On the court, the timeout ended and neither team made any substitutions.
Li Ao stepped to the free throw line.
The Heat players' free throw rebound movements were very intense, and the change in defensive attitude was visible to the naked eye.
The opponent's active blocking during free throws is also part of the defense. It is for the players taking free throws to see - you have to be careful, our rebound protection is very fierce, if you can't make a free throw, you won't get a rebound.
Li Ao received the ball and complained, "Who is the team with the worst rebounds?" and then threw the ball in a relaxed mood.
Hearing Li Ao's words and seeing Li Ao easily hit the free throw with disdain.
Heat players are so angry!
They finally understood the mood of the Knicks players.
The Heat attacked, and Eddie Jones faced Li Ao's defense and chose to break inside.
He couldn't get rid of Li Ao's pursuit. When he got to the inside and faced the back and forth attacks of O'Neal and Li Ao, he threw a high shot... "哐"... it hit the basket, it was iron!
Eddie Jones is very upset. He regrets choosing to come to the Heat to compete for the championship by +1. The Magic also invited him...
He is not good at playing in isolation like this, but in the Heat he can only play this kind of inefficient offense.
Although he was annoyed, his attitude towards the game was very professional. When he saw O'Neal Jr. get the rebound, he immediately turned around and stuck to Li Ao who was about to go down. He didn't let go of Li Ao until he was outside the three-point line and Bowen defended him. The defensive target is there.
Like Eddie Jones, the rest of the Heat retreated very actively. The Clippers' fast break failed and fell into a positional battle.
Facing Bowen, Li Ao had an advantage in speed, but it was difficult for him to rely on reverse running around the pile to get open catching and shooting opportunities.
Bowen's speed is not very slow. The speed of 87 is enough in most cases, but compared with Li Ao, a point guard-level speed player, it is obviously much worse.
However, Bowen relies on defensive predictions and prepares for movement in advance, which greatly makes up for the speed gap.
Seeing that Li Ao had no chance, Greg Anthony passed the ball to Maggette, and Maggette broke through and attacked the frame...Eddie Jones and Anthony Mason Jr. successfully defended. Maggette missed a layup from close range. Ryan Grant struggled to protect the defensive rebound.
Li Ao retreated quickly, thinking that the opponent was worthy of being the new top defensive team in the league.
Unlike the Knicks' fierce defense, the Heat's players, who are up to 206 centimeters tall, are not tall enough and are not as strong as the Knicks players. Their defense follows a skill-based approach.
The Heat started to defend seriously, and the defense they displayed was completely different from the previous rounds. When Li Ao circled the pile, the opponent provided enough interference, which helped Bowen continue to pursue the defense and avoid the dislocation caused by the switch of defense.
The Heat players are shorter than the Knicks, but correspondingly, they are faster and have stronger space interception capabilities, which limits the range of moves that Li Ao can make.
The blocking and flanking attack on the strong side holding the ball is also in place. When playing against the Knicks, it was relatively easy for Maggette to attack the basket, but here he was locked up on the first breakthrough.
However, Li Ao was not surprised by this. He already knew the opponent's defensive characteristics when preparing for the battle.
But there was one thing he couldn't believe - Bowen's defensive prediction ability reminded him of Duncan!
He even felt that Bowen's defensive prediction ability was even better than Duncan's.
Unable to take the opportunity to open the point difference to double digits, the Clippers players were not in a hurry.
Retreating to the backcourt, Li Ao followed Eddie Jones and joined his teammates in defense.
The ball continued to come to Eddie Jones, who continued his energy- and energy-consuming but ineffective breakout play.
He knew that if there were no accidents, facing the Clippers, a team with correct defensive tactics and players with a positive defensive attitude and strong execution, he would not be able to get a few assists tonight.
The running ability of his teammates is really poor. Tim Hardaway and Anthony Mason Jr. are both core players with the ball.
Originally, there was only one starting teammate like this. The fortune teller introduced Anthony Mason Jr. to be the sixth man. However, Mourning was reimbursed and could only use Anthony Mason Jr. as the first scoring point inside.
So now, when Eddie Jones breaks through, there are two great men standing on the top arc and the bottom line.
