also arranged a defense switch, letting the experienced Davis guard Harden, and letting Butler switch to guard the energetic Westbrook.

After the timeout, Wu Di pushed forward with the ball. Looking at the cute beard in front of him, he had the desire to hit from behind, but he knew it was a trap.

Harden's strength is not weak. He can't even stand up to even the best small cards. In the previous finals, he was also sent by the Thunder to defend Lao Zhan alone.

So Wu Di chose to use all his explosive power, changing the direction of the steering wheel to kill him and suddenly darting to the right!
Harden immediately caught up, but Wu Di suddenly stepped on his right foot and suddenly stopped, and at the same time, he changed the direction of his hips and pulled the ball back!
This change was so fierce that Wu Di couldn't bear it and almost sprained his right foot again. Harden, who was not as explosive as him, even pulled Wu Di's arm tightly to stop it!

But Wu Di did not throw his arm away, but suddenly changed direction and turned the front of the car to the right again, and at the same time crossed his left foot and stepped quickly!
Slip!

Without any support, Harden's center of gravity was unstable and he instantly fell backwards with a split!

Wu Di immediately took a jump shot!

Swish!
There was a crisp netting sound!

The basketball goes through the net!

Arrow through the heart!
59-49!

The point difference returned to 10 points again!
"Shh!"

The Energy Arena instantly booed loudly, and Harden was knocked down by Wu Di!

"Only those who defend seriously will be knocked down..."

In the commentary box, Gary Payton forcibly saved Harden's respect, but the boos from the audience became even louder!
Harden was about to explode. He dribbled quickly to the frontcourt and was about to force a pull-out shot from outside the three-point line, but he was tightly entangled by Baron Davis!
Last season's playoff trip severely damaged Baron Davis' vitality. The main reason was that the injury to his right hand affected his touch, and the old injury of herniated disc in his waist reduced him from a quasi-star player to a bench player. But if Just playing defense for one quarter, it was still very stable.

And Harden's proud double step back was banned by the league because of Lao James. He was stunned for a while and couldn't find the space to take action!
When Durant saw his third brother so defeated, he was so angry that he rushed over to get the ball. After receiving the ball, he rushed to the free throw box and made a floating jump shot!
Hit after hitting the frame and rebounding!
The gloom instantly cleared away from the Energy Arena, and there were cheers!
59-51!

They just love to watch this exciting style of play!

However, it wasn't over yet. For the next goal, Wu Di continued to break through with the ball from the wing.

But this time Harden didn't chase too closely, so Wu Di went straight into the Thunder penalty area and completed a layup before Ibaka, who was coming to defend him, arrived!
Bang!
Durant flew from behind him and nailed the big hat!
If you watch the slow motion, you can clearly see that the ball hit the backboard before Durant blocked the shot, but the referee did not call for interference!
The Energy Arena is boiling!

"YES! Blood cap! Blood cap! Death, Durant, blood cap Wu Di!"

In the commentary box, Davis slapped his thigh and shouted excitedly.

But Wu Di was completely annoyed!
He put Durant low on the elbow to ask for the ball, and then watched him turn around with a blast!

His movements were impeccable, especially with his incredible range of movements. Wu Di was immediately thrown away!
But Wu Di dances faster!
And in his mind, the two badges shimmered at the same time in a rare moment!
Sprint take-off distance reduced by 20%!

Capability increased by 20%!

The ability to stay in the air has increased by 40%!

Wu Di's blocking ability instantly increased from the legendary level of 95 to the legendary level of 114!

Durant gritted his teeth. Just as he was about to dunk, he saw a big hand in front of him calling over him. He immediately tensed up his core and pulled the lever sharply!
But those big hands followed him completely like a shadow!
Bang!
The basketball was directly slapped out of bounds by Wu Di!

The Energy Arena suddenly let out a huge exclamation!
"my God!"

In the TNT live broadcast room, Magic Johnson's eyes widened with disbelief on his face!
"It's so exciting! The bosses of both teams are exchanging blows back and forth!"

Kenny Smith couldn't help but wipe the sweat on his bald head!
"It's unbelievable! KD's shot was so beautiful and impeccable, but Wu Di just blocked it..."

Buckley couldn't help but wipe some sweat on Kenny Smith's bald head!
O'Neal shook his head sadly, he felt like the thunder was hanging!

Durant played so hard in the past, his condition will definitely be affected in the fourth quarter, but Wu Di is much stronger physically, and the fourth quarter is when the Cavaliers harvest...

On the court, the Thunder's momentum just started by Durant was forcibly suppressed by Wu Di. The four young men took turns trying their best, but they failed to achieve the expected results!

And as Baron Davis took care of Harden, Harden's efficiency decreased, and Brooks asked Westbrook to take over the organizational power!
Baron Davis couldn't physically resist for long, but Brooks, who had missed the point, was running out of patience!
And Westbrook also knows that he is the team's last hope, and he plays a series of games to force the Thunder to survive!

By the end of the third quarter, the score between the two sides reached 85-78, and the Thunder only recovered 1 point difference...

(End of this chapter)