Pick Westbrook

Chapter 401 The Last Game Day
Li Lai nodded in satisfaction, and the successful weight gain of the thick eyebrows will make the Pelicans more dominant in the playoffs.

Now that the All-Star Game is over, the team should have a clearer goal.

"Go all out to hit the first place in the regular season record."

Du Feng said: "In the latest regular season MVP rankings, LeBron James temporarily ranks first, Paul ranks second, Knicks' Anthony ranks third, and the next four or five are Warriors' players. Durant and Curry."

"Considering that James averaged 28+8+7 per game this season, and he has a record inside finishing rate."

"ESPN's data experts today released a heat map of the Heat's James offensive zone this season."

"As of now, James has averaged 18 points per game with 28 shots and 14 points inside. He is also the player with the fewest shots among all players averaging more than 25 points per game."

"The shooting heat map shows that James' shooting rate in the interior is 70%, the top of the arc and the 45° three-pointers on both sides are 37%, 34% and 38%, respectively, and the number of three-pointers from the bottom corners on both sides is less. "

"This data is really scary."

Li Lai is very clear about the meaning of Du Feng's last sentence. James' inside finishing efficiency has surpassed all inside players in the league, and at the same time, his inside scoring has also surpassed all players in the league. three points.

Regardless of the data, James still has many abilities on the court that the data cannot reflect. In short, James on the court is much stronger than the intuitive feeling that the data can bring.

Du Feng continued: "ESPN even directly gave the title that James has become No.1 in the league."

"This move made fans in Los Angeles very unhappy."

"However, the players in the league and the coaching staff of each team are very clear that James this season is really terrifying, and he deserves this title."

Du Feng secretly rejoiced that the Pelicans had two players who could match up with James, Leonard and Jimmy Butler.

But thinking about those teams that don't even have players who can match up with James, the Pelicans are in a very good situation now.

They are considered to have the best forward defense in the league.

Stevens on the side remembered what coach Li Lai said when he joined the Pelicans. In the future, the Heat will become the biggest opponent of all teams in the league.

Li Lai saw Stevens' emotions and reminded: "Now we need to add a Warriors team. Of course, the Warriors team this season is not strong enough."

In the previous matchup, the Pelicans defeated the Warriors without difficulty. The reason was the opponent's inside defense and Draymond Green.

Fuck Green has not yet become the most critical defensive player in the five hours of death. He needs to accelerate his growth as a rookie this year, otherwise the Warriors will always be close to the fire.

Later, Li Lai received a call from Kobe about the Lakers offense promised by the opponent in the All-Star Game.

Li Lai did not hide it and said: "The offensive problem of the Lakers is in the interior. Warcraft Howard does not have the stable mid-range like Garnett, so he cannot open the interior space when he is on the court."

"In this way, the triangle offense with Gasol as the axis and your individual singles will be limited, so when Howard is on the court, the ball must not be given to the outside, but the combination of inside and outside. Howard becomes the main point of attack. .”

"The Lakers have excellent shooters on the outside, Nash, Ariza, Jamison, Blake, Chris Duhon, as long as Howard is the core of the offense, the Lakers will return to the era of the Magic. .”

"At the same time, strengthen the connection between Nash and Howard, let Nash become the core of the ball on the court, and he can sort out the offense."

Hearing this, Kobe paused on the phone. He had already heard the meaning of Li Lai's words. This is not the first time he has heard someone suggest that he make Howard the team's main offensive point.

Before that, Buss Jr., the actual manager of the Lakers, also suggested that Kobe should delegate power to Howard appropriately. In the eyes of Jr., Howard is the cornerstone of the rebuilding of the Lakers after Kobe gets old, and he deserves such an important task.

But Kobe didn't think much of it.

He said: "Brother, do you think the boss of the team should be the kind of player who laughs and laughs every day?"

"When the team is in a crisis of losing streak, all the players in the locker room are in a low mood, and only he is still in the mood to joke with every player. How do you let me trust the team to such a team leader?"

Kobe is not the kind of person who likes to speak ill of others behind his back, he would say it blatantly.

In fact, the Lakers locker room has already been full of chicken feathers, but coach Mike Brown did not announce it to the public in order to take into account the players' face.

