NBA: Warrior godfather.

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The Thunder's goal this season is also to make it to the playoffs. Of course, Brooks isn't going to just sit back and watch the team fall behind. During the break, he quickly made adjustments.

At the start of the second quarter, both teams substituted their bench players, and Durant was subbed out with 4 minutes left in the first quarter and came back in at that time.

The Thunder has two key strengths in Westbrook and Durant in their starting lineup. Brooks deliberately divides their playing time so that the team always has an attacking force on the court.

Westbrook played the entire first quarter, but he performed poorly. Now, Brooks handed the ball to Durant, letting him take the important task of leading the team.

Durant lived up to expectations when he came back in, hitting two mid-range jump shots after running off the ball, quickly helping the team score.

The Warriors' defensive system has been carefully honed by Ron Adams. It focuses on pressure defense in specific areas. It works best to reduce the interior and rotate attacks, which largely depends on the team's discipline.

In addition, aside from Butler, the Warriors lack good individual perimeter defenders. Reggie Williams, who came off the bench, only has average defense. He has no way to deal with Durant and can't interfere with his shots.

Four minutes into the second quarter, Durant used mid-range shots and swung his arms to score 8 points in a row, leading the Thunder to beat the Warriors 10-4, closing the point gap to 37:39, just two points behind.

Liam saw Durant killing it off the bench and couldn't help but frown. Tonight, Durant seems to have a particularly hot hand with a very high shooting percentage. He's in better form than the previous two games. The Warriors just couldn't stop him. He was shooting effortlessly.

Liam had a bad feeling in his heart. Could Durant possibly wreak havoc on them tonight?

"Bip--"

When Durant used a sharp crossover to shake off Reggie Williams and made a layup, helping the Thunder tie the game, Liam called a timeout.

As Durant left the court, he high-fived his teammates one by one, looking very excited. He felt like the basket was as wide as the ocean. Tonight was destined to be his night!

"Coach, I'm feeling really good. The opponent can't defend me at all. I want to take more shots!" After Durant returned to the bench, he couldn't wait to take the initiative.

In response to Durant's request for the ball, Brooks naturally agreed:

"Alright, James, pass the ball to Kevin more later. Everyone follow the tactics we set up to cover Kevin and create opportunities for him to act... Kevin, you have unlimited firepower, you can choose the attack method you think is best, as long as you believe it's a good opportunity."

Durant smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

Give him the ball, he'll score, all the spotlight will be on him, let him dominate the court!

Soon, the timeout was over, and the players of both teams returned to the court. Brooks sent the starters back but kept Harden on the court. Liam didn't replace Varejao but asked Matthews and Butler to partner up at the front.

When the Warriors attacked, Azubuike beat Harden. Harden's defense seemed a little weak and couldn't resist Azubuike's drive. He ran to the paint and scored a layup.

At 39:41, the Warriors led again by two points.

Brooks frowned and shook his head while watching Azubuike score easily.

This is why the Thunder has the highest scorer, Durant, but still has ups and downs, and is on the brink of missing the playoffs. Their defense is really poor.

Several young players on the Thunder are extremely talented offensively, but mediocre defensively. However, the Thunder's center position is held by the unknown Kostic, and their interior defense is very average. Once the first line of defense is broken, it's likely the team's defense will collapse.

But Brooks had no choice but to use Sefolosha, an elite defensive player. The Thunder's four young players have an offensive mindset. Even if their defensive tactics are exquisitely organized, it's difficult to execute if no one carries them out.

He set his sights on Durant, a superstar scorer who had already shown his style.

The Thunder doesn't win with defense but with offense! As long as Kevin Durant is there, Brooks is confident they can beat any opponent!

On this attack, the Thunder still looked for Durant. They once again used Jeff Green's screen to get the ball to Durant in a mid-range position.

But what was different this time was that the Warriors changed their defensive strategy and Matthews suddenly doubled Durant!

