The remaining 3 minutes of the third quarter were played, and Wang Zelin did not play again. Taking this opportunity, the Thunder narrowed the gap between the two sides, and the score became 85:78. The Thunder was only 7 points behind.
Thunder bench.
"The decisive moment is coming soon! Everyone must be at their best. Being 7 points behind is nothing to us..."
Thunder head coach Scott Brooks inspired his players over and over again.
Beep~
Soon, players from both sides reappeared.
When Wang Zelin led four other players to appear on the court, the pressure that hit them made the Thunder feel suffocated.
At the scene, many children were already pointing at Wang Zelin and saying: Look, the big bad guy is here again.
Not to mention children, even many adult fans feel the pressure brought by the Trail Blazers.
In the last quarter, the Thunder were still 7 points behind. Although it was at home, the fans at the scene could no longer make a sound to cheer for the home team.
On the court, the Thunder's lineup became Westbrook, Jeremy Lamb, Durant, Ibaka and Perkins.
Thanks to the two three-pointers he made earlier, Jeremy Lamb gained the trust of his teammates and coaches and replaced the original shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha.
The Blazers' lineup is the same as it was in the first quarter, with all five players coming out.
The first attack of the final quarter was started by the Trail Blazers.
Lillard slowly approached the Trail Blazers' half, and Westbrook could clearly feel the strong desire to attack in this sophomore who also wore the number 0 jersey.
At this moment, he finally changed his view and regarded Lillard as a player of the same level as himself.
Just when Westbrook was thinking about how the Trail Blazers would play this shot, Wang Zelin took the screen and played a ball-covering match with Wang Zhelin!
Lillard quickly passed by Westbrook, who hurriedly moved laterally to follow up, but was blocked by Wang Zelin and was still half a beat behind.
Lillard stepped out of the space, changed hands to accelerate, and went straight to the basket!
So far, Lillard has scored 12 points tonight, including 2 three-pointers, basically from the outside. However, when he needs to rush to the frame, he can also rush as fiercely as Westbrook.
...At least he is not inferior to his opponent in terms of momentum!
However, how could the Thunder let Lillard dunk so easily? Ibaka immediately rushed out and roughly collided with Lillard.
There is a huge difference in weight and tonnage between the two, but Ibaka's blow gave Lillard a serious blow.
But just before his center of gravity was completely unbalanced, Lillard stabilized his shooting hand, pushed the ball slightly, and sent the ball to the backboard!
"Beep beep beep!"
The referee's whistle sounded and Lillard fell heavily to the ground.
At the same time, the ball bounced off the backboard, hit the backboard, and fell right into the net pocket.
Despite the fierce foul committed by the opponent, Lillard's layup still hit!
"Got in! An extremely tough goal! A tough layup from Lillard, so horizontal!"
Yu Jia could no longer suppress the emotions in his heart and cheered exaggeratedly.
"This ball was too strong! More importantly, Lillard also caused Ibaka's fourth foul of the game. Will Thunder coach Brooks suspend it?"
Zhang Lili followed the explanation.
Why was Lillard able to break through and win the best team of the season under the attack of Ku Hao, triple-double man, Sao Paulo and others in the future? Because whenever the team needs him, he can respond with actions.
This is the leader in Wang Zelin’s impression!
Lillard was lying on the ground, stood up and shook his right fist violently. Then with the help of his teammates, he stood up again and went to the free throw line.
Although the fans at Energy Arena tried their best to interfere, Lillard was already suffering from pain in his ribs due to his opponent's brutal foul.
But in the end, he still hit the extra free throw.?
As soon as the final quarter started, Lillard completed a gorgeous performance of hitting a three-pointer, and scored so hard that the Thunder's expression on everyone instantly turned from sunny to gloomy.
After scoring, Lillard signaled everyone to retreat quickly.
The difference is 10 points!
Westbrook punched the air in anger. Why could he be faster just now?
"?"
The next moment, Westbrook felt a hand appear on his head. When he looked up, he saw that the person coming was Durant.
The two looked at each other and said nothing!
The Grim Reaper wants to come out and take over the game?
Thunder offense.
Scott Brooks hesitated again and again, but still did not call a timeout. He chose to trust his players.
frontcourt.
Westbrook passed Lillard in one step after the pick-and-roll, took two steps to the free throw line, and took off against Wang Zelin's defense.
"Eh……"
Wang Zelin jumped up and struck out with his palm, but the result was nothing.
Looking again, it turned out that Westbrook twisted his waist to the left in the air and passed it back to Durant on the left three-point line.
Seeing this, without needing to be reminded, Batum hurriedly stepped forward and stretched out his hand to interfere.
