Pick Westbrook

Chapter 325 Everything is still unknown

"Welcome to the NBA 2011-12 season, the first round of the NBA playoffs."

"New Orleans Hornets vs. Houston Rockets!"

Barkley's voice fell, and the New Orleans Arena immediately burst into extremely enthusiastic applause.

CCTV commentary desk.

Yu Jia said: "Welcome to the audience friends in front of the TV to watch the game between the Hornets and the Rockets this morning."

"You can see the Rockets' game on the first day of the first round of the playoffs, which is definitely a treat for Chinese audience friends."

"Guide Su, how far do you think the Rockets can go this season?"

Su Qun is also looking forward to this round of playoffs, saying: "The record of the Hornets this season is 55 wins and 27 losses, and the record of the Rockets is 50 wins and 32 losses."

"Strictly speaking, the strength gap between the two teams is not very big."

"Of course, the Hornets are indeed a strong defensive team. They are extremely balanced in both perimeter defense and interior defense."

"This team is also very good at steals, ranking first in the league in steals per game, and the player Chris Paul has even won the honor of the league's steal king."

"But, in my opinion, there's nothing the Hornets can do with Yao."

"DeAndre Jordan can't limit Yao's performance at all."

At this time, Yu Jia received a signal from the director and said: "Now let's connect with Director Zhang in front, and let him bring us further news on the court."

Zhang Weiping quickly waved towards the camera and said.

"Because of the particularity of this game and the importance the Houston Rockets place on this game, we did not interview Dayao in the first place."

"I believe Dayao attaches great importance to tonight's game, just as he values ​​the upcoming Olympic Games of the national team."

"Dayao is 32 years old, and it is the most precious period of time for a center. No matter for Dayao or the Rockets themselves, they have reached the time when they must achieve results."

"Of course, the Rockets also have the strength to go further in the playoffs. After all, they ranked eighth in the league with 104 points on the offensive end this season, and ranked No. 101 in the league with an average of 11 points per game on the defensive end."

"Extremely balanced offense and defense."

"."

on the field.

The players of the two teams tacitly did not make any greetings or greetings.

In this game, they only have teammates and enemies on the court, and there is no friendship off the court.

In front of the technical stage, Li Lai and coach Kevin McHale nodded their heads. The two had no friendship at all, and there was no need for any pretentious greetings at this time.

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

Hornets: Point guard Chris Paul, shooting guard Leonard, small forward Vince Carter, power forward Lewis and center Jordan Jr.

Rockets: Point guard Kyle Lowry, shooting guard Kevin Martin, small forward Chandler Parsons, power forward Luis Scola and center Yao Ming.

Game start.

Midfield jump ball.

Jordan Jr. jumped high and jumped out of Yao Ming's hands with a slightly faster bounce speed.

Hornets attack.

Paul pushed forward with the ball, and Lowry, the small steel gun, was ready. He was very smart not to try to take out the basketball in Paul's hands.

Lewis is making a sudden transition from the weakside corner to the paint.

Because Yao Ming is a bulky center forward, Jordan is also not small, and the two of them standing in the paint are a natural barrier.

Lewis very cleverly walked from the lower limit of the two, and at the same time took advantage of Yao Ming and Jordan's pick-and-roll cover, Luis Scola was completely blocked behind.

"Naturally, it is impossible for Yao Ming to switch defenses at this time. The Rockets know very well that once Yao Ming switches defenses, there will be two singles opportunities inside and outside."

Barkley said with certainty.

This is also the style of play that most teams in the league have learned from the Bucks to bully big centers after the Bucks started the small ball era.

All teams with big centers will inevitably face the same problem, that is, the inside center cannot switch defenses.

Of course, the head coaches of each team have thought about and solved this problem a lot, so they have designed various tactics to target this style of play.

At this time, the Rockets small forward Chandler Parsons on the strong side decisively switched defenses to Lewis, who was slipping to the baseline and was about to raise his hand to catch the ball.

If he doesn't switch over at this time, then Lewis will have a completely open corner three-pointer.

At the same time, Luis Scola turned back from the penalty area to go up the line to change Leonard, and the problem that Yao Ming could not switch out was solved instantly.

Kenny Smith nodded appreciatively and said, "Kevin McHale deserves to be a three-time NBA champion and a seven-time NBA All-Star player."

"In the latest ranking of NBA historical superstars, he was selected as one of the top 50 superstars!"

