Chapter 657 [Splendid Preseason, Championship Puzzle]
The preseason continued, and the Clippers' limelight was quickly stolen. Kobe and the Lakers were proud to survive the fans' saliva.
Because the Cavaliers also lost, and they lost two games in a row, this surprised the fans who had been bragging about them all summer and had been looking forward to it all summer.
In the first game, the Cavaliers lost to the Spurs 73-90 away from home. Six players, including Wade, were declared injured. The Spurs did not try their best and had the last laugh in this contest of substitute players.
In the second game, Bosh and James played longer. Except for them, the role players almost didn't score. They lost to the rebuilt Hornets 78-90.
The preseason is mainly about warm-up, and each team will have reservations, but people are not as optimistic about the Cavaliers as before. Everyone thinks that an invincible team should be like the Lakers during their three consecutive championships. They can win even if they play casually in the preseason. The Cavaliers obviously can't do that.
The loss of the game did not have much impact on the Cavaliers players. Even, in coach Adelman's view, there is a good side to losing.
Adelman said in an interview, "It's good to be able to handle the loss well, so that the players can correct their mentality. People gave the Cavaliers too much praise in the summer, which makes it easy for people to lose themselves. We will go back and watch the game video carefully. Then try to play a better game next time.”
Also attracting attention are the Nets and Thunder, which played two games in China. Yao Ming represents the Nets, while Yi Jianlian represents the Thunder. This is a derby for Chinese players.
However, the protagonist of the game was the Thunder's three young men. They relied on their outstanding personal abilities to defeat the rebuilt Nets.
The Nets are pretty good inside, with Yao Ming, Favors, and Humphries ranking among the top ten in the league in depth, but their outside players are too shabby, with Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Anthony Morrow, Courtney Lee, Trenton Hassell and others are important rotations. If they were on other teams, these people could only serve as substitutes.
Hassell defended Durant and Farmar against Westbrook alone, and the outcome can be imagined.
The Clippers played five more preseason games, and Chris Paul played about 30 minutes in each game. He used his strengths in the limited time and did everything Yang Rui asked.
Paul is one of the league's best point guards at picking and rolling, and he can also run and launch fast breaks.
But the Clippers' strong offense is not because of Paul, but because of the personal abilities of Griffin, Gay, and Curry. No matter who receives the ball from these three, it will be difficult to defend the opponent in singles with the ball.
Griffin looks a lot like James. He rushes for layups and dunks, making it difficult for opponents to defend him.
Gay is like McGrady, who can break through big men's defenses with his speed, and can make pull-up jumpers when faced with defenders.
In Yang Rui's previous life, Gay was an underestimated scorer. In 12 seasons of his career, Gay averaged 18 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists per game, shooting 45.2% from the field, 34.5% from the three-point range, and 79.6% from the free throw line. His one-on-one efficiency was not inferior to that of Kobe. It's just that he takes fewer shots and has strong key ball ability. The opponent can't block the shot even if he knows he is going to pull it up.
Many people say that Gay has character problems, that he is not competitive enough, not paranoid enough, and that he is not smart enough when playing. Gay is indeed unqualified to be the core of the team. He does not combine well with sudden point shooting and cannot drive the whole team. But Gay, who only gets a full mid-level contract and can play in isolation like Kobe, is impeccable.
Curry's offensive power is also liberated. In the second quarter, he has unlimited firepower. When he plays with Paul, the big man inside will provide him with off-ball cover from the side to catch the ball and shoot.
After the preseason, the Clippers looked like they had the "Big Four". The four averaged 72.2 points per game and played only about 30 minutes, which is reserved.
Not only the core of the team, but also the performance of the Clippers' role players is also impressive, including the defense of Tony Allen, DeAndre Jordan, Mahinmi and others, the three-pointers of Dunleavy and Korver, etc.
Marginal players Sheldon Williams, Gary Neal, Novak and others also got many opportunities to play and showed off their specialties.
Yang Rui gave high praise to the role players. "I think not every player needs to be very comprehensive.
Understand your own talents and achieve the ultimate in a single aspect, and it will be easier to become a championship jigsaw puzzle. For the team, this is a directional reinforcement. Such as Rodman, Bruce Bowen, Boykins. In the Clippers, no player is redundant. "
The Clippers have 6 wins and 1 loss, double defeating the Lakers. The only game they lost was to the Magic.
Magic Batum, Redick, and Lewis performed well, and inside Howard defeated DeAndre Jordan and Mahinmi.
Under the guidance of Hollins, the Magic's defensive system is very solid and the defense is fast. The Clippers players are trapped in the zone defense and the poor evacuation ability of the inside players is their biggest flaw at present. Dunleavy is sent as a guest at the 4th position. The defense will become weaker again.
Yang Rui plans to urge Griffin to practice shooting and increase his shooting range throughout the season. If he can shoot three-pointers, the Clippers' chances of winning in the playoffs will greatly increase. Yang Rui can only hope that Griffin will improve his strength. In his previous life, he did make great progress in shooting.
There is no hope for Jordan. He has been a rough guy who can defend but is bad at attacking independently. On the offensive end, except for air cuts and dunks, and second offense, he has no effective way to score.
This man's brain is all about muscles, and Yang Rui can only arrange the simplest tactics for him, such as making straight cuts after covering, and who to follow or where to stand when defending.
As long as more than two instructions are given to Jordan, he will be absolutely confused and not know what to do on the court. This kind of person also has advantages. He resolutely relies on his body to play and is extremely brave. His opponents are not physically as good as him and can perform amazingly in a certain period of time.
In the preseason, Jordan only played 20 minutes per game. Under the tactics arranged by Yang Rui, he scored 10.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.5 blocks. He shot 73.1% from the field, almost all of which were dunks.
All teams rested for two days. Looking at the overwhelming news and praise about the Clippers, the Bucks boss was very depressed. He began to regret it. Wesley Johnson's offensive and defensive performance in the preseason was average, without any star appearance. Swingman Darlington Hobson, who was drafted in the first round, had even less performance.
At this moment, Bucks fans stopped scolding Curry and instead scolded the Bucks management. They all realized that the team may have let go of an All-Star in exchange for a young player who has potential that is difficult to realize and needs to be cultivated for a long time.
The good news is that they can watch Ellis, the second-leading shooting guard in the league, score as much as he wants next season.
What I regret even more is the Celtics management. They renewed the contract of Marquis Daniels with an annual salary of 2.5 million, but were unwilling to give Tony Allen a three-year contract with an annual salary of 3 million. The two are not on the same level at all. .
In the preseason, several stars guarded by Tony Allen were defeated, and Daniels was just an ordinary role player.
Cavaliers fans haven't discussed Rudy Gay too much. They all know that with James here, Gay's small forward position cannot be reused, and it doesn't matter if he leaves.
The first NBA official strength rankings were announced. The Mavericks, who had won all 7 games in the preseason, ranked first. The Cavaliers still ranked second despite 4 wins and 3 losses. Last season's defending champion Spurs ranked third and fourth. It's magic.
The Clippers are ranked fifth. Experts are unanimously optimistic that the Clippers will enter the playoffs and gain home court advantage in the first round.
The Lakers, who had 2 wins and 5 losses in the preseason, were only ranked 14th. This was a very embarrassing result. The team at this position was predicted to barely make the playoffs and would be eliminated in the first round.
Before the regular season has even started, basketball experts generally believe that the Clippers are stronger than the Lakers.