2018: The fateful showdown between two James and the Warriors

The finale of 2018 is well known: the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers and won the third championship in four years, ending the four-year cavalry battle and ending the longest entanglement in modern NBA: the Spurs and the Heat only met in the finals for two consecutive years, KG's Celtics and Kobe's Lakers gathered twice in three years, and Magic's Lakers and Bird's Celtics only met three times in four years.

And Stephen Curry and LeBron James met in the Finals for four consecutive years.

If Kevin Durant is included, these three people shared seven regular season MVPs in the decade 2009-2018 and won six of the seven championships from 2012-18.

The era of Magic and Bird remained in the old story, and Duncan, Sharks and Kobe's relationship has never risen to the height of the finals: So, Curry, LeBron and Durant, this is the most tragic NBA legend we have experienced personally.

In addition to the end of the era of Cavaliers, we have also witnessed the end of many stories:

Durant's last championship so far, LeBron James' last year in the Cavaliers, and Leonard's last time in the Spurs.

But the climax of this year is not a farewell, but a reunion:

This year, the two coaches Dantoni and Cole, who had worked with the Suns, will lead the Rockets to showdown with the Warriors; James Harden will encounter Durant and Curry again, and the Rockets give the Warriors the most difficult trial.

Unlike the Fire Brave Western Conference Finals that ended in 2015, this year's Rockets, on the court and in philosophy, were the toughest challenges that the invincible champion Warriors Locks had experienced in those two years.

So 2018 can also be summarized as: the fateful showdown between two James (LeBron and Harden) and the Warriors. In the summer of 2017, Kyrie Irving, who had fought side by side with LeBron James for three years and won three consecutive Eastern Conference championships, announced that he would leave the Cavaliers.

Previously, in the summer of 2014, LeBron left Miami Heat and signed a two-year contract with the Cavaliers. In 2015, LeBron signed another two-year contract of 47 million, and the second year contract was the player option. In 2016, LeBron signed another three-year contract of 100 million, the player option for 2018. Perhaps LeBron wants to use this signature to control his own destiny to the greatest extent. However, Irving also wants to dominate his own destiny.

When I was 19 years old, Irving once described his character like this: "I may be one of the best people in history. I just want to destroy my opponent. My dad taught me."

So the Cavaliers traded with the Celtics, took over the 175-centimeter defender Isaiah Thomas handed over by the Celtics, and Irving went to the Boston Celtics. But his luck is not good: in the first game of the Celtics' regular season in 2017-18, star forward Hayward from the Utah Jazz was injured and announced to be reimbursed.

Of course, few people could have expected that at that time, Irving and Hayward were not the future of the Celtics; Jaylen Brown, the Tanks of the previous year and Jason Tatum, who just arrived at the Celtics this year, will defeat Irving in seven years to win the championship - of course that is another story.

The Pacer who was eliminated by the Knights the year before also sent Paul George away in the summer of 2017. George had one year left in the contract, claiming that he was interested in Los Angeles. But the Indiana Pacers sent George to the Oxford Thunder, who got the Thunder's 2013 second defender Victor Oladeep and rookie Sabonis Jr. - the son of Lithuanian giant "Roof of the World" Avidas Sabonis.

In addition to George, Thunder also got Melon Anthony. Chris Paul, 32, went to the Houston Rockets from the Los Angeles Clippers. The Rockets paid a huge price for him: Patrick Beverly, Sam Decker, Montrez Harrell, Darren Hillard, DeAndre Liggins, Lou Williams and Kyle Witzel.

The assist King Harden of the previous year has shown the world's top threat of ball-holding attack and pass-through ability. 25% of his passes are long passes above 30 feet, unparalleled in the league. The Rockets implemented Dantoni's space strategy, combined with Harden's magic ball style, the team pulled away when counterattacked. Harden took the ball and fed his teammates three-pointers; when forming a positional war, Harden held the ball and rolled, either attacked the basket, or made three-pointers, or looked for Capela, or looked for outsiders, and Anderson, Gordon and Ariza to shoot long shots. This style of play can play Harden's efficient offense and broad vision, but the burden is also great: the 2017 playoff Rockets were defeated by the Spurs, which is related to Harden's physical exhaustion.

Paul is the master in the allocation of teammates. He and Harden have enough threats to create offensive opportunities alone and share organizational pressure for Harden.