"The Rockets abandoned coach Rick Adelman during the off-season and recruited coach McHale to become the head coach of this team, just to bring the opponent's famous defensive experience to this team. Enhance Yao Ming's influence on the court."

"At this point, Coach McHale and Coach Van Gundy's philosophies are interlinked."

"Both of them firmly believe that the Rockets should play with Yao as the absolute core."

Just when Kenny Smith was bragging about McHale, Leonard suddenly accelerated and cut to the inside to make a pick-and-roll for Jordan.

Luis Scola switches on Jordan, who speeds up to the high post and then hits the pick-and-roll.

The classic pick-and-roll screen of Chris Paul and Jordan appeared.

Paul played against Luis Scola, because Yao Ming's height and space in the interior, Paul did not take the initiative to play Jordan's alley-oop tactics.

Luis Scola looked at Paul very nervously and shouted, "Help defend!"

This season, under the Hornets' tactical system, Paul's small-to-big offensive round ratio has reached a career high.

Almost all inside players in the league have been bullied by Paul, especially Noah of the Bulls.

Originally, Noah had a high chance of being selected to the best defensive team this season, but it was because of Chris Paul's spanking singles that repeatedly humiliated the opponent.

As a result, Noah lost the All-Defensive Team vote to Rajon Rondo by a few votes, and the news once made the headlines of the sports column.

Luis Scola, who is strong in offense and weak in defense, knows very well that he is no match for Paul.

But at this time, the defensive formation on the field has been completely cut to pieces by the Hornets. Chandler Parsons and Kyle Lowry, who switched defenses, couldn't help defend at all, and Yao Ming couldn't leave the penalty area.

It's impossible to get Kevin Martin to double-team the defense, it's almost the same as not coming.

Paul continued to shake the crotch dribble, and Luis Scola chose the smartest defense method of big defense and small defense.

In the face of small breakthroughs, he retreated again and again, not giving the opponent an easy chance to surpass others.

But Paul has so much experience playing small and big. After seeing Luis Scola make such a defensive choice, he went straight back and shot.

Swish!
hit!

Yu Jia couldn't help but grinned and said, "This is Paul's little fight, it's simply too strong."

"Watching Paul's mid-range singles is like watching Kobe's mid-range singles, it just makes people feel incomprehensible."

Switch offense.

The Rockets played slowly and played positionally.

After halftime, Yao Ming took the initiative to go to the penalty area. Little Jordan had already received Li Lai's instructions to keep Yao Ming away from the penalty area even if he tried his best.

So after Yao Ming crossed the free throw line, Jr. tried his best to drive Yao Ming out of the penalty area.

But Yao Ming's weight has already increased from 130kg when he first entered the league to the current 141kg, and Jordan's size is actually only 120kg.

"It's not a gap, it's not a heavyweight at all."

"Yao Ming, he is the only heavy center left in the league after the small ball era."

Yao Ming still sat near the waist, and Jordan quickly changed his defensive thinking at this time.

He knew very well that he would never be able to complete the important task of restricting Yao Ming from entering the restricted area by himself.

So Jordan suddenly chose Rao Qian to defend.

Barkley said in surprise: "The playoffs have just started, and DeAndre Jordan has shown a very good defensive strategy against Yao Ming."

"If it wasn't for the preparations before the game and the guidance of the coaching staff, I never believe that DeAndre Jordan can defend so well."

Lowry was having a hard time on the court.

Because Yao Ming can't catch the ball safely at this position, the overall defensive strategy of the Hornets is to shrink the inside by half a step.

Once Lowry passes the ball to the inside, all the Hornets players on the field in this position will definitely double-team.

Then even Yao Ming can hardly complete the offense under such a defense.

"Transfer the ball!"

At this time, Yao Ming suddenly shouted at the court.

Lowry reacted instantly and passed the basketball to Kevin Martin, and Yao Ming immediately moved to the other waist.

Jordan, who had been defending around the front, instead followed Yao Ming at this time, and it was difficult to form an effective defensive position.

Yao Ming's waist and back posture appeared again.

Kevin - Martin quickly passed the ball.

But at the moment he passed the ball, Leonard had already circled behind to catch up, and suddenly double-teamed Yao Ming.

"This double team is beautiful!"

Zhang Weiping, who was watching the game on the spot, couldn't help clicking his tongue and shaking his head when he saw the pictures on the court.

