Pick Westbrook

Chapter 396 This is a Great Opportunity
Anthony, who lost this game, was a little bit lost, and the Knicks were a little bit lost up and down.

For Anthony, this is the night of his comeback. The Knicks, which had been in full swing, finally waited for his comeback, and what should be staged is the heroic moment of the return of the king.

As a result, who would have thought that Anthony's comeback would result in a loss for the Knicks.

For the Knicks, after winning tonight's game, they could have successfully competed with the Heat for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Because of the point difference, the Knicks will rank first.

That would be the first time the Knicks have won the Eastern Conference record in decades.

Unfortunately it backfired.

Although Jeremy Lin was also a little disappointed, he took the initiative to accept an interview with CCTV Zhang Weiping after the game, and then went straight to Li Lai.

"coach."

Li Lai gave each other a high-five and hugged vigorously.

"Your breakthrough and shooting are already very good. I have been following you this season. Congratulations on playing Linsanity in the critical New York."

Jeremy Lin still remembered that Li Lai gave him a guarantee contract and brought him to New Orleans. During this period, he also instructed Iverson and Curry to help him grow as much as possible.

Jeremy Lin is very clear that without the help of the coach, he would not be able to take off in the Knicks.

"Thank you, Coach."

"I am a devout Christian, so I will pass on your beliefs."

After the post-match interview.

Li Lai saw Taylor who had been waiting for some time in the parking lot.

"I wrote songs for you, and you haven't thanked me yet." Taylor said with his eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth raised.

Li Lai remembered this, nodded and said, "No problem, how do you want me to thank you? How about I treat you to noodles?"

Taylor shook his head, stretched out a finger and said, "The Christmas game is a game between the Pelicans and the Heat. I want to sit next to you for a spectator ticket."

23 more days until Christmas Day.

And this season's Christmas game has already begun to brew in the anticipation of the fans after the game in November.

On one side is the Heat with the No. [-] record in the Eastern Conference and last season's defending champions.

On one side is the Pelicans with the No. [-] record in the Western Conference and the No. [-] team in the league.

The media with good news opened up the match between the team coached by Li Lai and James' career. Li Lai can also be regarded as James' sufferer in the playoffs.

Except for the first time the two met in the playoffs, and the Cavaliers led by James had the last laugh, the subsequent Eastern Conference semifinals and finals ended with Li Lai successfully winning the series.

In the 30 games where the two met, Li Lai also had the upper hand with a perfect score of 20:10.

Because of the pre-match discussions of the media reporters, the limelight of this Christmas game has already been fired to the point where it has attracted a lot of attention.

Li Lai looked back at Taylor and said, "Of course it's no problem."

It's snowing in New Orleans.

Holloway cupped her hands, let the snowflakes fall in her palms and said, "Snowflakes fall at a speed of 5 centimeters per second."

Holloway's grandfather couldn't help stroking his forehead. The little girl seems to be very interested in mathematics recently. She likes to look through it when she has nothing to do. She likes to express everything with numbers.

Holloway held the snowflake in front of Li Lai, put it on her chin and said, "It looks good, or do I look good?"

Li Lai had already gotten used to Holloway being more and more clingy to him. He frowned and looked at the old Taoist and said, "How is she doing now?"

The old Taoist meditated in the snow, and the snowflakes fell on his Taoist robe, making him tremble.

"The IQ of about 3-4 years old, the heart is the same as before, kind."

Li Lai guessed and calculated. It has been more than two months since he returned to New Orleans in September. According to Holloway's current recovery speed, he can recover to 9-2 years old in about a year.

In other words, it would take about 5 years for Holloway to recall her previous memories.

Thinking of this, Li Lai frowned slightly and said, "Can you speed it up? Five years is too long."

The old Taoist stared at Li Lai, then took out a piece of snow lotus from his Taoist robe and said, "This speed is already very, very fast, even I feel a little shocked, do you still think it is slow?"

Holloway was terrified when she saw the familiar Xue Lian's face, and she leaned on Li Lai to kick her legs, shook her head and refused repeatedly.

Li Lai could only hold Holloway's small mouth, took the snow lotus and forced it into Holloway's mouth.

Holloway, who had eaten the food, sat up, looked at Li Lai with a pout, and quickly rushed over with punches and kicks.

The old Taoist took out another piece of snow lotus to Holloway's grandfather and said, "Your situation is not so optimistic, because the root cause of the disease is already serious and it is difficult to recover."

