Pick Westbrook

Chapter 346 The shadow of the biggest opponent ever
Paul was startled when he heard Li Lai's yelling and gestures, but he didn't hesitate.

He knew it wasn't a good choice for him to double-team inside, but that was the coach's arrangement.

After this season's campaign, Paul has been very willing to listen to Li Lai's instructions, because the opponent led him to the playoffs and touched the floor of the Western Conference Finals for the first time in his career.

And the tactics of the Hornets that turned decay into magic did help the team establish a great advantage during the regular season and playoffs.

As Paul's college mentor, Wake Forest University Devil Deacon head coach Skip Prosser said.

"If a team wants to be strong, the players are the most important thing."

"If a strong team wants to win the championship, the coaching staff is the most important thing."

"And how to find strong players and an excellent coaching staff, this is what the team management should do."

What Paul needs to do now is to complete the task assigned by Li Lai and effectively double-team Garnett and Gasol on the inside.

Lakers offense.

Ramon - Sessions once again accurately found the location of Garnett inside.

Garnett raised his hand and glanced behind Lewis' defensive position and defensive style. Before he could single Paul, he quickly moved to the inside and made a decisive steal.

Paul's double-teaming method is extremely clever. He didn't follow the defensive method that most players raise their hands when defending. Of course, it would be completely useless if he really defended like this.

The defense Paul chose was to get down, with his right foot stuck on the heel of Garnett's left foot, while his left hand was placed on Garnett's right waist.

This is a very detailed way for the small man to defend the big man, because the big man's center of gravity is too high, and if he encounters a stumbling point during the turn, it is easy to cause body imbalance.

Of course, such a defense is also dirty.

Although Paul is a small player, in fact his body is very strong, and his lower body strength is extremely sufficient.

So once Garnett dares to turn to the left and attack the frame, he will inevitably hit Paul's right foot, and he will inevitably turn his back on his back.

And if turn right
Garnett already felt Paul's hand on his right waist, and cursed secretly: Your mother is dirtier than labor, Chris, you old coin.

Garnett, who has been good at using small moves all the year round, knows very well that the most lethal part of Paul's defensive trick is on his left hand.

Because the offensive player turns left and will stay away from the basket, he can only choose a fallback jumper after turning around, or a fake turn and fallback with very delicate offensive skills, and a low-handed layup after catching and stopping the ball.

But no matter which of these two attacks, you need to exert strength from the waist and use your core strength to stabilize the center of gravity of the body, so as to ensure the stability and effectiveness of the ball.

And if you want your waist to exert force, you must receive the ball. This is determined by the way you exert force. No player can make a turnaround jumper while holding the ball high with both hands.

If you have to do this, there is only one ending, and that is that the shooting hand deforms or the body directly flies out of the field due to inertia.

But once the ball is received, it is completely within reach with the height of Paul, an old coin.

If Garnett remembers well, Chris Paul is still the league's steals leader this season, and his steals are very solid.

call!
Garnett chose to pass the ball to Ramon Sessions outside the three-point line.

But Vince Carter was prepared and moved laterally to Ramon Sessions the moment Garnett passed the ball.

More importantly, Paul, who has completed the double-team task, quickly rotated back to Ariza, who was outside the three-point line in the bottom corner.

"The Lakers offense is blocked!"

Yu Jia said with admiration.

Su Qun nodded repeatedly and said, "In terms of offensive and defensive tactics, we can always trust the head coach of the Hornets, Li Lai."

As soon as the two finished speaking, Kobe suddenly moved laterally beyond the three-point line and raised his hand to ask for the ball.

Ramon Sessions passed the ball decisively, and all the players on the Lakers opened up!

Garnett stands on the right side of the waist. His shooting percentage and number of field goals in this position ranked first in the league for three consecutive seasons.

Gasol stands on the left waist, and he also has great offensive restraint.

Ariza stands outside the three-point line at 30 degrees on the right, and Ramon Sessions stands outside the three-point line at 30 degrees on the left after passing the ball.

"The position of the Lakers has almost stretched the space on the court to the extreme, and Kobe's face-up offense will gain a very large advantage."

"What do the Hornets say, double-teaming or not?"

on the field.

Leonard opened his hands like pliers, staring at Kobe.

He got instructions from his coach before the series even started.

Kobe is a shooting guard who is very close to the basketball god Jordan, and defending him does not depend on physical talent alone.

Of course, without physical talent, it is absolutely impossible to defend him.

Because if you can't suppress Kobe in terms of physical talent, you can't defend against his offense alone.

Stevens and Du Feng looked at Li Lai at the same time, but Li Lai remained silent.

