Pick Westbrook

Chapter 348 Keeping the lead
new orleans.

Hornets fans took to the streets for the first time in years.

They hold the Hornets logo in their hands, wear Paul, Leonard or JR Smith jerseys, and shout to the whole city.

The road along the river in Crescent City was full of fans cheering for the home team.

Taylor Swift is wearing a white net hat today, wearing an off-the-shoulder top, with two black belts looming, looking like a little girl next door.

She rested her hands on her chin, watching New Orleans cheering for the Hornets, and couldn't help but think of last year.

At that time, no basketball fan was willing to support the Hornets.

Even if the Hornets finally have a boss and the addition of champion bishop Li Lai, even if these two news have spread throughout New Orleans, it will have no effect on it.

Even Taylor had the same idea in her heart at the time, and she was also not optimistic about the Hornets.

Of course, it may also be because she is a die-hard fan of the New York Knicks.

"He's really good."

Taylor couldn't help but angrily said.

The old man wearing the Hornets jersey raised his hands and said, "Of course Li Lai is great. He brought this team to the playoffs and even to the Western Conference Finals."

"You know what, we've never been to the conference finals in the NBA."

"This is the first time."

"Hey, do you want to go to the court to watch the Hornets game?"

"I heard that tonight's home game is unprecedented, and the scalpers' tickets have tripled the price."

"It is estimated that there will be a huge crowd of people outside the New Orleans Arena tonight."

Taylor declined without thinking, and said, "I still have to prepare a new song, so I don't have time to watch Li Lai's game."

The old man frowned and said, "I didn't let you watch his game, I asked you to watch the Hornets game."

Taylor blushed slightly when he heard this, and couldn't help but think of the middle finger he gave Li Lai and the popcorn scattered all over the floor when he went to cheer for the Knicks.

When they met each other by the lakeside of Crescent City, a group of pelicans happened to be surprised. The guy seemed to say that the Hornets would use this name next season.

Why did he use this name?
How can he casually use someone else's words as the name of a team?

In the subsequent lyrics, Li Lai also gave Taylor a lot of advice. Almost half of the lyrics of the new song came from the other party.
"How about I go and see?"

The old man looked at Taylor Swift who said this inexplicably, spread his hands and said, "You have been talking to yourself all this time, I didn't say anything."

New Orleans Arena.

There were huge crowds of Hornets fans, and the shouts and shouts were extremely deafening.

Even Kobe, who is used to seeing big scenes, couldn't help but look at the Hornets fans more at this time.

"This kind of fan atmosphere is what a strong team should have."

The game starts soon.

Yu Jia exclaimed at this time: "Director Su, the Hornets have changed!"

Su Qun was looking at the starting lineup displayed on the live broadcast screen.

The Lakers are regular starters.

Hornets starting lineup: Chris Paul, Kawhi Leonard, Vince Carter, Oden and Jordan.

"The Hornets have also won the Twin Towers."

Seeing this lineup, Su Qun nodded repeatedly.

The Hornets lost the first two games, both on the inside.

The Lakers' twin towers suppress the inside line too much, and it's not just reflected in scoring.

Rebounding, passing, defense and screens.

"Lewis' defense on the court is almost a display. He can't defend against Pau Gasol or Wolf King Garnett at all."

"So instead of keeping him on the court and being beaten by the Lakers, it's better to replace him and get a player with stronger defensive ability."

"Oden is the Hornets' best interior defender since DeAndre Jordan."

Su Qun still remembers that the Hornets regrettably lost the game by 1 point in the first game. This was done while consuming Kobe with physical tactics.

By the second game, Lakers coach Mike Brown had clearly reacted.

He adjusted Kobe's playing time and playing rhythm in order to ensure the latter's physical strength at critical moments.

And Kobe also did it in the second game, and he made consecutive free throws to end the game at a critical moment.

In the second game, the Lakers also won the game by 3 points.

Facts have proved that the Hornets will continue to lose games if they continue to play like this, and they will lose more and more points.

Because the Lakers have become more and more accustomed to their defense and offense, as Su Qun said before.

He can think of the way the Lakers solve the offensive and defensive tactics of the Hornets, but he can't think of how the Hornets solve the offensive and defensive ends of the Lakers.

"Change may be the only way."

On-site commentary desk.