Durant was caught off guard and swung the ball from side to side, barely escaping the pressure of the two-man defense. In panic, he passed the ball to Jeff Green, who was open, but Jeff had already shot from Curry's diagonal poke, who was watching anxiously from the side. Curry intercepted the ball, shot hard, and rushed forward!

In an instant, the Warriors switched from defense to offense. Curry drove into the Thunder's paint, glanced slightly, and saw that no one was following him. He slowed down and came closer, using his left foot to push off hard from the floor and dunked with his right hand, slamming the ball into the basket.

"Curry with a dunk! This is Curry's first dunk in the NBA. To be honest, this dunk seemed a bit forced, but still drew cheers from the Oracle Center," said Mike Breen.

Jeff Van Gundy laughed and said:

"I don't know why, but I always felt like Curry was going to dunk... His dunk this time was really a bit forced."

The comments flooded the live stream on Sina:

"666, Curry really can dunk. I thought he was like Nash and couldn't dunk at all!"

"Shit, after over 40 games, Curry finally dunked. Is his physical talent the worst among all-time players?"

"Thanks to Durant for passing the ball. Half the credit for this assist goes to Durant, hahaha."

Cheers erupted at the Oracle Arena. Although Curry's dunk was a bit reluctant, the Warriors' fans weren't picky. They had seen too many explosive dunks before, but with the Warriors' dismal record, no matter how hard Curry dunked, it was still a dunk for the fans of the Warriors!

Even Curry himself held his head in disbelief during the replay, as if he hadn't expected to just dunk. His funny expression appeared on the big screen, causing another explosion of laughter.

Liam also applauded from the sidelines, smiling slightly, but then turned his gaze to Durant.

His timeout was not in vain. In his past life, Liam watched the 2016 Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and Thunder without missing a beat. He watched with his own eyes how the Warriors made a dramatic comeback from a 1-3 deficit. No one understood it better than him.

Durant's scoring ability is truly strong, and in the future, he would become a historic super scorer in the NBA, but he's only a scorer.

Durant has never been a playmaker. Throughout his career, he averaged only 4.1 assists per game and 3.1 turnovers per game. His ability to facilitate for his teammates is very ordinary. He only has height and can't play the ball after being double-teamed. In fact, he's very poor at it, and his ability to break double teams is not strong.

And this was Durant, who later won the MVP. Right now, Durant primarily works off the ball, averaging only 2.8 assists and 2.1 turnovers per game, which makes Butler and Matthews feel confident and bold when facing him, knowing that the others are responsible for subsequent rotations, without worrying that Durant will force teammates to pass.

The shot now is a test. Durant's field of vision was narrow, and he only saw Jeff Green in the open space. This was a trap set by the Warriors who had been waiting for an opportunity and finally managed to steal his special pass. The Warriors then counterattacked and scored an easy dunk.

Looking back, Durant didn't believe in bad luck. This time, he directly asked for the ball from beyond the three-point line and wanted to go solo. Butler and Azubuike immediately doubled him without hesitation, forcing him to pass the ball. Durant defended and shot, but Butler interfered, and the ball missed the rim.

Chandler easily grabbed the rebound and passed it to Curry. After receiving the ball on the counterattack, Azubuike leaned into Durant for a layup and hit the backboard, but it was useless and didn't interfere with Azubuike's layup.

39:43.

The Oracle Center erupted even louder, and Jeff Van Gundy said:

"The Warriors flanked KD. The Thunder missed two consecutive attacks. I think they should change their offensive strategy. KD's performance against the double team clearly wasn't enough."

Brooks also realized this and yelled at Durant:

"Kevin, play more off the ball and don't give them the chance to double-team you!"

After Durant heard this, he reluctantly nodded. He was feeling really good tonight and was ready to take over, but the opponent made him double-teamed. This made Durant very upset.

