You should cross the mountains like a brave man

Chapter 830 The Roadblock of the Dynasty

Wei Xia likes to watch Westbrook's game, just like others liked to watch Cousins' game.

The games of these people can always surprise you, you never know what will happen in the next second.

If Durant is not on the court, Westbrook is the most threatening existence with the ball among all active No. [-] positions.In terms of offensive threat alone, maybe only Curry can compare with it, but Westbrook is in the same line as Kidd, an all-around monster that can affect the game in many ways.

His game mode is always only acceleration, forward, tireless attempt to win.

When Wei Xia and Durant are not around, it is time for the No. [-] players on both sides to express themselves.

When Westbrook was single-core on the court, the Thunder's style of play was always an inside pick-and-roll, and then he played in with the ball, creating and fighting by himself.

It is indeed tiring to play like this, but this is exactly how a player of his age should perform.

The 76ers' Cousins ​​brought the same performance. He aggressively asked for the ball, high jumper, low post up, catch the ball in the paint and attack the basket.

His style of play is less rough than Westbrook's, and his methods are more varied.

On the contrary, the truth that the closer to the basket, the higher the shooting percentage is also applicable here.

In order for the Thunder to overtake, Westbrook played harder and fell to the ground many times because of rushing to the inside to confront.

Every time Westbrook falls to the ground, you can see his teammates pounce on him collectively, pulling him up carefully and enthusiastically, just like Garnett in the Celtics period, every time a teammate falls to the ground, he is the first to help him, and when he falls to the ground, everyone will come to help him.

That's the way people like Westbrook are.He didn't help all his teammates improve like Nash did during the Suns, but he incited his teammates, inspired his teammates, and then took the lead, hitting the ground from a height of 1.5 meters for an offensive rebound, and then his teammates helped him up.Everyone in the Thunder knows: he will make turnovers, he will miss shots, but he is overdrawing himself and carrying this team forward.

His vitality and mental strength are undoubtedly above Cousins, and he flexibly used pick-and-roll tactics to name Cousins' defense and scored many times.

Within 5 minutes, Westbrook continued to bring outstanding performances, allowing the Thunder to turn the tables and take the lead.

Then, Westbrook staged a ball that forced the 76ers to a timeout.

Still a pick-and-roll tactic, Cousins ​​let him shoot.Westbrook is in good shape. He can shoot, but he doesn't shoot. He dribbles abruptly and breaks through Cousins' front. His attitude and thoughts are here.

Cousins ​​was forced to foul in order to defend, Westbrook bravely caught his confrontation, his body jumped up, like a rocket with endless power, and scored in Cousins' unimaginable high-altitude dunk.

The moment he successfully dunked, the face of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles let out an inspiring roar.

42 is better than 39
The Thunder went from behind to the lead, and the 76ers called a timeout.

When Westbrook was off the court, he was supported by almost all his teammates.

And Durant watched all this from a distance on the bench.He could also hear the cheers from his teammates when Westbrook left the field.Last year, those voices tended to be directed at him.

His mood is complicated.

Perhaps, the mood of the Thunder management is more complicated. For three consecutive years, they have used three draft picks to select a monster that can single-handedly resist everything.

Just three years ago, Harden, Durant, and Westbrook were teammates.

They had three emperor stars, but they let go of one of them on their own initiative, and they haven't coordinated the possession of the ball for the remaining two.

The 76ers made a change.

Jay Wright replaced Cousins ​​and Hayward and assembled a new team.

Wesha, Robertson, Glenn Robinson III, Odom and Hollins.

In this team, Wei Xia is the main ball handler. He has to treat himself as James and Westbrook, and offense is no longer his only one.

The physical talents of Robinson and Robinson III can bring many changes, Odom can help in many ways, and Hollins is a big man under the simple 41 system.

It can be seen that without Holiday, the 76ers' second team is indeed not as strong as before.

The back line is short of manpower, the second team has fewer cores, and Rondo's shooting problems are beginning to be magnified.

The loss of one person has brought a series of problems, and at the same time, the consequence is that the competitiveness of the 76ers has decreased.

The Thunder replaced Westbrook and Durant back, and they wanted to play against the 76ers.

"You won't let Russell live up to such a good performance, will you?"

Wei Xia teased Durant.

Durant didn't respond, took the ball head-on, pulled the ball with his right hand to his left hand, and then pulled the ball with his left hand to his right hand.

His forward-changing threat is a far cry from 2014's.

Wei Xia easily followed his series of movements without much effort.

Durant was forced to pass, the Thunder's ball spun around, and with a few seconds left, the guards found the right man to take the blame.