But Durant's expression remained the same after receiving the ball, and he jumped up against the defense.
"No way...this ball is too unreasonable!"
Zhang Lili had just finished speaking.
"Whoosh!"
On the playing field, a crisp sound spread throughout the entire field.
Three point hit!
88:81, the score difference returned to 7 points.
"KD! KD..."
The fans at the scene were so excited that they all stood up and waved their hands.
"It's too outrageous!"
Yu Jia shook his head slightly, still looking incredulous.
"Batum's defense has been to the extreme...but who told his opponent to be called Kevin Durant!"
Looking at Batum's frozen figure on the spot, Zhang Lili sighed.
Some players are destined to be great!
And some players are destined to only look up to others, and even reluctantly become a stepping stone for others on the road to greatness!
This is the cruelty of sports competition!
At this moment, Batum's heart felt as if he had been stabbed by a needle, but what could he do? As long as he tried his hand, Durant was invincible on the offensive end!
In the next attack, the Trail Blazers repeated their old tactics. After Wang Zelin and Lillard completed the pick-and-roll screen tactics, Wang Zelin made a false pass and passed back to Lillard for a three-pointer from the top of the arc.
Duang～
It's a pity that Durant was timely and greatly interfered with Lillard's shot, and in the end it was a strike.
Wang Zelin was stuck under the basket by Perkins and Ibaka, one after the other, and was unable to take off no matter what.
At this time, Westbrook saw the right opportunity, jumped hard, collected the backcourt rebound, and also got his 6th rebound data of the game.
Immediately after landing, he launched a fast break and succeeded in a one-stop dunk from the frontcourt.
88:83, 5 points left!
The Blazers re-attacked, but still failed to hit.
This time it was Matthews who hit a two-point shot from the bottom corner.
Jump over the head and thunder attack.
Durant misplaced Wang Zelin in singles and missed a difficult fadeaway jumper, and the Thunder failed to attack.
At this point, the offense of both teams began to sluggish, and there was a scoring drought for 4 minutes.
At 5 minutes and 27 seconds of the final quarter.
The Thunder's offense was wide open inside.
Durant blocked Batum in the low post on the left and received a pass from Westbrook.
On the right wing of the basket, Wang Zelin didn't think much and immediately double-teamed him.
Facing a double-team, Durant did not force himself and passed the ball back to Jeremy Lamb in the right corner. The latter had a brief opportunity to get open and took a decisive shot.
Speaking of which, it was Jeremy Lamb's first shot in the final quarter.
"Pay attention to counterpoint!"
As soon as Durant made his move, Wang Zelin sensed something was wrong and quickly yelled at Matthews on the outside.
Unfortunately, Matthews returned to defense a beat late, and Jerry Lamb successfully took the shot.
"Whoosh!"
Three points into the net.
At 88:86, the Thunder took the lead in breaking the scoring streak.
More importantly, there is only one goal difference between the two sides. If the Blazers still fail to score in the next round, the suspense of the game will rise again.
"Beep~"
Without hesitation, Coach Terry called a timeout.
"Yes!"
"Well done, Jeremy!"
"I didn't expect you to have such a skill!"
The moment the whistle blew, Westbrook took the lead, rushed over and hugged Jeremy Lamb.
The rest of his teammates gathered around him, rubbing their hair or giving compliments.
"Haha! Boss, we must win tonight!"
Faced with the compliments from people around him, Jeremy Lamb was not too modest and laughed loudly.
On the other hand, the atmosphere on the Trail Blazers side is somewhat solidified.
"Coach, I..."
Matthews slowly raised his head, his face full of guilt.
It's all because he was attracted by Durant just now and failed to defend in time, which allowed the Thunder to score a three-pointer.
"It's okay, Wes." Coach Terry smiled and patted Matthews on the shoulder, "We are still in the lead now. Don't be discouraged, don't blame yourself too much, and don't forget that we are a team!"
"That's right! We all have responsibilities at this time, and we'll just catch up later!"
Seeing that no one really meant to blame, Matthews became more determined and would do a good job on the defensive end next.
"Okay, time is limited!"
Coach Terry took out the tactical version, and the Blazers generals quickly surrounded him.
"Wait a moment and choose stability. We will use an inside offensive tactic. The first offensive option is Wang, and the second is LaMarcus..."
With the help of the timeout, Coach Terry explained to everyone the team's current strategic policy: Stay steady and strive for progress!
While maintaining the final advantage, you must also defend well and wait for your opponent to make mistakes, and then the advantage will snowball again.
The timeout ends and the game continues.
Returning this time, Wang Zelin and other teammates no longer had the same sense of urgency on their faces as before. Lillard even more leisurely controlled the rhythm in the backcourt. It took a full five seconds before halftime was finally passed.
