The official timeout ended, and both sides returned to the court.

Brown sat on the bench, Tyronn Lue on the side, and Rivers and Gentry past him.

The coaching staff of the Clippers is really quite luxurious, but the more luxurious the coaching staff, the better the team's performance, which is the same as the team's roster formation.

So far, several senior assistant coaches are getting along well.

Mike Brown has been demoted from head coach to assistant coach and not the first assistant coach, and he has no complaints about that.

Because his mind is not on money and status, not even on the Clippers, his mind is on Li Liang.

That's why he asked Li Liang to "pay attention to the middle" just now, and this style of play is obviously the style of play of core players.

Brown was a little drumming in his heart, and he wondered if he was too eager to do this. Will it help the seedlings to grow?

The transition of a player from a support role player to a core player can take a season of grinding for a short period of time, and it can take two or three seasons of growth for a long one.

And Li Liang ...... A summer?

However, in yesterday's team practice, as well as the game footage that he watched and analyzed before, Brown found that Li Liang had mastered good offensive skills with the ball, and his passing ability had improved again.

This kid is already a strong learner, and if he plays the Thunder today, let him try to attack more in the middle, maybe it will work wonders?

Rivers didn't know that in addition to developing a defensive system for the Clippers, Mike Brown was more concerned about developing Li Liang's personal ability.

However, there is no contradiction between the two, or it seems to be a contradiction, but it is not a contradiction.

Rivers and the entire Clippers team have never treated Li Liang as a rookie.

Instead, he sees him as a reinforcement to help the already good Clippers go further.

Besides, Rivers doesn't like to develop rookies in the first place, and he might as well stay with the Celtics if he wants to develop rookies.

Li Liang is indeed beyond the scope of ordinary rookies in terms of strength, and the honor of FMVP is even more popular Many people regard him as a finished product.

When Anthony Davis and other rookies in the previous class were still in the midst of "growing pains", many people were already discussing whether Li Liang had a chance to win the MVP this season.

But Brown knew that Li Liang was actually still a blank.

There are still so many places on him that can be polished and carved.

In addition to Brown, the person who knows this best is, of course, Li Liang himself.

Li Liang knows that on the road to the growth of superstars, I am still a child!

On the first offense after the official timeout, the kid broke through the basket with the ball in the middle and hit a pull-up jump shot to score two points.

He didn't hit the board on this ball, but threw a hollow ball.

Li Liang was inspired by Bob McAdoo, and this kind of mid-range jumper, combined with three-point shooting, is really threatening.

Ibaka, who was against Li Liang, didn't know how to defend at all.

Turning around, Durant immediately responded with a mid-range jumper.

Durant's jump shot was even more sudden, and he almost ignored interference, and Li Liang is not at this level at the moment.

But he also has something that Durant doesn't have, and that's better responsiveness.

Li Liang's [basic pass] has reached 70 points, and with his mastery of tactics, he began to organize the team's attack in the middle.

Li Liangyi organized the offense, and the Thunder defense was obviously a little uncomfortable.

Crawford made a cover with Li Liang in the high post and cut to the basket, attracting the Thunder defense.

As a result, Barnes ran to the bottom corner to open the space, and Li Liang passed the ball to Barnes.

Unfortunately, Barnes missed a three-point shot from the bottom corner and didn't take advantage of that opportunity.

That's probably where Barnes started with the problem, and his three-point shooting was clearly not strong enough.

But without the perfect player, and without the perfect team, the main significance of Barnes replacing Butler on the court is in his defense.

The Thunder continued to give the ball to Durant on the offensive end, and the man who defended Durant became Barnes.

Barnes, of course, can't guard Durant, but his tenacity and grappling will always cause problems for Durant.

Durant was forced to the sideline by Barnes, and Durant's dribbling line selection was a problem.

Ibaka came out to answer, Durant passed the ball to Ibaka, and then suddenly an accelerated inside cut into the basket.

If the ball is Butler's defense, there is a chance that he will accidentally miss half of his body, and Ibaka will pass the ball to Durant.

Durant catches the ball under the basket, and the score is nine out of ten.

But Barnes kept up with the ball, causing Ibaka to hesitate and not pass the ball before returning it to Westbrook.

Seeing that there was no time, Westbrook missed a three-point shot from the outside.

If I don't enter, you don't want to enter.

Without Griffin and Butler, the Clippers' ball-handling offense isn't as ferocious, but their defense is more solid.

With a steady defense, it is equivalent to the army having a stable rear, so that it can raid without scruples!

Li Liang, who got the backcourt rebound, passed the ball to Paul, Paul quickly passed the half, and gave the ball to Little Jordan, who was about to go down, and Jordan Jr. received the ball and dunked it with one hand!

