The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!

Kevin Durant was fierce in the last two games of the Western Conference Finals.

One game he scored over 30, another over 40.

However, during these two games, the New York Knicks' coaching staff noticed an issue: when Kevin Durant holds the ball for lengthy periods to attack aggressively, he easily runs out of steam. They immediately reviewed Kevin Durant's previous game footage and further confirmed this.

Su Wan was a bit surprised when he learned the coaching staff was targeting Kevin Durant's physical fitness.

With Mike Malone and Tyronn Lue, this assistant coach duo, which Su Wan considers historic, truly has some insights.

Kevin Durant's fitness problem likely became a significant flaw after his major injury.

However, even before the major injury, he had some fitness issues, though most media and experts didn't notice this.

The main reason is that the Thunder's "Big Three" was so talented that the other two also attracted considerable attention.

But upon closely studying the Thunder Team's games, you'll find that although Kevin Durant and Westbrook were fierce, neither of them was an "endurance king."

In the series before Kevin Durant made the toughest decision and lost to the Warriors, the Thunder Team, leading 3-1, was overtaken in three straight games. This was because their solo attack strategy consumed extreme physical energy. Starting from game 5 of the series, they began to falter.

Of course, this is quite normal. With Kevin Durant's height, yet attacking like a guard, it would be too much of a cheat if the heavens didn't give him a slight flaw!

So from the start of the game, all of the New York Knicks' strategies were aimed at exhausting Kevin Durant's physical energy.

And upon seeing Brooks involve Kevin Durant in the defense, Mike Malone and Tyronn Lue almost couldn't hold back from laughing out loud.

Truly, heaven helps those who help themselves!

It's the first time seeing an opponent so willingly jump into a pit.

The game continued in the following time.

Brooks, noticing nothing unusual, did not adjust the defensive setup and still used Kevin Durant to defend Dior.

You could say stubbornness is something that appears in the head coach of any kind of game.

Just like the classic LOL "Five Release Galio," "No Ban Jarvan IV," "Release Thresh for 3 Games"...

However, these seemingly stubborn actions have the head coach's own considerations behind them.

The reason Brooks didn't make any adjustments is that during the five days of preparing, the Thunder Team mainly practiced a defensive strategy centering on Kevin Durant guarding Dior.

Brooks' idea was to increase the pressure on Dior by constant forcing.

But he only considered Kevin Durant's long arms and legs were enough to cover Dior, without realizing that Kevin Durant's strength doesn't have the advantage against Dior.

Even at his peak, Kevin Durant defending a power forward or center is still challenging. He follows Chris Bosh's route, and having him help defense or disrupt from the side is his comfort zone.

In this aspect, Steve Kerr's use of Kevin Durant was the best.

Durant's best defensive period in his career was with the Warriors.

In comparison, Brooks seemed less savvy than Steve Kerr.

But that's normal.

After all, Brooks and Steve Kerr are not on the same level as head coaches.

Furthermore...

Dior is a very smart player.

If he faced Ibaka, he wouldn't create such frequent physical contact.

Dior's play style is to be the fastest in strength among power forwards, the strongest in speed, and the largest in size among those who excel in both strength and speed...

Playing a strategy where he's untouchable!

When media people discuss the highest basketball IQ players in the league, they often overlook Dior's name, which suggests Dior is underestimated.

His intelligence definitely overwhelms 80% of the players in this league.

Seeing Kevin Durant still defending him, Dior didn't hesitate at all, continuing to drive hard with the ball, frequently making physical contact to exhaust Kevin Durant.

He didn't expect to push Kevin Durant away or break through to score a layup; he knew he wasn't capable of that, and he's quite self-aware of this. He was just...

Purely exhausting!

Squeezing against Kevin Durant to the basket, Dior turned to find his teammate, passed the ball to Paul George at the arc top, who then passed to Su Wan on the right side.

Su Wan had just raised the ball when Seferosa jumped up instantly. Su Wan leaned into him accordingly, releasing the ball with a standard shooting form during the contact.

"Toot!"

"Swish!"

The referee's whistle blew, simultaneously Su Wan made the three-pointer!

This was Su Wan's most assured "4-point" play!

Seferosa held his head; this sight made Barkley call it familiar, and Shaquille O'Neal said: "Another victim has appeared!"

The last one was Leonard...

Bill Walton replied: "Seferosa isn't usually a player who jumps easily on defense, but the reason he got fooled so easily by Su Wan is because... the pressure Su Wan applied was too great!"

Amid the cheers of the entire audience, Su Wan calmly hit the free throw, then high-fived with Scarlett.