The Lakers' upset loss to the Grizzlies in their first game was a big surprise to people.

Lakers fans at the Staples Center had a somewhat disappointing night.

However, they are not worried, in the '09 championship season, they also lost the first game in the second round against the Rockets, and were taken first by the Houstoners.

After that, they still made it through a hard-fought tie-break, which is a test that almost any champion team has to go through on the road to the championship.

Just one night later, early the next morning, the arena staff began replacing the floor in preparation for the Clippers' game that night.

The first two games of the Western Conference semifinals were played in Los Angeles, which is a rare occurrence — in fact, for the first time in history.

The Lakers have enough samples for the playoffs, but the Clippers are too shabby.

In the past two years, there have been more and more opportunities for the Clippers and Lakers to compete in the same city.

The shadow of a big battle once again hung over the arena, and everyone knew that the battle between the Clippers and the Thunder was bound to be fierce.

It's a clash of talents, and as the best of a young team, they have to decide the winner in the semi-finals for the second year in a row.

In the pre-game interview, Kevin Durant told reporters very seriously, "We're ready, we're going to win the series." ”

There is no doubt that yesterday's Grizzlies victory gave the Thunder confidence, and the flames of revenge kept the Thunder very demoralized.

Before the game officially began, the live broadcast camera captured the audience on the sidelines, including Griffin, Jordan Jr., Conley and other Grizzlies players.

This is extremely rare in the past playoffs, because how can a team that is playing go to another city to watch another team play?

But the Grizzlies can watch the Clippers and Thunder after the game against the Lakers, maybe they can make it to the next round?

None of the Lakers players showed up at the game, and Kobe Bryant and Paul, who lost, must have found a place to practice or physiotherapy to maintain their condition.

Min booked a VIP room tonight and watched the game upstairs with Sapps Center owner Anschutz and, of course, the Clippers' new future owner, Shherie Sterling.

Unlike Donald Sterling, Shelly doesn't like to sit on the sidelines and watch the game, she likes to hide in the private room and watch everything from behind the beaded curtain.

The divorce lawsuit between Shelly and Sterling is going well, and Sterling would definitely not want to divorce before, and he wants to divide the property.

Now that Sterling knows that someone wants to him, wants him to sell the Clippers, and divorce can keep the team in the hands of "his own family", of course he agreed.

And once divorced, the sky is high and the birds fly, the sea is wide and the fish jumps, he is single and free again, and he has more reasons to find a girlfriend.

Even if he is 80 years old, as long as the wind is still there, he will still wake up as a teenager.

"Smart, you're really not authentic, building a new arena is such a big job, why don't you communicate with me? Afraid I'll rob you of your business? ”

Anschutz lit a cigar and said to Min Congda as he puffed out the smoke ring.

When it came to building a new stadium to raise funds, Min Congda never thought of asking Anschutz for help.

The Staples Center and the new arena are in competition.

Once the new arena is built, it will overtake the Stamp Center in terms of location and facilities.

Anschutz is also cold and unoptimistic about the new arena, and the $1.2 billion basketball arena is crazy.

Although Anshutz is rich, he doesn't want to wade into this troubled water, and he thinks Smart must have something wrong with his brain.

However, recently, with the peak of the Sterling incident turning around, Shelly stepped in to fully support Min Congda, and things began to turn eyebrows.

As a sports tycoon with a keen sense of smell, Anschutz didn't want to miss out on any opportunity to grow his assets.

If Min can really raise money to put the new arena into construction, whether the Clippers go bankrupt or not, the arena must be a high-quality asset.

Therefore, Anshutz, who was not interested before, was interested again, and said that Min Congda was not looking for him.

Min Congda thought to himself, did Lao Tzu ask you to deal with me before?

Min Congda smiled and said, "If you are willing to join in and invest a lot, I think the foundation of this stadium will be more solid." But at that point, the Clippers won't be paying you rent every year. ”

"That rent is nothing, the asset is permanent. Some of my friends in finance are interested in this project, but they also have some concerns about the need for the Clippers to perform better. ”

Anschutz, like many investors, is most concerned about the Clippers' results, because it means the Clippers' box office appeal, future cash flow, and profitability.

Min Congda knows that the Clippers must win in the semifinals this time, and it is a good sign to enter the Western Conference finals in a row, right?

Before the game, Min Congda participated in the Clippers' tactical preparation meeting and provided important guidance.

