Pick Westbrook

Chapter 417 The Pelicans Did It
The game continues.

The Heat attack.

As soon as James came up, he signaled the audience to open up, forcibly broke through Jimmy Butler and went to the basket. After a penalty kick, he turned back and singled, turned back and forth and scored a layup.

Kenny Smith thought of James' apprenticeship with Olajuwon many years ago, and said.

"Since he learned the inside footsteps from the big dream Olajuwon, James' playing style has gradually changed."

"In the past, you don't even have to think about seeing James break through the basket. It must be a ground-breaking battle ax dunk."

"But now, after James breaks through the basket, he has a lot of combination skills of turning around and playing back, especially the way of ending the offense has changed a lot."

"From the previous slam dunk to the current ability to hook, throw, back hit, turn around, layup and pick the basket."

"This makes James extremely difficult to guard in the paint, which is why he has such an amazing finishing rate at the basket this season."

On the court, Jimmy Butler, who was successfully scored by James again, was a little helpless. He really couldn't guard the opponent.

Switch offense.

Jimmy Butler advanced with the ball, followed by a double pick-and-roll by Oden and Diaw.

Jimmy Butler got rid of Sean Battier's defense by taking advantage of grades. Facing the stronger defender James, Jimmy Butler made a step-back fake pass to Diaw, and then cut to the basket.

Dior received the ball without hesitation and passed the opportunity for Jimmy Butler who went down, and the latter dunked and scored.

"Jimmy Butler is very smart and smart!"

"He knows how to hide his physical weakness, through continuous pick-and-roll changes and passes, so that he can get the easiest chance to score."

"At this point, James, Paul, and Jimmy Butler are very similar."

next round.

James continued to hit the basket. This lineup was originally designed for him.

But this time Jimmy Butler didn't switch defenses with Diaw.

Dior defended against James alone, and the latter easily reached the basket again, and Jimmy Butler fiercely double-teamed him.

"Don't double-team James easily. Once the opponent reaches a deep position under the basket, they can completely give up all defenders to double-team James."

"Because James' finishing level in this place is too terrifying, even if some outside pitchers are let go for this, it doesn't matter too much."

call!
James passed the ball to Ray Allen in the corner, who made an open shot.

Swish!
Hit steadily.

Barkley was slapped in the face, and the front foot said that the Pelicans are so defensively smart. They chose James, who is more defensive and threatening, to attack inside, and emptied the three-pointer with a relatively lower shooting percentage from the outside. The result was Ray Allen's face slap Speech shot.

"The reason why the Heat won the championship last season is due to Ray Allen. He is definitely the most stable shooter in the Heat."

"Even though Curry's three-pointers swept the league, Ray Allen is still the player with the highest shooting percentage and number of hits in the league in the corner positions on both sides."

Seeing Ray Allen's steady shot, Jimmy Butler looked helplessly towards his coach's bench.

Li Lai nodded encouragingly, indicating that there was no problem with the defense in the previous round, and he continued to defend like this.

At the same time, Li Lai signaled to Beverly that the next time this happens, the defense must be in place.

Li Lai's reminder is very useful.

In the next round, James repeated his old tricks, and Jimmy Butler once again shrank the inside defense. This time Beverly switched defenses in front of Ray Allen in advance.

James can only pass to the open Norris Cole on the other side.

Duang!

The latter's three-pointer hit the iron.

Su Qun said: "Norris Cole's three-point shooting rate this season is 37%. It is worth mentioning that in the playoffs, his three-point shooting rate is only 34%."

"Compared with an experienced shooter like Ray Allen who has a very hard hand, it is definitely more cost-effective for the Pelicans to let Norris Cole shoot the final three-pointer than to let Ray Allen shoot."

Yu Jia said excitedly: "So the defense of the Pelicans in this round has worked!"

In the next round, Jimmy Butler used the pick-and-roll to kill the basket, turned around and made Udonis Haslem a defensive foul.

Udonis Haslem has a mid-range shot and has no problems at all on the offensive end, but his role on the defensive end is somewhat inconspicuous.

"Jimmy Butler is very smart. He has been trying to move James out of the penalty area on the outside pick-and-roll, and then he can face Udonis Haslem alone and challenge the opponent!"

Watching everything that happened on the court, James noticed this player named Jimmy Butler for the first time.

The opponent played smart.

