Chapter 174 A stepping stone

Author: A hint of divination

Chapter 174 A stepping stone

Durant finally got his wish and won the AMVP and won the damn crystal trophy.

But throughout the award ceremony, Durant had an expression on his face throughout. I believe that even if he laughed at this moment, it would be uglier than crying.

Although the result was what he wanted, this was not the process he wanted!

Lip's three-pointer at the last minute stole the show.

It's a pity that Li Pu only scored 11 points. He passed the ball to Durant in front of him and didn't want to score at all.

Durant scored a game-high 36 points, most of which came in the first three quarters.

But there is no other way. The selection of AMVP is based on who scores the highest score?

Durant is a person who cares very much about other people's evaluations. I believe everyone with eyes knows this.

Therefore, as Durant holds the trophy at this moment, he can already think about how people online will evaluate him after the game!

Data brush? A softie at critical moments? Was the AMVP trophy brought to your lips by your teammates?

For a moment, Durant became more and more angry as he thought about it, and he wanted to drop the trophy in his hand.

Do you understand football? If I don’t score in front of me, how will the team reach the end?

If I hadn't attracted a double attack, how would that guy Prince have the space to kill?

Uh, Durant seems to have forgotten that Li Pu shot the ball against Howard...

Therefore, Durant's explanation is ultimately pale, and no matter how many trumpets he uses to defend it, he cannot change people's attitudes.

This made Durant experience the powerlessness of facing public opinion for the first time.

Of course, compared with the events such as his surrender to the enemy in 2016 and the closure of the "Green Formula" in 2022, the overwhelming public backlash pales into insignificance.

This can only be regarded as a small scene.

Fortunately, people don’t seem to be that concerned about the ownership of this AMVP at this time!

Because after the All-Star Game, the second half of the NBA regular season finally begins.

People's focus has long since shifted.

The memory of the Internet is short-lived after all.

On February 28, after just one day of rest, the regular season resumed.

Fortunately, the Thunder did not have a game that day, but came to Philadelphia to challenge the 76ers away from home the next day, February 29.

Yes, this year is a leap year and February has 29 days.

This season's 76ers, although there are still no superstars and team building blocks in the team, the team's strength is not weak.

The team has a group of good players including Andre Iguodala, Jrue Holiday, Elton Brand, etc., which gives the 76ers a strong combat capability. The current record of 21 wins and 14 losses makes the 76ers very strong.

They are still stable in the playoff range.

Therefore, in tonight's game, they caused a lot of difficulties for the Thunder.

Perhaps because of the long rest time, or perhaps because his mentality has not changed yet, in this game, Westbrook performed poorly against Holiday's defense, making 4 of 14 shots and only scoring 12 points.

Although Holiday's title as "the first post-90s All-Star" has been taken away by Lip, his strength has not been affected.

Although on the offensive end, Holiday is not as strong as Westbrook, on the defensive end, it makes it extremely difficult for Westbrook to play.

But after all, the Thunder have a lot of players, and just restricting Westbrook will not help them win.

With Lip and Durant teaming up to score 64 points, the Thunder finally narrowly defeated the 76ers 92:88 and escaped from Philadelphia.

Entering March, the Thunder are still in great shape.

Although they lost to the Magic by 3 points on the road on the 1st, the Thunder surged again after that.

The main reason for the loss to the Magic was that the Magic's group of outside three-point shooters broke out. No matter how the Thunder defended, they had a way to put the ball into the basket.

They made a total of 16 three-pointers in the game. How could the Thunder win?

On the 3rd, they played away against the Eagles.

In this game, Lip played very well, scoring 21 points, 16 rebounds and 5 blocks in the first three quarters, and then nothing happened.

So he faced the scumbag Pachulia. When he was grabbing a rebound at the end of the third quarter, Lip stepped directly on Pachulia's foot.

That's right, just when Li Pu was getting more and more excited, Pachulia stretched out his sinful foot towards Li Pu.

To be honest, this is an unnecessary move. After all, this is just a regular season game, winning or losing doesn't matter.

But Pachulia didn't care about this. It might be Li Pu's outstanding performance, or it might be Li Pu's trash talk that angered Pachulia. In short, Pachulia finally made such a vicious move on Lip.

Fortunately, Li Pu was in good health. He lay on the ground for a while, stamped his feet on the sidelines, and seemed to be fine.

But Brooks did not dare to put Li Pu on the court again, so he quickly replaced him and asked the team doctor to check him. He did not let Li Pu play again in the subsequent games.

In the end, the Thunder defeated the Eagles without any danger.

After the game, a doctor's examination revealed that Lip's ankle test was negative and there was no structural damage.

After the media and fans breathed a sigh of relief, they criticized Pachulia one-sidedly. However, Pachulia remained stubborn and said that it was just a routine action and he did not mean it.

But in the face of his hypocritical apology, no one bought it. In China, his reputation has long been stinky. Even because the Eagles have no fans, his reputation is even stinker than in the original time and space!

No. 5 Thunder vs. Mavericks.

Although Li Pu suffered from a sprained foot, he did not choose to take a truce. This made the fans happy and nervous. At the same time, they also lamented that Li Pu has a strong body, so it is okay!

However, the stepping incident still had an impact on Lip. He performed poorly in this game. He only played for 25 minutes, made only 2 of 8 shots, and scored 8 points and 10 rebounds. His consecutive double-digit scoring record came to an end.

However, although Lip was in poor condition, his teammates performed well. The three of them scored 62 points together, leading the Thunder to a 95:91 victory over the Mavericks.

Today's Thunder team has too many people who can take the lead. Occasionally, one person's failure will not affect the outcome of the game at all.

On March 7, the Thunder faced the Suns at home.

In this game, Li Pu ushered in a complete recovery. He played for 35 minutes and scored 20 points and 20 rebounds on 8-for-8 shooting, sweeping away the decline in the previous game.

But even so, he is still not the best player on the team, because Durant scored 30 points, Westbrook scored 31 points and 10 assists, and Harden scored 30 points. There were actually three of them in one team.

Cut down 30+ at the same time.

The last one that could do this was the Heat a year ago, when the Big Three scored 30+10 at the same time.

With the outstanding performance of the four players, the Thunder finally defeated the Suns 121:113 and achieved three consecutive victories.

After that, the Thunder defeated the Cavaliers, Bobcats and Rockets at home, and then went to Denver to face the Nuggets, and also escaped unscathed.

In this way, the Thunder won seven games in a row and continued to sit firmly at the top of the league.

And with the seven-game winning streak over, time has finally arrived at the trade deadline.
Chapter completed!