Thunder vs. Pacers, a repeat of last season's finals. The Thunder passed the first two games of the season in double overtime.
The Thunder are without Jew Caruso Carson, the Pacers are without Haliburton, and Nembhard is missing in the middle.
Alexander’s career-high 55 points.
But Coach Carlisle is a true god.
Without Haliburton, Nemhard retreated after fighting for a while. How to fight? Shepard, Walker, whoever can get on.
In the fourth quarter, in a certain round, Toppin, Siakam, Nesmith, and Marcelin all touched the ball: except for Isiah Jackson, everyone in the Pacers shot a three-pointer. Everyone in the Pacers had an assist except for Huff and Jackson.
The Thunder don’t know who to guard against.
In the last half of the quarter, the Pacers were:
Nesmith + Toppin + Marcelin + Walker (?) + Bradley (??), and then Shepard replaced Nesmith.
Who will score the next goal? have no idea.
Aja Mitchell just made a monster throw, Shepard hit the ground and passed, and Bradley faced the Twin Towers with a 2+1.
When Alexander walked to the sidelines, Regler explained: Alexander is coming back, and the Pacers have two rounds left, so they have to make good use of it - so:
Marcelin shot from long range, and Walker scored alone.
The first 15 minutes from then on were Alexander + Aja Mitchell’s two offensive points against the entire Pacers team.
Siakam acted as the center and pulled Chet to the line, and Marcelin made a wild breakthrough.
Siakam and Toppin went to the line to support, and Walker layup in the weak side corner.
Siakam's mid-range shot tied the game and dragged it into overtime, and then the second overtime.
Toppin missed 8 three-pointers today, missed three shots in overtime, and got stuck in the basket; he and Siakam made some moves when they pushed back.
But this is Coach Carlisle:
Let go and play. Marcelin can make mistakes, Toppin can make blind shots, Sheppard and Walker can single out, and Bradley can go straight to the Twin Towers.
Last season’s finals, “organized chaos.”
"If we don't know how we will play in the next round, the other party will not know either."
Without Haliburton, there will be less shuttle starters and helmsmen? Then Siakam and Toppin can push back and counterattack, then it will be even more disorderly and chaotic.
Coach Spoelstra can make every player play tough and smart.
Coach Carlisle can make players out of nowhere become romantic and unrestrained.
The God who turns iron into gold.
The Thunder’s gain today is probably: A’ja Mitchell can be another ball-handling point after Alexander and Jaywe - no longer need to wait and see Carson, Isiah Joe and Wiggins’ ball-handling, and Caruso’s high-post support.
Alexander’s career-high 55 points ranked only third in Thunder history: In 2017, within three weeks, Westbrook had 58 points and 9 assists in one game and a 57-point triple-double.
Looking at how tired Alexander is today, it can prove how terrible the burden was for Westbrook in that triple-double season.
Trail Blazers acting coach: Thiago Splitter, 2014 Spurs championship center.
From 2012 to 14, the Brazilian, who relieved Duncan's defensive burden and was replaced by Diaw at critical moments to open up the team's mobility, and Mills both benefited from Ginobili's passing.
You can think of him as the Spurs version of "Bogut/Pachulia/Gasol/McGee/Dwight" = "non-small-ball team leader" in those two years.
The most famous one is probably the shot blocked by LeBron in 2013...
He was the "last Brazilian pearl" when he was a teenager. Hardworking, tenacious, focused, quick to move, he could even play the 3rd position in his early years. The one who was touted by the Brazilian media was South America's Kirilenko, who was considered better than his contemporary Varejao before the draft. After retiring, he achieved great success as a coach overseas.
was previously an assistant coach for the Trail Blazers.
What happened to the Trail Blazers was a terrible start for the Trail Blazers and Yang Hansen: Uduka also left the Celtics in 2022 due to off-court incidents, but that was the offseason, and the Celtics still had time to use Mazzula.
The team will definitely need time to adjust after that.
Must think on the bright side:
Chauncy had never been a head coach before coaching, but Split had been.
Split has won a lot of championships in Spain, has successfully coached in Europe, and knows how to treat foreign players.
As a foreigner himself, he should be well aware of Yang Hansen's current treatment - Yang Hansen is the Chinese rookie No. 16 in 2025, and Split is the Brazilian rookie No. 28 in 2011.
The Warriors melted the Nuggets in overtime: sanity and fanaticism.
