Pick Westbrook

Chapter 334 You Don't Care

Under the referee's instruction, Paul and Tony Allen came together, and both of them squatted down to lower their center of gravity.

It is different from the center forward's scrimmage, because the height of the two is relatively short, so the center of gravity will be lowered, so as to obtain a higher jumping point.

The referee looked at Paul and Tony Allen, who were already elbow to elbow, each paying attention to the details of the jump ball, shook his head very speechlessly, and glanced at the scoreboard at the same time.

"Made! It's been half a day, and neither team has scored yet!"

call!
Just as the referee was about to throw the ball to serve, Paul rushed out.

The referee and Tony Allen looked at Paul at the same time.

Paul didn't care about the contemptuous gazes of the two, returned to his position, and then swung his elbow to Tony Allen.

so dirty!

The referee restrained his mind and signaled to jump the ball again, and then dragged the ball into the air again.

call!
Paul jumped again.

The referee gave Paul a speechless look, and Tony Allen spread his hands in protest.

This time Paul waved his hands again and again and said, "I won't take off early, but please serve faster."

The referee and Tony Allen breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, and the former threw the ball into the sky again.

call!
Paul took off early again, and this time he clicked on the basketball!
"Made!"

Tony Allen, an honest man who has always been bad at talking, couldn't help but swear at this moment.

Leonard on the side took off ahead of Rudy Gay and jumped high, quickly received the ball and hit the basket backwards.

The Grizzlies, who had been watching Paul's continuous early jumps before, were speechless, but they didn't react at all at the moment.

Leonard scored with a one-handed dunk.

"The ball is in!"

"Both teams scored the first goal in 2 minutes, from Hornets."

Switch offense.

Mike Conley held the ball across half court. This time, Gasol already knew Jordan's defense and frame protection strength in the interior, so he didn't ask for the ball in the interior again, but moved to a 45° angle on the right.

Mike Conley passes to Rudy Gay on the right, who quickly transfers the ball to Gasol.

Gasol held the ball behind his back and signaled his teammates to start running. Rudy Gay rushed to the basket without hesitation after passing the ball.

He chose the moving route to hit the basket very cleverly, and took the initiative to walk to the bottom line on the right side of Gasol.

The moment Rudy Gay passed by him, Gasol took the initiative to make a false attack to the left.

This move immediately attracted the attention of both Jordan Jr. and Vince Carter, and Rudy Gay was already close to the basket at this time.

Gasol hit the ground and passed the ball, and Rudy Gay caught the ball and made a layup and scored easily.

"Gasol's passing skills are better than Diaw's."

Du Feng couldn't help saying in admiration at this time.

As the Grizzlies scored this round of offense, Stevens looked at Li Lai with a serious face and said: "The Grizzlies have five offensive starting points, and there are four in the starting lineup."

"Two playmakers, Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, and two isolators, Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay."

"Compared to most teams, their offense is much simpler. After the support is over, it is singles."

"It's just that Marc Gasol's basketball IQ is exactly the same as his brother's. He and Pau Gasol are both extremely good at passing."

Li Lai nodded.

In the triangle offensive tactics of Zen Master Phil Jackson, Paul Gasol was also the axis and main supporting point of the offense.

That's why the Lakers don't need a point guard who is good at passing the ball at all. On the contrary, Fisher, who has a better defense and only 3 assists per game, fell into their eyes.

Of course, coach Lionel Hollins is not as accomplished as Zen Master on the offensive end, so he must have a point guard who can pass the ball on his team.

That's exactly what Mike Conley did.

This season, Mike Conley averaged 13 points, 2 rebounds and 6 assists per game. He is the most important passer in the Grizzlies.

"There's a reason why the Spurs lost to a team like this."

The first quarter ended quickly.

At 17:16, the Hornets led by one point.

The second game.

Both teams tacitly took the full bench lineup, which is the trust of the two head coaches in the team's rotation lineup.

Hornets: Beverley, JR Smith, Jimmy Butler, Diaw and Oden.

Grizzlies: Point guard Gilbert Arenas, shooting guard OJ Mayo, small forward Quincy Pondexter, power forward Dante Cunningham and center Marreese Speights.

"General Arenas!"

Seeing that Li Lai's eyes were always on the player named Gilbert Arenas, Du Feng immediately found the opponent's season data and said.

"Arenas was suspended indefinitely by the league because of the gun incident, and was finally announced to be suspended for 50 games, and then he was traded to the Orlando Magic."

"It's just that Arenas didn't perform well with the Magic, so he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies soon."

