Chapter 236: The next opponent
On the day after the All-Star Game, Angeli Yiyi sent his friends away. Divac, Kobe, Wade, of course, and the little girl who almost made Angeli fall.
Why did they send them away? Because after Dallas participated in the full star game, the four Thunder did not have to leave Dallas to meet with the Thunder, but the Thunder were going to Dallas to meet with the four of them.
After resting after the All-Star Game, the Thunder will face the Mavericks in Dallas on February 6.
This also allows the four-person team who worked hard to participate in the All-Star Weekend to get some rest time, at least they don’t have to fly back and forth, which is already a great reward for An Jie and the others.
After experiencing the baptism of the All-Star Weekend, the popularity of the four young people of the Thunder has undoubtedly increased significantly. Now more and more people are paying attention to the Thunder, even in Dallas, it is no exception.
"With the warm-up of the All-Star Game, there are a lot of people watching the game in this game! The US Route Center Stadium is in nowhere. After watching the All-Star Game in Dallas, many fans hope to watch the real-life regular season before leaving." Kenny Smith and his two partners did not leave Dallas. Today, the T.nT trio sat on the scene to bring commentary on the game to the audience.
"This game can definitely be regarded as a strong dialogue between the West. I think as long as the top eight teams in the West play, they can be regarded as a strong dialogue. Because in terms of record, the winning gap between the top eight teams in the West is not big. It can be said that there is not much difference in the strength of these eight teams."
"Yes, Charles, this game will definitely be quite intense." Reggie Miller was full of expectations. The Mavericks and the Thunder have made great progress this season. When the two teams meet on a narrow road, sparks will surely be created.
However, this game started with yi and seemed to have nothing to do with anxiety.
In the 1st quarter, except An Jie, the Thunder team was silent. I don’t know if it was because the fanaticism of the All-Star weekend has not yet dissipated. In short, everyone of the Thunder team played very carelessly on the court and made a very casual choice.
At this time, Durant needed to stand up, but his crazy attacks did not bring scores to the team. He took yiyi in a single quarter, but only made 4 hits. If it weren't for Anjie's score of six points alone, the Mavericks might have established a nearly 20-point difference in the first quarter!
Yi6 to 26, the luxurious American Route Center Arena, seems to be about to become the Thunder's cemetery.
However, the situation on the basketball court was changing instantly. Just as the Mavericks were about to take advantage of the victory to defeat the young Thunder, the Thunder changed their appearance in the second quarter.
Nowitzki's performance is still outstanding. Whether it is Morris, Ibaka, or even Angel, there is no way to deal with this German guy.
Not only Nowitzki, the Mavericks' performance in the entire second quarter was not bad, almost the same as the first quarter. However, the sudden power of the Thunder made the Mavericks who were fighting at home very embarrassed.
"Russell Westbrook made the fourth shot in this quarter, and made another shot! 4 of 4 shots, Westbrook has scored ten points. Is this really the No. 0 defender of the Thunder? I have never seen Westbrook have such high efficiency. Even in the first quarter, his shooting percentage is only 25!" Kenny Smith widened his eyes. Why is this guy not efficient but Van Gundy is still willing to let him attack. This is the reason. This guy plays smoothly on the offensive end, and there are few people in the entire league who can stand up and stop him.
Of course, Westbrook's yi's man-breaking alone is not enough to make the Thunder flip the game. Durant's consecutive three-pointer hit and Anger's steady swing as always, plus the 6 points contributed by "Big Man Bull" Morris. In the second quarter, the Thunder scored 40 points! They were originally ten behind, but now they ended the first half with a six-point lead.
56 to 5o, the Mavericks were completely stunned. Only Nowitzki and Danpier were the Mavericks' inside defense, but they were not enough to see it.
In the third quarter, amid the cheers of the fans of the audience, the Mavericks did not wake up, but continued to play in a daze. Perhaps the Thunder's crazy performance in the second quarter made them unable to react.
After this, even Nowitzki lost his offensive feeling. He made 5 shots, and even the Mavericks' strongest German tank was beaten like this, so the scoring situation of others can naturally be known.
When the third quarter ended, the Thunder led the Mavericks by 3 points 78-65, and the difference was maintained until the end of the game.
