The Nets, 115-108 Cavaliers, officially entered the playoffs as seventh in the East, with a first-round tie against the Celtics.
The Nets are all soldiers: Snickers version of Irving, offensive and defensive all-round Durant, team glue Brown, in addition to Edwards is not adapted to this intensity of the game, the on-court have contributed.
Even Curry Jr., who is 0-of-4, like his brother, can have a restraining force as long as he stands on the field to ensure the team's space.
The Cavaliers trailed by 20 points in the first quarter, a bit like the No. 9 game, and then chased back a little bit with each quarter. Garland and Mobley tried their best, with Rondo Sr. and Love playing well with the bench, but LeVert, Okoro and Markkanen in the front were playing too badly.
As the forecast says, if the Cavaliers want to win, there must be something on the front, especially when Le Vere is facing Irving and Curry Jr.
But LeVert played 40 minutes and scored 12 points on 4-of-12. The Nets' celebration tonight, LeVille can not move the chopsticks if he does not, suddenly remembered that Le Weir is from the Nets.
I realized!
First, the immortal Owen
As the prediction says: As long as teammates loosen Durant slightly, it won't be difficult for the Nets to think about the Cavaliers.
Then Irving, who scored 18 points in the last game of 7 of 22, shot 12 of 15 in this game — including the first 12 shots, cutting 34 points and 12 assists.
Seeing this scene, Durant shed tears of emotion and couldn't help but recite the line: "My crush is a hero of the world, and one day he will step on the colorful clouds to save me." Wenzi, you are finally here, you let Daddy... No, you make your brother wait so hard! ”
Owen: Adu, here I am.
Durant: To be honest with your buddies, did you steal food today?
irving:......
Irving in this game is absolutely immortal, from passing to individual offense, from breakthrough to shooting, from the end of the near basket to the long-range projection, the basket in front of him is as wide as the sea.
If it weren't for the Cavaliers' pinch in the fourth quarter, Irving might have really been able to create a 100% shooting game. Of course, it may also be because the game is too long and the last quarter is hungry.
What is the concept in the first 12 shots?
Nene has also played in the playoffs before, but Nene is an interior line, his attack is close to the basket and most of the time it is pie. But Irving is a defender, and he scores even more mid-range shots than the balls within 0-1 meters from the basket.
And the difficulty is a game a high, what back-up shots, against the people to shoot three points are not a problem, especially in the first half of the whistle into the drift shot, the real stadium artist.
That's the charm of Irving, you never know what he's going to be in next, what kind of self he's going to show on the court.
I'd like to call it a bomb blind box, because when Owen opens it, no one knows if he's going to blow up his teammate or his opponent.
Second, attack and defend the weather vane
Durant shot 9-of-16 today, with 25 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. If you don't watch the game, just look at the data or excel sheet after the game, you will feel that Durant is playing average.
He has more shots than Irving, but he doesn't have as many points and assists as Irving, the team has more rebounds than him, the number of steals is not as good as Brown, the number of blocks is not as good as Zhao Si, it seems like that?
But anyone who has seen the game will know that Durant is the weather vane of the Nets' entire game. Not only the offense, but also the input and emotions of the defensive end.
It was clear in the first quarter that Durant had only made 3 shots in the entire quarter, less than Brown and Irving, and even less than The Number of Shots of Chuang Shen, why is this so?
Because Durant put more energy into driving teammates and defensive ends, only 6 assists in the first quarter, Durant took on a lot of work to assist in the defense sweep, helping teammates check and fill in the gaps.
The Nets led by 20 points 40-20 in the first quarter, and the key was the 17-4 wave that Durant brought out in the last 3 and a half minutes!
He first received a mid-shot, then cut out two free throws that caused a foul, and then changed to Garland at the defensive end, and Garland counter-attacked with a pass error by Durant.
Durant's defensive spirit of "brothers and me on" directly led his teammates, preventing Garland from almost making a final mistake in 24 seconds, preventing Rondo from shooting long-range three-pointers, and preventing Osman from dealing with the final attack.
Durant took up this wave of defense and directly defended the Cavaliers, and then durant assisted Dragic and Mills on the offensive end with a three-pointer, assisting Clarkston to shoot two points for the pressure whistle.
This is a sign that the whole team is playing, and it is Durant who brings this emotion to the fore.
In the second quarter, the Nets only scored 2 points in the first 5 minutes, and the Cavaliers played a wave of climax, Durant came back and immediately shot to stop the bleeding, and then led the team to counterattack; in the third quarter, he felt average, but when the Cavaliers chased behind, he could always score the key goal; in the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers once chased only 6 points, and durant's two unsolved mid-range stable point differences at double digits.
When Zhuang Shen was blocked and attacked by Garland, it was he who helped to defend; when Zhao Si went out to change defenses, it was he who guarded the basket under the basket; when the net's outer line was broken, it was he who helped the rotation. Durant has been protecting the basket and wiping the butts of his teammates.
So Irving played well this time, but the key to the Nets' real win was in Durant's hands.
Third, the hidden hero
In addition to The Nets' good play in this win, Brown, who had 18 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, was the most powerful.
And in the last game against the Cavaliers, Brown was 18 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists, the same quasi-triple-double stats, coincidence?
In fact, no matter how Irving plays, Durant's ability to protect the net's lower limit is there, so Durant will definitely attract a lot of defense from the Cavaliers, and then an intermediary is needed to connect teammates with Durant.
This role is often played by a center, but in the Nets it is Brown, and of course it is no problem to say that Brown is the center of the Nets.
His job at the Nets includes covering the ball carrier, taking a smooth or bouncing, grabbing rebounds, and constantly cutting empty, all of which are the work of the center.
But Brown, who came from a point guard, has more ability to handle the ball than most centers, so when Durant attracts a lot of defense to the ball to Brown, he can judge the situation and handle it himself, which gives the Nets more choices.
This was especially evident in the fourth quarter of the game, where Brown made six shots in the quarter, but only once was outside the three-point line, and the rest were down into the box. If the defense doesn't come up, he throws it himself, and if the opponent wants to defend him, he passes to the center under the basket, so he has 6 points and 5 assists in this quarter.
In the Nets' subsequent games, whether Brown can continue this expression is particularly important, but more importantly, he gave Simmons a sample of access to the Nets system.
Since Simmons doesn't have three points, he doesn't force him to shoot three points, but directly builds him into a strengthened version of Brown, making him a transit station around Duou.
One of Brown's big problems was his short stature, with his 1.93m stature getting him down into the box sometimes not very well. Simmons, on the other hand, will have a stronger finishing than Brown at 2.11 meters, a better passing vision, and his ability to advance between transitions and defend multiple positions at the defensive end is certainly better for him.
The only problem may be Simmons' mentality and free throws, Simmons's salary is worth seven or eight Browns, but the psychological hardness may have to be reversed.
Thanks for reading it all!