Of course, the tactical preparation for the Thunder is not complicated, and it is still about grasping two points: Perkins' flaws on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and the wheel war against Kevin Durant.

However, Min has made some suggestions for changes, and he believes that Brooks will definitely make adjustments tonight, and it is impossible to let Perkins' flaws be exposed and not let Durant fall into a siege.

The Thunder are likely to use Durant's defensive appeal to create more opportunities for the wing and under the basket, Durant will pass the ball, will let Westbrook drive the rhythm more, will compress Perkins' playing time, and even let Durant go inside, in the low post, ribs, to act as an offensive node.

Min Congda repeatedly watched the game between the Thunder and the Nuggets in the first round, and Durant has this ability in the playoffs, but he is not very strong.

"If the Clippers want to win the Thunder, they must return the game to the Thunder's familiar rhythm of double-and-junior singles, plus Gordon's singles on the bench, so that the Thunder's offense is completely separated. The first game of the series was set in the tone, and the Thunder couldn't be allowed to play something new, but they had to be indulged in inertia. ”

When it comes to handling tactics and the pace of the game, Min Congda is a master.

After three years of training, he has been able to see through tactics, confrontations and other things behind the surface, which is a kind of thing about the psychology of players.

Now that Min Congda plays NBA2k or LIVE games less and less, he realizes that no matter how accurate the values in the game are, they can't restore the game situation.

Because the players are human beings, the team is a collective of human beings, and everyone has their own ideas and habits.

When they have the same ideas and are accustomed to tacit understanding, this team is very combative.

But once the ideas are misaligned and each fights its own, the team's combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.

Ahead of the first game of the series, both sides will be in a state of confidence and unity.

However, as the series progresses, there will be a lot of problems that will gradually come to light, some of which seem to be tactical problems, some of which are technical, but in fact, they are more of a psychological problem.

Psychological problems cannot be simulated in the game, where the players always listen to the command and always play according to the established tactics and operations.

In reality, with the victory or defeat, personal performance and a series of events on the field, people's hearts will change subtly.

Some teams obviously cooperated well in the first game, were in good shape, and had successful tactics, but when they played in the back, all those advantages would be lost.

Because the two sides are familiar with each other, the tactics and moves are old, the players will play more and more according to inertia and instinct, and the things that the coach corrects will be slowly thrown away.

It's like two people fighting, they all put on a posture at the beginning, you are a black tiger digging out your heart, I am a white crane with bright wings, and in the end it is Wang Baquan who greets you, and even puts on bricks, folding stools, and beer bottles.

Min Congda has watched a lot of games to know this, he knows that playing with the Thunder, there are not too many fancy tactics to arrange, the Thunder rely on talent and hardness to fight you hard.

If the Thunder's tactical intent is realized, the offense and defense play smoothly, especially if the Thunder rob the home court advantage, the series will be difficult to play.

Therefore, the Thunder must be allowed to enter the game inertia of "double less and others watching, and the inside line is empty".

In this kind of inertia, the Thunder can't beat the Clippers in the regular season.

The sooner this inertia comes, the Thunder will go into a slow death, and even if they win one or two games with a double-less explosion, the series will still be held by the Clippers.

Min Congda informed Tyronn Lue and Steve Cole of these requirements and his own strategy, and both of them sighed in their hearts that Min Congda was simply Phil Jackson's second.

Phil Jackson is a master who is good at grasping the psychology of opponents and his own players, and his manipulation of the "momentum" of the game is unparalleled in the history of the NBA.

But Phil Jackson generally sees the move, directs and dispatches on the spot to respond, or makes adjustments after a game.

Like Min Congda, before the series started, he set the tone for the entire series, I don't know if it's conceit or confidence?

As coaches, Lou and Cole are also looking forward to seeing the results in the game.

The game officially started at half past seven in the evening, and under the watchful eye, the two teams jumped the ball to start the first attack.

Min Congda is keenly watching the opening attack of both sides, and the starting style is very important, which means what ideas the two sides use to start the game.

The Clippers are unchanged, and after the opening jump shot, Gasol Jr. responded to the high position, and the team's passing and cutting coordination is becoming more and more proficient.

The Thunder are still high-intensity man-to-man defense, but Curry still found a gap in the three-second zone after repeated covers, received a pass from Gasol Jr., and then distributed the ball to Paul George, who dunked and scored the first point of the series.

