Pick Westbrook

Chapter 323 He also stretched out his hands

Second half of the game.

With Paul, Jordan Jr., Leonard and other main players playing one after another, the Hornets regained their lead.

Paul continuously spanked Noah to finish the mid-range shot.

This scene also made Barkley and Kenny Smith sigh at the same time.

"Paul deserves to be the top player in the league, and he is the league's number one defender in this ability."

Barkley remembered that when Paul just entered the league, all the commentators and commentators agreed that Deron Williams was a better player than Paul.

At that time, the scene of the two playing against each other in the game was indeed like that. Deron always had various ways to bully Paul, and the joke about beating Paul while eating and sleeping came from this.

"But now, especially after this season, there's no doubt that Paul is the better point guard."

Kenny Smith came up with a stat.

到目前为止，联盟已经有足足25年没有任何一个控卫拿到过20+10+2+2的数据，包括传球大师的基德和纳什都没有做到这一点。

The last one to achieve this data was the Pistons star Isiah Thomas in the 86-87 season.

Barkley said sincerely: "The current Paul gives me the feeling that Iverson's mid-range singles, Nash's shooting and speed, and Kidd's defense and passing."

on the field.

Watching Paul scoring consecutive passes to help the Hornets regain the lead, Rose immediately signaled his teammates to open up space.

Without Noah's pick-and-roll, Rose ate Paul alone, and an extremely fast accelerated breakthrough instantly passed the opponent. Leonard rushed over to help defend.

Rose bent down and folded the lever, and the basketball went out from under Leonard's arm and hit the backboard at a tricky angle.

beep!beep!
Rose once again fouled Leonard, and the ball fell into the basket at the same time.

2+1!

In order to get past Paul, Rose's acceleration of the ball was too fast, and he kicked his legs so fast that even Rose, who was already used to it, couldn't stop it.

Rose felt obvious soreness and weakness in his knees and ankles when he landed, which is a phenomenon that will appear immediately after playing with far more physical strength.

The safest way for most players to face this kind of situation is to get off the field and rest immediately. No matter how bad it is, they will take a rest on the court and take the initiative to hand over the offensive ball to let their bodies relax.

But Rose glanced up at the scoreboard, and the Hornets still had a one-point lead, 63-62.

Rose grinned, stomped his feet, and returned to the court.

Hornets coaching bench.

Stevens looked at Rose, who was too fierce on the court, shook his head again and again and said: "Paul is indeed a defensive master, but he is not good at defending this kind of players who break through very fast."

"Leonard's help defense is becoming more and more unable to restrain Rose's breakthrough. Should we use double-team tactics again?"

Du Feng nodded in agreement with this proposal.

In his opinion, a phenomenon-level player like Rose should use the team's strongest defense to limit the opponent. It is even possible to take Bev in advance and use the defensive strength of the physical confrontation to invade the opponent.

But Li Lai shook his head at this moment.

Stevens looked back at Li Lai in great surprise, and he couldn't help but say, "Coach, you're feeling compassionate."

Li Lai did not hide it, and he also knew that his tactics and ideas had never escaped Stevens' eyes.

Strictly speaking, Stevens is a smarter coach than Tyronn Lue.

After hearing this, Du Feng turned his head and looked at Li Lai seriously and said, "Coach, this game is very important to us. No matter how good the relationship between Rose and you is, there is no reason to give up this game."

"That's competitive sports, that's basketball."

"On the court, the weak prey on the strong. As the coaching staff of the team, we should not be kind at this time, because this is cruel to our players!"

Li Lai was taught a good lesson by Stevens and Du Feng at this time, so he naturally knew that what they said was very reasonable.

Both Stevens and Du Feng continued Li Lai's style in team decision-making, being careful and careful, and never allowing themselves to make any mistakes.

Li Lai admitted, "Let me be willful for the last time and give up double-team tactics."

"I will use other methods to defeat the Bulls, and I will never let down the players on the court who worked hard to win this game."

The Hornets called a timeout.

Li Lai replaced Leonard, who had committed three offenses, and brought up JR Smith. At the same time, Jimmy Butler was replaced, and Vince Carter, who had a better offense, was replaced.

"We play the offense with the Bulls!"

Bulls coach.

Thibodeau was full of doubts after seeing the Hornets suddenly replaced their defensive core Leonard.

He is very aware of Li Lai's coaching ability, and he knows that the opponent will definitely come up with double-teaming tactics in the first half after Rose explodes again.