Then Jimmy Butler's outside pick-and-roll encountered double-teaming, and the Heat were forcing him to play the ball early. In fact, the current rotation of the Pelicans on the court is indeed only Jimmy Butler's strength in holding the ball.

But what they didn't notice was that the Pelicans still had Diaw on the court at this time.

Although it is only a substitute lineup, the Pelicans have two players who can pass and are good at passing.

Diaw received a pass from Jimmy Butler and decisively passed the ball to JR Smith at a 45° angle on the right.

Swish!
The latter made a steady three-pointer.

Barkley said: "Don't underestimate JR, really guys, don't underestimate JR."

"He has been the best sixth man in the NBA for two consecutive years. His three-pointers are terrifying. Once he breaks out, his output ability will not lose to Curry and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors."

With JR Smith's three-pointer, the Pelicans finally overtook the score. This is the first time they have led the Heat in this game.

Eric Spoelstra looked at the court with some frowns, and the coach squatting aside held his chin with both hands.

He stood up suddenly and pointed to the player bench.

Wade immediately understood the meaning of the other party, opened the training suit and prepared to play.

"Hey, wait, don't fall into Li Lai's trap." Pat Riley, the fortune teller, said suddenly.

Hearing his mentor speak, Spoelstra immediately stood in front of the other seat, Pat Riley continued.

"Take Wade ahead of time, so what should we do next?"

"The Heat are mainly strong in the third quarter. If Wade is seriously consumed at this time, it will affect us to close the game in the third quarter."

"That kid Li Lai has been thinking about the Heat's third quarter, so he tried his best to get you to win Wade early."

"Don't fall for his tricks."

Compared with Spoelstra, Pat Riley has obviously seen big scenes and is easier to calm down.

At this time, the Pelicans did lead, but they did not widen the point difference, and the game was still very anxious.

Spoelstra only saw that the Pelicans overtook the score for the first time in this game, and he was obviously anxious.

In fact, the score of a game has always been back and forth, and how many teams can lead the game until the end of the game.

What's more, this is the NBA Finals, the difference in strength between the two teams is not big, how can the Heat keep leading.

After Spoelstra figured out the key point, he stabilized his mentality and signaled Wade to sit back, and at the same time signaled Bosh to be ready to play in the next dead ball link.

Li Lai frowned and looked at the court.

He originally thought that Spoelstra should call a timeout, but the opponent had obviously stood up and finally sat back on the coach's bench.

"This should not be, Spoelstra should not have such courage."

Stevens also knew what Li Lai wanted to do. He reminded: "In this way, we will have to guard against the Heat who stick to the third quarter."

"The Heat's third-quarter blast has been powerful this season."

Li Lai nodded, this was also a point he had been worried about.

In the next round, Jimmy Butler fouled Udonis Haslem again.

The Heat's interior defense is obviously similar to that of the Warriors. Both teams have the same weak interior, so Jimmy Butler is very smart at this time and has been eating the Heat's interior.

Taking advantage of this foul, James, who has never had a rest, finally got a chance to breathe.

When Bosh played, Li Lai naturally also took Jordan Jr. and Anthony Davis.

At halftime, the Pelicans overtook the score 60:56.

Second half of the game.

The Heat came up with a finishing lineup of Ray Allen, Wade, LeBron James, Sean Battier and Bosh.

Under this lineup, the Heat have implemented an infinite rotation defensive strategy on the perimeter. No matter who is holding the ball on the perimeter of the Pelicans, they will encounter fierce double-teams.

Wade and James are the most critical part of this defensive system.

Barkley sighed: "How could Leonard and Jimmy Butler of the Pelicans be better than Wade and James."

"From the very beginning, the Pelicans had nothing to do with the Heat's guard."

call!
Wade suddenly steals the opponent's dribble while defending Leonard, and after falling to the ground to get the ball, Wade throws the ball forward.

James tacitly accelerated the catch and hit the basket.

boom!
Janeway connects!

The Pelicans also lowered their height at this time, moving Anthony Davis to the center position, Jimmy Butler mentioned power forward, Leonard small forward, and Paul and Vince Carter at guard.

"In the end, it still allowed the Heat to play their infinite rotation."

Both Stevens and Du Feng were a little nervous at this time, and there was a slight cold sweat on their foreheads.

The Pelicans' counterattack and fast break are already very powerful, but only after seeing the Heat's Janeway connection did they know what it means to be insignificant.

