DeAntoni's scalp was a bit itchy. He scratched it, then got up and walked to the sideline.

He gave Harden tactical instructions, indicating an adjustment to their offensive strategy.

The Rockets advanced the ball to the frontcourt. The Pelicans maintained their previous defensive setup, continuing to leave Westbrook open.

This time, Harden called for the ball, signaling Westbrook to cut inside early. Then, Harden himself started to drive.

However, just as he penetrated, he was met with help defense from Brogdon on the weak side, and Gasol in the paint was also ready to pounce.

Westbrook cut from the right side and, using Capela's screen, ran to the left corner.

It was a defensive decoy, but the Pelicans completely ignored it, continuing to leave him wide open!

Stevens's tactical approach tonight was very clear: I'm just going to dare Westbrook to shoot threes. If you're good enough, shoot me to death.

This strategy was exactly the same as the one used against Antetokounmpo in last season's Finals.

This was also where Westbrook was inferior to Paul from before. Paul wasn't a strong three-point shooter, but he was consistently open. Westbrook was just never consistent.

Harden drove to the free throw line and encountered heavy pressure. He leaned in, trying to draw a foul but failed, and his shot bounced off the backboard.

Davis jumped high and grabbed the defensive rebound. The Rockets' offense once again came up empty!

Back on the other end, Durant's shot missed again, but Gasol tipped the ball in for a put-back score.

The Pelicans' outside shooting wasn't as good as the Rockets', but their two big men in the paint were clearly overpowering the Rockets.

12-3, the point difference was heading towards double digits.

Harden continued to drive in the frontcourt, this time successfully drawing a foul on Holiday, earning two free throws.

He seized the opportunity and made both shots, helping the Rockets to continue scoring.

Davis's turnaround fadeaway in the low post was slightly off, and Gasol's put-back also missed. Capela fought hard to grab the defensive rebound, and the Rockets finally managed a stop.

Back on the other end, Harden passed the ball to House after driving, and House took a three-pointer decisively.

"Clang!"

Another miss!

His three-point shooting had gone cold since the playoffs began, with a命中率 (ming zhong lu -hit rate) of just over 25% in the first two games.

This was the difference between an average shooter and a top-tier shooter. Everyone's命中率 (ming zhong lu -hit rate) drops in the playoffs, but an average shooter can easily plummet to rock bottom.

DeAntoni was a little helpless at this point.

The Pelicans' defense had only this one trick, but Westbrook couldn't make his shots, and there weren't many opportunities for other players anyway. And now House couldn't hit his shots either.

He was really being pushed to his limit.

Strategic tactics couldn't be countered immediately, especially since DeAntoni wasn't a coach who was good at adapting on the fly.

The Pelicans' strategy was perfectly executed that night. After falling into passivity from the start of the game, the Rockets remained passive throughout the entire night.

Moreover, the Pelicans had a lot of momentum tonight and didn't give the Rockets any chances at all.

As the game progressed, the point difference on the court continued to widen.

The third game of the series was completely different from the previous two. The Pelicans led from start to finish, ultimately easily defeating the Rockets 107-90, changing the series score to 2-1.

Durant played excellently, scoring a game-high 38 points, along with 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 blocks. He sent both blocks to Harden.

Davis also had a stable output of 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks, and was incredibly efficient, shooting 8 for 11.

With their two cores combining for 58 points, the Pelicans' offense was as stable as ever.

The key to victory or defeat still lay in the Rockets' offense.

Westbrook shot 1 for 7 from beyond the three-point line, and only contributed 15 points and 5 assists on 6 of 19 shooting, a performance clearly worse than the previous two games.

Apart from that one that went in at the start of the game, the subsequent shots were more and more off.

This was also a normal reaction. Under high-intensity competition, a scoring method that you weren't good at to begin with would only become even worse.

Those who dared to shoot after missing n number of shots, and were still able to make them, were basically historical-level shooters.

Like Ray Allen, like Korver, like Tang En during his time with the Spurs.

With Westbrook's poor performance, Harden's performance wasn't good either.

He got 31 points throughout the game. Looking at the score alone wasn't bad, but he only made 9 of 27 shots. If it weren't for his 13 of 15 free throws, his score wouldn't even be 20 points.

If the Rockets could win with their two cores performing like this, then that would be a miracle.

After the game, Durant, Davis, and Stevens attended the post-match press conference together.

"Haven't you been looking at social media? We know that before this game, their evaluation of you wasn't good."

A reporter from the local Houston media asked a very sharp question.

Everyone knew that Durant liked to look at social media and argue with netizens.

"No, I didn't look. In fact, I haven't been using social media since the playoffs started."

Durant's answer surprised all the media reporters below the stage.

"Why? I mean, how could you shut it down."

The questioner reacted and immediately followed up.

"I listened to the advice of a friend."

"Who?"

Durant smiled and shook his head, not answering the question.

After this game, the two teams' situations were directly reversed.

The Pelicans won the third game and were in a great position in the series, and the Pelicans fans finally felt proud on social media.

"Come out, those who said poisonous milk and set up flags before, come out. My Tang is predicting accurately, okay!"

"Although it's already 2020, it seems that my Pelicans are still easily crushing your Rockets!"

"Why use an ox-knife to kill a chicken? Why use Lu Bu to kill Pan Feng? Even if my Tang is not here, Little Shuai and Ad are enough to abuse your little Rockets!"

"Cool, Morey's matter hurt our Chinese fans. Now watching the Pelicans abuse the Rockets is simply awesome!"

"As a Chinese fan, because of Yao Ming, Morey has always had a good impression in my heart, but being betrayed, even if he resigns, I still feel a burst of dark coolness in my heart when I see this scene!"

"Houston · Take Off and Explode · Rockets? | ू ･ w ･ `)"

"By the way, Little Shuai actually closed social media, the sun came out from the west!"

"I'm very curious who he said that friend was? Could it be Scarlett?"

"Vomiting blood, I think the possibility of Tang is even greater than Scarlett."

"You're looking down on my Little Shuai!"

"Tang is even more impossible. Although they are all on the Pelicans team, and Tang has also praised Little Shuai, that is more of the management's attitude towards the players. I still lean towards Scarlett."

"Who is it, curiosity is rampant."

……

The curious voices on social media soon became the media's as well.

When the Pelicans were preparing for the fourth game of the series, after the training session ended, a reporter threw this question out again.

Durant's attitude was the same as after the last game, still smiling and not answering.

This attitude looked a little ambiguous.

This made the fans even more puzzled. On social media, some fans who were too full started a vote.

As a result, Scarlett was far ahead in the voting.

The fans saw that Durant was turning the tide on the court, and thought that he was also making a breakthrough in his feelings!