"It can balance the bad things in your body with you. Coupled with the Shiduanjin I taught you, there shouldn't be any problem in prolonging your life by 10 years."

The old man was already very satisfied with the result, but he glanced at Holloway with some regret, and then couldn't help but sigh.

At this time, Wang Lishen came out of the house. She smiled and said to Li: "Remember to come back early after the Christmas battle, and we will have a reunion dinner."

Li Lai nodded.

In the past Christmas battles, Li Lai mostly spent Christmas with Holloway or Wang Lishen, or Jordan Carver. It was the first time so many people spent Christmas together.

12 month 25 day.

new orleans.

Christmas fight.

A large group of fans gathered densely around the New Orleans Arena, immersed in the joy of Christmas, and looking forward to tonight's game between the Pelicans and the Heat.

CCTV commentary desk.

Yu Jia was very surprised and said: "Director Su, look at the city of New Orleans, it really has changed a lot."

"I remember that when I came to this city on a business trip with you a few years ago, it was obviously a lifeless feeling. Whether it was this city or the people in this city, it gave people the feeling that there was no hope for life."

"And now these New Orleans fans in the camera really give people a very gentle and warm feeling."

Su Qun was also surprised and said: "This is the charm that competitive sports can bring to people. Life is inevitably unsatisfactory everywhere, but how to face life divides people into two categories."

"One type is frustrated and complains, and the other type is always looking forward to a better tomorrow."

"New Orleans feels like the latter to me now. The city has become more vibrant because of sports."

Yu Jia returned to the theme of tonight's game and said: "Director Su, the current record of the Pelicans is 21 wins and 7 losses, and the record of the Heat is 20 wins and 9 losses."

"Both teams are the favorites for the championship given by ESPN this year. Which team do you think has a better chance of winning tonight?"

Su Qun seriously analyzed and said: "As early as the beginning of December, the fans began to look forward to this game very much. In addition, at that time, the media had already played up the topic in advance to increase the popularity of the topic."

"So this game has long been expected by authoritative sources to break the NBA's record for watching regular season games."

In fact, just in the team analysis session before the start of the game in the morning, the CCTV director has already given the number of viewers today, which has reached the highest number in the history of CCTV broadcasting the NBA.

So it is completely predictable that when the game starts, the number of spectators in China alone will far exceed the historical record, let alone the United States.

Su Qun continued: "The Heat still maintained the lineup and style of play of last season this season. In addition, they also signed Birdman Anderson with a one-year short contract in the offseason."

"A lot of people ignored this signing before the season. They only thought that the Heat were going to find a qualified backup center for center Joel Anthony."

"In fact, because of the Heat's team salary issues, even a rotation-level player like Joel Anthony can play as a starting center for the Heat, let alone Chris Anderson, who is considered a substitute."

"But the actual result was just the opposite. It took only 15 games for Birdman Anderson to successfully squeeze out Joel Anthony and become the starting center of the Heat."

Yu Jia looked at the statistics of Chris Anderson's games this season, and was taken aback.

Chris Anderson averaged 7 points, 6 rebounds and 1 block per game for the Heat.

Looking at the data alone, I may not think how good this player is. After all, Joel Anthony, as the Heat's starting center last season, averaged 5 points and 5 rebounds per game. The gap between the two does not seem to be very big.

But continue to look at Chris Anderson's data, shooting 67% from the field, 77% from the free throw, and averaging 20 minutes per game.

In the first five games of the regular season, Birdman Anderson shot 100% in five consecutive games, and made 16 of 16 consecutive shots without conceding a goal.

In the entire game before November, Anderson, who came off the bench, averaged just over 11 minutes per game, and the Heat achieved a record of 16 wins and 10 loss.

And in the ensuing game against the Thunder, Birdman Anderson caught 4 offensive rebounds in the half quarter and made all 7 shots, helping the Heat defeat the Thunder.

After that game, Birdman Anderson was dubbed "Mr. 100%" by Miami fans.

Su Qun said: "Chris Anderson is naturally not a very strong player, but it is a coincidence that his ability, style of play and hard work on the court are just perfect for this Heat team, so it is a good match for him. The ability to surpass one's own strength has exploded."

"After all, in a team with James, Wade and Bosh, it's easy for other teammates to get comfortable offensive opportunities."

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

Regular starter for the Pelicans.

The Heat's starting lineup: point guard Mario Chalmers, shooting guard Dwyane Wade, small forward LeBron James, power forward Chris Bosh and center Chris Anderson.

