Chapter 667 [Best Point Guard, Tough Defense]
After Griffin performed the alley-oop, many home fans stood up and cheered. They took the dunk contest scoreboard and gave 10 points in unison.
TNT Radio's Barkley shouted: "The Thunder can no longer reverse the game. Griffin scored 50 points with this deduction."
CCTV5 Yu Jia lamented: "The top five goals appeared today, but it's not necessarily true. Maybe the Clippers will have a more terrifying performance later. Los Angeles is really the city of alley-oops now."
Zhang Liyi nodded: "When there is a Clippers game, the top ten goals should be selected that day, otherwise many exciting scenes will be missed, which is unfair to other teams, and the highlights will be taken by the Clippers."
Yu Jia said: "As the opponent of the Clippers, we have to bear a lot of pressure. Today, Arab League can easily become a backdrop. I hope he can also perform well. This round he was slow to return to defense."
"It's better to go slower, at least you won't be dunked." Zhang Lili shook his head. They hope Yi Jianlian plays well, but he and Griffin are really not on the same level.
When the Thunder attacked, Westbrook did not look for a cover and directly singled out Paul. The wing changed direction and swayed half of his body, and made a jump shot, 6-2.
Westbrook is one of the most responsible and hard-working players in the league. He never slacks off in his game and strives to get better at even the smallest things, which is a lot like Kobe.
In many ways, he was unsuccessful. But one thing has taken his performance to another level, and that is his jump shot. Mid-range shooting is already his regular weapon. On the other hand, in his rookie season and second season, there was often no game at all. Now, the opponent must mark him anywhere inside the three-point line, which increases his threat.
When the Clippers attacked, Paul and Jordan played a pick-and-roll to get rid of Westbrook, walked to the left and dribbled the ball to the baseline, stopped suddenly and dribbled the ball to his right hand, took a step to 45 degrees, attracted Westbrook to pursue him, and the ball lightly As soon as he sent it to the middle, it happened to be passed to the hands of Jordan who was following up.
Jordan caught the ball and took a step forward to jump up. The impact was at its maximum, and the opponent risked being knocked away even if he wanted to commit a foul. Yi Jianlian was not so tough and didn't even stretch out his hand.
Jordan fully stretched his body and smashed the ball with one hand. 8 to 2.
In Yang Rui's previous life, many people said that Paul was obsessed with the ball. For example, after Glen Davis left the Clippers, he talked about Paul when he was a guest on a TV show and said: "He has his own way of doing things, just like, I It's Chris Paul, give me the ball, I keep dribbling, dribbling, dribbling, dribbling on the court (Davis said dribbling nearly ten times on the show), and then pass the ball, if If there's a good opportunity, he'll do it himself."
In fact, whether Paul sticks to the ball depends on who his teammates are. If he is a "big baby" who takes a moment to stand still after the pick-and-roll, has no height advantage and never cuts in the air, Paul can only stick to the ball and look for opportunities. If it were DeAndre Jordan, Paul would pass the ball very quickly. If DeAndre Jordan was slower, DeAndre Jordan wouldn't be able to exert his power.
Just looking at the data, you can clearly see how good Paul is, and his high-level statistics are better than his technical statistics.
This season, in ESPN's real plus-minus (RPM) data rankings, Paul leads the league at No. 1 and ranks in the top five overall.
Let’s look at Paul’s restrictions on his opponents. When he was on the court, the opposing point guard averaged 5.9 assists and 3.3 turnovers per 36 minutes, shooting only 41.5% from the field, which translated into a turnover-to-assist ratio of 1.79. When Paul comes off the court, opponents average 6.3 assists and 2.6 turnovers, and their shooting percentage also improves. So obviously, Paul's presence has huge significance for the Clippers defense.
If you use Player Efficiency Rating (PER) to measure Paul, he is even more outstanding. He ranked among the top three in the league for two consecutive seasons in 2008 and 2009, and even reached 30 in 2009.
No matter which high-level data is used to analyze Paul, Paul is currently one of the best point guards in the NBA.
