This series between the Warriors and Trail Blazers is the first head-to-head confrontation between Curry and Lillard.
After this round of duel, those who use Lillard as a gun to belittle Curry will have nothing to say!
The gap between the two people is too big!
First, the data. After four games, Curry averaged 26 minutes per game, scoring 36 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals!
That's it. In the Western Conference semifinals, Curry averaged 4.8 three-pointers per game, with a three-point shooting percentage of 51% and a true shooting percentage of 72%!
On the opposite side, Lillard averaged 39 minutes per game and only scored 16 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, and 7 turnovers!
The shooting percentage is even worse. Lillard only averaged 2 three-pointers per game, his three-point shooting percentage was only 29%, and his true shooting percentage was as low as 48%!
Of course, you can say that the Warriors' defense is very targeted, with box-1 throughout the game, which greatly limits Lillard's performance. However, the Trail Blazers' Curry's defense is also very abnormal, and they also heavily guard Curry!
It is true that the overall strength of the Warriors is very strong, with both offense and defense in every position, and there are many players who can play. However, Lillard plays a lot more time than Curry. He is not always facing the starting lineup, but also often plays.
Playing with the Warriors’ bench!
What does a superstar mean? It means that he is strong enough and always has a way to solve problems. It is impossible for his opponent to completely prevent him!
If your opponent is on the defensive in a targeted manner, then find a way to break it, either by scoring yourself, or by connecting the team, or by playing for a long time and chasing points during the substitute period!
It is impossible to completely guard against superstars!
Either lead the team to win, or lose but have great statistics!
If you are completely defensive and still lose the game but the statistics are ugly, it only proves that you are not strong enough and you are not worthy of being called a superstar!
That's it!
It can be said that Lillard is a completely weakened version of Curry!
Curry's label is three-pointers, he is accurate, and he has strong scoring ability. Lillard's characteristics are also three-pointers, he is accurate, and he has strong scoring ability!
However, Curry's three-pointers are of historical level. Both quantity and quality are top-notch in NBA history. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is the first!
And Lillard is much worse!
Lillard's three-pointers are good, but that's only compared with most players of his generation. If compared with the league's top shooters, Lillard is still far behind!
It can’t even be ranked compared with its contemporaries, let alone compared with the great gods in history!
Even for the number of three-pointers, Lillard relied on a large number of shots, and he is not ranked at the top!
Of course, Lillard's big heart is still worthy of praise. This is a fact. Needless to say, it is also one of the reasons why he is popular.
But it must be said that the main reason why Lillard is liked by others and has so few black spots is that he is not of a high level and does not pose a threat to the league's super giants!
Lillard is a weakened version of Curry. The only difference between the two is their personalities. Lillard is big-hearted, tough, and cold-blooded, while Curry is a tease, humble, gentle, and approachable.
If you only look at personality, many people will think that Lillard is tenacious, unwilling to admit defeat, and better able to withstand pressure, but in fact Curry is more dedicated than Lillard on the court, and he is more competitive!
The only difference is that Lillard's competitiveness is all written on his face, while Curry hides it in his heart!
…
The series between the Warriors and Trail Blazers is over, while the series between the Spurs and Thunder is still fiercely fought.
The Spurs performed very well this season, and a group of veterans played an amazing record. The Thunder are a group of young people, and they performed very well.
In the first round of the series, the Spurs defeated the Mavericks with difficulty 4:3, and the Thunder did the same. They also played 7 games against the tenacious Grizzlies before narrowly defeating them.
The two teams can be said to be two extremes. One team is extremely disciplined, mainly veterans and rich in experience, while the other team is mostly young people, with strong impact and high talent.
Whether boxing is afraid of the young, or whether it is the old age that makes it tougher, we will find out in this series.
The first game between the two teams was played at the Spurs' home court. In this game, the Spurs did a very good job on the defensive end and were extremely targeted.
At 30:27 of the first quarter, the Spurs led by three points. At 37:32 of the second quarter, the Spurs extended their lead to 8 points.
In the third quarter, the two teams strengthened their defense. The score was 22:23, and the Thunder only recovered one point. However, in the fourth quarter, the Spurs worked hard again, playing 33:23 and winning the game without any suspense.
After the whole game, under the defense of the Spurs, four Thunder players scored in double figures. Durant and Westbrook scored 28 points and 25 points respectively. In addition, the other three starters only scored 5 points in total.
!
Fortunately, Fisher and Reggie Jackson stepped up from the bench and scored 16 and 13 points respectively.
The Spurs' strategy is to give Durant and Westbrook a chance to strangle others to death. If you can, you two will kill us!
Of course, another reason why the Spurs won is their extremely high offensive efficiency.
After the game, the Thunder shot 44.4% from three-point range, which is quite scary, but the Spurs' three-point shooting percentage was as high as 52.9%, which is even more astonishing.
The Thunder's field goal percentage was 46.3%, while the Spurs' shooting percentage was as high as 57.5%!
The Thunder had 4 players scoring in double figures, while the Spurs had 5 players scoring in double figures. Almost all the players on the field scored, and the highest scorer was veteran Duncan.
The gap between the two teams can also be seen from the assists. The Spurs sent out 28 assists in the game, while the Thunder only had 19.
The same goes for turnovers. The Spurs only had 9 turnovers, while the Thunder had 16.
It is obvious that the Spurs' offensive efficiency is extremely high, the players cooperate with each other tacitly, and rarely make mistakes.
The Thunder, on the other hand, made constant mistakes and only relied on Durant and Westbrook to stay alive.
Of course, although the Thunder lost the first game, many experts are still very optimistic about them. After all, they are young, have strong learning ability, and have room for adjustment.
What people didn't expect was that the Thunder lost even more miserably in the second game and had no chance to fight back.
Although they lost in the first game, Durant and Wei Shao still performed well. They were very efficient and scored a lot, and two people also stepped up on the bench.
In the second game, the Spurs' defense upgraded again. Not only did they prevent the Thunder's substitutes, but they also restricted Durant and Westbrook.
After the game, Durant made 6 of 16 shots and only scored 15 points. Wei Shao shot 7 of 24, which was extremely inefficient, and also scored 15 points.
The two main players were guarded. Fisher and Reggie Jackson, who played well in the last game, also performed mediocrely. Only Lamb scored 13 points.
Three people scored in double figures, and the highest was only 15 points. You can imagine how poor the Thunder's offense was.
In this game, the Thunder's three-pointers were severely restricted. They made 2 of 20 shots from the field, with a shooting percentage of only 10%!
The Thunder's field goal percentage was only 39.3%, and their free throws were also very poor. They made 5 of 10 free throws in the game. Both the number and the shooting percentage were quite pitiful.
The Spurs still had 5 players score in double figures here, their three-point shooting percentage was still as high as 39.1%, and they made 21 of 23 free throws, which is quite amazing.
The final score of this game was 112:77, and the Spurs won the second game without any suspense.
