Chapter 26: The Best Rookie in the West
After the win over the Nuggets, the Clippers returned home to face the Pacers. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ļ½ļ½ļ½Uļ½Eć ļ½ļ½ļ½ļ½
The Pacers have always been a powerhouse and have been in the playoffs all year round. After the retirement of Reggie Miller last season, the Pacers' strength has weakened a bit, but they still have star players such as Megeyne O'Neal, Artest, and Stephen Jackson, and their strength should not be underestimated.
In terms of starting strength, the Clippers were the weak side, O'Neal Jr. completely suppressed Brand, and defensive expert Artest suppressed Mobley's impact, and the two scoring mainstays were almost invisible, allowing the Clippers to end the first quarter with a six-point deficit at 28:22.
In the second quarter, Liu Su and Stephen Jackson led the two benches to start a scoring battle. The Pacers' arrangement of Jackson to play the sixth man is also based on the Clippers' lineup, and now all teams in the league know that the Clippers' bench bandits are very powerful, especially when they can't defend Liu Su, it is not a problem to score more than 40 points in almost one quarter.
At the same time, Jackson also has the task of defending Liu Su, and as a swingman for the guard, Jackson's defense is also good. Although the speed can't keep up with Liu Su, it won't fall too far, and the ultra-long arm span can also make up for the lack of speed.
Of course, the effect is not very great, but the Pacers do not have too good candidates to defend Liu Su. On the offensive end, Jackson is about to face Rose, and in the face of this defensive expert, Jackson's offensive ability is suppressed, but fortunately, the shooting percentage of other players is very high, otherwise he will definitely be overtaken by the Clippers.
The Pacers have always been known for their three-point pairs, especially during the Larry Bird and Reggie Miller years, when the team's star for a long time was a super three-pointer. As a result, the Pacers shot higher than the average team, and even after Reggie Miller retired, their legacy was kept.
The Clippers' current lineup still has certain flaws, that is, the attack range of the power forward is too small, Brand, David Lee, and Singleton can't pull the inside line, and they can't reach beyond the free throw line.
At the beginning of the third quarter, Carman sat on the bench, Brera Xia pulled to the bottom left corner, and Brandra went outside the right side of the box, so that the Pacers' box was empty, and Liu Su and Mobley could score when they entered the box.
O'Neal Jr. let go of Brand to make up the defense, then Brand would easily score, and all of a sudden, the Pacers' defense had problems.
Third quarter, sixth minute. Kassel replaced Liu Su and continued to implement the tactics just now. Although Cassel is not as good as Liu Su physically, he can technically explode with the Pacers' point guard, and after entering the restricted area, it will be difficult for the Pacers.
At the end of the third quarter, the Clippers led by four points. At the start of the fourth quarter, Mobley exploded. Broke through the Pacers' defense in a row, entered the restricted area, scored eight points in a row and handed out two assists, one for Brand's mid-range shot and one for Breraxia's three-pointer.
In the fourth minute, Mobley's condition began to be poor, and Dunleavy Sr. replaced him with Liu Su, replacing Mobley to take on the task of impacting the inside.
In the end, the Clippers won the game 112-98. Mobley had 32 points and 6 assists, Brand had 20 points and 13 rebounds, and Liu Su had 19 points and 21 assists.
A day apart, the Clippers flew to Minnesota to challenge the Timberwolves. This is the third time they have played the Timberwolves this month, and both sides know their enemies very well, especially in the last meeting, when Garnett elbowed Carman and injured Margety.
This time the Clippers came for revenge, and most of them were very excited, with sharp offense and hard defense, and the game ended in the third quarter.
That's why Garnett broke out, and the rest of the Timberwolves were really not angry, Garnett scored 47 points in the third quarter, but the team lost by 22 points at 76-98.
It's a bit difficult to chase 22 in the first quarter, not to mention that in the third quarter of the game, Radmanovic felt hot. It was Radmanovic's first good performance, scoring 32 points at the end of the game.
After this game, the Clippers' November game is all done. The next day, the NBA officially announced the November honors, and Liu Su won the best rookie in the West with 21.6 points and 14.3 assists.
Among the rookies in 2005, Liu Su really took the lead. There are only a few rookies who perform well, and although the champion Bogut is not watery, he is not very strong.
Marvin Williams is relatively worse and is not far from parallel trading.
Delong is also not bad, and is completely worthy of Tanhua's ranking.
Paul's performance is very good, ranking second among rookies, but he belongs to the Western Division and can only be relegated to Liu Su.
The rookies behind are also so-so, occasionally one or two surprises, but they are too far from the best rookie. Felton, Channing Fry, Villanueva, Bynum, Granger, Green, Nate Robinson, Rutherhead, David Lee, Turiaf, Monta Ellis, Ryan Gomez, and Bresy Wright all have that potential.