CIATB Chapter 397 Match Point
Chapter 397 Match Point
Chapter 397 Match Point
This is the third consecutive year that the Trail Blazers and Hornets have met in the playoffs.
In the previous two encounters, both sides won once each.
The Hornets stepped over the Trail Blazers and reached the finals.
It feels a bit like an old enemy.
Especially this year, that feeling has become more pronounced.
They met three times in the regular season, and each time the media from the two sides confronted each other in various ways before the game, pulling the entire emotional value to the highest.
Judging from the final results of the regular season, the Hornets are slightly ahead.
It's not just that their regular season record is better.
At the end of the 18-19 season, the Hornets ranked second in the Western Conference and the Trail Blazers ranked third in the Western Conference.
And they played a total of three games in the regular season, with a big score of 2 to 1!
Hornets won 2 games.
However, the Hornets, who had an advantage in the regular season, gave the Trail Blazers a "wake-up call" in the first game of the series.
The Trail Blazers made a change here, directly using Leonard to deal with James Harden, limiting this "superstar" who averaged 37.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game in the regular season.
The effect is obvious.
Leonard's pair of big hands played James Harden like a struggle, and he was powerless.
After the first game, James Harden only made 19 of 6 shots. Although he made 11 of 9 free throws, he still scored 24 points, but it was far from his regular season score.
Without his scoring and the restraint brought by the average of 37.6 points per game, the Hornets have been losing ground from the beginning of the game, and they were pressed by the Trail Blazers from the beginning to the end of the game. During this period, they did not lead even once.
The Trail Blazers finally made a good start in the away game, 117 to 108, 9 points behind the Hornets, a big score of 1 to 0!
The Portland media immediately found an opportunity to export, and they exported frantically to the New Orleans media.
If you fall behind, you will be beaten, and this is also true in the media world.
The aggrieved New Orleans media could only wait for the Hornets to find their way back in Game [-].
Not to mention, D'Antoni, as the league's only "four-peat" head coach, has a quick adjustment ability.
In the second game, he adjusted his use of James Harden and began to use Harden more to organize offenses.
How to describe James Harden in this game?
Ok……
Say so!
"Steve - Nash II"!
James Harden began to output more shells for his teammates.
The Trail Blazers didn't adjust for a while, allowing the Hornets to take the opportunity to score a wave of 17-4 and end the game directly. After that, the Hornets took a 13-point difference until the last moment.
The big score equalized back to 1 to 1...
James Harden's score in this game is not high, he only scored 21 points, but his efficiency has improved a lot, and his shooting percentage has returned to 40%. Facing Leonard's defense, he can do this step, to be honest , that's enough!
The most important thing is that his shining point tonight is obviously not on the personal offensive end, but on the matter of attacking his teammates.
In the end, James Harden sent a total of 19 assists!
Starting these teammates, each player has at least 3 passes from James Harden.
Anthony Davis was even more full. He received a total of 8 assists from James Harden. Just relying on James Harden's pass, he scored 16 points, no, it should be 18 points, of which Twice, he hit 2 plus 1!
In the final game, Anthony Davis scored a playoff-high 35 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks.
There is no doubt that this is a "super class" performance!
The New Orleans media, who had been holding back for a day after the game, finally had a chance to fight back.
It's just that the Portland media didn't misfire.
Ok……
There is no way, even if the Hornets win this game, the big score between the two sides is 1 to 1, but...
The next two home games are home to the Trail Blazers!
It is equivalent to saying that the Trail Blazers took the home field advantage, and they will have more home games next, so even if they lose this game, so what?Don't panic at all, okay?
And the Trail Blazers' ability to adjust is indeed good enough.
They haven't changed the way they defend James Harden...
Just kidding, James Harden has been forced to become "Steve Nash", which shows that the Trail Blazers are very effective in targeting him. The bigger problem is how to limit Anthony Davis on this matter.
Oden stepped up in the third game, and he threw himself into the defense.
Compared with Anthony Davis, Oden's static talent is not bad at all. As for dynamic talent, there is nothing to say, and he is a little older than Anthony Davis, but Oden still gritted his teeth and held on. In the three quarters, after the first three quarters, Anthony Davis only scored 9 points in the game. It was not until the fourth quarter that his scoring increased. He scored 9 points in a single quarter, but only 18 points in the game. !
He couldn't play a role, and James Harden's assists in this game "噗噢噐" dropped.
James Harden, who had 19 assists in the last game, immediately became 11 in this game, a total of 8 less.And his own scoring, whether it is output or efficiency, has not changed significantly compared to the previous game.
He's off, Anthony Davis is off, and for Game [-] of this series, the Hornets are off as well.
Big score 2 to 1!
The Blazers held their first game back home.
Now the Portland media can get excited again.
In addition to being silent again, the New Orleans media were a little more worried. There were only 7 games in the series. It didn’t matter if they lost the first game. If you lose, the problem becomes serious.First, the two sides have already had a lot of changes, and second, there are not many remaining games!
The key is that the Trail Blazers will still be at home next. If they lose this game, the big score will be 3-1!
The two sides have a feeling of "old enemy", so that while the Hornets will be eager because they don't want the big score to become 3-1, the Trail Blazers will also be full of enthusiasm for the big score to become 3-1!
The fourth game of this series looks like it is only the fourth game, but in fact, this is equivalent to the "Battle of Tianwang Mountain" for both sides!
In other words, every next game will be a "Battle of Tianwang Mountain" for both sides!
The New Orleans media is very worried that the Hornets will not have any major changes in the future.
Because Anthony Davis and James Harden are both restricted, the core of the Hornets is only Jimmy Butler.
