Pick Westbrook

Chapter 257 Even better than the starting lineup

Chapter 257 Even better than the starting lineup

"what?!"

Su Qun was shocked when he heard this. He opened his eyes and looked at the broadcast screen. The big screen had already displayed the starting lineups of the two teams.

The Heat's starting lineup: point guard Mario Chalmers, shooting guard Dwyane Wade, small forward LeBron James, power forward Chris Bosh and center Joel Anthony.

Bucks starting lineup: point guard Westbrook, shooting guard Curry, small forward Artest, power forward Yi Jianlian and center Cousins.

"So, the Bucks have taken the Twin Towers lineup?"

On-site commentary desk.

Barkley still remembers the last round of the Eastern Conference semifinals, when the Bucks won the twin-tower combination of Cousins ​​and Yi Jianlian in the last quarter of the crucial final game.

Regardless of the inside twin towers, Yi Jianlian is almost completely outside the three-point line on the offensive end. His super ability to open up space will not cause the Bucks to compress their offensive space.

At the same time, on the defensive end, the duo of Yi Jianlian and Cousins ​​can perfectly match the inside partner of the Bulls Noah + Boozer.

If Barkley remembers well, the Bucks' horrible defense in that quarter allowed the Bulls to only score 11 points in 12 minutes of playing time!

"Now facing this public enemy Heat team, the Bucks don't pretend to be a showdown anymore. They have to come up with their strongest lineup to fight you from the very beginning."

"I'm really looking forward to how exciting the Bucks can play against the Heat with this lineup."

Heat coach bench.

Erik Spoelstra knelt on one knee on the edge of the court and kept touching his chin with his hands.

It could be seen that he was slightly worried.

In the regular season, the Bucks ended the Heat's 27-game winning streak until now coach Spoelstra is still vivid.

He knows better than anyone that the Bucks are definitely not a simple opponent, and it will not be easy for the Heat to beat them.

It can even be said to be extremely difficult.

As early as after the end of the regular season, the Heat's coaching staff carried out a very serious playoff imaginary enemy. At that time, Spoelstra had already given the Heat the biggest enemy in the East.

Bulls and Bucks.

Among them, the Bucks are considered by coach Spoelstra to be the most difficult one.

"The difficulty of the Bucks is not only their strong lineup and the depth of the bench, but more importantly, the young head coach Li Lai."

Spoelstra looked at the Bucks coaching bench. Li Lai was sitting steadily on the coaching bench, exuding a calmness that didn't belong to him at his age.

Ah!

Spoelstra chuckled suddenly.

Even though the Bucks are so strong, he still firmly believes that the Heat can beat each other.

Because the Heat have James and Wade!

beep!beep!

The referee's whistle blows.

Players on both sides walked to the center line one after another.

No greetings, no trash talking, in the warm cheers of the Miami fans, the halftime jump ball, the game began!

boom!

Cousins ​​made a strong jump off the ball in a fight with Joel Anthony.

The Bucks attack!

Yu Jia pinched the microphone and shouted excitedly: "The game has begun! Cousins ​​jumped off the ball!"

"Joel Anthony's height is only 206cm. He is a typical small insider. The Heat are also an extremely flexible team."

"But with Joel Anthony's height and talent, if there is no accident in this round of the series, it may be difficult for him to jump off the ball from Cousins."

Su Qun nodded in agreement.

Joel Anthony may not only lose the jump ball, but he is destined to be at a disadvantage in the matchup with Cousins.

Because the Heat have formed a Big Three lineup, and there are Udonis Haslem and Ray Allen in the team with big contracts, so their salary space has already been filled, and they want to strengthen a little bit. It is very difficult for strong players.

In Su Qun's view, compared with the Bucks, which are all soldiers, the Heat, except for the Big Three and a few two players, may be at a disadvantage in the matchup of other players.

on the field.

Westbrook pushed forward with the ball, and Mario Chalmers aggressively put Westbrook on a lot of physical defense as soon as he came up.

Westbrook still held the ball steadily across the half, but at the moment of landing, Wade suddenly came up from the bottom corner to double-team!

"This is an outside flanking tactic!"

Curry has a wide open in the corner, and that level of openness is almost a point for him, but only if he can get the ball.

Westbrook was almost stealing the ball in Wade's double-team, and he was extremely uncomfortable with the sudden terrorist defense imposed by the opponent.

On the sidelines, Li Lai stood up nervously.

He is very clear that Westbrook is at the top level in the league in terms of physical talent, but Westbrook with this kind of physical talent has a fatal physical defect.

That is the palm is too small!

In fact, among the members of Westbrook's entire family, the height is generally not high, and he can be regarded as a genetic mutation.

Therefore, although Westbrook has a height of 191cm and a wingspan of 203cm, his palm width and length are no different from ordinary people.

Never underestimate the importance of palm width and length in playing.

Control the ball with both hands, control the ball with both hands, if the palm is not big, how to control the ball?

"So when Russell encounters an extremely strong defense, his possession and handling of the ball are not stable. In short, he is extremely prone to mistakes on the court."

"That's his most fatal flaw."

call!

