NBA opening draw to twilight Shaquille O'Neal

Chapter 1107 60 wins in hand, can 70 wins be far behind?
Under the leadership of Russell Westbrook, the Thunder team on the brink of defeat still did not intend to give up, and launched a final counterattack after returning from a timeout.

Westbrook's unyielding energy on the court happens to be the most attractive trait for fans.

In order to respect such an opponent, Wang Zelin also tried his best to have a final duel with him.

Westbrook quickly advanced with the ball in the backcourt. Just when everyone thought he would attack the frame, he suddenly pulled up half a step away from the three-point line...

"Shh-!"

A three-pointer hit, 120:122, the Thunder quickly recovered the point difference, and there were only two points left.

Judging from the large sample data of his career, Westbrook is actually not a player who is good at three-pointers. His technical characteristics are similar to LeBron James. Both of them are big-core players with the ball, especially good at hitting the basket.

It is no exaggeration to say that when Westbrook is at his peak at this time, when he is playing big-core play with the ball, his efficiency and influence are no less than the two James in the East and West.

But at this time, he just dared to shoot a three-pointer that he was not good at, and he even scored it!

Although Westbrook has ushered in a year of career explosion this season, all statistics have hit career highs, including three-pointers.

So far this season, he has averaged at least 7.2 three-pointers per game, much higher than any previous season.

To know the Splash Brothers of the Warriors, Curry averaged only 10 three-pointers per game this season, and Thompson averaged only a little over 8 per game.

In terms of shooting percentage, the 34.3% three-point shooting percentage also set a new career high, which allowed Westbrook to hit 2.5 three-pointers per game. Combined with his violent attacking the basket, it is not difficult to understand that he is now averaging close to 32 points per game.

By the way, Westbrook's scoring in the final quarter of this season is also quite terrifying. Although it is still not as exaggerated as Thomas Jr. averaging 10 points per game in the final quarter, it is also among the best outside stars.

Westbrook's strong counterattack caused the Energy Arena to fight immediately. The Thunder seemed to see the hope of overtaking the score, and the entire arena immediately turned into a blue ocean.

"MVP! MVP! MVP!"

Thunder fans all stood up and shouted.

Although Westbrook has not won an MVP trophy yet, in Oklahoma and in the hearts of all Thunder fans, he is the well-deserved hero and the only MVP in this city!

This time Westbrook scored a three-pointer in less than five seconds, with 31 seconds left.

Lillard received Wang Zelin's serve in the backcourt and slowly advanced.

The Blazers don't panic at all, they just need to be patient and hit the success rate.

Soon, Seth Curry's two consecutive reverse runs made his opponent dizzy.

Seeing this, Thunder forward Ty Gibson remembered the coach's instructions during the timeout, let go of Wang Zelin decisively, and rushed towards Seth Curry.

There is no way, who made Seth Curry's performance tonight too scary, but any slight disturbance will cause a riot in the Thunder's entire defense.

Wang Zelin never thought that one day he would be emptied by his opponent. He is the active scoring leader!

On Lillard's side, after realizing that Wang Zelin was emptied, he passed the ball decisively. After Wang Zelin received the ball, he swayed away from Biyombo who was defending, but he did not rush to make a shot, but quickly dribbled to outside the three-point line, and turned around.

When a seven-footer with a height of 2 meters, a wingspan of more than 16 meters, and a top jumper plays a dry pull in front of you, you can imagine the despair it brings to the defender.

At this time, no matter how much defense you do, it will be useless. The only thing you can pray for is that he doesn't feel good.

It's a pity that you ended up like a full moon machete, splitting the Thunder's basket.

Alas~~~
There was a sigh of disappointment from the fans at the scene.

The scene of deja vu also reminded many fans of a hot man-Kevin Durant!

In the past nearly 10 years, Kevin Durant has often shown off his unsolvable jumper in front of the home fans of the Energy Arena. I don’t know how many nights, powerful enemies from all over the league have hated him under this ultimate move.

But last summer, Kevin Durant left Oklahoma City, where he had played for 10 years, for the Golden State Warriors.

Oklahoma lost Durant forever, and also lost this help. They immediately made a strong enemy's ultimate move.

At this time, when Wang Zelin made a more incomprehensible pull-up jumper than Durant on the field, the Thunder fans in the Energy Arena seemed to have suffered a set of real injuries and silence, and the scene fell into a moment of silence.

At 125:120, the point difference returned to 5 points.

17 seconds left until the end of the game.