Midfield jump ball.

A photographer carried a camera back and forth in front of James, Wade, Bosh, Paul, Leonard, Jimmy Butler and Anthony Davis.

He recorded the colors on each star's face one by one.

James' face was calm, and there seemed to be emotions in his eyes that wanted to prove himself.

After the Heat successfully climbed the mountain of the Bucks last season, James once knelt on one knee with tears in his eyes.

He said: He finally climbed the mountain of the Bucks.

But media reporters with good things reminded James that he just overcame the Bucks without Li Lai, and Li Lai was still there.

Sau Wei was chewing gum in his mouth with his hands on his hips, never forgetting to show off his sexy big cheeks and pretending to be handsome at any time.

Bosch yelled at the sky with his neck long, and only realized that this was Pelicans' territory when he found that there were no fans responding.

"It's not nice that the Christmas game is in New Orleans instead of Miami."

boom! ! !
The basketball was thrown high by the referee, and Birdman Anderson was completely at a disadvantage in the fight with Jordan.

The basketball was pointed to Paul's hands.

"Attack! Attack!"

In the New Orleans Arena, the live DJ shouted, and all the fans stood up and applauded in anticipation.

Paul advanced with the ball, and as soon as he came up, he signaled the pair of thick eyebrows and Jordan to put on the pick-and-roll.

Birdman Anderson and Bosh are very flexible inside players, so when facing the Pelicans' outside double-block tactics, they decisively chose to switch defenses.

Bosh single-handedly defended Paul, and at the same time, Birdman Anderson followed his thick eyebrows down. At this time, Jordan was pushed by Mario Chalmers around the free throw line, and James retracted a step inside to help defend.

In the first round alone, the Heat showed excellent teamwork, almost cracking the Pelicans' outside double-block tactics.

Paul was not in a hurry, he raised his hand and yelled to remind his teammates to pay attention to their positioning, followed by a personal single with the ball lowered.

The dribble swayed, and he got rid of it. Facing James' shrinking inward, Paul chose to step back and jump.

Three-point shot!

Swish!
"Hit!"

"In the first round of the Christmas game, the Pelicans successfully scored!"

Paul, who hit the three-pointer, calmly clapped his hands and encouraged his teammates who returned to defense, and at the same time did not forget to continue shouting reminders: "Hurry up and return to the defensive position!"

On-site commentary desk.

Kenny Smith couldn't help laughing: "It's been a long time since I saw Chris Paul play so aggressively when he came up. This should be the first time this season."

Barkley nodded in agreement and said: "Paul is very clear that the Heat were the defending champions last season. To test whether the Pelicans really have the strength to hit the playoffs this season, the contest with the Heat is crucial."

Kenny Smith understood what Barkley meant by saying this.

The Pelicans are indeed the team with the best record in the league so far. They also defeated the Lakers, Spurs, and Knicks in the regular season, which are also championship teams.

But this does not mean that the Pelicans can really win the championship. In fact, many teams in history have performed well in the regular season, but once it comes to the playoffs, which is a real game, most of them will win the championship. Cruise or two cruises.

"The coach said that the playoffs are the stage for the strong."

This is why Paul will try his best to play tonight. He will play the game against the Heat as a playoff.

"Hey!"

James gave a soft drink, signaling Mario Chalmers who had picked up the basketball to serve quickly.

His behavior also attracted the attention of Wade, Bosh and others on the court. James smoothed his clothes with his right hand during the dribble, and he looked at his teammates and said.

"Win this game tonight."

Wade nodded, Bosh nodded, Birdman Anderson also nodded, and Mario Chalmers nodded even though he was helpless.

Because this team is James' team, Wade himself admits, and he spearheads every decision James makes on the court.

Mario Chalmers finds it hard to believe that a team's old conference will give up its status and everything, even if James and Wade are good brothers on and off the court.

But it wasn't until the Heat successfully won the championship last season that Wade's words made Mario Chalmers suddenly understand the relationship between the other party and James.

"What do I like to eat? My wife doesn't know, but LeBron does."

"After every away game, I, LeBron and Bosh will choose to find a restaurant to sit down, and LeBron will immediately order our favorite dishes."

"We don't need to communicate, we all know what each other wants to do."

"Honestly, letting go of the boss was the hardest decision I've ever made in my life, but he's LeBron, so I decided to do it."

on the field.

