Caruso carried Jokic behind his back and led the Thunder to the Western Conference finals

Caruso is a legend! After watching the Thunder and Nuggets' tie-breaks, this is what I want to say the most.

In the first quarter, the Nuggets took the lead on the road, and Braun started the game in excellent form, and the Nuggets once took an 11-point lead. Then, Caruso came up.

Chet and Harden's twin towers are not good at dealing with Jokic and Gordon's No. 4 or five pick-and-rolls, and Jokic can eat Chet alone. After Caruso replaced Hatten, he implemented an all-round pressing defense against Jokic, Jokic asked for the ball in the low post, and Caruso went around the front to "back" Jokic to prevent him from receiving the ball.

Jokic dribbled from the backcourt, Caruso led Jokic like a guard, and the Thunder wished that Jokic dribbled from the backcourt to the frontcourt a few more rounds to increase his consumption.

Jokic and Murray blocked and dismantled, Caruso switched to Murray, Carson took over Caruso to go around the front to defend Jokic to catch the ball, Caruso can defend Murray alone, if Jokic gets the ball, the Thunder will come and attack at any time.

After Caruso came up, he directly used defense to drive the offensive state of the Thunder in his sleep, and after the counterattack was played, the state of all members of the Thunder finally returned, and it was smooth sailing since then.

Jokic may have played the most difficult game of his career to receive the ball, the Thunder used small men to go around the front, and big men to make up for the defense in the back, even if Jokic was forced to carry a single Caruso from the high post, and after he pushed to the inside, there were still heavy hurdles for him to pass.

Of course, one of the main premises for limiting Jokic in this way is that the rest of the Nuggets are in really bad offensive form. In today's game, the Nuggets made 10 of 45 three-pointers, only 22% of the three-point shooting rate, Murray was 1 of 8, Braun was 2 of 9, Porter was 0 of 4, Watson was 0 of 3, and the wonder soldier Strawther in the last game was also 2 of 0 no longer magical. In the final four games of the series, Porter had three three-pointers to zero.

So in such a three-point background, the Thunder are even more unscrupulous about Jokic's defense, and there are scenes of three or four people encircling Jokic in the return defense. The Nuggets had a whopping 22 turnovers today, and the Thunder had 16 steals, most of which came from Nuggets' passes to Jokic and their encirclement of Jokic.

The Thunder were a little confused at the beginning of the life-and-death battle in the tie-break, but Caruso woke up the whole team when he came up with his championship experience. Caruso had a plus/minus of +40 in 26 minutes of playing time today, setting a record for a tie-break.

Admittedly, if you take a magnifying glass to look at Caruso's defense of Jokic, many of them are actions that can be blown fouls, but the referee acquiesced to this level of physical confrontation, and such a scale is definitely beneficial for the Thunder, which is undeniable.

There were also many rounds where the Thunder blew fouls on Jokic's pressing defense, and Jokic made 11 free throws today. But even with Jokic at the free-throw line, the Thunder's defense was successful, putting Jokic in a trap and then draining his physicality and will.

The Nuggets' collapse plummeted, and the game lost its suspense almost not long after the third quarter. There was a round in the fourth quarter, Jokic dribbled to the front court to make a foul, Caruso quickly cut the ball off, and then the Thunder counterattacked, killing the suspense of the series.

Speaking after the game about today's defense against Jokic, Caruso said: "It takes a lot of effort. Obviously he's an extraordinary player and his achievements speak for themselves. Defending him is a tough challenge because he can bring his teammates and influence the game in a variety of ways. "

Alexander won the MVP battle with 35 points today, and Jalen also found his form today and scored 24 points, but the real MVP of this ball is Caruso, who changed everything with Jokic, the top championship puzzle.

Of course, even if you lose by 32 points in the tiebreaker, you still have to pay tribute to this Nuggets. From the moment Gordon still appeared in the Nuggets' starting lineup with a second-degree hamstring strain, this ball has taken on a tragic undertone.

Aaron Gordon can still protect rebounds and still shoot counter-attacking threes, but his energy is gone, his singles are gone, and he can't play high-intensity matchups anymore. This is a second-degree hamstring strain, worse than Curry's, and it's a miracle in my opinion that he can stand on the court and run.

"I told him not to play, you can see he's struggling a little bit on the court, it's hard to move, and he's on the court and fighting with us, and we have nothing but gratitude for that," Jokic said. ”

Losing a 100% Gordon is too lethal for the Nuggets, who can only rely on the three-point touch from the outside, and Jokic can connect one less point. At this point, no one wants to give up easily, and Gordon has almost gambled on his career, and now he just hopes that this game will not leave Gordon with a sequelae.

In fact, Wei Shao's hands have always had arthritis, and his fingers are wrapped in bandages to play ball, which affects his shooting to a certain extent. Porter Jr. suffered a shoulder injury in the first round, which was enough to be out for a few weeks, but Porter Jr. has been playing with painkillers, so it's hard to be disappointed when he throws those outrageous three-pointers.

The Nuggets played 14 games in the two-round series, and the consumption is the largest in the league, and they are really exhausted in the sense of today, even if they go to the Western Conference finals after the Thunder, there are not many people left who can play with full blood.

The Thunder are indeed the stronger team, and if it weren't for the stupidity of the last minute of the first game, this series would not have reached a tie-break. But the resilience shown by the Nuggets and the heritage of the championship team are admirable, and this is the basketball that should be played in the playoffs.

With the Nuggets eliminated, the playoffs are all about young people. The four teams that qualified for the divisional finals were all under the age of 30, with Brunson, the eldest at 28 and Edwards, the youngest, at 23.

It's the "worst" of times, the years have changed, the stars we know have all been eliminated until now, and the feeling of the old and the new has never been stronger.

It is also the best of times, fresh blood flows in the young heart, nothing will remain the same, the cold ice melts and the winter is gone, and in the early spring when the wicker is greening, the breath of hope is spreading. New stories are being written, new legends are being born.

Whether you like it or not, accept it or not, a new era has arrived.