Bowen has no running ability and can only catch and shoot at fixed spots.
As expected by Eddie Jones, when he broke through, only his teammate Brian Grant was running...
He chose to stop and take a jump shot... but was interfered by Li Ao's long arm.
Eddie Jones actively retreated from defense, adjusted his mentality and devoted himself to defense.
Li Ao took the initiative to follow Eddie Jones and said next to him: "He is tall like Kobe, his breakthrough moves are like Kobe, and his jersey number is like Kobe, but his strength is not like Kobe's."
Eddie Jones felt like he had been stabbed in the chest.
It sounds like it was the breakthrough he learned from No. 8, but it was obviously the breakthrough he started from that No. 8!
At this time, he just retreated to the three-point line. Seeing Li Ao speeding up his position, an angry Eddie Jones immediately followed him.
Bowen was about to come up to guard against Li Ao, but when he saw this, he could only follow Maggette.
The fortune teller on the sidelines felt like suffering when he saw this scene.
As he expected, Greg Anthony passed the ball to Maggette.
Maggette caught the ball and violently attacked Bowen. Li Ao turned back from the bottom line and ran to the right at a 45-degree angle.
Eddie Jones was in a position to defend Maggette. He saw Bowen being crushed away and blocked him. Maggette passed the ball to Li Ao. Li Ao caught the ball from the free throw line at a 45-degree angle on the right and made a mid-range shot... easily. Hit!
Eddie Jones and Bowen switched defenses, and neither of them could guard them!
14 to 3, the score difference came to 11 points!
The score difference reached double digits, and Eddie Jones calmed down and was no longer impulsive.
The Heat did not allow the Clippers to hit another climax in the following time.
However, they did not have the ability to narrow the point difference too much under the Clippers' defense.
And they couldn't completely suppress the Clippers' offense.
As the gods and demons said, the Heat currently do not have a core scorer who can really take on big responsibilities, but they also lack an interior frame protector.
Without Mourning, the Heat always missed rebounds when the defense was at its fiercest.
Last season with Mourning, the Heat averaged a rebound margin of 3.4 per game, but this season they had a net loss of 2.6.
The offensive rebounds are also extremely poor, averaging only 9.8 per game, ranking last in the league and the only team with less than 10 offensive rebounds this season.
This kind of rebounding ability made the Heat's offensive continuity tonight extremely poor.
In the middle of the second quarter, Eddie Jones and Tim Hardaway finally took advantage of Li Ao's absence and shot from mid-to-long distance, forcing the Clippers' defense to expand toward the top arc.
But when Eddie Jones and Tim Hardaway missed shots from a double attack, both AC Green and Anthony Mason Jr. struggled to get offensive rebounds over the opponent's backup center Chris Mihm.
The opportunity finally created by the two guns in the backcourt was wasted.
In the second half of the second quarter, the Heat's lack of an inside gate was once again exposed.
Chris Mihm's excellent rebound protection for a period of time in the front helped O'Neal win a rest time.
Little O'Neal, who came back on stage, started the mode of punching the old, weak, sick and short!
After his fighting style became more ruthless, his ability to bully the old, weak and short became even stronger!
Facing the 206-centimeter Brian Grant, O'Neal Jr. struck hard, making 3 of 5 shots in the half quarter, plus 1 of 2 free throws to score 7 points.
Under the leadership of O'Neal Jr., the Clippers scored 13-9 in the second half of the second quarter.
The Heat finally narrowed the point difference to 6 points in the middle of the second quarter and returned to double digits.
At the end of the first half, the Clippers led the Heat by 10 points, 49-39!
In the second half, the Heat's play style did not change significantly, but it was very steady. The Clippers wanted to widen the point difference in one breath but couldn't.
Lowering the opponent's score and defeating the opponent with rich low-scoring experience is the only way the Heat can win this season.
As the third quarter progressed, the mid- and long-range shooting percentage of the Clippers' wing shooters dropped sharply. The Heat's defensive effect became stronger and stronger. The Heat players also began to close to the basket according to the established defensive strategy. Finally, Successfully contained O'Neal Jr.'s inside attack and Odom's close-range breakthrough.
But the Heat's defense sank, and Li Ao's opportunity came!
