The godfather of basketball started from conquering the NBA

After losing the third game, the Trail Blazers team had lost their fighting spirit.

In the fourth game, they were directly beaten by the Timberwolves by 30 points. The Timberwolves directly advanced to the Western Conference Finals 120 to 90.

Although Durant scored 22 points, the entire team, except for Durant, played very scatteredly. The only player who played reasonably well was substitute center Vucevic, who scored 16 points and 9 rebounds. data.

Apart from that, there is no other player who scores in double figures.

In this way, the Timberwolves went straight to the Western Conference Finals with a record of 8 wins and 0 losses in the playoffs.

The opponent in the Western Conference Finals is the winner of the Spurs and Thunder.

The two sides are about to engage in a battle at Tianwang Mountain.

Although the Spurs do not have Kawhi Leonard at this time, they do have Iguodala, Batum, Asik, Nate Robinson and others who are more capable.

The Thunder's lineup this year is not bad either. In addition to the "king bomb" combination of Harden + Rose in the backcourt, there is also "ak47" Kirilenko invited back from Europe. The inside line is the future All-star inside line combination of the Hawks. Millsap and Horford.

On the bench, there are also Shane Battier, who regretted not being able to sign him in his previous life, and the former "Birdman" Anderson.

Generally speaking, the strength of the two teams' lineups is almost the same.

But for the Thunder, Rose and Harden are both going through a transformation.

Rose has also begun to try shooting and more offensive methods, and Harden is also developing in the direction of a combo guard.

But transformation requires a period of pain, and now is the period of pain for the Thunder. In addition, head coach Brooks is a coach who is better at cultivating players rather than building a system.

So the Thunder are in a very dangerous situation now. In the fifth game of Tianwang Mountain, they lost to the Spurs by 25 points.

作为球队的核心之一的哈登全场比赛14投仅仅4中，得到了13分4助攻跟4失误的惨淡数据。

But this is also in line with Xu Xiao's understanding of Harden.

Even the all-powerful Harden in his previous life would lose himself in this crucial game.

His mentality is the key to restricting him from becoming a top superstar.

Xu Xiao stood up and moved around, then took out his mobile phone and edited a text message to Harden.

No matter what, he still likes Harden quite a lot. After all, he was a veteran in his previous life, and he didn't just throw away that kind of rocket plot.

He has watched Harden for several years and has feelings for him. In addition, his relationship with Harden in this life is pretty good.

"I know you are one of the strongest players in the league, but your mentality is what restricts you from becoming a top star. I always believe that you will become the strongest player, but do you believe in yourself? Do you dare to be like your idol Kobe? Carrying the team in that way is the key to whether you can become the league's first "James Harden".

I hope you can be a strong person. Even if you are a loser, you must be a man who dares to take responsibility, rather than a successful person who can only lie in his mother's arms. I believe you have this ability, and you also believe in me. Your vision is correct and you will try your best to show your abilities. If you win, we will see you in the finals. If you lose, we will see you at the summer training ground. "

After editing this paragraph, Xu Xiao stopped looking at his phone. He also knew in his heart that in his opinion, his two insignificant sentences would definitely not change Harden.

So I started studying the Spurs with my coaching team.

But he didn't know that the text message he thought was useless would have a huge impact on Harden and the future Thunder.

Because in Harden's heart, Xu Xiao's status is quite high, and Harden admires Xu Xiao very much. Xu Xiao made a casual suggestion last year, and Harden took it to heart, and started his own changes this season.

Now that the war is about to begin, when I receive a letter from Xu Xiao again, my mood is self-evident, just like a junior high school student who receives encouragement from his idol when he is about to take the high school entrance examination.

"Take responsibility like a man, even if you fail?"

Harden muttered in his mind.

The sixth game was played in Oklahoma, which has the best atmosphere in the league, and Xu Xiao also chose to watch the game live, just to study the next round opponent, the Spurs.

Seeing Xu Xiao coming to watch the game in person, Harden couldn't hold back his excitement and turned to Rose.

"Man, you hear the cheers, we're going to win this game, right?"

Derrick Rose looked up at Harden, and then a touch of surprise appeared on his cold cheek. He felt that Harden was a little different today.But he soon smiled and said:

"Yes, we are unstoppable today."

At the beginning of the game, Harden directly took the basketball, faced Tony Parker's defense, suddenly started, rushed directly to the basket, and scored a floater against Duncan's defense.

Afterwards, he faced Batum and hit a step-back three-pointer again, but at this time, Harden had not yet used the step-back so proficiently.

Although the Spurs began to charge the Thunder's inside line to seek a breakthrough, this game was destined not to belong to the Spurs.

Driven by Harden's emotions, the Thunder generals all took the lead as if they were on fire.

Harden missed a layup. Kirilenko rushed directly to the offensive rebound, passed in to Horford, hit a hard layup and caused Asik's foul.

"Don't worry, we'll grab it for you."

After leaving such a sentence, Horford walked to the free throw line without looking back and made the ball steadily.

Driven by such emotions, the Thunder led the Spurs by 54 points 45 to 9 in the first half. Although Harden's performance was still average, it can be seen from this game that Harden's spirit is different.

Although he only made 12 of 4 shots in the first half and scored 12 points, his defense made Xu Xiao shine, something he had rarely seen in his previous life.

Also, although the shooting rate is not high, the biggest feeling given to Xu Xiao in this half of the game is that Harden is no longer as confused as he was in key games in his previous life.

This game was very exciting. I hit the basket several times, but I didn't try to get a foul. The failure to score was a technical problem. After all, Harden's skills are not yet complete. He is not the MVP in his previous life, but he didn't score every time. Whenever he advances, he will quickly return to defense. This kind of spirit has never been seen in a long time.

The Spurs were forced to adjust their defensive strategy and strictly guard against Harden's breakthrough. This meant that the entire Thunder team had a low shooting percentage and failed to seize several open opportunities.

If he had been more accurate and scored two more three-pointers, the Spurs would probably collapse now.

Fortunately, Rose found his form first in the second half and stood up when Harden was strictly guarded. In the third quarter, Rose staged the return of the king.

He scored 16 points and 3 assists in a single quarter. Both guns fired at the same time, causing the Spurs' defense to focus on one thing and another. In the third quarter, the Thunder outscored them 33 to 21.

Although Iguodala and Ginobili led the team to two small climaxes in the fourth quarter, today was destined not to belong to them.

54 seconds before the end, James Harden once again used a step-back three-pointer that would make him big in the future, directly extinguishing the Spurs' hope of counterattack.

105 to 99, the game ended.

Xu Xiao looked at James Harden, who scored 28 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists and 3 steals. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart. If Harden in his previous life could have the energy and toughness he has today, he might have won the championship long ago. .

It's a pity that in this life, as long as Xu Xiao is around, the championship is destined to miss him.