Jokic’s sanity, Gordon’s fanaticism—Curry’s sanity in the first half and fanaticism in the second half.
After the frenzy, all existing logic no longer applies: "The atmosphere is here!"
Denver scored 70 points in the first half: The core was Aaron Gordon, who had the best half of his career, making 7 of 7 three-pointers. More than one ball, it was "Kuminga/Podie was far away from Gordon and could not make up for it".
Poje’s gap in coverage is due to his short size, while Kuminga’s is an old problem: he leads the defense well and has no ball gap. Three years ago, the Warriors specially arranged it, with Clay/Kuminga leading the defense and Wiggins responsible for off-ball defense - aside from the topic, that was coach Mike Brown's coup.
The Warriors made an adjustment in the second half: Kuminga stopped attacking Gordon (the terminator) and instead defended Murray (the ball carrier)!
The Nuggets scored 70 points in the first half and only scored 24 points in the third quarter.
Basically comes from strong play: Kayo's back to beat Curry, Gordon's back to beat Curry, Murray's face to beat Kuminga, Gordon's chase, and so on.
In turn, the Warriors’ system flows:
Jimmy → weak side chasing Curry’s two-man long shot; Horford → Payton Jr. → Curry’s inward shot; and so on..
Even Kuminga gave him the smartest goal in the game: he could have taken advantage of Murray's opportunity, but he fed Dream Chaser's inward cut.
After Curry left the game, Jimmy led the team in a battle with Jokic + Murray, and he also held on: only a magical buzzer beater by Murray only tied the game at 94. In the fourth quarter, as soon as Hardaway took a long shot, Jimmy also fed Dream Chaser a three-pointer.
At this time, a key emotion comes on stage:
Will Richard, a young man with little talent but fearlessness. He cut inside to force a free throw and actively filled in on the defensive end. Even though Gordon scored 2+1 and broke his career record of 41 points, Richard's key three-pointer ignited the atmosphere of the Warriors: when the team needed the flames the most.
Then Curry took over.
Curry scored 16 points in a row, including a three-point foul and a long shot to tie the game at 117.
When Gordon hit the tenth three-pointer and achieved Jokic's triple-double, Curry made an illogical and extremely unreasonable 34-foot long shot, 120-level. Drag into overtime.
That goal actually changed the entire situation.
In overtime, the Nuggets lost momentum. Gordon European step 2+1, Jokic shot, still struggling to hit the ball.
But the Warriors team worked hard: Chasing Dream → Jimmy → Horford’s long shot, Kuminga’s half-court pressure counterattack layup, and Jimmy Butler’s three-pointer that actually sealed the game.
Most of the goals scored by the Nuggets are based on personal ability, while the goals scored by the Warriors are basically based on team momentum.
In the end, Curry + Dream Chaser + Jimmy + Kuminga + Horford ended up winning.
Gordon scored a career-high 50 points and 10 three-pointers. But the Warriors won their bet: Jokic achieved a triple-double today, but only took two shots in the reasonable zone.
All the Warriors' defensive ideas can be condensed into one sentence:
"You can let Jokic shoot a three-pointer."
And in the second half, "Let Kuminga face the ball holder."
In turn, Curry scored 7 points and 6 assists in the first half: he steered rationally and observed Jokic and Braun.
13 points in the third quarter - he said, "the defense turned to offense."
15 points in the fourth quarter - takeover, unreasonable long shot.
7 points in overtime.
During the period, they once scored 16 points in a row.
The later it got, the less logical it became, and it was all emotion:
After scoring his first three-pointer in the second half, Curry let out a deep breath. After scoring a layup in the fourth quarter, Curry shook his face back and forth.
In the fourth quarter, Curry had a chance to shoot, but he went straight to Cayo to get a free throw.
After hitting an unreasonable 34-foot three-pointer, Curry looked back and looked arrogantly.
After Jokic missed the buzzer beater in regular time, Curry clenched his fists and shook his shoulders on the sidelines.
Emotions are contagious.
Before Jimmy hit the game-locking three-pointer, he actually had an open opportunity. He gave up, turned around and returned it to his hands, "It's so crazy, shoot it!" - three-pointer to lock the game.
Then Curry scored his 40th point with a joyful layup from the backcourt rebound.
- Everyone is impressed by Curry's (and Will Richard's?) efforts. Emotions can change reality - such as that 34-foot long shot.
This is the so-called, the atmosphere is here:
"I've already entered, and I lose again today, isn't it appropriate?!"