The China game between the Clippers and Warriors at the BJ Mastercard Center ended successfully on the night of the 16th.
The Clippers, who had the "home advantage", failed to take away the victory. They lost this preseason game 107:113, with a 6-point disadvantage.
Of course, the outcome of the preseason games doesn't matter. The Clippers players are just enjoying the game and testing their new tactics in the game.
Of course, Tyronn Lue and Mike Malone are not just flatterers, nor do they want to blame Min Congda after a loss. During the entire training camp, they worked hard to develop new tactics and check for leaks in the previous system.
Even though the Clippers' previous tactical inventory was already very rich, NBA rules change every season.
At this time, the coaching staff must understand the rule changes in a timely manner. Those who have the resources and connections must communicate with the league's referee office and chat with well-known referees to know the direction of the league next season.
According to the new rules, the tone of the team's tactical system for the new season will be laid.
Major rule changes, such as allowing zone defense, canceling handchecks, changing the length of the three-point line, changing illegal defensive rules, changing defensive three-second rules, etc., have a fundamental impact on tactics.
Small rules, such as tightening the scale of some foul calls or modifying the timeout system, may not seem to have much impact, but after several consecutive seasons, you can feel the league's control over the direction of the wind.
Many times, when rule changes are used as a watershed, there will be a huge difference between the performance of some players and the performance of the team.
Certain players who comply with the rules and catch up with the trends of the times will emerge suddenly and become the league's most popular players.
For example, after the defensive rules were revised in the early 21st century, a group of forwards and swingmen emerged, and the four major shooting guards became famous and extremely popular among fans.
After the three-second defensive rule was established, the big center forwards gradually withered away, and the fast-moving inside linemen who assisted in defense and supplementary defense gradually became popular.
For the team, a rule change may lead to version changes, major patches and major changes, and minor patches and minor changes.
For example, after allowing zone defense, in 2011, after years of hard work and tactical drills, the Mavericks successfully used zone defense to make up for the shortcomings of the aging team and lack of defensive mobility, and won the championship in one fell swoop.
In 2005, handcheck rules were further tightened. Popovich strengthened Manu Ginobili's role in tactics, loosened the system's seal on Ginobili, and gave him more autonomy.
Ginobili was selected as an All-Star in the regular season and had the best performance of his career in the playoffs, averaging 20.8 points per game. He played a vital role in the series that destroyed the Suns and defeated the Pistons in the seventh game. Jordan's reputation was Rise up.
Since then, the league has weakened interior defense every year, encouraged speed, and encouraged offense.
Old antiques like the Pistons are gradually being eliminated, and the perfect Big Three like the Celtics are only one championship away.
Even the champion Spurs, who started out by relying on defense and positional warfare, have embarked on the path of speeding up the game.
In the past two seasons, under Min Congda's half guidance and half blind play, the Clippers have actually hit the right rhythm and steps, leading the league's trend.
In the 2013-2014 season, among all the rule modifications, the "modification of vertical take-off defense rules" was the most important. It had a very significant impact on the team's defensive system.
The main content of this rule is: when defending, inside defensive players are only allowed to take off vertically, and are not allowed to perform defensive movements such as turning in the air. They can only raise their hands vertically and cannot press down. If these regulations are violated, once physical contact occurs during defense, the referee has the right to call a foul on the defensive side.
Needless to say, Zhanzhuang has been slashed inside again. Since the late 1990s, or even since the birth of basketball, tall centers have been targeted.
In the 1997-98 season, the league introduced a reasonable collision zone, so that breakthrough players can be better protected by the rules when they impact deep into the basket.
Then, in the 2001-2002 season, illegal defense was cancelled, zone defense was allowed, and unlimited singles in the low post were no longer tenable.
Immediately afterwards, the emergence of a significant defensive three seconds brought the influence of the ancient behemoth that once dominated the three-second area to a freezing point.
Both offense and defense are weakened, and the influence of the low-post behemoth on both offense and defense has greatly declined.
Instead, new insiders like Duncan, Garnett, and Webber, who are swinging between the fourth and fifth positions, are ushering in the spring.
In 2002, it was extremely difficult for the Lakers to beat the Kings, and their final tiebreaker victory was also full of controversy and was considered to be a shady matter in the league.
The Kings, with Weber as the core, have demonstrated the power of the new basketball system, but it has not yet come to fruition.
In 2003, Duncan successfully unseated the Lakers. In 2004, Kevin Garnett won the regular season MVP. He lost the Western Conference Finals because of Cassell's butt and the Lakers having Malone.
It can be seen that the rise of players and teams requires not only individual efforts, but also the historical process and the trend of the times and rules.
Now, the league believes that the weakening of the inside line is not enough, and it needs to continue to cut it, so the "vertical jump rule" came into being.
This knife can be regarded as completely cutting down the center forward. When defending, you can't do much other than being a tall wooden stake that greatly interferes with the opponent.
They cannot be touched, bumped, or pressed. A group of big centers who have finally adapted to defending for three seconds will further decline in status, and may one day completely disappear from the league.
In addition to praising Min Congda during meetings, the Clippers coaching staff also has to do practical work and study the rules.
Mike Malone just started building the Clippers' defensive system last season, and this summer the big center was cut again.
The bad news is that this is not good news for the Clippers' interior defensive core, Marc Gasol, and his deterrence will further decline.
The Clippers' pick-and-roll defense system that focuses on sinking back is bound to be affected, because it's useless if your center sinks inside, it's just an extra wooden stake.
Of course, maybe in another 10 years, with the continuous iteration of the rules, sinking, retreating and squatting will return to the stage of history. All this will depend on current changes.
The good news is that the Clippers still have Anthony Davis, a tall and lanky insider similar to Garnett, who is the Clippers' hope for the future.
At the same time, the Clippers have extremely rich forward resources, which are enough for Mike Malone to build a fierce and powerful defensive lineup that is more suitable for the rules.
In addition to defense, the Clippers' small lineup has been basically perfected after three seasons of trial and error in offense.
In the Chinese game against the Warriors, the Clippers used a small lineup many times, with only one inside man or even no inside man on the court.
Of course, because the strength and speed could not improve, the Warriors took advantage of them, and the defense could not stand it, resulting in the loss.
After returning to Los Angeles from China, the preseason continued. The Clippers lost to the Kings 110:117, the Trail Blazers 99:105, and the Lakers 108:121...
In 5 preseason games, they actually failed to win a single game and suffered a five-game losing streak!
Everyone thinks it's nothing, because this is basically a sign of a strong team. It doesn't matter if you lose in various preseason games.
But Min Congda didn't think so. He watched helplessly as the Clippers lost again and again, playing loosely and in a mess, with all kinds of combinations.
He thought to himself: "Damn, play with me. I think when you lose, you will win more happily than anyone else, and you will all win in the summer league. Now, I want you to win, so you will lose to me." See? It’s not normal, absolutely not normal. Is there a traitor in our team?”
(End of chapter)
