Philadelphia chased the heat to 2-2.
Harden scored 31 points.
It was his first 30+ since 13 playoff games. Three years ago in the Western Conference semifinals, he averaged 35 points per game.
Changed.
Harden said it plainly after the game. "Nothing changed, it was just that I scored."
Yes. His explosiveness is still not back, and today he shot 2-of-8 from two-point range. One is a quick attack on a dragon, and the other is "Embiid on the left side, I also pretend to find a block with him and suddenly break through the layup with my right hand."
"It's just that I scored" — 6-of-10 from three-point range.
But his important contribution today is not yet scoring.
Philadelphia won the last game, one was Embiid's comeback, which got Adebayo, involving the heat defense, Harris and Danny Green's three-pointers, Maxi broke out in the second half, and Harden's hustle play and on-the-spot decisions.
Today Coach Spøestra made adjustments: a large number of joint defenses on the defensive end, circling the front to block Embiid from receiving the ball. On the offensive end, when Embiid was there, Adebayor hit the inside and back goal; in the absence, Adebayor hit the Harris on his back.
But Philadelphia countered well.
Embiid ate three baskets in the half quarter, the first was Harden's hanging pass; then Harden pulled his teammates together to transfer the strong and weak side to send the ball to Embiid, and finally got Harden and Green to move the Philadelphia defense on the line, Harden received the ball and hung it to Embiid, and won. Embiid scored the first two goals, harden fed.
The idea is clear.
Defensive end, Philadelphia a detail: When Jimmy Butler picked up the ball on the wing, Harden stood on the front and back feet, locked Jimmy's bottom line to break through, and sent him to the middle. The average team does not dare to be so defensive, Philadelphia dares: the last hot shot against Embiid, 5 of 24 shots.
Philadelphia tried to keep Embiid in front of the charge zone and block the four-way breakthrough. The defense was expanded on all sides, and the middle road was seated.
Hot today's three-pointers are 7-of-35 shooting again.
Harden didn't want to score much in the opening. When the heat of the second quarter began to chase points, Harden only opened a three-pointer. Great round trip after that:
Philadelphia switched sides, and Harden took advantage of Embiid's containment to send Harris a ground cut. After making a basket on his own, he singled out Jimmy for a three-pointer.
He kept the pace of the game steady.
After Adebayo's three fouls in the third quarter, Coach Spoo replaced Adebayor with Oladipo. Here's the move used against the Hawks: Jimmy Butler is in the actual center position. He scored 45 points that game.
Philadelphia also made a move: Embiid vs. Jimmy.
Three years ago, Philadelphia used this trick on the Bucks. Embiid vs. Giannis, everyone else followed. Giannis scored 52 points that day, and Embiid scored 40. But the Bucks shot 16-of-50 from three-point range.
"Let Embiid go and the one with the most breakthrough threat on the other side and the one who has not shot from a distance, and the others will lock three points."
Embiid's strongest teammate that day was Jimmy Butler.
So today Jimmy's 40 points are tough, but Philadelphia is not an eagle. In the first round, Jimmy's center position directly knocked the Hawks down, but today Embiid stood up. Although Embiid was a little nervous today because of his mask, and the defense was shaky continuously, it was enough to have him present — and Jordan Jr. not present — than he was. Harden has been using Embiid's threats to deliver balls to Niang and Maxi.
Entangled to the end, Harden himself came.
Seeing Harris back to the throne, Harden did not pass, went to the middle, forced Lowry to come to him, forced Hiro to go with Reed. Harden fed Harris a wing-side three-pointer.
Harris: "I hit Hiro on my back, give it?" ”
Harden: "Don't be so tired! Am I uncomfortable with a three-pointer slot for you? ”
Then harden gave Harris a pass to fake the ball, and immediately broke through to create a foul - it was Giro who was fooled again.
The next victim was Vincent: Harden pushed back, Vincent reminded his teammates to go with Reid, trying to defend Harden on his own; Harden pulled a ball to stir up Vincent's pace, three-pointer.
The point difference widened.
Jimmy refused to accept defeat and led the team to chase hard. Harden made a three-pointer, a go-to-make layup on Embiid's threat, and then a string of three-pointers.
Philadelphia chased to a 2-2 draw. Coach Spoo also said frankly after the game that they just had a lot of balls that they didn't shoot and had nothing to say.
Embiid scored 15 points in the first quarter. Harden scored 13 points in the second quarter. Harden used Embiid's threat to distribute firepower in the third quarter, and Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter.
It seems that two people take turns to take over, but in essence:
Embiid controlled the heat of the attack in the penalty area (although Adebayor's efficiency picked up), and Harden controlled the rhythm.
Harden's explosiveness really still hasn't come back, just cunning, smart, measured to see the situation to decide how to play, and, "Nothing has changed, just I scored." ”
Today Harden a wrecking ball and a save seven times interfered with opposite shots, 9 hustle plays, the highest on the team.
In addition to the fact that he scored goals, he also played more seriously.
The Suns had an idea when they led the Mavericks 2-0 before:
Playing against Paul in this series, Luka Doncic can learn a lot.
In the third game, Luca is already using some of Paul's methods, including but not limited to changing the small man to the shooters, targeted roll call blocking.
I learned something else today.
Halfway through the first quarter, Paul broke through, Luca made up for it, Paul jumped and waved his hand to Luca's face, Luca fell to the ground in response, and Paul made a second offense.
In the second half of the second quarter, the Sun took off to chase points. Luca hit Paul on the back and leaned on the right shoulder; Paul leaned over and looked like he was going to use the signature "stumbling back to see the referee"; as a result, Luca took a jump and the man fell first: Paul's third offense.
