Li Ao and Ray Allen fought back and forth, and the Clippers fans were so excited that they were shouting for Li Ao to do it again!
Their Spider-Man has had two consecutive 40+ games, and they certainly hope to continue!
There's just one thing that feels weird about them - the way Li Ao and Ray Allen scored in the first few rounds, the fans felt weird.
Ray Allen has comprehensive skills, can shoot out of the blue, and post up. He averages 2.5 goals per game in three areas, outside the three-point line, under the basket, and in the mid-range and short-range areas. His scoring is evenly distributed. He starts with running and receiving. Ball shot.
However, Spider-Man, who has only one skill and a ball-holding rate that could only sit at the same table as blue-collar insiders, mostly scored in singles in the beginning.
But that's also why the two started off so well.
As the top scorers of their respective teams, the two are the first shooting points in the tactical play, and the opponent has made specific defensive preparations for them.
Even the Bucks, who don't defend well, are fully prepared for Li Ao's off-ball play, with Ray Allen and Cassell helping to defend on the wings.
The Clippers' defensive preparations are simpler. Li Ao defends against thunder and Allen attacks with the ball from mid-to-long distance, with O'Neal covering the basket.
The two men's playing styles suddenly changed, and the opponent's defensive preparations failed!
Li Ao responded to the calls of the fans and came to the high position again. This time the big dog became rough in defense and made defensive moves around the front.
Even though Big Dog has always had the attitude of 'accepting being beaten', but he was scored 3 goals in a row by a rookie, he still became active on the defensive end.
Li Ao withstood the big dog's defense, raised his left hand to ask for the ball, made a fist with his right hand and touched his chest with his thumb, then turned around and cut towards the basket.
The big dog worked too hard and took a step forward. When he turned around to catch up, Li Ao had already stopped on the sideline of the three-second zone, received the ball, and made a jump shot from close range...hit!
Li Ao turned around and retreated, pausing when passing the big dog.
"Save your efforts, otherwise what if you don't get 20 points?"
The big dog looked at Li Ao who ran back to the backcourt and was furious. He rushed forward... waving for the ball for a single.
Li Ao's trash talk took effect, but he followed Ray Allen to the corner and watched Cassel go to the other baseline. Jason Caffey, who has a certain high-post jump shooting ability, came near him and Ray Allen... !
The Bucks have a tactic where the big dog distributes the ball in isolation. There are a few rounds in each quarter. When the big dog wants the ball, the rest of the Bucks immediately adjust their positions.
Maggette pressed the defense, and the big dog took a step away, nimbly dodged Maggette's defense, changed direction, and charged forward!
The Bucks players followed Big Dog's singles movement, the space opened up, and Big Dog made an emergency stop jumper one step inside the free throw line!
A tall and strong body, deft breakthroughs like a point guard, superb pull-up jump shots, precise shooting... Big Dog has shown his strength so far in his career, averaging 21 points per game with a 47% shooting rate!
Li Ao's trash talk took effect, but Big Dog instead used his personal abilities to strengthen his threat in the minds of the Clippers players.
The trash talk had the opposite effect, and Li Ao felt a little pained.
It is worthy of being the league’s top offensive team!
In that case, let's attack!
Li Ao continued to go to the high position to lean against the big dog.
The Bucks were so dumb that even a silent lazy guy like Big Dog cursed.
Are you really just going to catch him and beat him up?
Seeing Cassel looking towards Li Ao, Greg Anthony took the initiative to move to the right side of the top arc, moved Cassel a little further, and then lobbed the ball to Li Ao.
Li Ao understood, received the ball, and took a step to make a turn over for a jump shot.
Cassel chose to flank Li Ao. Greg Anthony immediately ran to the left at a 45-degree angle. Li Ao split the ball when Cassel's flanking attack was in place.
Greg Anthony received the ball at a 45-degree angle on the left. Ray Allen on the left side of the three-second zone made up for it. Greg Anthony passed the ball to Maggette. Maggette cut in and received the ball, passing Scott William. James smashed the ball into the basket!
As good as the Bucks' offense is, their defense is only as bad as theirs.
Gentry's general direction for tonight's game is to attack!
He studied all the Bucks' games after the All-Star break and found that the games the Bucks lost were not due to how well the opponent's defense was, but because the offense was harder than them.
Even the Magic, who struggled defensively around the TT combination, defeated the Bucks on offense 109-105.
The tone of the game has been set, and in the following time, the two teams played ferocious offense.
As long as Li Ao encounters a big dog defense, he will drop into a high position and attack from behind.
It is easier for him to play the big dog in isolation than to catch and shoot while running.
If the defense is replaced by Ray Allen, he will move and play without the ball.
