"Whew...... Call...... Call...... Whew......"

Gu Yu and others, after "unauthorized training" at the team's central training ground, that night.

Equipment room.

"One more set, hold on, one more set! You can Paul, hold on!! ”

The trainer is accompanying George on the final set of strength exercises of the day.

George gasped, his arms trembled slightly, his muscles tensed, and all his energy was focused on the barbell in front of him.

It's been quite a long time since the restorative exercises began.

George knew very well that the team needed him very much, and Gu Yu and Wei Shao needed him very much. Without him, although the team's offensive firepower can be topped by Beasley and Vitesse, the defensive end is extremely stressful.

Now the lineup of the Kings, except for Gu Yu and Green, the defense of the other three positions is very unreliable. Wei Shao's defense is notoriously one match and no one, and the offense is smooth, and Wei Shao can contribute world-class defensive pressure. But if the offense doesn't go well, he will be full of thoughts about counterattacking, and from time to time he will rush into a steal, and the opponent will seize the opportunity to pass.

In the face of Paul, this is already quite bad. Fortunately, Paul is a little short after all, even if he has an offensive strength of 20 points per game, his shooting is extremely accurate. But it really depends on Paul's scoring explosion to win, and it's not the way the Clippers win.

In the next round, Wei Shao's opponent will be Evans, George and others don't know how much strength Evans has now, judging from the data, it seems that the rookie is the peak. But Gu Yu had a different view on this.

"He's just made some sacrifices for the system, to pass the ball to me and DeMarcus and free up shots, he's suppressed his offensive ability and is more of a playmaker. This is actually quite incompatible with his playing style and technical characteristics, and only by giving him the right to fire will his ability be magnified to the maximum. ”

Gu Yu said.

In Gu Yu's opinion, Evans's strength is far stronger than the data reflects, but his unstable shooting style is really a bit out of place in the current era. Specially designed tactics for him, playing with him as the core, his ability is not enough to support the whole team, and the positioning is more awkward.

But if the coach of a team is willing to let the stars handle the problems themselves, not interfere too much in the system, and only find ways to maximize the individual attack power of the players. Evans still has the ability to return to averaging 20 or even 25 points per game at any time.

Regardless of whether Gu Yu's opinion is accurate or not, at least looking at the game data of the Thunder this season, Evans is indeed far stronger than people think.

It was also around 20 points that Paul had to take an individual attack when the tactics were not working well. Evans, on the other hand, simply wants to attack and want to play alone.

Among the strong teams in the league, how many coaches do not have their own fixed tactical system, and basically rely on the players on the field?

Brooks, it seems, is the only answer.

"Hmm...... Coach Brooks pays more attention to things like defense, rebounding, and fighting spirit, and gives a lot of freedom in offensive tactics. Wei Shao commented on his former coach: "I don't know now, anyway, when I was in Oklahoma, the core focus of offensive tactics was to find a way to give the ball to Kevin or me, send us to the singles starting point that we are best at, and then ...... Uh, whatever we can throw ......"

This is also in line with the outside world's evaluation of Coach Brooks, who is very talented in tapping potential, always able to make young players grow in the shortest possible time, and is somewhat influenced by his open-minded offensive coaching mentality.

Today's Thunder, Evans' impact is obviously weaker than Wei Shao. But in addition to Evans, there is also Cousins such a strong point. With the addition of Durant, the singles point configuration above three levels is passable. Paired with two defensive giants, such a configuration is simply tailored to Brooks' tactics.

In addition, the Kings' starting center is still McGee, and although Bynum is already able to play, his physical recovery has not yet reached its best. For the most part, Bynum was the leader of the second team, leading the transition with Thomas Jr.

McGee's defensive breakthrough player is very effective, after all, the height and arm span are all there, and there are few people in the league who jump higher than him.

But as we all know, McGee's small body is defending a real big man with a back body, and that's called a tragedy. The defensive lack of concentration and the weakness of being prone to desertion are easy to exploit by the well-rounded Cousins. If you really want to face Cousins, McGee's only chance of winning is probably to find a way to get angry with Cousins who is trash-talking, and then explode himself......

It seems that the combat effectiveness is not far apart, but it is only because of injury problems that the Thunder and the Kings, who have a huge gap in performance, are actually at a great disadvantage in terms of position.

As it stands, in the regular season, the Thunder's Big Three's stats are quite beautiful.

Durant averaged 32 points per game, Evans averaged 19 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game, Cousins has averaged 22 points and 11 rebounds per game, and as a center, he can also average nearly 4 assists per game, which is also very surprising.

The trio's offensive positions do not overlap each other, and Durant prefers to hold the ball on the right side, starting to play alone from around the three-point line. Cousins is accustomed to playing from the left side of the ribs, with his back to the single or turning to the mid-court frame. Evans is the counter-attacking arrow, and the dagger with the ball at the top of the middle arc to call for a pick-and-roll and go directly into the opponent's penalty area.