Thunder coach Brooks began to feel helpless. Yi Jianlian and Ibaka started together, and the penalty area was not protected enough.
Ibaka's style is similar to Ratliff, fast, good at jumping, good at guarding pick-and-rolls, and assisting in defense. However, his strength is average, he resists people, and he lacks the ability to block opponents head-on.
Yi Jianlian starts the game to open up space and has poor defense. The same type of substitute Kostic is also the same. Dampier joined the Thunder with a minimum salary after being waived in the summer. He is good at fighting people, is poor in pick-and-roll defense, and has close to zero offensive ability.
It's normal for Brooks to have no choice. Even if Yang Rui joins the Thunder, he won't be able to lead this team to win the championship. The lineup must be changed. The Thunder's internal weakness is their Achilles' heel. This is the reason why they can't win the championship. It's not the Wei Shao fans said. Guard against Durant.
In Yang Rui's previous life, in the 2016 Western Conference Finals, the Thunder almost eliminated the Warriors with Adams in the paint. The only time the Thunder made it to the Finals was when they traded with the Celtics for Perkins. Perkins was only a blue-collar guy who could defend the penalty area and couldn't help the team on the offensive end.
The Thunder's offensive tactics are also very simple, creating singles opportunities for stars. After several passes, Durant singled out Tony Allen, turned around and shot missed due to interference, and Jordan grabbed a backcourt rebound.
In the Clippers position battle, Paul brought the ball to the frontcourt to find a pick-and-roll, moved laterally and passed it to Griffin.
Griffin singled out Yi Jianlian on the right, faced the frame and took a big step with his left foot to change direction toward the baseline. Yi Jianlian followed, and Griffin bumped into him with his back, then quickly turned to the center and entered the penalty area.
Durant retreated to cover the defense, and Griffin passed the ball to the outside. Tony Allen received the pass inside the left three-point line and scored an open mid-range shot. 10 to 2.
Yang Rui stood up and applauded on the sidelines again, even if it was just a simple mid-range shot.
The only thing the coaching staff is dissatisfied with Tony Allen is that he shoots poorly. He almost never shoots three-pointers. He occasionally makes open mid-range shots and his shooting percentage is not high. If he can practice three-pointers well, he will definitely earn tens of millions of annual salary.
The coaching staff urged Tony Allen to practice mid-range shooting. In Yang Rui's previous life, he could not practice three-pointers in the end, so he could have some confidence in mid-range shooting.
In an away game against the Lakers at the end of March 2016, Tony Allen played a total of 31 minutes, made 12 shots and scored 27 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. At that time, he was no longer someone who only relied on fast breaks and breakthroughs to score. As early as 2012, he also made 8 shots from the field, and his offensive qualities were not without merit.
In the next round, Durant went to the low post to catch the ball, preparing to use his height advantage to single out Tony Allen closer to the basket. Korver retreated to form a double team. Durant distributed the ball to the right corner. Sefolosha was empty, took aim, and hit a three-pointer. 10 to 5.
Although the ball was scored, Yang Rui was still very satisfied with the performance of the players, because they strictly followed the tactics arranged before the game, trying to double-team Westbrook and Durant near the penalty area, follow Ibaka, and let Yi Jianlian go. and Sefolosha shooting.
Maybe two role players can score, but letting them shoot is definitely less of a threat than the two young men playing one-on-one.
Both sides played in a one-on-one style, with at most one pick-and-roll in the middle. The Clippers gradually gained the upper hand, relying on defense.
Paul will not be easily passed when he defends Westbrook's breakthrough; Tony Allen will not let Durant catch and shoot comfortably; Jordan and Griffin protect the penalty area and win rebounds one after another. With Gay on the bench, the Clippers' defensive system is not perfect, but relying on the players' personal abilities, the defensive intensity is not low.
When the Clippers attacked, the Thunder could only shrink the zone defense to the area near the penalty area. It was difficult to guard against Griffin and Paul's singles. For the inside attack, the Thunder sacrificed defense.
At the end of the first quarter, the Clippers led 26-20.