Originally, Thibodeau had already prepared that when the Hornets double-teamed Rose, Pierce would hold the ball and cut into the paint to find opportunities, but now it seems that the Hornets have chosen a completely opposite tactic.

"Fight to attack?"

"Coach Li Lai, if you are still coaching that Bucks team, I might be very afraid of your offensive lineup tactics at this time."

"But now, you Hornets are fighting me with your life?"

On-site commentary desk.

After Barkley saw the Hornets' substitution adjustment, he spread his hands and was also very puzzled.

"The Hornets are a team built on defense. Why do they play offensive tactics that they are not good at at this time?"

"The point is, the Hornets have recovered the score and kept the lead under the original tactics. Why should they disrupt their team lineup and offensive rhythm at this time?"

Although Kenny Smith is not as professional as Barkley in matters on the court, he has explained so many games anyway. How can it not be seen that the coaching staff of the Hornets made a very wrong decision at this time.

But he is a fan of Li Lai, so he still explained at this time: "Coach Li Lai may have some great moves in the future."

Barkley turned his head and looked at his old partner with his eyes open and talking nonsense, and scolded, "Your eyes are on the ass of a donkey?"

The game continues.

Seeing that Leonard, who had been putting a lot of pressure on himself in defense, was off the court, Rose made his way to the basket even more firmly.

And this time, facing the help defense of other Hornets, he picked the basket and scored very easily.

Rose had the most relaxed defensive environment of the entire game.

Just at the moment he just completed the attack, Jordan immediately picked up the basketball and made a long pass.

After receiving the ball, JR Smith quickly passed it to Paul near the center line. The latter advanced the ball very smartly and then moved down to the left.

This offensive line can not only complete the three-point shot, but also break through and reach the basket.

Fortunately, the Bulls' defensive discipline is very good.

Pierce and Luol Deng's awareness of returning to defense was very timely. They rushed to Paul and simultaneously restricted his three-pointers and breakthroughs.

But what they didn't expect at all was that Paul had no idea of ​​attacking at all. After attracting the defensive attention of the two, he threw the ball into the sky without hesitation.

Vince Carter, who followed up in the middle, took off from the free throw line in one and a half steps.

boom! ! !
"UFO takes off!"

"The City of Empty Pickup is here!"

After dunking, Vince Carter squatted down and pointed to the sky with both hands, and the entire New Orleans Arena immediately burst into warm applause from the fans.

CCTV commentary desk.

Yu Jia couldn't help sighing and said: "Old Carter, he is already 35 years old, and he can still perform such a dunk, it is really fatal."

Su Qun nodded and said, "It's not just this ball, do you still remember Carter's one-handed tomahawk dunk in the previous regular season game, which was also passed by Paul."

"Look, Carter's motorcycle accelerated on the court, half-human, half-god and fuel."

On-site commentary desk.

Barkley suddenly said at this time, "The Hornets are playing fast."

Kenny Smith was stunned for a while, until he saw Boozer and Noah who had not returned to the backcourt to defend, and finally understood what Barkley meant.

He said: "The core of the Bulls' defense is Noah, and neither Noah nor Boozer is a flexible insider."

"When the Hornets start playing fast, it's hard to keep up with the Hornets' offense with two defensive speeds."

"Look at the Hornets' fast break players, Paul, JR Smith and Vince Carter, how do you defend the Bulls?"

At this time, Barkley understood the substitution strategy and offensive tactics of the Hornets coaching staff during the timeout just now.

Although Barkley still believes that the Hornets coaching staff did not use defense to limit Rose's offense, which is very unreasonable.

But at this time, Barkley couldn't help but want to say: "Li Lai deserves to be the head coach who created the small ball era. His offensive accomplishments and sense of smell are hard for all coaches in the league to match."

The last quarter of the game.

Boozer's mid-range shot helped the Bulls to play a wave of high offensive troughs. Under Noah's defense, Jordan did not have any good chances tonight.

The Hornets fell behind 90:92.

Seeing the current situation of the team and the disconnection of Jordan and Paul on the offensive end of the pick-and-roll, Li Lai was silent for a while.

"Since it has been decided to use offensive tactics to defeat the Bulls, it is better to sink the boat at this time."

Li Lai called the team's last timeout.

At this time, the game-ending lineup he brought up was Paul, JR Smith, Leonard, Jimmy Butler and Diaw.

Seeing this lineup, Barkley frowned and said: "This is the small lineup of the Hornets. They have used it many times in previous games, and the effect is good."

