Pick Westbrook

Chapter 175 This ball is poisonous

The second game.

Li Lai put all his hopes of a comeback on the rotation lineup. After all, there are Dragic, Iverson, Artest, Villanueva and O'Neal, and they are also extremely competitive in the comparison of the league's bench lineup. of.

James remained on the court, playing with the Cavaliers' bench.

Barkley strongly agreed and said: "I suggest that James should not rest in this game tonight. In the last game, it was because of his rest that the Bucks played a wave of offensive high slots and lost the game."

"In this game tonight, the Cavaliers had a hard time establishing a lead. It would be a pity if they didn't firmly grasp it."

As soon as James came up, he singled Artest, borrowed Varejao's pick-and-roll and once again formed a time difference in the defensive gap, and directly scored a layup.

Li Lai can see clearly off the court that James has become more and more used to Artest's defense. Emperor, it has become more and more difficult.

Switch offense.

Iverson knew the team's current difficult situation, so he took the initiative to single Maurice Williams with the ball on the outside and hit a mid-range shot.

This goal made the Bucks' bench excited.

Austin Crozier and Francisco Elson both waved the towel a little more diligently.

"Fortunately, there is Iverson!"

"At this time, his singles ability will greatly relieve our offensive pressure."

Tai Lue finally said with a sigh of relief at this time.

But Li Lai still frowned.

Iverson's singles at this time and O'Neal's strong inside can naturally stabilize the situation on the court, but what Li Lai wants is not only to stabilize the situation, what the Bucks need is to recover the point difference behind and let the two teams back to the same level.

But it seems to be difficult now, because James has already exerted strength, and Artest has defended well but just can't hold him.

The second quarter ended quickly, and the score on the court came to 48:56.

The Bucks finally regained some points, and now it's time for the starters to stand up and get back the game.

Li Lai has been staring at the court, and after seeing James still appearing on the court, he really broke down.

"This guy is really an iron man!"

"Is he really planning to not rest for the whole game?"

What shocked Li Lai even more was that James once again went to the basket and dunked.

It's almost like a strong declaration that even if I don't rest for the whole game, there is no problem with my physical fitness.

Li Lai still has hope for the game, because he has great confidence in the overall offense and tactics of the Bucks, and the victories in the first two games are the best proof.

So as long as the Bucks play a normal offensive level, even if James scored 40 points alone, it would be difficult to lead the Cavaliers to win the game.

As long as the Bucks' outside offense can pick up during this time period, they must still have hope of winning this game.

Rasheed Wallace was the first to attempt an outside shot, and it hit the iron.

Westbrook then tried the second one, also hitting the iron.

Yi Jianlian tried the third one, the basketball hit the hoop, and fell into it with good luck.

The Bucks still failed to shoot a normal three-pointer in the third quarter, and Li Lai also lost confidence in the players' shooting in this game.

To be precise, it should be that he didn't want to give up the game yet, so he replaced O'Neal and Iverson at this time and played longer on the court.

The two lived up to Li Lai's expectations and helped the team complete offensive rounds in a row, but this kind of offense was only barely able to keep up with the Cavaliers' offensive level. In addition, the score was always behind on the court, so the Bucks still regretted it. lost the game.

96: 108.

The big score has come to 2:1.

Barkley couldn't help but said at this time: "Kenny, is this the first time the Bucks have not scored 100 points in the playoffs?"

Kenny Smith thought for a while and said: "The second time, the last game was restricted by the overall defense of the Celtics, but this time I can only blame the Bucks for their poor touch."

"Six of 30 shots from beyond the three-point line. Even a team that is not good at shooting three-pointers can hardly deliver such shooting results."

"Because the Bucks' outside touch was inaccurate, the Cavaliers dared to shrink the inside defense. Westbrook's breakthrough failed to make it. Artest and Rasheed Wallace's cut, back It also failed to hit it.”

"So the Bucks' offense is even worse under the vicious circle."

Of course, in Kenny Smith's view, it is extremely rare or even abnormal for the Bucks to feel abnormal.

