The era of point forwards in the NBA

Chapter 260 The Prophecy of the Crow's Mouth
With 21 wins and 9 losses, the Thunder fell out of the fourth place in the Western Conference, but the gap with the previous teams is only one game. Not only them, but the top teams are losing recently.

After a two-day break, the Thunder rallied and faced the challenge of the Indiana Pacers at home.

This is the first time they have played against the Pacers this season. The Pacers are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference this season, with 9 wins and 20 losses. With Danny Granger alone, the team's record has not improved at all, and they are going further and further down the road of poor performance.

In the end, under the joint performance of Durant and Lin Yue, they did not appear upset and defeated their opponents with a slight advantage of 108 to 102.

Granger made 21 of 6, 10 of 4 three-pointers, and 13 of 9 free throws in this game. He scored 25 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 steals and 2 blocks. The defensive effect was good. However, under the strict defense of the Thunder, Granger could only score by fouling and getting to the free throw line.

However, the other two players of the Pacers stood up in this game. Troy Murphy was 12 of 7 and acted recklessly inside the Thunder.

Murphy scored 15 points and 15 rebounds throughout the game, dominating the basket.

The Pacers' outside line was defended by substitute player AJ Price. He made 15 of 9, 5 of 3 three-pointers, and 2 of 2 free throws. He scored the Pacers' second-highest 23 points.

The Thunder had a clear goal in this game. Lin Yue and Durant cooperated in the pick-and-roll, and Granger couldn't defend against two of them. After the pick-and-roll, Lin Yue passed the ball to Durant, who was running down. With this style of play, Durant went inside and scored 16 of 14 free throws.

The Pacers didn't want to do this either, but they couldn't prevent it, so they had to choose to foul.

In the whole game, Durant made 18 of 12 and 2 of 2 three-pointers. He scored 40 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists very efficiently. Lin Yue's assists in this game also returned to double digits.

In this game, Brooks just wanted to try to reduce the number of Durant's singles and let him and Lin Yue try to do pick-and-roll cooperation.

When Curry was on the court in the past, he and Lin Yue usually executed this pick-and-roll tactic, but now it is found that the effect is still feasible with another person.

Coach Brooks seems to have a new idea, but he needs more opportunities to experiment. The Pacers' defense is not strong, and they don't have players who can match up with Durant, which leads to so many free throws.

If such an efficiency can be achieved against a team with a strong small forward, it proves that the "Durling pick-and-roll" is also useful.

After winning the Pacers, the Thunder once again played against the New York Knicks at home.

The only players on this Knicks team are two inside players, David Lee and Chandler. The rest of the players can only be said to be average, and they are leftovers for other teams.

In the end, the Thunder beat the Knicks 106-88 at home. Throughout the game, the Knicks had almost no hope of a comeback. The score continued to widen and finally stabilized.

David Lee was restricted by Ibaka and Collison in this game. He shot 18 of 5 inside, scored 11 points and 13 rebounds, and got the team's lowest plus-minus -22.

Not only was David Lee's mediocre performance, Westbrook was also very strong in this game, 15 of 4, 3 of 0 three-pointers, 5 of 3 free throws, 11 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. It can be seen from the tactics that let Westbrook shoot some fast-break three-pointers, this ball deserves to lose.

It can only be said that D'Antoni's running and bombing tactics are not suitable for Westbrook. What he needs is a point guard with good shooting ability, such as Curry. Unfortunately, he was intercepted by the Thunder.

After the game, Lin Yue and Durant invited Westbrook to a meal, and the three chatted for a while in a small restaurant in Oklahoma City.

"I really envy you!" Westbrook always said this when he saw Lin Yue and others. Even though he had only played in the team for a year, he had the idea of ​​leaving the team.

"Actually, you have a lot of possessions. New York is a big city with high exposure. Many stars like it. Even if the grades are poor, the attendance rate is guaranteed. The salary is high. It's a good place." Durant said, although he stayed in Oklahoma, but when he was still in college, he thought about his future.

"It sounds like it's suitable for retirement. People are stupid and have a lot of money, and they don't have to think about their record." Lin Yue complained, maybe he doesn't want to think about competing for the championship when he gets older, and it's good to go to the Knicks for retirement.

"Is Stephen still okay? I don't quite believe the media reports, so I'm going to ask you directly." Westbrook said, the Thunder team is getting hot now, and some small things will attract the attention of the media, let alone the main players get injured.

"It's okay to resume training next week. You need to pay attention to the recurrence of old injuries." Durant said while eating.

"During this period of time, the record has started to decline. We can't keep the top four. It will be even more difficult without Stephen. At the beginning of the season, other teams didn't pay attention to us so we won the game easily. Now everyone is studying it. Our system and style of play are too young to stand up to scrutiny." Lin Yue sighed.

"Damn it, you can make it to the playoffs as a rookie. I've been playing for two years, and I haven't seen the shadow of the playoffs yet." Westbrook took a bite of the chicken leg and vented his temper on the food.

"Next we're going to play the Spurs, Mavericks, and Heat. None of them are easy to fight. We won't have a three-game losing streak." Durant suddenly thought of this, and he lost the mood to eat.

"Hey, don't talk nonsense with a crow's mouth. It's outrageous to be able to say it every time, but don't persecute your team." Lin Yue hurriedly dissuaded him after hearing this, but the words had already been said.

……

On January 1, the Thunder met the Spurs led by Popovich again, and it was still the home court of the Thunder.

The last time they lost to the Spurs in an away game, the Thunder wanted to win back at home in this game, but with Curry not on the court, Tony Parker's advantage will be infinitely magnified.

Sure enough, the Spurs overwhelmed the Thunder from the start of the game, with a double-digit lead in a single quarter, 35 to 18, almost twice as many points as the Thunder. With a 17-point lead, it was almost garbage time in one quarter.

Tony Parker went berserk, 9 of 7 in a single quarter, 2 of 2 three-pointers, and scored 16 points and 4 assists in the first quarter. His scoring alone quickly caught up with the Thunder.

(End of this chapter)