Curry takes a rest, and Tyronn Lue's first choice is of course to let the experienced Fisher come on as a substitute.
Fisher came on the scene, and Harden immediately replaced Jimmy Butler, partnering with Fisher in the backcourt.
Functionally speaking, Fisher is not a good backup for Curry.
He has almost no ball-handling ability and is a functional point guard through and through.
Once he replaces Curry, the entire Clippers' tactical strategy needs to change.
Fortunately, the Clippers have never lacked tactical starting points, Harden, Randolph, and Gasol, which gave Fisher a lot of room to play.
His precise fixed-point three-pointers play a great role in opening up the team's space.
The three-pointer at critical moments is even more important. He is a super key player among role players.
Min Congda was so angry with the Thunder that he almost fired him.
Sure enough, the enemy for life is the enemy for life. Even if you switch to your own team, you will still be cheated.
Just like some people playing games, if their opponent picks a certain hero, they will become super gods, and if one of their own picks it, they will become super ghosts.
That's what Fisher is.
But tonight, Fisher didn't have much room to play.
Because Harden continued to be restricted after the start of the second quarter.
The current Cavaliers have changed their previous weak defense in the backcourt.
With James, Battier, Danny Green and others, their defensive backcourt is tall, strong, and experienced.
Mike Brown recognized Harden's importance to the Clippers' offense and sent Battier to defend Harden in the second quarter.
Harden was taken care of by Danny Green in the first quarter, and he didn't play well and didn't feel like he was playing.
In the second quarter, he encountered Battier, a defensive bastard.
Battier's defensive style is more academic, relying on positioning and anticipation.
However, Harden is good at fake moves and prediction in advance when attacking, and Battier is the professional counterpart.
At the beginning of the second quarter's first offense, Harden tried to beat Battier one-on-one, but due to Battier's perfect defensive position, he had to pass a low-quality ball.
The last person to take the ball was Milicic...
Milicic made a helpless turnaround shot and the ball missed.
The Cavaliers got the rebound and launched a counterattack unhurriedly.
At this time, James was still resting off the court, and Irving was on the court leading the second team.
This is a major advantage of having a two-star team. There is a core offensive point on the court at any time, which can ensure that the team's offense is constantly powered.
Previously, James led the team alone. Once James comes off the court, the Cavaliers' offense will be more or less leaderless.
Even if Mo Williams performed at an All-Star level, that was only in the regular season and not in the playoffs.
The Cavaliers had to increase James' playing time, resulting in a lack of change and rhythm in the team's rotation, making it easy for opponents to target.
Now with Irving, even if Irving is only a 19-year-old rookie, his creativity and hard-hitting ability on the offensive end cannot be compared to Mo Williams.
Irving received a pass from his teammate and accelerated past Fisher in the middle!
After getting to the basket, facing the ferocious Milicic, Irving dodged and changed hands in the air and succeeded in a layup!
The Clippers were unable to gain a foothold and were caught off guard.
Not to mention the difficulty and skill of Irving's layup, his calmness and courage when facing Milicic are beyond the comparison of ordinary players.
Milicic has become one of the league's famous court villains after coming to the Clippers for more than a season.
His defensive moves inside are fierce, and his number of technical fouls last season set a career record.
At the beginning of this season, we have played more than ten games, and we have been expelled twice, and there was a fight.
This former Serbian genius has transformed into a boxer on the court and a villain who protects the Clippers' three-second zone.
Of course Irving was aware of this villain's reputation when preparing for the game, but he was not afraid at all and just dared to go up.
And Milicic is not a mindless thug who just hits everyone he sees. In fact, his defensive reaction is quite fast.
This summer, he has further reduced his weight, making himself more flexible in the interior and evolving towards a better rim-protecting defensive interior.
Therefore, not everyone can easily break through and score points in front of Milicic.
Irving has this ability. The key is that Fisher's defense against Irving is really no different from a wooden stake.
Looking back, Fisher tried to return the favor, but missed the three-pointer after catching the ball in the middle.