Big Mouth Barkley was also extremely surprised to see the Hornets changing formation. He immediately analyzed and said: "With such a change, the Hornets may really be able to limit the Lakers' offense inside."

"But there are problems, otherwise the Hornets' coaching staff would have made such a change before the series started."

Kenny Smith turned his head to look at each other curiously and said, "What's the problem?"

Barkley said without hesitation: "Attack."

"Although Lewis hardly contributes much on the defensive end, his shooting and running ability are very scarce in the Hornets' power forward position."

"Know that the Hornets aren't particularly good at offense, and they need Lewis to space the floor for the team."

"But now that Lewis is off, the Hornets have to take Oden in order to solve the problem of power forwards on the defensive end, but it will not be so smooth on the offensive end."

"After all, the Lakers are also a defensive strength, and coach Mike Brown is also a defensive coach."

Hearing this, Kenny Smith was a little worried. He didn't know whether such a change would be a good thing or a bad thing for the Hornets.

However, the series has fallen behind 0:2, and the Hornets have indeed reached the point where they must change.

Because the previous games have proved that it will not work to continue playing like this.

Game start.

The Lakers still played Garnett's low singles in the penalty area.

Oden's physical talent has declined seriously due to injuries, but his static talent is still there.

Fortunately, Garnett is also quite old, and it is no longer possible to play like the flying style of the year, and Oden's defensive style of the floor style is just in time.

boom!
There was a clash of muscles.

Garnett didn't knock Oden away for the first time, nor did he take advantage of it. He immediately changed his offensive method and chose a step-back jumper.

Oden followed steadily and did not take off, but stretched out his hand to interfere with the opponent's projected sight.

Duang!

Hard work!
This attack made Garnett frown slightly, because Oden's wingspan was so good that it interfered with him even without taking off.

Off the court, Mike Brown stood up anxiously because of the ball. He knew too well the reason why the Lakers could take a 2:0 lead.

It's Gasol and Kevin Garnett on the inside.

But now Garnett has been affected on the offensive end, and if this impact is not resolved as soon as possible, it will not be good news for the Lakers.

"Fortunately, the Hornets' offense under this lineup will not be very good, and the Lakers still have a chance to breathe."

Switch offense.

Paul advances with the ball.

Yu Jia and Su Qun glanced at the formation on the field and shook their heads at the same time. They both felt that the Hornets' offense might be difficult to play.

As a result, Jordan and Oden suddenly came up at the same time, which surprised Gasol and Garnett on the defensive end, and the two quickly followed.

High double pick and roll, the penalty area is a vacuum.

Paul continued to use the pick-and-roll to get rid of Ramon Sessions' defense, and at the same time he switched to Gasol.

In the first two games, Gasol was almost crushed by Paul. At this time, he could only choose to retreat and defend.

Swish!
Paul made a decisive three-pointer and made a steady hit.

"Can this attack still be played like this?"

Yu Jia couldn't help but sneer.

Su Qun said: "Li Lai deserves to be a well-known offensive coach. Don't look at how well he has trained the Hornets' defense so well. In fact, he has made his career by relying on offense."

"So even if the Hornets took the twin-tower lineup and narrowed the offensive space, Li Lai still has many ways to minimize the impact in this regard."

"This poses a great threat to the Lakers."

Lakers offense.

Garnett held the ball inside again, but still failed to get cheap from Oden. In fact, Garnett did not become a superstar by singles throughout his career.

So at this time he decisively distributed the ball to Gasol at the free throw line.

Jordan did not leave Gasol a step.

The latter made a layup after a fake shot, and the big man under the basket turned around and made a layup.

"Jordan's frame protection is good, but his footsteps are a bit disadvantaged when defending Gasol."

Kenny Smith analyzed.

Barkley nodded in agreement.

So from now on, the Lakers will use Gasol's support and offense at the free throw line to frequently cut the Hornets' overall defense.

This is the terrible thing about the Lakers team.

Even if the opponent restricts one of the two towers in the lineup, there is another tower that can play.

The ability of both of them to pass the ball at the same time makes the opponent's double-team selection more cautious.

The first game is over.

The Hornets relied on Paul's single explosion to lead the Lakers 29:27.

This is also the Hornets' first lead since the series.

