full court guidance

Chapter 170 The Most Underrated MVP
Billups, one of the most underrated FMVPs in the history of the NBA, is also the dry player with the least reputation and strength in the league.

In the draft in 1997, he was in the same class as Tim Duncan, Keith Van Horn, Tracy McGrady and other stars, but Billups was still selected by the Celtics as the No. 15 pick.In the game against the Bulls, he performed well in his first appearance, scoring 4 points and [-] assists.

In his rookie year, he made 107 three-pointers and hit 32.7 percent, averaging 11.2 points, 1.34 steals and 3.9 assists per game.

Such data, no matter what year it is placed in, is a pretty good player, and the potential is worth looking forward to.

It's a pity that Billups is like being cursed. Almost the whole world says he is a parallel importer-because he is competing with Tim Duncan, the strongest power forward in the history of the league; although Keith Van Horn faded out of the league early , but his performance in college was amazing, and he was a bright spot with Duncan.

After 51 games in Boston, Billups began an adrift career.In a big deal involving seven players, he was sent to the frigid North and became a Raptors player.

But the Raptors didn't like "parallel imports" like Billups at all, and quickly traded him to the Nuggets. Later, due to injury problems, he was swept out and sent to the Magic.

If it wasn't for his status as a talent show, maybe he would lose his status as an NBA player.

During the period between the Nuggets and the Magic, Billups didn't even play a game due to injuries, and was traded to change teams consecutively, which made Billups very disappointed.

But his bad luck did not end here, and then he was swept out by the Magic again and traded to the Timberwolves.

Being traded consecutively seems to have given him the title of parallel importer, so that the Timberwolves don't pay much attention to him, making him suffer on the bench.

The tragic early stage of his career gave Billups a lot of tempering and made him more stable. He firmly believed that one day opportunities would fall on him, and his "heart got bigger".

God did not abandon him. In the 01-02 season, Timberwolves' starting point guard Brandon suffered a knee injury. Billups seized the opportunity to prove himself, and secured his status as the team's main force, helping the Timberwolves reach the playoffs Game, and scored an average of 22 points per game in the first round against the Mavericks, completely throwing off the hat of parallel importers!

Later, he was favored by Larry Brown and was traded to the Pistons, becoming the real core of the Pistons. As for the soul of the Pistons?hehe.

It is precisely because of the unsatisfactory early stage of his career that Billups understood how difficult it is for a player to survive in the league. This made him learn humility, learn to be considerate of others, and also made him selfless.

So whether it was late or the old Nelson, they were actually deceived by Billups' data.

He is always so low-key that everyone has the impression that Billups' scoring ability is actually just average!

Can a guard who can average 20+ points per game have average scoring ability?
Billups has established himself, he doesn't need to prove himself anymore, so he is more willing to trust his teammates and see his teammates score. If the teammates get good data, they can get a bigger contract. Just a little kindness from Billups.

The excellent overall situation view made him very clear that the reason why the Warriors dared to double-team Yao Ming without the ball was to bully the Rockets' lack of offensive firepower and Hayes' lack of shooting ability.

Without being able to change the team's configuration, Billups must find a way to open up on the outside to ease the offensive pressure on the inside.

With his big heart beating, Billups forcibly chose an outside shot and made a hit, continuing the key firepower for the Rockets.

In fact, the Rockets exchanged McGrady for Billups and Prince this year, which is definitely a super big profit that can be recorded in history. It is precisely because of Billups' assistance that the Rockets can enter this year Western Conference Finals.

He is the most underrated FMVP, only he himself knows what kind of energy that big beating heart brings to him.

Surrounded by two people, Yao Ming looked up at the basketball going into the net, waved his hands excitedly, and ran to clap Billups to celebrate.

When returning to defense, Billups leaned over to his old teammate Prince and muttered something in a low voice.

Looking at all this late, Billups was full of admiration in his heart.

This is a powerful guy. He doesn't have the fame of Kidd and Nash, but his strength is definitely not weak at all.

The Warriors attacked in a position, and Murphy's role on the court was reflected. He pulled out to the three-point line and played a pick-and-roll late-this was something Milicic couldn't do.

Harrington also almost gave up the basket, standing on the other side of the late, ready to receive the ball at any time.

Hayes hesitated, and chose to defend Murphy-the coach arranged for him to play, just to let him come up to defend the pick-and-roll.

His moving speed is not slow, and he quickly arrived at the defensive position to interfere with his lateness, so that he could not choose to shoot at the first time, and then Billups, who bypassed the defense, chased after him.

