Pick Westbrook

Chapter 336 Rudy Gay Appears Early
Jordan successfully screened for Paul on the outside, and the latter did not hesitate to use the pick-and-roll to mention it to the outside. At the same time, Jordan actively raised his hand down to attract defensive attention.

At this time, Gasol had to switch to defend Paul on the outside alone, and Mike Conley, who was originally defending Paul, could only stick to Jordan and come to the penalty area.

boom!
Paul threw up with one hand, and Jordan took off to explode the frame.

"The City of Lob Pickups!"

"coming!"

Grizzlies coach bench.

Lionel Hollins frowned and looked extremely ugly.

Although after he eliminated the favorite Spurs in the first round of Black Seven, his confidence was extremely bursting, and he was also extremely arrogant in front of interviews with media reporters.

But Lionel - Hollins is not stupid, he is also a very qualified NBA level head coach.

So after seeing the Hornets play such an offensive play in tonight's game, he felt great pressure.

"Marc Gasol was pulled out." On the commentary stand, Barkley also saw this and said seriously.

Kenny Smith nodded and said: "That's right, when Marc Gasol was pulled outside the three-point line to face Paul, the best player in the league, the Grizzlies really didn't have many opportunities to deal with it on the defensive end." .”

"This time it was Paul's empty dunk for DeAndre Jordan, and the next round is likely to be Paul's mid-range military training singles."

"Followed by the Hornets' multi-point blooming, they easily played their own offensive mode."

Hearing this, Barkley shook his head and smiled and said, "This is the playoffs, the NBA playoffs!"

"If you think Li Lai only showed the Hornets' offensive improvement in the round just now, then you underestimate him too much."

"Li Lai has been praised by countless coaches, and he is known as the leader of the younger generation of coaches, even No.1 surpassing Coach Carlisle!"

Kenny Smith frowned and said in confusion: "Is there any deep meaning in the attack of the Hornets just now?"

Barkley nodded affirmatively, then squinted at the Grizzlies coaching bench.

When he saw that coach Lionel Hollins was also frowning and felt extremely troublesome, Barkley looked at him a little more unexpectedly.

"Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins is not a crooked guy, and he also discovered the mystery of the Hornets' offense in that round."

Kenny Smith was already very anxious, and he looked at Barkley angrily and said, "What is the mystery, you can tell me."

Barkley said: "Marc Gasol was called out."

Kenny Smith looked at Barkley with his eyes wide open, thinking: Doesn't everyone know that Marc Gasol was transferred out of the inside line? Do you need Barkley to say it?
"For a long time, you hung my appetite for a long time and said you were lonely?"

Looking at the strange mood of his old partner, Barkley knew that he must not have understood, so he continued to explain.

"Where the Grizzlies are strong, I believe fans who have watched the first round of this season's playoffs must be very clear, it is Marc Gasol's defense in the interior."

"Although Gasol only ranks 7th on the DPOY list this season, it's because the Grizzlies' own record is not outstanding, and Gasol's defensive data is not exaggerated."

"If you just look at DPOY's ranking and defensive data, you will underestimate Gasol a little too much."

"When the Spurs faced the Grizzlies in the last round, Duncan played the worst round of his career, which is enough to say a lot."

Kenny Smith nodded repeatedly.

If Duncan's performance was not influenced by Marc Gasol, he would never believe it anyway, but what does this have to do with the Hornets playing the Grizzlies now?
Barkley looked at his old partner's ignorant eyes and said with hatred, "No matter how strong Marc Gasol's defense is, it's in the interior defense."

"With his huge weight and frame, can he still defend the perimeter?"

"Now under the offensive tactics of the Hornets, Marc Gasol is completely away from the penalty area, so his top defensive ability has nowhere to display."

"It's as if a heavy fist hit a sandbag and it was completely removed."

"At the same time, Marc Gasol's footsteps are very slow. Not only can he not have any effect on the Grizzlies' defense on the court at the moment, but he will become a big colander on the defensive end and be called by the Hornets."

Even if Kenny Smith is brain-dead, he can fully understand what Barkley wants to say, what the Hornets are playing on the court.

