The era of point forwards in the NBA

Chapter 276 Harden's Future

第一节结束，雷霆队以22比18领先老鹰队4分，杜兰特打满首节拿到10分4篮板。

After Curry returned to the court, Bibby couldn't fully exert his ability on the offensive end. After all, Curry's defensive ability is also at the upper-middle level among point guards.

After the start of the second quarter, Lin Yue held the ball in his hand and began to control the audience, starting a confrontation with Crawford.

Crawford's scoring ability is indeed outstanding, with top-level ball-handling ability, silky and smooth dribbling movements, plus a precise shot. If it weren't for his poor defense, it would not be difficult to become an All-Star scorer. ,

By the time Curry, Durant and others returned to the court, Lin Yue had already scored his 8th point. He only scored 2 points and 2 assists in the first quarter. With the ball in his hands in this quarter, Lin Yue naturally scored a lot.

After winning the title of All-Star vote king, he suffered a lot of criticism.

A fledgling kid has surpassed Kobe, James and other great gods.

The more discussions there are, the more attention he gets.

The same is true for domestic fans, and those fans of other teams also joined in the fun. After all, they are their own players. After Yao Ming, another All-Star starts.

Lin Yue successfully got out of the circle.

"If I don't behave better, I will probably be sprayed to death if I show aggressiveness." Lin Yue said to himself.

In the second half, Curry and Durant returned to the court, and the Eagles' defense suffered a huge blow.

Curry and Durant's consecutive three-pointers, Lin Yue's air cuts, both inside and out.

The situation of the Eagles was not good, and Josh Smith stepped forward. He played his familiar defensive counterattack and scored 3 dunks in a single quarter to stabilize the situation for the team.

At halftime, the Thunder led by only one point, 50 to 49.

The score was still tight in the second half. The Eagles are a resilient team. Joe has played singles in the league for many years. He has never seen such a big storm. He and Josh Smith had a huge impact on the Thunder's basket.

Although the firepower of San Shao is very fierce, but the defense of the three has its own flaws. If it is one-on-one, it is easy to say, but facing the opponent's cover, their defense will have loopholes.

Constantly assisting in defense and constantly giving impact.

You come and go, the Thunder just didn't open the score in the third quarter, and the Eagles dragged the suspense of the game to the fourth quarter.

78 to 74, the Thunder entered the final quarter with a slight advantage.

Lin Yue, who played the second and third quarters, sat on the bench to rest, while Durant and Curry played with the bench.

The Thunder's possession of the ball, they rushed to the basket several times and were defended by their opponents. In desperation, the ball returned to Curry.

Fortunately, the latter doesn't need much attack time. After continuous dribbles under the crotch, a Bever deceived the defensive player and retreated beyond the three-point line to throw the ball.

The basketball hit the net hollowly, and the three-pointer at the buzzer drew cheers from the audience.

The Eagles with 30 wins and 17 losses are not weaker than the Thunder with 29 wins and 17 losses. Although the overall strength of the West is stronger than that of the East, this year's Eagles are also a dark horse that may spoil the situation.

In the next round, Horford scored with a hook from the basket.

81 to 76, it is not so easy to open the score in one fell swoop.

At this time, one of the Thunder's top three young men, Jeff Green, stepped forward.

Although after Lin Yue came to the team, Jeff Green's low position in the team has repeatedly declined, but when Curry was injured, he took on the heavy responsibility of the team's offense and helped the team through the most difficult period.

After receiving a pass from Lin Yue, Jeff Green made a crucial three-pointer from the outside.

At this time, the point difference between the two teams came to 84 to 76, and the precise three-pointer became a problem that the Eagles had to face.

Three-pointers are definitely the most important means to widen the point difference.

Next, the Eagles began to strengthen their defense. They expanded their formation, and the three-two defense widened the defensive space to prevent the Thunder from shooting outside as much as possible.

Mike Bibby also gave Curry a physical confrontation, stopping him before he got a chance to make a phone call.

The Eagles' defense quickly helped them get the chance to chase points.

Joe Johnson's way of playing inside is very efficient, and it is difficult for Lin Yue to limit the opponent's scoring alone.