Perkins' ball is still a hole, because Gasol Jr. and Randolph are very open, and there must be a gap in the three-second zone.

And Perkins' lack of mobility led to his lack of timely defense.

Brooks looked at Perkins' defense and sighed in his heart.

Perkins plays very dedicatedly and has enough defensive strength, but the current style of play of the Clippers really wants the life of this kind of traditional center.

He pinned more hope on the offensive end.

In the first shot of the opening game, Westbrook and Ibaka's blocking, breaking through the middle, and distributing the ball to Durant on the wing.

Durant was caught by Gasol Jr. in the face of George's strong burst, and immediately distributed the ball to the high post Ibaka, who hit a mid-range jumper at the top of the arc.

This ball was also expected by Min Congda, at the beginning of the game, Durant was passing, wanting to use the pass to drive the team's offense.

"The core attacker will move the ball and pass the ball to break the bag", which is a necessary path on the path of the development of the attacker star in the past almost 15 years.

The reason why this time span is set at 15 years is because these 15 years are the most profitable time for superstar singles, and the position of singles with the ball is more prominent than ever in the team's offensive tactics.

Although the NBA was also a league of stars, the singles of the stars were relatively less prominent, and the two brightest superstars of the 80s, Bird and Magic, were not top singles.

Although Jordan is the one who created this situation, and may be the strongest singles player in NBA history, you will know that he has very few singles in the regular season and relatively easy games.

That is, around the 21st century, there will be a large number of one-on-one singles in strong confrontation games, from O'Neal to Duncan to Kobe Bryant to Iverson, James, and even Yao Ming and Maddie, singles with the ball have become a landscape on the court.

Fans love to watch because it looks good, teams love to use it because it's easy to use, the league encourages it, and the stars play singles with high efficiency.

However, no matter how much the league encourages the operation of singles, which is obviously anti-team, the game still follows the basic rules.

It takes five people to win, so a good singles player must have excellent ball and passing skills to lead the team to victory.

Durant is on that path, and Brooks believes this year's playoffs will be a year of true transformation for Durant.

Durant's assists per game increased from 3.5 in the regular season to four in the first-round series, and he struggled to help his team in ways other than scoring.

That's what a lot of NBA stories say anyway, like Kobe Bryant, when he learns to share the ball, victory and success beckon.

The Thunder played well at the beginning, and the Clippers offense was also very smooth, the two sides went back and forth, the offensive efficiency was quite high, and the score was climbing all the way.

At the end of the first quarter, the two sides were tied at 30:31, the Clippers led by one point, and Durant did not score in the first quarter, he has been assisting, passing, and delivering 4 assists, which is already the average of the last series.

He's feeling good too, it's like the whole team is driven by him, he's got the defence, his team-mates are open, he's got the pass, the ball goes in, everything goes pretty smoothly.

In the second quarter, there were some changes in the game, and the Clippers suddenly began to defend a joint defense to contain the Thunder's sudden score.

At the same time, Randolph made a series of strong attacks in the low post, and the Clippers played a small 7:0 climax of the Thunder, and the difference instantly stretched to 8 points.

This is an important piece of advice given by Min Congda at the pre-game preparation meeting, to use joint defense in a timely manner to change the situation on the court and make the Thunder uncomfortable.

Thunder must take the move, what trick to use?

Can Durant think of any tactics to use to break down the defense?

Of course, you can, just find a 45-degree flank gap by transferring the ball in time and shoot directly for three points.

Shooting three-pointers is the best way to break down the defense, or having a pass-type center near the free-throw line to respond, which the Thunder don't have.

So, Durant tried to respond, directing his teammates to run, looking for open passes, and allowing his teammates to score three-pointers.

This requires a good chemistry between him and Westbrook.

As a result, after a timeout, Westbrook rushed into the three-second zone with the ball in his hand and challenged Gasol Jr.

was surrounded by a circle, a pass error, the Clippers counterattacked, Leonard swept through the half court like a wind, and easily dunked after receiving the ball.

Durant ran over and could only take the ball to serve in the backcourt, and shouted at Westbrook: "Be smart, joint defense, don't rush, pass the ball well." ”

Westbrook nodded, but thought to himself, there was a chance to score directly under the basket just now......

The difference suddenly came to 10 points.

At this time, Durant and the Thunder coaching staff suddenly missed James Harden a little.

If he is there, won't there be the one who commands the joint defense in the center?

(End of chapter)