"But those small lineups in those days had DeAndre Jordan on the court and guarding the basket, so we also called the Hornets this lineup a big and a small."

"And now, Diaw replaced DeAndre Jordan!"

Kenny Smith was very worried about the Hornets' defense at this time, and he was even thinking about how the Hornets would defend Rose's offense.

Thibodeau also found out that Jordan had left the field. He thought this was the best chance for the Bulls to win tonight's game, so he rushed to the sideline of the court and yelled at the players.

"Rush to the basket!"

At this time, Rose once again carried the banner of the Bulls' offense.

Advance with the ball, speed up the breakthrough, hit the basket with the explosive package, and pull the bar for a layup.

What neither the Bulls nor Thibodeau expected was that at the moment Rose hit the basket, all the players of the Hornets shrank their defense and played the iron bucket that the Pistons became famous back then.

Rose couldn't get into the basket at all, so he could only hit the ball in and out and pass it to Pierce on the outside.

Leonard immediately assisted in the defense, covering Pierce's face in an instant, completely preventing the opponent from shooting easily.

Barkley is a player who has personally experienced the Pistons' iron bucket formation, and he knows it very well.

"The Hornets play exactly the same as the Pistons. Although they are shrinking inside, they don't particularly return to the deep position of the basket."

"The whole point of this is to get back to the defense as quickly as possible when breaking through the pass."

This is not the first time Barkley has seen Li Lai come up with the defensive tactic of iron barrel formation. The Bucks used this tactic when they fought against the Jagged Celtics in the playoffs.

But Barkley still wants to say that after a few years, Li Lai's iron-barrel formation is obviously better than before, whether it is the discipline of the players or the accuracy of positioning.

After seeing this lineup, Su Qun couldn't help exclaiming: "The teams in this year's Western Conference playoffs should be careful."

"The Hornets' iron barrel formation has been formed, and those players who like individual offense are destined to be grinded like a meat grinder by this defensive lineup."

Stevens gave Li Lai an admiring look, and he wanted to say, "This is the strongest defensive coach I've ever seen."

Pierce hit the iron again with an outside shot.

这赛季已经35岁的皮尔斯虽然仍然能够贡献场均18分5篮板4助攻的数据，但是投篮效率出现了明显的下滑，只有42%的命中率。

Especially in terms of singles efficiency, there is a visible gap compared with the truth Pierce when he won the championship in 08.

Under the horror of the Hornets, the Bulls encountered a freezing period without scoring for 5 consecutive offensive rounds.

Paul took advantage of the situation and led the team to blow the horn to end the game. JR Smith hit a difficult three-pointer, and Leonard made an air cut layup.

Diaw and Paul came up with a high pick-and-roll, and the former hit a three-pointer from the outside.

With the Hornets' offensive lineup so flexible, Noah and Boozer followed the ball on the court and were teased.

The two, who were exhausted by the Hornets' fast break in the third quarter, finally found it difficult to show effective defensive efficiency at this time.

Yu Jia woke up at this moment.

"It turns out that the Hornets' fast-break game in the third quarter was intended for this."

"After exhausting both Noah and Boozer to death, they came up with a smaller version of the big four in the crucial fourth quarter."

"At this time, Noah and Boozer simply don't have the physical strength to complete the defense against the Hornets. Noah is still a player in the best defensive team in the league."

Su Qun also woke up from the side, nodded and said: "This is the reason why Coach Li Lai defeated all the coaches in the league."

"We can always trust Li Lai."

Hornets coaching bench.

Stevens did not hear the comments of the two guest commentators on the CCTV commentary station about Li Lai, and if he had, he would have laughed lightly.

"Do you really think that coach Li Lai only has this ability? Everyone still underestimates him."

"The most important reason why the Hornets will suddenly play fast is that Thibodeau is fucking the players!"

"This is Li Lai's lesson to Thibodeau, let him know the price that dead fuck players need to pay at critical moments."

Stevens couldn't help but look at the player named Rose, and said seriously: "What kind of player are you? It's worth the coach to do this for you."

With the critical moment frozen, the Bulls suddenly became weak and were beaten 10:0 by the Hornets, and the game ended immediately.

The Hornets won this crucial game 106:100.

Paul roared excitedly on the court, and then he went to high-five his teammates one by one.

The New Orleans arena rang out with shouts of MVP.

Paul did not forget these fans, he also stretched out his hands.

(End of this chapter)