super heavy artillery

Chapter 443 Own Rhythm

At the end of the first half, the Thunder trailed by 6 points.

The score is not much, but the situation has been very passive for the Thunder.The Pelicans relied on Davis to score at the basket much easier than the Thunder. The reason why the Thunder were able to bite the score was to rely on Paul George and Westbrook, who only made shots but did not shoot.An Luo made a shot once in a while, and the effect was mediocre.

The momentum of the Chesapeake Energy Arena has not become low because of this. The Thunder this season, the third quarter is their most anticipated moment.Everyone can see this scene many nights: those visiting teams from afar played very well in the first two quarters, and the Thunder fell behind for a while.But after the intermission, the Thunder, like a lion waking up, attacked with all their strength and reversed the situation in one wave.There are not a few who even take away the game directly.So everyone gradually developed the habit, no matter what the situation is, wait until after the third quarter.

During the intermission, Donovan immediately took his players back to the locker room.The situation in the first half of the game was not optimistic, but he already had an idea in his heart.We must hurry up and sort out these guys who can't see the situation clearly.

"Guys, we played really well in the first half!"

Donovan said a word, which made everyone very puzzled.How they performed in the first half, they knew in their hearts.Although he insisted on biting the score, but being suppressed by the Pelicans, it really shouldn't be.

"Obviously, we lost our rhythm on the field. We were brought into the positional battle by the opponent and fell into the opponent's rhythm. The fast break did not play, and the off-ball screen between each other was also seriously interfered by the opponent. , the cooperation is not smooth enough.”

This is what Donovan said in this situation!
"There are a lot of problems, but we are only 6 points behind. Our defense is still there. Although Davis has a serious problem at this point, he did a good job of suppressing Holiday and Moore. So I think we played well. good!"

It's time for a turning point!An Luo muttered to himself.

"But we can do better! Next we have to..."

As expected, Donovan is not as satisfied with the performance of the players as he said.He began to make a series of arrangements around defense and offense.However, the head coach can only make plans, and the key to how it can be played depends on the performance of the players.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the main players of both sides returned to the court again.

For the first minute, nothing changed.Davis and Paul George are still the focus on the court.The former has already scored 1 points!The latter is also credited with 25 points.It seems that these two people are still the arrows of the two teams in the second half.

But then, the game changed a bit.The Thunder no longer go hard on Davis, but start from the source.They started targeting Rondo.Block his pass and let Rondo shoot.In terms of perimeter defense, the Thunder are no weaker than the Pelicans.

Under such a strategy, Davis' situation became embarrassing.The defense against him is relaxed, but the ball is difficult to pass to him.Throughout the second half, his connection with Rondo was very rare.This is fatal to the Pelicans system.Rondo has never been a No. [-] who is good at scoring.Including in the series with the Trail Blazers, his role is organization and defense.Now the Thunder are forcing him to score, which is really hitting the point.Robertson directly switched to the outside to defend Rondo, and he couldn't stand up to Davis anyway.

The changes in the Thunder are not limited to the defensive end, their offensive strategy is also very different.More of the ball is still in the hands of Paul George, but An Luo has never stopped.The same goes for Robertson, Adams, and Westbrook, who have been helping the other two guys.The entire Thunder was in motion, and everyone participated in the attack.Only running water can raise fish. After the Thunder players moved on the field, the Pelicans players also moved.With ten players on the pitch, it looked a bit chaotic.

Thunder likes to fight this kind of chaos the most.An Luo, Westbrook and Paul George are all players who are very good at seizing opportunities. They have always created shooting space through partial cooperation.Therefore, those games won by the Thunder will definitely not be due to the two sides falling behind and fighting recklessly.

After Robertson received the ball from outside the left three-point line, the space in front of him was actually relatively loose, but Robertson became less and less fond of shooting three-pointers.He took the ball a few steps to the top of the arc, then handed it to Westbrook.After the latter received the ball, he had sharp eyes and quick hands, and pushed the ball directly to find Paul George in the left corner.Moore was blocked by Robertson, and Holiday could only let An Luo go to defend.Of course, the Pelicans' defensive rotation did a good job. After Holiday passed, Rondo immediately made up for An Luo.But under such a transfer, Westbrook cut straight to the basket from the top of the arc.After receiving the ball, his right hand went around Davis' waist and assisted Adams to dunk.

This kind of offense was repeatedly staged in the third quarter.Slowly, the Pelicans were gradually brought into their own rhythm by the Thunder.Although the Pelicans still have strict restrictions on An Luo, but with such an attitude, Donovan took advantage of it.An Luo led Holiday all over the field, seemingly desperately looking for a chance to make a shot, but in fact he was creating space for his teammates.Under such circumstances, Westbrook turned out to be the Thunder's assaulter in the third quarter.In fact, with Westbrook's ability, scoring is not difficult.Especially in such a situation, his air cuts, breakthroughs, and cooperation with Adams at the basket are of great help to the Thunder.

Now it was Gentry's turn to be anxious.Lei Ting's adjustment suddenly disrupted his plan.And completely avoided the strengths of his lineup.He himself is aware of Rondo's abilities and flaws, but he has been using the strong offensive firepower of Davis, Mirotic and Holiday to cover up this in the previous games.But now magnified by Donovan.During this period of time, he has seen many times that Rondo has been completely emptied.What's even more annoying is that after he hit the iron continuously, Rondo also began to hesitate when he took the ball again.

With An Luo hitting a super long three-pointer at the end of the third quarter, the Thunder beat the opponent 39:24 in this quarter.Not only evened the 6 points behind, but also surpassed the score by nearly double digits.

(End of this chapter)