On the other side, Scott Brooks frowned. Now for the Thunder, the more time is consumed, the more disadvantageous it is, so the Blazers must not be allowed to slow down.
"Russell, get up!"
Immediately, he stood up and roared.
After receiving the coach's instructions, Westbrook quickly moved forward, his arms still testing, trying to steal.
However, the Thunder became more anxious, which just proved that Coach Terry's strategy was correct.
Under Lillard's patient organization and the Trail Blazers' unhurried conduction, this offense was finally delayed until the countdown was 8 seconds.
Eight seconds later, Wang Zelin cut inside from the bottom corner of the left wing and caught the ball to attack.
If it was the first half, Perkins could quickly move to the basket to complete the defense. But now it is almost halfway through the final quarter, and his physical fitness is no longer at its peak, and he cannot keep up with the first shot.
While Perkins was still struggling to get to the basket, Wang Zelin had already easily completed the layup.
After scoring this goal, Wang Zelin finally started to get started on the offensive end in the final quarter. His personal data reached 28 points, 18 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks!
Thanks to the scoring drought of the first two teams, he gained a lot of data on the defensive end.
The scoring data that worried Tianchao fans before has now improved, and they are slowly breathing a sigh of relief.
Anyway, I still remember that at the end of the third quarter, Zhang Lili and Yu Jia were still discussing whether Wang Zelin would win 35-20 or 40-20 tonight?
After waiting for so long, everyone finally saw hope.
Now, the situation has begun to turn against the Thunder again. The score difference that has finally been narrowed has a tendency to be widened again. Is it possible that all the previous efforts will be in vain?
The Thunder fans in the stands let out angry roars. They finally saw the dawn of victory, but a defensive mistake by Perkins likely led to the team's complete defeat.
How can they endure this?
Beep~
This time it's the Thunder's turn to pause.
Scott Brooks quickly made adjustments, took down Perkins, and brought Thabeet, who had performed twice before, back on the court.
"With half a quarter left before the end of the game, the Thunder made the final substitution arrangement, replacing Perkins with Thabeet. Who will win in this game? It all depends on the last six minutes!"
Zhang Lili said.
Here are the pioneers.
"Hey, Wang, that guy is on stage again."
After seeing Thabeet play, Matthews reminded.
"Just go up! Let's see how the king defeats him!"
Batum looked disdainful.
After Wang Zelin broke the team's scoring drought, the confidence of other teammates has recovered a lot. As long as Wang Zelin can continue to score, how can the Thunder win this game?
Thunder offense.
"Come on, stinky telephone pole! Hit me again!"
Near the left wing, Batum approached Durant and started talking trash.
Say I am a telephone pole?
Durant was stunned when he heard this. He immediately realized that the other party was complaining about his figure and became furious.
After receiving the pass, he made a triple threat and responded: "Asshole, prepare to be beaten!"
After saying that, Durant accelerated to the left, beat Batum and entered the penalty area.
Under the basket, Wang Zelin was about to return to defend the short corner area on the right side. After seeing Durant come in, he turned around, stuck Thabeet behind him, and then rushed towards Durant.
After Durant passed Batum, he took two steps forward, stopped suddenly and jumped up.
At this moment, Wang Zelin arrived in time, jumped up and waved a palm, sending the ball flying out of bounds.
"Snapped!"
At this moment, the Energy Arena instantly fell silent.
"KD! Don't you know that everything within the three-point line is my territory? Are you here to give me a hat?"
After successfully blocking the shot, Wang Zelin roared at Durant as soon as he landed.
"Damn it!"
Durant tugged on his jersey angrily and forced himself to calm down.
Thunder to the touchline.
Westbrook caught the ball at the top of the arc and found that his opponent's position was not stable. Westbrook, eager to chase points, suddenly accelerated and drove to the basket.
At this time, Wang Zelin jumped up from the side to block the shot.
"drink!"
Westbrook roared angrily, held the ball in his right hand, and hit the basket against Wang Zelin's block.
This is his signature tomahawk dunk!
"Snapped!"
Unfortunately, Wang Zelin's blocking angle was extremely accurate and he hit the ball with one hit.
"boom!"
A huge strange force came from the other side of the ball, making Westbrook feel a sense of despair. Then the basketball came out of his hand, and his body fell straight backwards and fell heavily to the ground.
Russell's dunk was actually caught?
In the stands, the enthusiasm on the faces of Thunder fans has not dissipated, but their hearts are cold.
First it was Durant, then Westbrook. The Thunder’s two trump cards were both blocked once by Wang Zelin!
Like a giant hammer, it hit the hearts of all Thunder players hard.