The Clippers have met opponents in this series.

The Spurs in the first round are old after all, and the Thunder in the second round are dead.

Now judging from the lineup and experience, the Lakers are more restrained from the Clippers.

How do the two young men of the class of '09 in the backcourt respond adequately to a scoring guard who is second in history and a 183 man who is known as the "God of Point Guard"?

After all, the playoffs are still a battlefield for superstars, and the Clippers have superstar embryos, but they are not mature enough.

Curry has grown into one of the league's best outside scorers this season.

His accurate three-point shooting and maverick long-range shooting are amazing.

It has become extremely popular among young fans in California, as evidenced by jersey sales.

He is like a fire on the court, and he can quickly burn the opponent's Nets with a meteor-like three-point shot.

And he has a vital place in the Clippers' outside offensive system.

However, his consistency needs to be improved, and the defense needs to be strengthened.

Harden and Curry complement each other, with a well-rounded body and a smart and calm mind.

He believes that slow is fast, makes good use of time differences, is physically strong, and has a strong ability to digest balls.

Although he has a rough appearance, he is actually delicate and clever in style, and makes good use of rules.

He's as calm as water when he's on the floor, and with Harden on the Clippers, he's solid on offense.

The disadvantages are also a lack of consistency, not fast enough to defend, and average aggression.

At half-time, Tyronn Lue was making tactical arrangements, and he kept looking through the small note Min Congda left for him.

But these notes were all left over from the last round of Thunder.

Before this Western Finals, Min Congda did not have a preparation meeting with the coaching staff.

Without Min Congda's guidance, everything became blurred.

The coaching staff deliberated for a long time, but did not give a definite strategy to deal with it, only a general direction.

However, with what Tyronn Lue and Steve Kerr know about Jackson, they can roughly guess the strategy that the Lakers are going to implement.

Jackson will definitely shrink his gambling touch, and Jackson will definitely make the most of the individual abilities of Paul and Kobe.

Jackson's strategy worked in the closing stages of the first half, and the Clippers needed to make a damn three-pointer in the first place to turn things around.

If you can't score, all your efforts will be in vain.

"We only hit two three-pointers in the first half and we had to be more determined! If the shot is missed, the Lakers will further shrink their defense and give the opponent more opportunities to counterattack quickly. The threes are our lifeline, and the frontcourt rebounds, and everybody has to be in the race for the frontcourt rebounds. ”

Tyronn Lue has a riskier move in the midfield, which is to rush to the front court to rebound.

The Lakers are aging, the Clippers are young, and hitting the frontcourt rebounds can sometimes have unexpected effects.

Of course, there are side effects, once the opponent firmly protects the rebound, the opponent's counterattack will be more ferocious.

After all, the focus is on rushing for frontcourt rebounds, and the retreat defense will be greatly affected.

Towards the end of the break, Kerr said to Tyronn Lue: "Wouldn't it be a little too risky to rush for a frontcourt rebound?" ”

Taryn Ludau: "We're the younger, more impactful one, and it's worth a try. ”

"But... The Lakers don't make this kind of low-level mistake, and they have good rebounding protection. ”

"I know, but we're counting more on Curry and Harden. They're going to have to deal with Kobe Bryant and Paul. ”

"It's not a level that can be achieved overnight... We should have made more adjustments in the second half. ”

"I'll do it when the game is played...... Mr. Smart didn't know what he was thinking, why didn't he seem to pay so much attention to Xidu? In the semi-finals, I made a lot of preparations with everyone. ”

Tyronn Lue couldn't help but complain that the semi-finals would be extremely well prepared because of Min Congda's participation.

It's not that what Min Congda said is all right, but there is such a backbone who is full of words, and everything is arranged very properly and firmly.

Everyone will play according to the strategy and tactics prepared before the game, dismantle the Thunder team from many aspects on and off the court, and finally easily take out a strong opponent.

Now that he has met the more old and spicy Lakers, Min Congda will not participate in the meeting, Tyronn Lue calls Min Congda, and Min Congda says that he is busy.

Min Congda also said, "I spend millions a year to invite you to come here just to coach this team well, and if you let me participate in the preparation meeting, will you give me a little money?" ”

Tyronn Lue wanted to say that he would divide you in half, but he still didn't say anything after thinking about it.

In fact, he didn't know, if he said it, Min Congda would really come to help him make tactical preparations.

Without the backbone, Tyronn Lue and Kerr are the two-headed coaches, and in theory, the final decision lies with Tyronn Lue, but in fact, Kerr has a lot of say in the offense.

But this guy Cole didn't speak when he was preparing for the game, saying that everything was decided by Tyronn Lue, which made Coach Lu feel uneasy.