But there was no way around it. He knew his passing ability wasn't good enough. If he wanted to shoot, he couldn't give the opponent the chance to double-team him.

This time, Durant moved off the ball. He set two screens, finally found a gap, caught the ball, and took the shot. The mid-range shot went in.

41:43.

Liam shook his head with a bit of regret. The Warriors changed the ball when the screen was set. The person who was blocked kept chasing, but in the end, it was Krstic who provided the screen for Durant to do his best to save. He's a pivot, but his mobility wasn't as good as Durant's, and still a bit slower. Durant took advantage of the opportunity and shot.

This is Durant. He's tall and has long arms. He can interfere with any other forward.

But Liam's strategy was still effective. Under the crazy double team of the Warriors, Durant especially wanted to attack with the ball. Even without the ball, the Warriors would drop the man on the screen. He attacked every time. All his shots were made under very difficult circumstances.

...

"Bip--"

During an offensive play by the Thunder, Durant received a pass from Harden while running off the ball, but Butler and Curry immediately pounced on Durant, pressing him. Durant had no chance to make a move immediately. In panic, he wanted to pass the ball to the open Harden, but he made a mistake and threw the ball out of bounds. The referee's whistle blew, and the Warriors got the ball.

On the sidelines, Liam took advantage of the dead ball and looked at the big screen. The score at that moment was 53:60. The Warriors led by 7 points, with just 1 minute left in the second quarter.

During the second quarter, Brooks did not change his strategy. The Thunder's offense still revolved around Durant. He can pass the treasure to Durant.

Although Durant faced the Warriors' tight defense, he attracted defensive attention and created opportunities for his teammates.

But Brooks still overestimated Durant's abilities. Under Liam's guidance, the Warriors attacked him very hard and only needed to use a four-point strategy. But Durant isn't Curry and doesn't have "Du Yougravity".

Many times, the Warriors' double-team would miss someone while passing the ball, creating an open opportunity, but Durant couldn't see it or couldn't pass it because of the Warriors' quick rotations.

Durant only had two options: pass the ball hastily or stop the ball and wait for his teammates to come closer to respond, which would only paralyze the Thunder's offense or lead to errors, allowing the Warriors to counterattack.

He made some runs without the ball, but every time he scored, it was difficult, and the Warriors gradually expanded the point gap.

After this error, the Warriors attacked, and Liam made a gesture to Curry, who had the ball, and Curry nodded to show understanding.

He reached the top of the arc and instead of looking for Chandler to play pick-and-roll, he waved to Butler.

Butler was stunned for a moment, then ran to the top of the key and set a screen for Curry.

This time, Westbrook didn't try to fight through the screen but chose to switch defenders.

Mike Breen said with some surprise:

"Butler set a screen for Curry and put Durant in front of him. What kind of strategy are the Warriors running? Is Curry going to challenge Durant?"

Not just him, but Brooks was also confused. Although Durant is 2.11 meters tall, he has the mobility of a small forward and great wingspan. Does Curry really want to take on Durant?

Soon, Curry's actions confirmed the speculations of both people. After Durant moved in front of him, Curry gestured to his teammates to spread out, showing he wanted to challenge Durant one-on-one.

Durant had already become so furious from the Warriors' frantic double team that he had no way to vent his anger. He got even angrier when he saw this. Didn't they treat him like a soft persimmon on defense?

As soon as his mind heated up, he immediately caught up to Curry, trying to snatch the ball, but Curry made a quick move and dodged Durant's hasty pressure and passed by his right side.

Durant turned around and tried to keep up, but his center of gravity was too high and his pivot speed wasn't quick enough. He was a step too slow. He could only watch as Curry drove to the paint, using a quick move to lay the ball up.

53:62.

"Yes! Curry made a beautiful escape and scored a layup! In the direct showdown between the second picks, Curry came out on top. It's worth mentioning that although Curry entered the NBA two years after Durant, they are the same age and direct competitors!"

End of this chapter

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