NBA: Warrior godfather.

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Although Durant also scored 41 points, 37 of them were scored in the first three quarters. In the final quarter, he only scored 4 points and took 7 shots.

The fierce battle with the Warriors, the consecutive fatigue, and the consumption in the first three quarters all collectively exploded in the final quarter. Durant couldn't hold up when the Thunder needed to chase points.

After the game, countless ribbons and fireworks fell from the dome of the Rose Garden Arena, turning the whole place into a sea of joy. The Torn City fans shouted enthusiastically, excited about the team's entry into the playoffs. They didn't want to leave for a long time.

This victory brought the Trail Blazers' record to 48-33, while the Thunder's record moved to 47-34, one win behind the Trail Blazers. Their win-loss ratio with the Trail Blazers was 1 win and 2 losses. Even if the Thunder wins the next game and the Trail Blazers lose the next game, the Trail Blazers will still remain ahead of the Thunder due to their dominance in the head-to-head matchups!

In other words, the Thunder has completely lost hope of making the playoffs. The competition for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference is over. The only suspense now is the specific rankings of each team.

There was silence in the Thunder locker room. No one spoke, and everyone had a gloomy look. In the face-to-face matchup, they lost a crucial battle and personally ruined their hopes of entering the playoffs.

Durant was exhausted, and his face was terribly gloomy. He leaned back in his chair and looked at his teammates surrounding him. The resentment in his heart kept growing.

"Look at these people!"

When I did my best to get 40+, what were you doing?

I'm so tired I can't breathe, but I still have to carry the team. Three years later, I've been the leader in scoring, but I still can't make the playoffs. And the Warriors, who started with baby faces, made the All-Star Game in their rookie season and made it to the playoffs. Why?!

Durant roared in his heart, but he only roared in his heart. With his personality, he wouldn't accuse his teammates directly, at least not now.

He likes the feeling of constantly scoring and being under the spotlight, but what he wants are high scores while winning, not empty points after losing.

What Durant likes most is that his teammates can give him enough help without stealing his spotlight. In the end, the team wins, he gets high scores, receives praise and honors, and his teammates also get his thanks. Isn't this the most perfect outcome?

But his teammates can't do this. Three years have passed, and except for this year, the Thunder has had a chance to make the playoffs. The first two years, they finished last in the Western Conference. Whether they were a parallel import, a brush, or soft eggs, the name has always been with him. Even if he scores more and more points, his inability to win has always been his weakness.

If I had a coach and teammates like Curry… No, I'd definitely win the championship for the Thunder!

Durant shook his head and set that thought aside.

He is Durant, the scoring champion, the team leader, he wants to become a superstar, and he wants to reach the top of the league with his own hands.

...

"Boss, you were right. Roy really stepped up in the last quarter!" Curry exclaimed while watching Roy being interviewed on the sidelines after the game on TV.

Liam smiled faintly:

"Roy doesn't seem to average many points per game, but he's a real team player. He only averaged 22.6 points per game last regular season, but in the playoffs, he increased it to 26.7 points! He never worries about himself. His stats aren't flashy during normal times, but he steps up in crucial moments. He has all-around skills and a selfless style. He's a player the coach can really trust."

Liam didn't know much about Roy in his previous life, but he had studied many game videos of the Trail Blazers this season. After all, they were opponents in the same division, and they had to play against each other 4 times each season. Plus, it was likely they would meet in the playoffs. You have to know yourself and your enemy, and in the process, Liam got to know Roy better and appreciated him more.

And I don't know if it was due to the butterfly effect caused by Liam, but Roy didn't get injured in the middle and late stages of this season like he did in his previous life; he stayed healthy.

Liam once wondered about this. He clearly didn't remind Roy like he did with Ross. Why didn't Roy get injured?

Later, he realized that although he didn't communicate much with Roy, his presence would have affected Roy's future. Compared to his previous life, the course of the games between the Trail Blazers and the Warriors must have changed significantly. The consumption or decisions of Roy would have changed accordingly.