The Cavaliers can be lucky to win the game tonight by relying on the Bucks' own inaccurate touch, but what about the next game?

With the offensive level of the Bucks team and the tests they have passed in the long regular season, it is absolutely impossible for them to have such poor shooting touch from beyond the three-point line in two consecutive games.

So in Kenny Smith's view, the Bucks will definitely rebound strongly in the next game.

Post-match interview.

After seeing James come out, a reporter took the lead and said: "Congratulations to you LeBron, the Cavaliers won a game, if you can keep the next home victory, then you will be tied with the Bucks 2: 2 draws, standing on the same starting line again."

"Is the situation of the Cavaliers very optimistic now?"

James shook his head and smiled and said: "I can only say that we can take a breath after winning this game, but we have not yet reached the point of optimism."

"We should be thankful tonight that the Bucks' outside offense is so inaccurate, but no one can guarantee that they will be so inaccurate in the next game, so we have to prepare in advance."

Mike Brown, who was embarrassed to speak to reporters in the first two games, finally mustered up his courage at this time and said: "Although the Bucks do not rely too much on shooting from outside the three-point line like the Suns, their offensive tactics do rely heavily on shooting from outside the three-point line. Containment from beyond the arc."

"So as long as you can limit their three-pointers to limit all their offense, the Cavaliers have found a way to beat the Bucks."

"Trust us, we're going to make it to the Finals."

"23vs24 will definitely happen."

Xiao Mo on the side also said confidently at this time: "That's right, it's a miracle that the Bucks were lucky enough to reach the Eastern Conference finals. They are not a team of this level at all."

有一位记者在这个时候好心提醒说道：“詹姆斯今晚上场了48分钟，28投14中，砍下了37分10篮板6助攻的数据，莫里斯威廉姆斯上场了26分钟，11投4中，拿下了10分3篮板2助攻？”

The reporter was even ashamed to mention that Xiao Mo's playing time has gradually declined since the last game. It is obvious that coach Mike Brown does not believe in Xiao Mo's defensive ability, and at the same time he does not believe in his offense.

So, where do you have the face to look down on the Bucks?
Bucks locker room.

All the players sat around the wardrobe without saying a word, and the scene was eerily quiet.

Curry, Westbrook and other players sat there shirtless in a daze. The two of them hadn't recovered from their senses, and they couldn't believe what happened in tonight's game.

Iverson applauded and encouraged his teammates and said: "It's just a game. Our shooting can't be so inaccurate forever. We will definitely beat the Cavaliers in the next game."

O'Neal also clapped hands with his teammates on the sidelines and said: "Don't worry, even when facing the Bobcats, we still have pictures where we miss the ball or they suddenly play well, so no one in the whole series can predict the touch. , we just need to be ourselves.”

But after the two encouraged their teammates, the locker room was still a lifeless scene, and they had nothing to do with the current situation.

Artest and Rasheed Wallace are veterans after all, even if this is the Eastern Conference Finals series, they quickly reacted.

This time to cheer up!

The most important thing on the stage of the playoffs is momentum. If the momentum is lost, even if this team is the strongest team in the league, it will easily lose the game.

But Artest is thinking, if the coach hadn't adjusted the lineup tonight so that Iverson and O'Neal, who played better, played more time on the court, I am afraid that the Bucks would lose even worse, or even be beaten. Maybe the fourth quarter will become garbage time.

"In short, we all played very poorly in this game, and we must adjust as soon as possible."

At this time, Li Lai opened the door and walked in. Behind him was Tyronn Lue with a game ball, and Marshall with an electronic scale.

Everyone in the locker room looked at each other, not knowing what their coach meant.

If you want to use this game ball to humiliate them, then they have been humiliated by the Cavaliers as early as on the court.

Li Lai sat in the middle of the locker room, without saying a word, just asked Marshall to put the electronic scale in place, and then put the basketball on it.

Then the electronic scale displayed a row of numbers.

"651g"

Everyone still didn't react, but Curry, who knew basketball best, said first: "Basketball is heavy!"

"The standard weight of a basketball is 600-650g, and this basketball weighs a full 1g!"