After James advanced with the ball, he immediately distributed the ball to Wade, and at the same time pulled away to a 45° angle on the right, signaling Bosh to step forward to pick and roll.

Bosh and Wade's pick-and-roll two-line fast down is a tactic the Heat often play because they have three strong points in their starting lineup.

Originally, most problems could be solved one-on-one, but now there is a pick-and-roll between the two strong points, so the opponent must use double-teaming to defend.

This is also the key to most opponent teams finding the Heat difficult to play.

boom!
Leonard suddenly steals with a long hand, forcing Wade to dribble back to open up space, so that Bosh's pick-and-roll position is completely useless, and he has to move up and prepare to continue the pick-and-roll.

But at the same time Leonard continued to fight, causing Wade to dribble unstable.

Wade was a little afraid of Leonard's big hands, so he had to dribble quickly and take an arc away from Leonard to attack again.

But in this way, Bosh's pick-and-roll didn't work at all.

"Pelicans defended beautifully this possession!"

Yu Jia couldn't help but shouted.

At the same time, he took out the data performance of the Pelicans this season and said: "8 blocks per game lead the league, steals 10 per game lead the league, and the defensive team averages 94 points per game. The Pelicans are the league leader. The only team to hold opponents below 95 points."

"In limiting the opponent's shooting percentage from the outside, the Pelicans achieved 40%, which is far below the league average of 44%."

"They are the best defensive team in the league this season. Only the Grizzlies can match the Pelicans."

Su Qun would like to say that the Grizzlies have achieved the ultimate in interior defense, and the Pelicans have achieved the ultimate in exterior defense. If it was in the past, then naturally the Grizzlies had a better defensive choice.

But now, most teams are catching transitions, playing perimeter offense and three-pointers, so the Pelicans' defensive options are clearly more in line with the times.

A few days ago, some fans asked curiously: Li Lai created the era of small ball and let the whole world follow the Bucks to play three-pointers. Now the Pelicans he coaches are desperately defending. Is it contradictory?

At that time, Su Qun answered the fan very seriously: not only did he not contradict himself, but also proved how terrible Coach Li Lai is.

Teams all over the NBA are catching transitions, playing outside offense and three-pointers, but the Pelicans are restricting opponents from catching transitions, playing outside offense and three-pointers.

Otherwise, why the Pelicans can achieve the league's first perimeter defense, they just want to greatly curb the opponent's style of play.

Sometimes Su Qun couldn't help but boldly speculate whether the reason why coach Li Lai built such a strong perimeter defense team was to limit the Heat, James and Wade.

on the field.

Wade resumed attacking with the ball at the top of the arc, and Leonard followed him everywhere.

Bosh wanted to put on the pick-and-roll again, but Wade shook his head to indicate that it was completely unnecessary.

It is impossible for the Pelicans to let the Heat play outside pick-and-rolls. At least Wade, who has stronger personal offense and weaker passing ability, can't immediately take the ball to find an open teammate at the moment of double-teaming.

James can, but he can't.

Continuously dribbling the ball under the crotch, Wade suddenly accelerated and went straight to the basket. Leonard did not keep up with Wade's speed in the first step, but still put a lot of pressure on Wade with one side of his body.

The Pelicans shrunk inside at the same time, Jordan stood in the penalty area, Anthony Davis followed Bosh, and was ready to return to the defense at any time.

Looking at Jordan in front of him, Wade paused for a moment, and could only go in and out again. The horrible defense of the Pelicans made him a little uncomfortable.

The Heat have already played against the Grizzlies this season. The opponent is also a strong defensive team, and the interior defense is extremely strong, but their conversion speed is very slow, especially Gasol and Zach Randolph. Can't keep up with the speed of the Heat.

So Wade is not afraid of the Grizzlies, and the Heat had the last laugh in that game.

But this Pelicans team is different. Their defense is at the same level as the Grizzlies, but they are much better than the Grizzlies in terms of flexibility.

Because the Grizzlies' defense is centered on Gasol Jr. and Zach Randolph on the inside, while the Pelicans' defense is centered on Leonard and Jimmy Butler on the outside.

Duang!

Wade chose a mid-range shot, but was interfered by Leonard's long hands, and the basketball hit the iron without accident.

Switch offense.

Paul's counterattack was extremely fast. Fortunately, the Heat had made sufficient preparations before the game, otherwise they would be directly stolen by the opponent.

