Pick Westbrook

Chapter 297
The first quarter is over.

The defense that the Hornets built had a big impact on the 76ers, and their starting lineup didn't have any scoring powerhouses that could break the deadlock.

The 76ers only scored 18 points in the entire first quarter.

25: 18.

"It is also a team built on defense. The Hornets rely on Paul to perfectly break the entire defensive system of the 76ers."

"On the contrary, the 76ers, in front of the Hornets' defense, it is almost difficult for them to score. They can only use one after another to rush to the basket to cause damage."

"But DeAndre Jordan's rim protection had a huge impact on them."

Barkley couldn't help shaking his head again and again.

If the 76ers can't crack the Hornets' defensive system as soon as possible in the next game, then they will still struggle to score on the court.

"The 76ers are not completely without hope of winning. Their bench players are not weak."

"Especially in terms of scoring ability, the 76ers' bench players are extremely outstanding, even better than the team's starting lineup."

"Maybe the 76ers can recover the score in an instant with their excellent bench lineup."

76ers coaching bench.

Doug Collins patted Louis Williams on the shoulder very seriously, and said earnestly.

"Luis, the team needs your scoring very much now. You already have unlimited shooting rights and can shoot from any position on the court."

"My requirements are not high, I just need to tie the score."

Lou Williams nodded in commitment, confident in his ability to score.

In fact, Louis Williams is a good friend of Iverson in private. After he was selected by the Philadelphia 2005ers with the 45th pick in 76, he played in the NBA as Iverson's substitute.

Iverson is a very good big brother who taught Louis Williams a lot of small details and methods of playing on the court, and also taught the opponent a lot of breakthrough skills.

Louis Williams can become a well-known backup musketeer in the league today, and what he is most grateful for is Iverson's help to him.

on the field.

Hornets bench lineup: Beverley, JR Smith, Jimmy Butler, Louis Amundson and Jason Smith.

76ers bench lineup: point guard Lou Williams, shooting guard Jody Meeks, small forward Iguodala, power forward Thaddeus Young and center Nikola Vucevic.

Thaddeus Young served the ball in the backcourt, and the moment Lu Wei held the ball, he felt a black shadow behind him.

Beverley's close defense blocked Lu Wei's dribbling route, and at the same time reached out to try to steal.

The basketball was almost cut off by Beverly. Lu Wei lowered his center of gravity to protect the ball, and secretly said that he was alert. If he was replaced by another backup point guard, the ball might be cut off immediately.

Lu Wei raised his hand and elbowed Beverly away in great detail, and then dribbled the ball again. At this time, he also looked curiously at the defender behind him.

"Damn! This man looks like a dog."

Seeing Beverly's stupefied appearance, Lu Wei was excited, and quickly dribbled the ball across the half court.

And Beverly always sticks close to Lu Wei, putting a lot of pressure on the opponent to dribble.

Doug Collins on the sidelines looked more and more frightened at the scene on the court.

As a defensive coach, he was a little amazed at how Li Lai managed to achieve such a situation. Not only did he train a team's starting lineup to defend well, but at the same time, the defensive intensity of the substitute players was even more aggressive.

After halftime, Beverly's mad dog defense continued. He seemed to never tire of using great physical strength on the court to interfere with Lu Wei.

Du Feng remembered Li Lai's defensive strategy in the players' locker room before the game. Beverly was ordered to focus on Louis Williams by Li Lai when he was in danger.

From Du Feng's point of view, Li Lai seems to have a magical ability. He can always know who the core players of the opponent that the Hornets need to deal with in order to win the game.

The key point is that the players were very unswerving in carrying out this task after receiving Li Lai's task.

"The coach's ability to guide and coach is the most exaggerated I have ever seen."

Du Feng guessed that the players believed in Li Lai so much, probably because the opponent held two championship rings and was a well-known champion bishop in the NBA.

"Stolen!"

On the court, Lu Wei wanted to try to break through, and Beverly always remembered Li Lai's reminder before the game.

If you want to defend Louis Williams, defending his breakthrough is the key.

Once Louis Williams' breakthrough is gone, he will completely lose the ability to drive his teammates to attack, and the 76ers' offense from the bench will also be completely misfired.

