super heavy artillery

Chapter 445 Initiative

For a series of seven games in total, winning or losing one of the games does not have as much impact on the overall situation as people think.What's more, this is only the first time the two sides have played against each other.

At the post-match press conference, both coaches and players fully affirmed each other's performance.The Thunder who won the game were not domineering or arrogant; the Pelicans who lost the game did not complain.The atmosphere between the two teams is not as tense as other teams that have played against each other.

In fact, the two teams are very close.At the beginning, Oklahoma City did not have an NBA team. Later, the SuperSonics moved from Seattle, and only then did they have the current Thunder.But in fact, before the Thunder, there was another team that led Oklahoma City for a while.This team is the New Orleans Hornets, but they are now called the Pelicans.

2005年8月29日，由于卡特琳娜飓风登陆，新奥尔良黄蜂的球馆斯莫西国王中心遭到了巨大的破坏。因此黄蜂在2005-06赛季和2006-07赛季不得不暂时搬到俄克拉荷马城的福特中心球馆。那一段时间里，联盟多了一只名不副实的新奥尔良黄蜂队。

Therefore, whenever the Pelicans players visit the Chesapeake Energy Arena, these Oklahoma fans will respond with warm applause and cheers.After all, in a sense, the Pelicans are the city's first NBA team.However, for Oklahoma City now, the Thunder is their own team.

After the first game, the media quickly released the information of the game and the data of the relevant players.

Davis is undoubtedly the best player in this game. He played 39 minutes and scored 43 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals.If it weren't for him, the Pelicans might have surrendered in the third quarter!Holiday, Mirotic and Rondo, who performed well in the first round of the playoffs, performed sluggishly in this game.Holiday had 12 points and 4 assists, Mirotic had 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, and Rondo had 9 points and 9 assists.In addition to these four people, Jordan Crawford, who came off the bench, performed well and scored 15 points, ranking third on the team.If you look at it alone, the performance of these players is not bad, but compared with the previous scores of 30+ and 40+ and 15 or 6 assists, it is indeed a bit sluggish.

In those media reports, the Pelicans were knocked back to their original form.Even in the game, the Pelicans caused great difficulties for the Thunder; even if Gentry made very targeted arrangements based on the situation on the court several times; even if they limited An Luo to only 12 points!But these people were right about one thing.In this game, the problems exposed by the Pelicans were the key to the Blazers' loss in the first round.One is Paul George's defense, the other is Rondo.

I don't know if the Blazers are still paying attention to the follow-up games of the playoffs.If you watched this game between the Thunder and the Pelicans, I don't know what they think.Maybe Lillard will feel very depressed!

On the first day of May, the Thunder and the Pelicans played Game [-] at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Prior to this, the series of the other two teams in the West also finished the first game.The Warriors battled the Rockets for four quarters in Houston and finally won.The two teams were tied in the first half.But in the second half, the Rockets failed to withstand the Warriors' offensive frenzy.Although Harden and Paul have performed well enough, the Warriors who are all soldiers are still better.

The difference in the West is that the eight teams in the East have just finished the playoffs.The Cavaliers led by LeBron James won a seven-game first-round series against the Indiana Pacers.James is still strong, but most people think that the Cavaliers can't get far this season.The Celtics also played seven games.Antetokounmpo led the sudden emergence of the Bucks and brought huge trouble to the Celtics who reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season.But then, the Celtics, who fought all the way and suffered from injuries, quickly and neatly defeated the 76ers on their home court.Although the latter had already rested for a week, the Celtics still won.It can be seen that sometimes resting for too long is not a good thing.

Looking at the teams in the East, both An Luo and Donovan feel that the Celtics and Raptors will be the ones to break out of the East.None of those are fuel-efficient lights.However, Thunder's people just chatted with each other.It's useless to think too much now, they still have a long way to go!At least the Pelicans must be resolved before they are eligible to discuss the finals.

"You are right, the Pelicans are strong! But aren't we strong? You know, this is our home stadium. The whole of Oklahoma is cheering for us. Victory, after all, belongs to Oklahoma .”

Before the game, An Luo was also stopped by reporters when he arrived at the arena.However, he still insisted on his consistent principle: reporters and the media are here to fool.After chatting for a while, An Luo came to the locker room.Westbrook and others have arrived.

"Good evening! Guys."

After saying hello, An Luo came to his place and began to get ready.

"Ann, we're betting who will win Game [-] between the Cavaliers and the Raptors. I think it's the Raptors. The Cavaliers have such a bad lineup this year. But Paul believes in LeBron and he thinks the Cavaliers will win. You want to pick one too? "

As soon as he sat down, Westbrook leaned over.This guy, is he sure to win tonight's game?One by one was too idle to talk about others.

"I choose the knight!"

"Way?" Westbrook asked, puzzled.

"I don't know which of them is stronger. But I know, you never won a bet with Paul!"

……

"beep~"

The whistle sounded and the game officially started.

Both parties are well-informed.They didn't test each other any more, and they all quickly entered the competition state.

Like the previous game, the two sides played inextricably for a long time.But the turning point of the game came very early.With 4 minutes left in the first quarter, Westbrook sprinted to the basket and slammed Davis hard.Although the goal was not scored, it successfully caused Davis' defensive foul.Subsequently, Davis was replaced by Gentry, and he has committed two crimes!

That's not good news for the Pelicans.As the absolute offensive and defensive core of the team, Davis must play well enough for them to have a chance to win this game.Now that Davis is in foul trouble, the next game will be dangerous.

(End of this chapter)