In the most important attack of the game, Dennis Schröder showed what makes him special as a professional basketball player. There were 40 seconds left on Monday in the fourth duel between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets, which will meet in the first play-off round of the NBA.
The Thunder were leading 109: 108, and their playmaker Schröder ran towards Jeff Green, his opponent, with the ball in hand. At the three-point line, he slowed down, took a small step back, and when Green moved cautiously towards him, Schröder sprinted past Green, to under the basket, where he threw the ball so skillfully onto the board from an awkward angle, that he fell into the ring. The Thunder led 111: 108 and won 117: 114.
In the best-of-seven series it is now 2: 2. The Rockets were already leading 2-0, but then Schröder turned up. In the third duel he scored 29 points, in the fourth even 30, he had never achieved that much in an NBA play-off game before. In Oklahoma City, unlike the national team, Schröder is not the leader, Chris Paul, 35 years old, also a playmaker, one of the best. Paul is a master at setting the pace of a game.
But he lacks what Schröder, 26 years old, has: the extraordinary speed. The Houston defender was overwhelmed on Monday, which is why Paul left the most important attack of the game to his teammate. Because Schröder’s high-speed basketball has contributed to the fact that it is again a draw before the fifth duel on Thursday night.
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