Milicic grabbed an offensive rebound and handed it to Harden who broke into the basket. Harden caught the ball and went for a layup, but was interfered by Battier's defense and missed!
"The ball was defended beautifully. Battier's defensive level is truly well-deserved. One of the highlights is outstanding!"
Min Congda took a sip of wine and watched Fisher miss a shot and Harden's layup being interfered with. He was very satisfied with his team building ideas.
He has a relatively thorough understanding of the Cavaliers and James.
What James lacks is teammates like Irving, Battier, Camby, and Lopez.
As a player with strong physical fitness and comprehensive functions but imperfect skills, James has relatively high requirements for his teammates.
In this regard, James is a bit like O'Neal.
O'Neal is equally powerful and capable.
But if you don't match him with suitable teammates to make up for his major shortcomings in certain aspects, the team's strength will not increase.
Relatively speaking, Duncan is very versatile. Basically any team in the league, without changing the staffing, can greatly improve the team's strength by having Duncan airborne.
As for O'Neal's airborne landing, if there is no targeted configuration, the team's strength improvement will not necessarily be obvious.
James is like O'Neal, and like Duncan is Kevin Durant.
Of course, players like O'Neal and James, with good configuration, will have a higher ceiling and can maximize their superhuman talents that are rare in history.
The previous Cavaliers management had neither the strength nor the vision.
James himself doesn't know himself deeply enough.
He thought he was Jordan, and with support and a bunch of good role players and veterans, he could carry the entire league.
In fact, he is not at Jordan's level. He needs a good system and platform to help him play his advantages.
Min Congda could be said to be feeding him, secretly helping the knight set up the airs.
The Cavaliers are really very strong now.
Camby once again collected backcourt rebounds, and Irving launched a counterattack.
Irving is really fast. After halftime, the Clippers Milicic delayed and defended him, preventing him from starting up.
Irving slowed down and Milicic immediately returned to the basket to defend, but Irving accelerated again and passed Fisher in one step!
Challenge Milicic again!
Irving layup!
Milicic jumped to block the shot.
It turned out that Irving didn't jump at all, but faked.
After shaking Milicic up, he turned around gracefully and shot a fadeaway jumper!
The ball hit the ball steadily and scored another 2 points!
Irving scored consecutively, further widening the gap between the two sides.
The Clippers are already 13 points behind, and the situation is extremely unfavorable to the Clippers.
Tyronn Lue knows that Fisher can no longer be left on the court.
Although Fisher is experienced, his defense is really a colander.
Fischer was mainly responsible for the two counterattacks, and Milicic had done his best.
After all, there is no delay at all from the outside. The big center directly faces the firepower of the defender. Who can withstand this?
Tyronn Lue looked at the bench. Ricky Davis was not there, Dragic was not there, only Jeremy Lin was there.
But, can this Asian, Harvard-educated player really do it?
Tyronn Lue recalled that in the 2001 Finals, he was called upon to defend Iverson.
Wasn't he also a nobody at that time?
And judging from daily training, although Jeremy Lin is tall, his speed is not bad.
The defense cannot be said to be strong, at least not like Fisher, who really can't react when he is older.
Even if there is a 0.5 second delay on Irving from the outside, Milicic will not be completely exposed to Irving's firepower.
At this time, the Clippers finally scored a point, and Randolph hit a low-post mid-range jumper.
But coming back, Irving passed Fisher one-on-one, broke into the basket and passed the ball to Camby who was following.
Camby dunked easily!
The Clippers' defense was penetrated by Irving.
Tyronn Lue called a timeout and pointed to Jeremy Lin on the bench.
"Jamie, get ready and go on the field. Defend well later. You saw what's going on on the field, okay?"
Jeremy Lin was stunned. He didn't expect that he would actually get a chance to play.
He immediately took off his sports coat and made the sign of the cross on his chest.
But I thought in my heart: "God and Mr. Smart bless me, I will perform well."
Some people died, but not completely...