Being late and not greedy for merit, he suddenly flicked his right hand while dribbling, and the basketball was allocated to Harrington.

Prince moved fast and rushed to cover the defense immediately. Harrington just raised his hand and faked and passed the ball to Hill.

Hill received the ball from mid-range and made a shot without interference.

The Rockets attacked again. Before Yao Ming could get into the paint, the Warriors' off-ball double-team came.

Obviously, Murphy had tasted the sweetness in the previous round of defense and wanted to follow suit.

Billups dribbled the ball to control the rhythm, glanced at the late arrival, and felt bitter for a while.

Late players with defense and three-pointers are his most troublesome type. If the Warriors make it clear that they will continue to play according to this tactic, unless they themselves feel cold, the Rockets have little hope of winning.

Billups knows that his scoring ability is not weak, but he is different from those super scorers, he can't dominate the game with his own scoring.

He tried to find the Warriors' defensive loopholes-in fact, the Warriors' defensive formation is not good in the eyes of Billups, and there are many loopholes, but the team does not have any stable scoring points now. After Yao Ming was double-teamed , apart from himself, even Prince's scoring ability is actually not worthy of trust.

Not to mention Hayes, it is impossible for him to help the team break the Warriors' defense.

David Wesley...well, might as well go to Alstom.

Time passed slowly, and Billups passed the ball to teammates with loopholes several times. Unfortunately, Hayes and Wesley did not dare to take responsibility and passed the ball back again, resulting in wasted opportunities.

Seeing that there was not much time left, Prince suddenly ran over from an oblique corner to meet him.

This choice was a bit unexpected. Billups immediately leaned towards Prince. The two played a pick-and-roll on the outside, and Prince blocked it late.

Hill was stunned for a moment, apparently not expecting the Rockets to make such an operation, and fell into a dilemma.

This is where the Warriors' defense is not good enough. The players usually seldom practice tactics, and they lack tacit understanding at critical moments.

Knowing that he was late, he immediately accelerated to bypass Prince. Unexpectedly, Hill also made a decision at this moment and rushed towards Billups at the same time.

As the top passing master in the league, Billups will naturally not miss this opportunity. He turned sideways and controlled the ball to block the sight of Hill and Late. When he was in front of him, the ball had been handed over to Prince.

The little prince was already prepared, so he raised his hand and threw it away.

Prince has long hands and long feet, even among the talented NBA players, he can be regarded as a miracle.

His shooting motion is ugly, his elbows are badly turned out, and his right hand that stabilizes the ball seems to be holding on to the basketball and refuses to let go-but his shooting percentage is actually not bad, and this ball is scored again!
The Rockets didn't let the score open.

This is the cooperation between the two champion players from the Pistons, the tacit understanding between the Finals FMVP and the league's top wings.

Thibodeau's adjustment actually failed. He wanted to improve the defensive strength and aimed at the Warriors' pick-and-roll tactics. Instead, he was targeted by the Warriors and failed to achieve any effect. The defensive strength improvement was limited, and he relied entirely on two former Pistons players to stabilize the score.

But he obviously didn't realize this, and didn't immediately make adjustments to the lineup again.

The Warriors took advantage of Yao Ming's slow moving speed. It's true that Murphy is a softie, but his mid-range and long-range shots are really good. If Yao Ming doesn't follow, he can shoot from the outside as much as he wants.

Hayes is not tall enough. When Yao Ming leaves the basket, other Warriors players will rush to the basket, rush for rebounds or drive for layups.

The Warriors seem to have given up on the inside confrontation, acquiescing to Yao Ming's dominance at the basket.

However, the score between the two sides has not narrowed because of this. With a higher shooting percentage, the Warriors have always firmly controlled the initiative.

And because of being double-teamed for a long time, Yao Ming had to spend more energy than usual to get a position under the basket, which made him out of breath very quickly, and he couldn't hold on physically.

Under Thibodeau, if the Rockets were ahead, Yao would get a break in the last four minutes or so of the first quarter, but if the Rockets trailed, Yao's playing time would be significantly extended.

Billups stood up at the critical moment. Facing the late defense, he either shot or passed, and always controlled the rhythm so that the Rockets would not stop scoring.

He is indeed Yao Ming's most reliable helper. It is precisely because of his excellent overall situation that he is using his own way to buy Yao Ming time to rest.

It's a pity that the two commentators on the imperial court didn't see it, and instead belittled Billups: "This ball should be given to Yao Ming. He is about to reach his position inside. If the ball passes..."

Being underestimated and passively taking the blame seems to have become Billups' personal characteristics.

(End of this chapter)