Thunder attack.

Westbrook wanted to repeat the old trick, but this time the Trail Blazers were on guard. Wang Zelin jumped out the moment he took off. Although he failed to catch him, it caused great interference.

"This goal is impossible to score!"

As soon as Westbrook made a move, Wang Zelin sentenced him to death in his heart.

Sure enough, there was a crisp iron strike immediately behind him, followed by Jokic's roar.

"king!"

Hearing the sound, Wang Zelin immediately stepped up his long legs and sprinted wildly forward. An incredible scene happened. Westbrook, who is known for his speed, was thrown away by Wang Zelin's two identities.

A defender can't catch up with a center?
Are we watching a sci-fi movie?
The fans at the scene fell into silence again.

Jokic in the backcourt was always observing Wang Zelin's position. Seeing that the distance was almost there, he grabbed the ball with one hand and swung it hard, completing a long pass that looked at the audience.

then……

"boom!"

When the ball arrived, Wang Zelin took one step into the three-point line and took off decisively. He turned his head and grabbed the spinning basketball. After completing a 180-degree turn in the air, he slammed into the basket with one hand.

"Oh hoo!!!!"

"Guys, are we in the dunk contest right now?"

"I officially announce that this must be added to the top ten dunks of the 2016-17 season."

"Counting Wang Zelin's two previous free throws, he alone occupied three of the top ten dunks of the season. He really deserves to be the strongest dunk king in history!"

In front of the TV, the fans who were watching the game couldn't help raising their arms and shouting.

The screens of the major live streaming platforms were already filled with bullet screens of "Your Majesty!"

After a while, the live broadcast platform even experienced a brief downtime. Countless fans looked at the black screen on their phones and couldn't help cursing crazily.

Shot back to Energy Arena.

At this moment, Wang Zelin almost killed the game with his own hands. At 127:120, the Blazers still led the Thunder by 7 points, and the time was only 4.2 seconds.

At the end of the game, Westbrook was finally powerless. The Thunder lost to the Trail Blazers 120:127 at home. Not only was the two-game winning streak ended, but the Trail Blazers completed a triple kill against them in the regular season.

At the same time, this game has another rather significant significance.

Wang Zelin and Westbrook are the two favorites for this season's regular season MVP. Every time the two meet, they will attract the attention of countless people and huge traffic. It can be described as the focus of the battle.

However, after the two played against each other three times in the regular season, the Blazers all defeated Westbrook by a big score.

第一次交手，双方比分为131:115，王泽林豪取45分25篮板5助攻5盖帽2抢断！

第二次交手，双方比分为121:94，王泽林轰下了35分36篮板10助攻11盖帽2抢断的超级无敌四双，打出了生涯代表作。

In this match, Seth Curry's performance at the last moment certainly grabbed a lot of shots, but the reason why the Blazers were able to play against the Thunder in the first three quarters with an incomplete lineup was mainly thanks to Wang Zelin's superb performance.

At the end of the game, Wang Zelin played 41 minutes and made 28 of 16 shots, including 10 of 5 three-pointers. In addition to free throws, he scored 45 points, 28 rebounds, 4 assists and 8 blocks. He should be rated as the best player in the game.

In this battle, Wang Zelin unlocked another milestone in his personal record. He has reached 40 times 29+ times in a single game this season. Under the same playing unit time, he has already broken the record of last season.

In the 2015-16 season last season, Wang Zelin played 40+ times in a single game in the regular season as high as 42 times, breaking the highest record since the merger of the NBA and the ABA.

According to the current trend, Wang Zelin can not only achieve the great achievement of averaging 40+ per game, but it is only a matter of time before he refreshes the historical record of scoring 42 times in a single game of 40+ just last season.

After this battle, the Blazers' record came to 56 wins and 5 losses, only 60 wins away from becoming the first 4-win team this season.

It is only 70 games away from getting 14 wins again.

In fact, they still have one and a half months before the end of the regular season, and there are still 21 games left. If they don't expect to break through 75 wins, but only want to get 70 wins, they can still look forward to it.

The only team in NBA history to win 70 points in the regular season for two consecutive years!

Such a compelling title makes people extremely excited just thinking about it.

……

……

When the regular season schedule of the 2016-17 season entered March, it completely meant that all teams in the league entered the final countdown.

At this point, except for the few top teams that have basically established their home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, all the remaining teams that are expected to make the playoffs are desperately striving for the top.

After all, the playoffs are a more brutal battlefield than the regular season. It is natural to have an advantage if you can occupy the home court as soon as it comes up.

