Pick Westbrook

Chapter 110 I Just Want to Give You Three Points

After the Bucks won the game, Li Lai gave the players a full day off and let them have a good rest.

Because of the 8-man rotation in the first round and the fifth game of the series, the players on the Bucks are already very tired, especially Artest.

He's averaging nearly 40 minutes per game.

This is very scary!
So even though this is a tense playoff game, Tyronn Lue agrees with Li Lai's decision very much.

"After all, the opponent in the next round is an iron man who claims to be from an alien, and his playing time will definitely be very scary. Artest, who is facing him, must ensure enough physical strength and peak state to deal with him. "

Li Lai nodded in agreement, and Artest was the only one in the entire Bucks team that could match up with him.

However, the players can rest, but the Bucks' coaching staff must immediately get into work.

Tyronn Lue took out his notebook, which recorded in detail the current state of the teams in the east and west, as well as the first round of the game.

Western.

The hot-fought Lakers easily defeated the Thunder, known as the Big Four this season, 4:0. Bogut was hammered by Bynum and Gasol in turns in the paint. A stepping defense that wanted to hurt someone, Bogut suffered a broken palm, a torn cruciate ligament, a ruptured Achilles tendon, and a concussion.

Such an injury can almost certainly reimburse Bogut for his entire career, and there is a high probability that he will not be seen in the future NBA.

At this time, Thunder general manager Sam Presti was already crying in the toilet.

In addition, the Rockets led the Portland Trail Blazers 3:2 and won the match point first.

Of course, it is still unknown whether the Rockets can advance, especially because McGrady was reimbursed for the season due to a knee injury and could not participate in the playoffs. Even more confusing.

Fortunately, Yao Ming still maintains an efficient data of 25 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks per game in the wheel battle with Oden and Aldridge. Otherwise, the Rockets may be eliminated in the first round again.

But anyone with a discerning eye can see that even if the Rockets can advance to the second round, the road to the next playoffs may not be long.

"But as long as he can win the first round of the playoffs, Yao Ming will break his spell in the second round. This is already an exciting result."

The Nuggets defeated the Hornets 4:1.

In the fourth game, the Nuggets arranged for Dengtai Jones to mark Paul.

As a result, it's not Sao Paulo's small cannon who only scored 6 points in three quarters.

That was a full three quarters!

The Hornets even lost 58 points.

Poor Xiaopao: Let’s talk about 58 and I’ll die!
This game has also become the epitome of the Hornets' entire series, and was played almost by the Nuggets.

But this is not the most important thing. After this season, the Hornets and Paul will also completely lose their competitiveness in the West. They ushered in their darkest period.

"The Hornets and Paul are both in the stage of indestructibility! Now only the savior comes to save them."

The final matchup is between the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks.

Who would have thought that the Spurs would be eliminated 1:4?
Because of the serious aging of Bowen and Finley, the Spurs played like old men on the court. Unfortunately, they encountered the Mavericks team with the fastest offensive rhythm in the league. The Spurs were helpless.

This team was rated by ESPN as the most threatening opponent of the Lakers in the Western Conference at the beginning of the regular season, so it fell on the stage of the playoffs beyond everyone's expectations.

Now the most pressing question left to the Spurs and Popovich is how to select the next potential striker during the off-season to increase the vitality of the team. It is difficult to go further in the West where there are many strong teams.

The good news is that the Spurs have already traded away the first-round pick of this year's draft in order to enhance the team's strength, otherwise they would not have traded with the Suns in last year's draft, eager to get a second-round pick.

Therefore, their road to reinforcement may be difficult.

"That is to say, only the Rockets and Trail Blazers in the West have yet to decide the winner, and the rest of the teams are already preparing for the next round."

Li Lai turned his attention to the East which he cared most about.

The defending champion Boston Celtics still failed to win the series, and the process was still very difficult. They temporarily led the Heat 3:2.

In this round of the series, Sauway was like a god coming down to earth, poking a thousand and eight hundred holes in the Celtics' inside line.

Because of Garnett's accidental injury at the end of the season, the Celtics changed from the Big Three directly to Pierce and Ray Allen.

Facts have proved that although the nominal boss of the Celtics is Pierce, the most important person on the team should be Garnett.

Without Garnett's top-level defensive ability and built-in defensive system, the Celtics' overall defense plummeted. This is why they were beaten by the Heat, which is not an excellent lineup, even to this point.

Fortunately, the defending champion still has some background, and still temporarily took the lead at 3:2, but it is still unclear who will win the next battle.

