Chapter 253: Western Conference Finals
Playing run and bomb with the Thunder, the likely result is that the Clippers themselves are run to death, it is better to continue to play defensive counterattack tactics steadily, anyway, the Clippers' own defensive ability is also the top in the league.
If you think about it, it's true, Wang Cannon goes to defend Durant, Paul guards Westbrook, and Harden gives the best sixth man Harden to Matthews, if these three guys are restricted, no one in the Thunder can make any more waves.
As for the Thunder's power forward Ibaka, maybe he has good blocking ability, but on the offensive end, he doesn't do much.
Therefore, the tactics deployed by Negro against the Thunder are still the tactics that the Clippers used for a season in the regular season, one-on-one marking on the defensive end and blocking and dismantling tactics on the offensive end.
In the league, most people are generally optimistic about the Clippers, although the Thunder is very strong, but after all, the age of the players is too young, Durant is 23 years old, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka are only 21 years old, such a youth army can go to the Western Conference Finals is quite a precious thing. On the other hand, looking at the Clippers, Paul is 26 years old, Wang Cannon is 26 years old, Griffin is 23 years old, among the three main players, only Griffin is not very experienced in the playoffs, and the other two, Paul needless to say, Wang Cannon was the MVP of last year's Finals.
Therefore, in the eyes of many people, the Clippers and the Thunder are probably more likely to win.
The first game between the two teams began at Staples, the home court of the Clippers, and the Clippers outtook the Thunder in the final minute of the regular season, which also brought the home advantage to the Clippers' side.
It is worth mentioning that this home game also allowed the players of the Clippers to finally experience what a real home court is like.
Previously, because of the Lakers fans and the guys, the Clippers started with the first round against the Mavericks. The home stadium is not what a home stadium should look like, and there are always guys in golden half-sleeves who spoil the atmosphere of the home stadium.
The Lakers were eliminated, which made many Lakers fans disheartened, and naturally they didn't have the leisure to go to the Clippers' home court to wreak havoc.
Therefore, the current Clippers home court, a bright red half-sleeve like a wave of the scene finally made the Clippers players feel what kind of mood it is to fight at home. (I was wrong before.) The home court of the Clippers should be a fan half-sleeve should be red instead of white, and I will mention it here, because it is too troublesome to modify, so I will not change the front. )
Perhaps because they finally experienced what home-court advantage looks like, the Clippers' players were in quite good shape at the beginning of the game, scoring 13 points in the first quarter, Paul 8 points and 4 assists, Griffin 6 points, and the Clippers' Big Three combined to score 27 points in the first quarter. Combined with a three-pointer from Matthews, the Clippers scored a total of 30 points in the first quarter.
In contrast, the Thunder are a bit constrained.
It's not because the Thunder were intimidated by the Clippers' home atmosphere, the Thunder had previously played against a team like the Spurs with the Devil's home court, how could they be intimidated by the Clippers' home court? The main reason why the performance is not good is that the main force of the Thunder turned out to be dumb in the first quarter!
That's right, Durant, Westbrook. Harden, the three guys known as the Thunder's three less, were all mediocre in the first quarter. Durant made 1 of 5 shots and scored 5 points in the first quarter with a foul. Westbrook was even more unlucky, missing none of his 6 shots, and worse, he also made 3 turnovers, like an undercover Clippers, if not for the free throws to score 2 points. Westbrook was about to swallow zero eggs in the first quarter.
Among the three less, Harden's table is slightly better, but it is only a little better, and under Matthews' defense, Harden's table is also unsatisfactory. He made two of five shots, including a three-pointer, and made another foul for a total of seven points in the first quarter.
The Clippers' Big Three scored 27 points, while the Thunder's Big Three scored just 14, and the gap was already obvious.
Those who watched the game on the court could see that the main reason why the Thunder Sanshao played so well was because their defensive players were too strong.
Harden was marked by Matthews, Westbrook was watched by Paul, and Durant was defended by the first defensive man in the league today.
Durant looked at the guy defending himself in front of him with a headache, he wanted to stand up and help the team at this time, but Durant had no way to face this guy.
Compared with strength, Durant can't catch up with Wang Cannon, compared to speed, Durant's speed is not as fast as Wang Cannon, the first point that Durant and Wang Cannon have the most advantage in alignment is height, but this advantage can have little effect under Wang Cannon's excellent jump.
Durant didn't think about pretending to shoot to trick Wang Cannon into jumping and then throwing him off to hit the inside, but whenever he did this, Wang Cannon was not fooled at all, and more importantly, whenever he got the ball, Wang Cannon would always stick up to his whole body, making it difficult for him to stand firm, let alone make other moves.
This depressed feeling is not the first time Durant has encountered it, since Wang Cannon joined the league last season, Durant knows that he has met his nemesis, every time Danfan plays with Wang Cannon's team, whether it is the Heat or the Clippers, as long as Wang Cannon comes to defend himself, he rarely scores more than 20 points.