NBA history tells them that a team with home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs has a greater probability of advancing forever than a team without home court advantage.

Of course, the Trail Blazers belong to the former. With a record of 56 wins and 5 losses, even if they fish in troubled waters in the next one and a half months, after casually playing 4 games to get 60 wins, and losing all the remaining 17 games, it will not affect their home court advantage in the first round.

However, their goals don't stop there.

Whether it is Wang Zelin or other teammates, they all have greater ambitions for this year's regular season.

Driven by ambition, the whole Blazers team can maintain a strong desire for victory in the long regular season.

This is one of the main reasons why the Blazers were able to achieve such an impressive record.

On March 3, the Blazers played at home against the Bucks led by the newly promoted All-Star Mr. Antetokounmpo.

Although Antetokounmpo has gradually fulfilled his talents, showing the style of a Greek monster in the future, coupled with the assistance of Middleton, who is a quasi-all-star, it is enough to ensure that they can dominate the East.

It's a pity that what they met tonight was the defending champion Portland Trail Blazers who were stronger than them in all aspects.

Wanting to defeat the Bucks is actually very simple, as long as you pinch Antetokounmpo, in Jason Kidd's carefully crafted tactical system, Antetokounmpo is the absolute core of the Bucks' tactical system.

Get him done, and the Bucks will be self-defeating.

Therefore, after Wang Zelin's initiative to ask for a match, Antetokounmpo suddenly became a small letter.He played 36 minutes in the whole game, made 21 of 5 shots, 1 of 0 three-pointers, plus free throws, barely scored 14 points, plus 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal.

His contribution on the defensive end is still outstanding. Wang Zelin is not a god, and he is already very powerful if he can restrain the opponent's offense. Isn't it embarrassing to ask him to limit the opponent's performance in defense?

Antetokounmpo was a pure undercover agent this time. Despite Middleton's constant madness, he still made 22 of 11 shots, 3 of 3 three-pointers, 1 of 1 serve, and scored 26 points efficiently. It was difficult to restore the team's decline.

In the end, the Blazers easily captured the Bucks at 120:93 at home.

Fortunately, for the young Antetokounmpo and Middleton, losing to the defending champion is not unacceptable.

The result of losing the game must be bitter, but when one thinks that the opponent is a dynasty that has ruled the league for three full years, the bitter result immediately becomes acceptable.

After all, in the past three years, countless strong teams have lost to the Trail Blazers. Although the Bucks lost more and lost less when playing against those strong teams, at least they did not feel as uncomfortable as playing against the Trail Blazers now.

Therefore, after a little uncomfortable after the game, Antetokounmpo and Middleton greeted Wang Zelin very warmly.

At the same time, Wang Zelin did not forget to encourage the pair of young people with unlimited potential after the game, saying that he hoped that the next time the two sides meet, the Bucks can bring him more surprises.

At this moment, Wang Zelin has already painted a picture in his mind.

In a certain season in the future, Antetokounmpo has grown into a full-fledged Greek monster, and Middleton has also become a real Mishen. When the two lead the Bucks to break through from the Eastern Conference and join him in the finals, he will definitely leave a deep playoff trip for these two brothers.

At that time, maybe he will have to follow the example of his predecessors, and say a deep and deep sentence to Brother Antetokounmpo: "Come on, the future is yours!"

That picture, thinking about it, makes people feel exciting.

……

After getting off to a good start in March, the Trail Blazers originally planned to make persistent efforts and create greater glories.

Unexpectedly, the back-to-back trip to San Francisco on the 4th encountered a severe blow from the Warriors.

Tonight, the Warriors were like taking aphrodisiacs. They played fiercely, and they were in such good condition that they had no friends. They made 48% of their three-pointers in the game!

This is a well-known three-point team in the league. When they shoot close to [-]% of their shots, they can also maintain a defensive efficiency that is around the top five in the league. It is difficult not to win.

In the end, the Blazers lost to the Warriors 119:125, and the winning streak was ended.

In the next three games, the Trail Blazers supported and quickly adjusted their status. First, they easily defeated the Wizards at home 131:93, and then played two consecutive away games against the Suns and Pelicans.

After a wave of three consecutive victories, the Blazers' record successfully broke through to 60 wins and 6 losses, becoming the league's first 60-win team.

The Blazers official website immediately updated a shocking announcement after the game:

60 wins in hand, will 70 wins be far behind?
(End of this chapter)