In Min Congda's eyes, there are three teams in the West that can form a situation to encircle and suppress the Clippers.
One is the Lakers. Now they have been successfully developed by Min Congda into the most terrifying team in the Western Conference. The combination of Kobe + Paul will be very powerful in the playoffs.
One is the Spurs. The Spurs have always been very stable. Unfortunately, their draft plan was unintentionally ruined by Min Congda. Popovich had to think of new ways.
He has been trying to contact the Clippers and wanted to trade Richard Jefferson and draft picks for Leonard, but was rejected by Min Congda.
Although Richard Jefferson is not compatible with the Spurs, he is quite suitable with the Clippers.
He can hit the ball quickly, can cut through the air, and can defend well. Once he joins the Clippers, the Clippers will add another strong player to their outside firepower!
What are you thinking about? Stop dreaming, I won’t give it to you.
Popovich was so angry that he vomited blood, thinking that Jefferson is so suitable for the Clippers, but you don’t want him?
There was no way, Popovich knew that Leonard was the one with real potential, but it was a pity that he was taken down by the Clippers.
They won't let him go.
The Spurs are currently ranked fifth in the Western Conference and have a good record. The gap with the front is not big.
After Duncan took a rest in the offseason, lost weight, changed his style of play, and his condition improved a lot.
As long as Duncan is still there, the Spurs will always be a strong team in the Western Conference.
The last team is of course the Thunder. The Thunder also received the blessing of Min Congda and gave them Eric Gordon.
But currently, trading Gordon for Harden may not be a very good idea.
Because Harden is growing very fast, and his visible improvement seems to surpass that of Gordon.
This troubles Min Congda, and Harden is healthy, but Gordon is prone to injuries.
But no matter who is on the board, the core of the Thunder is still Durant and Westbrook.
In the current league environment, the third position and the first position are both crucial and determine the upper limit.
It is already difficult to produce a dominant player at the center position.
Positions 4 and 5 are gradually blurring.
The glory of the second position is gradually fading as Kobe and other shooting guards age.
The Thunder have Westbrook at No. 1 and Durant at No. 3. They follow the trend of the times and have a high ceiling.
But no matter how Min Congda looks at this Westbrook, he feels that this kid is more than brave, but not smart enough, and he seems to have no strength in playing!
The No. 1 position is the position that requires the most brains. I don’t have enough strength to play in this position. What should I do in the high-end game?
There is only one Chris Paul, and it has been given to the Lakers.
How is Thunder going to deal with this? Can it help him consecrate it?
This ball was passed to Tyronn Lue, I don’t know how to describe it.
The game continued, and Harden continued to organize with the ball in the high post.
Harden suddenly made a lob and passed the ball to the basket. Gasol cut the ball and made an easy layup!
This is a good pass. In terms of passing IQ, Durant and Westbrook combined are not as good as Harden.
Therefore, if Harden stays in the Thunder, he is definitely a good match with Westbrook and Durant.
However, Durant doesn't seem to admit this. He wants to continue to show his passing ability.
Holding the ball on the left side, he broke through and reached the basket. After attracting a double team, he distributed the ball with a low hand to Perkins who was following.
Perkins caught the ball and dunked with both hands!
Another open opportunity under the basket.
Although Durant has a clear mind when passing the ball, his offensive threat is indeed great.
This kind of super attacker drives to the basket, double-teams him to pass the ball, or directly allows him to score. You must choose one of these two bottles of poison to drink.
The Clippers chose to let Durant pass the ball to his teammates at the beginning.
Tyronn Lue believes that Durant cannot be allowed to perform well at the beginning.
It would be better for the rest of the Thunder to score more than to allow the super attacker to score at will with full firepower.
Otherwise it will be difficult to fight at the critical moment.
Let’s not say whether Tyronn Lue’s strategy is correct or not.
The Thunder's defense is also facing poison. The Clippers have too many people who can attack with the ball.
Moreover, Curry, Harden, and Gasol have three points that can handle the ball, so it is very difficult to double-team.
The Thunder's double-teaming was already very fierce and the pressure was very strong, but Gasol's high position support still found the opportunity.
When the Thunder defenders focused on the running Curry and Harden, Randolph suddenly turned around and ran back to the basket.
Gasol lobbed a pass to the inside, and Randolph caught the ball and made an easy layup!
Just over 4 minutes into the game, the two sides were already tied at 9:12, with the Thunder leading by 3 points.
Both sides played high-quality offensive cooperation, which made the fans buy their tickets in vain.
"Why are the Thunder still double-teaming? Double-teaming is useless. We, the Clippers, are the team least afraid of double-teaming. Zone defense is more effective. But in zone defense, Curry must be pinched. Hey. , why doesn’t Brooks understand? I really want to write him a little note.”
Min Congda complained about Brooks in his heart.
Brooks would be thinking, is zone defense so easy to practice?
If you want to defend in a zone, then defend in a zone. If one part of the zone is not defended well, it will completely collapse.
Because it requires so much tacit understanding between players and high concentration of players.
Once you make a mistake, it is a big mistake, which will give your opponent an absolute chance to open the ball, and the system will collapse.
And one-on-one, double-teaming, etc. are relatively simple and not easy to collapse.
Thunder players have outstanding personal abilities, and using one-on-one or double-teaming is obviously a better defensive strategy.
Subsequently, Randolph held the ball in the low post, turned his back to the basket, made a strong breakthrough with the ball, and hit the board with his hook.
Durant wanted to test his skills and broke through the basket but failed to make a throw.
The score difference has reached one point.
The Clippers counterattacked, Curry held the ball to attract two double-teams, and moved the ball to Harden on the left in a wide range.
Harden caught the ball and shot a three-pointer directly, and he hit!
Go ahead!
At 14:12, the Clippers easily turned the situation over.
Harden scored a three-pointer and the Thunder called a timeout.
Coach Brooks asked Westbrook to step up and score more points.
During this period, the Thunder relied on Durant alone to support them, and Westbrook's role was a little less.
So after the timeout, Westbrook began to increase his shots, holding the ball and rushing to the basket as soon as he came up.
He passed the defender with one stride, cut into the core of the Clippers' basket, and forced a layup!
Westbrook's layup didn't have any bells and whistles. It was like a helicopter, passing over the defender and putting the ball directly into the basket!
The first step of the explosion, as well as the rapid movement during the layup, prevented the Clippers defender from fully reacting.
The two sides were tied again.
Then, Curry missed an outside jumper.
Westbrook got a backcourt rebound to promote the counterattack.
He shifted gears to accelerate, went straight to the basket, and dunked!
The embarrassment of just passing the ball to Tyronn Lue disappeared completely.
Westbrook took a dominant step and showed his ferocity to the Los Angeles fans.
He also played in Los Angeles and was an excellent defender at UCLA.
"Westbrook is such an exciting player, haha."
Ballmer was very excited watching Westbrook's dunk. Obviously he likes Westbrook.
Min Congda nodded, but thought in his mind: "If the Thunder can change the direction of training Westbrook, he and Durant can truly combine their swords and pose a threat to the Clippers."
In Min Chongda's view, the Thunder did not master Westbrook's instruction manual.
Some people died, but not completely...
