Durant finally received the ball after a great deal of effort, but Tang Tian pressed his entire weight on him, not giving him any room to attack.

He became impatient with the entanglement and wanted to turn his back.

Tang Tian seized the moment he turned and lunged for the ball.

Tang Tian grabbed the ball, but Durant reacted quickly, almost simultaneously protecting the ball.

Two people, four hands, exerted force at the same time, and both lost their balance and fell.

Durant was underneath, Tang Tian was on top, and the two were entangled.

The referee quickly blew his whistle, indicating a jump ball between the two sides.

Tang Tian stood up after seeing the referee's gesture.

Durant had been pressed hard by Tang Tian underneath, and he pushed Tang Tian after getting up.

The play was right in front of the referee's eyes, and he immediately issued a warning whistle.

It was obvious that Durant was annoyed by Tang Tian's mad dog-like defense in the past few possessions.

The two sides jumped for the ball.

Durant, with his height and wingspan, won the jump over Tang Tian.

But because there was not much time left on the shot clock, he was缠着 (chan zhe) by Tang Tian and had no chance to receive the ball again.

Westbrook suddenly passed the ball to Ibaka, whose mid-range shot was interfered with by Duncan and missed, and Splitter grabbed the rebound.

The Spurs had defended the Thunder's two offensive possessions in a row!

"This kind of defense reminds me of the basketball of our era," Barkley couldn't help but say at this time.

"Yes, a scene to be missed," Kenny Smith echoed.

This was still the Stern era.

Although it was not as easy to call a foul as in the Xiao Hua era, with the improvement of the rules, players were allowed fewer and fewer defensive actions on the court.

To be able to play this level of defense under the current rules without being called for a foul.

In this league now, probably only Tony Allen and Tang Tian can do it.

Offense is the most visually appealing part of basketball, but this kind of defense looks like an art.

And not only defense, Tang Tian's run in the frontcourt got rid of Sefolosha, and he got his first shooting opportunity of the game.

A catch-and-shoot three-pointer from beyond the arc.

"Swish!"

That mad dog-like defense on the defensive end didn't seem to consume too much of his energy, and the ball went into the net cleanly after being released.

13 to 17!

The Spurs launched a 5-0 counterattack, narrowing the point difference to 4 points.

"Charles, this guy must be more durable than you!" O'Neal joked to Barkley in the commentary box.

"No, Shaq, that thing of his must be bigger than yours," Barkley immediately retorted.

Smith laughed beside him.

The game on the court was intense, and the commentary box was also sparking.

After failing to score for two consecutive possessions, Durant knew that holding the ball to attack had no advantage, so he turned around and ran off-ball.

But as he had imagined before, whether it was borrowing a screen or cutting to the basket, Tang Tian followed closely behind him.

If it weren't for the same gender, they would probably be in negative distance by now.

Finally, Durant couldn't stand it any longer and directly pushed Tang Tian away to receive the ball.

The movement was a bit large, and Tang Tian fell dramatically out of bounds.

The referee immediately blew his whistle.

Durant's offensive foul!

Flop actor!

There was a boo from the crowd, but the referee remained unmoved.

The jump ball possession before was actually enough for a technical foul, but because it was the Thunder's home court, and it was Durant, it wasn't called.

But this action was so obvious, plus Tang Tian's exaggerated acting skills, it was not appropriate not to call it.

Durant was muttering f-words as he retreated on defense, obviously extremely annoyed by Tang Tian.

"This is where Durant still needs to grow. You can't curse because the other party is doing a good job on defense. What you need to do is score on his head."

Barkley said after seeing Durant's actions.

"Yes, this is the difference between Durant and Kobe, he needs to become tougher," Smith said, echoing.

"And keep shooting bricks?" O'Neal then said.

After he said this, Barkley and Smith were stunned for a moment before laughing out loud.

O'Neal's identity as a Kobe hater was confirmed.

"Don't look like that, guys, that's what it was like when the Lakers and Spurs played before," O'Neal explained calmly.

Smith nodded with a smile. He clearly remembered when Kobe shot 22 times in the Lakers' game against the Spurs.

But that was 34-year-old Kobe, and O'Neal was still hating.

"But no matter what, I think Tang is now the strongest defensive player in the league overall," Barkley concluded.

Smith and O'Neal thought about it, and then nodded in agreement.

Defense is not just about ability, but also about many other aspects.

Such as basketball IQ, experience, confrontation and so on.

There is no need to say more about Tang Tian's basketball IQ. He can play at this level of defense without being called for a foul, and his understanding of the rules is very good.

Experience, generally speaking, this word does not belong to young players, but Tang Tian's offensive foul on Durant before shows that he is not an ordinary young player.

Confrontation was originally Tang Tian's weakness, but as he continued to lose fat and gain muscle, he has completely reached the league average or even the upper-middle level.

In addition to his height, and his crazy performance of mini five-doubles on the defensive end in the past period of time.

Overall, he is indeed the strongest defensive player at this stage.

Although it is really incredible for a 20-year-old player.

Just as they were talking, perhaps to prove that he was not only the strongest defensive player, Tang Tian made a great pass to Green on the offensive end.

After the latter hit a three-pointer, the Spurs had narrowed the point difference to 1 point!

In the Thunder's offense, Durant was still缠着 (chan zhe) by Tang Tian.

It seems that Tang Tian is really going to fight him to the death tonight.

He chose a dangerous way to receive the ball, leaning against Tang Tian, raising his hands high to signal Westbrook to lob the ball inside.

This ball was very dangerous, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, and he finally got the ball.

Turning around, Durant put on a triple threat posture.

"Are you going to be knocked out of bounds by me again?"

Durant was very annoyed by Tang Tian, ​​and at this time he turned around and started trash-talking Tang Tian.

Tang Tian ignored him, his entire attention focused on Durant's shoulders.

Durant took a step, then directly chose to shoot a fadeaway.

This ball was very similar to the first time the two faced off, Durant opened up the space between the two, and then made a shot.

Durant was very confident.

But this time it was different from the opening ball, because Tang Tian struck like lightning and slapped the ball.

The ball in Durant's hand was slapped away, but he quickly picked up the ball and shot it out quickly.

But in just that moment, Tang Tian seized the opportunity to jump first.

Just as Durant's ball was released...

"Bang!"

It was slapped out of bounds by Tang Tian!

There was an uproar at the scene.

Tang Tian is not only good at flopping!

His blocks are even stronger than Wade's among guards!

Also after the block, Tang Tian stretched out his right hand to the audience and raised his index finger.

Shaking left and right.

Wagging his finger!