super small forward

Chapter 587 587. Liu Ren Plays Again...

"What do you understand?" Kenny Smith asked strangely.

On the contrary, O'Neill was a bit dull today, perhaps because Liu Ren didn't have many opportunities to perform, or maybe because Kobe was getting old.

"I took a closer look, Kobe actually performed well most of the time this year, but he struggled against opponents who were taller than him, and his performance was not good at the end of the game, especially against Chandler. -It's more obvious with defenders like Parsons and Luis Amendez." Barkley said his opinion.

Kenny Smith said in surprise: "This... seems to be true. Kobe played very well against Wade, who was shorter than him. One or two shots behind him were also due to physical problems, but against Wade. It's amazing how bad Luis Amendez was!"

"Kobe is old after all."

"Yeah, last season he probably held back the aura of wanting to win the sixth championship, so he kept the tail of the peak. Similarly, even if he rested so many games last year, his performance still shouldn't be there. At his age last year, he should have..."

O'Neill decisively turned into a gourd today, listening to the discussion between the two and not talking to each other...

……

……

The best performer of the Knicks is JR-Smith, who frequently breaks into the interior under the double screen of Lopez Jr. and Luis Amendez, or makes various shots. He plays in the second half of the third quarter Soon he scored 10 points in a single quarter.

Without Liu Ren, the No. [-] defensive gate on the outside, Antetokounmpo was truce again, and no one on the Lakers could stop JR-Smith.

In contrast, Kobe's performance on the court is indeed not very good.

D'Antoni looked at Kobe with a hint of guilt in his eyes. Can he not see the things that even Barkley can see?

Indeed, as Kenny Smith said, Kobe was at his age two years ago, and he really shouldn't be in that state. Even if he has that strength, he should play dead in the regular season like Duncan, and fight again at the critical moment of the playoffs. .

However, in the past two years, Jeremy Lin, McCollum, Antetokounmpo and other outsiders have no ability to replace Kobe. LaVine and Clarkson are rookies. In order to win the championship and better record, Kobe can only be there When he recovered from the two-year injury, he came back and became the first scoring point besides Liu Ren, and even the first tactical scoring point higher than Liu Ren tactically.

But playing like that would consume a huge amount of Kobe, just like Duncan was severely consumed in the 2013-2014 playoffs and led to the worst performance of Duncan's career last season. Played too hard.

Although D'Antoni has tried his best to reduce Kobe's playing time and number of appearances, but Kobe's age is there, and his playing style of playing with all his strength to reduce the number of appearances is only a slight delay in the degree of aging.

If we talk about Liu Ren’s original time and space, Kobe’s fault fell because of his reimbursement for three consecutive seasons. In this time and space, Kobe started his fault-like decline after striving for his sixth personal championship.

Of course, this time and space is not as serious as Liu Ren's original time and space, but it still surprises many people. Kobe's performance is too far from last season!

The data is indeed similar, and the average points per game is even a little higher than last season, but last season Kobe's shooting percentage broke 50.00% for the first time in his career, and this year it is only 40.00%. In the second half of the regular season, his playing time was a little less, and then it slowly declined.

When the score was overtaken by the Knicks and tied at 85, D'Antoni finally couldn't sit still and began to adjust.

Large-scale substitutions, Lavinson, McCollum, Liu Ren, Green, Biyombo played.

The Knicks also made substitutions, replacing JR-Smith, Shumpert, Anthony, Derek Williams, and Lopez Jr.

D'Antoni was going to defend against the Knicks, and he was replaced by a small lineup with no one over [-] meters, and he was going to kill the Knicks with old arms and legs.

However, Fisher on the Knicks side was vigilant, and also replaced two defensive champions Shumpert and Lopez Jr.

After the timeout, the Knicks really strengthened their defense. Because the Lakers' lineup has average three-point ability, they shrink very firmly.

Liu Ren shot the first ball directly from beyond the three-point line. Shumpert had no choice but to watch Liu Ren make a full shot.

The touch was good. Liu Ren's three-pointer in the third quarter continued his good touch in the second half of the second quarter and went straight to the basket.

Shumpert didn't dare to defend Liu Ren when he took a step outside the three-point line, otherwise Liu Ren would directly cut into the inside from his side. This has been verified many times in the first half.