Fortunately, Westbrook responded in a timely manner and was not mistaken by Wade's crazy double-team defense.

The basketball was also quickly handled by him and passed to Curry.

Westbrook is very confident in Curry's shooting, and he believes that the Heat will definitely suffer under this kind of gamble defense.

"The entire league dare not easily double-team the players on the Bucks team, just because they are afraid that this team will shoot a three-pointer. How dare you, the Heat?!"

As soon as Kenny Smith finished speaking, Curry had already received the ball, but before he could take a shot, James had rushed over from the free throw line.

Although James is still close to two meters away from Curry, Curry dare not shoot in front of James anyway in this position.

He knew that James could fly very well.

"The Heat are on guard!"

The fans at the American Airlines Center Arena suddenly burst into extremely warm applause.

Some fans even roared proudly, "This is our perimeter attack tactic! Look at the Bucks!"

Curry is facing James.

At this time, the Heat did not arrange to double-team the ball holding point.

Eric Spoelstra proposed such a defensive strategy within the Heat. Only James and Wade can defend the ball holder one-on-one. Execute the outside line double-teaming strategy.

This tactic is also called by the name inside the Heat.

"Infinite rotation."

Li Lai said slightly apprehensively.

Tyronn Lue quickly saw the power of this tactic, and it obviously restricted the Bucks greatly.

Where is the Bucks strong?

It is stronger than the cornerstones of their team, Westbrook and Curry.

One is good at jumping, and the other is good at throwing.

The partnership and playing styles of the two also complement each other extremely well.

When Westbrook starts to rush with the ball, as long as the opponent dares to double-team him, then Curry will definitely be able to get a very comfortable shot.

At the same time, when Curry attracts defensive attention from outside the three-point line, there will inevitably be a huge emptiness in the opponent's interior, and Westbrook's breakthrough can immediately take effect.

This is why the entire league is helpless with the Bucks' offense.

But it's different now. The Heat have two very good perimeter defensive players, James and Wade.

These two not only have excellent one-on-one defense, but also have top-level defense ability and running and jumping ability in the same position.

The Heat's coaching staff can therefore confidently arrange the extremely bold defensive tactics of infinite rotation.

Any opponent's outside player will be extremely uncomfortable when facing this kind of defense.

Westbrook and Curry are no exception.

"If the Heat have been like this for the entire series, Westbrook and Curry will have a hard time."

Tyronn Lu glanced at Li Lai nervously.

He knew that Li Lai had prepared a lot for tonight's game, but he never believed that Li Lai knew before the game that the Heat would play this level of defense as soon as they came up.

Under Tai Lunlu's anxious eyes, Li Lai smiled contemptuously.

He looked at Erik Spoelstra on the Heat's bench and said seriously.

"Coach Spoelstra, if you think you can beat us just by limiting the performance of Westbrook and Curry with this tactic, then you underestimate the Bucks."

"We are the defending champions!"

on the field.

Facing James' strict defense, Cousins ​​suddenly forced his back from the right corner against Joel Anthony's defense to ask for the ball on the left.

Curry slammed the pass in without hesitation.

The Heat players looked at each other in blank dismay, and no one dared to act rashly at this time.

They know the Bucks' bombing ability outside the three-point line, so there will not be too many problems when double-teaming the outside line, but if they dare to double-team the inside line, there will definitely be open players on the outside line.

The Bucks already taught a lesson last season to teams that dared to empty their perimeter shooters.

So at this time, no one dared to rush in to double-team Cousins.

"But it's Joel Anthony guarding Cousins."

Barkley had a premonition of something, and the scene on the court soon confirmed his conjecture.

Cousins ​​caught the ball with his back very tough, and after turning left and right continuously, he changed to a low post.

A library!

With just one touch, Joel Anthony was knocked back a step.

Cousins ​​turned around and dunked vigorously with both hands!

boom! ! !

The dunk silenced the entire American Airlines Arena.

All Heat fans were extremely shocked by the scene, they only felt that there was a sudden illusion in front of them.

The No. 15 player rookie Cousins ​​​​is in the Heat's interior, just like the big shark O'Neal, as if entering no one's land.

"The Heat's interior defense isn't great."

Su Qun still remembers a game between the Heat and the Pacers in the regular season.

The player named Roy Hibbert averaged only 11 points and 7 rebounds per game, but when he played for the Heat, he actually scored a beast-level data of 19 points and 18 rebounds.

It's not that Roy Hibbert is really that good, it's that the Heat's interior defense is too poor.

A Joel Anthony and his like can actually become the Heat's starting center. It is conceivable how unqualified the Heat's interior player reserves are.

At this time, Eric Spoelstra finally saw the reason why the Bucks came up with a twin tower lineup.

"They're going inside!"

Barkley, who also saw this clearly, couldn't help but take a deep breath.

A team that promoted the entire league to start to face up to three-pointers, and was even declared by coach Larry Brown to have started the small ball era, will play double towers to attack the inside in the Eastern Conference Finals.

"What the hell is this team?"

on the field.

James raised his hand, giving the Heat players great confidence on the field.

Wade glanced at James at this moment. The two people who had a tacit understanding naturally knew what the other party wanted to say, and also knew that the other party must know what he wanted to say.