Durant used his height to force the shot.

do not enter.

The resulting long rebounds were far beyond Durant's control.

Wei Xia immediately made a fast break, and Odom took the rebound and made a long pass.

41 is better than 43
Durant's mentality has changed, but the Thunder's style of play has not changed.

If a single core is present, the possession of the ball will be concentrated.

Wei Xia vaguely heard the noise off the court, and Cousins ​​was not satisfied with his tactical position, so he found Wright to complain.

This is rare. Since Wright took office as the head coach of the 76ers, Cousins ​​has always obeyed the arrangement.

Since the sixth game of last season's finals, Cousins ​​was suddenly abandoned by Wright, and some things have changed.

Cousins, a two-time All-NBA center, is more sensitive, eager to lead the team with more shots and higher team status.

But Wright actually imitated the Warriors and developed five small tactics that don't require a pure center?
Moreover, the 76ers have actually established an advantage without him.

Throughout the summer, there were not a few people who attacked Cousins, and there were not a few people who thought he was dispensable, and there were a lot of critics who regarded him as a stumbling block for the 76ers' three consecutive championships.

The negative comments he received were two or three times that of the rest of the team.

He is like Durant of the 76ers, as if he was not understood and supported.

Wei Xia noticed this, and then, the Thunder recklessly double-teamed Wei Xia, thus emptying Robertson and Glenn Robinson.

Robertson made several open three-pointers, but failed to make one.

Robinson III's skills are more immature than him. Although his physical fitness is superb, it is not enough to gain a foothold in the NBA.

At the end of the first half, the Thunder once again put on a dual-core lineup.

Wright decided to teach Cousins ​​a lesson for some of his off-court misbehavior by not bringing him on when the rotation came.

Cousins ​​swung the towel cursingly.

This is the first game of the new season for the 76ers!
Such a change occurred, which was unexpected by all those who supported them.

And Lei Ting, who had a sign of disintegration just now, suddenly found a way to coexist with dual cores.

Durant and Westbrook have the power and threat that surpass the contemporary era, and there is no need to deliberately hide it.

It's like having a Porsche or a Maybach at home, so you don't have to ride a bicycle to buy groceries.

Donovan didn't have a clever strategy. He just let the two masters, one hold the ball and the other serve, try to make them both deliberately and quickly switch into attack mode, forcing the 76ers to put a lot of energy on these two people plus the cover wall, and the role players pick up wallets.

The advantage of this is that the Thunder's offense is more dynamic and the core players can play freely.

Westbrook took the initiative to reduce inefficient shot selection, read the situation at the time, and tried to attack directly.

Therefore, generally Westbrook will call the pick-and-roll to attack the basket or use his body to bully Rondo, while Durant will block and cut the ball or single-handedly with the ball.

Durant's style of play adapts to all tactical systems. The person who needs to re-adapt is Westbrook. He looks good. Against the 76ers, he is very focused and serious.

Moreover, he likes the defensive end switching modes of the offensive end at high speed.He was just like that.

Seeing the Thunder that had suddenly adjusted back, Wei Xia not only couldn't fight with it wholeheartedly, but also put part of his attention off the court to see how aggressive Cousins ​​and Wright were.

At this time, Cousins ​​​​has already put on the playing uniform. If Wright does not play him, he will make a gesture of not playing.

Has Cousins ​​grown up?
Is he being childish, or is he protesting in this way because he really feels he can take on some responsibilities that Wright doesn't give him?
If it is the former, Wei Xia will have a headache; if it is the latter, Wei Xia will be disappointed.

Although Cousins' temper is annoying, he can always find a way to control it. If it is driven by ambition, it is difficult to solve it in a normal way.

This is almost the fate of all teams chasing three consecutive championships.

The enemy is not only the teams outside who want to beat them, but also the role players who have lost their desire for championships, the young talents who are gradually dissatisfied with the status of the team, the second and third cores, and those who are unwilling to make sacrifices in the contract year and desire more possessions. The problems will appear one after another.

Unexpectedly, the 76ers appeared in the first game.

Moreover, directly make the contradiction public.

While there were problems off the field, the situation on the field was also controlled by the Thunder.

At the end of the first half, the Thunder led the 76ers by double digits.

Although Wei Xia scored 19 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, everyone can see that the current problem of the 76ers is no longer on the court.

"How are you going to deal with DeMarcus and the coaching staff?"

Wei Xia could only pretend to be an ostrich: "I don't know what happened, let's talk about it after I figure it out."

He quickly answered the questions and walked directly to the player tunnel, not wanting to stay for a second longer.

(End of this chapter)