The role of the superstar was undoubtedly demonstrated in the second quarter.
Regardless of the gossip in the summer, Anthony is still a Nuggets player, and the Pepsi Center is still his home court.
In the third quarter, Anthony maintained his excellent touch in the second quarter and hit two consecutive three-pointers at the beginning of the second half, helping the Nuggets widen the point difference in one fell swoop.
Once a superstar enters the state, it is indeed very scary.
The system and tactics deployed by the coach may fail.
Min Congda is not only grateful that he persuaded LeBron James to stay with the Cavaliers in the summer.
If James insists on coming to the Clippers and he can't refuse, that would be too bad.
The improvement for this Clipper must be huge.
The score difference between the two sides gradually reached double digits in the third quarter.
Seeing that the Clippers are about to suffer another defeat today.
Min Congda was very proud that the Clippers made mistakes when they made it to the playoffs last season.
As long as his luck is slightly better, with his operation, the Clippers will lose one game after another.
A five-game losing streak is beckoning towards the Clippers.
However, in the second half of the third quarter, James Harden came off the bench.
The backcourt partnership with Bledsoe scored continuously from the outside.
Harden and Bledsoe have a different style than playing with Curry.
Harden sees the shadow of Westbrook in Bledsoe.
As long as Bledsoe has a chance, give him the ball and he can rush to the basket and score.
With Harden's assist, Bledsoe scored 6 points in a row to close the score.
Then, Harden also hit two consecutive three-pointers from the outside.
A top of the arc, a 45-degree angle to the left, all strong shots!
Harden's three-pointers are not stable, with a shooting percentage of about 30.
But when the touch comes, it can't be stopped.
The two young men led the Clippers to a 14:3 offensive shock wave.
At the end of the third quarter, the two sides were tied at 88:88.
Seeing such a scene, Min Congda was on pins and needles, stuffing popcorn into his mouth one by one.
What's going on? This game is so exciting. It's even in half a quarter!
Don't panic, eat two popcorns to calm down.
While Min Congda was not panicking, he was also rationally analyzing the Clippers' changes in this game.
He could see that the Clippers coaching staff still did not realize the problems on the team's defensive end.
It's just that they lack efficiency when facing pick-and-roll defense, and they fight independently without a unified strategy.
This is a common problem among some head coaches in the last era, and they did not pay special attention to the construction of overall defensive strategies.
For example, George Karl, despite the fact that he once built a ferocious pressing defense based on the amoeba defense in the SuperSonics.
Later, when he went to the Bucks and Nuggets, he was known for not practicing defense. He felt that it was enough for players to have good personal defensive abilities and basic awareness.
The golden period of the players of this group of coaches was generally in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time, the league's defense was full of small skills and insufficient in grand strategies.
Nowadays, various small techniques and strategies have basically reached their end, and there is nothing new.
The test for the head coach is how to plan these strategies, let the players work under a unified defensive strategy, and curb the opponent's offense as a whole.
This new thing is gradually becoming popular in the league, and the Clippers currently do not have such a trend.
Min Congda was already keenly aware of this trend, but he was not prepared to share this with Dunleavy.
Isn't this a betrayal of yourself? How can you teach old Deng new things?
However, in this game against the Nuggets, the Nuggets are not good at pick-and-roll offense.
Moreover, Nene and Kenyon Martin are both absent tonight, and the Nuggets do not have a good screener.
Therefore, the Nuggets' offense still revolves around Anthony's strong corner position.
Paired with Billups' high-post offensive sorting, he can create offensive opportunities through space and running.
To put it bluntly, it's still the same old routine, and the Clippers are naturally more comfortable playing the old routine.
When the fourth quarter started, the Nuggets' lack of two generals in the interior was further amplified.
Randolph began to play his role steadily - he only scored 10 points in the first three quarters.
He was still 10 points away from clocking in at 20+10, so under Harden's feed, Randolph hit the basket continuously inside.
The Nuggets had no better way to respond except fouling, and the Clippers took the lead.
However, Anthony felt really good tonight, and Ricky Davis had difficulty restricting Anthony.
A 45-degree single, after breaking through, he stormed to the basket and shot a three-pointer from the left corner.
Anthony scored consecutive points again in the fourth quarter. With 3 minutes left before the end of the game, Anthony had already scored 40 points!
The two sides also tied at 105:105. This was destined to be a high-scoring game.
At this time, the psychological quality and desire to win of the players on both sides began to be tested.
Min Congda watched the popcorn being eaten up and said to Ada: "Ada, go buy me another bucket of popcorn."
Ada said: "Mr. Smart, you have eaten two buckets."
Min Congda said: "Am I the only one who ate it? Curry also ate it!"
Min Congda bought popcorn, but when he couldn't eat enough, Curry would turn around and steal some popcorn to stuff into his mouth from time to time.
Eat it, eat it, and when you come back from injury, you will be more than ten pounds fatter and see how you can still dunk.
Because he couldn't get good popcorn at Staples Center, Min Congda simply stopped buying it.
When you come to the Nuggets home court, you must satisfy your cravings and have a good time.
Watching a game without eating popcorn not only takes away a lot of fun, but also less of a deterrent to the referees.
Looking at it, the referee's whistle in this game was very fair and impartial, and there was not much controversy about the whistle.
When Ada went to buy popcorn, the Clippers paused and Dunleavy rearranged their on-court tactics.
"Double-team Cameron! Put more pressure on him, but be careful with Billups."
Dunleavy finally decided to double-team Anthony.
We have been guarding one from the front, just waiting here.
In terms of personnel, Dunleavy replaced Bledsoe with Paul George.
In this way, Harden controls the ball on the court, and Paul George and Ricky Davis partner at the second and third positions to restrict Anthony.
It has to be said that Lao Deng has become more and more eclectic in employing people through the development and support of Min Congda.
No matter young or veteran, no matter what position, use whatever comes to mind and experiment with various combinations.
Nearing the end of his coaching career, Lao Deng himself felt that he was getting more and more crazy and was tending to move toward Lao Nelson.
Min Congda saw Lao Deng's adjustment and thought, "Lao Deng is really whimsical. Paul George, a weak guy, still goes up to defend Anthony? Don't be blown away."
In Min Congda's impression, Paul George has always been awake, and he is not particularly passionate in training and games.
In recent games, George's performance on the court can only be said to be ordinary, and it has no decisive impact on the game situation.
How different is Curry, who hit a key three-pointer and had a winning assist in the first game.
The game got better and better after that, until now Min Congda had to find a way to leave him on the bench to eat popcorn.
Min Congda feels that he made the right choice in this draft.
(End of chapter)