For this reason, many New Orleans media are putting pressure on Jimmy Butler.
However, if I really want to say it, Jimmy Butler's performance in the first three games is really not very good, and he only scored about 18 to 20 points in each game. "Goji berry" is the same.
If his performance is normal, Hornets fans will feel qualified.
But the problem is that in the past three games, the Trail Blazers have restricted James Harden and Anthony Davis. Ask for a bigger one!
Under such circumstances, just such a small performance is a bit unreasonable...
Jimmy Butler didn't know if he saw these comments. In the fourth game of the series, after Anthony Davis and James Harden were both found by the opponent, he suddenly broke out in this game , all kinds of unreasonable mid-range jumpers, the posture is so familiar to Chicagoans, the balls got into the basket one by one, and finally Jimmy Butler used a career-high 43 points in a single game to help the Hornets tie the score again , and took the home field advantage back to New Orleans!
The Hornets fans were still complaining before the game that Jimmy Butler should not be exchanged for the Hornets. Immediately after the game, they raised their hands and shouted "Jimmy Butler, forever!"
Overnight, New Orleans became a fan of Jimmy Butler.
Jimmy Butler glanced at his phone from time to time on the way back. There were a lot of congratulatory text messages, and he had seen all the compliments on the Internet, but what he wanted to see most now was that familiar name.
——Good job, buddy, if I meet this kind of state in the finals, I have to tell others to be careful!
Finally, as soon as he got off the plane and returned to New Orleans and turned on his phone, the text message he had been thinking about finally arrived.
The affirmation from Li Wan made him smile happily.
As far as Li Wan's words are sure, to him, it is worth [-] words from other people!
The pressure came to the Blazers. Jimmy Butler's explosion gave the Hornets another point of support, but the Blazers' defensive restrictions made it difficult to have more constraints on Jimmy Butler.
In short, this matter is difficult to handle.
Before their fifth game of this round of the series started, another set of duels in the Eastern Conference semifinals came to the fifth game of the series. After winning the last game, the Toronto Raptors completely took advantage of the situation , This allowed them to easily win the fourth victory of the series, beat the Bucks 4-1 with a big score, and became another team in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The roster for the Eastern Conference finals was also officially announced at this time. Like last year, it was still the Columbus Explorers vs. Raptors.
It's just that this year's Raptors have more experience than last year, and they also have stronger resistance, and they have a barrier to rely on inside.
Therefore, in the eyes of some media, this year's Raptors are likely to cause trouble for the Columbus Explorers.
However, before the start of the first game of the Eastern Conference finals, the "Battle of Tianwang Mountain" in the Western Conference semifinals officially started.
Sure enough, the Trail Blazers don't have more power to restrict Jimmy Butler, and their approach is very simple. If you can't restrict Jimmy Butler, I won't restrict it.
They started playing from the inside today, and Aldridge was not allowed to create damage in the low post.
The Hornets' inside partners are PJ Tucker and Anthony Davis.
For the two of them, the former went to mark Aldridge to give Aldridge the opportunity to score with "turnover jumpers".There are hardly any distractions.
And if Anthony Davis is used to defend Aldridge, in addition to consuming his physical fitness, it also gives Oden the opportunity to dominate the interior.
In addition, on the defensive end, in addition to keeping Leonard's strategy of defending James Harden unchanged, the entire perimeter also uses him as the core to play zone defense.
In other words, in addition to watching his defenders himself, Leonard also needs to double-team their defenders with his teammates.
But for Leonard, who already had two "Best Defensive Player Awards" in this period, this is really not a big deal!
He completed the head coach's explanation very calmly.And the quality is very good.
The Hornets once fell into a huge passivity.
At the end of the first half, the Trail Blazers had established a 10-point difference.
As soon as the second half came up, James Harden and Anthony Davis played a bit more desperately. The two frequently used pick-and-rolls to help James Harden create open positions.
And Harden's touch really came up at this time, and he used consecutive three-pointers with step-back steps to help the team keep approaching the score.
Leonard kept responding with mid-range, and the two sides entered a battle of points.
And from the beginning of this star matchup, until the end of the game, it never stopped.
How to describe it?
Let's just say...
After you sing, I will appear!
After James Harden and Leonard faced each other for a period of time, Jimmy Butler and Mike Conley also entered the moment of confrontation. It was not until the end of the third quarter that the "ball planets" on both sides gradually subsided.
This period of time must be a very exciting moment for the audience, but for the Hornets fans, it is a bit uncomfortable, because the game should be in the fourth quarter, and their score is still 4 points behind.
As far as the current situation is concerned, the Hornets are a bit "boiled frogs in warm water".
"It seems that the four stars of the Trail Blazers this year really complement each other!" Kenny Smith gave the Trail Blazers a great affirmation of the "quad-core".
The reason is also very simple. After the fifth game of the series, the match point is in the hands of the Trail Blazers.
If they really get the match point, they will be another team in this year's Western Conference Finals!
Barkley also affirmed: "The arrival of Leonard and Mike Conley has given this team more possibilities, and there are more players who can stand up at critical moments!"
Hornets fans’ concerns were not unreasonable. The Hornets’ struggles became more intense in the fourth quarter, but the Trail Blazers still took turns to stand up. In the end, the 8-point difference finally narrowed to 5 points. With only 13.4 seconds left in the game, James Harden missed a three-point chase and Oden protected a key rebound. In the end, the Hornets were at the end of the day, 109 to 104, and the Trail Blazers won another victory , with a big score of 3 to 2, Portland has the match point!
(End of this chapter)