Fighting defense with the Lakers, the Knicks have no other way. Wade played almost the entire first half, only rested for 3 minutes in the first half, and continued to play half a quarter in the second half, although his state this year is really good. Good, but after all, the age is there, and there is no way to continue to lead the Knicks to play offense, so they replaced JR-Smith and Anthony, trying to rely on the overall defense and two singles kings to continue to maintain the advantage after the start of the third quarter.

Why is the giant combination so strong that it makes the opponent feel hateful?
It is because they have many strengths, and being called a giant combination shows that these strengths cannot be defended by a single player!
When these two strong points don't care about teammates stealing points, it's even more terrifying.

JR-Smith can indeed be regarded as a top player in singles, especially Anthony. Let go of the obsession with statistics. Anthony's current goal is only the championship. He doesn't care if his average score falls below 20. JR-Smith just wants to play happily. , you will be very strong, have fun and are willing to listen to the coach's arrangements.

When it was the Knicks' turn to attack, Anthony advanced the ball to the frontcourt, Liu Ren immediately defended it, and then Anthony passed it to JR-Smith.

Liu Ren has no choice but to watch JR-Smith ravage LaVine.

LaVine does have defensive talent, but he is too thin, too tender, too young. Even in another year, his defense will definitely improve after his muscles come up, just like Anthony Davis in the third and fourth grades. Skyrocketing, but youth is a sin!
The defense of the Lakers' guard line has always been a problem, and McCollum's defense can only be considered acceptable, above average.

What is above average?It’s just that when the defense is against an average opponent, it’s not bad, but it’s actually useless against a high scorer. Last year, Kobe’s defensive efficiency was not bad. Now Kobe obviously can’t make him contribute on the defensive end. , the Lakers have the best defense on the back line only Antetokounmpo.

Liu Ren was pulled to the strong side by Anthony, and he didn't dare to go to the weak side to help LaVine defend. He could only watch JR-Smith ravage LaVine to attract McCollum to double-team, and then Shumpert received the ball open for a three-pointer. The shot hits.

88 tied, the Knicks continued to bite the score.

The Lakers were attacking. Liu Ren didn't play in the few minutes when the Knicks sent out the defensive lineup in the first half, so there was no intuitive feeling.

At this time, Liu Ren discovered that the Knicks' defense...was really good!
JR-Smith knows his own advantages, so he used his body to bully LaVine. You must know that JR-Smith's physical fitness during the Nuggets period can be compared with Iguodala, Shannon Brown and others. He performed very well on the field. Although he is a few years older and 30 years old, he is still very strong physically. He often turns over and folds dunks. The young LaVine is far worse than JR-Smith in terms of muscle.

Don't think Anthony is fat, it's okay to concentrate on defense. Such a big guy can't suffer from McCollum's speed. It's really not good to defend McCollum one-on-one, but defending McCollum can only be said to be ordinary off the ball. , Anthony's defense is enough.

This time Shumpert was very tight. At worst, Liu Ren broke into the inside line. At most, it was 2+1. Liu Ren's three-pointer really scared Shumpert. It was as scary as Curry and Thompson. .

Liu Ren had no choice but to hand the ball to Green. Lopez Jr. in the Knicks was really not as weak as Biyombo in terms of strength, and he was half a head taller. Derek Williams was a guy with average skills. No, the physical fitness is there, which is much stronger than the old Stoudemire and the young boy Porzingis' inside combination defense.

Seeing this back line, D'Antoni didn't appreciate it that much.

LaVine and Clarkson are young, there is no way, but McCollum is already quite mature, mature is mature, comprehensive is comprehensive, and he returned it at a very small price, no matter what happens, it is not a loss, and it is a big profit , As long as you are not blind, you can see that McCollum has All-Star potential, but he is not so suitable for the Lakers lineup.

In D'Antoni's view, McCollum is a bit redundant in comprehensiveness. It is obviously a style of play that is at least the second master, but the Lakers don't need such a second master. The Lakers' second master is clearly Green.

"If CJ is replaced by Klay Thompson or Kawhi Leonard, Paul George..." D'Antoni thought of this and suddenly thought of another thing, "Why do I care so much, this team has something to do with me in the future what relationship?"

(End of this chapter)