It's not that Durant hasn't thought about how to deal with Wang Cannon's defense, but as soon as these ideas come to the court, they become useless when they encounter Wang Cannon's tight defense.
What makes Durant even more annoyed is that Wang Cannon can limit his offense well every time, but when he changes to defend Wang Cannon, he has no way to face Wang Cannon's offense.
Wang Dacang is so shameless, he never has to shoot far when he fights with himself, every time he gets the ball, he is a brainless breakthrough, a breakthrough, or a breakthrough.
What tonnage player is King Cannon? Even a muscular man like Ci Shiping can barely resist the breakthrough of Wang Cannon, how can Durant, a bamboo pole, withstand Wang Cannon?
Durant's resentful eyes looked at the dunks that broke through himself again and again and rushed into the interior, and he wanted to step forward to block but always felt that he was blocking the car with his mantis arm, which was meaningless.
In this case, they generally choose to change defenses, but damn it, Durant can only switch defenses with Ibaka if he changes defenses. Going from a defensive king cannon to a defensive griffin doesn't really make a difference.
Although Griffin is not as good as Wang Cannon in terms of strength, he is more efficient in using his strength, even if the height difference between the two is not big, but Durant can't stand Griffin from asking for the ball on the inside and playing alone.
There was little to contribute on the offensive end, and the defensive end became a colander. Durant, the big boss of the Thunder, has completely turned into a soy sauce player at this moment.
Fortunately, the second boss of the Thunder is even worse than the big boss.
Westbrook's potential is quite high, his physicality is excellent, his athleticism is top-notch, and his outstanding performance in the regular season and playoffs also indicates that this stunned young man will be one of the superstars in the point guard world of the future.
But that's the future after all, and the current league, in the point guard position, really doesn't have a player who can compete with Paul.
Maybe Deron who was under Sloan in the first two years can give it a try, but Delon who is now running to the Nets is slightly inferior to Westbrook. Not to mention Paul?
Paul may not be as good as Westbrook compared to physical, but in terms of experience, Westbrook may not be as good as Paul, especially in the playoffs, Westbrook was completely suppressed by Paul in this game.
Shots were interfered with, breakaways were blocked, and even passes were stealed by Paul. It's something Westbrook hasn't encountered in the previous playoffs.
Westbrook's first two opponents, one was the Grizzlies' Mike. Conley one is Tony of the Spurs. Parker. Although these two point guards are very good, especially Parker's ability does not belong to Westbrook, their defensive ability is much worse than Paul's.
It is the first time Westbrook has encountered a well-rounded point guard like Paul in the playoffs, and his state will inevitably be affected, plus Westbrook is a bit of a paranoid like Kobe, and I still have to beat you if I can't beat you. So his play is much worse than Durant's.
The three main players all played poorly, and Thunder's head coach Brooks didn't have a good way, calling several timeouts in a row, but he couldn't move the situation back, so halfway through the fourth quarter. He took the initiative to replace all the substitutes, saying that he had given up the first game.
Seeing that Brooks was so knowledgeable, Negro naturally wouldn't break the rules of the circle without giving face, so he also changed to a substitute lineup.
The first game between the two teams ended tepidly, and the Clippers fans were very happy with the result of the game, in their opinion, the Clippers won the game easily without even making any big effort, and the Thunder did not even manage to tie the score once.
When playing with the Lakers, the Lakers can still rely on their strong interior strength to find a breakthrough, although the overall strength of the Thunder is stronger than the Lakers, but they do not have any bull fork inside, although the Thunder backcourt strength is quite strong, but it can't stand the Clippers' backcourt strength is stronger.
After the game, both Durant and Westbrook said that they would try to adapt to the rhythm of the game against the Clippers in the next game, and guaranteed that the next game will be much better than this game, and strive to win a game on the Clippers' home court.
But whether they can say they can do it is unknown.
In Wang Cannon's own opinion, the Thunder is much easier to deal with than the Lakers.
It is also much less difficult to have an unbridled Durant than it is to prevent Kobe Bryant.
It's not that the current Durant doesn't have Kobe Bryant, in fact, the current Durant has completed the transcendence of Kobe Bryant's predecessor in terms of pure scoring ability, and the laurels of several consecutive scoring champions can fully prove this.
However, Durant has a great disadvantage compared to Kobe, that is, he has been in the league for too short, so that until now, Durant has not cultivated a super trick of his own.
Durant has surpassed Kobe Bryant in all aspects, his mid-range shot, long shot, and breakthrough ability have surpassed the current Kobe, but he does not have a move that can make Wang Cannon helpless, relying on this alone, in the face of Wang Cannon's defense, Durant has no way at all.