In 2017, Paul described his broad vision and prediction ability to "Sports Illustrated". He gave an example, "If you were to go home, there were only a few roads to go. The same was true on the basketball court. After I swept by one, other defenders could only appear from a few limited places." This is where his overall vision of the big picture comes from.

With Paul, Harden can focus on scoring.

In the summer of 2017, Harden claimed to have lost 12 pounds and added new weapons to himself. Previously, Harden was looking for pick-and-roll, and he liked to use hand-changing dribble to get rid of it. He liked to use cross steps and non-dribble to get stuck. When breaking through, he liked to stretch his arms to find physical contact or make a layup with low hands. The NBA has no choice but to do anything to him: because he is afraid of his possible step-drawing and passing the ball to find his teammates. In the previous three seasons, Harden scored more than 800 free throws every year; in four of the previous five seasons, Harden led the NBA with both free throws and turnovers. More breakthroughs, more free throws, high efficiency, and more mistakes.

After the start of the 2017-18 season, Harden still had free throws, but his breakthrough layups and mistakes became fewer: I don’t know if it was affected by the success of Curry and the Warriors, Harden added a three-pointer to retreat. After losing 12 pounds, he took off more freely, took off lighter, and his hands were more stable: he shot three-pointers like free throws.

This season, Harden won Curry's title of three-pointer, and scored an astonishing 265 three-pointers in 72 regular season games, of which 196 were singles and strong shots. Of the 386 two-pointers Harden scored this year, only 34 were assisted by his teammates, plus the league's No. 624 free throw: he became the NBA's highest-yield singles machine.

With Harden's threat of holding the ball and Paul's instigation, the Rockets have become extremely terrible: when either Harden and Paul rest, the other person can also hold the ball on the court to organize the offense. The Rockets got 196 cm PJ Tucker and Lakers champion forward Trevo Ariza, and their forward defense was stronger. Center Clint Capela is the biggest beneficiary, as if Tyson Chandler, who was fed an alley relay pass by Paul during the Hornets: on the defensive end, Capela protected the basket, and on the offensive end he happily cut in and cut in the pick-and-roll, and received Harden one pass after another to dunk. Of Harden's 630 assists this year, 241 were fed to the team's scorers, and 359 were fed to the basket - 193 were fed to Rockets center Capela.

So in the 2017-18 season, the Rockets finally won 65 wins and 17 losses.

And the defending champion Golden State Warriors, because Stephen Curry rested 31 regular season games due to injury, only 58 wins and 24 losses. This is the first time since the 2014-15 season that the Warriors missed the top spot in the Western Conference's regular season.

The other teams have their own worries.

—In Russia, melon and thunder are not harmonious. Westbrook averaged triple-double for the second consecutive year, but it was unable to make the Thunder achieve a good enough record.

-In New Orleans, the Pelicans originally had two top big men in the league: Anthony Davis and Demarcus Cousins. They once scored 11 wins and 5 losses in five weeks. Cousins ​​played a triple-double in the game against the Rockets. He was about to be selected as the All-Star for the sixth consecutive year, and his first playoff in his life is just around the corner. But after suffering from a ruptured Achilles tendon, Cousins' season and peak period ended here. Davis supports the Pelicans' inside alone, but fortunately he also has all-around defender Ju Holiday and veteran commander Rondo to help.

- In San Antonio, Leonard missed 27 games due to a leg injury at the beginning of the 2017-18 season; he has since returned to play 9 games and has continued to miss due to a left shoulder injury. In January 2018, Leonard continued to recover from his injuries and then left Rashomon: The Spurs team doctor announced that Leonard could play, but Leonard consulted another doctor and decided to continue recuperation. In March 2018, veteran Spurs players expressed their hope that Leonard could come back to play, but Leonard refused to return. The details of this matter have their own opinions, but Leonard is gradually drifting away from the Spurs. In the 2017-18 season, the Spurs had only 47 wins in the regular season: the regular season record of 50 wins has ended since the Duncan era.

-When talking about recovering from injuries, the 76ers in Philadelphia in the east finally made their way.

Before 2014, Philadelphia won the seven-foot giant Joel Embiid of the University of Kansas with a 3-year-old sign. This giant, who was known as "a big dream step" in college, recovered from his injuries as soon as he entered the industry and rested for two seasons. Born in 1994, he was in the two years of recuperation and surfing happily on social networks. But when he finally got on the court in the 2016-17 season, it proved that he was indeed capable: in 31 games, he averaged 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.5 blocks per game. Although the "Dream-like pace" is a bit exaggerated, he can indeed dominate the penalty area on the defensive end; the offensive end has a range that reaches the three-point line, quick follow-up agility and excellent face-to-basket skills.

