Chapter Ninety-Six: Cousins with Brain Fever
At the end of the first quarter, the score was 23:29, and the Kings trailed the Suns by six points at home.
So in the second quarter, Kings head coach McMulone made an adjustment, thinking: Since you can't prevent it, let's play the opposite offense! Replaced point guard Isaiah Thomas, small forward Patrick Patterson, and replaced Ben Mer Klemo and Luke Richard Bamot.
"USE A 175CM LITTLE MAN AGAINST LI MOJIE?" Hornacek smiled, is this McMarlon running out of donkey skills? Hornacek replaced Gobert with Marcus Morris, Frye at center, and Middleton for PJ Tucker.
The timeout ended quickly, players from both sides returned to the court, and the Kings launched a tactic that went straight to Cousins for singles.
Cousins singled Channingflye, and I have to say that Cousins' offense is indeed excellent, although he doesn't attack much in the low post, but his excellent power and foot movement still make his low post very lethal.
Squeezing Channingfrye into the three-second zone, Cousins immediately turned around and hit a layup to score two points.
Cousins joined the Kings in 2010 as the No. 5 pick in the first round and has since become the team's center man. In the first three seasons of his career, Cousins averaged 16.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. Last season, Cousins played in 75 games for the Kings, averaging 17.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game, in addition to 2.7 assists and 1.4 steals. With his outstanding stats, Cousins has become the representative of the league's next generation of centers.
As for Cousins, the Kings also have extremely high expectations. The Kings have struggled for some time, missing the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons since 2006 and winning just 38 games in a single season. As the Kings management tries to turn things around and usher in a new era, they see Cousins as a cornerstone and hope that the talented center can lead the team out of trouble.
Therefore, despite the fact that Cousins has caused a lot of trouble during his time with the team, such as fighting with coaches, arguing with teammates, and being an out-and-out problem player, the Kings are still willing to put the treasure on him. Earlier, the media reported that the Kings would offer Cousins a four-year, $62 million contract, becoming the third player in the Class of 2010 to receive a max salary contract after John Wall and Paul George.
After successfully renewing Cousins' contract, Kings general manager Dalessandro is quite excited. Especially after the team lost Evans this summer, the significance of the Kings being able to keep Cousins is self-evident. "Cousins has an unmatched talent, he's got the strength, he's got the size, he's got the speed, he's got the athleticism." "We're looking forward to Cousins continuing to grow and become one of the best centers in the league." ”
Hornacek looked at Cousins' attack on the court, and frowned: Channingfrye is still not suitable for playing center, and he is fine in normal times, but in the face of Cousins, a first-line center in the league, he immediately showed a lack of strength, not enough tonnage, and a prototype of poor defense. However, this year, the Suns have traded Miles Plumlee, and there is only one true center, Rudy Gobert, which is why Gobert is still playing the starting lineup despite not being very good at the moment (for example, he received 2 fouls in the first quarter of this game).
Hornacek thought to himself: It's better to trade a center in the middle of the season!
The Suns' offense continued as before, with Lee Mojie possessing the ball until half-court and PJ Tucker and Gerard Green taking the lead in running for an opportunity.
Both men were very positive on the off-ball running, and with their active running, the Kings' defense finally showed holes, and Gerard Green shook off Patrick Patterson and received a pass from Lee Mojie outside the three-point line on the right side.
Receiving the ball, Gerald Green, who received the ball outside the three-point line, shot very decisively, but his shot was slightly crooked, and the ball smashed into the basket and bounced.
Under the basket, Cousins and Frye continued to entangle, and Marcus also came up to scramble, after all, Cousins had more strength and better position, and with Channing Frei behind him, he was ready to scramble for the dropped rebounds.
Seeing the basketball fall, Cousins was about to jump, but at this moment, a figure on the side suddenly jumped out into the air, and Cousins' feet had just left the ground, and the rebound had already been taken.
"Beautiful frontcourt rebounds, Mo Jie rushed to grab the front court rebounds, Mo Jie is in good shape today, he has scored 8 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds in the first quarter!" The DJ applauded.
"Brother, aren't we the Kings' home commentators?"
The ducks in his hand flew, which undoubtedly made Cousins very unhappy, seeing that Li Mojie, who grabbed the rebound in the front court, jumped up with the ball at this time and seemed to want to attack, Cousins quickly took a step forward and jumped up, ready to directly reward Li Mojie with a hot pot.
Grabbing the rebound in the front court, Li Yang did jump up with the ball, and wanted to block after seeing Cousins jump, "Change hands? The ball he had raised in his right hand was quickly withdrawn, and then it was pushed to the side, and the basketball obediently went into the pocket.
"Oh! Well done! Kendall Jenkina, who was on the sidelines, stood up excitedly and cheered.
"Who is this girl? Looks pretty good? The audience over there in Huaxia discussed.
"I don't know, wow, it's pretty good!"
"My husband, a little foreign smashes away."
"Upstairs, you're afraid it's a big eagle cute girl?"
In the afternoon, many websites had a push: Li Mojie's girlfriend appeared and fell in love with an American star model? So inadvertently, Jenkina's little sister became famous in Huaxia earlier than she in the original world.
Hearing the applause of the audience on the court, and the kings owner daughter Ajiali on the sidelines also stared at Li Mojie with great brilliance, Cousins suddenly had his habitual bitter and bitter expression on his face, and it was obvious that he was starting to get angry.
Since he was unhappy, Cousins had to vent, and after coming to halftime, he took the initiative to pass the ball again, but this time, he was not in the low post, but in the position of a step inside the left side of the free throw line.
Although he had just eaten Frye in the low post, this round, Cousins wanted to attack with the ball head-on, and he still preferred to attack with the basket after all.
Standing in front of Cousins who holds the ball in the basket, Frye does not dare to be too careless, unlike many big men with excellent physical fitness who can only rely on others to feed the ball, Cousins has excellent offensive ability with the ball, and he can not only shoot but also dribble and break through in the basket.
Marcus Morris, who defended Jason Thompson in the bottom corner on the left side, and Gerard Green, who defended Patrick Patterson in the bottom corner on the right, also knew that Cousins' attack was excellent, so they both moved their feet slightly at this time, ready to shrink the interior defense at any time.
Cousins took the ball for a moment, then took the ball to the right and began to attack.
Breaking through, Cousins chose to break through to the right side, which means that the position in the bottom left corner will be a blind spot because of the blind spot blocked by Frye, and there is no need to worry that Cousins will give the ball to Jason Thompson in time, and Marcus Morris's shrinking defense will have no scruples.
Cousins really didn't pay attention to the position of his teammates at this time, he was immersed in the pleasure of suppressing Frye, and he had an advantage over Frye in terms of physical confrontation, so he almost pressed Frye to move inside at this time.
Cousins rushed into the paint zone with Split on his head, and was about to pull up a slam dunk on Frye's head, when he slowed down.
"It's over! Cousins has a brain fever again. The authorities were obsessed with bystanders, and Coach Mike Malone on the sidelines couldn't bear to look at it with his head covered.
Sure enough, as soon as Cousins slowed down, he found that he had been firmly caught by Marcus and Frye, and when he looked back, Gerald Green was eyeing him behind him, so how could there be room to shoot?