Everyone in the locker room became excited after hearing this sentence.

No wonder their shots are so inaccurate!

No wonder every shot hits the top of the rim and pops out!
It's the ball that's heavy!

Westbrook was the first to stand up and shout MMP.

"I'll just say it! Our Bucks rank first in the league in offense. How could it be possible to make such a low-level mistake? Even if my shots are inaccurate, Stephen absolutely has no such possibility."

"So we lost this game unjustly, and we have to report this matter to the league headquarters."

At this time, Li Lai stretched out his hand to stop Westbrook's proposal.

"We shot this shot, the Cavaliers shot this shot, and they won, and that's a fair thing in itself."

Curry said unconvinced: "But our shots are more accurate, and a slight impact will greatly change our shooting feel. The Cavaliers are crooked, and their impact is of course smaller."

What Curry said makes sense, but the Bucks themselves are to blame for this reason. In short, it has nothing to do with the Cavaliers, so Li Lai still rejected the suggestion to give feedback to the league.

The experienced Iverson and O'Neal glanced at each other, and they both felt that the coach's actions should not be done, and they should apply even if the feedback is useless.

But at this time, both of them chose to shut up tacitly, and did not rush to talk about it.

But Westbrook and Curry jumped up and down and insisted that Li come to talk about this matter to the league headquarters.

Li said: "It's only one game, and the Bucks can still afford to lose. In the next game, I will ask Coach Tyronn Lue to go to the court to check the game ball in advance. In short, such a thing will never happen again." .”

"But if you're still that inaccurate with normal balls in the next game, I'm going to kick your ass."

Curry wiped his shoulders arrogantly and said: "How is it possible! With normal use of the ball, we can definitely shoot the Cavaliers into fools."

At this time, the atmosphere in the locker room became active again. Everyone was looking forward to the next game and eager to give the Cavaliers a little color.

Momentum is back!
After the locker room meeting, Iverson and O'Neal found Li Lai on purpose.

"Coach, why are you lying?"

Li Lai looked back at the two of them and said, "What lie?"

Iverson tilted his head like a hooligan and said, "Don't act stupid, coach. If there is a problem with the game ball, can you bear it like this? Tell me how you did it."

Seeing that he couldn't hold on any longer, Tai Lunlu pulled out the pump from his sleeve.

It turned out that the weight exceeded the limit because more air was added to the basketball. He also reminded the two of them: "Don't tell other people about this."

"Especially Westbrook, that guy has always been a reckless guy, he often can't turn his head, and if he becomes stupid, no one can stop him."

Regardless of O'Neill's sense of humor, he usually pretends to be stupid. At this time, he quickly understood Li Lai's intentions.

"The teammates completely blamed the loss of this game on the game ball. In the next game, they will definitely forget the loss of tonight's game and the abnormal feel, and choose more determined shots."

"And steadily hitting those open three-pointers is the strength we should have."

So Li Lai regained the shooting confidence of all the players with just one move, and was full of desire to fight for the next game.

Li Lai looked at the two with a smile on his face, nodded and admitted that he really thought so, and then said: "Sometimes the process is not important, because everyone has a bad feeling, even when we lost in the regular season. Gave it to the Kings underdog."

"So it's nothing to lose to the stronger Cavaliers. We always have to think about the next game instead of staying in this game."

"We did play very badly in this game, if it's not good, if it's not good, it's not good, so what?"

"But now we have to turn the page, and the next game must be in an extremely strong state."

Seeing the back of Li Lai fading away, Iverson and O'Neal, who have played in the NBA for many years, shook their heads again and again.

They swear that Li Lai is definitely the weirdest head coach they have ever encountered in the NBA, but they have to admit that the actions of the other party are indeed making the team better.

Moreover, Iverson and O'Neal saw Li Lai's office lights kept on when they met for training after a game, and they respected Li Lai even more from that night on.

Because this is a very good and hardworking head coach.

　I'm a bit busy these days, so I may not be able to write more words.

　　But it is guaranteed that it will not be interrupted.

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(End of this chapter)