The Orlando Magic defeated the Eagles 4:2.

Howard played well in this round of the series, averaging 25 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks per game. He almost single-handedly killed the team-oriented and overall powerful Eagles.

Howard has also gone from this round of the series, from being considered by everyone to be the No. [-] center in the East and West with Yao Ming, to now everyone agrees that he is the only No. [-] center in the league.

Because he has the ability to protect the top penalty zone that Yao Ming does not have, and on the offensive end, Howard, who is eating the capital of physical talent, is not weaker than Yao Ming.

So the man who changed James alone appeared.

"The Magic this season is indeed terrifyingly strong."

Li Lai still didn't keep his attention on the Magic and Howard. He quickly turned to the final matchup in the Eastern Conference, which was also the opponent that the Bucks were about to meet.

The Cavaliers swept the Philadelphia 4ers 0-76.

In the entire Eastern and Western playoffs, only the Lakers and Cavaliers, who are aiming to win the championship, took the lead in entering the second round with a sweeping attitude.

As early as when the Bucks defeated the Bulls in Game [-], the Cavaliers had already rested for two full days, and they will meet the next Bucks in a more adequate state.

"This is the opponent we are about to face, the Cavaliers led by the little emperor LeBron James!"

Li Lai took a deep breath, to be precise, this is the opponent he personally selected.

Originally, at the end of the regular season, the Bucks still had the possibility of reaching the third place in the East, but Li Lai decided to give up.

In addition to not wanting to put more pressure on the team so that the players can enter the playoffs in a better state, there is another more important reason, that is, Li Lai just wants to play against the Cavaliers.

Even if they are the team with the best record in the league!
A few days later, the Rockets advanced to the next round 4:2, and Yao Ming finally succeeded.

The Celtics and the Heat fought to tiebreaker, but the Heat with only Wade was obviously very weak in the last game, so they still fell short, and the Celtics successfully advanced to the second round.

In this way, the Western Conference semifinals: Lakers VS Rockets, Nuggets VS Mavericks.

Eastern Conference Semifinals: Cavaliers VS Bucks, Celtics VS Magic.

cleveland.

Barkley said with a sigh of relief about this season's playoffs: "I don't think the Rockets without McGrady can bring much pressure to the Lakers, and I don't think the Bucks with only 8 rotations It will be the opponent of the Cavaliers. As for the remaining two groups of duels, the situation is not very clear in my opinion.

The Nuggets and Mavericks opened 55, and the Celtics and Magic opened 46. Of course, in my opinion, the Lakers are still the team with the greatest hope of winning. "

Kenny Smith rolled his eyes from the sidelines. Your stinking mouth, Barkley, seems to have never been right, so this is a forced 55?

However, in the two sets of matchups between the Lakers and the Cavaliers, Kenny Smith is on Barkley's side, because as he said, the strength gap between the two sets of matchups is too great, and I believe anyone will give the same answer.

Tonight is the second round of the playoffs between the Bucks and the Cavaliers, the first game.

Because two Chinese players have reached the second round of the playoffs, CCTV specially sent two commentators to the United States to report their games live.

Of course, Bryant and Zhang Weiping went to the west without any accidents to explain the game between the Lakers and the Rockets, so now it is Su Qun who came to the eastern battlefield.

"UA, you will face the Cavaliers with the best record in the league in this game. Has the team coach come up with any tactics against them before the game?"

Yi Jianlian hesitated for a while and said: "The coach said, play our own style and characteristics, as for the rest, don't worry at all."

"Of course, he made one point in particular."

"That's killing Maurice Williams."

Previous pre-match interviews.

Maurice Williams made a high-profile announcement to basketball fans and audiences all over the world: "We will eliminate the Bucks 4:0! I will also defeat them myself!"

"I will quickly prove how wrong the Bucks chose to trade me at the beginning of the season. I must be a player [-] times better than rookie Westbrook."

"So, the Bucks' choice is so wrong!"

This passage undoubtedly gave the entire Bucks a resounding slap, a 4:0 sweep?This is so contemptuous.

Especially for Artest, who has a bad temper, the most shameful thing is the gang of little brothers who are bullying him.

However, Li Lai has already seen what kind of cancer and maverick Xiao Mo is. If there is a comparison, it is probably similar to the future Ou Shenxian.

So in the face of such a provocation, he was very calm and only said a word to the players.

"Don't let Maurice Williams live this series!"

Game start.

Bucks starters: Westbrook, George Hill, Artest, Villanueva and Yi Jianlian.

