The 2011-2012 season is definitely the strongest season of the Thunder, ranking second in the West in the regular season, facing the Mavericks in the first round, it is a direct sweep, you know, the Mavericks are the champions of last season, and the team has a number of superstars such as Nowitzki, Kidd, Terry and Carter, the Thunder three young people effortlessly went down four cities in a row, swept the defending champion, which also made the Mavericks suffer a great humiliation. In the second round of the playoffs, I met the Lakers led by the legendary superstar Kobe, the three young newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, Wei Shao's sharp breakthrough and Durant and Harden's unsolvable shooting, the Lakers who played were miserable, and they couldn't spare their energy to defend, and the competitive Kobe Bryant faced this situation and asked to defend Wei Shao in person, although it achieved certain results, but the Thunder in addition to Wei Shao and Haddou two stars, and finally the Lakers lost to the Thunder with two fists. The Western Conference Finals faced the experienced Spurs, although the Spurs caused great trouble for Wei Shao's breakthrough, but Harden broke out, averaging 185 points 55 rebounds and 37 assists, although the Spurs held down the leaky end, but the other end is also flowing, the Thunder blossomed more, defeated the veteran Spurs 4-2 and advanced to the finals, they will face the opponent is the Heat Big Three, but why did the Thunder, who broke through strongly in the West, only won one game in the finals, and was swept by the Heat gentlemen, and what are the performances of the three less?
1.Harden is in the doldrums.
This season, Harden played the strongest firepower output on the bench for the Thunder, often leading the team's second team to miraculous results, and he won the "Best Sixth Man" for it In the Western Conference series, Harden also played an important role, especially in the game against the Spurs, when the second brother was limited to less than 40% shooting, Harden used his key three points to help the team open the situation, in the series against the Spurs, Harden's three-point shooting rate was as high as 60%, and the outside firepower gave the Spurs a heavy blow. But in the Finals, Harden suddenly seemed to be unable to play, and his performance was sluggish, with a shooting rate of only a pitiful 375, of which the three-point shooting percentage dropped by half compared to the Western Conference Finals, only 30%. Such a shooting rate is obviously not enough in the face of the experienced Heat, after all, the Heat has the existence of peak James, as long as there is a weakness in the team, it will be infinitely amplified by the Heat, obviously, Harden's slump in the final was amplified by the Heat. Although Durant can still average 306 points, Wei Shao also averaged 27 points per game, but Harden's performance greatly reduced the Thunder's firepower output and became a key factor in the Thunder's loss.
2.Mindset vs. experience gap.
In 2012, Durant, Wei Shao, and Harden were only in their early twenties, and the Heat Big Three were already in their prime, and experience and body were in a perfect combination period, among which Wade had won the championship in 06. The trio had already reached the Finals once in 2011, but lost to the Mavericks and missed out on the championship, and this year, the Heat's Big Three must win the championship or face the danger of disintegration. In contrast, the Thunder three young people are the first time in their careers to break into the finals, facing a very strong Heat, so in terms of competition experience, the Thunder is far behind, in the finals, the Thunder in the first city, it is precisely because of lack of experience, I don't know how to play steadily, keep the advantage, and then was won by the Heat four games in a row, there is a big problem with the mentality, otherwise it will not be linked, if you can adjust the mentality, you can get back a point in the middle, but after all, the Thunder team is mainly young people, easy to get anxious and up, which is also Heat"Old fritters" took it.
3.There is a hole in the coaching strategy.
In the finals, Thunder's head coach Brooks arranged for Harden to defend James, this decision was generally regarded as a wrong arrangement by the outside world, Harden was not good at defense in his career, and he was often helpless in the face of James's offense6 points, and there can still be 7With 4 assists scored, whether it was offensive or tandem, Harden didn't seem to limit James very well, and at the same time, Harden spent a lot of energy defending James, resulting in a sharp drop in shooting percentage on the offensive end, and not giving the team much-needed help on the offensive end. Therefore, this arrangement of Brooks can be said to have caused a lot of damage to the Thunder from both the offensive and defensive ends.
On the other hand, Heat coach Spo let Wade let go and play without the ball, James is the core of the ball, Bosh is mainly responsible for the defensive end, Spo's strategy has achieved great results, making James, Wade, and Bosh very compatible, the team's offensive efficiency has been greatly improved, and the defensive end has also given the Thunder a great threat.