From sparring to superstar

Chapter 228 226. You Don't Deserve to Be Buckled by Spiderman

After Jordan scored the ball and pulled away, Tianzun and Ruben Patterson followed suit. When Li Ao cut in the middle, there was an open space, and he held the ball high against Bunch Wells and easily put the ball into the basket.

Even if he is 38 years old, even if he doesn't play well in the first quarter, Jordan's deterrent power is still there!
When it came time for the Trail Blazers to attack, Derek Anderson launched an offense. He knew a little bit of all skills, but he was not proficient in every skill. Facing Big Q's single defense and Li Ao's assisted defense, he failed to play out the tactics.

Finally the ball went to Rasheed Wallace.

Facing Odom's defense, Tianzun took a step back, turned around, grabbed a gap, and made a straight-arm jumper...hit!
Both are goals, but Li Ao and Rasheed Wallace have completely different goals.

The next few rounds also demonstrated this very well.

The Clippers defend the top arc with a defensively focused big Q, Li Ao connects the inside and outside defenses, Jaron Collins protects the frame, Jordan and Odom are responsible for melee consumption and flank blocking.

The Clippers' lineup is actually for defense. Otherwise, if the corner pitcher is replaced by Piakowski and the center is replaced by Sean Lukes, the offensive firepower will be even stronger.

With both Fongzi and Pippen resting, the Trail Blazers encountered this lineup, and the team's offense could not be launched at all. In the end, the ball could only fall into the hands of Bangzi and Tianzun. They ended the offense in singles, and the efficiency was not good.

When the Clippers are on offense, it is difficult for the Trail Blazers on the defensive end.

The best defensive player on the Trail Blazers is Ruben Patterson. Paul Allen took the risk of more violent conflicts in the team and dug it back from the middle class. Only talking about single defense ability, he is actually better than Pippen is stronger at this stage.

But Pippen can limit Jordan, but Ruben Patterson can't do it. With game experience and understanding of Jordan, Ruben Patterson can't compare with Pippen at all.

The Trail Blazers' second-best defense on the floor ... is Bobby Wells.

It's not that the stick is so good at defending. His defense can only be said to be not slowing down, motivated enough and active enough. He can rank second because the other players on the Blazers' defense are too poor.

Kemp can rely on his weight to defend the center at the basket. The current center of the Clippers is Jaron Collins, which means that Kemp has basically zero defensive effect. He is not even active in defending rebounds.

Derek Anderson, who was also a shooting guard with the 13th pick in the first round with the best physical fitness, once dunked Bradley in his rookie year.

But two serious injuries destroyed his athletic ability. On the offensive end, he relied on hard training and became a skillful player who can play everything.

Tianzun is an amazing player. When he was not in charge of singles in the first quarter, his defensive performance was excellent. He led the team to limit the Clippers to only 14 points in a single quarter, but after becoming the main attack point in the second quarter, the defense almost became a black hole. The defense is very timely, but there is no return. He only needs to make up the defense. His own defender is absolutely missing, and he is not the same person as in the first quarter.

In these few minutes, the Clippers had the advantage!At 4 minutes and 22 seconds of the second quarter, the stick made a long shot and hit the iron.

Seeing that Odom used Jordan's position to snatch a defensive rebound, Li Ao went down quickly, received the ball when he rushed to the three-point line, and rushed all the way to the right side of the basket against the retreating Derek Anderson, hitting a running hook !

Li Ao made 7 of 4 shots and 3 of 3 free throws. Li Ao scored in double figures and reached 11 points!
Derek Anderson tugged at the collar of his jersey and shook his head.

This Spider-Man is too cautious!
He thought Spider-Man would dunk him like he dunked Pippen, and he was ready to cut the ball, but the opponent actually used a grandpa running hook... Wait, this second-year big spider thinks he is not worthy?

Derek Anderson o(╥﹏╥)o
Back then, he was also the best shooting guard with the 13th overall pick in the first round...

Just as he was about to receive the serve and advance, the Trail Blazers called a timeout.

目前比分24比20，快船队反超开拓者队4分，第二节开始后打出了一波10比5！

Maurice Cheeks made a mistake in his prediction. He thought that his brother Gentry would strengthen his offense in the second quarter, but he didn't expect that the opponent would continue to slam the defense and increase the defensive intensity.

It was not too late to make up for it. After returning from the timeout, Maurice Cheeks replaced Pippen and Olowokandi.

Playing defense, the Trail Blazers players are not afraid!

Especially now that the intensity of the confrontation has reached this level, the role of experience is higher than the integrity of the system!
In the middle and late part of the second quarter, the Blazers' defense once again had the upper hand.

Gentry didn't panic, and based on the offensive core lineup, he matched the defensive lineup.

After Jordan hit 10 to 5, he was replaced. Gentry replaced the core combination of Bibby + Odom, with three support points and defensive pillars of Li Ao, Matt Harprin, and O'Neal.

In the last 3 minutes of the first half, the outside singles combination of Bibby + Li Ao + Jordan came on the field, and the inside line sent the twin towers of O'Neal and Jaron Collins to protect the frame.

The Clippers' defense is not as good as the opponent's, but the offensive end relies on Gentry's excellent micromanagement, making good use of the independent offensive ability of the three cores and Li Ao's shooting ability to maintain a good offensive firepower!
At the end of halftime, the score came to 34 to 31, and the Clippers continued to maintain a 3-point lead!
...

Entering the intermission, on the way back to the locker room, Gentry found Li Ao, asked about Li Ao's physical strength, and asked if he could hold on. no problem.

Gentry was speechless. Isn't it impossible for him to arrange Spider-Man to defend against Little Flying Squirrel at the beginning? At that time, he needed to try to see if he could suppress Little Flying Squirrel.

But when Flying Squirrel came up again in the second quarter, he didn't arrange to switch defenses.

Their Clippers have completed the melee consumption of wing shooters such as Bunch Wells, Ruben Patterson, Pippen, Rick Bronson, etc., as long as the little flying mouse bursts out, they can just shrink the defense directly, so After the confrontation, the Trail Blazers' wing pitchers could still score, and they recognized it.

Back in the locker room, when the players were resting, Gentry took the time to watch the live broadcast.

As he expected, although the Clippers scored 20 to 16 in a single quarter and took the initiative, the commentators from Time Warner and Fox were more optimistic about the opposing Trail Blazers.

The reason-the Trail Blazers are more team.

In the narrator's mouth, 'team' always seems to be something more advanced.

No, their analysis is well-founded-after the Trail Blazers were beaten 10-5 at the beginning of the second quarter, they relied on team defense to stabilize the situation and countered the Clippers 11-10.

In fact, Gentry also felt that the 'team' was more stable, but he would not blindly pursue 'stability'. He reviewed the first half and felt that the advantage was already obvious!

(End of this chapter)