In addition, Horford's tonnage is larger than that of Ibaka, and the two fought together at the basket, which instead gave Marvin Williams a chance to score at the basket.

The latter grabbed an offensive rebound, stuck Jeff Green's defensive position, and scored a second offense at the basket.

Afterwards, the Thunder's offense failed, and Durant successfully passed Josh Smith, but his good emergency stop shot missed.

Horford successfully scored a defensive rebound, and the Eagles launched a fast break.

Mike Bibby dribbled the ball forward quickly, threw the ball into the air, and Josh Smith, who followed up, took off to catch the ball and smashed it hard to the basket.

Another powerful alley-oop dunk, and Thunder fans can't count how many goals Josh Smith has dunked at his own basket.

The score was chased to 84 to 80, and the Eagles were only four points behind.

The momentum of the dunk ignited the bench, and with the waving posture of the teammates, the momentum of the Eagles was even higher.

Brooks chose to call a timeout. Since this game is not difficult, he still has a lot of timeout opportunities in his hands.

Seeing that the morale of the opponent has increased greatly, it is suitable to interrupt at this time.

After the timeout, Jeff Green was replaced and Sefolosha returned to the court.

Jeff Green's power forward position really puts too much pressure on the Thunder's inside line. If Etan Thomas was not affected by injuries, the Thunder's inside line would not be short of people.

Jeff Green's scoring ability is indeed good, but now the Thunder have many players who can score on the court, and what they need is a player with strong defensive ability.

Sefolosha has propped up the Thunder's entire line of defense this season, and his role cannot be reflected in statistics.

Brooks is very fortunate that the Thunder can have players like Sefolosha.

In the Thunder's offensive round, Lin Yue dribbled the ball across half court and handed it directly to Durant.

Josh Smith's dunk is really pleasing to the eye, and it is not easy to stop his defensive counterattack, but he is completely unable to stand up to Durant when he is caught in the defense of positional warfare.

The rest depends on whether Durant can score the ball.

After failing to score in the last round, Durant rallied and used the same move again.

The drastic change of direction in front of the body is very confusing, but this time Durant changed direction.

Break through on the right side, then stop suddenly in the middle distance, shake off the defensive player, and throw the ball when the opponent adjusts his center of gravity.

This is Durant's ultimate move, stopping in the middle distance.

"Shh!"

The ball hits the net hollow, and this time Durant doesn't miss the ball.

86 to 80. After seeing the home team score, the fans at the scene finally felt relieved. If this point difference is maintained, the game can still be won smoothly.

Durant's goal helped the Thunder stabilize the situation. After playing steadily, the Eagles never managed to overtake the score in one fell swoop and win the game.

In the end, the Thunder held the victory of the game with an advantage of 106 to 98 and eight points.

Meanwhile, their next game is against the New Orleans Hornets, and after back-to-back games give them a break before heading to Louisiana.

……

The New Orleans Hornets started this season very well, and they have a great opportunity to show their ambitions in the playoffs. However, with Paul's recent injury, the team's record has declined rapidly.

They are also drifting away from the top eight in the West.

Before the start of this game, the Hornets had a record of 26 wins and 22 losses, with a winning rate of more than 50%, but they were not even in the top eight in the Western Conference. This shows how fierce the competitiveness of the Western Conference is.

However, the process of this game was not as easy as everyone imagined. Paul's absence did not affect the other players of the Hornets' desire to win. As long as they still have expectations for advancing to the playoffs, they will not give up.

The Kings' three-time All-Star scorer Peja Stojakovic and David West played wonderfully together, and they stuck to both ends of the Hornets' offense and defense one inside and one outside.

It's a pity that without Paul's field control, the Hornets' offense still had problems at the critical moment of the fourth quarter. Darren Collison is a young guard after all, and his organizational skills are immature.

After Curry steals it, he hits a chasing three-pointer, completely killing the game.

In the end, the Thunder won two consecutive victories 103 to 99.

In these two games, it was not easy for the Thunder to win. The Hornets and Eagles are not weak. They still have the hope of winning against the Thunder. That's why they are very motivated to play.

After a tough battle, the Thunder ushered in a relatively easy schedule. The All-Star Weekend is coming, and their schedule is also very loose.

