April 22.

With the high expectations of fans, the first round of the playoffs between the Nuggets and the Thunder will officially start today.

Before the game started, the entire Pepsi Center Arena was already full. For fans who like to watch the NBA, the playoff level confrontation is basically not to be missed.

As long as you can buy tickets, no one doesn’t want to come to the scene to cheer for their team.

In fact, the moment Yang Fan led the players into the Pepsi Center Stadium, Yang Fan was actually a little shocked.

Because looking around, the fans in the audience not only wore blue and yellow cheering T-shirts, but everyone kept shouting wildly, as if they had endless energy in their bodies.

And to Yang Fan, this kind of shouting sounded like someone howling in his ear, and it could be said that he was immersive.

It has to be said that this kind of scene is still under tremendous psychological pressure for Yang Fan, who led the team into the playoffs for the first time.

At the same time, this also made Yang Fan look forward to what kind of enthusiasm the team will burst into when the team returns to Oshima and return to his home court.

Before the game, the players of both sides warmed up shooting in their half. Most of them looked for the shooting feel, and a very small number of players stretched on the sidelines.

For the Nuggets, George Carl has been communicating with the assistant coach before the game. Even if the game is about to begin, the old coach is still focused.

On the other hand, although Yang Fan on the sidelines was under tremendous psychological pressure, as the team's head coach, Yang Fan knew that he could not reveal any stage fright.

What's more, I've never eaten pork and seen pigs running. Yang Fan has never seen it on a more grand occasion than this.

So after a little adjustment of his mentality, Yang Fan seemed less nervous.

"Yang..."

"Shut up!!"

Before Snyder next to him could say anything, Yang Fan turned around and covered his mouth.

Because this guy has been talking nonsense in Yang Fan's ear since he entered the court, he changed his previous cold and serious attitude and became a chatterbox.

Yang Fan knew that Snyder was a little nervous. After all, he had never seen such a big formation since being promoted from the Development League.

Although Yang Fan entered the playoffs in his first year, Yang Fan was a legendary coach who had seen the NCAA Black March after all.

Therefore, in addition to being able to get some visual impact on Yang Fan, the subsequent oppression that can be brought to Yang Fan is extremely slim.

Even if compared, then a black March that determines the outcome is actually more cruel than the NBA playoffs.

But Yang Fan really doesn't want to hear Snyder talking about it all over again, because emotions can be contagious.

Yang Fan could not feel any pressure at all, but after Snyder said this, Yang Fan was a little anxious...

"Richard, the Nuggets' lineup on the court is very balanced, so it's hard for us to have a point that can truly complete the crushing."

"If nothing unexpected happens, the opponent's starting lineup should be the same as in the regular season, so Deng Tai, who faces you, has become the weakest link of the Nuggets."

"So I hope you can get full firepower in the first quarter, don't have too much reservations, and be the first to drive the offenses of other players from this point."

"Don't hesitate when you come out, because you and Antoine have excellent playoff experience. If you two can't be the first to set an example, then Kevin and Russell will probably become even more nervous."

While the other players were warming up their own shooting, Yang Fan called Hamilton aside alone and gave him a serious reminder.

As Yang Fan said, the Nuggets can definitely be said to be balanced in offense and defense this season.

There are even a few teams like the Nuggets that are completely unfair on both offense and defense, even in the entire league.

In this case, if the young Thunder wants to be the first to open up the situation through offense, the difficulty is a bit huge.

Therefore, Yang Fan must find the weakest link in the Nuggets' defense, and then try to target as much as possible, let players like Hamilton, who have excellent playoff experience, take the lead in driving the overall momentum of the team.

Only in this way can Durant and Westbrook gradually get rid of their nervousness and show all their regular season standards.

Otherwise, Yang Fan would be afraid that Durant and Westbrook, who entered the playoffs in the first year, would lead to some offensive aberrations due to nervousness.

After all, Yang Fan knows well that although Durant is one of the most offensive scorers in NBA history, he is not that firm in his mentality.

So before the game, Yang Fan never worried about Durant's scoring methods. Instead, he was worried that he could not relax in his mentality.

As the game is about to begin, both sides announced their starting lineups:

Nuggets:

Billups, Duntai Jones, Anthony, Kenyon Martin, and Nene.

