Just as Coach Terry predicted, in the following time, not only Aldridge continued his hot state, but other Trail Blazers players also made frequent hits, which made it impossible for the Warriors to play.
Trailing by 9 points, the situation quickly deteriorated further.
In the 11th minute of the final quarter, the Warriors trailed by 19 points and then replaced their main force.
At the end, 126:111, the Trail Blazers won by 15 points.
Aldridge worked hard in the second half, scoring 11 points in the third quarter, and another 13 points in the fourth quarter, finishing with 29 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block.
In terms of data luxury, it is definitely not as good as Wang Zelin's 31 points, 18 rebounds, 4 assists, 9 blocks and 2 steals. However, due to the highlight performance in the second half, the final quarter boosted the team's morale and defeated the Warriors in one fell swoop.
In the end, he and Wang Zelin were named the best players of the game.
After the electronic buzzer sounded that signaled the end of the game, the entire Warriors team was dejected. This was in sharp contrast to their high-spirited temperament before the game.
The Warriors players should indeed be frustrated. They led for most of the game, only to be overturned by their opponents in the last 10 minutes.
At the same time, the comparison of the personal data of the players from the two teams is even more horrific.
At the end of the game, the Trail Blazers had 56 rebounds, while the Warriors had only 40. In terms of assists, the Trail Blazers had 26 and the Warriors had 21.
What saddened the Warriors players the most was the three-pointers. The Warriors made 15 of 27 shots, while the Trail Blazers made 18 of 33 shots.
There is nothing worse than being defeated by your opponent in the area you are best at.
Stephen Curry scored 19 points efficiently in the first half, but suddenly failed in the second half, scoring only 7 points. He finished with 26 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
Compared to 30 in the first two rounds, his performance is absolutely outstanding.
You know, Curry's data in the first two rounds was the first outside player, and it was extremely gorgeous. But today, the whole world understands why Curry can only rank second in the MVP selection!
In this face-to-face game between the two sides, Curry was completely defeated in everything from team to data.
Klay Thompson, another offensive core of the Warriors, only scored 17 points today. He made 2 of 7 shots from beyond the three-point line. Yes, except for two three-pointers in the first half, Thompson never made any more in the second half.
Even if he scored a three-pointer, he was blocked by the Blazers' airtight defensive system.
As for Draymond Green...that's another sad story.
Green scored 11 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists today, which perfectly fits Wang Zelin's previous evaluation of him as a "three single superstar". He took 13 shots today, hit 4 goals, and had a shooting activity rate of 30.8%. He played more than 30 minutes in all games.
Ranked at the bottom among players.
It can be said that today the performance of the Warriors' three-core core of Curry, Thompson, and Green is completely the opposite of Aldridge.
If Aldridge is said to have a late-stage explosion, then the three of them are getting closer and closer, and the further they get to the back, the less likely they are to see anything.
Before the game, Green repeatedly shouted in front of the media that he wanted Wang Zelin to try the Warriors' tsunami offense. Curry was also quite confident that he would not lose to Wang Zelin this time.
But tonight, the two of them fell over one after another.
"At the end of the game, the Portland Trail Blazers took the lead and turned the total score of the series into 1-0! It is worth mentioning that they have won the first series of three consecutive rounds, and the two most dazzling ones tonight are
The star is undoubtedly Wang Zelin, who fully demonstrated his MVP-level strength.
Of course, Aldridge's self-redemption in the second half was also touching. But I still want to say that without Wang Zelin's absolute dominance on the defensive end, which prevented the Warriors from opening up the score, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to wait for his redemption.
."
"That's right. I think no one will question why Wang Zelin is the MVP now. After this game, the Warriors should also put away their blind confidence. Don't forget, the person standing in front of them is the defending champion.
Champion!"
Both Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith were full of praise for the Trail Blazers. As the defending champion, the Trail Blazers let the Warriors know what a true championship level is.
In fact, in the past few seasons, the terror of the Portland Trail Blazers has enveloped the entire league. The Heat in the 13-14 seasons and the Cavaliers in the 14-15 seasons both tried to break the Trail Blazers' dominance.
However, they all fell at the feet of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Today, Wang Zelin and Aldridge once again witnessed the tenacity of the defending champion.
So what if I let you take the lead temporarily?
It doesn’t matter, we will definitely have the last laugh anyway!
…
At the post-game press conference, Wang Zelin and Aldridge accompanied Coach Terry to the scene.
As soon as Wang Zelin showed up, he was immediately surrounded by the media.
"King, you were lagging behind in the first half. I would like to ask, is this because you underestimated the enemy or for some other reason?"
"You also said that we were just behind in the first half. This does not affect us from being the winners tonight." Wang Zelin said with a smile.
The reporter was startled, "I really want to quarrel with you, but how can I answer what you say!"
"Wang, LaMarcus didn't perform well in the first half, why do you always let him play the main offense in the second half?" another reporter asked.
"Because we are a team, not just me, but Damien, Nicholas, and Will, all know LaMarcus' ability. Facts have proved that he did it in the end, didn't it?" Wang Zelin replied calmly.
Throughout the entire on-site interview, except for some disharmony at the beginning, the reporters who asked questions later were very sensible, and they were all bragging to Aldridge.
On the other side, at the Warriors' press conference, only Steve Kerr was present. This man avoided important matters and said some irrelevant things.
"The Trail Blazers deserved to win this game. They controlled the tempo of the game in the second half. As you can see, they kicked our butts and we tried to take over the game again, but the result was obviously not what we wanted.
need."
"Wang's performance was as good as ever, and we couldn't stop him at all. There is no doubt that he is a great player, and it is really difficult to steal the victory from him."
"..."
Kerr's "admittance" tone naturally failed to arouse the reporters' interest at all. The press conference ended hastily, and it seemed that the Warriors had already arrived in advance.
After all the reporters left, Cole placed his right hand on the stage and silently clenched it into a fist.
Of course he won't admit defeat. What he says and what he thinks are completely different things.
Cole is a guy with extremely high self-confidence. He knows that being overturned tonight has something to do with him being too promiscuous, and he has learned something from this game.
Next, he will concentrate on not making stupid mistakes like tonight again.
Fortunately, this is only the first game, so it should be regarded as a test for both sides.
Cole took a deep breath, stood up, and walked to the visiting team's locker room.