Pick Westbrook

Chapter 306 Ouch
12 month 3 day.

Sacramento.

Sleep Train Arena.

Peja Stojakovic was invited by the Kings management to watch tonight's game.

"The Hornets are a team that reached third in the Western Conference on defense, and the Kings are a team that reached sixth in the Western Conference on offense."

"Although the difference between the two teams is a full 3 rankings, there is actually only a difference of 3 wins in terms of record."

That's the Wild West this season.

Peja Stojakovic took a deep breath. Three wins are really insignificant for a quarter of the regular season.

Whether as a competitor in the regular season or a potential playoff target, the game between the two teams tonight is of great reference value.

Of course, after getting potential rookies like James Harden and Paul George, the Kings are already extremely combative.

The performance of the two new stars this season is also worthy of the training of the entire team.

"The Kings made it to the playoffs last season, and their goal this season is to produce results."

In Peja's view, the goal set by the Kings management this season should be to hit the second round of the playoffs.

Even if the current competitive pressure in the West is too fierce, they still have such confidence.

Peja Stojakovic was a member of the 96 golden generation, and was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the 14th pick in the first round behind Kobe.

Although he became a bargaining chip in the trade of Beast Artest in the middle and was sent to the Pacers by the Kings, Peja played in Sacramento for eight full seasons.

在为国王队出战的518场比赛中，佩贾场均可以得到18分5篮板2助攻的数据，投篮命中率为46%，三分球命中率为41%。

并在2002、2003、2004年时间，佩贾连续三年入选全明星，以及在2002和2003年两夺全明星三分球大赛的冠军。

Whether for the Kings team or Peja himself, they have a very special meaning in each other's hearts.

This is why the Kings invited Peja to watch tonight's game. They hope to get possible valuable advice from the experienced Peja.

Peja looked at the Hornets team on the opposite side, and then saw Li Lai, the head coach of the Hornets team who was an old acquaintance.

"In the finals of last season, how the Bucks led by Li Lai slaughtered the Mavericks without bloodshed is still vivid in my mind."

What surprised Peja was that Li Lai, who destroyed the Lone Ranger team who was also very good at attacking by attacking, was considered by all the coaches and commentators in the world as the leader of the younger generation of coaches in the world. Create a first-class defensive team.

At this moment, Li Lai noticed the gaze falling on him, and subconsciously looked in Peja's direction.

The two greeted each other with a smile.

Li Lai naturally knew about Peja Stojakovic. In fact, if it weren't for the opponent's magical three-point performance in the playoffs, it would have been impossible for the Mavericks to win two consecutive tie-breakers and defeat the Spurs and Stojakovic. lakers.

Peja's three-pointer is different from Reggie Miller's three-pointer, who is a player who can efficiently complete the shot and hit it at any time.

And Peja, strictly speaking, he is a serious spot-up shooter, threatening high forts from the outside.

"Peja's shooting action is actually not standard. His shooting speed is neither fast nor slow. It is a relatively rhythmic type, and his shooting rate is extremely high. More importantly, his shooting range is far away."

"Before Curry and Yi Jianlian, Peja was a relatively common person who could hit a shot one meter away from the three-point line."

Li Lai knew a lot of records about Peja Stojakovic.

比如，职业生涯13个赛季里有9个赛季三分球命中率都超过了40%，其中又有4个赛季三分球命中率达到了44%。

Throughout his career so far, Peja has made 41% of his three-pointers, and the number of three-pointers made is the 13th in NBA history with 1763 three-pointers.

Because the Lone Ranger team did not win the championship last season, Peja originally planned to fight for another season to compete for that supreme glory for the last time.

As a result, Peja unfortunately suffered a wrist sprain at home, and the recovery period is expected to be 2 months. Considering that Peja is 35 years old, no team is willing to offer him a contract during the off-season.

Up to now, Peja's body has been seriously out of shape, and he has completely lost the possibility of returning to the NBA as a player.

In fact, Peja is more aware of his physical condition than those around him. He is ready to announce his retirement this month and bid farewell to his entire NBA career.

It's just a pity that Peja didn't leave the stage with all the glory, he missed the most important honor.

The game starts soon.

The big screen at the scene showed the starting lineups of the two teams.

