The Legend of the Hungry Wolf in Basketball

Chapter 271 [Weaknesses and Strengths]

The finals will start on June 6. The Clippers will play two home games first, then the Celtics will play three consecutive home games, and the Clippers will play two more home games.

The Celtics also rested for four days after the Eastern Conference finals, and the players can play in the best condition.

Before the game, the overwhelming news was all about predicting the games between the two sides.Experts believe that although the Clippers were swept in the first three series, they still have the possibility of losing against the Celtics. The restraint of the team's style is very important.The Clippers are not without weaknesses, they just haven't exposed them.

ESPN basketball experts analyze the Clippers and Celtics lineups.

Rajon Rondo VS Jason Kidd: Rondo is one of the fastest players in the league. Kidd is most afraid of fast guards. The Celtics restrain the Clippers at position one.

Ray Allen VS Stephen Curry: Both are shooting-oriented scorers. Ray Allen often defends the opponent's outside attackers, and his game experience is far better than Curry's. The Celtics have the advantage.

Paul Pierce VS Josh Smith: In this game, the Clippers have a very high possibility of starting Smith. Pierce has a physical advantage against everyone other than Ye Feng and Josh Smith.In terms of personal ability, Pierce has the upper hand.

Kevin Garnett VS Ye Feng: Garnett proved that his defense can reduce the efficiency of Ye Feng, and Ye Feng also proved that he can prevent Garnett's back attack and breakthrough, forcing him to shoot, In defense, the two are equally divided. In offense, Ye Feng can play a slightly stronger effect.

Kendrick Perkins VS Kevin Love: Perkins is a very good blue-collar player. The Celtics don't expect him to attack. His role is to resist the opponent's strong inside line and follow it out.Love's defensive style is about the same height and weight as Perkins. He has stronger rebounds and can shoot three-pointers. Love is dominant in this position.It is unlikely that the Clippers will send McGee to start again.

The starting lineup of the Celtics is slightly better than that of the Clippers, and the playing styles of the two teams are similar, especially on the defensive end. The Celtics know how to defend the Clippers. This is the reason why they restrained the Clippers. Two wins are no accident.

Fortunately, the Clippers have an advantage in the substitute competition.

The main substitutes for the Celtics are Rasheed Wallace, "Big Baby" Davis, the shortest slam dunk king Nate Robinson, veteran Michael Finley, Sheldon Williams, Marquis Daniels.

The Clippers have Marcus Thornton, Jose Barea, Matt Barnes, Tony Allen transferred from the Celtics, JaVale McGee, Marcin Gortat, three The distracted shooter Anthony Morrow, and the 198CM insider Chuck Hayes who didn't play much.

If the Clippers' bench plays normally, they will definitely beat the Celtics on the bench.However, the previous actual combat proved that the Celtics are fighting for the starting lineup, and generally only four people are sent on the bench, and the time is still very short.

It is not difficult to see from this that the Celtics have more or less advantages in every point except Perkins and Garnett.Experts believe that in the analysis of the outcome, it is 55, and both sides have a chance to win the championship.

The Celtics are not without weaknesses.

A one-on-one comparison can accurately determine the outcome of the two teams in the East, but this method cannot be used as the basis for analysis for the Clippers.Although the teams in the East are more disciplined and organized, the teams in the West have more advanced tactics and more varied styles of play. Years of brutal competition in the West have allowed them to slowly learn how to minimize the team's shortcomings.The strength of a position will be weakened to the point where it is almost invisible when confronted with a strong team like the Clippers that can constantly change the starting lineup.

What Rondo faces may not be Kidd, it may be Curry's defense, or Tony Allen, or even Thornton.Kidd can guard against Kobe, and of course he can also go against Ray Allen.

Most of the Celtics' positional offenses this season started from Garnett's cover on the line, and then ended the opponent through Ray Allen's running position and Pierce's individual attack.Rondo's strength is built in this system.In the sixth game against the Cavaliers, it can be seen that even Nate Robinson, under the halo of the Big Three, can also play the performance of a superstar for a certain period of time.But against the Clippers, that doesn't work either.

The first is Pierce, who will face Smith or Ye Feng's defense.Pierce's career is always stable, and he never seems to be young or old. He is the nemesis of light defenders, but facing two swingmen with better quality and fighting for muscle, his advantage is gone.Moreover, Pierce's seemingly calm exterior is very emotional.His scoring is still not stable enough. Against the Cavaliers, he was blocked by LeBron James for several games. When the Celtics were in a scoring drought, Pierce was often unable to provide effective help.Pierce gives people the feeling that he is silent when he is silent, and crazy when he is crazy.

Then there is Garnett, the Celtics' own most fatal weakness lies in Garnett.

