Four major concerns for the NBA Finals G3: Halliburton needs to enhance its aggressiveness, and the referee s scale may change

With the NBA Finals G3 coming to an end at 8:30 am on June 12, the current score is that the Thunder and Pacers win one game. How will this key showdown take place? The NBA official website summarizes four major focus points worth paying attention to.

1. Pacers need to take advantage of Alexander's chances when he is away from the Thunder Center player Alexander and turn it into a breakthrough in the series. The popular "on/are-present data" in recent years has become a popular choice for analysis tools, which clearly reflects the impact of players' up and down on the team's offense and defense efficiency. The example of Nuggets star Jokic is particularly typical - he helped the team win 547 points while on the court, but he lost 439 points when he left the court. Alexander won the MVP this season. When he was on the court, the Thunder led by 16.7 points per 100 rounds. Even if he left the court, the team still maintained the advantage of 5.2 points. This performance shows that the Thunder has strong competitiveness even if they lack cores. In the first two games, although the Thunder won 7 points when Alexander was not present, this was not enough. The Pacers should seize this moment of opportunity and demonstrate their ability to take the initiative.

2. Halliburton should be more aggressive

Discussions about the need for more performance at this time are particularly important, but as a point guard, Halliburton shows leadership in the game is key. Although he only scored 14 points and 17 points in the first two games of the finals, he urgently needs to improve his scoring initiative. His performance is not only directly related to his personal status, but also closely related to the team's overall record: when he scores more than 20, the Pacers can achieve 7 wins and 1 loss. Therefore, Halliburton should create scoring opportunities in a diverse way, increase individual shooting frequency, and strive for free throws to improve the team's competitiveness.

3. Homgren's defense surpassed the basket protection

Homgren's performance in the first game was mediocre, but shined in the second game, contributing a total of 15 points, 6 rebounds and 1 block. More importantly, as a 2.16-meter player, he demonstrated comprehensive defensive skills, which not only allows him to switch to small players, but also effectively interfere with shooting. When he was on the same field with center Haltenstein, he greatly enhanced the protection of the penalty area, and this tacit cooperation was highly praised by the coach.

4. Pay attention to the referee's penalty scale. Many Pacers fans pointed out that in the first two games, the Thunder enjoyed a looser foul penalty scale, while the Pacers failed to obtain equal standards. Such subjective feelings may be partly due to the influence of the home atmosphere, but in the Pacers' home court, whether the judgment standards of the two teams will be different is worth paying attention to. As of now, the Thunder have a clear advantage in free throws, but how this will affect subsequent games is unknown.