"Mavericks fans will not be happy. The Mavericks are disconnected in the good situation in the first quarter, allowing the young people of the Thunder to seize the opportunity to fight back."
"I'm confused? I don't think so. You should know that the Mavericks' performance in the second quarter is actually not bad. If you want to blame, the Thunder team's ability to chase points is really terrifying." Reggie Miller was amazed at such a roller coaster-like ups and downs. Once the Thunder team beat the game smoothly, they will play more and more and more vigorously.
In the end, the Thunder won the regular season game after the All-Star Game without any danger. 99 to 86, the Thunder team's third young men defeated another Western Conference team. The biggest dark horse this season is theirs.
With 25 points and 4 rebounds, Anjie was finally able to surpass Durant, the league's scoring champion, and become the highest scorer in the game. It is precisely because of Anjie's stable swing throughout the game that the Thunder has the capital and foundation to counterattack.
Oklahoma City's blue and white lightning has maintained its momentum of progress, winning seven consecutive victories, and this record may continue to expand.
As expected, two days after defeating the Mavericks, the Thunder washed Madison Square Garden again, yi2yi compared to yiyi2. Although the score difference was not even double digits, only the Knicks players knew how difficult it was.
In this game, in addition to Durant, Westbrook also continued his good form, scoring 3 points and yio assists. Angel only scored 6 points under the influence of Durant and Westbrook's high score, but his efficiency of 7 of 9 shots was determined to be the highest in the game. Moreover, Angel took Yiyi rebounds again, winning the longest consecutive game of his career to win the double-double! The Thunder's winning streak also turned into 8 games.
"It's so amazing, it's simply incredible! The Thunder's All-Stars were in a surprisingly good shape after the weekend, and Anjie's consecutive yio double-doubles is really not easy!"
................
Now people are speculating about who can end the Thunder's incredible winning streak. There are all kinds of answers. Some people say that the Suns are most likely to block the Thunder, while others think that the Spurs are the team that can defeat the Thunder. No matter what the answer is, the Thunder's next opponent, the Minnesota Timberwolves, has never been considered by people.
The West is at the bottom, and the Minnesota Timberwolves' performance is indeed not comparable to the hot Thunder. People look down on them, but there is a reason for them. It seems that before the game starts, the Timberwolves have become losers.
Tomorrow, the Thunder will be back-to-back in the icy and snowy Minnesota battle. Colafoe flipped through the newspapers and now only a few news reports on the upcoming battle between the two sides. More others have skipped this game and started to look forward to the Thunder against the Suns and even the Spurs.
It is obvious that these media are conveying a message: they look down on the Minnesota Timberwolves, which are at the bottom of the West, and they disdain to report on the team.
Love looked at the newspaper and was full of anger. It is true that the team's poor performance this season, but it was caused by various reasons. For example, he himself did not play games for yi months due to injuries, and the team's record in yi months was also terrible. It is worse than Corey Brewer, who was highly anticipated, and his performance was sometimes good and sometimes bad, with too much ups and downs...
In short, as an opponent of the Thunder, it is directly ignored by the outside world, and anyone who is left will be unhappy. Besides, Love is also a potential rookie, a rookie with a stronger competitive spirit than others.
In college, he won many personal awards at UCLa. At nBa, Love, who was used to winning games, had to face defeats in every game.
Seeing that his former young follower Westbrook had entered the playoffs, Love felt even more uncomfortable.
"I'm not a flash in the pan!" Love's crumpled the newspaper into a ball, and then threw it into the trash can in a shot position. The paper ball was hollowed into the bucket, and Love also put down the unfinished dinner and continued to practice on his own.
"Why haven't you left yet, Kevin." The security guard at the target center was very surprised. The Timberwolves players and coaches rarely worked. When it was time to get off work, these guys dispersed faster than anyone else. But today, it was already ten o'clock in the evening, and Kevin Love was still sweating in the training ground.
"I don't want to lose tomorrow's game." Love answered simply, but this was the biggest reason why he stayed.
He didn't want to lose. He was better than Angel and Westbrook in college. He wanted to prove that even now, this point has not changed.
Chapter completed!