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Durant is qualified to say it; he made a big spectacle after appearing in the second quarter. Facing Matthews' defense, he scored 13 points in just half a quarter and made 22 points in the first half.
After entering halftime, the players walked into the tunnel one after another, and in the live broadcast room of ESPN, Mike Breen said:
"Let's take a look at the first half statistics. Well, let's take a look at Curry and Durant... Durant shot 8 of 13, 2 of 4 from three, 4 of 4 from free throws, with 22 points, 2 assists, and 4 rebounds. Curry shot 5 of 9, 3 of 5 from three, 2 of 2 from free throws, scoring 15 points. Good guys, these two are back to scoring 30 points and deserve to be the top two on the scorer's list... Mr. Julya, do you have any thoughts on the second half?"
Julya groaned a little and said: "In the first half, the Warriors' defense on Durant was a bit weak. Matthews obviously couldn't defend Durant, and Butler's defense could be better, but I don't know if Liam will make adjustments in the second half... Curry also played well, but he scored 4 points after coming in the second quarter, and his presence wasn't high. He should play more in the second half. I'm still more optimistic about the Warriors, well, cautiously optimistic. Durant seems to be on track to score big today. Shoot, then nothing more can be said."
Mike Breen nodded:
"Thanks, Mr. Julya, for your wonderful comments. Let's take a look at the lottery in the first half..."
Meanwhile, in the home team's locker room, Brooks motivated his players:
"It's been a tough day, but I'm glad that when we were behind, we came together to make up the gap. We have the best fans, and we can't afford to fall into disgrace at home. You need to maintain the pace in the second half, Kevin, I need you to keep scoring..."
Then, he assigned tasks in an orderly manner, and everyone responded. In fact, he mainly repeated the tactics laid out before the game and didn't make any major adjustments, but this was enough to calm the players' minds and focus on the second half.
Brooks was mostly serving "chicken soup" in the middle of the field, and in the visiting team's locker room on the other side, Liam was drawing tactics on the tactical board. The sound of the markers was incessant, and the players he pointed at responded loudly, appearing quite fierce.
Finally, Liam handed the tactical board to Jonathan by his side and said aloud:
"The Thunder team has no other tricks—kill them!"
Soon, fifteen minutes passed, both teams returned to the court, and the fans who had used halftime to eat, hang out, and shop also returned to their seats one by one. But there were still large empty seats, which seemed a bit incongruous. In this somewhat dull atmosphere, the second half of the game began.
In the live broadcast room of ESPN, Mike Breen looked at the lineups of both teams on the court and his eyes lit up:
"The Warriors really changed their lineup!" However, instead of replacing Butler with Matthews, they brought Klay back with Tony Allen. Does this make them less defensive? The Thunder hasn't changed much and is still using the starting lineup from the beginning."
Julya was puzzled:
"Westbrook only scored 7 points in the first half, and the Warriors defended him really well, replacing him with Tony Allen... Well, Liam must have his own ideas, let's watch the game first, haha..."
While Julya was vague, the Warriors had already launched their first wave of attack. Curry held the ball at midcourt, and Chandler directly moved to the top of the arc to cover him. His coverage was solid, and Westbrook couldn't pass him at all. Of course, he probably didn't want to pass it too much, but after a small attempt, he chose to go around the defense, and Kostic didn't follow him completely, staying above the free-throw line, giving Curry space for a shot.
Curry took the lead and launched a three-pointer with one hand, but it was too late for Westbrook to make a block, and he could only watch the ball travel in a high arc and fall through the net.
At 60:58, less than 20 seconds into the second half, the Warriors regained the lead.
"Hey, Curry is really ruthless when he sees an opportunity, he's the only one in the league who would take a shot like this, right? This is really decisive, a blocked shot with a single hand, how confident Curry is in his shot, and how much Liam trusts him to let him shoot like that!" Mike Breen praised.
On the bench, Brooks looked at Curry, who was chewing on mouthguards after shooting, rubbing his chin with his right hand, and a trace of hesitation arose in his heart, but in the end, he didn't say anything.
This was the first time Curry had the ball and shot a three-pointer in this game. Kostic really didn't expand on the ball, giving Curry space to shoot, but if he really let him defend, there wouldn't be a barrier under the Thunder basket. Jeff Green and Durant's frames would be useless, and Chandler and Green were like wolves ready to pounce. Brooks didn't dare to take that risk.
He made no adjustments in the end, although Kostic wasn't too tough, but someone was better than no one. Brooks placed his hopes on offense and didn't believe that Curry's firepower alone could match his talented players.