2008 was the end of Garnett's peak.Garnett used to be very offensive. After a big stride, he turned and leaned back, raised his hands high, and had a high hit rate, which was almost impossible to defend. This is why Garnett has occupied the top star position in the league for many years. He used this trick Hit until the opponent almost cried.But now Garnett's shooting is far worse than at his peak. Everyone who plays knows that if the opponent doesn't fully defend your shooting, then more attention will be paid to supporting passes and the like.

On the defensive end, Garnett's long arms interfere a lot with the opponent's short pass penetration.But the Clippers don't take this set either.Anyone who is familiar with the Clippers knows that the Clippers do not cooperate inside at all. Their cooperation is that the big players pull out to cover, and the task of grabbing offensive rebounds is generally not given to Love, McGee, and Gortat.The inside players keep pulling out, which will drive the aging Garnett crazy.

Second, the Celtics' front line is weaker than before. In 2008, the Celtics had the best on-ball defender in James Posey.Posey also has a three-point output at critical moments, which is his scariest part.This type of defender has a great restrictive effect on the outside line.But this year, the Celtics do not have such a person. Not only is Posey missing, but the best off-ball defender Tony Allen is also on the side of the Clippers.Once the Celtics are troubled by fouls in the starting lineup, they will be out of luck.

The expert analysis was so detailed, which saved Thibodeau a lot of effort.After reading the analysis of the media, he made arrangements.In the finals, the Clippers had to change.

In the locker room before the game, Thibodeau asked McGee: "JaVale, if you are asked to guard Garnett in the finals, can you guard him?"

McGee smiled and said: "Of course, I will block him so that he can't eat and walk around."

This kid is too confident.Thibodeau rolled his eyes. "Show your head? During the regular season, you were asked to defend him, how many points did you let him score? You defend honestly, don't always think about blocking him, and follow up to interfere with his shooting."

McGee nodded.Garnett is 216cm tall. If he can't compete with Tuttle, Garnett has a clear height advantage against others.This season, he has impressed Thibodeau with his own efforts, and he is more important than Gortat.

Thibodeau looked at Josh Smith again, and said with a smile: "Josh, this time you started at the 3rd position against Pierce. In 2008, you played 7 games with the Hawks and the Celtics. At that time, the Hawks What method was used, do you remember?"

Smith said: "The memory is still fresh. I won't suffer against Pierce. I was no worse than him in 2008. Now I am stronger and he is weaker."

Thibodeau is very smart. Isn't it a shortcut to deal with the Celtics according to the way the Eagles played back then?At that time, the Eagles won all of them at home.Joe Johnson and Smith were the best players on the team.Smith's defense against Pierce was also successful.

The Clippers were definitely better than the Hawks at that time, and McGee defended Garnett better than the Hawks' Marvin Williams.

Smith played the third position, Ye Feng naturally played the second position, forming a mismatch with Ray Allen.Ray Allen is an elegant scorer, whose specialty is running and shooting, but if the defense is elegant, it will be unlucky to meet Ye Feng.Ye Feng can't defend against Ye Feng's back move. When the time comes to dislocate the defense, Smith also has a physical advantage against Ray Allen.

The Eagles Joe Johnson averaged 25 points per game in that series, bullying Ray Allen with his body.The starting guard is still Jason Kidd.Rondo is fast, but Kidd also has defensive methods, which can prevent breakthroughs or shots.Shooting has always been Rondo's Achilles' heel. As a point guard, Rondo has only shot 80 three-pointers in the regular season this season, and only 20 in the playoffs so far.He also shot just 62 percent from the free-throw line during the regular season.Barkley was very straightforward when evaluating Rondo: "If he can have the same shooting level as Garnett, I think his ability must be above the Big Three."

What Barkley said must be exaggerated, but it also directly reflects how bad his shooting is.

At the center position, Thibodeau sent Kevin Love.He is responsible for fighting Perkins.Perkins left the basket, his scoring ability is very poor, he can make mid-range shots, but he is not accurate, and Love can completely prevent him.As for the offensive end, of course Love still pulled out the three-point line and evacuated the Celtics inside.

This season, Love's three-point shooting percentage is 36.7%, which is not bad. He can also shoot when open or misplaced.

The Clippers' second team is playing against the Celtics, as long as they play normally, there is no problem.

Before getting ready to play, Ye Feng stood in the middle of the locker room and said: "Brothers, we are now one step away from a perfect season. If we lose, all our efforts for a season will be in vain. I believe everyone Don’t you want this kind of thing to happen? What I want to say is that our strength is absolutely superior. The two losses to the Celtics in the regular season were just a small accident. It is impossible for any accident to happen now. Door, what we have to do is not just play, but work hard. If we don’t fight this series, we will have to wait for next season. Don’t leave any regrets for yourself. We want to create miracles! We must win!”

"We must win!" The Clippers players collectively roared and left the locker room.

(End of this chapter)