Even if you lose, you are still honored! Repeatedly restricting SGA, Nemhard won respect with defense

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Li Hui

Although Alexander dominated the game in the final quarter, the Pacers player Nemhard, who is mainly responsible for marking Thunder stars in this game, still won the recognition of almost everyone. In the whole game, Nemhard personally delivered a 10-point, 2 rebounds and 2 assists. The data was not outstanding, but his restrictions on SGA on the defensive end could not be reflected in data.

In this game, Alexander did not score any assists in the whole game. This is the first time that the Thunder star has been in 2020. The most important reason is that Nemhard's defense against Alexander made Alexander feel "pressure". The Pacers almost let Nemhard defend Alexander alone in the whole game. Facing his national teammates, Nemhard showed extremely excellent defensive skills and confrontations. In many rounds, he limited Alexander's performance well. In one of the classic rounds, Alexander tried to squeeze out the shooting space with his body but it was useless. Without finding the space for shooting, Alexander had to choose to pass the ball. In the end, his pass was destroyed by his opponent, and the Thunder left a hasty 2-second offensive time.

During the game, the famous commentator Skip said on social media that Nemhard completely confused Alexander, and he limited all Alexander's offense, and even joked that Nemhard was the most valuable player in this round of the series.

Although such comments are a bit exaggerated, there is no doubt that this is a great affirmation of Nemhard's performance. This year's playoffs, Nemhard has continuously limited the performance of Lillard, Mitchell, Bronson and Alexander. He has not received enough attention by Halliburton, but his performance is not inferior to any player in the Pacers. In addition to defense, Nemhard can also complete many key scores with limited ball rights, becoming the key figure for the Pacers to get to where they are today.

"We are doing our responsibilities. We play very hard, trying to fight with him (SGA) with different players and cause trouble for him as much as possible. He is the MVP." Nemhad said after the game.

It is no exaggeration to say that Nemhard's restrictions on Alexander directly determine the trend of this round of series. It is a bit regrettable that Alexander's key balls in the fourth quarter of this game were all shot when facing Nesmith. The Thunder used screens and other methods to force Nemhard to be unable to face Alexander every time. Although he did a great job of restricting his national teammates, Nemhard was also unable to play at the last moment. But next, the Pacers still have a chance to win this series, and Nemhard's performance is still crucial.