I Don’t Want to Be the Boss

One Thousand Two Hundred and Twenty-Nine. The Soul of Mamba Shines!

Here we go again!

After the start of the second half, the Thunder attacked first. Westbrook watched Klay Thompson on the opposite side defend him alone. The other Grizzlies, Sun Ce, Jimmy Butler, Battier, and Gasol, all tried their best to defend and switch defense, but not to double-team him, but to go around to prevent his teammates from receiving the ball!

Westbrook felt humiliated!

He felt that the Grizzlies on the opposite side looked down on him too much. In order to prevent Durant and Ellis from scoring, they actually let him play singles like this!

Klay Thompson's defense is very good, Westbrook knows, but there is still a gap compared to Paul George. Even Paul George can't defend him, but he dares to defend like this!

Play singles, play singles, Westbrook's Mamba spirit is burning!

Sun Ce and Westbrook continue to compete. The Thunder will not let Sun Ce play singles casually, and Sun Ce will not think about playing singles. He cuts in pick-and-rolls, running positions, and teammates' second passes... He uses everything that should be used.

As for Westbrook, his scoring efficiency using pick-and-roll is not as high as that of directly breaking through the basket.

Sun Ce has been looking for opportunities. When Westbrook is playing high, he sneaks in to make up for the defense. Although Klay Thompson's defense is not as good as Paul George, he is very good at one thing, that is, he does not lose his position easily. Although he is not as good as Paul George in interfering with shots in the interior, he threatens Westbrook from another direction.

Westbrook wants to make Klay Thompson lose his defensive position, so he must concentrate on finding a breakthrough space. If Sun Ce is in a position to interfere with Westbrook after he breaks into the basket, he will shoot decisively.

When Westbrook wants to take the opportunity to organize an offense in the next round, Sun Ce will honestly cooperate with his teammates to cut off Westbrook's passing route.

There is an important prerequisite for such defense, that is, Westbrook will not play without the ball.

It is true that the Thunder need Ellis as the second ball-holding point on the outside, because Durant's ball-holding ability is still average. When Westbrook can't open up, Ellis's ball-holding attack is very important, and Ellis is better than Harden last season, so the Thunder played so well this season and occupied the top spot in the Western Conference for a long time.

But that is when Westbrook can't open up, can neither guarantee points nor provide assists for teammates, let Ellis attack as a backup option to work.

However, Westbrook's singles effect now is just so-so when Durant plays!

Facing Westbrook's singles, Sun Ce on the Grizzlies side was exhausted to maintain the score, and had to rely on interfering with Westbrook's shooting from time to time to limit Westbrook's scoring, so Sun Ce helped the Grizzlies to hold the score tightly.

However, although they had the advantage on the field, Brooks, the Thunder's head coach, felt that he was led by the opponent. Their Thunder's playing style was completely different from usual.

During the official timeout in the third quarter, Thunder coach Brooks tried to let Ellis or Durant hold the ball and attack. As a result, the Thunder quickly changed from a 1-point lead of 79-78 to a 4-point deficit of 79-83.

When Westbrook did not hold the ball, the Grizzlies ignored Westbrook's mid-range and long-range shots and chose to double-team the ball holder.

Westbrook has a characteristic similar to Paul and James, and has no off-ball ability!

So, Thunder coach Brooks was ruthless and let Westbrook play alone!

Originally, Brooks liked Westbrook more and felt that a player like Westbrook would one day become a player like Kobe, and he could lead the team to win the championship.

Westbrook saw that his teammates had not scored in three attacks, and he had already scored 31 points and surpassed Sun Ce by 1 point in his personal score. He decided to do it himself!

Who is afraid of who! Sun Ce can beat his opponent with 50 or 60 points, so why can't he!

Facing the one-on-one defense of Paul George who came back on the court, Westbrook played more resolutely, with only the basket in his eyes. He successfully shot 5 times in 6 rounds,

3 of 5 shots, plus 1 of 2 free throws, Westbrook scored 7 to 4 alone, chasing the score to 86 to 87, with the difference only 1 point!

Sun Ce and his teammates clearly felt the change in Westbrook's mentality. Before, Westbrook just chose to play one-on-one according to the game situation, but he still had the idea of ​​passing the ball in his mind. Once he was intercepted by Sun Ce and counterattacked, but now, Westbrook seemed to have no idea of ​​passing the ball at all.

Then, Sun Ce used the pick-and-roll to break through to the bottom line and faked a hook to turn around, causing Ibaka, who was defending, to foul and walk to the free throw line. He signaled to Coach Hollins, who was shocked and changed players!

The Grizzlies replaced the lineup of Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, Paul George, Prince, and Gasol.

Sun Ce made both hook free throws, widening the score difference to three points again.

Westbrook saw the difference and prepared to make another attack. He felt that he would soon tie the score or even surpass it with his own ability!

Just as Westbrook rushed to the basket for a layup with strong confidence, he suddenly saw Sun Ce rushing in! Westbrook quickly pulled the lever, and Sun Ce didn't block the ball. However, Westbrook temporarily pulled the lever and made a cross-over shot!

Sun Ce received the defensive rebound and fell into a positional battle. After going to the frontcourt, he cooperated with Paul George in a pick-and-roll and passed the ball to Paul George. The latter did not take credit. When Westbrook was defended, he passed the ball to Klay Thompson who got a chance in the mid-range on the right. Klay Thompson made a long two-pointer and the score difference came to 5 points!

This ball made Westbrook furious! He felt that he had fallen into the trap of the bald coach on the opposite side! It was the bald coach who just changed players!

Westbrook, who scored 37 points and was full of confidence in himself, continued to play singles. At this moment, he had forgotten "selflessness" and triple-doubles. He had to rely on his own strength to turn the game around, and the Mamba soul was infused throughout his body!

The Grizzlies had very strong execution on the defensive end. Klay Thompson defended Westbrook, Gasol, Sun Ce, and Paul George, whoever had the opportunity to assist in defense decisively, and the three of them were very capable and seized the opportunity to interfere when Westbrook shot.

The two teams were in different dimensions. The Grizzlies were well prepared to defend Westbrook, while Westbrook was passively playing the current style and had lost his composure.

In the last five attacks of the Thunder in the third quarter, Westbrook was blocked once by Sun Ce, blocked once by Paul George, interfered once by Gasol, and made a mistake because he wanted to turn around and avoid the defense. Although he scored a 2+1 and caused Gasol to foul, he only scored 3 points in 3 minutes!

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