He thought to himself, this guy Cole won't stumble himself in the West, right? Deliberately working and not working, wanting the Clippers to lose?

If the Clippers lose in the Western Conference finals, Tyronn Lue will definitely be criticized, and it is difficult to say whether he will be out of class.

After all, last season was the Western Finals, and if you stand still this season, your face will not look good after all.

After a tough first round and a confident second round, the Clippers are looking to go one step further.

With a sense of unease, Tyronn Lue returned to the court with the players to prepare for the start of the third quarter.

The Clippers have always been strong in the third quarter, and often beat opponents through in the third quarter in the regular season.

Because by the third quarter, the intensity will be raised by a notch.

After adapting in the first half, the form came out in the third quarter.

But the Clippers made a mistake as soon as they came up in the third quarter.

Gasol Jr. and Curry's pick-and-roll, down the pass, were destroyed by Gerard Wallace.

Bryant took the ball to control the speed, and suddenly a high lob pass to Bynum, who cut inside.

Bynum asked for the ball deep under the basket, and Gasol Jr. had to foul it, otherwise the ball would have been an easy dunk.

The third quarter started unfavorably, and Tyronn Lue, who was not yet hot on the bench, stood up in a hurry and watched the game from the sidelines.

He didn't have the patience of Zen master Jackson, sitting motionless on the bench from beginning to end, and that kind of calm and leisure was not available to everyone.

Cole looked at Tyronn Lue's anxious appearance, and there was a subtle sense of comfort in his heart.

Although the relationship between the two has long been eased and the daily cooperation is good, they can't be true friends and collaborators after all.

Kerr is ambitious, and the Clippers are a springboard for him.

If the Clippers can make it to the Finals and win the championship, it will be a good thing for him.

But if he can't make it to the Finals and stays put, then he may replace Tyronn Lue as head coach.

So he and Tyronn Lue have always been in a relationship that is both cooperative and competitive.

For most of the season, he discovered that Tyronn Lue's main skills were focused on relationships and emotional intelligence.

He has a pretty good relationship with the Clippers players, especially with Harden, who is said to be singing night after night under the guidance of Tyronn Lue.

Fortunately, this guy is young and strong, otherwise he has to train and play, and he has to indulge in pleasure, how can he afford it?

The team pursues a large rotation of 12 players, and Tyronn Lue can be described as rain and dew, so that every player can get a chance to play.

This is unique in the NBA and allows key stars and role players to play team basketball.

Even the San Antonio Spurs have in the team from time to time, and Popovich's strategy is to send them away.

Tyronn Lue can pinch the whole team together, and of course he knows that he has Smart behind him, and this general manager is the ballast stone of the Clippers.

But apart from this merit, in terms of tactical thinking, on-the-spot command, Taryn Lupin is unremarkable and has no bright spots.

During the regular season, it was often Tyronn Lue who called a timeout, and Kerr took the tactical board to direct the layout.

Both sides are gradually getting used to this mode of cooperation.

But in this game, Kerr suddenly didn't squeak much, and it was all handed over to Tyronn Lue.

In the third quarter of the game, the Clippers did not play the climax of the counterattack and quickly narrowed the difference.

On the contrary, the Lakers still kept the Clippers pressing, and Paul and Kobe Bryant also got into shape.

The two took turns to attack with the ball, and it was a little difficult for the Clippers' defense to suppress the duo together.

What's worse is that the Clippers' three-point shot still didn't open in the third quarter.

George on the perimeter and even Gasol Jr. tried three-point shots, all of which missed.

Curry was still pestered by Paul, and he kept harassing Curry with small movements, making Curry uncomfortable with receiving, dribbling, and shooting.

And Harden seemed to be a little afraid when facing Kobe, shooting, passing, and feeling a little timid.

After all, Kobe Bryant is famous, and when he became famous, Harden and Curry were still children, and they grew up watching Kobe play in front of the TV.

Kobe Bryant was in pretty good shape tonight, shooting a lot on the offensive end, and not as aggressive on the defensive end as he was when he was younger, but trash talk has been on Harden.

Kobe's trash talk is not swearing, but constantly provoking and belittling Harden, thinking that Harden is not good, the next shot cannot be scored, you dare not break through, you can't prevent me, etc.

Harden is not the kind of person who will be revenged, he just wants to play well, and although he is angry in the face of this provocation, he does not have the urge to kill you.

The Clippers were gradually suppressed by the Lakers in terms of morale.

In the eighth minute of the third quarter, Paul responded with the ball in the middle and gave Bynum, who was stuck in the three-second zone.

Bynum picked up the ball and turned around and hit a hook shot to score two points to give the Lakers a 12-point lead over the Clippers at 69-57.