Without teammates to intercept on the wings or interfere with passing and receiving in the high post, Bowen could no longer keep up with Li Ao's movement!
Li Ao seized the opportunity and made consecutive long two-pointers from the area above the free throw line, scoring 9 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists and 1 block in a single quarter! Withstood the Heat's defensive counterattack!
At the end of the three quarters, the Heat not only failed to narrow the point difference, but were also opened to 14 points by the Clippers. The Clippers scored 22 to 18 in a single quarter.
At the end of the quarter, Tim Hardaway took off, hitting two consecutive three-pointers, and went on a 6-0 run on his own.
The Clippers did not score in the first three rounds.
Seeing that the point difference was narrowed to 8 points, Li Ao came to the top arc to defend Tim Hardaway alone.
Although he took the initiative to take responsibility, Li Ao was under great pressure facing the king of cross steps.
However, as soon as he faced off with the advancing Tim Hardaway, he received a system prompt...
"The host defends Tim Hardaway, who is 34 years old, one-on-one. He punches the level 3 trigger in the nursing home. He has speed +2, strength +2, and jumping +2. His awareness of the timing of the opponent's shot and his awareness of breakthrough direction have improved. When the opponent passes the ball, there is a 10% probability of predicting the direction of the pass."
Li Ao's eyes lit up and he devoted himself to defense excitedly.
I have to say that Tim Hardaway has maintained his condition really well. It may be due to Pat Riley's devilish training camp. It is not obvious that he is a 34-year-old veteran small point guard who has experienced serious injuries.
Li Ao was very excited on defense, but Tim Hardaway, who was attacking, did not have the fun of dueling with young talents.
The size difference is huge and there is no chance of shooting.
Moreover, when he broke through, he found that his speed did not have an advantage.
The big spider is quicker than when he was guarding Eddie Jones or Dan Marley.
Tim Hardaway broke through all the defenses - do I need to be so excited to defend an old man like me?
The joy that other veteran stars feel when they are taken seriously by young talents is completely absent from Tim Hardaway.
Facing Li Ao's defense, Tim Hardaway played two rounds in isolation. Both of them took off quickly after breaking through and took a long two-point shot before Li Ao blocked the shot... Neither hit. In the next round, Tim Hardaway will The ball was passed to Eddie Jones, who was defended by Big Q.
Facing Big Q's defense, Eddie Jones had a higher success rate in breaking through and scoring, but compared with Tim Hardaway's "swish" of chasing 6 points in a row, it was obviously incomparable.
The Clippers, after surviving the initial stage of continuous strikes, gradually found their sense on the offensive end and continued their low-efficiency but stable offense.
The Heat's last trump card, Tim Hardaway's outside shot, was broken by Li Ao, and there were no other changes for the Heat.
The score difference fluctuated around 10 points until the end of the game.
The score was 20 to 23 in the final quarter, and the Clippers lost by 3 points in a single quarter. However, they led by 14 points in the first three quarters and steadily maintained their double-digit lead until the end of the game.
Li Ao made 8 of 19 shots, including 1 of 3 three-pointers, plus 5 of 6 free throws, scoring 22 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 4 blocks. O'Neal Jr. made 8 of 15 shots and scored 21 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 assist. Steals and 2 blocks.
The two led the Clippers to defeat the visiting Heat 91-80, defended the victory, and raised the winning rate to 50% again, with the record becoming 12 wins and 12 losses!
After the final whistle sounded, the Clippers players cheered and celebrated excitedly.
Winning is very safe, but playing is not easy at all!
If the fortune teller doesn't start the game rashly, they don't have a climax at the beginning, and they don't build confidence, they may be prevented from collapse by the opponent's strong defense!
When the opponent launches a counterattack, they are not worried about losing a few points, and they are not afraid of making mistakes when making adjustments. They can even actively learn some of the opponent's defensive coordination methods without worrying about the cost of trial and error... The 11-point lead at the beginning gave them too much Much room.
And that’s thanks to their Spider-Man!
Teammates were amazed by Li Ao's vision for the game!
Who can connect Jordan's broken ribs with Pat Riley's brain twitching?
That’s their Spider-Man!
(End of chapter)