Li Lai noticed that Kobe only made 3 of 1 shots in the first quarter, and it seemed that his desire to attack was not strong.

But Li Lai knew Kobe too well. The more the opponent restrained his shots on the court, the more Li Lai was afraid of when the opponent would choose to explode.

"The second quarter was probably Kobe's breaking point."

Li looked at Beverly, indicating that the opponent would switch to Kobe from the beginning.

Of course, defending Kobe requires talent, Beverly's talent
Li Lai also asked Jimmy Butler to pay attention to Kobe's position at any time, and he could decide whether to double-team at any time.

As for Jimmy Butler's own opponents, Li Lai told him not to worry. His teammates would make up for it. Even if they couldn't make up, this was a picture the Hornets had to accept.

In short, we must guard against Kobe!

The second quarter begins.

As soon as Kobe came up, he asked for the ball from the waist back and played low singles.

This is the experience accumulated by a veteran over the years. When the player defending Kobe was Beverly, who was not outstanding in height and weight, Kobe naturally chose the low post play that can make great use of his physical advantage.

Beverly was pushed back without a temper, and finally could only watch Kobe turn around the baseline and rush to the basket with one step.

boom!
The black mamba dunked with one hand.

"Kobe is going to attack!"

Yu Jia shouted.

When Kobe Bryant traveled to Jiangdu Station in China, Yu Jia received Kobe personally, so he had a little understanding of the other party's personality.

Paranoia, aloofness, trash talk, and petty tricks.

There were no players in Kobe's era who were not good at these.

These are all the hooligans brought out by the older players like Larry Bird and Jordan. Today's young players play much cleaner and don't have so much trash talk.

Even if you want to spray garbage, it won't piss you off like the older players.

Leonard is the best example.

So Yu Jia knows very well that Kobe must play to the end on the court, and no one can do it well.

In the first quarter, Kobe chose to be so restrained on the offensive end. It must be known from the first two games that Garnett and Gasol bombed the Hornets inside in the first quarter, and the effect was very good.

Although Kobe is stubborn, he still knows the ball and knows how to win the series and the championship.

In other words, Kobe deliberately restrained his offense in the first quarter, just to fully release his offensive firepower when Garnett and Gasol went off the field at the same time in the second quarter.

"The Hornets have to find a way to limit Kobe during this time."

next round.

Kobe once again held the ball outside, and Jimmy Butler double-teamed ahead of time without hesitation.

Kobe also didn't hesitate, facing the defense of Beverly and Jimmy Butler, he forced a one-on-two, and made a difficult fadeaway shot.

hit!

This mid-range shot also silenced the New Orleans fans at the scene, and Jimmy Butler even felt unloved.

After scoring the goal, Kobe calmly raised his wristband. He looked at the scoreboard above his head in a blink of an eye, but saw that the Hornets led by 42:36 and expanded their lead.

He became restless for a moment.

Hornets attack.

Diaw organized the ball from the outside, Lewis slid the bottom line to pick and roll, and Jimmy Butler immediately cut in to get a very comfortable space under the basket.

boom!
Butler returned a one-handed split dunk.

On-site commentary desk.

Barkley couldn't help but praised and said: "Ginger is still too old."

"After the Hornets now have a combination of Diaw and Lewis inside, the space suddenly becomes larger."

"Butler, who is not good at shooting, got a very comfortable opportunity to cut inside."

"And the Hornets' four perimeter players all have good three-point shooting ability, and the Lakers seem to be at a disadvantage no matter how they defend."

"It's impossible to double-team Butler, or let Kobe switch to Butler!"

Kenny Smith shook his head very positively.

Even he can see that the biggest offensive threat in the Hornets' lineup is the outside nerve knife JR Smith.

So at this time Kobe is also actively marking the opponent.

This is really being a father and a mother at the same time.

But considering the shooting ability of the Hornets' outside players, the Lakers can't double-team at this time, and can only let Butler easily cut into the basket many times.

Lakers coach.

Mike Brown finally couldn't bear such a situation, and replaced the defensive giant Trevor Ariza in advance, which stopped Jimmy Butler's offensive.

Then Twin Towers Garnett and Gasol played one after another to stabilize the situation.

Halftime is over.

The Hornets still maintained their lead at 55:52.

　There may be some omissions and typos.

　　Keep typing, change first and then change.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)