"This season, Arenas averaged only 4 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist per game during the regular season, and his shooting efficiency was as low as 36%, a career low."

"He's a really bad player offensively, and he's not great defensively."

At this moment, Li Lai looked curiously at Stevens and said, "What do you think?"

Stevens was stunned, looking at Li Lai's clear eyes, he knew that the other party had found the answer, and the question at this time was just a test for him.

Stevens thought about it seriously before he said solemnly: "Arenas' shooting percentage is really bad, but the data can only reflect part of a player's strength. Basketball can never only talk about data."

"The Grizzlies are a very defensive player, but they are also a very bad offensive team."

"It is difficult for Arenas to get a comfortable offensive space in this team. In addition, he suffered from injuries after the 09-10 season, so his performance is so abnormal."

"But what is certain is that Arenas' body is too bloated compared to his peak period, and both his speed and explosive power have declined seriously."

"So we don't need to defend him specially, but a player like him who has reached the top level in the league must not be let go."

Li Lai nodded, satisfied with Stevens' suggestion.

He said: "Let JR Smith and Beverly switch defenses, Arenas only needs to be guarded from the outside, and there is no need to worry too much."

Hearing Li Lai's defensive arrangement, Du Feng immediately looked at the data and said in surprise.

"Arenas still made 36% of his three-pointers this season. Although his breakthrough and scoring efficiency have declined severely, he is the most reliable three-pointer outside the Grizzlies bench."

"Marking him is a good option!"

The game continues.

Hornets attack.

Diaw held the ball in a high position to signal his teammates to run, because he also had the ability to shoot outside the arc top three-point line, Dante Cunningham had to stay away from the penalty area.

JR Smith came out of the three-point line after going around the screen. Because of his terrifying efficiency outside the three-point line this season, and at the same time he is the new best sixth man in the league, so his running instantly attracted OJ-Mayo And Quincy Pondexter's defensive attention.

The Grizzlies' defensive discipline is excellent, making up for the moment the defensive formation loosens on the spot.

Marreese Speights took the initiative to move a step to the left. This small defensive detail allowed him to defend Jimmy Butler on the weak side while defending Oden.

Because Jimmy Butler is not an efficient shooter, a defensive option like Marreese Speights is completely sufficient for the opponent.

Oden was very decisive at this time to get a deep position under the basket, because Marreese Speights took the initiative to withdraw this step, and it was difficult for the latter to limit his movement in the penalty area.

Diaw hits the ground for a quick pass.

The basketball came into Oden's hands, turned his back to push the man, turned around and attacked the frame head-on.

call!
Oden struggled to take off, wanting to have a slam dunk like an overlord.

As a result, Maris Speights slapped Oden to the ground.

"what!"

Li Lai stood up nervously, keeping his eyes on Auden who was lying on the ground.

He is very aware of Oden's physical condition. Marreese Speights' tough foul this time is likely to cause the opponent's injury to recur. After all, Oden has a very serious and vulnerable physique.

beep!beep!
The referee whistled, and all the Hornets players nervously moved to Oden.

"Greg! How are you!"

"What can we do for you?"

Oden shook his head and recovered his expression. He tried to move his body, and after finding that he was not affected in any way, he grinned with cracked front teeth and said, "I'm fine."

Under the pull of all his teammates, Oden stood up again and walked to the free throw line.

Li Lai let out a long breath, and cursed with a smile: "Only this guy can laugh at this level of defense and tension in the playoffs."

Du Feng said with great insight: "For Oden now, every game of his career may be the last game of his career."

Stevens was silent on the sidelines, but looked at Marreese Speights on the court with obvious anger on his face.

The ball just now was simply Maris Speights' own loss of position on the defensive end. He made an extremely gaffe in choosing a method to solve his loss of position.

Even if the referee didn't think the foul was directed at people and didn't escalate the foul, Marreese Speights shouldn't have done it as a professional player.

"What the referee doesn't care about, I take care of."

"The strength of the Grizzlies' defense is the strength of our defense."

"Lionel Hollins has challenged Popovich, and now he wants to provoke me? He doesn't have the qualifications yet!"

"In a word, how the Grizzlies want to play, we will accompany you at any time!"

Stevens and Du Feng looked at Li Lai in shock at the same time. It was the first time they saw such powerful anger emanating from Li Lai.

"Coach, I'm a little protective."

Swish.

Oden made one of two free throws.

The Grizzlies attack.

After Arenas advanced with the ball, he quickly passed the ball to OJ-Mayo, and then pulled away to a 45° angle on the weak side, ready to receive the ball at any time.

