Net vs Bucks seventh battle, re-made the fifth battle of Tennoyama's first. Brown, Durant, Griffin, Harden, Harris.
Off-topic: This year's tennis regular season has used a total of 38 sets of starts.
Brown added up to 17 minutes in the last two games and 52 minutes today.
Both sides are basically full of six people in rotation.
In the first two games of the series, Brown (and Irving) defended Middleton well; in the last game he only played four minutes, Middleton blasted down 38 points; today he pestered Middleton in those rounds, Middleton did not get comfortable: it was a small Durant vs Tucker, Middleton did not fly.
Knowing the roots, not playing virtual, not letting go. So the opening can see Harris change defense Giannis, Lopez high clamp Durant this unique role.
Since arriving at the Bucks, Lopez has transformed into a tower shooter, taking into account the defense, and the frontcourt rebounds are not too rushed: in the past three years, he has rebounded 5 times in the regular season, only two games - for comparison, Chuang Shen has played 21 games for the Lakers, and 14 have rushed to more than 5 frontcourt rebounds.
But today Lopez rushed 5 frontcourt rebounds — although it also cost: Joe Harris's first three-point shot was Durant taking advantage of Lopez's rush to the front of the rebound, personally carrying the ball to push back, and finding the follow-up Harris to shoot.
Off-topic, Harris hit three three-pointers today, two from long range that Durant fed him, and one that Durant gave him.
Think in reverse: position warfare, without Durant's containment power, Harris position warfare three-pointers..............................
Durant was actually tired early on: after all, he had never rested, and he was surrounded by bucks in the opening. At the beginning of the second quarter, he was stolen by Tucker without a card position, and when he turned back to play one, he jumped to pull the ball and pedaled to the ground.
Fortunately, he played smartly: he could find Brown who was in the inner cut; he could shoot without getting rid of the clean. In turn, the Bucks Middleton was entangled with Brown, and Holliday habitually opened without a feel, relying on Giannis and Lopez to support.
Giannis had a small adjustment today. In the past, he used to take another step to adjust the balance and shoot against the basket on his shoulders, grab the position of the breakthrough, and then use it to adjust the balance and then shoot again - Wei Shao was not good at this step when he was young, often grabbing space without slowing down, going to the basket and the like - but the first few games were often made up by Griffin at this step.
Today, when Giannis confronted Griffin, several times he pushed it up, while his body was still glued together, hanging directly on it: so he could take the opportunity to throw directly in, or to foul.
In any case, the shots went faster, which was a good thing for Giannis.
It also includes a dragon chasing a shot from the start of the second half; assisting Tucker's bottom corner three-pointer, and his own layup is 54-53. After a struggle between the two sides, Giannis hit the basket with a three-pointer from the top of the arc.
At that moment, I think, today's luck is on the Bucks side.
I'm a bit superstitious, always thinking that the three-point shot at the top of the arc belongs to luck: who would really aim at the top of the arc to shoot a rebound? Except for the moment when Kobe Bryant faced Wade...
At that time, the Bucks won back-to-back three-pointers, Harden used all his strength to maintain the score, he forced Giannis to reverse a three-pointer, and then fed Griffin Neche himself a free throw, Durant desperately pulled to 5 points.
So you fight back and forth, dragging it all the way into the last half.
Putting aside this in previous years, the Bucks are finished: after all, they have fallen into the half-court grinding position, that is, the two sides have singled out. In the past two years, the Bucks have lost to Leonard and Jimmy Butler. Durant scored the 38th from three points to give a 96-91 lead.
On the Bucks side, Holliday returned a three-pointer.
Harden stretched out five three-pointers, and Giannis and Holliday gave Middleton a three-pointer after two bursts.
In previous years, the Bucks did not have a third point, and this year there is.
Then there was a debatable arrangement for the net: Holliday and Giannis blocked, the net did not change defenses, but chose to pinch; Giannis neche received the ball and scored the 38th point, a tie.
Holliday in the bottom corner, Giannis in the penalty area... Then it was Holliday who singled out Harris, a three-pointer that left the net behind 101-104.
Last summer, the Bucks signed Holliday's value, which is vividly reflected in this segment.
Durant is possessed by death, ignoring the defensive ground shot, but the physical strength is exhausted by the mistake of the slider - he made 3 mistakes today, all of which were broken by the ball to receive the ball. This may be the only weakness in attacking with a full range of attack abilities such as his, at this stage, holding the ball to attack:
With a seven-foot-long arm span, he can grab the shooting space by pulling the ball on an unbelievable large scale (the second game is swinging the ball of Nice, for example), but the breakthrough has to close the ball, after all, he is tall. Therefore, the space that pulls the ball out of the ball is easy to be quickly caught up by the opponent when the ball is finally received.