"What level of defense is this!"

"The defense Dayao faces now is just like the defense O'Neal faced in the interior at his peak."

"All kinds of wrapping and double-teaming!"

When the other players of the Rockets were sweating because Leonard suddenly went around and double-teamed Yao Ming, Yao Ming held the ball high and did not receive the ball, so he turned around and shot backwards.

Swish!
hit!

Hornets coaching bench.

Stevens' eyes widened when he saw the goal.

"A center, with a half-shot from the waist, or a fadeaway shot, actually made a hollow hit, so stable!"

More importantly, the Hornets have come up with this level of restriction and defense, and Yao Ming doesn't even have enough time to handle the ball.

This post-up even looked like a hasty shot, but the basketball went in!

Du Feng really wanted to raise his middle finger to encourage Dayao, but after thinking that he is now the assistant coach of the Hornets, he quickly calmed down and said.

“姚名在这赛季场均26分10篮板2助攻2盖帽，投篮命中率52%，在常规赛MVP排行榜上排名第5位。”

"Ranked No. [-] in center scoring statistics!"

"He's almost unsolvable on the offensive end."

Li Lai had already expected that Yao Ming would perform extremely well in this round of the series, because the Hornets had no players who could defend him.

In fact, except for the Lakers and Bucks who are slightly likely to defend Yao Ming when they meet the Rockets, no team in the league can do this.

But even the Lakers and Bucks have to use double-team tactics inside to limit Yao Ming.

"Jordan is naturally capable of serving as the first barrier to defend Yao Ming, but we don't have the player who can serve as the second defensive barrier."

"Not Dior, not Lewis."

"That's why it's hard for the Hornets to limit Yao Ming."

Li Lai will speak after being silent.

Stevens was a little anxious at this time. He said worriedly: "As an inside singles player, Yao Ming's shooting percentage is really too high."

"If we don't limit him a little bit, a little carelessness will make the whole game collapse."

Stevens deserves to be a coach who has coached NCAA games, and he has gained invaluable abilities in that kind of life-and-death game mode.

Stevens knows very well how important a player's incomprehension is to a team's victory in an extremely bloody game like the playoffs.

The more critical the moment is, the more powerful this incomprehensible player will be.

So Stevens can understand that when Li Lai commented on Durant, he bluntly said that the opponent is the big killer in the playoffs.

"Yao Ming, he is the killer on the court right now."

Hornets attack.

Leonard wanted to cut to the basket and play an inside pass, but Paul immediately yelled on the court to stop the opponent.

"Kawhi! Don't go to the basket, pull Yao out and hang him!"

Li Lai nodded affirmatively off the court.

Paul's existence largely shares his need to remind the players to do things at all times, but one is to pass information off the court, and the other is to pass information on the court, and the results are naturally very different.

"Paul's reminder was timely."

Leonard pulled out again to stand at a 45° angle on the right side, Lewis continued to move to the inside to play pick-and-roll with Jordan, and at the same time, Jordan continued to play screen tactics with Paul.

At this time, no matter whether Yao Mingxuan chooses to switch defenses or not, he must move out from the inside.

Leonard is very smart to cut inside at this moment, Chandler Parsons keeps up with the opponent, but Paul still passes the ball steadily inside.

Leonard caught the ball and made a counter layup.

Yu Jia said: "Chandler Parsons was a very important draft for the Rockets last summer. Although Chandler Parsons was only the 38th overall pick in the second round, he played very hard. And it’s very balanced offensively and defensively.”

"ESPN even boldly made a prediction that Chandler Parsons has the possibility of growing into a top five small forward player in the West in the next three years."

Su Qun also heard rumors about Chandler Parsons during the All-Star Game.

However, in his opinion, Chandler Parsons is not an extremely talented player. He is 206cm tall and can play small forward and power forward at the same time. He can also break through the dribble and shoot three-pointers. Ability.

"But whether Chandler Parsons will grow into a star of that level in the future, everything is still unknown."

"I heard that this player had a total of ten girlfriends when he was at Howell Lake High School, and it was even more frightening after he arrived at the University of Florida, with a total of twenty!"

"This is also the reason why Chandler Parsons fell to the 38th overall pick in the second round of the draft before being selected by the Rockets."

"The front offices of those teams were very worried about Chandler Parsons being a playboy."

(End of this chapter)