At the end of his career, the former No. 0 agent has completely lost the courage of the past. Once upon a time, he was also a desperate Saburo in the training room, extremely stubborn for money and glory.

But now, Arenas has a very deep understanding of his body and state.

He is not like those star players in their twilight years, clamoring for life and death at this time and refusing to play as a substitute.

Just like Iverson once said: I am a historical superstar, I have never heard of letting a historical superstar play as a substitute, and I have never seen a three-time scoring champion play as a substitute.

But in fact, in the last two seasons, Iverson has fully accepted his status as a substitute veteran, and it is precisely because of this that he won the championship with the Bucks.

Arenas really wanted to get a championship ring of his own at the end of his career, just like Iverson, but unfortunately, it seemed that this possibility was no longer possible.

OJ-Mayo frowned and glanced at the defender in front of him. It turned out to be Beverly instead of JR Smith.

Early in the regular season, Beverley earned the nickname Mad Dog for barking like a dog on the court.

After the end of the regular season, Beverly has fully proved that he can not only learn how to bark, he is really a very good outside defensive pioneer.

In the Hornets' rotation, Beverley is a more efficient defender than Jimmy Butler. Of course, there are also reasons for the different division of labor between the two.

Jimmy Butler will participate in assisting and switching defenses like Leonard, while Beverly has only one purpose on the court, and that is single defense!
"Always guarding the opponent's bench scorer and achieving the ultimate one-for-one, this is Mad Dog Beverley."

On the CCTV commentary station, Su Qun couldn't help but praised Beverly.

Some players are gifted and born to play basketball. Such players are stars on the court and favorites in the eyes of coaches.

But there is another kind of player who has never been talented. They play by one word, hard work.

"Beverley and Jimmy Butler are players like that."

Thinking of this, Su Qun couldn't help but sigh.

In China, whether it is local players or youth clubs, they have always focused on talent rather than character when selecting young players as embryos.

This has led to the fact that all the players are the talented people of the past. When they gather together, no one will obey the other, no one will give in to the other, and no one will train hard.

The result is that on the defensive end, the Chinese men's basketball team will never find a defensive player like Beverly and Jimmy Butler.

Yu Jia saw Su Qun sighing again and again and knew what he was worrying about, so facing the live broadcast camera, he said with certainty.

"But we have Yao Ming, he will be the backbone of the Chinese men's basketball team, supporting the entire men's basketball team now and in the future."

OJ-Mayo tried to break through Beverly's defensive provocation, but the opponent was always in front of him and gave him a lot of defensive confrontation.

After Maris Speights saw Beverly's defense, he thought something bad in his heart, and decisively put on the pick-and-roll for OJ-Mayo.

In this way, Oden had to switch defenses in front of OJ-Mayo. With his severely injured knee and body, he couldn't keep up with the opponent at this time, so he could only watch OJ-Mayo pass him in one step.

"what!"

A deafening sound sounded on the court. When OJ-Mayo got a layup opportunity, Beverly had rushed over at some point and flew into the air desperately.

He threw OJ-Mayo to the ground with the ball, and the referee at the bottom line blew his whistle instantly.

"This is a malicious foul and should be expelled directly!"

The head coach of the Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins, was extremely annoyed and took the referee to babble, pointing at Beverly and wishing he could eat him.

The three referees looked back at the video and still upheld the original verdict after discovering that Beverly was indeed aiming at people.

It's just a common foul.

At this time, Beverly, who hadn't earned a lot of money, looked at the referee nervously, for fear that the other party would give him an upgrade and fine him money.

Just when everyone thought the matter had calmed down, a voice suddenly sounded.

"I didn't hear coach Lionel Hollins complain about this in the last round of the series. Now you want to double the standard?"

"Let OJ-Mayo go home and play pool, there is no confrontation!"

Li Lai looked at Lionel Hollins with straight eyes and said, while putting his arm around Beverly's shoulder and continued.

"This ball is defended beautifully. Don't be afraid to defend it like this. We have plenty of money."

"Remember it later, fry his skin by surprise and remove his bones."

Lionel Hollins, who was still wondering why Li Lai's words were so familiar, immediately opened his eyes and complained to the referee after hearing the following words.

"Hey, did you hear him say that he has money! He's still torn apart."

"This is intimidation! slander! Instigating players to fight on the field! You don't care!"

The referee looked at Li Lai in embarrassment, and the latter walked over without hesitation and said, "You are also interested in going out to eat roast suckling pig after we study the game?"

(End of this chapter)