Cavaliers starting: point guard Maurice Williams, shooting guard Delonti - West, small forward James, power forward Anderson - Varejao and center Z.

Big Z relied on his terrifying height to jump off the ball, and the Cavaliers attacked.

Xiao Mo, who was advancing with the ball, glanced at the defender Westbrook in front of him, then raised his hand and made a gesture.

He wants to single this ball!
Tyronn Lue looked at the picture on the court and said nervously: "Morris is a master of chaos. He breaks through extremely fast and has a certain shooting ability. This season, his average data per game is 18 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. Also 47%, the Cavaliers' most stable attacker other than James."

As early as when the Cavaliers wanted to trade for Xiao Mo, Li Lai strongly opposed it, because he knew too well how terrifying it would be if there was an extra point around James that could attack independently.

If it weren't for the fact that Cleveland and Milwaukee are the same border town, the Cavaliers were able to equip James with a star-level guard early in his playing years, then James might also be able to show his dominance early in his career like Anthony.

Of course, James won the MVP for the first time this season and proved himself, and he may also display his abilities wantonly on the court without any scruples.

"The little emperor has already become popular, so it's not easy to restrict him."

on the field.

Xiao Mo lowered his center of gravity and dribbled to find his rhythm.

Westbrook took the initiative to move his body to the right, giving Xiao Mo a breakthrough space on the left.

"This defensive position is very insightful!"

"Because Maurice Williams always likes to break through to the right, and he prefers to pull up and shoot jumpers when he goes left."

It's just that Westbrook is a player with better height and wingspan than Xiao Mo, so it's definitely not a good idea to try to shoot in front of him.

Xiao Mo naturally did not dare to underestimate Westbrook's physical talent, so he still chose to break through to the right.

Westbrook followed closely without giving him an iota of room to drive into the paint.

The grinning Xiao Mo could only forcibly change the ball from his right hand to his left hand, and then moved to the left to make a sideways jump shot.

boom!
The sound of the scene was harsh.

Kenny Smith said excitedly: "The ball is blocked!"

"Westbrook has been looking at the timing of the jump. His defense makes it clear that he wants you to shoot Maurice Williams."

"As a result, it's a trap!"

After blocking the shot, Westbrook picked up the floor ball and slammed it down crazily, and James desperately returned to defense.

Knowing that the next step must be the defender's nightmare-like nail-biting script, Li Lai rushed to the center line and shouted: "Russell! Be careful behind you, don't rush to dunk, and be steady!"

Hearing Li Lai's shout, Westbrook looked back subconsciously, and James had appeared behind him, ready to jump and block the shot at any time.

Westbrook, who had already seen James' terrifying physical talent in the regular season, was afraid for a while.

"Fortunately, the coach reminded me in time, otherwise, if it was later, the ball would have been lost."

The other Bucks players who are good at playing fast breaks have rushed to the frontcourt at this time. Westbrook hit back and passed the ball to George Hill, who is 45° from the left three-pointer.

Swish!
The latter steadily chased and hit a three-pointer.

James took the initiative to hold the ball, and shook his head to signal Xiao Mo not to worry.

The Cavaliers began to play positional offense.

Big Z mentioned the high pick-and-roll, and Varejao also supported him in the waist position.

The Cavaliers and James played their favorite high-post pick-and-roll tactics, and the way the Bucks broke the pick-and-roll was to retreat and not change defenses.

Because James does not have the ability to shoot three-pointers, it is worthwhile to give him a gap for three-pointers for a period of time. This is better than letting James have misplaced singles or pick-and-roll breakthroughs on the court.

After all, James' tank layup ability is the best in the league, which makes his tank stand out, and the whole league is not easy to use.

Facing such a defensive strategy, James frowned slightly.

In the past, it's not like no other team has restricted his breakthroughs and pick-and-rolls, but it's the first time they've seen a team as blatant or even bold as the Bucks.

More importantly, James has already made 34% of his three-pointers in the regular season. He has improved a lot this season. The Bucks still dare to do this, which is simply too small.

James made a shot from outside the three-point line!

His first three-point goal!

Artest and Yi Jianlian on the field looked at Li Lai on the coaching bench at the same time, and asked with their eyes, "Do you want to continue to defend like this?"

Li smiled confidently, and nodded affirmatively at the two of them.

"LeBron, if it was another team, you might have been fooled by the ball just now, but I can tell you with certainty."

"Don't say your three-point shooting percentage is 34%, even if your three-point shooting percentage is 40%, so what!
"I'll still give you three points!"

(End of this chapter)