After all, the king cannon is open and can't be treated in a conventional way. Defensive ability at full value is not something that Durant can cope with with ordinary offensive moves.
In the second game between the Clippers and the Thunder, the Thunder made a very positive attempt, and Durant actively ran throughout the court, seeking help from blocking and pick-and-roll, trying to get rid of Wang Cannon's defense.
However, the effect is unsatisfactory, and Durant's speed is not as fast as Wang's cannon. Even if he takes the lead, he will soon be caught up by Wang Cannon, as for the blocking, every time Wang Cannon encounters a block, there is only one way to deal with it most of the time, and that is to push away the person who blocks and dismantles.
Of course, Wang Cannon will not be stupid to push with his hands, usually he uses his chest to push it, and the blocker will stand unsteadily. Automatically get out of the way.
After all, Durant has tried so much, and there have been more or less several times to get rid of Wang Cannon. However, the score that Durant got was a little bad compared to Wang Cannon.
In the second game, Negro continued to follow the tactics he insisted on in the previous game, playing a steady positional battle, and the Clippers' strong defense still made the Thunder helpless, although the Thunder Sanshao in this game was much more adaptable than the previous game. But it's still not enough.
Durant scored 25 points and Westbrook 22. Harden scored 16 points, and the three young men combined to score 63 points, but it still didn't help, because the Clippers' Big Three were even more perverted.
Wang Cannon felt better in this game than the previous game, scoring 42 points in a single game, and Paul scored 20 points. And Griffin also has 24 points, and the Clippers' Big Three score a full 86 points, and the victory and defeat are self-evident.
Easily won 2:0, and the Clippers also let the league see how strong they really are.
Originally, this season, the biggest favorites to win the championship were the Heat. The name of the Heat Big Three has already been played out early.
But the Clippers' playoff performance has made many people unsure who the championship will be.
The Clippers' Big Three played really well in the playoffs, Wang Cannon averaged 30+15 rebounds per game, Paul averaged 18+11 assists per game, and Griffin averaged 20+10 rebounds per game.
In contrast, even the Heat, who claim to have the most gorgeous Big Three, look a lot worse in this regard.
In the playoffs, the Heat's James averaged 28 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists per game with a quasi-triple-double, which was no less than Wang Cannon, but the tables of Wade and Bosh were much worse.
Wade's body this season is not as good as before, and he averages only 22 points per game in the playoffs, which is not at all the heroic style of the Flash, as for the Dragon King Bosh, don't mention it, he averages 15 points and 8 rebounds per game, although it is not a pit, but it is really inappropriate to call him a giant.
What's more critical is that the Heat's bench lineup is much weaker than the Clippers, after all, the Heat does not have a defensive titan like Clippers center Jordan Jr., nor an excellent bench like Bledsofoye.
Although the finals of the East and West are not over yet, many people can already guess that the teams facing each other in the finals should be the Clippers and the Heat.
The Clippers currently lead the Thunder 2-0 and have no way to fight back, while the Heat in the East is the old enemy Celtics, and the score is also 2-0.
If the Clippers eliminated the Thunder and the Heat eliminated the Celtics, then the two teams would meet in the Finals.
Being able to fight with his teammates last year in the finals is also a more interesting thing for Wang Dacang.
For this reason, Wang Cannon also specially checked, in the history of the NBA, there has never been an example like Wang Cannon, after one team won the championship, he came to another team to grab the championship with his old club in the first season.
If he can extinguish the heat and win the championship, Wang Cannon will undoubtedly set a record of his own.
While consulting the information, an idea suddenly rose in Wang Dacang's mind for no reason, "If I can create a dynasty of my own, what kind of effect will it be?" ”
Won the championship in the Heat last year, won the championship in the Clippers this year, and went to another team next year to lead them to win the championship, so Wang Cannon can be regarded as winning a three-consecutive championship dynasty, right?
Of course, this kind of thing Wang Cannon immediately vetoed as soon as he thought of it, because it was basically impossible.
If nothing else, is it so easy to win a championship?
Wang Cannon knows his teammates last year too well, and the Heat is very clear about how strong Wang Cannon is, so he understands that if the Clippers want to win the championship, the difficulty is really not ordinary.
Taking a step back, even if Wang Cannon does win the championship with the Clippers this year, which team will Wang Cannon go to next season after jumping out of his contract?
Which team with the ability to win the championship is not the team that is about to touch the salary cap? Wang Cannon wants to pay the highest salary, which those powerful teams can't provide him with at all. Since he has the highest salary, Wang Cannon will not be able to join those powerful teams.
Although Wang Dacang is conceited, he is not arrogant enough that he can lead a group of pig-like teammates to the finals and win the championship alone.
This kind of thing has been tried and failed by many people, including Jordan, Kobe, James, and there have been many, many people who have confirmed that the game of basketball is a game of five people, not one person. (To be continued......)