Hornets starting lineup: Paul, Leonard, Vince Carter, Lewis and Jordan.

Kings starting lineup: point guard James Harden, shooting guard Marcus Thornton, small forward Paul George, power forward Chuck Hayes and center Jason Thompson.

Kings coach Keith Smart looked at the court very seriously with his hands folded.

"The Hornets have conceded only 92 points per game, fifth in the league, 9 steals per game, second in the league, and 7 blocks per game, sixth in the league."

"In terms of defensive opponent's field goal percentage, it is the league's third-highest 43% field goal percentage."

Keith Smart took a deep breath, a little surprised that the Hornets not only rank among the top in basic defensive statistics, but are also at the top of the league in advanced defensive statistics.

This is a very remarkable achievement. Even strong defensive teams like the Heat and the 76ers are only good at outside defense, and the Bulls and Lakers are also only good at defending inside.

Only this Hornets team has done an excellent job both inside and outside defense.

Of course, Keith Smart is still confident that the Kings will win tonight's game.

Because their offense is different from any other team, the Hornets can defend the offense of other teams, but they cannot defend the offense of the Kings.

Game start.

Midline jump ball.

In the fight with the 211cm tall center Jason Thompson, Jordan made a strong point to the first wave of offensive possession.

Hornets attack.

After Paul advanced with the ball, he quickly passed the ball to Leonard outside the three-point line.

Guarding him was Marcus Thornton.

Du Feng quickly took out a detailed data report and said: "Marcus Thornton is an excellent scorer, with outstanding three-point shooting skills, shooter's instinct, and his strong body also contributes to his Breakthroughs create advantages."

"Shooting, breaking through, creating free throw opportunities, Marcus Thornton has all the offensive abilities that a shooting guard should be good at."

"Thanks to Harden's ability to attract double teams on the offensive end, Marcus Thornton averaged 18 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists per game this season."

Li Lai is not worried about how strong Marcus Thornton will play tonight.

Although his offensive ability is quite good among shooting guards, he will hardly perform too well in front of Leonard, who is completely crushed by defensive strength and physical talent.

What Li Lai is really worried about is Harden and Paul George.

"Harden grew a beard this season."

Li Lai said suddenly.

Du Feng was startled, not knowing what Li Lai meant by saying this suddenly.

Is it possible that Harden will become more fierce when he grows a beard?
on the field.

Leonard just responded after receiving the ball, and quickly passed the ball to Carter in the bottom corner.

Carter found a gap for a three-point shot. While trying to shoot, Paul George, who was in the defense position, immediately returned to the defense.

"Paul George's defensive awareness is good."

史蒂文斯从杜峰那里仔细看了一眼保罗乔治这赛季的数据，场均17分7篮板3助攻1抢断，投篮命中率43%，三分球命中率36%。

"Paul George's ball-holding shooting is not particularly stable, but his catch-and-shoot is very reliable, especially the shooting through the inside teammate after the screen is extremely accurate. This efficiency ranks second among small forwards, and no one in the top 2 More accurate than him, even Durant of the Thunder can't do it."

"In terms of offense alone, Paul George is naturally inferior to players like Durant and Anthony, but if defense is added, he can at least be on par with Anthony."

Li Lai said very seriously.

Stevens was slightly shocked when he heard that Li Lai had such a high opinion of Paul George.

He originally thought that Paul George was just an ordinary starter who could defend and attack, but he didn't expect that the opponent could exaggerate to such an extent in terms of off-ball ability.

"The most commendable thing is that Paul George can still play the ball, so his future is destined to reach the height of the All-Star level, or even higher."

on the field.

After seeing Paul George's excellent defensive position and cautious sideways defense, Carter frowned slightly in surprise.

He remembered that Paul George was only a second-year player, but the experience and defensive strength shown on the court now looked like an old fritters on the court.

Faced with such high-intensity defensive pressure, Carter did not choose to play hard, and this is not part of the Hornets' offensive tactics.

Carter quickly passed the ball to Jordan who supported the waist.

Jordan received the ball and tried a small hook with a turn around, and the basketball bounced out of the frame without any accidents.

"The overall defense of the Kings is good."

Barkley said so.

This is also the reason why the Kings can rank sixth in the West with such a competitive pressure.

Harden received the ball in the backcourt, and then took the ball across half court without haste.

