Causing Durant s escape! How did the Thunder be reversed by the Warriors in 16 years

Recently, Westbrook talked about his mental state after losing to the Warriors in the 2016 Western Conference Finals and after learning that Durant had switched to the Warriors.

Speaking of the mental state after losing to the Warriors, Westbrook said: "I was very angry, very angry, and I felt we let that opportunity slip away. I thought to myself, if we could keep the core lineup, we could do it again. My relationship with Durant is very special because Durant has been very powerful from the beginning, and I was not that strong at the beginning. Durant has been getting better all the time, and my evolution has come very quickly, and our strength has never been Equal, but our influence on the game is close in the later stages."

Talking about the psychological state after learning that Durant's transfer to the Warriors, Westbrook said: "I laughed immediately after seeing the news. I thought it could not be true. He could not go to that team. They just defeated us."

From Westbrook's interview, we can see that Westbrook was full of unwillingness to be reversed by the Warriors under the lead 3-1.

This series also changed the fate of many teams and individuals. When the Warriors got Durant, they became a strong team in the historical level. When the Thunder lost Durant, they became a team in the championship team to a team in the first round of the playoffs. Durant won two championships and two FMVPs. Westbrook never played in the division finals in his career, but he also became a player who won the MVP.

Since it is such a special round of the series, we will look back at how the Thunder were reversed by the Warriors in a good situation. (We concentrate on watching the last three games)

G5 - The Thunder's power was cut off in the final quarter, and the Warriors were blooming at multiple points

series lagged behind 1-3. The Warriors who fought against each other returned to their home court, and the whole team showed a strong desire to win. Klay Thompson scored 27 points, the Warriors made 9 three-pointers, winning the game 120-111, and winning the series back. Curry scored 31 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in the whole game. The Thunder doubles scored 71 points in this game, but the Thunder substitute scored only 13 points. In contrast, the Warriors substitute contributed 30 points, and the Thunder missed the excellent opportunity to pursue the victory and end the suspense of the series.

G6-G6 Tang, 11 three-pointers and 41 points

At the Thunder home court, Thompson scored 41 points in the whole game and scored 11 three-pointers, setting a record of a single three-pointer in the league's historical playoffs. Especially in the final quarter, Thompson scored 19 points, including several key threes, helping the Warriors score a close and overtake, dragging the game into tiebreak by himself. In this game, Curry also had a quasi-triple double-double with 31 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists. In contrast, the Thunder, Durant and Westbrook were inefficient, with the team making only 3 of 23 three-pointers, with a shooting percentage as low as 13%. Although the Thunder have 5 more rebounds than the Warriors, there are also some people in the Thunder who are super good at playing tricks, otherwise it will be difficult to win. In the end, the Warriors defeated the Thunder 108-101 at home, bringing the seventh game of the series back to Golden State!

G7 - Westbrook's condition is in a sluggish state, the Thunder team's back-range is weak

Return to the Warriors' home court in the tiebreak, Curry played an MVP-level performance, scoring 36 points and 8 assists in the game. Thunder Durant scored 27 points on 10 of 19 shots, Westbrook scored 19 points but made six turnovers, and the Warriors finished an epic reversal by 96-88.

Analysis of the reasons why the Thunder were reversed by the Warriors

(I) Physical Crisis: The Thunder rotates six people. The longer the series drags, the more unfavorable it is for the Thunder.

In the seven-game series with the Warriors, the Thunder has almost always used a six-man rotation lineup of Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka, Adams, Robertson and Witts. Durant averaged 41.4 minutes per game, and Westbrook also had 39.1 minutes. High-intensity games and long-term playing have caused serious problems in the players' physical fitness later in the series. The Warriors basically maintained a 7-8-man rotation, with Curry and Thompson averaging only 36.7 minutes and 34.6 minutes per game respectively. The decline in physical fitness directly affected the performance of Thunder players, especially Durant, whose shooting percentage declined significantly in key games in the series. For example, in Game 5 and Game 6 of the series, Durant's shooting percentage was only 38.7% and 32.3% respectively, and his three-point shooting percentage was as low as 27.3% and 12.5%. Although the shooting percentage rebounded in the tiebreak game, the previous sluggish performance has had a huge impact on the team.

The Thunder's loss script is roughly the same, both leading by three and a half quarters. In the last half of the quarter, the Warriors reversed, which shows a problem. The Thunder's high-intensity pressing defense consumes physical strength. Without rotation, it is difficult to last the entire game. The Warriors' long-lasting battle strategy works very well, with half stalemate in the first three and half quarters, and exerting strength in the last half.

(II) Tactical monotony: Over-reliance on Dewey's singles

Thunder's offense relies heavily on Durant and Westbrook's singles. That's how they eliminated the Spurs.

In the series, the second young master's shots accounted for a very high proportion, and the team's overall tactics were relatively single. When the Warriors strengthened their defensive intensity against the second junior in the late game, other Thunder players were unable to stand up in time to share the pressure to score. Especially Robertson's weakness of not shooting in three-pointers was targeted by the Warriors. Green and Iguodala crazily double-teamed Durant, forcing Durant to pass the ball to Robertson and let him shoot three-pointers, but Robertson made a fuck.

The Warriors are the representative of team basketball. They create many high-quality offensive opportunities through a large number of offensive running, moving cover and passing and cutting cooperation. The team's offensive points are scattered and blooming at multiple points, making the Thunder's defense lose the other.. This tactical difference is becoming more and more obvious in key games in the series and has become an important factor in the Thunder's reversal.

(Wednesday) G6 Soup: Thompson's fatal blow

Klay Thompson's outbreak in G6 was not only a victory in a game, but also a fatal blow to the entire Thunder's psychological defense, which greatly enhanced the Warriors' confidence.

In the first three quarters of the game, the Thunder led by 8 points 83-75, but Thompson's crazy performance in the final quarter, 19 points in a single quarter and 5-for-6 three-pointers completely disrupted the Thunder's rhythm. The Thunder did not expect Thompson to be strictly guarded, but still hit one three-pointer after another like a gun.

G6 Soup is the biggest reason why the Thunder lost Game 6.

(IV) The defensive strategy has not been adjusted in time: the failure to limit the Warriors' outside

The Warriors' core competitiveness lies in their strong three-point firepower on the outside. However, throughout the series, the Thunder did not find an effective way to limit Curry and Thompson's three-point shooting. Under the Warriors' system, the Splash Brothers are always able to run out of the open position through the off-ball run and the cover of their teammates, and get a large number of three-pointers to make their phone calls. Especially in the last three games of the series, the Warriors felt hot on the outside and had a very high three-point shooting percentage. The Thunder could not make timely adjustments on the defensive end, giving the Warriors too much outside shooting space, which became one of the direct reasons for their reversal.

G5 Kutang made a total of 5 three-pointers, G6 Kutang made a total of 17 three-pointers, and G7 Kutang made a total of 13 three-pointers.

In the 2015-16 Western Conference Finals, the Warriors' reversal against the Thunder became a classic series in NBA history.

The Thunder were reversed under a good situation, which not only had their own physical fitness, tactics, psychology, etc., but also was closely related to the Warriors' strong strength (solid rotation) and outstanding performance (G6 soup). The Warriors won 73 wins and 9 losses in the regular season in the 15-16 season.

This round of series not only changed the fate of the two teams, but also had a profound impact on the pattern of the entire league. The most direct consequence was that Durant, who was in the contract year, switched to the Warriors, and a historical team was born.