In an instant, the Trail Blazers beat the Mosaics 11-0, forcing D'Antoni to call a timeout.
Nurkic blames himself very much now. If his offensive threat could be greater, the Mosaic team would not be so passive.
He was ignored by Wang Zelin time and time again, and then he was let go again and again to unscrupulously defend other players on the perimeter.
Even so, Nurkic has not scored a point so far.
The more unable he is to score, the more unscrupulously Wang Zelin will defend others.
After surviving the first round, Nurkic felt very powerless facing Wang Zelin, the current number one player.
The two sides are not opponents of the same weight at all. This is a match that cannot be influenced by him.
After returning from the timeout, Harden caused a foul on Lillard through a breakthrough and got two free throw opportunities. This allowed the Mosaic team to break the scoring drought.
"More than halfway through the first quarter, the Mosaic team still didn't score in any sports game. It seems they can't adapt to the Trail Blazers' championship-level defense."
Ke Fan curled his lips. This game, no, it was the ending of this series. In his opinion, it was basically finalized.
This season the Mosaics' scoring average ranks among the top in the league, and both scoring output and offensive efficiency are equally outstanding.
But their offense may still be effective in the regular season. Once they enter the more brutal playoffs and encounter this kind of intensity, defense may not seem as important as before, but it directly determines how far a team can go.
How far.
If you defend well and have no obvious shortcomings, you won't be attacked by the opponent who takes advantage of your weaknesses.
If you pick any team that has won the championship over the years, they are basically all strong defensive teams.
The Golden State Warriors are as strong as they were in the past and are known as the creators of the small ball era. Their defense has always been ranked among the top five in the league.
The Suns' run-and-gun style back then was fierce enough, wasn't it still difficult to break out of the West?
Therefore, if you want to truly have the strength to win the championship, you must have a balanced offense and defense.
Although the Mosaics have strong offensive firepower, they have obvious shortcomings on the defensive end.
Not to mention that the star Harden and the other core Anthony are not defensive elites, and it is difficult to contribute positive defensive value on the court. Even Capela, who is considered the mainstay of interior defense in the regular season, and Noor, a master of low post defense,
Kitch, after meeting Wang Zelin, all turned into paper tigers.
Facts have proved that everyone underestimated the power of the super center.
Or it can be said that in this era when high-quality insiders are increasingly withering, the destructive power of a super center like Wang Zelin on the court is unimaginable to many people.
The inside line was completely destroyed, and the two cores on the outside line also had the defensive slot attribute. It was destined that this kind of team would not be able to cause trouble for the Trail Blazers.
Sure enough, Harden's two free throws failed to change anything. The Trail Blazers continued to suppress the Mosaic team, and the entire game became completely one-sided.
Before the game, because he was not favored, he made a comment about "doing our best with the Trail Blazers and fighting until the last minute." Anthony also asked the fans to focus on tonight's game and said that he would not let everyone down.
But what’s the result?
When the game entered the 11th minute of the third quarter, the Blazers led the Mosaic team by a full 30 points thanks to Carter's shot from beyond the three-point line.
Seeing that the score difference was stretched to 30 points, the Mosaic team instantly lost the confidence to resist.
Harden is not a spiritual attribute, what a tenacious leader. When the team members noticed the trace of hard-to-conceal dejection on their boss's face, everyone was like a frosted eggplant, subconsciously drooping their heads.
The arrival of garbage time is inevitable. More than 18,000 Trail Blazers fans in the Rose Garden Arena were cheering. Although garbage time is very boring, they are still very excited to see the team playing loudly.
But the more than 3,000 Mosaic fans who came to watch the game with high expectations were very disappointed. They thought it would be a battle between the two giants, but the game ended up being turned into garbage time by the Trail Blazers...
One minute later, the first three quarters were over.
Players from both sides take a break.
Harden looked up at the score and sighed.
101:66, Mosaic team is 35 points behind in away game!
35 points!
How can he pursue this?
In the first round of the playoffs, the Mosaic team swept the Thunder 4-1 with a clean sweep. Harden even averaged 32 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds per game. From team performance to personal data, he surpassed them all.
The former second brother, Westbrook.
When the team just advanced, Harden was very high-spirited. When he learned that the next round opponent would be the Trail Blazers led by Wang Zelin, he even made plans to avenge his previous humiliation.
He never expected that in the first game of the series between the two sides, he would be directly crushed.
"No more, no more miracles!"
In the Tencent studio, Yang Yi shouted out his iconic mantra.
"After the first three quarters, the Trail Blazers entered the final quarter with a huge 35-point lead. This is probably the largest point difference after the first three quarters of any team in the playoffs this season. Facing the league's highest defensive efficiency,
As a Trail Blazer, I don’t think the Mosaic team has the ability to achieve a comeback in the final quarter.”
In front of countless fans and spectators, Ke Fan unilaterally brought the game to an end.
At this moment, no one thinks there is anything wrong with Ke Fan's words?
With 35 points, the Mosaic team can narrow the point difference to less than 20 points in the final quarter. Thank God. Wanting to make a comeback... is it any different from daydreaming?
This is also true. For most of the fourth quarter, the substitute players from both sides took turns competing with each other. Even with the Blazers' unilateral release, the point difference between the two sides was always maintained at around 30 points.
After the last quarter, the score difference between the two sides was 28:36. The Mosaic team won by 8 points, but this could not change the result of the disastrous defeat in the first game.
At the end of the game, the Trail Blazers defeated the Mosaics at home with a huge margin of 27 points, 129:102, and achieved their first victory in the conference semifinals.
The series score reached 1-0, and the Trail Blazers got off to a good start.
Harden put his hands on his hips and looked in the direction of the scoreboard with a trace of confusion in his eyes.
His statistics tonight were not bad, he scored 28 points in about three quarters and was an efficient 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
Anthony also contributed 20 output, scored 23 points, and shot a total of 44%.
However, apart from them, there is no third player on the Mosaic team who scores more than 15 points.
The Trail Blazers' defense is not something that other Mosaic players can adapt to, especially Capela and Nurkic, the two big insiders with high hopes, who are manipulated unilaterally by Wang Zelin like toys.
For the Trail Blazers, Wang Zelin scored a game-high 33 points, 17 rebounds and 4 blocks in three quarters. In addition, five other players on the team scored in double figures.
Lillard had 19 points and 7 assists, Jokic had 17 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, and Patton and Batum each scored 12 points.
In addition, there is super sixth man Aldridge on the bench who made 11 of 16 shots in the three quarters and efficiently scored 26 points.
Six players on the team scored in double figures, and the Mosaic team's defense was like paper in front of the Trail Blazers, breaking with just a push.