As far as the game is concerned, Stephen can't help but fail to do his best, but the Nuggets' offense is indeed very good. No matter how hard Stephen tries, he cannot narrow the gap between the two sides. Stephen has already started to breathe heavily, and as the game attacks, the time has become less and less, and I feel that today's game is really hard to play.

This is the test of the playoffs. No matter how hard you try, you can't win the game. It's easy to give people a feeling of being discouraged or even wanting to give up, because there are seven games anyway, you will lose one game, and you will still be ahead of it, and it is the opponent's home court.

But Stephen would never admit defeat so easily. Don’t look at the loss to the Nuggets so many times in the regular season, the Nuggets’ offensive strength should be a little stronger than the Supersonics, but it is limited to strength. However, when they reach the opponent’s home court, they will exert 120% of their strength, and you are still 100% of their opponents. Of course, they are not the opponent’s opponent’s opponent, let alone have not made 100% effort.

At least some people in this lineup have not exerted all their energy. Maybe he is really tired, maybe this fast-paced game really makes him feel too uncomfortable. Stephen thought about it again and again, thinking that no matter how far the team wants to go, there will be more and more games at this level. If it is all in this mental state, how can the team compete for the championship?

And when he encountered a difficult game, he thought about giving up, thinking about having a chance in the future, but if the subsequent game was even more difficult, if the opponent saw the hope of victory, the game would become more and more difficult. Seeing that the time was getting less and less, Stephen immediately made a gesture to Calesimo. Although Calesimo did not know Stephen’s intention, he still immediately called a timeout.

After the game, Stephen first communicated with the coach and said his own ideas. After Kalesimo said nothing, he immediately followed Stephen's ideas and strategy: "Through the previous game, it is certain that we are not successful in playing against the opponent, or it can be said that it is not so successful. So from now on, we have to return to the style of play we are used to, which is a balanced style of play that takes into account both offense and defense. Let me talk about the changes in the lineup. Yao Ming, you and Sergio Ibaka are the inside of the team. Kevin's condition is not particularly good. Do you need to rest for a while? OK, then Damien, Earl Watson, you and Stephen are our backcourt combination, this lineup."

It was not Stephen's idea to replace Kevin Durant, but he was really too tired. He was panting and drinking water. Sweat flowed down his forehead. He felt like a passage. He was not the object of criticism of Stephen. The reason why he was too tired was because he had tried too hard just now. His physical strength was not very outstanding. He naturally felt very tired after playing so hard. So Caresimo replaced him and took a break and replaced Damien Wilkins.

"Before the game starts, I would like to say a few more words. When we are behind in the score, the most important thing for us is to do our defense well. Only when the defense is up can we get closer. So next, we must do our defense well and not relax at all. Leave the offense to me. All you have to do is shoot and defend. Remember, the defense cannot be relaxed at all." Stephen's expression was very serious and he looked at all his teammates with a strong look, giving them encouragement and emphasis.

Regarding Stephen's addition, Calesimo smiled and said nothing. As for what he thought, no one knew. Of course, Stephen did not change the coach's arrangement. He just decomposed the task, attacked himself and defended to his teammates. There was no meaning to allocate this task. In addition, everyone knows that even if Stephen said this, he would not really hold all the shots alone, and would still pass the ball to his teammates.

After returning to the court, the SuperSonics took the ball according to their own style of play, and then made an offensive threat, attracting defense and then passing it to Yao Ming. Yao Mingqiang failed to play, but successfully protected the frontcourt rebound and then passed it back to Stephen. Stephen attacked again to attract defense, and then passed it to Earl Watson on the outside. Earl Watson received the ball at the bottom corner and hit a three-pointer.

After returning, the Supersonics defended a three-and-two joint defense as usual. The three-and-two joint defense mainly defended the outside and placed the inside. However, Yao Ming and Sergiy Baka were basically enough to protect their rebounds. As for the middle distance, relying on Stephen among the three outsiders, his large-scale maneuverability can ensure that he can make up for it no matter which direction he comes from.

Billups passed the ball to Carmelo Anthony, but under Stephen's defense, Carmelo Anthony tried several times but did not dare to take action, so he had to pass the ball to Billups again. Earl Watson insisted on the strategy of both entanglement and harassment, and tried not to let him shoot from the outside. Billups had a chance to break through, but seeing Stephen staring at him in the middle, he thought it was safer and passed the ball to JR Smith again.

After JR Smith got the ball, although Damien Wilkins' defense was very good, he still jumped up and threw the ball towards the basket. For him, there was only the basket in his eyes and never had a defender. Even if Stephen stood in front of him, Damien Wilkins' defense still played a certain role. JR Smith's shot was slightly off and hit the inner edge of the basket and bounced out, and was taken by Sergii Baka.

