In the last game against the Suns, McMillan successfully contained Gentry's offense.
Without Stoudemire, the Suns' offense became extremely flat under the Trail Blazers' tight defense.
Why did Nash score the highest score on the team? Because there is no sharp spear penetrating inward in the team.
He had to take a lot of shots, so the Suns' offense was limited to the outside and was completely suppressed.
Although the Clippers have Randolph in this game, Randolph is not a spear-type insider and lacks defensive penetration.
As a low-post shooter who sits on the ground, Randolph's real threat is to cause the Blazers' defense to shrink, giving enough opportunities to outside shooters.
So in this game, McMillan insisted on not double-teaming Randolph and insisted on man-to-man defense.
Prevent the Clippers from blossoming on all sides because of Randolph's restriction at one point.
Gasol's three-pointer in the first half surprised McMillan, but he was sure it was just a flash in the pan.
In his opinion, maybe the Clippers players have more offensive talent, but they are more disciplined, and the Trail Blazers, who have stronger defense, will win.
And in terms of talent, Ade and Roy are equally talented, and they can both respond when stars are needed to step up.
McMillan is very confident about the Trail Blazers this season.
In the locker room at halftime, he asked the players to stick to the way they played in the first half.
Use better discipline, mid-range, and oppressive defense to suppress the Clippers.
The Blazers are like an army, strictly following their coach's instructions.
On the contrary, in the Clippers locker room, Deng briefly talked about the team's problems in the first half.
As for how to play in the second half, his instructions were more open-ended.
"We still have to start from the inside, but we need to be more cautious on the outside to reduce mistakes and increase concentration when transferring the ball."
What Dunleavy means is that Randolph should still be the pivot point of the offense.
At the same time, it’s up to you how you want to play outside.
Dunleavy has no intention of building the Clippers into a traditional inside-out offensive system with double low posts as the core.
Not only because Min Congda did not allow it, but also because Lao Deng himself felt that the upper limit of this routine was not high.
Kawhi and Randolph are very good, but the gap between them and super insiders like Duncan and O'Neal is still too big.
If the tactical focus is entirely on these two people, it will be difficult for the team to become a top team.
From this point of view, he "understood" Min Congda very much and thought that Min Congda must have thought of this.
It not only allows the team to start with Randolph and Garfield, but also gives enough freedom to the outside.
He is indeed a strategic master with a long-term vision and long-term considerations for the team.
The game continued in the second half, and in the third quarter, the intensity of both sides increased to a higher level than in the first half.
In the first attack of the third quarter, there was a strong physical confrontation between the two sides inside.
Randolph and Ade had physical contact during the confrontation and pushed each other.
In the first half, the score atmosphere, which was good to everyone, suddenly became more explosive.
With the intervention of the referee, the conflict between the two sides did not intensify further, but the intensity of the game began to increase.
This is a good thing for the Blazers, who have better cooperation and stricter tactical discipline.
For three consecutive rounds, the Trail Blazers scored on offense.
Roy succeeded in two mid-range jumpers, and Ade successfully drew a foul after getting inside.
On the Clippers side, Curry successfully broke through the defense and hit a throw.
Randolph failed to score in two offensive attempts, and still missed the offensive rebound.
He complained to the referee why there was no foul, but the referee just shook his head.
The referee was encouraging confrontation, and the atmosphere between the two sides became even more intense.
In the middle of the third quarter, Randolph caught the ball and turned around, pushing away Ade with his right elbow.
Then he succeeded in a left-hand layup, but the referee still didn't call a foul. Aldridge is a player with a good temper.
But after being messed with by Randolph, he got angry, and then he pushed Randolph hard during the offense.
This foul was so obvious that the referee immediately called Ade a foul.
Randolph did not fall down after being pushed. Instead, he stood up and confronted Ade.
Randolph was born in the Trail Blazers and got a big contract in Portland.
It was just that he was traded in the end and had a conflict with the Blazers management and had a bad relationship.
This is the first game of the new season against the Trail Blazers, and I still feel a little angry.
When Min Congda saw the referee calling a foul on Ade, he cursed in his mind: "Damn the referee, he's blind. Just now you didn't call it when Fatty Lan swung his elbow, but you just blew it when he pushed Fatty Lan? The home whistle shouldn't be so obvious, okay?"
Unfortunately, due to his identity, Min Congda could not fire at the referee, but his brows were already furrowed.
When Curry took a technical foul free throw, Min Congda shouted to the referee: "Can you control the scale? The confrontation is a bit too intense! As a referee, you don't know how to control the situation?"
McCutchen spread his hands towards Min Congda, meaning I'm already heading towards you Clippers, why are you still yelling at me?
He didn't understand that what Min Congda wanted was not favoritism, but fairness.
The game continued, the score between the two sides reached 67:63, and the Trail Blazers still maintained a 4-point advantage.
Because of the fierce confrontation, the scores on both sides were not high.
McMillan replaced Ade with Oberto to let Ade calm down a little.
He believes that the current game situation is beneficial to the Trail Blazers, and he hopes that the game can enter a stronger confrontation.
McMillan was right. Stronger physical confrontation is beneficial to the Blazers' performance. They can use greater movements to press the Clippers' perimeter in defense.
Andre Miller's defense is very sophisticated and difficult. Under Miller's harassment, Curry is no longer as comfortable dribbling and passing the ball as he was in the first half.
Although there were no mistakes, the Clippers' offense became sluggish, Curry made mistakes, Randolph missed the basket, and Marciano missed the shot.
There were several times when Baron Davis had to force a shot and let the veteran figure it out.
Balang Xia Tian was in good condition after careful training, and he really scored two goals, otherwise the scene would have been even more ugly.
For the Trail Blazers, Roy broke out in the third quarter, continuously breaking through the basket and hitting mid-range jump shots.
The Trail Blazers once again launched a 7:0 offensive climax, and the score between the two sides reached 78:67.
The score difference reached the largest 11 points in the game.
Dunleavy called a timeout to let the players adjust.
Then Harden replaced Curry, who played average.
Curry sat off the court, thinking about his problems in the third quarter.
Thinking back to his experience in the US national team, how he faced this kind of strong defense.
And Min Congda, a person who couldn't sit still, saw this posture and felt that he could open the champagne to celebrate again.
Anyway, he has always been the only person on the Clippers who didn't learn his lesson.
(End of chapter)