James sent the ball out of bounds, and Wade advanced with the ball.

It was Curry who defended Wade.

As early as the last round of playing against the Bulls, when Pierce singled Curry with the ball, Artest would definitely step forward to help defend.

It's just that Artest's defender was Luol Deng at that time, but now his defender is James.

"Artest doesn't dare to go up to help defend anymore. He can't leave James empty."

"So what should Curry do? Let him defend Wade alone?"

Su Qun shook his head.

Curry can't even guard Pierce, let alone Wade!

Facing Curry's defense, Wade directly wiped out the opponent with a stride.

Yi Jianlian on the inside quickly moved a step across the paint to make up for the defense, but Wade's speed was frighteningly fast.

Before Yi Jianlian shrinks the inside line to form a defense, Wade has already taken off at the free throw line and dunked with one hand!

boom!

On the CCTV commentary station, Yu Jia and Su Qun gasped at the same time.

Even after commenting on NBA games for many years, breakthroughs and dunks of this level are not common for the two of them.

"In this series, Curry has to be blown away by The Flash."

Switch offense.

Westbrook once again encountered Mario Chalmers' tight defense while advancing with the ball, and Wade's pincer attack struck again after he passed halftime.

Westbrook still wanted to pass to Curry to reorganize, but this time the pass was predicted in advance by James, who has a very high basketball IQ.

James stood one step ahead of the waist, between Artest and Curry.

The moment Westbrook passed the ball, James suddenly accelerated.

Curry already had a premonition that something was wrong, so he hurried up and wanted to fight James.

But what kind of physical talent is Curry, and what kind of physical talent is James, just one collision and Curry was knocked to the ground, and James stole the ball!

"The Heat's fast break is coming!"

"The fans at the American Airlines Center arena are all on their feet!"

"Three against two in the frontcourt!"

"James passes the ball to Wade, and Wade rushes up the court."

"He didn't dunk! Wade threw the ball into the sky!"

boom! ! !

James then came, received dunks in the air, and filled the frame with both hands.

On-site commentary desk.

Barkley was so excited, he clenched his fist and said, "Janeway is connected!"

"This is the Heat's Janeway connection."

"When these two guys play defensive counterattacks, you will find that the defensive counterattacks in the entire league are not at the same level as the Heat."

Kenny Smith nodded in agreement, which is why he is so fan of the Bucks but still believes that the Heat can win the final victory.

"The duo of James and Wade is definitely the strongest duo in the league after OK."

The first quarter is over.

Although the Bucks can frequently rely on Cousins' offense inside to cause trouble for the Heat, they made 6 turnovers in a single quarter on the outside.

Among them, Westbrook made 3 personal mistakes.

On a stage like the Eastern Conference Finals, facing the Heat, a team with super defensive counterattacks, these 6 turnovers undoubtedly made them 6 offenses.

The Bucks trailed the Heat by 28 points with 31:3.

Westbrook threw the towel on the ground angrily.

这节比赛他2投0中，得到了0分2篮板2助攻3失误的数据，这样的表现让他非常不满意。

At the same time, the Heat's perimeter double-teaming tactics also made Westbrook very uncomfortable, especially Wade's double-teaming, which gave him a lot of pressure.

Li Lai knew that this was the first time in Westbrook's career that he encountered such a strong double-team. In the past, Curry shared the defensive pressure for him on the court, and he had never played so uncomfortable.

Last season, Westbrook was able to win the regular season MVP and average triple-double data, and Curry's role in it is absolutely indispensable.

But with the wireless rotation tactics that the Heat have come up with now, Westbrook no longer has that relaxed offensive environment, and it is really difficult for him to adapt.

Curry was sitting next to Westbrook. At this moment, the two were like brothers and sisters, with very ugly emotions on their faces.

库里在这节比赛单节3投1中，拿下了3分1助攻的数据，但他对位的韦德却8投5中，罚球2罚2中，得到了12分3篮板1助攻。

Facing the extremely exaggerated physical talents of James and Wade, Curry doubted himself for the first time.

He thinks that he has worked so hard to train his three-point shooting ability, which is useless at all. In the face of absolute physical talent, he is completely defeated.

Skills are really not worth mentioning in front of talents.

"However, you don't have to envy the physical talents of James and Wade at all."

Li Lai stood on the edge of the field, his voice was extremely soft.

Curry knew that the coach must have said this to him.

Li Lai looked back at Curry seriously and continued, "Because you have something more powerful than them."

The second game.

The Bucks took Dragic, Danny Green, McGrady, Villanueva and O'Neal.

Heat's bench lineup: point guard Mike Bibby, shooting guard Ray Allen, small forward Mike Miller, power forward James and center Udonis Haslem.

"In the first quarter, the Heat were almost attacked by Wade. In the second quarter, it was time for James to lead the team alone."

"Although the depth of the Heat's bench is not rich, at this time there is James with his own system on the court, and there are also sharp shooters Ray Allen and Mike Miller on the court."

"In terms of offensive efficiency, the Heat's lineup is better than the starting lineup. The Bucks have to figure out how to deal with it."

(End of this chapter)