For the Bucks, Ray Allen continued to attack without the ball, Cassel launched the attack in singles, and the Big Dog played in singles after a few rounds, ensuring 5-6 points in each quarter.
The two teams played back and forth, with the Clippers leading the Bucks by 1 point 34-33 in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Bucks, whose offense was more consistent, had the upper hand and scored even more fiercely than in the first quarter, scoring 35 points in a single quarter!
They used their strength to tell the Clippers why they are the league's top offensive team! What is the Three Musketeers!
The Clippers' offensive performance in the second quarter was very good compared to their usual performance, but it was one step behind the Bucks, scoring only 28 points.
68 to 62, the Bucks took a 6-point lead at halftime!
Fortunately, Li Ao continued to score goals in the first half. He scored 14 points in 11 minutes in the first quarter and 10 points in 9 minutes in the second quarter.
With the blessing of his 'pumper', although they were beaten by the Bucks in the second quarter, the morale of the Clippers did not drop too much.
During the halftime break, Li Ao discussed the first half of the game with the coaching staff.
They reviewed the first half and found that the Bucks' teamwork in the second quarter was significantly different from the first quarter.
Ray Allen also scored 14 points in the first quarter, 15 points in the second quarter, and 29 points at halftime.
However, the scoring methods of the two quarters are quite different.
Ray Allen only had 3 singles in the first quarter, and two of them were misplaced. When Li Ao was not defending, Ray Allen chose to play singles.
But in the second quarter, 9 of Ray Allen's 15 points were scored with the ball.
Based on this situation, Li Ao speculated that Ray Allen was not adaptable to playing without the ball, and as he was playing, his offense with the ball increased.
Based on Li Ao's speculation, Gentry thought for a while, and during the tactical adjustment stage, he emphasized the need to cover up when Ray Allen was off the ball and using the screen, not to miss anyone, and to strengthen the physical confrontation with Ray Allen.
…
After returning from the intermission, the Clippers continued the play style of the first half in the third quarter.
With 62 points at halftime, their offense was already very good. Gentry didn't make random adjustments. He couldn't think of how to make the offense better. Making random adjustments might destroy the current offensive rhythm.
On the Bucks' side, George Karl concluded during halftime that the Clippers should strengthen their defense.
Therefore, the Bucks players are under great pressure. The Clippers relied on defense this season and have only lost 92.7 points per game so far this season.
Just look at the 60 games from the time they confirmed their focus on defense in December last year to the 60 games before this game. The Clippers only lost 91.3 points per game. During this period, the Clippers ranked seventh in the league in terms of limiting their opponents' scoring.
Although the level of iron-bloodedness is not as high as the abnormal teams in the top five, it is not that easy to deal with.
Who would have thought that the Clippers would choose to continue attacking with them? The Bucks players are happy, so let's go for it!
Ray Allen's off-ball movement with 29 points in the half was met with tighter defense. The Bucks players thought it was normal. George Karl also guessed that Ray Allen would be targeted, so at the beginning of the third quarter, he Tim Thomas was sent in, Cassell and Big Dog were the main attackers, Tim Thomas responded to the long-range shot, and veteran Earvin Johnson was sent under the basket.
With Ray Allen's control, the Bucks soared by 19 points in half a quarter, even more so than in the second quarter!
As for the Clippers, their performance was much the same as in the second quarter, with 14 points in the half. Compared to the Bucks, their only advantage was 'stable'.
87 to 76, the Bucks led the Clippers by 11 points and entered the official timeout.
However, after the official timeout came back, Ray Allen couldn't make a secret call in the first offensive round!
The big dog is starting to stand up! Positivity goes straight to zero!
On the defensive end, there was no change. As always, "I only take one shot." I would grab rebounds when I had the opportunity. I retreated from defense and did not stand in the frontcourt waiting for the opponent to finish the offense and go straight to "fast break."
But on the offensive end, the big dog stood up, stretched out on the sideline, shot the ball when it came, and didn't move his feet when it was not there, let alone cover for his teammates, just akimbo.
The reason for this situation - in the first half of the quarter, the target of Ray Allen's cover was the big dog.
He can use the screen to create an open opportunity for a teammate, and of course he can find it more accurately.
Big Dog's 46%+ shooting rate this season is much more accurate than power forward Tim Thomas, who only has a 43% shooting rate.
Glenn Robinson's performance did not disappoint his teammates. He scored 10 points in half a quarter. However, coupled with 11 points in the first half... Dear user, your trial time for today's Superstar Edition Big Dog has expired.
Ray Allen adjusted very quickly. This was not the first time this happened. In the second round of offense, he immediately looked for Tim Thomas to cooperate.
Without cover, he could not outrun Li Ao by running alone.