2017-18 season, Embiid had another genius around him: the 2016 No. 1 pick and 211 cm tall organizational defender Ben Simmons. This left-handed young man who is often expressionless can guard against four positions; his vision is wide and he can easily instigate a beautiful counterattack. On October 23, 2017, Ben Simmons scored a triple-double with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in his fourth NBA game in his career. In the second half of the 2017-18 season, when Embiid was injured, Simmons led the Philadelphia 76ers to a 13-game winning streak. But Simmons has his own problem: he refuses to shoot three-pointers and even refuses to shoot long shots. In the 2017-18 season, 80% of his shots were within 5 meters of the basket: this greatly restricted his half-court offensive ability. So the Philadelphia 76ers still need help from shooters like JJ Redick. In the 2017-18 season, the Philadelphia 76ers scored 52 wins and 30 losses, third in the East: the Boston Celtics who were lagging behind young geniuses, and the Toronto Raptors who were led by Demar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry and led the East.

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost Irving and could only rely on LeBron James to support him. This year, the regular season was only 50 wins and 32 losses. At the beginning of the season, they introduced LeBron's old partner Wade, but sent him back to Miami in the spring of 2018; Thomas Jr. exchanged by Irving was affected by injury; so the Cavaliers only left LeBron to support him.

But when the 2018 playoffs arrived, LeBron James began to dominate the East again.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Cavaliers played against the Indiana Pacers. After losing the first game, LeBron scored 46 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists in the second game, leading the team to win. At the beginning, he broke through the left and went into the penalty area and shot backward. He made a rollover layup, then a rollover mid-range shot. Chase the three-pointer, then turn over and shoot the mid-range shot. Counterattack layup, chased for three points, scored 16 points in a row: scored a 16-1 start alone. After the two sides played 2-2 in the first four games, the two sides tied in the last 3 seconds of the fifth game. LeBron received the ball from the right sideline, dribbled the ball with his left hand to the middle, and scored a 44th point in the game, with one blow, giving the Cavaliers a 3-2 lead. After the Cavaliers lost 34 points in the sixth game, LeBron scored another 45 points alone, narrowly defeated the Pacers 4-3. In one series, LeBron played three games with 40+ points. In the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Cavaliers encountered their old enemy Toronto Raptors. This year, the Raptors won 59 wins in the Eastern Conference in the regular season, but LeBron knew the bottom of the Raptors: with 1 minute and 42 seconds left in the first game, the Cavaliers were behind 101-105, LeBron made a layup and a mid-range shot, chasing the gap to 105 and dragging it into overtime, and finally won: he had a triple-double with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists in the whole game.

In the second game, LeBron scored 43 points, 8 rebounds and 14 assists, driving the Cavaliers' offense and made 25 assists and only made 3 mistakes. The Cavaliers beat the Raptors 128-110, winning two away games in a row, leading 2-0.

LeBron in this game is considered by Toronto media to be one of the "most outstanding individual offensive performances in history."

The two sides played to the last 8 seconds in the third game, tied 103, and LeBron scored his 38th point in a mid-range shot, completing the final score, and the Cavaliers led 3-0. In the fourth game, the Cavaliers defeated the Toronto Raptors who had no fighting spirit 128 to 93. Raptors coach Devin Casey, who just won the best coach of the year, left the job sadly: he led the Raptors to achieve the top record in team history, but was completely destroyed by LeBron. This is also DeRozan's last playoffs with the Raptors.

LeBron's magic continues: in the Eastern Conference Finals, he led the Cavaliers against the Boston Celtics - in the previous Eastern Conference semi-finals, the Celtics easily defeated the talented Philadelphia 76ers. Irving was injured and could not play in the playoffs, but in 2017, Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the two-wife teamed up for the first time, and LeBron's old acquaintance Al Horford was in the inside. The Celtics quickly led the Cavaliers 2-0: Even LeBron scored 42 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in the second game, it would be useless. In the first two games, LeBron was still playing with the idea of ​​holding the ball against the Raptors. He didn't have a deep position in the interior and did not participate in enough covers.