Kobe taught Howard everywhere in the team's training game, and wanted to teach the opponent the offensive skills that O'Neal used to dominate the inside, but Howard kept laughing and joking during the training process, and used the back hitting skills and turning skills taught by Kobe in a funny way. way to imitate.

Kobe felt that Howard didn't take basketball seriously at all, and this kind of player who played games in his life was not worth entrusting. Then he became stricter with Howard, publicly criticizing the opponent's training attitude and playing style in the team many times.

Howard is still an optimist who doesn't care about this, so there is a scene where Kobe doesn't pass the ball to Howard.

More importantly, when the All-Star Game was about to start, Howard imitated the way Kobe spoke in the locker room after the Lakers lost to the Cavaliers when he encouraged his teammates to win the next game. With ridicule and jokes about Kobe.

And this scene happened to be hit by Kobe who re-entered the locker room.

Kobe sat in front of his locker without saying a word. At that time, he even wanted to eat Howard.

Li Lai knew the difficulties when a player with Kobe's character met Howard. In fact, Leonard was also this kind of player who never liked to joke, but Jimmy Butler was a talker.

When the two met for the first time, they almost had a fight, and they even had a one-on-one duel regardless of dissuasion. However, at the dinner organized by Li Lai later, the two teenagers with very similar fates immediately integrated into each other's world inside.

It's a pity that there is such a person missing between Kobe and Howard.

"I understand your entanglement, Kobe, but do you think I suggest you delegate power because Howard is more suitable as the leader of the Lakers?"

Hearing Kobe here was a little surprised on the phone. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that he is 35 years old and his peak period is about to pass. Now ESPN even directly lists James as No.1 in the league. His position has already been replaced. .

And Howard is only 27 years old, and there are at least 5 years of his peak in the future. He will be more suitable to be the leader of a team and lead the team to chase higher glory.

And now, why did Li Lai say that?
Hearing Kobe's doubts on the phone, Li Lai continued to explain: "I suggest you delegate power because your career is running out."

"Although it is extremely difficult to talk about this topic, this is the fact that neither you nor Jordan can avoid it, and it is also the second enemy that makes players feel terrible."

"Decentralization becomes the end point of the team's tactical stagnation, and it is only at the critical moment that it turns the tide and ends the game. This is what the Black Mamba should do, and it can also prolong your career."

"Kobe, how many injuries do you have now?"

"Iverson and Tracy McGrady have already announced their retirement. You and the two brothers who competed with you at the beginning of their careers will still be able to show some strength due to injuries in the later stages."

"Could it be that you also want to take this old road?"

Kobe was silent for a long time before he felt Li Lai's heart.

It turned out that the other party's suggestion was not entirely for the Lakers, but even more for his own career.

No coach has ever cared about Kobe's career, including Zen master Phil Jackson.

Li Lai's words warmed Kobe's heart.

He paused and said, "I will think about it carefully, coach."

The regular season continues.

The Lakers ushered in their first three-game winning streak since the season. During this period, Kobe became Mr. Key, helping the team tide over difficulties at critical moments.

But his average data is not exaggerated, only 22 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. At the same time, his shooting percentage has increased considerably, and he has reduced a lot of unnecessary singles and shots.

The more obvious change is that Kobe is passing the ball to Howard.

这三场比赛霍华德分别拿到了23分12篮板2盖帽、28分15篮板和30分18篮板的数据。

Became the biggest contributor to the Lakers' victory.

This wave of three-game winning streak also allowed the Lakers to surpass the Mavericks in record and become the tenth team in the Western Conference.

Howard said excitedly after the game: "Hey, Kobe passed the ball to me. You read that right, he passed the ball to me. I swear I will score those goals and let him know that I am Superman."

Kobe, who also attended the post-match press conference, couldn't help shaking his head helplessly, and finally smiled easily.

He found that getting along with people like Howard is actually not that difficult. The other party's attitude is too optimistic and doesn't want to interfere with his life, but this does not mean that the other party does not work hard.

Seeing Bryant smile at his postgame press conference for the first time this season, Howard patted Bryant on the shoulder and said happily.

"Right, smile more, otherwise the reporters and fans will think that I owe you [-] to [-]."

