176: Chapter 176 G5 Do-or-Die Battle! The Split of the Ace!

The Oklahoma City Thunder's head coach, Scott Brooks, stood on the sidelines with a grim expression.

He stared fixedly at the figure wearing number 11 across the court, who was currently high-fiving his teammates.

In his heart, a monstrous wave of shock surged!

Something was wrong!

Something was very wrong!

The Los Angeles Lakers' offense had become too bizarre!

It was no longer something that could be explained by tactics!

It was more like... a kind of absolute control over the game from a higher dimension!

Returning from the timeout.

The trend of the game hadn't changed at all.

Or rather, it had become even more ridiculous!

Lin Feng was like a cold chess player, and the other Lakers players had become the most precise chess pieces in his hands.

He didn't even need to score himself.

He just stood at the top of the arc, orchestrating the entire court with the simplest passes and the most subtle glances.

Nick Young received the ball and hit an inconceivable fadeaway jumper over Kevin Durant's head!

Dwight Howard received a bizarre bounce pass and scored easily under the basket, even drawing a foul from Perkins!

Steve Nash and Pau Gasol transformed into deadeye shooters, knocking down all sorts of open three-pointers with clinical precision!

The Thunder's defense was like a sieve in the face of the Eye of the Heavenly Emperor - ZONE, with flaws appearing everywhere!

Meanwhile, their own offense repeatedly faltered against a Lakers defense that seemed equally full of "precognition"!

When the buzzer sounded at the end of the fourth quarter.

Staples Center completely erupted!

118:105!

The Los Angeles Lakers had taken one back on their home court!

They brought the series total to 1:3!

The Thunder players looked like they had lost their souls, heads bowed as they walked quickly back to the locker room.

The ease and comfort they had before the game were nowhere to be found on their faces.

In its place was a deep, incomprehensible confusion and daze... The next day.

In the Lakers' video analysis room.

The atmosphere was worlds apart from the previous few days.

Kobe Bryant, leaning on crutches, stood before the tactical board, personally hosting this analysis session.

His face carried an irrepressible excitement.

"Did you see that?"

Kobe used a marker to heavily circle one of Lin Feng's bizarre assists on the screen!

"This is what I'm talking about!"

"This is the true style of play that belongs to a king!"

He turned around, his eyes like torches as they swept over every teammate present.

"You are no longer individuals fighting your own battles!"

"Under Lin Feng's orchestration, you have become a single unit! An indestructible whole!"

Pau Gasol looked at his own ghost-like movement on the video, his face still carrying a dreamlike expression.

"I still can't figure it out even now."

"Why did I give up on the back-cut at that moment and run to the corner instead?"

"It was as if... as if my body moved on its own."

Steve Nash also nodded in deep agreement.

"I have that feeling too."

"It's as if I can know half a second in advance which way the guy guarding me is going to move."

"That feeling is just too wonderful."

The morale of the entire Lakers team was greatly boosted!

This victory in G4 gave them a glimmer of hope for a comeback!

...Meanwhile.

In the Oklahoma City Thunder's team meeting room.

The atmosphere was so oppressive it felt like it could drip water.

Coach Scott Brooks was repeatedly playing back the footage of yesterday's game.

In the video, the Lakers' role players all looked like they were possessed by gods of war.

While their Thunder defense looked like a bunch of headless flies.

"I don't understand!"

Russell Westbrook slammed the table and stood up!

His face was written with displeasure and anger!

"What the hell is this?!"

"We actually got blown out by a guy like Nick Young?!"

"This is simply a disgrace!"

He pointed at the screen, shouting emotionally.

"In G5, we shouldn't play any more of this bullshit tactical game with them!"

"We should just use the most direct way and trade blows with them!"

"Kevin and I will take turns playing isolation! I don't believe that with our talent, we can't crush them!"

Kevin Durant frowned.

He shook his head and offered a different perspective.

"Russell, calm down."

"The changes in the Lakers are very bizarre; their offense doesn't follow any standard patterns at all."

"We can't be impatient, and we can't fall into their rhythm."

"We should be more patient and use team defense to wear them down and find their weaknesses."

This was the first time this season.

The thunder duo had such a clear disagreement on a tactical level.

Westbrook couldn't listen to Durant's words at all.

His mind was now full of the humiliating images of those damn shots made by the Lakers' role players!

He only wanted to use a satisfying individual scoring performance in G5 to wash away this disgrace!

The meeting ended on a sour note.

An invisible crack had quietly appeared between this ace duo... Two days later.

Game 5 of the series.

Oklahoma, Chesapeake Energy Arena.

"Defense!"

"Defense!"

"Kill the Lakers!"

Even before the game started, the entire arena was completely submerged by the thunderous roar of the home fans!

They wanted to use the most terrifying home-court momentum in the league to completely end this series!

In the player tunnel.

Lin Feng took a deep breath.

The Eye of the Heavenly Emperor - ZONE consumed too much mental energy; by the end of the last game, he had even felt a bit dizzy.

This kind of ace skill had to be used at the most critical moments.

However... Lin Feng's gaze swept over the thunder duo warming up on the opposite half of the court.

The regular Eye of the Heavenly Emperor was already enough.

He keenly captured that extremely subtle atmosphere of being together in name only between Westbrook and Durant.

In Westbrook's eyes, there was a fire eager to prove himself.

While on Durant's face, there was a faint, almost imperceptible trace of irritation.

The corner of Lin Feng's mouth curled into a meaningful arc.

Tweet—!

The game officially began!

The Thunder's first possession!

Westbrook, like a beast released from a cage, directly ignored Durant's movement and charged toward the Lakers' interior alone!

Bang!

Facing Howard's help defense, he forced a layup, and the ball clanked off the rim!

Durant stood outside the three-point line, watching Westbrook's irrational attack, his frown deepening.

The next possession.

Westbrook still chose to go it alone!

This time, he hit a high-difficulty fadeaway jumper!

After the shot, he even gave Nash, who was guarding him, a demonstrative glare!

It seemed to say, this is how I play!

Lakers' possession.

Lin Feng was in no hurry to activate that God mode.

He was just using his defense to constantly pressure Westbrook.

And he was intentionally baiting him toward driving lanes!

"Russell's coming again!"

"He's playing completely out of his mind!"

On the commentary desk, Charles Barkley exclaimed!

Westbrook once again, like an out-of-control truck, plowed through Nash's defense and charged into the paint!

And this time!

Durant was on the other side, already wide open!

He held his hand high!

But!

In Westbrook's eyes, there was no sign of his teammate at all!

He chose to finish the play with an even more ridiculous double-clutch layup!

The ball once again bounced off the rim!

The displeasure on Durant's face was now completely unconcealed!

Lin Feng seized upon this detail!

He immediately made an extremely subtle gesture to his teammates.

This strategy soon yielded miraculous results!

Westbrook was playing with more and more fervor!

He was completely lost in the heroic fantasy of destroying everything with individual ability!

He continuously attacked the Lakers' basket!

And the Lakers' defensive strategy was also very simple.

Let Westbrook drive!

But firmly cut off all passing lanes between him and Durant!

Beep—!

The whistle for the end of the first quarter sounded.

32:30.

The Thunder, relying on Westbrook's demon-like individual offense, still led the Lakers by 2 points.

The scorer's table gave the player stats for the first quarter.

Westbrook had 14 points on 12 shots in the single quarter!

While the Thunder's other ace, Kevin Durant.

Had only 3 shot attempts!

Although the Thunder led the score, the cracks in the team were already clearly visible.