But LeBron immediately found his problem. After returning to home, the Cavaliers scored two games: LeBron scored 44 points in the fourth game. In the fifth game, the Celtics won the Battle of Tianwang Mountain and led 3-2.

Game 6, on the edge of the cliff, LeBron took over in full: shot 33 shots in the game. At the last moment of the game, he was exhausted and made 2 of 10 shots, but at the last moment when he was obviously out of ammunition and food, LeBron jumped two sideways and made three-pointers on the left wing to secure the victory: he scored 46 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists in the game, and the Cavaliers chased 3-3. Boston media lamented, "Don't you know where those two long shots flew out in the last moment?" In this series, the Celtics' 2016 Tessell Jaylen Brown and 2017 Tessell Jayson Tatum showed some of the flaws behind the genius: Jaylen Brown is an excellent counterattack expert and an active single defender, but his unball run, rotation and back-body steps are not meticulous enough; Tatum has long hands and feet, comprehensive skills, a forward figure but has peripheral skills, and has a fixed-point basket, but his three-in-check threat is not straightforward enough, and he does not dare to actively pursue physical contact when cutting inward.

This is the first time they have joined forces to enter the Eastern Conference Finals, and they have to attack this stage many times since then.

Game 7, Boston. LeBron has won 23 Eastern Conference series in a row, and his last loss in the Eastern Conference was in 2010. LeBron has not lost the seventh game in ten years, and his last loss to the seventh game? It was 2008, or in Boston, where he had a fateful showdown with Paul Pierce. He scored 45 points that day and Pierce scored 41 points, but the Celtics defeated the Cavaliers.

In this seventh game in 2018, LeBron played 48 minutes hard. In the last minute of the game, both sides were in a stalemate. LeBron started the train and started the layup, and rushed straight to the basket. Celtics' Marcus Morris pressed his shoulders with his hands from behind; LeBron continued to move forward, pulling his legs with him and Morris in a total of more than 200 kilograms, rushing towards the basket, and having a low hand: score, add free throws, and lock in the victory. That's the epitome of the entire series. The Celtics put all the weight on LeBron's shoulders, but LeBron took it all the way. In the seventh game, LeBron scored 35 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists, leading the team to make a comeback 4-3.

So for the eighth consecutive year, LeBron James came to the NBA Finals.

opponent, for the fourth consecutive year: Golden State Warriors.

In the first round of the 2018 Western Conference Playoffs, the biggest upset was that the third in the West Portland Trail Blazers were swept out 4-0 by the sixth in the West New Orleans Pelicans: Damian Lillard, the Trail Blazers defender selected for the first lineup of the regular season, was tortured by the Pelicans and Holiday's pursuit: throughout the series, Lillard averaged less than 19 points per game, with a shooting percentage as low as 35%, and 4 turnovers per game. Pelicans' Anthony Davis dominated the series: he dominated the team's aggressive defense, 2 steals and 3 blocks per game, offensively, and averaged 33 points and 12 rebounds per game.

But in the Western Conference semi-finals, the Pelicans were killed 4-1 by the Warriors: their off-ball screening system is too single and powerless for a smart team like the Warriors. This is the end of an era for the Pelicans, but for Davis, Holiday and Rondo, it is another beginning: three years later, the three of them will wear the championship rings separately, although they are not in New Orleans at that time.

The Utah Jazz's newcomer of the year and plays a bit like a bit Wade charm. Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz to eliminate the Russian Thunder in the first round, but even though the Jazz had the defensive player of the year, Rudy Gobert, he could not resist the Rockets and Harden.. In the Western Conference semi-finals, the Rockets used veteran Ariza to block Mitchell's catch, but Mitchell did not have the attack power of Wade as he took advantage of the situation, so he was eliminated by the Rockets.

It is worth mentioning that Harden was awarded the regular season MVP and scoring leader this year.

So far, the former Thunder three young masters have won the scoring king + MVP: Durant's four-time scoring king and 2014 MVP, Westbrook's scoring king and MVP in 2017, assist king in 2018, Harden's assist king in 2017, scorer and MVP in 2018.

Rockets eliminated the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Utah Jazz one after another. In the Western Conference Finals, the Warriors encountered the Rockets for the third time in four years. In 2007, Dantoni was the head coach of the Suns and Cole was the general manager of the Suns.

Eleventh year later, they each led a space team known for their three-point shooting. Dantoni has Harden and Cole has Curry. Both of them entered the industry in 2009 and both had three-pointers in the league, but their styles were very different.

