The first round of the NBA playoffs is in full swing, with the Nets, which were considered the favorites for the title at the beginning of the season, returning to the team with a 0-2 score in the case of two consecutive away games, and lost again in G3.
The big score has reached a 0-3 behind, according to the league's past statistics, no team in history has been able to complete the reversal in the 7-game series, the big score is 0-3 behind.
Therefore, the core of the team, Durant, was naturally pushed to the forefront of public opinion after the game, because his performance in the first three games was terrible.
Durant shot 9-of-24 in the G1 game and had 23 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 6 turnovers;
Durant shot 4-of-17 in the G2 game and finished with 27 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 turnovers;
Durant shot 6-of-11 from the G3 game and had 16 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 turnovers.
As a result, Durant made a total of 52 shots in the first three games, scored 66 points, made 17 turnovers, and the team fell behind 0-3.
There is no doubt that Durant's performance in the first three games has been disappointing, whether from the intuitive basic data, or from the actual effect on the court and various high-level data.
In the face of the Green Army's targeted defense, Durant, a player known as the scorer of the historical level, looked at the confusion, and even at the beginning of the third quarter of the G3 life-and-death battle, Durant stopped shooting, and made 0 shots in the last 11 minutes.
You know, before the start of this round of series, Durant once became a reasonable candidate for the first person in the active service with his performance against the Bucks last year, and the outside world once thought that the 34-year-old Durant had taken the banner from James, officially became the first person in the active duty, and even began to compare the two.
Coincidentally, James was also 34 years old in 2018 and happened to meet the Green Army in the playoffs, and the core of that Green Army was also Tatum, Brown, Horford and Smart, as well as Rochelle and Morris Jr.
The Green Army's record that season ranked second in the league, and in the first two rounds of the series, the Cavaliers led by James, before the green army, the second boss Irving was injured, and only Lefour and JR were trustworthy.
In the first two games, the Green Army also successfully achieved a 2-0 lead, and the game process was much smoother than beating the Nets this season, losing 25 points in the first game and losing 13 points in the second game.
But in the G3 life-and-death battle, James pulled his personal efficiency to the full, with 27 points, 5 rebounds and 12 assists from 66.7% shooting.
The true shooting percentage reached an exaggerated 82.3%, and under his leadership the Cavaliers G3 scored a 30-point victory.
In the first three games of the series, James scored 84 points on 57 shots, 18 points more than Durant in five more shots.
G1 James shot 5-of-16 and went through exactly the same process as Durant, completely limited the game, only 15 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists, shooting 31.3% from the field and shooting only a pitiful 40.4% from the field.
G2 James' mental journey is the same as Durant's, after losing the choice to carry the team on his shoulders, the number of personal shots soared, 16 of 29 shooting, 42 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists of the big triple-double.
G3 James, like Durant, began to add more tandem after his big package was ineffective, and finally led the team to win.
In the end, James's efforts were not in vain, he led the Cavaliers to drag the series into the seventh with a 0-2 downfall, and beat the Green Army 4-3 by a large score.
James had 44 points, five rebounds and three assists on 17-of-28 shooting in G4, 26 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on 11-of-22 shooting in G5 games, and 46 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists on 17-of-33 shooting in G6 games.
In the final seven, James, who has been carrying the team forward, played 48 minutes, shooting 12-of-24 and handing over 35 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists, and the Cavaliers scored 87 points and the Green Army only scored 79 points in that game.
After the entire series, James averaged 33.6 points, 9 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game, shooting 52.4%.
Because Irving was injured at the time, except for James, the Cavaliers only Hadle averaged 12 points per game, ranking seventh in both teams averaging points per game in this series, and 2-6 were Green Army players.
Same age, same situation, same opponent, and even the situation and adjustment of the first two battles are exactly the same.
But Durant and James have taken two completely different paths in G3, and the gap between the two has been completely revealed, and Durant's performance in the first three games with better physical reserves and better lineup configurations has undoubtedly been far behind by James.
If Durant can't bottom out and lead the team to complete the reversal in the rest of the series, then this round of the series will end the comparison and debate between him and James in the future.