So at the moment Lu Wei tried to break through, Beverly pressed wildly, and Butler's timely double-team blocked the breakthrough route, so the ball was broken very cleanly.

boom!
Beverly fell to the ground like crazy and smashed his body to the floor. Lu Wei was completely dumbfounded by this scene. He was a little surprised that it was only a regular season and why the opponent was so desperate.

Also because of Beverly's active fighting, the floor ball fell directly into his arms.

"Patrick!"

Butler, who was on a fast break, yelled, and Beverly threw the ball out in time.

Butler, who knows that he has basically no offensive ability, cherishes every easy scoring opportunity, so he quickly ran towards the offensive direction as soon as he got the ball.

JR Smith didn't want to run at first, but saw Li Lai looking at him with vicious eyes, JR Smith hurriedly made the same fast break.

Iguodala's defensive speed is very fast, and his defensive awareness is also in place. The moment Butler took off and was about to dunk, Iguodala slapped him from behind and blocked it.

The basketball hit the backboard and bounced vigorously, and JR Smith made a dunk after receiving the ball.

"The Hornets' counterattack and fast break succeeded! JR Smith's follow-up awareness is very good."

Hearing Kenny Smith's praise at the scene, JR Smith scratched his head a little unconsciously, and he subconsciously looked towards his coach's bench.

Li Lai was applauding him, Butler and Bevel.

"nice shot!"

"Keep on the defensive!"

"JR, your dunk is awesome."

Although he is his own head coach, JR Smith still nodded proudly at Li Lai at this time and said, "I'm already handsome."

next round.

Lou Williams started playing high pick-and-rolls with Nikola Vucevic.

Because of Vucevic's good outside shooting ability, he has to defend after a high pick-and-roll.

But in this way, every time the Hornets defend Lu Wei's high-position pick-and-roll, they have to leave a small offensive gap for the opponent because of changing the defensive gap.

In this gap, Lu Wei broke into the basket three times in a row and scored a layup.

Beverly was so upset that he didn't know whether Lu Wei continued to play the pick-and-roll in the next round, whether he should switch defenses or not.

Butler, who was helping to defend, was also in a difficult situation, because of Iguodala's excellent air cutting ability and finishing efficiency at the basket, he did not dare to overly help defend or even double-team Lu Wei.

"This is what the coach has been saying. Once Lu Wei's breakthrough is made, he will become very difficult to guard."

Off the court, Du Feng saw the momentum of the 76ers chasing points. He reminded anxiously: "Coach, we have to find a way to limit Lou Williams."

"He scored 20+ points in the last game."

Li Lai frowned and thought for a while.

It stands to reason that taking Jordan's frame guard at this time is the best solution, but the crux of the problem is that Jordan hasn't rested long enough.

If it is brought up at this time, it will definitely have an impact on his subsequent playing time.

This is not a very serious problem. Li Lai has long been mentally prepared to break the playing time limit of Jordan and Paul in some key games.

But playing against the 76ers needs to break this rule. What about playing those real championship teams in the future?
At this time, Li Lai held down the idea of ​​replacing Jordan or Paul, and instead took Louis Amundson and replaced Rashad Lewis.

This is the first time for Yu Jia and Su Qun to broadcast a Hornets game in the new season on CCTV on the other side of the ocean.

After seeing this substitution adjustment, Yu Jia said with contempt: "Coach Li Lai has a problem with this substitution!"

"At this time, it's time to take Jordan. It's okay to take Paul to stabilize the rhythm. To be honest, I don't understand this substitution at all."

"If you want me to coach, it will be better than Coach Li Lai's operation."

Su Qun shouted happily at the side.

Although he also didn't understand Li Lai's substitution strategy, but because he had seen the opponent's coaching ability over the years, he was sure that Li Lai would not be as simple as Yu Jia seemed.

Su Qun said euphemistically: "Coach Li Lai should have other considerations."

Hornets coaching bench.

Stevens frowned with the same question, but soon his brows relaxed and he completely figured it out.

"The presence of Rashad Lewis can improve the offensive space of the Hornets and improve the overall offensive efficiency. From the offensive aspect, the Hornets can be regarded as stabilizing the counterattack momentum of the 76ers."