Dantone's Rockets use space to seek efficiency. Harden held the ball, Paul held the ball, and the scorer group surrounded. They break through + three points, using magic balls and efficiency to win.

Cole's Warriors used space to pass and cut. Curry has the best shooting skills in basketball history, but he relies more on off-ball moves and three-point threats to open up space for his teammates. In the 2018 Western Conference Finals, Harden scored 41 points in the first 31 minutes of the first game against the Warriors, but in the last 4 minutes, he got nothing. In fact, Harden made 14 of 24 shots alone in the game, but the Rockets made 25 of 61 shots, 8 of 28 three-pointers and 11 assists. As for the Warriors, Durant scored 37 points, Clay scored 28 points, Curry scored 18 points and 8 assists: The Warriors won 119-106.

In the second game, the Rockets changed their thinking: relying on the pressure and defense replacement on the line, forcing the Warriors to make 7 mistakes in the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Rockets set up a strange formation: Paul at 183 cm, Gordon at 193 cm, Harden at 196 cm, Ariza at 203 cm, and Tucker at 196 cm. 9 minutes after this super small lineup appeared, the Rockets made the Warriors' invincible five small lineup 30-22. The Rockets led 64-50 in the first half, and the Warriors have never really caught up again. The Rockets scored 38 points in the second quarter, including Harden scored 5 points and Paul scored only 3 points. Ariza, Tucker and Gordon scored 15 points, 14 points and 13 points in the first half respectively. In the end, the Rockets defeated the Warriors 127 to 105: Harden only made 9 of 24 shots in the game, far from the first game; but the Rockets team scored 23 assists, 10 assists in the second quarter, and 16 of 42 three-pointers. Tucker + Ariza + Tucker made 68 points with 23 shots.

Harden was still in charge of the ball attack, while Paul coordinated the offense for the whole team. The Rockets relied on tough role players to entangle the Warriors' speed and won.

Returning to home court, the Warriors washed the Rockets 126-85 and won the third game. Curry scored 35 points, and the Warriors led 2-1. But in the fourth game, the Rockets beat the Warriors: Harden scored 30 points, Durant scored 27 points, and Curry scored 28 points. However, Paul, who had the greatest influence on the whole game, scored 27 points.

The Rockets relied on Harden's 26 points in the first half to stabilize the situation and continue to force the Warriors to fight alone. Curry scored 17 points in the third quarter and led the team to a 34-17 wave, and the Warriors once led to 12 points. But Paul stood up: on the defensive end, he changed defense to block Durant three singles with the ball, and on the offensive end, he kept using mid-range shots and instigation, allowing role players to join in. Both sides only hit 39% in the game. The Rockets need this: to put the Warriors in the quagmire of positional warfare. Finally, in a slow stalemate, the Rockets won 95-92 and tied 2-2. In the fifth battle of Tianwang Mountain, Houston Rockets legendary superstar Olajuwon appeared on the sidelines to watch the game. The Rockets paid tribute to Dameng with a tragic victory of 98 to 94. Both sides lost 89 goals, 59 free throws, 16 alternate leads and 10 draws. Chris Paul: He made 6 of 12 shots in the second half including 4 three-pointers. 7 rebounds in the game, including 2 frontcourt rebounds. He controlled the rhythm and brought Tucker, Ariza, Gordon and Capela to win the game. The Rockets led 3-2 and pushed the invincible Warriors to the edge of the cliff. The Rockets' super small lineup has been highly praised by Coach Cole. He believes that the Rockets' defenders are similar to the center linebacker in football - in football, most of the center linebackers are not tall, but are generous, strong and fast. This team makes it difficult for Warriors to display their flexible space advantages.

was also in the fifth game, and Coach Cole exposed his differences with Durant. Durant made 17 of 46 shots in two consecutive games, but he didn't pass enough, and he didn't move without the ball when he was blocked by the Rockets. Kerr gave the example of Jordan when he was at the Bulls, hoping that Durant would not be obsessed with a one-on-one challenge, but should pursue fast break propulsion, rapid transfer, and pass and cut movement. This disagreement will break out in a year.