Facing Paul's defense, Harden was not in a hurry. The dribble stopped two meters away from the three-point line, and then lowered his center of gravity to dribble and began to look for rhythm.

All the Kings players on the court opened up, Marcus Thornton responded at a 45° angle on the right, Paul George went around the screen from the bottom corner to the left, and at the same time cut the Hornets' defensive formation on the field.

Jason Thompson mentioned the pick-and-roll at the top of the arc. After the pick-and-roll, Harden continued to dribble and break through without haste, always putting Paul behind him.

"what!"

After Harden dribbled the ball to the penalty area, he glanced at Leonard, who was about to help defend, and took off early to make a shot.

Surprisingly, Harden's shooting action was extremely abnormal. He leaned back and actively relied on Chris Paul to shoot.

Where did Paul guess what Harden was thinking at this time, and subconsciously reached out to block the shot.

But the moment Paul stretched out his hand, Harden shot with a motion that could not shoot at all, and his right elbow was raised very high and hit Paul's arm all at once.

Accompanied by Harden's inhuman cry, the referee naturally blew his whistle immediately.

"Harden made a foul."

"As soon as it came up, Chris Paul made a foul. It seems that the Kings made a very detailed deployment before the game. In this game, they came to foul Paul."

Kenny Smith looked at James Harden's statistics this season.

场均26分5篮板7助攻，投篮命中率45%，三分球命中率36%。

"It is worth mentioning that Harden averaged 10 free throws per game this season and averaged 8 free throws per game."

"In other words, 26 of Harden's 8 points per game came from the free throw line."

Barkley frowned again and again.

Players who have always been very good at scoring will get a lot of free throws. For example, Jordan averaged 8 free throws per game throughout his career, Dwyane Wade averaged 7 free throws per game, and James also averaged 8 free throws per game.

Even Barkley himself has averaged 8 free throws per game throughout his career.

So Barkley is not against free throws. On the contrary, the number of free throws can also reflect the degree of violation a player encounters on the defensive end.

"But James Harden is not in this range, because his offense is completely aimed at drawing fouls."

Kenny Smith, who heard this sentence, was puzzled and said, "What's wrong with that?"

"Throwing three-pointers is for scoring, mid-range is for scoring, attacking at the basket is also for scoring, isn't fouling still for scoring? And it can also make opponents encounter foul crises and troubles."

Barkley shook his head very seriously and said: "Fouls can naturally score points, but in the playoffs or even the finals, with the increase in defensive intensity, the referees will be more likely to whistle for some dispensable whistles. To acquiesce is to encourage confrontation."

"In this case, it is difficult for James Harden to draw fouls."

"That is to say, James Harden's scoring ability will weaken to a great extent when he gets to a high-level stage such as the playoffs or even the finals. In severe cases, he will even stretch his hips and drag down the entire team."

"So I don't disagree with James Harden's style of play. I just think that his style of play may be able to perform very well in the regular season, but it is difficult to win the championship."

Even if Barkley said so, Kenny Smith still didn't feel that James Harden's style of play would drag the team down.

"Didn't he just make Chris Paul a foul, the effect is so obvious."

Harden went to the free throw line and made two free throws.

Li Lai raised his hand on the sidelines to signal that Paul and Leonard switched defenses.

Li Lai could already tell that the Kings were targeting Paul deliberately, trying to get him into foul trouble.

After all, a lot of the Hornets' offense is dribbled by Paul. If he encounters a foul crisis, then there is no need to continue this game.

next round.

Harden once again held the ball on the outside to lower his center of gravity.

Seeing that the defender in front of him had become Leonard, Harden straightened up and signaled Jason Thompson, who was about to come up for the pick-and-roll, to ambush on the right waist, and he played Leonard one-on-one!
After continuous crotch dribbles, Harden used a very good rhythm change to find Leonard's defensive center of gravity change, and then broke through the basket.

But Leonard's defense is really good. After making a mistake, he immediately returned to the defensive line, and used his strong physical talent to always block Harden's path.

Harden, who knew that it was difficult to break through Leonard, suddenly changed his offensive strategy, stretched out his right hand to rest on Leonard's right hand, and then started to execute singles with his arms holding the ball.

"Ouch!"

(End of this chapter)