"The Hornets coaching staff is destroying the Grizzlies defense."

"What they did was even more exaggerated than anyone imagined. Coach Li Lai not only wanted to play Paul's offense and their best lob coordination."

"What he wants is to take out the thing that the Grizzlies are most proud of, and then bring it to coach Lionel Hollins and tear it up with his own hands!"

on the field.

The Hornets once again successfully played the same tactic, and Gasol was once again pulled outside the three-point line.

Jordan's pass attracted the black bear Zach Randolph's shrinking inside line, and Paul had expected to directly pass the ball to Vince Carter outside the three-point line.

UFO raised his hand in three points, raised his knife and dropped it.

Swish!
hit!

Vince Carter, who made the three-pointer, turned his hands into big birds and shook them arrogantly.

The emotions of all New Orleans fans on the scene were ignited.

Barkley laughed: "The New Orleans Hornets will have to change their name to the New Orleans Pelicans next season."

"It's a big bird in New Orleans, very fierce."

Kenny Smith suddenly realized again. Originally, he was still struggling with why Carter's celebratory action could resonate with so many fans. Now it seems that there is such a reason.

Look at the fans in the arena in New Orleans today, and think about the fans when the Hornets played the Knicks in the first game of the season.

Kenny Smith clearly felt a big difference.

"New Orleans fans still think they're cursed, but they've found a renewed love for this new Hornets team."

next round.

Jordan's outside pick-and-roll did not attract the Grizzlies' defense. Gasol has obviously found that no matter how he and his teammates carry out such a cooperative defense, it is difficult to limit the Hornets' style of play.

Switching restrictions don't work, and neither does Zach Randolph's double-teaming.

So in this round, Gasol did not choose to switch defenses, but retreated and defended against Jordan back to the penalty area at the moment the pick-and-roll happened.

But in this way, Mike Conley was blocked by Jordan Jr., and the high position was delayed.

Paul raised his hand without hesitation and made a three-pointer.

Swish!
The Nets made a crisp sound and made a hollow hit!

Du Feng was extremely excited on the court and shouted repeatedly. He still remembered the coaching staff meeting held by Li Lai after the last game.

Du Feng, Stevens, Gary Payton, Peja Stojakovic all participated in this meeting.

The tactical purpose Li Lai proposed at the meeting was to do everything possible to bring Marc Gasol out to play.

This is slightly different from the small lineup that Stevens advocated at the beginning.

Because the Hornets' small lineup can naturally call out Marc Gasol, but on the defensive end they also can't prevent the offense of the Grizzlies' black and white bears.

And Li Lai's tactical purpose is to keep Jordan's defense on the court while doing the same.

In Du Feng's opinion, this was a very difficult task, but under the leadership of Li Lai, the coaching staff of the Hornets still came up with such a tactic.

Lewis, who originally moved from the strong side to the weak side to attract the attention of the inside defense, became Leonard's active move. Tony Allen had to be taken away and switched to Lewis. Became this tactic.

"The most difficult part of this play is to take Tony Allen away and Zach Randolph to the waist or corner at the same time."

"And it can only be Leonard who completes this task."

Stevens couldn't help but take another look at Leonard on the court at this moment.

Can defend alone, can defend, and more importantly, has a good three-pointer.

In Stevens' view, Leonard's future achievements should be a very strong 3D player and a defensive core on the court.

Of course, what Stevens admires more is Li Lai's understanding of the players' usage methods and abilities.

The reason why Paul was able to get extremely trusted small-play big offensive tactics, and why Leonard was able to play such a big role in the tactical system, is that Li Lai analyzed the abilities and characteristics of each player very clearly.

In Stevens' view, this may be more powerful than the handed down tactics of those legendary coaches.

Li Lai saw the emotion on Stevens' face, and guessed what the other party was thinking at this moment.

He said: "Divide into categories and teach students in accordance with their aptitude."

Stevens nodded, paying attention to the meaning of this sentence.

Du Feng, who was on the side, was shocked for a moment after hearing this sentence. He was shocked and said, "Isn't this Master's Zilu chapter?"

The first quarter is over.