"At the same time, the Hornets will play a big and four small offensive and defensive lineups at critical moments, and Lewis will not play at critical moments."

"In other words, the extra playing time at this time will not have much impact on Lewis's next game."

"The point is, the coach made sure Paul and DeAndre Jordan didn't get extra playing time while addressing the Sixers' momentum."

As the chief assistant coach of the Hornets, Stevens naturally knew Li Lai's restriction on Jordan and Paul's playing time, so he looked at Li Lai with admiration at this time.

The uninitiated watch the fun while the insider looks at the doorway.

Li Lai showed his coaching ability to the fullest with just a simple substitution strategy, and Stevens couldn't help sighing at this time.

"The coach's overall view and control is enough for me to learn for a long time."

The second quarter is over.

The Hornets continued to lead with 50:40.

In the third quarter of the game, Jrue Holiday suddenly broke out on the outside in the face of Paul.

Originally, Li Lai didn't want to restrict Zhu Holiday, because he didn't think that the opponent had the ability to kill the Hornets.

But after Zhu Holiday hit three three-pointers in a single quarter, Li Lai finally couldn't bear it anymore, and in the third quarter, he won the victory with Paul, Vince Carter, Leonard, Butler and Jordan Jr. One big four small lineup.

Under this lineup, Paul succeeded in consecutive singles against 76ers center Spencer Hawes, and Carter and Leonard on the outside hit three-pointers in return.

At the same time, Vince Carter double-teamed Jrue Holiday, and Leonard took on the heavy responsibility of defending Carter and Butler.

The more Barkley looked at the Hornets' defensive system, the more frightened he became.

Butler was originally incapable of defending the power forward position alone, but because of Leonard's double-teaming, the Hornets not only did not lose their position in Butler's position, but because of the opponent's flexibility, their offensive power greatly increased.

"This Hornets team has built a defensive system that has taken shape in just one summer. If they are allowed to hone for another season or two and the players' abilities continue to grow, they will definitely be able to reach the top of the league's top three defensive powerhouses." Team."

"Now the league's top four defensive teams are the Bulls, Heat, Grizzlies and Lakers, and they all need attention."

Kenny Smith had the same thought at this time.

It's just that the Bulls can become the defensive first team because of Noah and Boozer on the inside, and Pierce and Luol Deng on the outside.

The Heat are because of James and Wayne, the Grizzlies are because of the black and white bears, and the Lakers are of course the double-plus combination and Kobe on the outside.

But it took at least one season of precipitation for any of these four teams to become the league's leading defensive team.

Even if the Hornets want to build a team based on defense, I am afraid it will take at least one season of precipitation to do this.

Game four.

Paul sent two empty dunks for Jordan in a row.

These two dunks also helped the Hornets almost kill the game.

Finally the game is over.

95: 86.

The Hornets have won two in a row.

Barkley couldn't help but said at this time: "Actually, the 76ers are also a strong defensive team. Their perimeter defense is even among the top three in the league."

Kenny Smith glanced at the Hornets' score and nodded in agreement.

The 76ers are indeed better than the Knicks in limiting the scoring of the Hornets, but the problem is extremely serious on the offensive end.

new orleans.

In bars, restaurants and other entertainment facilities, New Orleanians watched the team suddenly win two consecutive victories and couldn't believe it.

They can't remember the last time the team won two straight after the regular season opener.

"This may be a coincidence, we should not be that strong."

"That's right, except for Chris Paul, Leonard and Butler are all rookies, Beverly is still undrafted overseas, Vince Carter is too old, Jordan is reliable defensively but his offensive skills are too rough .”

"Rashard Lewis is still a garbage contract!"

"So it must be true, we are not that strong at all."

Inside the bar.

An old man wearing a Saints jersey took a sip of wine at this time, and then smiled.

He looked at Paul who had won the interview on TV, and Butler and Beverly poured a bucket of water on each other's head.

The old man has not seen such a scene in the Hornets team for many years, he said softly: "When the dream is finally about to come true, this city has long been numb, and the people in this city still can't believe what they see. everything of."

"This is life."

"We all know that no matter how good the Hornets play, we will fall short in the last step."

"Because this has been the way this city has been for 48 years, we are cursed to never succeed in taking that last step."

"The curse is still there."

(End of this chapter)