In terms of the power of counterattack and fast break, the Heat deserves to be number one in the league!

Both Stevens and Du Feng saw that Li Lai was meditating while holding his chin, and they didn't dare to disturb each other.

As early as the preparations before the start of the series, the Pelicans had already discussed how to solve the Heat's third quarter.

But what Li Lai never imagined was that the head coach of the Heat, Eric Spoelstra, was not fooled, but boldly let the Pelicans play the advantage in the second quarter, and then in the third quarter, it was all in one go. close the game.

"It's not something Erik Spoelstra can think of and have the guts to do."

Li Lai saw Pat Riley, a fortune teller, sitting in the first row of the auditorium. The latter propped up one side of his face, smiling like a godfather.

Pat Riley still whispers something to Erik Spoelstra every now and then.

"It turns out you're the one doing the trick!"

"Pat Riley, this is what you're going to play with me."

"Your challenge, I accept."

beep!beep!
Li Lai immediately called a timeout.

Take Jordan and Oden, and change the perimeter players into Paul, Beverly and Vince Carter at the same time.

Li Lai told Beverly that his task was to pester me!Wade was so entangled that he had nothing to love and was exhausted.

And Vince Carter and Paul should pay attention to returning to defense at any time, and try to prevent the Heat's James and Wade from running.

At the same time, Lee told Paul to slow down the game and force the Heat to play at their own pace.

The game continues.

The Heat still use wireless rotation on the outside, but this time Paul quickly passed the ball to the inside.

Oden received the ball, and Bosh and James quickly contracted the inside double-team.

Oden didn't hesitate and took off early.

boom!
Grab the buckle with one hand and score.

Bosh was buckled, and his face was a little embarrassing.

Oden was very excited and violently accelerated back to the defense.

He still remembers the coach's instructions to prevent the Heat from playing fast, increase the success rate of offense, fight for offensive rebounds, and return to defense as soon as a goal is scored, which can slow down the Heat.

Barkley, who saw this scene on the court, stood up in shock and shouted: "Good tactics!"

"Other coaches want to slow down the Heat. I'm afraid it will be difficult to do it by all means. But when the Pelicans take several strategies at the same time, the Heat's tactics are directly broken."

Where the power of the Heat's infinite rotation is, they play counterattacks and fast breaks after biting defenses from the outside.

Li Lai avoids the important and ignores the light. After all, the Heat's infinite rotation is infinitely powerful on the outside, and the defense on the inside has always been unbeatable, so he did the opposite, and took the initiative to hit the ball inside, allowing Oden and Jordan, who are extremely tonnage, to come. Hit the restricted area.

Gee!
Pat Riley squeaked his mouth, a little amazed at the responsiveness of the Pelicans coaching staff.

He thought of the Pacers last season, Gao Yuanyuan and Roy Hibbert played the performance of the ancient behemoth in the playoffs against the Heat.

Of course, Roy Hibbert does not have the ability of the ancient behemoth. The reason why he has such a strong performance is that the Heat's inside defense is poor when they play infinite rotation.

After all, mentioning Bosh to the center position, Bosh is not good at defending inside, so it's not bad to let him jump to the outside to defend.

"So this kid is reminded of that series, borrowed from the way the Pacers played against the Heat."

"He is smart."

The Pelicans successfully scored three consecutive inside shots and limited the Heat's counterattack.

Li Lai then took down Jordan and brought up Anthony Davis, who was more offensively threatening, and the scene collapsed immediately.

Anthony Davis forced Bosh to score inside, and even James' defense turned a blind eye. After a cooperation with Paul, he staged a lob city.

The lob city faced up to the Janeway connection, which was different from the encounter between the two in the regular season. This time it was the Pelicans who had the last laugh.

In the third quarter of the game, the Pelicans relied on this change to score 36:25 in a single quarter, establishing a lead in one fell swoop.

Wade and James worked hard in the fourth quarter, and Paul, who had been playing for his teammates after three quarters of silence, also worked hard in the fourth quarter.

He singled Bosh and Udonis Haslem in continuous pick-and-roll dislocations, and made 8 of 5 mid-range shots, winning the first game of the finals for the Pelicans.

108: 102.

"Congratulations to the Pelicans, defending the first home game victory!"

"They gave the undefeated Heat their first playoff loss, and the Pelicans did it!"

(End of this chapter)