Sergii Baka does not have any excellent first pass consciousness, but he knows one truth very well, that is, after getting the ball, he handed the ball to Stephen as soon as he got the ball. So although he did not have this consciousness, his body took action. As soon as he got the ball, he passed the ball to Stephen.

After Stephen got the ball, he quickly launched a fast break, but before he could speed up, Billups had already grabbed him with great prescient. Although with Stephen's free throw shooting percentage, there was no difference between giving him a free throw and asking him to score two points directly, Stephen still had a fast break three-pointer, and even if his free throw shooting percentage was high, wouldn't he have a missed time?

Then Stephen missed. During the first free throw, Stephen didn't care too much because he trusted his free throw skills very much and was also confident in his psychological control ability. But if he didn't know what happened, Stephen felt something was wrong when he sent the ball out. As a result, the ball jumped on the basket twice and fell outside the basket again.

Seeing that Stephen would also miss the free throw, the fans of Pepsi Center were very excited. They probably felt that their booing played a role. They kept booing when Stephen was in the second free throw, but Stephen had already missed once. Could it be that he would miss the second free throw and quickly hit the second free throw.

After the timeout, a three-pointer and a free throw were made. The Supersonics scored four points, narrowing the gap to nine points. After the free throw, the Nuggets launched a new attack. Although under the strict defense of the Supersonics, the offense took nearly twenty seconds and the ball was passed around. In the end, it was at Billups' hands, and Billups scored a mid-range shot.

After returning, as soon as the player fell, Stephen hung the ball high into Yao Ming's hands. Yao Ming turned around and hooked his hand to get two points. At this time, the attack time was less than five seconds. In just five seconds, the Supersonics completed an internal and external cooperation score.

After coming back, Carmelo Anthony missed the shot, and Stephen missed the shot here, but the rebound was obtained by Sergi Ibaka. Sergi Ibaka made his own shot without defense, and the Supersonics recovered two points again.

JR Smith took a pass from Billups and made a direct move, but unfortunately missed again. Although Nene Hilario grabbed the frontcourt rebound, he was blocked by Yao Ming when he took the action. The ball fell into Sergii Baka's hands and passed to Stephen. This time, because Billups were on the other side of the court, no one on the Nuggets had time to foul, and Stephen made a fast attack three-pointer.

The difference was narrowed to six points. George Carl hesitated for a while and decided to look at one or two more rounds. After coming over, JR Smith made a three-pointer and made up for the mistakes and widened the difference to nine points again.

But when he came back, Stephen rushed to the basket with one dragon, jumped up and changed hands and scored a layup. If Nene Hilario hadn't stopped faster, he would have almost had a two-plus one this time, and the difference reached seven points.

George Carl decided to look at another round, but Carmelo Anthony was directly intercepted by Stephen, and then another fast break three-pointer, and the difference reached four points. The difference was a bit dangerous, basically one ball or two balls. With the current momentum of the Supersonics, it is not a problem at all.

But the Supersonics now start from defense, and they play well in the offense and don't play against you at all. It really makes the Nuggets have no choice but to start from defense like them. The Nuggets are not good at this kind of thing, and strengthen the offense. The team's offense has now reached its peak. What else can it do? However, the opponent suddenly strengthens the defense and his shooting percentage has dropped slightly.

The difficulty now is that if you slow down the pace and play the success rate, it is exactly the same as the Supersonics' thoughts, because they are not afraid of you slowing down, and the rhythm cannot guarantee that the offensive success rate will increase. However, if you don't slow down, the shooting rate will decrease, while the opponent's offensive success rate is relatively high. In this way, the Nuggets will suffer.

After returning to the court, the situation on the court was indeed no different from the moment. The Supersonics still played his tactics in a straightforward manner, while the Nuggets' offense was still the same as before. Although it was no longer so panicked, it was still not enough to widen the gap again.

With a three-pointer from Damien Wilkins, the Supersonics narrowed the gap to one point, but the Nuggets immediately re-opened the score with a three-pointer. Then Stephen missed the shot and returned to Carmelo Anthony with a mid-range jump shot to widen the gap to five points. However, Stephen then assisted Damien Wilkins to hit a three-pointer, narrowing the score to two points.

At the end of the third quarter, the scores of both sides broke 100 again. After a short break, both sides returned to the court. The Supersonics replaced Yao Ming with Cooperd because Yao Ming had played the whole quarter just now. Although the rhythm was reduced in the second half, he was more tired because he had more things to bear. But it doesn't matter. The Supersonics have a generous bench depth and can replace him with Cooperd without losing too much strength.

