Vol 3 Chapter 249: Before the War East 2

March may be the toughest month for the Thunder this season. After consecutive losses to the Trail Blazers and Rockets, they will face the Spurs, Raptors and Celtics. In a few games at the end of the month, there will be another fight against the Spurs and Trail Blazers.
However, before the Raptors game, the Thunder scored five consecutive victories in one go. They almost crushed the Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers. In these five games, the Thunder's final lead all exceeded 10 points. Moreover, the main players of the Thunder each got the opportunity to take a break.
Except for the Spurs and Clippers, they did not encounter too much resistance.
Leonard has only played 9 games this season and has been absent. Although the Spurs’ message is that Leonard’s injury is not healed, according to other news, the relationship between the two is not particularly harmonious. But Leonard himself did not say anything about it. In this case, Aldridge has led the Spurs to the top eight in the Western Conference, which is already very good. However, this time against the Thunder, they still fought each other for three quarters. If it weren't for the Thunder's offensive firepower in the third quarter, and too many points opened, with their performance in the last quarter, they still have a chance to win the game.
The Clippers also lost their strong momentum at the beginning of the season. They first lost Chris Paul this season and then traded Griffin. And in this game, Gallinari, the "Italian Cannon" obtained from the Nuggets, also missed due to injury. The civilian lineup composed of Little Rivers, Lu Wei, Harris, Sunwell and Little Jordan also fought the Thunder for most of the game.
For the Thunder, these games must be won. The other teams are not easy to follow, and the Thunder can't guarantee that they will win. So after winning these games, I was relieved.
But this tone was raised again later.
On March 18, 2018, the Thunder expedition to Canada, slashing the Raptors in Toronto.
Although the Thunder won this game, the process was quite difficult. Prior to this game, the Raptors had achieved 11 consecutive victories. They are in full vigor and are going all out to attack the new team history record. The last time the two sides played against each other, the Thunder beat the Raptors at home. Westbrook, Paul George and Anlow played very well. In this game, the three brothers are equally eye-catching.
As soon as the game opened, the Thunder turned away. Westbrook succeeded in a surprise attack as soon as he came up. His speed is too fast! Lowry didn't even react, and was beaten by Westbrook. It can be seen that his desire to attack tonight is very strong.
But then DeRozan responded. He rushed to the right elbow under the cover of Valenjonas, and made a jump shot. As the most active defender who likes to shoot in midfield, DeRozan's half-stop shooting percentage is still quite high.
You came and I played for half of the game. The Thunder opened the score after Anlo's two three-pointers. It was these two three-pointers that allowed the Thunder to maintain their advantage until the last quarter.
This section is the most intense and the toughest of the entire game. The Raptors hit a wave of small climax as soon as they came up, chasing their lagging score back. After Donovan's timeout, the two sides fell into a state of anxiety. Whether it's offense or defense, both sides performed equally well.
With 4 minutes left in the game, Lowry was fouled by Brewer when he took the screen and broke through. Jiman six committed offense. In fact, for this foul, Lowry just used his hips to gently push the company commander. After the referee's whistle, Lowry himself looked innocent. However, this did not change the referee's penalty.
Subsequently, An Luo and Westbrook scored consecutively to help the Thunder gain the upper hand. Although DeRozan and Siakam resisted stubbornly, they were not able to reverse the situation. With 10 seconds left, the Raptors players finally broke out.
But this time it broke out, not on the court. In the fight for the ball again, the players on both sides hugged each other. Subsequently, the referee fouled DeRozan. The gunpowder keg was lit this time! DeRozan, who felt that he had been wrongly convicted, found the referee's theory aggressively and kept complaining. As a result, he ate two Ts and was sent off. Immediately, Ibaka and coach Casey began to complain about this series of whistles. The referee who blew his mouth smoothly just did nothing, and expelled the two of them.
In the end, the Thunder defeated the Raptors 132:125. This night, the two sides dedicated a wonderful game to the audience. But as a result, the referee's whistleblowing made the game into a heated controversy. However, the Thunder players did not pay much attention to this ~EbookFREE.me~ Their eyes have been on the next game with the Celtics.
Although the Celtics have also experienced a lot of personnel changes this season, although Irving has not fully integrated into the Green Army lineup, but it does not change the Celtics' strength. Especially in the Yu Qiang team, their winning percentage is very high. This is very similar to Thunder. They faced the top four teams in the West and almost won. Similarly, they always lose to weak teams.
If the Thunder were fighting a confrontational battle in Toronto, this one was a defensive battle in Boston. The two sides were entangled from the beginning. Physical confrontation, blocks, steals, turnovers, and irons have become the core elements of this game. But the same thing in the two games is that the winner was decided at the last minute.
With 2.3 seconds left in the game, the Thunder led the Celtics by 1 point with 92:91. At this time, Celtics rookie Tatum did something that shocked the Thunder in a cold sweat. He circled his teammate and received the ball from Rozier on the right elbow. By this time Paul George had been blocked by Baynes, and it was too late even if he swooped in. Fortunately, An Luo made up the defense in time, he directly blocked Tatum, stretched out his hands high, jumped high, and tried his best to interfere with the opponent.
The ball was thrown by Tatum. But did not invest! The basketball bounced on the hoop twice and finally fell out. At that moment, the spinning basketball touched the hearts of everyone at the North Shore Garden Stadium.
With the sound of sighs one after another, Westbrook and others instantly smiled. An Luo patted his chest, and sighed silently, "Fortunately, I didn't make it! Otherwise, he would become the background board of this rookie!"