But soon Paul found an opportunity to smooth his thick eyebrows and passed the ball high.

boom!
"Empty catch dunk!"

James frowned and was a little surprised that the Pelicans played so well in counterattack and fast break with such a lineup.

James, who originally regarded the Lakers, Knicks, and Spurs as the Heat's playoff enemies, became serious about the Pelicans for the first time this time.

The players who play on the court know the strength of a team better than the fans and commentators.

The Heat still run strong screens, but this time it's Bosh and James' pick-and-roll.

James used the pick-and-roll to force his way into the paint, and the tank made a layup as if he was in no man's land. Leonard rushed over to help defend, and Jimmy Butler followed the pick-and-roll in an instant.

The defensive enthusiasm of the two completely blocked James in the penalty area, and there was also Jordan's help defense inside.

"The Pelicans are the only team in the entire league who can press down James who is fully charged."

As soon as Kenny Smith finished speaking, James suddenly tossed the ball to the other side. Wade went in from the middle, caught the ball with one hand, and dunked with the tomahawk!
"The Heat fought back!"

At this time, Leonard and Jimmy Butler had eye contact. The two obviously found that James' pick-and-roll threat was too great, because they couldn't double-team James in advance like defending Wade. The latter's passing ability was not blocked. .

But how can James hit the basket in this way?

No matter how good Jimmy Butler's defense is, it is impossible to defend a player of James' level after the pick-and-roll.

So Leonard's help defense is necessary, but Wade is empty again.

"The reason why the Pelicans' defense was pierced by the Heat at this time is because Leonard went to help defend James."

Barkley analyzed.

Barkley would like to say that everyone only sees how powerful James is physically, how powerful his impact is, and how versatile his abilities are, but they all ignore his league's top ability to read games.

In the first round, Wade only used a pick-and-roll and breakthrough to expose the Pelicans' defensive arrangement and intentions.

James saw these in his eyes and found a way to crack it in a short period of time, using a pick-and-roll breakthrough to simultaneously attract the defenses of Leonard and Jimmy Butler.

In this way, the Pelicans' survival-resistant perimeter defense system collapsed instantly, and their proud rotation defense and perimeter dual-core defense were completely useless.

"That's the scariest thing about LeBron James, he's so calm."

The coach of the Pelicans.

Both Stevens and Du Feng felt that James and Bosh's pick-and-roll power is really terrifying. If they remember well, James and Bosh's pick-and-roll round success rate after the pick-and-roll last season was the highest among all teams and players in the league. efficiency.

That's scary enough.

In other words, as long as James and Bosh play a pick-and-roll, it is almost very difficult to defend the Heat.

"Consume Bosh inside, defend Bosh around the front, and reduce the number of pick-and-rolls between him and James."

Li Lai said suddenly.

He also doesn't have a very good idea of ​​James and Bosh's pick-and-roll, and in his opinion it's easier to stop or break the pick-and-roll between the two.

Li Lai immediately stood near the center line and gestured.

The Pelicans players on the field understand.

In the next round, James discovered that the Pelicans' defensive tactics changed. After not getting a good pick-and-roll from Bosh, he did not force a single.

Because Wade's singles in the first round has proved the defensive ability of the Pelicans, James will not be stupid enough to go head-to-head with the opponent's strengths. He has always liked to read the game and play against the opponent's weaknesses.

So at this time he changed his offensive strategy and passed the ball to Bosh.

"Since your Pelicans are going to consume Bosh's physical strength, and even take up defense around the front, let Bosh consume you on the offensive end, and see if your Pelicans can really defend."

Thick eyebrows are single anti-Bosh.

Seeing Du Feng here anxiously moving back and forth on the coach's bench, Li Lai patted the back of the opponent's hand and said.

"Try to believe that thick eyebrows, he is not a defensive loophole, even on the defensive end, he is still a very reliable player for us."

Du Feng was still a little worried and said: "But Ah Mei's defensive experience is not rich."

Li Lai knew that Du Feng was pointing to the previous game between the Pelicans and the Spurs, in which Anthony Davis was eaten by the old Duncan.

Although Bosh does not have as good technique and rhythm as Duncan, the opponent is now in his prime, and he was also the king of the North.

With Nongmei's current defensive experience, it may not be easy to defend against the opponent alone. Du Feng's worries are not unreasonable.

"But thick eyebrows always have to grow. If he is not given a chance in the regular season, when will he be given a chance, the playoffs?"

"This is a great opportunity."

(End of this chapter)