The Green Army and Nets' G2 may become the most memorable memory of Kevin Durant's career. The downturn in G1 has been criticized, and when the world thought that Durant would respond to G2, it was found that G1 was not Durant's bottom limit. With 18-of-20 free throws and four athletic goals, Durant scored 27 points. The free throws are also scored, and the whole game is filled with muscle collisions, so it is not surprising that there are many free throws, but for Durant, it is obviously far from enough. In the second half, Durant shot 0-of-10, scored no goals in the athletic game, made four turnovers, and the Nets were once again reversed by the Celtics in a game with a maximum 17-point lead and stood on the edge of the cliff.
If Nash is the biggest person responsible for the Nets' G1 loss, then the main responsibility for the G2 loss lies with Durant. Although Nash did not make major changes in G2 personnel, bigger players such as Ade and Griffin still did not appear in the rotation list, and Edwards, who had no egg, still went up for 3 minutes to lead the two fouls, but the Nets still made a change in position and a defensive execution improvement:
The opponent of Chuang was changed to Theis, Durant no longer went to defend Tatum, but to defend Horford, and Curry Jr. changed from Theis to Jaylen Brown. Although there is still a misalignment, the degree of misalignment has been reduced, and at the same time, as the largest basket protector on the field, Zhuang Shen does not have to position Horford, and the value of assisting defense has also increased a lot;
The Nets filled everyone's defense this time. Zhuang Shen's middle road anti-blocking and timely pinching did a very good job, there were basket guards, there were steals. The small guards are very timely to close the middle of the road, even if curry jr. does not seem to have much defensive value of the player, but also to the Nets in the middle of the basket has brought great trouble, even in some single defense Tatum, Jaylen rounds, the Nets guard's performance can also be remarkable. Although the losses on the position cannot be completely erased, the green army in the fourth quarter still reversed the game by relying on the impact of the double probe flower, but throughout the game, G1 abused rebounds and randomly crushed the basket, and the Nets also got a lot of fast attack opportunities by making mistakes.
On the other end of the court, the Nets' role players also played near-perfectly. Dragic triggered the passive BUFF of the playoffs to fight the Green Army, and the sporadic main offensive performance was effective. Curry Jr. took out a fixed-point certainty that matched his prestige, perfectly punishing the Green Army's aggressive defense. Chuang Shen played aggressively in the middle, showing his advantage as the largest player on the field, as well as stunning strategy and handling 4 to 3. Bruce Brown, despite being left empty, briefly ignored him and began to jam and hit after Durant dribbled into the three-point line. But Brown's response was enough, 3-of-4 from three-point range, plus a throw, a quick-run 23 points, and a decent handle of 4-on-3 performances, 4 assists, and just 1 turnover.
Offense, defense, nets supporting characters take everything out there.
In this game, the Nets won the rebound, made mistakes to play a draw, and the aggressive gap caused by the difference in body size and defensive quality was greatly pulled in. Compared to G1 Irving's Miracle Basketball, G2 would have been more like a team-to-peer game. The Nets finally lost in the area where they should have the advantage - long two-point shooting rate, Duou this time, there is no sense of miracle. Irving has G1 there, G2 has a low sense of existence and blameless, the key is Durant.
First of all, how much difficulty Durant encountered - the Green Army continued to attack him at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends of the whole process, giving him a confrontation. Although it is not a direct pinch hit, the effect is very close. They will collect large-scale nearby forces after Durant enters the three-point line, and sometimes Durant will not find the space to play the ball.
G2 defended Durant more intensely than G1, and the Green Army captured Durant's psyche — he would bounce back, retaliate, and announce the return of death with a responsive game. So the Green Army didn't let Durant's idea come true. The Green Army has done a thorough study of his breakthrough starting habits and ball habits, and each single defense person is extremely well prepared, so that Durant's inaccuracy in the second half cannot be attributed to the Green Army's co-defense, many balls are one-on-one defense, the degree of the scene is awkward, to be honest, in the history of Durant's one-on-one singles, it is extremely rare.
The Nets' defensive energy can't last until the last minute, they're shorter and older, the little guards are fighting with the strong guys in the front line, and it's only a matter of time before they collapse. Du knew, the people around Du knew, and the people of the Green Army also knew this. The Nets need to turn their established advantages into victories early, and it's not complicated to do so, Durant hit a few key jumpers, and they don't have to fight with a suicide squad in the final moments of the game. The Nets' role players waited for an entire game and didn't wait for Durant's response.
The Green Army will still defend like this in G3, and Durant wants to lead the team to victory, and he must show everyone again what kind of existence he is. For the Nets, G3 is undoubtedly a life and death game, no team can change the series results when they are 0-3 behind, and the Nets used miracle text in G1 and G2 used full supporting roles. Enough preparation has been done in both games, and all that is missing is Durant's hammering down. By the time Durant G3 launched a strong counterattack, was the others still breathing?
Durant is hard, but not alone, and opportunities aren't always there waiting for you.
People shouldn't define a star's career because of their performance in one or two games. Basketball public opinion is a turn-based game, today you win, kill everyone, tomorrow others win, you delete the APP. These are not important, but Durant's career trajectory and life choices put himself on the cusp of the storm. Most people only recognize the results, so much so that after Durant played the same series last year, the voice of doubt has not diminished in the slightest - Durant also needs a championship, whether you are on his side or the opposite side, you have to admit that this is a difficult public perception to change.
Age is an irresistible law of nature, and the further it drags on, the more difficult it becomes. G3 against the Celtics may not be the most important game of Durant's career, but also the most significant challenge of his Brooklyn career so far. Whether this will be a veracious nettime turning point, or a flashpoint that will plunge Durant into the storm vortex again, depends on how he responds.