The Basketball Court Swordsman

In June of this year, Oklahoma City suddenly became crowded. Although summer is the peak period of tourism, this situation was completely impossible to see in the past.

After all, this is not Los Angeles, and it is not a popular tourist attraction like the "City of Angels".

This is not Boston either, and there is not such a strong historical heritage to attract tourists.

This is Oklahoma, a small city with a population of only 540,000 that will most likely never appear on your travel list. For comparison, the population of Los Angeles is almost 8 times that of Oklahoma!

However, all this has changed because of the arrival of the NBA Finals. The battle of the finals brought enthusiastic fans from all over the world to this once little-known town.

Looking at the enthusiastic atmosphere of the Finals and Oklahoma City that has become crowded because of the Thunder, Scott Brooks is quite proud. It can be said that the Thunder even changed the revenue of Oklahoma City. During the finals, the restaurants outside the Chesapeake Energy Arena were still full every day even if their prices tripled.

However, Scott Brooks is not the ambassador of Oklahoma City. He is just a head coach, the head coach of the Thunder. So what he really cares about is not the earnings of Oklahoma City, but the results of the Thunder!

The Thunder and their young three came back to Oklahoma with a total score of 1-1. After losing to the Pacers in the first game, the Thunder immediately regained a victory in the second game.

In the second game, Durant once again demonstrated his super talent in scoring. This time, Brooks did not let Durant fight frantically for 46 minutes, but controlled Durant's playing time to 39 minutes. This also allowed Durant to hit two key shots at the last minute, helping the Thunder win by 5 points.

The same efficiency is also outstanding. Why did Durant's high score in the first game become an empty cut, but in the second game it helped the team win?

There are three reasons.

First, Durant's scoring momentum at the critical moment did not suddenly stop as before.

Second, after making 11 of 11 shots against the Spurs, Serge Ibaka suddenly went off to score 20 points, which undoubtedly disrupted Henson's plan.

Third, and most importantly, Westbrook played extremely efficiently in the second game, scoring 25 points with a 63% shooting rate. Henson can guarantee that Westbrook's entire career may not be able to play a few such efficient games.

Together, these three points allowed the young Thunder to escape from the Conseco Arena. For Brooks now, the initiative in the series has returned to his hands!

There are two good news for the Thunder. The first good news is that Chris Paul sprained his ankle in the second quarter yesterday and did not play again. This is why Westbrook is so effective. The outside world has reported that Paul is likely to miss the next two games. There is no doubt that this is simply a charity for Brooks!

The second good news is that the Thunder have finally returned to their home court, and they still have three consecutive home courts!

Although the 2-3-2 format of the finals has been spit out for many years, the league still has not implemented changes. Playing three consecutive home games in the series is enough to change the trend of the entire series. The team that has the home court advantage has turned into the disadvantaged. Because most of these teams can't survive the torture of three consecutive away games.

Returning to Oklahoma City with a 1-1 score and playing three consecutive home games, Paul may be absent, Brooks has begun to fantasize about winning the O'Brien Cup at home!

At the same time, in a training facility in Oklahoma, Henson did not daydream like Brooks. He was in front of the team doctor at this time, looking at the report the doctor handed him in disbelief.

"Recovering so quickly?" Henson asked again, he couldn't believe Paul was cured!

"I also think it's unreasonable, Henson. But that's the fact. If you need to, Paul can play in the next game." The team doctor shrugged, and the rumors circulating outside were not unfounded. Because when the team doctor gave Paul a preliminary assessment two days ago, Paul's injury is indeed not optimistic, and he will miss at least one game.

Therefore, the absence of two games reported by the outside world is actually quite reliable.

But again today, the team doctor found that Paul had completely recovered. The speed of recovery was one day faster than the fastest he expected!

"I just said, I feel good. So boss, I can play in the next game." Paul was naturally very excited. A chance to win the championship is in front of him. If he can't grasp it because of injury, that's too Hit people.

"Hmm..." Henson looked at the report and nodded thoughtfully. He knew that the badges he had equipped had accelerated Paul's recovery. But this matter is only known to Henson.

He didn't want everyone to know that Paul was okay, especially he didn't want Brooks to know. Brooks is a coach with a lack of on-the-spot scheduling ability. He is good at making plans before the game. As for whether the Thunder can go according to plan, this is beyond Brooks' ability.

So what if I can make Brooks' plan go wrong from the beginning? Henson smiled, Oklahoma's three consecutive away games, maybe not as terrible as people think.

June 17, the third game day of the 2011-2012 NBA Finals. Under the scorching sun this afternoon, a crowd of fans gathered outside the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Among them, the Thunder fans account for the majority, but there are also many Pacers fans from Indianapolis, as well as some from other places, purely neutral fans who just watch the lively.

News cars from different countries and TV stations filled the road outside the Chesapeake Energy Arena. The fans cheered at the camera and spread the warm atmosphere of the finals to every corner of the earth who loves basketball through the screen.

Use a sentence from a local Oklahoma reporter to comment: "I have never seen Oklahoma so lively!"

At the same time, in the Chesapeake Energy Arena, reporters have also begun to do routine interviews before the game. Several reporters stopped Henson in the player tunnel. They all wanted to know how many games Chris Paul would miss.

"That's not true." Henson frowned, looking very solemn. "Chris' injury is not optimistic. He could only do some simple recovery training yesterday. I don't know when he can resume He played, but I can be sure that we will lose him very regrettably today."

The reporters were in an uproar, Henson's serious appearance didn't seem to be joking! If Paul is unable to play, Westbrook will be completely liberated. Just look at how effective Westbrook played without Paul in the last game, and you know how much advantage the Thunder have.

And it's not just Westbrook, once Westbrook rushes up, it is bound to attract help. At that time, Serge Ibaka will also get a lot of opportunities to make the shots as easily as the previous game!

Because of various reasons for building the team, the Thunder's insiders are mostly defensive tasks and lack offensiveness. Even if Ibaka made 11 of 11 shots against the Spurs, it was just a flash in the pan. Since the playoffs, Ibaka's scoring average has not broken double digits. Perkins? Not to mention, Perkins has never been an insider who is good at scoring.

But if Paul is injured and Westbrook attracts help, Brooks can undoubtedly let Ibaka take on part of the scoring task. One more scoring point, the Thunder will have a bigger win!

Paul's absence can be said to have affected the whole body!

"Then Coach Henson, do you think the Pacers can safely spend their three away games in Oklahoma?" the reporter continued.

"I don't want to answer this question!" Henson closed his face, looking a little angry, and turned to leave.

The reporters read a message from Henson's face-this "mad man" has no confidence!

So before the start of the game, the rumors that Paul was seriously injured and the Pacers were in the quagmire spread immediately. Henson had to admire the strong timeliness of news in the Internet age, and in just ten minutes he could make what he said just now reach every fan.

Of course, Henson believed that these news must have also passed into Scott Brooks' ears.

Two hours later, at 8 pm local time, the third game between the two sides officially kicked off. Before the game started, the scene was given to Chris Paul.

At this point, the Pacers' head point guard was sitting next to Henson in a training suit, and just shot a few baskets when he just warmed up. It seems that there is really no way to play.

When Perkins handed the ball from Horford to Westbrook, Scott Brooks suddenly felt like he was holding the ball!

And Henson Joe has officially started to implement his winning plan...