In the final moments of the first half, Paul missed the shot, unwilling, wanted to point a rebound, bumped into Luca, luca fell to the ground. Paul's fourth offense. The half wasn't over yet.
Then came my favorite shot:
Helplessly, Paul replied to Luca, who was waiting for the free throw, and both laughed, and Paul clapped his hands and went off.
After the game, Luca mentioned their answers.
Paul: Did I push you so hard?
Luca: No, not so fierce. But that's pretty clever. But it was a smart play.
Paul: Yeah, I know.
After exchanging acting experiences, the two cunning fake wrestling geniuses were happy.
Kidd was even more amused, and when asked after the game about Paul's fouls — 4 fouls in the first half and 6 fouls out of the game — Kidd's exact words:
"It's cool to have one of the best point guards in history teach us."
What is done in the way of the other, what disciples of the church starve the master to death...
Of course, Luca learned from Paul, and that was more than that.
Dallas opened defensively to press the middle, and on the offensive end, Luca kept breaking through, bullying Ayton not to defend, or throwing, or single-handed, or giving teammates three-point opportunities. Dallas shot 8-of-13 from three-pointers in the first quarter, and then Dallas switched defenses, the Suns immediately began to attack the basket, and in the second quarter, a Sun man could make a layup until Luca tricked Paul into fouling and ruined the Suns' rhythm.
In the second half, Coach Monti changed sides and took a lot of joint defense, so visually, Luca played slowly in the second half, and often pressed the time to shoot a three-pointer - Dallas had 68 points in the first half and only 43 points in the second half.
But the last two stanzas of the sun also have the vitality of the second stanza.
This is certainly because Luca (and Brunson) played Paul off the field, but also because of the rhythm of Dallas.
The opening breakthrough of the three-point chase, open the point difference; found that the sun adapted, but also with high-speed counter-killing, with the joint defense to force the counterattack, Luca slowed down.
That's his unique talent. Not his basket, not his dribbling, not even his precocious top vision, what it feels like and works for the game.
Luka Doncic is a commander at heart, and the ability to score is sent.
The second quarter was pinched, so he sent two consecutive long-range shots from the bottom left corner; watching the sun change defenses, he quietly pulled Ayton to the three-point line and let Crebe go inside to bully Paul.
Find Bullock, find Brunson, give Crabe a joint defense that cuts through the sun.
Luca had 11 assists, eight three-pointers and two baskets above Crebe. Miao's three-point assist was timely: in the second half, the Suns chased a deficit of eight points, and Luca gave Brunson and Bullock one each.
Dallas plays best today and is the electric fan Dorian Finney Smith. Eight three-pointers, 24 points, eight three-pointers in the playoffs, just one off the team's all-time record — Terry's nine. And, together with Brock, he played tough defenses.
How could he be so positive?
When he made his fifth three-pointer, Mr. Fan said, Luca told him, "You're going to get more chances." "When Luca tells you you you're going to get more three-pointers, I think I'm going to have more chances." ”
Electric fans stay in Dallas. In his first three years in the industry, his three-point shooting rate was barely 30%.
Since 2019, the three-point rate is 38%, 39%, and 40%.
What happened in Dallas in 2019? I don't know. Probably Luca entered the industry that year.
To this day, it almost broke the Dallas three-point record, which is also very inspiring, but there is a bit of logic behind it.
There are two ways of thinking, one is, "This person can't enter, so he shouldn't pass it on."
The second is that "this person may not be able to vote, but he must be allowed to vote, and he must feel that he has a sense of participation."
The former logic, Bryant stated at the end of 2000, that he thought that the shark should not pass the ball in the fourth quarter, because the shark would be fouled and conceded, which was not as good as shooting himself - his rift with the shark began from then on, and the shark famously said, "You don't feed a big dog, don't expect him to show you the door!" ”
People who understand the truth of sharks will follow the second logic when playing. If you have the opportunity, you will give it a chance, and if you don't have the opportunity, you must also make people feel involved. When the Thunder were three young, the opening first attack had to let Kentrick Perkins play one back. Whether he enters or not, at least he feels from the beginning, "You still care about me, I'm not just your blue collar." ”
This is the reason why Paul always opens to Ayton, the reason why LeBron changed the way he fed Dwight and McGee two years ago, and the reason why Curry guaranteed Clay, Potter and Wiggins to the basket in the first half yesterday.
Today, Dallas' two best defenders, Bullock and Electric Fan, scored 10 three-pointers, seven of which were assisted by Luca — in turn, Luca's eight assists on three-pointers, seven for the team's defensive doubles, not to mention that he fed two direct baskets to the team's center Crabe.
Like Paul's seven assists today, five for Ayton, McGee, and Claude, who is desperate to defend; and for the Pelicans, he fed Bridges 4 assists in the second half to put him on the 30+.
So in the two games Dallas won, Luca scored less than the opening two games against the Suns, but elsewhere, the look showed his precociousness as a commander:
Paulian swaps for weaknesses, Paulian swapping small men for shooters and then shooting him, Paulian rhythm control, Paulian finding vacancies, Paulian feeding defensive backbones, and, of course, Paulish fake falls — oh no, smart play.
So I like the way they smile at each other. The game was still playing, but two extremely intelligent people compared the strange survival rules in this chaotic world. They are all thousand-year-old foxes, and this moment is really caring for each other, even very frank.
Am I pushing you so hard?
No, not so fierce.
But it was a smart play.
Yeah I know.
"You installed it?"
"I loaded it. Good acting, right? ”
"Good value for money"