Thunder:

Westbrook, Hamilton, Durant, Jamison, and Ibaka.

In this game, the Nuggets continued to use their regular lineup. For the Thunder, Yang Fan used Ibaka in the starting center position, not Collison with more outstanding experience.

Because although the Nuggets' inside double towers are balanced in offense and defense, the Nuggets are not the kind of player with very strong offensive ability in the center position.

On the contrary, his biggest advantage is that he has accurate mid-range shooting, so he is obviously more suitable for his position with Ibaka, who is 2.08 meters tall and has a better lateral movement speed.

After all, although Collison's lower limb strength is very stable and his low-post defense is even more amazing, his movement speed is really slow.

Once Nene is pulled to the outside line to defend the pick-and-roll, it will obviously be a bit troublesome, but fortunately, the Thunder have all kinds of players in the inside line this year, so Yang Fan is not worried about not being able to match it.

After the game started, Ibaka, who had better bounce ability, took the lead in helping the Thunder get the ball.

On the offensive end, because the five Nuggets' defensive abilities on the court are excellent, even Anthony, who is not good at defense, has defensive efficiency above the league average level in the small forward position.

As for the remaining Billups, Nene, Kenyon and Martin, there is no need to say more, these are all the best in each position.

Even the most famous Deng Tai Jones only has a low presence on the offensive end, but George Carl chose to put him in the starting lineup because his defensive ability has also reached a very high level.

Fortunately, Hamilton was the one who played against Jones in this game, a player who could not analyze according to common sense.

Because the most important thing in defending Hamilton is not whether the single defense ability is excellent enough, but the most important thing is whether the awareness of assisting defense is sufficient. After all, Hamilton will never stop on the court for a moment.

After halftime, Westbrook directly handed the ball to Durant for distribution, because facing Billups, who could be selected for the best defensive lineup, Westbrook's personal advantage was gone.

Therefore, it is the wisest decision to have Durant as the absolute offensive core.

As Durant took the ball in the right horn position, Anthony in front of him lowered his defensive center of gravity. Facing this slightly green face, he did not dare to look down on him in his heart.

It is no exaggeration to say that at this time Durant and Anthony can be regarded as the best in the league's small forward position, and the two can completely rank in the top five.

Among them, Durant averaged 29.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game this season.

Anthony averaged 25.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.

Judging from the data, Durant's score is a little higher than Anthony, but it is very limited, at least far from a level.

Facing Anthony, who was defending himself in front of him, Durant's palms began to tremble unconsciously because of excitement.

After all, this is Durant's first playoff journey in his career, and the players he needs to face at this moment are also one of the best players in the league's small forward position.

So if you say that you have no pressure, it is completely self-deception, but fortunately, Durant is more excited than he is nervous.

With Durant holding the ball in the horn position, the others on the court stood at their own position according to Yang Fan's arrangement.

Hamilton began to move continuously with his teammates' unball pick-and-roll, because the Thunder have excellent shooting ability and Durant, the scoring monster.

Therefore, the Thunder will have a large number of offense pick-and-rolls on the offensive end, which has been running through the entire period since the regular season.

Just as the Thunder continued to run without the ball according to tactics, Durant suddenly raised his hand and made a mid-range pull, and it seemed that he wanted to try the feel first.

Faced with Durant's sudden attack, Anthony obviously paused for a moment, obviously not expecting Durant's offensive choice to be so decisive.

When Anthony reacted, even if he was taking off with all his might, he could not interfere with Durant's shooting.

More than praying that Durant's touch won't feel too hot.

"Swish~"

2:0

As the sound of basketball entering the net sounded, Durant made a steadily hit with his first pull-up jump shot after the opening.

And with this shot, Durant, who returned to defense, also seemed a little excited, because in a sense, this was his first playoff score in his career.

In addition, Yang Fan from the field also gave Durant an applause at the first time. Even though the game had just begun, what Yang Fan hoped to see was Durant's courage to fight on the field.

Obviously, this time, the shooting that did not perform the offense according to tactics did not make Yang Fan feel dissatisfied, but even made Yang Fan feel overjoyed.

Because what Yang Fan most wants to see is Durant's indifferent care when facing Anthony.

As long as Durant performs confidently on the field, the Thunder will naturally have greater chances of winning in this round of the series!!
Chapter completed!