The Hornets players were focused on the court, but their ears were also distracted to hear the coach's shouts and reminders.

The result is no.

"That's how to defend!"

"Leonard single-handedly defends Kobe!"

Bryant lowered his weight and kept his eyes on Leonard's defensive footsteps.

Obviously, Kobe, who has played countless singles in his career, has already foreseen the defensive ability of the young player in front of him, and he is very cautious.

Dribbling to find the rhythm, taking a step laterally to break through the temptation, Leonard immediately turned into a close defense.

Kobe Bryant changed direction in front of his body and raised his head with his elbow to open up the breakthrough space again.

Suddenly, he combined the ball with his feet and directly made a shooting attack tendency.

Although Leonard still had no emotion on his face, he was already secretly cursing himself for not having enough experience.

He was too afraid of Kobe's breakthrough, causing the defense to stick too tightly, but gave the opponent easy shooting space.

Kobe's mid-range shooting threat, everyone knows it's terrible.

Leonard made up for it, and rushed over madly at this time, but something unexpected happened to him again.

After cooperating with the ball, Kobe raised his hand to collect the ball and made a realistic shooting fake. After tricking Leonard's defense into taking off, he immediately turned around and leaned forward to shoot.

Swish!
hit!

Off the court, Du Feng was dumbfounded.

"This is not a regular shooting action!"

"How dare Kobe make such a shot."

Stevens also felt that Kobe's shot selection was a bit too unreasonable. Since the ball has already made Leonard's defense take off, it should be better to choose an offensive method of fouling or passing the ball.

But Kobe chose to attack by himself, but this attack also scored.

"Because he is Kobe." Li said.

Knowing that this was the first time Stevens and Du Feng saw Kobe in the playoffs, Li Lai knew their emotions very well.

But that's Kobe.

You can say that his shot selection is unreasonable, but he will still shoot if it is unreasonable. It doesn't matter what you think, the key is that he can really make shots.

CCTV commentary desk.

Su Qun talked about an interesting story about Kobe that he heard from Zhang Weiping.

"One time Kobe shot a lore shot, but was tapped on the wrist by a defensive player, resulting in a missed shot, and the referee did not whistle for this critical moment shooting foul."

"Kobe chose to practice for 4 hours after the game, and at the same time asked the assistant coach to use auxiliary equipment to force his wrist when defending him."

"That way Kobe can get used to being able to make shots when he gets fouled."

"There are also shooting training in a dark room with only moonlight and so on."

"So with irregular shooting movements, Kobe should have been used to this kind of offensive style long ago."

Kobe's sudden attack broke the illusion of the Hornets wanting to defend the Lakers' offense. Li Lai still did not choose to double-team defense against Kobe at this time, but kept emphasizing offense so that the Hornets could try to keep up with the Lakers' offensive efficiency .

The first quarter is over.

The Hornets fell behind 26:31.

The second game.

The two teams took the rotation lineup one after another.

Hornets: point guard Beverly, shooting guard JR Smith, small forward Jimmy Butler, power forward Diaw and center Oden.

Lakers: Point guard Steve Blake, shooting guard Kobe Bryant, small forward Matt Barnes, power forward Jordan Hill and center Troy Murphy.

Seeing that Kobe was still on the court at this time, Li Lai did not hesitate to signal to the players on the court to focus on JR Smith at this time.

Diaw holds the ball high and takes out inside defender Jordan Hill.

JR Smith took advantage of this opportunity and ran away with full power. Kobe, who has an excellent defensive awareness, can remember this nerve knife that he confronted himself in Rock Park before.

He is very aware of JR Smith's scoring ability, and he can score no matter what he is nervous.

So Kobe quickly followed JR Smith, but when the opponent moved to the inside, Oden suddenly blocked Kobe.

Kobe's movement around the pile was still one step slower than JR Smith, who got a shot from outside the three-point line.

Dior was steady and ruthless, passing the ball decisively.

Swish!
Three point hit.

JR Smith compared his hands to an OK gesture, and glanced at Kobe with an arrogant attitude.

"You are the number one shooting guard in the league?"

Kobe, who was ridiculed by JR, did not speak, but stared back at JR Smith.

The black mamba aura immediately spread out.

Then the Lakers attack.

Kobe raised his hand to signal all his teammates to pull away, and he wanted to single JR Smith forcibly.

But at this time, the Hornets decisively arranged a defensive strategy of double-teaming Kobe.

Jimmy Butler brought it up!
On-site commentary desk.

Barkley didn't react until this time.

"The Hornets just played a wave of offense that Larry Brown used to arrange for Richard Hamilton of the Pistons to run dead dog tactics!"