The scene of the press conference immediately erupted into extremely cheerful laughter.

The Lakers are finally immersed in the relaxed environment of winning.

In the next ten games, the Lakers achieved 6 wins and 4 losses. They took another step forward and became the ninth place in the Western Conference record.

This position is already very close to the threshold of the playoffs. Howard broke out and scored a super data of 40 points and 12 rebounds.

But after the game, Lakers coach Mike Brown announced that Howard's back injury recurrence will be short of 2 to 3 weeks.

The Lakers, who were finally on the right track, felt as if they had entered an abyss after hearing the news. Coach Mike Brown blamed himself very much for allowing Howard to play too much during this period, which caused his back injury. relapse.

"I will definitely lead the team to the playoffs!"

Kobe said firmly in his eyes at the post-match press conference.

No reporter questioned Kobe's determination at this time, because they knew that Kobe's determination never needed to be questioned by anyone.

"It's just that the current record of the Jazz is 37 wins and 33 losses, and the record of the Lakers is 33 wins and 37 losses. The difference in wins in a full 4 games. In the remaining 10 games, how will Kobe lead the team to the playoffs? Sai?"

Stevens couldn't help feeling sorry for the Lakers' ill-fated season.

This Lakers team, which dominated the league at the beginning of the season and was identified by ESPN as the favorite to win the championship, is now not only out of the championship team, but even entering the playoffs is in jeopardy.

The Pelicans have already confirmed their place in the playoffs, and they are now working hard to keep the first record in the Western Conference and achieve the best record in the league.

Because Chris Paul's data is at a disadvantage compared to LeBron James, if Li Lai wants to help him win the first regular season MVP trophy in his career, he must have a better record than the Heat.

Du Feng said: "At present, several teams in the league that have confirmed their playoff spots in advance are starting to arrange for the team's main players to take turns to prepare for the upcoming playoffs."

"Do we need to do anything?"

Li Lai nodded and said, "Of course, both Paul and Thick Eyebrow are players who are prone to injuries. We don't need to increase their risk of injury at the last moment."

"However, the rotation of the two does not mean that the Pelicans will let go of the game. We still have the ability to accept the game."

安东尼戴维斯这赛季表现出色，场均15分9篮板1助攻1抢断2盖帽，截止到目前为止他仍然是最佳新秀的第一竞争者。

But then Damian Lillard chased very fiercely, currently averaging 19 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists per game, but the Trail Blazers' team record is too far behind the Pelicans, which is a very good advantage .

Thick eyebrows are the most important part of the Pelicans' interior defense and overall defensive system this season. His role and performance on the court are no worse than Damian Lillard, so it is only at the last moment who gets the best rookie Only then can we tell the winners and losers.

So Li Lai decided that Paul and Nongmei will only rest in back-to-back games, and play the rest of the games normally.

4 month 18 day.

"2012-13 season, the last game day of the NBA regular season."

"There are two games that need our attention today, one is the game between the Pelicans and the Bucks, and the other is the game between the Lakers and the Rockets."

"As long as the Pelicans win tonight's game, they will officially determine the league's first record and become the regular season champion. They will have home court advantage in any round of the playoffs."

"If the Lakers win tonight's game, they will surpass the Jazz in record and successfully get the last ticket in the playoffs."

CCTV commentary station, Yu Jia said excitedly.

Su Qun said: "The Pelicans and the Bucks will definitely not want to let the two teams fight, because one team wants to get the first place in the league record, and the other team wants to rush to the second place in the Eastern Conference record. .”

"As for the other game between the Rockets and the Lakers, it was confirmed before the game that Yao Ming would not play in tonight's game."

"Because Yao Ming suffered an injury after the All-Star Game, fortunately, during that time, the UAE averaged 19 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists per game, leading the Rockets to bite the bullet and defend their place in the playoffs. Otherwise, the Rockets this season It will very likely fall short.”

"So, just to be on the safe side, the Rockets will rest Yao Ming in this irrelevant game tonight. This is what everyone expected before the game."

"And the UAE also takes turns."

"So if the Lakers want to win this game tonight, it shouldn't be a big problem."

"This is a pain for the Jazz. Whether they can make the playoffs is not in their own hands."

(End of this chapter)