Turning around, the Thunder attacked. Brooks stood up nervously and looked at the players on the court. But then, his eyes widened and he muttered:
"What is this?"
Not only him, but also the fans in the stadium and Mike Breen and Julya in the ESPN live broadcast room had different expressions of surprise. Mike Breen even exclaimed:
"Is the Warriors' opponent confused?"
I saw that, in the place where everyone was betting, Durant was standing on the left side of the free-throw line, and next to him was Tony Allen, who was only 1.93 meters tall! The recorded height of Durant is 2.06 meters, and his actual height has even reached more than 2.10 meters. The height difference between the two was huge, and Tony Allen's knees were slightly bent, lowering his center of gravity to exert force. The visual impact was even more intense, and even Durant himself was stunned.
He looked at Tony Allen, who had a serious expression, and a ridiculous feeling arose in his heart. The Warriors actually let a guard under 1.9 meters defend him? This is really... makes people laugh and cry.
Brooks immediately made a decision and shouted:
"Give the ball to Kevin and let him play!"
Westbrook, who was dribbling at the top of the arc, heard the coach's instructions, looked at Brooks, repeated them, and after Westbrook was sure, he passed the ball to Durant.
After Durant received the ball, Tony Allen immediately stuck to him, his right hand strong against Durant's lower plate, his left hand raised, covering Durant's head, not giving him the slightest space to shoot. At the same time, Green walked to the strong side, standing at the edge of the restricted area, seemingly waiting to grab the rebound, leaving Klay alone on the weak side of the defense.
Seeing this, Durant didn't hesitate at all. He threw the ball to the side, created a gap, and moved toward the basket. But just as he was half a position ahead of Tony Allen, Green moved closer, stopped in front of him, and Tony Allen formed a circle to chase and intercept, firmly blocking his path.
Durant didn't like to fight, and immediately distributed the ball to his teammates who were open in the lower corner, according to the training tactics. After passing the ball, he looked and found it was Sefolosha standing there. When everyone was focused on Tony Allen defending Durant, the other side of the Warriors had also quietly changed positions. Liam had asked Green to defend Sefolosha, and Matthews faced Jeff Green!
After Sefolosha received the ball, he was unprotected around him and given an entire open space. But he hesitated for a moment before shooting a somewhat stiff three-pointer.
Bang dang!
Under the watchful eye, the basketball hit the front of the basket and bounced to the side, and a sigh of disappointment echoed in the arena.
But the Warriors' players didn't care about the mood of the Thunder fans. Chandler pressed Kostic, protected the rebound, and passed the ball to Curry nonstop. The entire Warriors team immediately switched from defense to attack, running toward the front court like a tide!
Facing the growing offensive of the Warriors, the Thunder's retreat was chaotic. Curry with the ball was left unattended, he drove all the way to the basket, Westbrook hastily lunged at him, Curry distributed the ball outside, and Klay, at a 45-degree angle, received the ball and shot a three-pointer.
At 63:58, the margin kept increasing.
The consecutive two three-pointers silenced many of the Thunder fans on-site, but fortunately, Jeff Green connected a simple shot to Klay and helped stabilize the situation for the Thunder.
63:60.
In the next round, it was still the block by Curry and Chandler. Curry raised his hand and launched it after the block, but the ball's force was a little shorter and crashed into the front of the basket. The rebound was protected by Kostic.
After two assaults, the arena began to stir again, and Brooks leaned back, his face softened.
The Thunder attacked again, Westbrook passed the ball back to Durant. This time, Durant chose to attack from the three-point line's exterior. Tony Allen was still sticking very tightly, giving him no space to shoot. Durant looked up and swept, Green rose to help defend again, leaving Sefolosha alone in the farthest corner.
He gestured to Sefolosha, who understood and cut toward the basket. But Green had been watching closely, and when he saw him coming toward the basket, he didn't panic but shouted at Chandler, who stepped back to protect Kostic's and Sefolosha's air cuts. Green stepped forward and stood in a position where he could retreat and defend the frame.
Sefolosha ran toward the basket, with no chance, but he had no choice but to fall back to the lower corner. His height was not enough, and staying under the basket was useless except to block space.
Brooks on the bench also noticed Sefolosha's movement and sighed helplessly. In fact, the best solution now is for Sefolosha to take an open three-pointer, but if he can shoot it, Green wouldn't have let him be so open.
Sefolosha had set a 27.5% three-point shooting percentage, the lowest of his career this season, and he basically takes wide-open shots, but the efficiency is so poor that it's normal for him not to shoot threes. It's strange to shoot at all.