The Staples Center cheered, and the Clippers would not get tired of watching this pleasing and fast counterattack for a year.

The response made by the Thunder is simple, and it is not necessarily effective if it is not effective.

The ball was passed twice from the outside, and Westbrook took advantage of Ibaka's cover to pull out his hand from outside the three-point line!

For the second three points in a row, Li Liang knew at a glance that this goal was definitely not, and it was obviously short.

Li Liang still wanted to rush to the basket to grab a rebound, but he didn't expect that this short was too much, and he would wipe it to the basket.

The ball bounced right into the hands of Adams under the basket.

Joy fell from the sky, and Adams reacted quickly and made a layup.

"Damn, Westbrook is so out of the box!"

Li Liang originally thought that this ball was short, and it should just bounce back to a certain position, and he could grab it.

Who knew it would be so short, and it was picked up cheaply by Adams.

But the Thunder won't always have such a bargain to pick up.

Brooks quickly spotted the problems the Thunder was having on the offensive end, and their positional offense couldn't play a tactical match.

Although they don't have much tactical coordination.

But in the regular season, if you count on the offensive end to play singles, the two of them will be tired.

The Thunder still have a lot of small combinations to score points, such as Ibaka's mid-range jumper in the high post and after the two bottom corners were pulled apart.

When Li Liang came to the fourth position, this method of scoring was almost abolished.

It's not that Li Liang is staring at Ibaka, but that Li Liang and Barnes have a tacit understanding.

If Li Liang goes to make up for Durant, Barnes will definitely take turns to take care of Ibaka.

That kind of awareness is something that Butler doesn't have, and Ibaka's scoring style is doomed, and if someone looks after him, his efficiency will drop.

It just so happened that tonight he felt average, and after a few shots and one hit, he stopped trying.

In this case, the Thunder made the right choice, which is to fight defense.

The Thunder began their "wrap-and-clamp method", using the height and reach of outside players to keep wrapping and rotating to press the ball carrier.

Durant and Sefrosa surrounded Li Liang, causing Li Liang to make a passing error, and Durant made a steal and a fast break.

At this time, Paul stepped up, first assisted Li Liang to make a layup with a very beautiful shot, and then switched to Durant on the defensive end, and used his solid chassis to hard top Durant, causing Durant to miss the shot.

It's good to be short, and the chassis is low!

Secure.

Although Li Liang didn't hit a three-point shot from the outside, the Clippers were ahead in the score.

The Clippers have plenty of space and time to slowly wear down with the Thunder.

Durant began to gradually take over the Thunder's offense, but he also had no choice.

The Clippers' defensive lineup is very difficult for everyone else.

With 2:36 left before the end of the first half, Durant ran and picked up the ball and turned around to hit a two-point shot.

The score on the court came to 58:49, and the Thunder continued to trail by nine points.

Will turn around, Li Liang receives the ball in the high post, he is no longer a simple arc top strategy, but can dribble to organize.

He first passed the ball to Paul, who came out in a circle to the right side at 45 degrees, and then suddenly made an accelerated dodge and cut down the middle!

This approach is exactly the same as Durant's.

Paul was deaf and clear-sighted, and immediately a straight plug into the inner line was transmitted to Li Liang's operation.

But as soon as Li Liang got the ball, he caught blind, he cut sideways, caught the ball with his back basket, and then what?

And then what to do? Lao Tzu won't roll over and jump shot!

At the level of his turn-over jumper, turning around and jumping, Ibaka must be a big hat.

This rammer also learned from Durant to dodge and cut in the air, and I don't know what to do after cutting.

At this moment, Li Liang didn't choose to dribble out of the gray bag, it was not too embarrassing.

He imitated Harden, raised his hand and made a feint, shaking Ibaka, and then naturally hit Ibaka.

The referee blew the whistle and blew for a defensive foul on Ibaka.

Li Liang has learned both the skills of Durant and Harden, but only half of them.

Cheating fouls depends on talent, and empty-handed running, Li Liang learned a lot from Bob Knight.

At the free throw line, he hit both free throws steadily, and Rivers just switched Griffin back on and played the last two minutes.

The Clippers held on to the Thunder's comeback in the final two minutes, and Griffin also delivered a brilliant spinning top layup with a pass from Bruce Lee.

At the end of the first half, the Clippers were 64-54, leading the Thunder by 10 points.

If you look at the shooting heat map, you will find that none of Li Liang's goals in the second quarter came from the wings, all from the middle and the front.

Mike Brown saw this in his eyes and thought to himself, maybe it would be useful to pull out the seedlings.