Under the leadership of Paul, the Hornets scored 32 points in a single quarter very efficiently, and led the Grizzlies by 32 points 24:8 into the next quarter.

CCTV commentary desk.

Yu Jia couldn't help sighing and said: "In the last round of the game between the Grizzlies and the Spurs, the Spurs didn't score more than 30 points in the first quarter of the entire series."

"And now, the Hornets just did it in Game [-] and destroyed the entire Grizzlies defense."

Su Qun said: "At this time, it depends on whether the bench lineups of the two teams can withstand the pressure now."

"Whether it is the Hornets or the Grizzlies' bench lineup, as long as they can play a suppressive advantage at this time, they will bring great help to their respective teams."

Grizzlies coaching staff.

Lionel Hollins naturally knows that if the Hornets' bench lineup plays the offense again in this quarter, it will be tantamount to a disaster for the Grizzlies.

They will also completely lose tonight's game.

So before the start of the game, Lionel Hollins kept pulling OJ-Mayo and said.

"Mayo! You're the No. 08 show in [-]!"

"Derrick Rose has already won the regular season MVP, and Russell Westbrook is a member of the double MVP and the championship."

"Even the opposite second-round pick DeAndre Jordan has won a maximum salary contract."

"Now the team needs you to stand up, for the team, but also for yourself."

OJ-Mayo was deep in thought at this moment, and he knew what coach Lionel Hollins meant by the last sentence.

In fact it is.

As early as last season, Mayo was plagued by trading rumors because his state was very sluggish.

Due to the joining of Zach Randolph and the growth of Gasol Jr., his role in the Grizzlies' tactical system has become less and less important. The arrival of Tony Allen is the last straw that broke the camel's back.

梅奥在上赛季上场的71场比赛中仅获得了17场比赛首发的机会，出场时间锐减到了26分钟，而他的得分也从新秀赛季最高的场均18分一下子下降到了场均11分，助攻更是降到了生涯新低的2次。

OJ-Mayo has almost completely lost the control of the ball and the proportion of the offensive end. He was very angry and made a fight and took drugs in the subsequent game, and was suspended for 10 games.

Because of such a thorny performance, after the end of the regular season, the management of the Grizzlies almost wanted to give up Mayo completely, but considering that the quality and offensive and defensive capabilities of the Grizzlies' bench players were obviously insufficient after Tony Allen left the field, they still chose Mayo. To give OJ-Mayo one last chance.

A two-year mid-level contract with a team option.

This also means that once OJ-Mayo performs poorly again this season, he will be completely swept out by the team.

Considering the mess OJ-Mayo has done in the Grizzlies, he has a high probability of being uninterested in the free market like JR Smith before the Hornets.

"But this season, OJ-Mayo performed very well. He fully supported the offense of the entire rotation of the Grizzlies on his own."

"Averaging 13 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, while also shooting the team's second-best 37-point field goal percentage at [-] percent."

"For a Grizzlies team built entirely on defense, this kind of offense and outside shooting performance is extremely rare."

"As long as OJ Mayo can continue to perform well on the court in this year's playoffs, there is a high probability that he will be renewed by the team in advance this summer and get a multi-year contract with an annual salary of around 600-700 million."

Yu Jia knows a lot about OJ-Mayo.

After all, there was a lot of news about taking drugs before, but after seeing the changes in JR Smith of the Hornets, Yu Jia also hoped that such a thing could happen to OJ-Mayo.

The second game.

As soon as OJ-Mayo came up, he signaled his teammates to open up space, and the unreasonable singles JR Smith succeeded.

Seeing this, Stevens frowned slightly and said: "Tonight's OJ-Mayo played very actively."

"The Grizzlies are not a good offensive team, and Lionel Hollins is not a good offensive coach."

"On the bench, OJ-Mayo's unreasonable singles are better than their offensive tactical coordination."

Of course, as early as the last game, Li Lai had arranged for Beverly to defend OJ-Mayo, and the effect was very good.

Li Lai's initial plan for tonight's game was naturally to continue this defensive strategy.

But what he never expected was that the Grizzlies took Rudy Gay to the court in advance at this moment, and did not let the backup small forward Quincy Pondexett play.

(End of this chapter)