Durant no longer placed his hopes on Sefolosha, took a small step back, and then made a big change of direction, running inside from Tony Allen's side. But Tony Allen wasn't completely shaken off. Instead, he leaned on his body, constantly applying physical confrontation against Durant. Although he took a step back, he never gave Durant the opportunity to shoot easily.
And this also gave Green time to help defend, and when the two tangled near the free-throw line, Green found himself in front of Durant and formed a circle with Tony Allen.
What's even more excessive is that Green's position was to the right, blocking Durant's connection with his teammates on the strong side, directly exposing the passing lane between Durant and Sefolosha, clearly telling Durant that he wasn't worried at all about him passing the ball to his open teammates.
Durant didn't choose to pass the ball this time. Compared to Sefolosha's completely locked-up three-pointer, he believed in his strong shooting ability and stepped back from the free-throw line and forced a shot against the interference of Tony Allen and Green: at the moment he jumped, Tony Allen also touched his waist hard, affecting his force.
Bang dang!
As expected, this shot was swatted. Durant was heavily interfered with when shooting and shot purely by feeling. If he made that shot, Tony Allen would truly be called a defensive titan.
Green reacted quickly, turned around to grab the rebound, and quickly advanced to the front court, sparking a fast break. The Warriors flew down both wings, Klay and Curry ran to the lower corners on both sides. The offensive space was as wide as the sea, and the Thunder was chaotic. Curry had an open chance and received a three-pointer after a pass from Green.
66:60.
"Nice shot! This is the third three-pointer the Warriors have made in the second half, and this is going to be a boost!" Mike Breen praised.
Julya's focus wasn't on the Warriors' offense, and he sighed:
"I didn't expect Liam to send Tony Allen to defend Durant, and the effect isn't bad. The height difference between the two is a bit far, this is a strange trick to win..."
After being defeated by the Warriors again, Brooks stood up once more. Well, how to say it, being a head coach is a high-risk profession, whether in basketball or football. The head coach has to face complex and changing game situations. The mood is like a roller coaster. The blood pressure will spike from time to time, and without excellent psychological quality, you can't be a head coach at all.
Brooks looked at the sturdy Tony Allen, frowned. He knew that Tony Allen was a defensive giant and even embarrassed Kobe Bryant in the Finals. But Durant was a big-sized pivot, and it was very uncomfortable to be restricted by Tony Allen, which was completely unexpected for Brooks.
He turned his head and looked aside, where Liam was sitting on the Warriors' bench, chewing gum and chatting and laughing with Ron Adams beside him.
Brooks' gaze seemed to be noticed by Liam, who looked over and smiled at Brooks, who reluctantly nodded and turned away.
Liam looked at the awkward Brooks, a slight smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. At this moment, Durant still hadn't been "baptized" by Tony Allen. He decided to personally open the door for Durant and also reminded other teams that they were ready for this defensive weapon!
This was just the beginning, and after Durant faced the "mental flow" defense of Paul and Beverley, he would really appreciate the sinister world.
Of course, Tony Allen, whom Durant personally identified as the "toughest defensive player," had the best impact in restricting him.
Looking back, Durant didn't believe in the bad and met Tony Allen again. This time, with his height and reach, he ignored Allen's interference and connected a dry mid-range shot.
66:62
But then Curry returned the favor. Once again, he asked Chandler to block and run a pick-and-roll, hanging the cover and hitting a three-pointer, quickly silencing the jubilant Thunder fans after Durant's score.
69:62
Next, Durant hit the iron again, facing Tony Allen a few more times. Though Tony Allen didn't completely shut him down, he still made it extremely difficult for Durant to score each time. He even stole the ball once, allowing the Warriors to counter-attack frequently through defensive rebounds and mistakes. The point difference quickly stretched to more than 10 points.
In the past, the Thunder had faced the Celtics twice in a season, and they wouldn't make any specific adjustments to each other. Durant met Tony Allen for the first time today and still hadn't figured out how to deal with it. Along with the Warriors' excellent overall defense, Durant kept hitting the iron on the court again and again, looking a bit helpless.
By the middle of the third quarter, Brooks couldn't hold back anymore. He called a timeout, replaced Harden, improved the Thunder's offensive spacing, and at the same time stopped allowing Durant to force against Tony Allen. The starting point of the Thunder's offense now became Willis and Harden.
After Julya saw the Thunder's substitution, he said:
"Brooks is also helpless. If you replace Harden, you can't defend. If you don't replace Harden, you can't attack. But now Durant is limited by Tony Allen, and he can only replace Harden."
After the timeout, with 5 minutes and 48 seconds remaining in the third quarter, less than half the time had passed, Liam smiled at Silas beside him:
"Brooks seems to be running out of tricks, and we're going to win this game."
