When the Mavericks reached the Finals, you understood: Why did Durant join the Warriors eight years ago?

Dearest Basketball Jun

2024-06-01 08:47Published in Guangdong

The East-West duel has been played, but the finals will not start until nearly 1 week, because the time is set in advance, and it is estimated that the league did not expect that the two sides would end so quickly. The Eastern Conference is easy to explain, after all, the Pacers have a huge gap with the Celtics in terms of strength, and the core player Haliburton is still injured. In terms of the Western Finals, most people were optimistic about the Timberwolves advancing at the beginning, and they defeated the Suns with the Big Three in a row, as well as the defending champion Nuggets, showing amazing strength, especially on the defensive end, which can be regarded as airtight.

But throughout the series, the Timberwolves' defense against the Mavericks was ineffective. Against the Nuggets 7 times, the Timberwolves limited the Nuggets to under 100 points 4 times and under 100 points 2 times against the Suns 4 games. But none of the 5 games against the Mavericks can be limited to less than 100 points. This is because Doncic and Irving are completely unstoppable.

Doncic averaged 32.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game in the series, he won the Western Conference MVP, and helped the team with an all-round performance. But in fact, Doncic has been able to do so well every playoff game, averaging more than 30 points per game every year, and he is now playing normally.

What is surprising is Irving, who averaged 27 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game in the series, scored 30+ points in 3 games, and repeatedly stepped up to take over the game in the final quarter. He faced Edwards' defense, but he still got what he wanted. In fact, in the three rounds of the playoffs in the West, Irving's performance was at the superstar level, very strong. When the Mavericks reached the Finals, you understood: Why did Durant join the Warriors eight years ago?

Perhaps, Irving was a failure when he was the boss of the team, and it was difficult to even make the playoffs. But he was born to be the second leading holy body, as long as he can assist the superstar with the ball, he can give full play to his advantages in unsolvable singles. Playing the playoffs with Doncic for the first time, he rushed to the Finals, which is also reminiscent of his Cavaliers days.

Irving was drafted by the Cavaliers in 2011, James returned to the Cavaliers in 2014, and in their first season they reached the Finals with Love reimbursed, but Irving was injured afterwards and the Cavaliers missed the championship. In 2016, the Cavaliers' Big Three were all healthy, and they created a miracle of 1-3 in the Finals, and the opponent was still the Warriors, who had the first 73-win record in regular season history. Irving averaged more points than any Warriors in the Finals at 27.1 points per game, and even had 40+ points in games. In the seven-game battle, a key three-point sword was staged to seal the throat.

At that time, Irving was as inexplicable as now, but he partnered with the peak James who was stronger than Doncic, and Love was also in his prime, plus excellent role players such as JR, TT, SHAMPOT, etc., the Cavaliers had a tendency to build a dynasty. In this case, neither the Thunder nor the Warriors have much chance of winning against the Cavaliers. Especially if they want to break out of the west, they need to consume each other.

Fortunately, the Warriors have won the championship in hand, but for Durant, he has only played 1 Finals in 9 years in the league and has never had a ring, so if he wants to achieve the goal of winning the championship, it is difficult to achieve it to other teams, such as the rumored Green Army at the time. And going to the Warriors, one is to reduce the consumption in the Western Conference playoffs, and the other is to match the Cavaliers at the superstar level. Curry was the strongest point guard at the time, of course, better than Irving, plus the overall configuration and system of the Warriors, they are also suitable for Durant. After the incident, the Warriors completed 2 consecutive championships, and established a dynasty with 3 championships in 4 years, which also proved that Durant did choose the right one. It's just a pity that the Cavaliers, if Durant didn't go to the Warriors, they would be the ones who built the dynasty.

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