At this time, Kevin Durant also replaced Damien Wilkins. Damien Wilkins' performance just now was not very good, but his defense was excellent enough and he was acceptable. After the playoffs, as the intensity of the game increased, players who could adapt to the game, such as Cott Thomas, Damien Wilkins, etc., gradually could not adapt, including Du Fei, as well. However, everyone knows that his defense is not good. Choosing him to play means that he doesn't need to defend, and he can barely accept it.

Damien Wilkins was the first substitute on the team's forward and guard last season, and basically the sixth man on the team. However, in this season, although his playing time seems to have not dropped much, his importance in the team has actually dropped a lot. Stephen and Kevin Durant have basically played the whole season, and he can only play as a substitute. However, this season, Jarret Jack and Russell Westbrook introduced by the team can appear in the shooting guard position, which indirectly affects his performance.

What makes the Supersonics relieved is that Jarrett Jack and Russell Westbrook performed well in the playoffs, especially Russell Westbrook is a bit stubborn, but his scoring ability is really strong. Jarrett Jack has good scoring ability, but passing is OK, and his defense is more mature than Russell Westbrook, so he is increasingly serving as the team's substitute point guard, while Russell Westbrook is partnering with Kevin Durant, and the effect is also satisfactory.

The Supersonics still remained the same as before, but the Nuggets played very crazy. Driven by the fanatical atmosphere at home, the Supersonics' defense line is very worrying, and it is possible to leak a thousand miles at any time. The two-point gap will also turn into four points and five points. Anyway, the Supersonics have no draw or overtaken at one time, but the Supersonics have been persisting and will not allow them to continue to expand the gap.

Gradually, the Nuggets' scoring momentum weakened. At this time, with a six-to-zero offensive led by Stephen, the Supersonics overtook the score difference in one fell swoop.

Although he only surpassed one point, it was a very obvious weather vane for the SuperSonics, which had been behind in the entire game. His morale suddenly increased, but the Nuggets' morale plummeted.

George Carl called a timeout, hoping to calm the players' minds, but it didn't seem to be obvious. After returning to the court after the timeout, the Nuggets not only did not score, but instead missed two consecutive offensive attempts, and the Supersonics seized the opportunity to widen the gap to four points.

JR Smith's shot broke their scoring drought, but when he came back, Stephen told them with another three-pointer that the "fourth quarter scorer" was here. After changing to the chasing side, the Nuggets' offensive efficiency was even worse, especially JR Smith, who was wasted several opportunities, but he could make the difficult shot again. In the end, George Carl couldn't help it and replaced him with Dady Jones.

But no matter how they adjust and hand over the lead to the Supersonics, the Supersonics are not ready to give up this advantage. Although they tied the score at most, Stephen then scored two points with a layup after a breakthrough, widening the gap again.

Stephen scored 23 points of the team's 34 points in the fourth quarter, while the Nuggets scored 27 points. In the end, the Supersonics won the game with only 136 to 131 and 5 points. The three-to-zero lead also forced the Denver Nuggets, who had a great hope, to the edge of the cliff. Stephen scored 51 points, seven rebounds, eleven assists, four steals and one block in this game.

His data has been growing since entering the playoffs, which fully demonstrates that what he showed in the regular season is not his limit at all.

After three games, among the eight teams that remained in the playoffs, the Supersonics were the only team to gain a three-to-zero advantage. This made the entire North American region talk about this team, especially Stephen. The praise was endless. Many fans dreamed of sweeping the Nuggets. In this way, the Supersonics could become a team that swept the opponent continuously.

Even within the Supersonics, many people think that it is better to work harder and sweep the Denver Nuggets to the end, then take a few days off to face the next opponent.

This idea cannot be wrong, but when it is shown publicly, it will naturally be furious when the Nuggets players see it. The atmosphere of mourning within the Nuggets is getting stronger and stronger. They fight back and for the final honor, all kinds of emotions are intertwined, making the Nuggets play very tough at the beginning of the fourth game.

Unlike the third game, the Nuggets did not play fast in this game, but they were very tough and shot very firmly. They either made a breakthrough or they were fouled, otherwise they would never stop.

Yao Ming received his second foul in less than three minutes of the game, so he had to go off the court. However, Coupard, who had just played, was also judged by the referee for a rebound foul in less than five seconds. Stephen went over to explain to the referee. Perhaps Stephen did not express his respect for him. Before he could say a few words, the referee gave Stephen a technical foul, which made Stephen dare not say anything again.
Chapter completed!