But the Warriors still crossed the threshold of fate in 2018: In the end of the fifth game, Paul, who was one step away from the finals, suffered a injury to his right thigh and was about to miss the subsequent game. Although the Warriors also lost Iguodala due to injury, the importance of Paul and Iguodala cannot be compared. In the sixth game, the Warriors broke the Rockets without Paul 115-86, and chased the score difference to 3-3. Harden scored 32 points alone and led the team to lead the Warriors 39-22 in the first quarter, but the Warriors began to chase in the second quarter, climaxing 33-16 in the third quarter, and 31-9 in the fourth quarter, hitting the Rockets in a perfect state: Curry scored 29 points, and sounded the horn of victory in the third quarter. Clay played another classic game sixth: 35 points and 9 three-pointers. Durant scored 23 points, Green only scored 4 points but had 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 steals and 5 blocks: The Warriors reversed their fate again.

Then, it came the seventh game that decided the outcome.

At the beginning of the seventh game, the Warriors seemed very nervous: they made 3 of 10 free throws in the first 10 free throws, made 10 mistakes in half of the second quarter, and the Rockets also snatched 10 frontcourt rebounds. At the time of life and death, Curry stood up: in the 22 minutes after the game, he grabbed 9 defensive rebounds and accelerated on the spot, leading the team's rhythm. Curry scored 27 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists and 7 three-pointers, while Durant scored 34 points. Harden scored 32 points, but the real theme of the game was: the Magic Ball strategy that the Rockets have always relied on to win, and the "basketball or three-pointer" efficiency style failed. In order to pursue efficiency, the Rockets relied heavily on three-pointers. As a result, in this game, the Rockets missed 27 consecutive three-pointers, and made 7 of 44 three-pointers in the game, causing the offensive rhythm to collapse in the third quarter. The Warriors won 101-92, won the seventh game, eliminated the Rockets 4-3, and entered the 2018 Finals.

Warriors general manager Bob Meyers pointed out after the game that the Rockets lost 27 three-pointers in a row, which is the source of failure: "In today's three-pointer era, 20 points are not safe enough to lead. But there must be someone on the court, "We are 10 points behind, we must score." We go to the free throw line, we reduce 10 points to 8 points, we handle the defense, don't pull it to 13 points and 15 points... This is not to say that three-point shooting is not good, but in the playoffs, sometimes you just need to score. ”

This is the lesson of the Rockets in 2018: they believe in the magic ball style that is efficient first, relying infinitely on three-pointers, and have been at the forefront of the league; finally failed at the most critical moment: three-pointers for success and three-pointers for defeat.

So in the 2018 Finals, for the fourth consecutive year, the Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers.

LeBron performed well in the first game: in the first quarter, he made a step adjustment after breaking through and adjusted his speed and made a layup with a cover; he jumped through a three-pointer with a medium jump hook shot; he made a high-level position and broke through with the ball. In the second quarter, he held the ball and took the open position in one step, adjusting his pace and layup. After both sides tied 70, he reversed Hit a 30-foot long shot close to a single action shot: At this point, he made 13 of 16 shots. Regardless of the technical details and shooting choices, they are perfect.

LeBron made a layup against Green twice in the fourth quarter. When he was behind 96 to 100, LeBron called Hill and JR Smith to cover two screens, targeting Curry, and a breakthrough dunk. In the end of regular time, he broke through Durant, faced Green, and adjusted the balance and threw the basket. In the last 50 seconds of the game, LeBron broke through and made a three-pointer, scoring a 47th point, giving the Cavaliers 104 to 102.

Unfortunately, the Cavaliers did not stabilize in the end: because of JR Smith's strange mistake, the Cavaliers were dragged into overtime. In the end, the Cavaliers lacked stamina, and the Warriors won 124-114.

LeBron scored a career-high 51 points in a single playoff game - those who scored 50 points in the NBA history Finals include: Baylor's 61 points in 1962, Jordan's 55 points in 1993, Barry's 55 points in 1967, West's 53 points in 1969, and Petty's 50 points in 1958. After the game, LeBron hit the wall of the locker room with annoyance and injured his right hand.

