For no other reason than Delfino's defensive ability is still much worse than Ariza's.
Ariza's task today is to restrict Durant. His playing time is bound to Durant. If Durant doesn't play, he can't play.
As for why not use the younger and more energetic Butler to face Durant in the transition period?
McHale and Xu Xin discussed this matter. After these few games, Butler's offensive feeling is getting better and better. Whether it is attacking the frame, mid-range shot or three-pointer, his shooting rate has been greatly improved.
It can also be seen from the team's training that Butler's offensive ability with the ball is currently second only to Harden, and is inferior to Jeremy Lin and Livingston.
If he were to match up with Durant in this game, the consumption on the defensive end would undoubtedly reduce his role on the offensive end.
Furthermore, Durant has too many offensive methods. Although Butler is tough defensively and quick with his feet.
But he is a third-year player after all, and his defensive experience is still insufficient. If he were to defend Durant, he would probably have to pay two fouls in less than 5 minutes and calm down.
Of course, the most important thing is that Butler's defensive hardware conditions are really not enough when facing Durant.
Butler's height is 2.01, and his wingspan is the same as his height, which is also 2.01.
Durant's height is reported as 2.06, but visually he is taller than Ibaka, who is 2.08 in the team. He is 2.11 and has a wingspan of 2.26. Although both of them are registered as small forwards, they look alike. dislocation.
How does "T-Rex" Butler defend against Durant, who is vertically Yi Jianlian and horizontally Yao Ming?
I really can't imagine the scene. Durant relaxed his arms and shot slightly backwards. Butler jumped with all his strength and couldn't interfere with anything. He still had to eat a mouthful of Durant's armpit hair.
Looking left and right, Ariza is the most suitable.
Although it may not be possible to prevent it, more precisely, it cannot be prevented.
As the first core of the Thunder, all opponents know that if they want to beat the Thunder, they must restrict Durant and send in the best defensive players in the team. But is this really useful?
Now it seems that it is of no use at all. In the first dozen games of the season, Durant faced the tightest defense, averaging 29+8+6 per game, which is outrageous.
What's even more outrageous is that such data only took 17.7 shots, ranking second in the team!
The three hit rates were 51+42+91, easily entering the 180 club.
It can be said that when facing the Thunder, each team is not thinking about how to defend Durant, but how to limit Durant's shooting percentage to less than 40%. These 30 points, don't even think about it, they must be given. of.
Durant, who has just entered his prime, is always mismatched against anyone, and his singles ability is infinitely close to that of Jordan at his peak. In terms of actual results, I am afraid that even the leader of the Qiao Gang is not as good as him.
After all, Durant's three-point ability is beyond the reach of Joe, but Durant's key ball ability still needs time to be tested.
The rotation lineup came on the field, and the two sides were evenly matched in the first seven minutes of the contest. Of course, this was also the case when the core players of both sides did not attack much. The score was 18:16, and the Rockets temporarily led by 2 points.
After the timeout, the Rockets have the ball.
Jeremy Lin organized the offense, and Reggie Jackson's defense was very aggressive, on the verge of fouling and not fouling.
Fortunately, Jeremy Lin has experienced some scenes and did not make any mistakes in Reggie Jackson's pressing defense. He accurately hit the ball and found Livingston who wanted the ball in the low post.
Livingston posted up Kevin Martin in the low post. Martin was not dominant in terms of height, weight, strength, etc., and his defensive habits and consciousness were also broken. He could only watch Livingston turn over and fall back to hit steadily. .
20:16.
When the Thunder attacked, Reggie passed half the court to Durant, and he ran to the bottom corner, and Durant initiated the attack.
When Durant faced Ariza's defense, he did not get off the ball immediately. Instead, he held the ball with both hands and observed the movement of his teammates and the Rockets' defensive arrangement.
Seeing that Kevin Martin did not run out of the open space, he immediately stopped waiting and signaled his teammates to clear the inside line and move all the way, and Thabeet raised the screen.
In fact, Durant can completely skip the screen and pull directly against Ariza, which will not have much impact on his shooting percentage.
But what Durant hopes more at this time is to rush inside to cause damage. The Rockets only have two centers available.
If Asik and Motel are both in foul trouble, then several of his teammates, whether it is Perkins, Ibaka, Thabeet, or Collison, will have a better chance to score in the paint. Then his own The workload will be much smaller.
Durant used the screen to get rid of Ariza and faced Motel. Seeing that Motel did not pounce, Durant hesitated for half a second, but decided to change his mind, jumped up and took the 2 points.
20:18.
The Rockets attacked, and Jeremy Lin once again found Livingston who was asking for the ball in the low post. Livingston once again turned over and made a jump shot to eat Martin alive.
22:18.
"What a ball. Xu Xin's signing is a stroke of genius. After Livingston joined the Rockets, he seemed to be completely transformed. He created a stable scoring method on the offensive end and worked hard on the defensive end."
Yang Jian said.
"Yes, if Livingston continuously attacks Martin, then he will pick the one with the weakest defense.
The Thunder's defense was a bit passive. They couldn't double-team Livingston. The other Rockets, Jeremy Lin, Butler, Ariza, and even Motiejunas could shoot three-pointers. "
Su Kui analyzed.
After being scored, Durant said to Martin:
"In the next round, you guard Ariza and leave Livingston to me."
Martin nodded:
"OK!"
The Thunder's offense was initiated by Durant this time. Martin still didn't get a chance, and Livingston followed closely.
As for others, Reggie is pretty good in transition offense, but his positional battle ending efficiency is low, and Collison and Thabeet have almost no ability to attack independently.
Durant could only choose to go it alone, call Thabeet's screen again, and face Motel through the screen.
This time Motel came out of defense. When Durant saw this, he made a little bow, accelerated and passed Motel. Before Butler could help defend, Durant smashed the ball into the basket with his right hand and one-handed dunk.
22:20.
"Although Thabeet has no offensive ability, the quality of his cover is still quite good. The two screens for Durant were done well. Ariza found it very difficult to get around."
Su Kui smiled.
On the sidelines, McHale shouted to Ariza who was about to run forward:
"Defend the pick-and-roll on the next possession and go off the line."
After Ariza heard it, he nodded towards McHale.
Jeremy Lin advanced to the frontcourt with the ball. This time Livingston did not choose to ask for the ball in the low post because Durant was guarding him.
Seeing this, Jeremy Lin turned his attention to the other side. The Rockets' lineup not only has Livingston, a strong matchup point, but also Butler.