They are against the Golden State Warriors at home on February 2, and against the Dallas Mavericks at home on February 6.

Regardless of the difficulty of the game itself, the Thunder have plenty of time to adjust and replenish their strength.

This is very comfortable for the young Thunder.

In addition, Curry also received an invitation to the All-Star Weekend. He will lead the second-year team and the first-year rookie in a rookie challenge, and the leader of the first-year rookie is the All-Star vote king Lin Yue.

Unexpectedly, the first rivalry between Curry and Lin Yue appeared on the All-Star Weekend.

Regarding this, Curry and Lin Yue both seemed very excited. They were used to being teammates, and now they finally had the opportunity to compete as opponents.

Lin Yue was also curious as to how big the gap was between himself and Curry.

Likewise, Westbrook and Love will join the All-Star Game as sophomores, and Harden and DeRozan will join the Rookie All-Star Game as first-years.

New teammates, new venues, new opponents.

Although the All-Star is a place for players to relax, Curry and Lin Yue will still take it seriously.

All they can do now is to welcome the next two games, and then devote themselves to the All-Star Weekend and enjoy the entertainment atmosphere in the middle of each season.

Basketball is not just a sport, it is a spirit.

The significance of the All-Star Weekend is to provide all players with a vacation time. The busy schedule always needs some time to adjust.

"Lin, I didn't expect us to have the opportunity to be opponents." Curry looked very excited after receiving the news. He had long wanted to try what it would be like to be on a different team with Lin Yue.

After several years of teammate experience, the two know the basics of play. If they are not in the same team, they will definitely develop differently.

To be honest, if Lin Yue went to another team, Curry would not be used to playing against him, nor would he want to play against Lin Yue.

The current result is what he wants. The team's record has improved by leaps and bounds this season, and the players get along well. Lin Yue seems to be a good fit for this Thunder team. His waywardness did not cause trouble for others, but helped the Thunder team.

This makes Curry happy.

At the same time, he would also think that if he was on the opposite side, when the two became opponents, he seemed to be able to play the current statistics.

"I'm looking forward to it too!" Lin Yue said while leaning against the wall with his head in his arms.

His thoughts are the same as Curry's. As teammates, they have never compared. This All-Star can give the two a place to compete with each other.

"I won't show mercy," Curry said loudly, clenching his fists.

"Let's compete, Stephen." Lin Yue responded.

Durant didn't know what to say when he saw the two suffering from the second illness.

His age has passed the All-Star Rookie Game, but he and Lin Yue will enter the All-Star Game.

This is his first time participating in the main game, which is also the league's recognition of him.

So far this season, everything has been good.

……

On February 2, the Thunder, which had fully adjusted time, defeated the Golden State Warriors by a score of 6 to 112. Harden lost to the Thunder for the third time this season.

The Thunder's three young men scored 84 points together in this field, laying the foundation for the team's victory.

With three such all-around stars, it would be difficult for the Thunder to lose. After all, the Thunder must have the upper hand in offense.

Monta Ellis is as inefficient as ever, 24 of 10, 5 of 2 three-pointers, 8 of 6 free throws, 28 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and as many as 8 turnovers. As long as he is on the court, the Warriors have the ball in his hands.

可怜的哈登仅仅只有15次出手，命中7球，三分球4中2，罚球7中6，拿到22分5篮板7助攻1抢断和3失误，天差地别的效率值。

At the same time, the All-Star bench lineup has been released, and Monta Ellis is determined to miss the Western Conference All-Star bench lineup. Even though he averages as many as 26 points per game, the coach still doesn't like him.

Even if Yao Ming and Paul were injured and the Western All-Stars needed to be replaced, the spot did not fall into his hands.

This style of scoring will make the personal data very good. However, the Warriors' record has not improved at all. Not surprisingly, they still missed the playoffs this season.

The only good news is that the media claimed that the Warriors will trade Monta Ellis out next season and focus on training James Harden. They entrust the future of the team in Harden's hands.

After the game, Harden and the Thunder's three young men had another post-game gathering. Harden, who often complained to them, finally smiled and talked about interesting things that happened in the team.

He also knows the internal news of the team and can be recognized by the Warriors' top management. For Harden, this is the future he wants.

(End of this chapter)