Game 2, one minute at the beginning of the fourth quarter, LeBron scored a three-pointer, and the Cavaliers fell 7 points behind 83-90. But 20 seconds later, Curry forced a defense and made a strong shot Scored a three-pointer. In the next round, Curry rebounded and quickly advanced after the backcourt, passing Green and cutting another three-pointer. The Warriors led by 13 points. Three minutes later, Curry replaced Lof against him and scored a three-pointer: 103-89. Afterwards, Curry was knocked down by Lof on the right wing, but the three-pointer was still successful. Curry scored the fifth three-pointer on the left wing: within 8 minutes, Curry swept 16 points in one breath. In the whole game, Curry scored 33 points and 8 assists, and shot into the 9 three-pointers recorded in the NBA Finals. In the second quarter, he scored a three-pointer to widen the gap to 15 points, Jeff Van Gundy, who commented on the sidelines, joked:

"Curry is just kidding you! "In the fourth quarter, when Curry pushed the whole team forward, Van Gundy said again: "Curry is in contact with everyone in the game! ”

So the Warriors won 122-103, leading the Cavaliers 2-0.

The Cavaliers defended Curry to death, but Durant came: Durant scored a career-high 43 points in the playoffs in the game. In the last 2 minutes of the game, LeBron scored a three-pointer and the Cavaliers chased to 100-101. But Durant first assisted Iguodala to dunk, and then counterattacked with a chasing counterattack and stopped 9 meters away from the basket, locking in the victory - almost exactly the same as the previous year The same shooting point, the God of Death swung the knife, ending the suspense.

So for two consecutive years, in the third game of the finals, the Warriors led the Cavaliers 2-0, and Durant pulled out and shot a deadly three-pointer. The Warriors won 110-102, leading the Cavaliers 3-0.

There is no suspense in the fourth game: Curry scored 37 points, Durant scored 20 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, his first triple-double in his playoffs, and the Warriors broke the Cavaliers 108-85 Swipe, 4-0, Golden State Warriors won the 2018 championship, the third championship in four years.

Kevin Durant held up the Finals MVP trophy for the second consecutive year: it has been six years since he played in the Finals for the first time in 2012, lost to LeBron, and watched LeBron raise his first championship trophy.

The Rockets and Cavaliers fought against the Warriors one after another, which can be seen as a showdown between two basketball thinking:

LeB Ron James and James Harden are both top-notch ball-holding cores, and combined with the shooter group and a large number of anti-pinch attacks to fight against the Warriors' wide-area space team.

In the end, LeBron ended the season with the most tragic playoffs in his career. Harden led 3-2 with Paul's injury, and lost 27 consecutive shots in the seventh game, and lost in disgrace.

Durant relied on his outstanding scoring ability to win the MVP of the Finals again, but the Warriors' core tactics of three championships in four years are still the team's passing and cutting..

Half a year later, on December 28, 2018, Curry himself said:

"I do want more ball holding... But the team needs a balance, and I need to let Durant take the spot, Clay has a shot, and let Green hold the ball to make the tactic run."

In the summer of 2025, Curry admitted:

"I was very close to FMVP in 2018, but the third game Not playing well, Durant played incredible throughout the series and entered the FMVP shortlist. At that time, if you played for the FMVP, you would be distracted and unable to really get things done, which would hinder yourself a little. So I didn’t think so much, I almost got distracted in 2018, but of course I hope to win the championship. Durant’s two FMVPs deserved.”

The first two games of the finals that year, Curry scored 64 points and Durant scored 52 points. The Warriors 2-0.

In the first half of the third game, Curry made 1 of 8 shots and Durant scored 24 points.

If Durant continues to score, will the MVP in the finals run away?

In the second half of the day, Durant made 8 goals, of which Curry blocked two and passed two. Including a three-man's eye and fell to the ground to assist Durant. At the last moment of the game, the overall situation was decided. Curry ran without the ball to catch Durant's pass, but was still attacked by the Cavaliers, and was fed to Zhu Meng to lock in the victory.

Curry scored 9 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in the second half, tied with Durant with the highest team +15 - was hit? Then run without the ball and pass more. Coach Cole said: "I hope the fans understand that many people ask me why I don't let Curry pick-and-roll. I want to say that the special thing about our team is that there are too many organizers... so everyone is involved in the breakthrough and passes and moves."

This passage can be regarded as the biggest difference between Curry and Harden, Durant and LeBron. This is also the core of the Golden State Warriors' group transmission and cutting.

From the results, the Warriors won the championship in three years in four years would make bystanders feel bored; but from the perspective of basketball skills and tactics, the Warriors played the best team basketball at that time: the only ball sharing and pass-cut moves seen in history. It’s just that when they happened to be killed by the team tactics, a superstar came out to take over.

But with the end of the 2018 finals, the battle of the Knights also came to an end. The times are about to turn to the next page.