Tyronn Lue immediately called a timeout, and 12 points was the biggest difference between the two sides at halftime, and the Clippers were a bit of a mess.

Seeing that the two youngsters were in average shape, Tyronn Lue decisively shifted the focus of his attack to the inside.

Randolph is the team's anchor, and he can still play when he has this kind of energy.

At the same time, Tyronn Lue made a substitution, replacing the in-form Curry with Fisher.

Curry complained to Tyronn Lue, "The third quarter didn't last long." ”

As the team's number one star, he was substituted after just over four minutes of play in the second half, which is really not what he deserves.

Tyronn Lue explained: "Let's adjust the tempo a little bit, you'll be back up later, don't rush, adjust Stephen." ”

During the regular season, Tyronn Lue often made substitutions like this, playing three or four minutes in a quarter, and then replacing the starting core and replacing one person.

If it's another team or another star, like James, who plays four minutes and you let him go, then this coach can also go down, and you don't have to do it.

Unlike the Clippers, multiplayer rotation is the team's basic strategy, and coaches can deploy personnel at will, regardless of what the players think.

And Curry just complained, there was no complaint in his heart, he actually complained more about his poor state.

Kerr looked at Curry a little depressed and comforted: "It's okay Stephen, too much playing time is not necessarily a good thing for you, efficiency is what you have to do." ”

Kerr's preference for Curry is unquestionable, and in Kerr's mind, Curry is to some extent an extension of himself, and he was sure from the moment he came to the Clippers.

Kerr used to be a player who looked similar to Curry on the outside, a small guard, a shooter, and average physical fitness.

But Curry can obviously do much more than Kerr, and Kerr's dreams that are difficult to achieve on the court may not be impossible to achieve in Curry.

Curry is also one of the reasons why Kerr is willing to stay with the Clippers as an assistant coach to Tyronn Lue, and he doesn't want Curry's talent to be wasted.

Among Tyronn Lue's various decisions, reducing Curry's playing time is something that Kerr agrees with.

He thinks Curry's playing time in the early 30s is the best, and the efficient 30 minutes is better than Lai's 40 minutes on the court.

Tyronn Lue's tweaks worked, with Randolph and Gasol Jr. starting to attack more in the low post.

The frontcourt rebounding scramble arranged at halftime also had a certain effect.

Randolph grabbed back-to-back rebounds under the basket, drew a foul on the basket, and hit consecutive free throws.

The Clippers played a wave of 7:2 small climax, narrowing the gap and closing the score.

When Fisher hit a corner three-pointer from Randolph's pass, the gap narrowed to just four points!

However, at this time, Kobe Bryant faced Harden one-on-one at the top of the arc, hit a mid-range shot, and the point difference opened again.

Kobe Bryant still has the ability to accurately hit and shoot and suppress the opponent's momentum when he is strong.

Curry returned to the court late in the third quarter after a four-minute break, but he still missed a three-point shot after an outside pick-and-roll.

When Curry struggles to hit a three-pointer, it becomes difficult for the Clippers to win.

Min Congda was clear about this rule, and at the end of the third quarter, the Clippers trailed the Lakers by 11 points at 81:92.

Both sides scored more efficiently, but the Lakers clearly had more firepower.

Kobe Bryant has scored 27 points in the third quarter, and Paul has also scored 20 points.

The duo's mid-range jumpers were unstoppable, and they were simply tailor-made for the playoffs.

The fourth quarter was about to begin, and at the break, Tyronn Lue was holding the tactical board and trying to make some setups.

The situation is not good for the Clippers, the backcourt is not open, and it is difficult to compete with the Lakers only by relying on the interior duo.

What kind of arrangement can be made? I don't know, I feel like my mind is blank!

Look at Mr. Smart sitting behind the bench, and Miss Ada.

Ada didn't mean to hand over the note, and it seemed that she couldn't count on Smart.

And what about Cole? This guy is like dead tonight, what's the use of you?

At this moment, Tyronn Lue can't think of any clever set-up or tactics that can break the game.

Or, like Smart, think of an exceptionally pivotal substitution that can change the tide of battle.

If you can't think of it, what should I do?

Taryn Lue thought to himself, "Forget it, what do you want to do so much?" I'll just give the ball to the best scorer on the team, won't it be over? ”

"Curry is the best scorer on the team, and even if he's not in good shape in front of him, I still have to trust him, right? He had a lot of rest in the first three quarters. ”

"I give the ball to the best scorer in the team, why isn't it called tactical? Jackson is in the Bulls, didn't he also give the ball to Jordan? ”

"It's decided, the tactics in the fourth quarter are still firmly around Curry and let Curry play!"

(End of chapter)