These small choices would trigger a chain reaction, just like choosing an option in a multiple-choice exam that leads a student to a completely different life path. All the subsequent game processes for Roy had also changed because of the game against the Warriors. The destiny that was supposed to lead to a serious injury naturally changed.

Liam wasn't sure if Roy's injury was just delayed or disappeared due to luck, but Roy had undergone two surgeries to remove meniscus when he was in college. Before the start of the 2008-2009 season, Roy's left knee swelled. To catch up with the regular season, the team doctor asked the doctor to cut a small piece of meniscus cartilage, and he should have recovered with patient rest.

But Liam knows that no matter if Roy's final fate is to return to the original track or change completely, it's enough for him to enter the playoffs with a healthy attitude. He will provide more exciting games for the fans, and that is Roy's luck—and the fans' luck.

"Boss, let me play tomorrow. Even though the Spurs beat the Timberwolves today, it's still very hard for them to beat the Mavericks. If we can win against the Jazz and Trail Blazers, the team's ranking will have the chance to rise to number one in the Western Conference."

Just as Liam's thoughts were extending, Curry's voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

Liam looked up and saw Curry holding a cellphone in his hand. He must have been watching the Spurs vs. Timberwolves game and was watching it excitedly.

Butler also helped from the side:

"Yeah, boss, let Stephen play."

Liam smiled and shook his head under Curry's expectant gaze:

"No, you've been through too much in the last half month. Rest well tomorrow. We may still need you to play against the Trail Blazers the day after tomorrow."

Curry sighed after hearing this but said nothing more.

This morning, after Curry happily hung up the phone with Ayesha, he learned from Liam that he would miss the game against the Jazz tomorrow due to stiffness in his hip. Of course, if Curry felt that this statement was unpleasant, Liam wouldn't mind changing it to "back strain."

Curry immediately felt unhappy. He was in good shape, and even though the Warriors were firmly in the playoffs, they could still make a difference in the playoff standings. Why did the boss suddenly want him to rest?

Curry really wanted to play in the game and help the Warriors climb a spot in the standings, but Liam was determined. He had no choice but to accept the fact that he would miss tomorrow's game due to a "hip strain."

...

The following night, the Warriors faced the Jazz at home. Although the Oracle Arena was still full of fans, the local fan atmosphere was much weaker than before.

The reason is simple. The Warriors rested three players, Curry, Chandler, and Butler, and most of the starting lineup was composed of reserves.

In fact, if Azubuike and Varejao hadn't returned from injury and still needed to find their rhythm through games, Liam would have wanted to rest them together.

After a season, both Curry and Butler had played 80 games. Curry's average time per game was 35.7 minutes, and Butler's was 37.6 minutes. Both were very costly. With the playoffs approaching, Liam thought it was necessary to let them take a break.

Although the outside world criticized Liam's behavior of giving up the fight for a higher seeding as "not progressing," the Warriors' fans understood this decision very well. They had already made the playoffs, so why push further?

But unexpectedly, even though the Warriors rested three starters, the bench players performed extremely well. Facing the inside line of Boozer and Okur, Lowry transformed into Rose and frequently scored in the first half. If he hadn't made 3 of 6 free throws, he would have scored more.

The fans' enthusiasm was also stirred. When Liam saw how weak the Jazz's interior defense was tonight, he immediately changed his plan and stopped letting Varejao feel the game. At the start of the second half, he put a lineup with Big Z and Anthony together.

Although the defense of these two was also weak, the Jazz had always solved battles in the mid-range, and Millsap's scoring concentrated in that area. Only Deron attacked the rim more when he played. Deron also drove to the basket many times in the first half, while Okur and Boozer pushed Varejao and Ronny Turiaf away from the inside and couldn't protect the basket.

In this case, Liam simply opened the paint area even more, welcoming Delong as a guest and rotating to create space on the offensive side.