But Matt Halprin, who came on the bench to defend Tim Thomas, has much better defensive awareness and defensive ability than Maggette and Big Q, who took turns guarding the big dogs!
Ray Allen looks for Tim Thomas to pick and roll, and Li Ao's defensive pressure suddenly reduces. Not only can he easily cover Tim Thomas' receiving space, but when Ray Allen wants to run back to the baseline, he can also easily Block it back.
The Bucks' offense came to a standstill. After returning from the official timeout, they attacked 4 times. Cassell only scored two points by scoring a free throw line emergency stop jumper!
The Clippers' "stability" worked at this time, scoring two goals in four attacks. Li Ao met Ray Allen and used a screen to switch defenses and came to the right side at a 45-degree angle to score a three-pointer. Maggette scored A cut-in layup and a solid 5 points!
81 to 89, the Clippers narrowed the point difference to 8 points.
When the Bucks attack, Ray Allen takes the initiative to catch the ball from the outside.
Matt Halprin breathed a sigh of relief. If Ray Allen insists on playing off the ball and cooperating with Tim Thomas in the pick-and-roll, he may not be able to withstand it a few more times.
Cassel wanted to let Ray Allen continue running, but for fear of offending the opponent, he passed the ball and stretched it to the wing.
The three musketeers don't all have a good relationship with each other. One is lazy, one is withdrawn, and one is always ostracized because of his appearance...
Ray Allen broke through in singles, and Li Ao followed closely and blocked the middle.
He could rush in, but he couldn't get rid of Li Ao. This was what Ray Allen expected. He rushed to the right side of the three-second zone, stopped suddenly, stepped back and took off!
Li Ao jumped up and followed, reaching out to interfere.
Ray Allen leaned back immediately after taking off, avoiding Li Ao's interference, and threw the ball towards the basket... It's iron!
When the Bucks next attacked, Ray Allen continued to play in isolation. He chose to rush to close range and hit O'Neal with a high toss... which was awesome!
His singles in these two rounds were no different from his singles in the second quarter in terms of playing style, and the difficulty of his shots was similar. Li Ao's single defense and O'Neal's supplementary defense were always going all out.
The difference is that Ray Allen's touch is no longer as hot as it was in the first half!
In fact, during the period before the official timeout when Ray Allen was holding back and the Big Dogs were mainly attacking, Ray Allen only scored 1 goal in 3 shots. Those 3 goals were relatively difficult, and they were all shot with defense. , but it can also be seen that his terrible touch of 10-for-16 in the first half has passed.
If Ray Allen continues to move without the ball and continues to use screens to catch and shoot, the containment will not change, and no one on the Clippers will dare to leave him open to catch and shoot.
But the big dog has a "get off work quickly" attitude. Tim Thomas' offensive efficiency was low tonight... Ray Allen still chose to attack with the ball in the rest of the time.
In the second half of the third quarter, Ray Allen took a total of 4 shots, 1 of 4, and only scored 3 points.
Coupled with Cassel's 4 points and Earvin Johnson's two points, the Bucks only scored 9 points in more than 5 minutes!
The Clippers played steadily and scored 12 points on regular offense, continuing their offensive performance in the second quarter. They also scored 4 points on counterattacks and scored 16-9 in the half.
92 to 96, the Clippers narrowed the point difference to 4 points!
…
Entering the inter-quarter break, Li Ao drank an energy drink while analyzing his defense against Ray Allen in the first three quarters tonight.
After scoring 29 points on 10 of 16 shots at halftime and 34 points on 12 of 23 shots in the third quarter, Ray Allen seemed to be declaring that he would become the Sonics' top scorer in the future.
Li Ao felt that the reason why the defense against Ray Allen was successful in the third quarter was that Ray Allen was not as hot as in the first half, but it was not the main reason.
The main reason is that Ray Allen's play style is chaotic.
In the first half of the third quarter, Ray Allen took the initiative to help the Big Dog create air cuts and long-range shooting opportunities. Li Ao felt blind.
It has nothing to do with Big Dog's outrageous operation of 'clocking out in 20 minutes', but as a professional off-ball shooter, when Li Ao plays without the ball, he will only try to get rid of the defense and reduce confrontation.
Ray Allen's operation was completely looking for confrontation, putting himself in a difficult shooting environment.
However, Li Ao could understand Ray Allen's seemingly outrageous "off-ball play". After all, Ray Allen was an all-around player at this time, and his style of play was completely different from the way he played after going to the Celtics. You cannot ask him to be a pure off-ball pitcher.
Now Ray Allen's play style is obviously in chaos, and the time has come for the Clippers to make a comeback.
After returning from the break, Li Ao led his teammates on the field and shouted: "Sail! Set sail!"
(End of chapter)