"It's just that Richard Hamilton's finishing method is mid-range, while JR Smith's finishing method is three-pointers!"

Kenny Smith also reacted, that is to say, the Hornets will exhaust Kobe to death during this time period?
Kenny Smith couldn't help but think of the time when Li Lai treated James of the Cavaliers. He beat the so-called alien James so tired that he collapsed on the technical table and peeled oranges to eat.

Now Kobe, who is 34 years old, has encountered the same treatment from Li Lai again. Even Kenny Smith can't help but call out at this time.

"Li Lai, this bastard, is planning to bully the elderly."

Barkley nodded and acknowledged Kenny Smith's guess. He said: "The coaching staff of the Hornets should think so."

"It's just that it's a bit far-fetched to say that the Hornets' coaching staff and Li Lai are bastards."

"After all, the Hornets are the one behind in terms of lineup and strength. They can think of such a way to limit Kobe and the Lakers. On the contrary, I have a little respect for Li Lai."

on the field.

Faced with the defense of the two, Kobe did not choose to pass the ball. He knew that it would be difficult for the teammates around him to complete an efficient offense under the defense of the Hornets.

Step back, turn around, and lean back with difficulty.

Swish!Go in!

"My God! Is it worth investing in this way?"

Du Feng was already scratching his head extremely madly.

No wonder Dayao told a few people when he returned to China that defending Kobe can only pray that he doesn't make a shot.

Originally, Du Feng thought Yao Ming was bragging, but in the end he could only pray that the other party would not enter.

Jimmy Butler looked at Kobe in shock, and murmured, "This is the middle distance."

"This is what the coach said, Kawhi and I must learn how to attack."

Butler still wondered why Li Lai had to help him and Leonard find a master of mid-range shooting.

Can shoot threes, defend, cut and pass, isn't that good enough?

But after seeing Kobe's mid-range singles, Butler had an infinite desire in his heart.

"I want to learn the middle distance, I must learn the middle distance!"

Hornets coaching bench.

Li Lai watched Kobe complete the attack with a smile.

Even if Kobe scored with great difficulty, this is still the scene Li Lai would like to see.

"Kobe only rested for 2 minutes in the first quarter, and now he is shooting like this in the second quarter. How much energy does he have in the end?"

"A race is like a marathon. It is not whoever runs fast and who gets to the front wins, but whoever reaches the finish line first."

"Staying power is very important."

The game was interrupted in the second quarter.

It was only at this time that Mike Brown discovered the intention of the Hornets' coaching staff. He saw Kobe, who seemed to be alive and well on the court, but he already knew that the opponent was only relying on willpower to persist.

Mike Brown requested a timeout for substitutions, and took Gasol and Garnett one after another.

The Lakers started the inside double-tower attack again, and at the same time left three shooters on the outside to prevent the Hornets from wanton double-teaming the basket.

Halftime is over.

The Hornets fell behind 50:60.

Second half of the game.

Paul took the lead in completing the mid-range singles, and the Hornets blew the horn of counterattack.

Vince Carter's quick dunks, Leonard's three-pointers successively recovered the score for the Hornets and successfully tied!
This wave of 18:8 offensive high slot also stopped the Lakers again.

Inside the private room at the Staples Center.

Even though the old old Buss was a little trembling, he glanced at the Hornets coaching bench with burning eyes at this time.

Having run the team for many years, he is well aware of the Lakers' restraint against the Hornets in the lineup, and most of the Lakers are experienced veterans, so how could it be so easy for the Hornets to play a high offensive slot.

But, they just came out.

"The coaching staff of the Hornets is quite capable."

Little Bass was a little shocked, it was not easy to get his father's praise.

He reminded: "The current head coach of the Hornets is Li Lai. I mentioned him in the off-season, but it's a pity that the other party has no idea of ​​​​coaching the Lakers."

Jenny Buss said bitterly, "Li Lai is on the Forbes list, and his worth is higher than our entire Buss family."

"What did you use to invite him?"

Little Buzz looked at his sister with his chest heaving.

In fact, when he met Li Lai, the other party had no particular objection to coaching the Lakers at all. He just didn't like the chaotic management of the team he coached, so he rejected him.

And little Bass still remembered Li Lai's reminder to him that his sister was a very scheming person, and maybe the old Bass had made a lot of promises to her.

Old Bass coughed lightly at this moment, and the two stopped their quarrel immediately.

He looked at the court and said, "It's a pity that he didn't come to the Lakers. This little guy named Li Lai made me see the shadow of my biggest opponent."

　This period of time was delayed due to some things, brothers, I am sorry and sorry.

　　Normal updates will resume tomorrow.

　　One more chapter tonight.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)