This morning Beijing time, the Western Conference semifinals ended a contest, the home game of the Grizzlies 106-101 victory over the Warriors, the series score of 1-1.
After losing the first game of the series, the pressure came to the side of the Grizzlies, who had lost home advantage. In G1, Morant had 34 points, 9 boards and 10 assists, but due to the last kill on the layup blocked by Thompson, Morant hated the loss. Since 34 points couldn't help the team win, Morant took over the game completely in today's second game of the series, shooting 15 of 31 and 5 of 12 from outside the three-point line, with 47 points, 8 boards and 8 assists, completely crushing the Warriors' defensive system.
Entering this round of confrontation, the Warriors' defensive thinking is very clear, following the previous strategy of playing against the Thunder, defending the peak of Wei Shao, infinitely shrinking the penalty area, limiting Morant's rushing basket as much as possible, and releasing a large number of empty three-point opportunities. Remember in last year's playoffs, Morant shot 5-of-10 from three-point range in the game, losing the Warriors' gambles. In this series, Morant continues to clarify the offensive thinking, as long as the Warriors give the opportunity to shoot from the outside, they will not hesitate to shoot.
In this game, Morant shot 5-of-12 from beyond the three-point line, and made nine of the 23 three-point shots in the first two games of the series. In the regular season, three-point shooting was Morant's weakness, and his outside shooting rate in the first round of the series was even less than 20%. However, in the first two games with the Warriors, Morant made the Warriors' gambling defense pay the price.
In the middle and close distance, Morant is still unstoppable. After the Warriors accidentally lost core defender Peyton Jr., there was no one who could limit the extremely fast Morant in frequency. Within the Warriors' paint, Morant is like a spirit snake, teasing the Warriors' defenses with all kinds of fancy movements. The track was completely emptied, and The Morant ball slammed into the Warriors' heartland.
Throughout the game, Morant shot 47 points with 64 percent of his true shooting percentage, and at the crucial moment, Morant single-handedly took the Grizzlies' final 15 points. According to statistics, so far in this year's playoffs, Morant has scored 42 points at key moments, ranking first in the league. During that time, he hit 52 percent of his shots. According to ESPN statistics, Morant became the third player in NBA history to score 45 points in a single game multiple times in the playoffs before the age of 23, and the only ones in front of him were James and Kobe. After winning the match, Morant rubbed shoulders with Curry on the pitch and said harshly: "We gonna have some fun." ”
"This game was one of the best performances of my career," Morant said after the game: "I think for us it's a game that has to be won. For me, I feel very sorry for the basket I missed in the first game of the series. After the game, I returned what Curry had told me in the last game, and I kept saying that this was my favorite set of matches, and it was going to be a war against a player like him, with a very good talent. ”
The Grizzlies were able to equalize the series in this game, and the excellent defense played an extremely important role. In this campaign, under the Grizzlies' high-pressure defense, the Warriors' outside line was completely dudded. As the team with the strongest shooting ability in the NBA, the Warriors shot 7 of 38 three-pointers in the whole game, shooting only 18.4%, creating a splash era, and the team reached a playoff minimum of 20 three-point shots in a single game. Wiggins shot just 1 of 7 in this game, Poole shot 1 of 6, Curry 3 of 10 and Thompson 2 of 12. Next, if they want to win this series, the Grizzlies must continue to increase the intensity of physical confrontation and consume the physical strength of Warriors players, who have the opportunity to master the initiative of the series in the next two games.
From focusing on mid-range finishing to brilliantly grasping the outside projection opportunities given by opponents, Morant has completed the transformation from a supernova to the cornerstone of the championship team, and the young man's growth and future are unlimited. "It was my first time breaking through the first round, and in terms of the first two games, there was too much physical confrontation, and a lot of times the referee didn't blow and the referee handed the game over to the players. The Warriors never gave up on the game, we just stayed focused and played 48 minutes. They have a lot of special players, they have a lot of guys who are in the big 75, and we know the Warriors are going to be tough, and we're just ready. Morant said.
Wen | Dong Chuangshuo
Edit | ball lightning