With a near-perfect offensive set-up and two defensive stalwarts of Serge Ibaka and Safrosha, and a slew of players off the bench, it's no surprise that the Thunder will be the team with the best chance of breaking Philadelphia's four-year dominance of the NBA by almost all fans around the world.

What's even more terrifying is that after entering the playoffs, Brooks, who insisted on rotating with a smaller number of people and being the main force, focused more on the team's Big Three. All three core players have seen a significant increase in playing time, as well as an increase in the number of shots taken and the number of balls handled.

This has also created the Thunder Big Three, extremely appalling playoff data.

Kevin Durant averaged 33 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists per game, DeMarcus Cousins averaged 24 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists per game, and Tyrek Evans averaged 20 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists per game. The Oklahoma City Thunder, relying on these three stars alone, is enough to sweep the league. In the next round, facing the Kings who entered the Western Conference Finals as a dark horse, the new hatred and old hatred, the new king and the old master, so many emotional entanglements love and kill each other, and they can't change the final outcome. ”

Finally finishing the strength exercise, George sat up gasping for breath, enjoying the trainer's muscle massage while watching the show play on the TV in the equipment room, and fell into deep thought.

"Of our 17 expert predictions on ESPN, all 17 predict that the Thunder will advance. Ten of them think the series will be over in four games, which means the Thunder will complete the sweep. The 4 believe that the series will be played to a maximum of 5 games, and the Thunder Gentlemen will sweep. The two thought the series would be played to six, with the Thunder advancing. Only one thought the Kings would be able to drag the series to Game 7, but it would end in defeat as well. ”

The words spoken by the host, although cruel, are indeed a fact that is about to happen in the minds of most people.

Wei Shao may be slightly better than Evans, and Gu Yu can completely blow up Safrosa, these two points can be regarded as the advantage of the Kings.

But Cousins vs. McGee? Durant singles Beasley?

Can you imagine how brutal that picture would be?

Green and Ibaka, compared with each other at this time, are still in the middle of the match, and even Ibaka, who has had a miracle of 11 shots, may be slightly better.

The key is that in the systems of the two teams, the requirements for the No. 4 position are almost the same: the ability to open up space, the ability to pass the ball, the ability to block and dismantle, and most importantly, the ability to defend strongly.

In addition to passing, in terms of other abilities, Green, who is in his second year of rookie, cannot be compared with Ibaka at all.

In this way, the Kings are 2-3 in the matchup competition for the five positions.

"The most frightening thing is not the disadvantage in terms of position. It's a question of how much strength can be exerted at the point of absolute advantage. ”

In the TV screen, sitting next to the host is the famous NBA expert Bill Simmons: "The absolute advantage of the two teams, the Thunder has two, Durant and Cousins, and the King has only one, which is the cousin, or according to what fans prefer now - Doctor Strange." ”

"Looking at these counterpoints, it's easy to see the problem. The number is secondary, and Cousins and his cousin are facing players who are good defensively. Among them, McGee's defense can only be said to be okay, but the style is just controlled by Kosinsk. In my opinion, Cousins, whether he is facing McGee's defense or the defense of weak chickens, will not have much impact on his offensive play. ”

It's good that Javier didn't see this!

George couldn't help but smile at the corner of his mouth, imagining how angry McGee would be if he heard this.

"It's not the same with my cousin, Safrosa is a defender with no dead ends. Strength, agility, speed, reflexes, skill, awareness are all refined. Simmons continued: "I'm certainly not saying that Safrosa can defend against his cousin, that's impossible, I'm saying that Safrosa will be able to cause more trouble to his cousin than McGee has caused Cousins. ”

And the Thunder are not only Safrosa who can play against his cousin, but also the experience and offensive power of Kaloon Butler, the unstinting personality, the projection and impact of Lamb, and the defensive strength of Andre Roberson, who will soon become the league's outside super gate, are all problems that my cousin must solve. As for Durant, playing Beasley alone is as simple as playing air. ”

As he spoke, Simmons' expression became more and more serious, and he said solemnly to the TV screen: "If I were Phil Jackson, if the King really wanted to fight again, Paul George, you, it's time to make a comeback." ”

"What are you seeing?!"

Just when George was awakened by Simmons' words, and his thoughts were numb, Gu Yu's voice rang out.

"Ah...... It's nothing! ”

George hurriedly turned off the TV, and when he looked back, Gu Yu was just outside the door of the instrument room, looking at him with his ears pinched.

"The old man of the winged bucket said that he wanted to find the two of us and go together." Gu Yu waved his hand.

“…… Well! As if he had made up his mind, George nodded heavily, and then got up.

Towards his own glorious moment.