He stood up and shouted at the Warriors players:
"Catch up and play faster!"
Everyone nodded, and at that moment, the referee's whistle sounded, signaling the game to continue as the Thunder attacked.
Westbrook held the ball at the top of the arc, and in front of Klay's defense, he was surprised to find that Klay actually gave him two steps of space.
Although he knew his shot was imprecise, there was a fundamental difference between being allowed to shoot and being unable to shoot, and he hadn't played a crucial three-point game yet. His three-point shooting percentage had reached 33% this season, the highest of his career. No one dared to give him that much space, and even in the first half, Klay defended him tightly, but Westbrook hadn't taken a three-point shot up until now.
Faced with this kind of defense that wasn't very damaging and somewhat insulting, Westbrook adjusted slightly, jumped high, and made a three-point shot.
But as soon as he shot, he felt a bit off and ran toward the basket after hitting the ground. But as soon as he reached the free-throw line, the basketball hit the back rim, bounced high, and the long rebound fell into Curry's hands.
The Warriors immediately countered, and Curry assisted Green in the middle for a dunk.
79:67, the Warriors' lead stretched to 12 points.
Looking back, Westbrook was still left two steps by Klay. Of course, he couldn't bear being treated like this, so he raised his hand for another three-point shot, but this ball was even more ridiculous. After hitting the rebound, it bounced into Green's hands under the basket, and it didn't even touch the rim. Westbrook was still making follow-up actions outside the three-point line, with his right hand raised high.
Of course, Green wouldn't miss such a good opportunity. He became a quarterback, launched the ball to the frontcourt, and after the fast Klay received the pass, there was no one around him. He dribbled, adjusted, and dared to shoot a three-pointer before the Thunder could retreat into position, and the basketball swished through the net.
82:67.
"Tic-"
Seeing the margin stretched to 15 points, Brooks couldn't stay still and immediately called another timeout, and at that moment, less than a minute had passed since the last Thunder timeout.
After returning from the timeout, Westbrook changed his offensive method and tried to attack the basket. But with the presence of Green and Chandler, the Warriors' restricted area was solid. Westbrook tried to shoot a couple of times more, but all of them were embarrassingly off, and the shooting percentage was very low. The Warriors took advantage of the opportunity to counter-attack several times.
Liam looked at Westbrook in trouble and smiled. His defense had an effect at this moment.
Westbrook could shoot the ball, but he needed many shots to develop his touch and usually had to miss a few before finding his rhythm.
Liam had strictly protected Westbrook in the first half, giving him few opportunities to shoot. But in the second half, he suddenly opened him up completely. With Westbrook's character, he was determined not to accept this humiliation, and he really hit the iron and fell onto Liam.
On the opposite side of Westbrook's iron shot, Curry put on a great show in the third quarter. In front of Brooks' stubborn defensive strategy, he kept shooting three-pointers with the help of a single block. Later, after Harden was switched in, he exploited Harden's slow lateral movement, repeatedly beating him and organizing a good solo driving show. Green, Chandler, and Tony Allen took turns bombing the basket.
In this quarter, driven by Liam's formation change and Curry's performance, the Warriors completely destroyed the Thunder both offensively and defensively, scoring 42 points in a single quarter, while the Thunder only scored a meager 20 points. At the end of the third quarter, the Warriors led the Thunder by 21 points, 99:78.
Such a large point difference caused the Thunder team to give up. The Warriors didn't need to start again in the final quarter; the main team had already played three quarters, and Matthews played the last quarter, with his teammates passing him the ball, allowing him to score 12 points in just that quarter.
The Thunder's morale was also lost in the third quarter. Durant was frustrated by Tony Allen, and Westbrook was angry about his poor shooting. The two watched the game from the sidelines, looking very gloomy.
In the end, after the game, the Warriors defeated the Thunder by a score of 124-101, a 23-point difference. Curry scored 36 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals, including 21 points in a single quarter in the third, leading the Warriors' offensive surge.
On the Thunder side, Durant also scored 30 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists, but he only scored a total of 8 points in the second half and was very inefficient, hitting 3 of 10 shots in the second half and making 4 of 4 free throws. His performance was a disaster.
In comparison, Westbrook was even more unbearable, shooting 8 of 20 from the field, finishing with 17 points, 9 assists, and 6 rebounds. Not only was his efficiency poor, but he also gave the Warriors several opportunities for fast breaks, accelerating the process of the Thunder's defeat.
After the game, Julya said emotionally:
"The Warriors are like the Thunder, winning by 20 points in a single quarter."
End of this chapter
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