But Durant is still Durant. López made a mistake and gave the net a chance; Durant turned over and shot from 23 feet to draw 109 into extra time.
How to say it? I think it was the best goal of his career. The seventh game, the last reading seconds, throwing in or home, exhaustion, on the pressure theory of meaning, theory of weight theory of difficulty, is still on top of the two death shots of 2017 and 2018.
If it's a three-pointer, it's a no-brainer that ends the series: it's one of the best goals in NBA history, and it's definitely no less than the one that Leonard scored against Philadelphia two years ago.
But it was a two-pointer after all.
So extra time.
It turned out that was Durant's last bullet.
Giannis was in extra time, with a left-back cross-footed shot from a Durant hook. The gestures are still stiff, but the rhythm is right. The net chased to 111 flat. Lopez covered Durant and Middleton shot back.
As the aside, as I said before, Durant came back after an Achilles tendon injury, and a small effect was the damage to explosive power. In the regular season, he was covered 104 times in 208 games in three years for the Warriors and 25 times in 35 games on the Nets this season. Today he was covered 5 times, and this year's playoffs totaled 12 games and 18 times, the highest in his career. The decrease in explosiveness is also related to physical strength.
After all, Harris wasted another golden opportunity in overtime.
Then there's Durant's final, ambitious, three-not-stick. The game is over.
Holliday, who signed last year, pulled back the score for the Bucks in the fourth quarter.
In his seventh away game, Giannis played his best playoff game of his career: three-pointers, stiff hooks, not good-looking, but in.
Lopez finally gave Durant that cover to end the net. In fact, he is the most critical presence of the Bucks in this series, the Bucks' tactics:
Jokic was beaten by Paul, Gobert was beaten by Man yesterday, the Hawks and Philadelphia spun around Embiid's how to deal with Young's block, and Poggingis melted into the Clippers' swinging formation.
Lopez, this series, has not been beaten. Today he covered Durant with 3.
Speaking of which... The nets' all-time scoring and blocking champion is Brooke López.
A strange association: Durant this second half of the series, a bit like the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals.
That year, LeBron scored 49 points in the first game, shot the best whistle of his career in the second game, and a 44th point when he looked to lose in the fourth game, and tried to overtake the last half of the long-range shot, averaging 39 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists in three games and 40+ in the series.
In the past three games, with injury-ridden nets, Durant has scored magical key balls close to 50 consecutive points, but is unable to return to the sky.
In 2009, Dwight played the best series of his career, especially the sixth qualifying game, awakening all his attacking power, rough but ferocious 40 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists.
Giannis qualified for the game today, rough but ferocious, with 40 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists.
In other words, the net stopped in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Count it a small curse of fate: the team that has always been put together by the three giants, everyone feels invincible on paper, and the team that "can win the championship with closed eyes and casually fighting" is only the Celtics in 2008, who won the championship in the first year of composition.
After the Lakers got together in 1968, they didn't win the championship until 1972; after the Rockets Triumvirate got together in 1996, there was no championship; after the 2010 hot finals, they experienced the well-known finals in 2011, and didn't start until 2012.
Superstars are strong, but often need to run into, and have always lost to teams that have been together for a longer time. In 1996, when the Rockets Triumvirate got together, the guard line was in a mess, losing to the skilled Jazz in 1997; in 2010, the hot Big Three, the first year of tactics was also where to play, losing to the veteran Dallas. In 1968, the Lakers' big three were internally run-in with injuries, losing to Russell's calculating Celtics, the Knicks, who claimed to be the most united team in history, and the Bucks led by Tiangou and Oscar. Later the Lakers F4 was not mentioned.
How did the Celtics win the title in their first year in 2008? One is that Angie has cultivated a relatively thick one: half a team of young people has been sent in exchange for KG and Ray, and Rondo, Perkins, Tony Allen and Gomez are available.
The second is the combination of the three technical types: Pierce's ball holding, Ray's no-ball shot, KG's all-round response.
The chemistry of the champion must be grinded step by step in blood and fire. In 2008, the Celtics were full of talent, but they were defensive teams, stumbling all the way through the three-round series and playing 20 games to reach the Finals.
Looking back, the three of them this year, in fact, it is a pity: the genius, thickness and chemistry required by the giant team, they are not lacking; Irving's possession, Harden's instigation, Durant's scoring, are very compatible with each other; Irving is also seriously defending before the injury, Harden is very selfless to share the ball, Griffin even played the best basketball since leaving the Clippers, and jeff Green's Battle of King Mountain just played the best playoffs of his career.
Aldridge retired, and looking back, it was just the beginning. Then Harden was injured, then Irving. Ruined in injuries, it is the most regrettable.
Finally, in the end, Durant played the best performance of his career and was unable to return to heaven. The strong shot that tried to drag the game into extra time, and the three sticks that he finally exhausted, only a long sigh after being eliminated.