He wanted to see whether Deron was better at attacking alone or if the Warriors, a group of young players desperate to make a name for themselves, could score.

The results proved that collective power was always stronger than individual power. Although Deron was very efficient attacking the basket in the second half, scoring 8 points and 12 points in the third and fourth quarters respectively, for a total of 35 points in the game, the attacking group made up of Lowry, Azubuike, Reggie Williams, and CJ Watson was even fiercer.

They took turns challenging the Jazz's interior defense, and Okur and Boozer felt the pain from their former opponents. They had to follow Big Z and Anthony Tolliver outside. However, Millsap, with his little more than two-meter height, was not tall enough, and the Warriors were all young men with good physical condition and full of impact. He often had to stretch his hand when he couldn't protect, and soon, he was overwhelmed. Too many fouls were called, and he dared not make a move.

More importantly, while Deron focused on his personal scoring, he neglected the team's organization. The Jazz, which had been highly integrated, became a one-man team on offense. When everyone received the ball, they wanted to attack the Warriors' weak interior. This was also Jerry Sloan's instruction.

They scored many points in the Warriors' paint, but they also fell into Liam's trap.

Without Chandler and Butler, it was impossible for the Warriors to win on defense. The only way they could win against the Jazz was on offense.

Faced with Liam's bait, the Jazz didn't hold back and, unknowingly, took the initiative to speed up the game's pace, hoping to score more points in the paint while Anthony Tolliver and Big Z were on the court.

As a result, the game's pace gradually quickened, and both sides battled. Deron Williams beat Lowry for a layup, and Reggie Williams quickly received a long pass from Lowry and dunked.

The scores between the two teams rose rapidly, but the Warriors led the Jazz by about 5 points due to their ball possession advantage.

This pace was maintained until 3 minutes remaining in the final quarter when Jerry Sloan finally sensed that something was wrong, called a timeout, and asked Deron Williams to slow down and play a more controlled game.

But a basketball game is not a video game. You can't go as fast as you want or as slow as you want. The Jazz players had already formed an inertia of playing fast. At the last moment, unconsciously, they accelerated toward the Warriors' paint.

Moreover, the conflict between Deron Williams and Jerry Sloan had already deepened by that point. He had his own ideas and believed that the Jazz was falling behind and needed to catch up quickly, so he didn't follow the coach's instructions.

But Deron Williams forgot one thing: except for the Suns, no team playing against the Warriors had a good ending. Although Curry wasn't here, the Warriors were able to handle this type of fast-paced game in the last three minutes. They held their advantage firmly. In the end, the Warriors beat the Jazz by 5 points, 126:121, which was also the difference between the two teams at the end of the third quarter.

That is, the Jazz, with all their starters, two All-Stars, Deron Williams and Boozer, and the Warriors, who rested three starters and were made up almost entirely of young players, tied in the final quarter. And the Warriors defended their home court gloriously!

After the game, the fan atmosphere spread across Oracle Arena just like in countless games in the past, and the fans gave the most enthusiastic applause and cheers to these young workers.

The Jazz left the game disappointed. After losing this game, tomorrow they would have a consecutive game against the Suns. The Suns were competing with the Mavericks for second place in the Western Conference. This was another crucial game.

The Nuggets and Jazz had the same record. They were fiercely battling for the fourth spot in the Western Conference, which related to the home-court advantage in the playoffs. The Jazz lost to the Warriors, who rested three starters and fell into this battle for seeding.

Fortunately, after the Jazz returned to the locker room, they received good news. The Nuggets lost to the Suns tonight. As long as they win against the Suns tomorrow, they can surpass the Nuggets, take the fourth spot in the Western Conference, and win the home court in the playoffs.

In light of this, Jerry Sloan chose to suppress the conflict between him and Deron Williams. Everything focused on the playoffs, but the differences between them grew larger and would eventually explode one day.

End of this chapter

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