Cole called a timeout, Tang Tian's unreasonable way of playing was a huge blow to the Warriors' morale.

When play resumed after the timeout, it was still Curry who drove into the paint and drew a foul on Davis for hitting his hand.

After making both free throws, the score was 5-11.

Curry had scored all 5 of the Warriors' points, while Tang Tian had 11 for the Pelicans.

Holiday dribbled the ball to the frontcourt again, and the Warriors' defensive formation changed again.

Thompson went around the screen off-ball, and the positioning of all the other players was also on Tang Tian's side.

The Warriors were using their entire team to defend Tang Tian.

Ron Adams, as the league's most experienced defensive assistant coach, had created many defensive systems for the Warriors.

His defensive adjustments in the previous series against the Thunder were impressive, but this time he was obviously forced into a corner.

Tang Tian's performance was much better than he and the Warriors coaching staff had expected.

Even though they had watched film of Tang Tian's playoff performance this season.

But now they had to accept the reality that Tang Tian had obviously not been going all out in the first two rounds.

A five-man defense was the best they could do.

Tang Tian drove into the restricted area and was almost surrounded by five players.

In the double team, he passed the ball to Ariza on the baseline, who caught the ball and shot.

Barnes rotated back quickly, and his shot was contested, hitting the rim and bouncing out. Green boxed out Jokic to secure the defensive rebound.

The Warriors had finally stopped the Pelicans' offense after the opening!

Adams breathed a sigh of relief on the sidelines, and Cole also reached out and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

It finally worked!

If the Pelicans continued to score like that, their opening game would collapse before long.

Curry hit a three-pointer from the outside, and the point difference was immediately reduced to 3 points.

Tang Tian's performance after the opening was quite explosive, but Curry also turned on his god-like mode early, helping the Warriors to keep the score close.

"Shaq, the Warriors are in good shape."

Barkley turned to look at O'Neal at this time.

Tang Tian's strength in the front made him feel that O'Neal's nonsense was about to come true, but Curry's performance changed his mind again.

Just like he used to think that the Warriors, a jump-shooting team, couldn't win a championship, people's ideas are always changing.

"Hey, Charles, the game has just begun!"

Before O'Neal could finish speaking, Tang Tian hit a pull-up three-pointer over Thompson!

The Warriors' five-man contraction defense forced Tang Tian to pass the ball when he got to the restricted area.

Then he would just shoot from outside!

In reality, more than 50% of his points came from shooting, and breakthroughs and passing were just auxiliary!

Curry used Green's screen, a meter away from Davis, and two meters away from the three-point line, to shoot a super long-range three-pointer directly.

"Swish!"

The ball went in!

Answer ball!

Tang Tian entered his zone, and Curry quickly entered it as well.

One was this season's MVP, and the other was last season's MVP, and the two put on a real god-like showdown after the opening!

The fans at the scene were about to wet their pants, they had forgotten how long it had been since they had seen such an exciting scoring battle!

You should know that the defensive intensity on both sides has always been very high.

Tang Tian and Curry's performance really proved that they are in a league of their own this season!

After the first quarter, Tang Tian scored 28 points in a single quarter, breaking his own playoff single-quarter scoring record that he had just created last season.

Curry also scored 24 points in a single quarter, also breaking his own playoff single-quarter scoring record.

The two were fighting like gods, so exciting!

After this quarter, the Pelicans led the Warriors 41-35.

The two teams played an epic quarter.

In the second quarter, Tang Tian and Curry consumed a lot of energy and did not play until the last 6 minutes of the quarter.

The score on the field was 53-47, the same point difference as before they left.

Curry came up and attacked first. With the same opportunity, he used Green's screen and shot a super long-range three-pointer again, two meters away from the three-point line.

He has developed shooting from this position into his regular range this season.

"Clang!"

But this time his shot failed to hit.

Sitting on the bench for a long time can make your hands cold, and even Curry can't maintain a high shooting percentage at this distance.

Fortunately, the Warriors retreated quickly, not giving the Pelicans a chance to launch a fast break.

Tang Tian also caught the ball in the frontcourt and continued to attack.

He shook Thompson open and made an emergency stop for a three-pointer.

"Clang!"

Also failed to hit!

It wasn't just Curry who had cold hands!

Curry made a突分, and Barnes' corner three-pointer was interfered with by Davis and went wide.

The Warriors still retreated quickly, and the Pelicans switched from a fast break to a positional attack.

Tang Tian took the ball and made a three-threat feint, but did not shoot directly. Instead, he dribbled into the basket.

The Warriors still contracted with five players.

He faked a pass to the bottom corner on the right to trick Barnes, then took the ball back and changed to a layup, drawing a defensive foul from Green's shot!

If he couldn't make shots outside, he would rush into the basket!

Tang Tian's reaction on the court was very quick!

He made both free throws steadily, bringing his personal score to 30 points.

In the Warriors' offense, Curry reacted quickly as well, and also dribbled the ball to the basket.

The Pelicans contracted very quickly, and his shot after the confrontation with Jokic in the air failed to hit.

Green grabbed the offensive rebound and directly gave it to Thompson, who was cutting to the basket.

Thompson took the ball and was about to go up.

"Pa!"

But just as he was about to shoot, his hand felt light, and the ball had been slapped away by Tang Tian, who was following up on defense!

A direct steal!

After stealing the ball, Tang Tian directly launched a fast break, charged to the frontcourt, squeezed past Iguodala, and scored a layup!

This goal highlighted the biggest difference between Tang Tian and Curry.

Curry's unparalleled performance mainly relies on three-pointers, which are highly dependent on his feel.

When he has a good feel, he keeps shooting like a god, just like his performance in the first quarter.

When he doesn't have a good feel, like in the previous two possessions, his threat drops sharply.

Tang Tian is stronger than Curry because he has more ways to score!

If he doesn't have a good feel, he can break through and draw fouls. Curry's weakness is his physicality, but Tang Tian's isn't!

In addition to drawing fouls, he can also create opportunities for fast breaks and direct scores through first-class defense, like he did just now!

In other words, because his main scoring method is shooting, Tang Tian, like Curry, is also affected by his feel, but unlike Curry, he doesn't just rely on his feel!

This point led to a qualitative change in the two players' performances in the second quarter.

When both of them didn't have a good feel, Curry only scored 4 points on 1 of 5 shots in this quarter.

And Tang Tian, ​​made 3 of 6 shots and 5 of 5 free throws, scoring 12 points!

Curry scored 28 points in the half, which was already a great performance.

But Tang Tian scored 40 points in the half!

His performance was heaven-defying!

And 40 points broke the half-time scoring record of 39 points set by "Sleepy" Floyd in 1987!

Thanks to his strong performance, the Pelicans scored 70 points in the half! Leading the Warriors by 13 points with a score of 70-57!

O'Neal in the commentary booth couldn't help but laugh like a pig when he saw Barkley shaking his head constantly.

Not only because his nonsense came true, but also because Tang Tian's 40 points not only broke the playoff half-time record of 39 points, but also broke the playoff first-half scoring record of 38 points held by Barkley!