As the opening match, both sides made relatively full preparations before the game.

The Clippers have trained a lot of new tactics and strategies in the summer, but as the defending champions, they decided to focus on stability.

The starting lineup is still Gasol Jr., Randolph, Leonard, George plus Curry, and James Harden is the team's first bench sixth man.

The Lakers changed their head coach, and Kobe Bryant left, Paul became the only core, and the team's system naturally underwent major changes.

Paul chose to lose weight this summer, and in the first two seasons he increased his strength and singles ability to match Kobe, and reached the peak of his career.

As soon as Kobe Bryant left, Paul decided to return to a lighter posture to reduce the pressure on his knees and make himself more durable, and second, as the sole ball-carrying core, he decided to reduce singles and increase the ability to organize and string.

The Lakers' starters are Paul, Joe Johnson, Iguodala, Jordan Hill and Brook Lopez.

Compared to last season, Bryant's replacement for Joe Johnson is obviously a weakening, but for Paul, it is not a liberation.

At the same time, with the point of Brook Lopez on the inside, the team has an additional low-post offensive point, and the tactics have been enriched.

Sure enough, after jumping the ball, the Lakers, who got the ball, let Brook Lopez hold the ball in the low post and eat Gasol Jr. as soon as they opened.

Lopez is one of the few traditional interior players in the league who still has a low-post back-to-body strong eating technique and can score 20 points in a single game.

He is like a dinosaur that is about to become extinct, and he seems a little out of place in the alliance of playing more and more miniaturized and fast.

However, no matter how basketball develops, big men will always be a necessity, and low-post offense must have its space and meaning.

Lopez turned around and hit a two-point shot to score the first point for the Lakers.

On the Clippers' side, Randolph has the same ability to attack in the low post as Gasol Jr.

Curry also gave the ball to Randolph, who forced Hill in the low post and hit a jumper after turning to the baseline.

At the beginning of the opening game of the new season, the two sides used a very traditional low-post offensive method to each win the first point of the season.

It shows that in the coach's mind, the big man's low-post attack is still a good way to open up the situation.

However, as the first quarter of the game progressed, the gap between the two sides in terms of offensive concepts gradually became apparent.

The Clippers' three-point shots from the outside have increased significantly, with Curry and George both shooting consecutive three-pointers.

In the case of the gradual acceleration of the pace of the game, as soon as there is an opportunity, immediately shoot outside, without hesitation.

This is also the Clippers' regular season offensive tradition, the low start is just play, and the three-point bombing is the right way.

The Lakers played more traditional on the offensive end, with Paul and his teammates doing a lot of blocking and pick-and-roll cooperation, Lopez and Hill constantly covering Paul, and Iguodala and Johnson on the wing and 45 degrees to respond.

When the tactics fail, Joe Johnson will catch the ball on the flank and use his singles as a backstop.

At the same time, the Lakers' defense inherited Rivers' mantle in the Celtics, giving up the frontcourt rebounding and scrambling, quickly returning to the defense, locking the middle, and driving the opponent to the wing and the baseline.

However, in the Celtics, Rivers has Kevin Garnett on his hands, Garnett is a good defensive coach on the court, and his maintenance and filling of gaps in the defensive formation is a master.

But in the Lakers, Lopez belongs to the squatting center, his defense is average, and the vertical jump rule in the new season has made him suffer a lot.

Halfway through the first quarter, Lopez was whistled for defensive fouls twice on the inside and had to go off the court, and Rivers replaced McGee.

At this time, the Clippers have turned the score into 19:15 through a wave of shocks and three-pointers, leading the Lakers by 4 points.

However, Min Congda was not very satisfied with the Clippers' offense at the beginning of the game, and he could vaguely feel that the Clippers players were trying to make the ball for Curry.

"What's the situation, Curry's shot percentage seems to be higher than usual, right? Possession has also become longer. Also, it's halfway through the first quarter, why don't you let Curry rest, it's time for Harden! ”

As a result, instead of replacing Curry for Harden as he did last season, Tyronn Lue made an interior adjustment, replacing Anthony Davis and Gasol Jr.?

It was a different substitution than usual, usually Anthony Davis replaced by Randolph, and then Gasol Jr. and Anthony Davis played double high.

But to be honest, the effect of double high is very average, not as strong as people think.

Perhaps in some rounds, the pressure of the height will make the opponent desperate.

For example, continuous blocks on the inside and continuous rebounds in the front court will make fans feel really cowhide.

But if you stretch the long line, you will find that the slow pace of the double height and the offensive and defensive problems caused by the monotony of the offensive end will make the height advantage invisible.

Not to mention the current fast version, even in the early version of the giant's dominance, there were very few successful twin towers.

The Spurs twin towers that won the championship are also the result of David Robinson's functionalization and role playerization, and both of them did not have good results when they were both All-Star level.

Tyronn Lue and Mike Malone recognized this and had the insight to push Anthony Davis to the No. 5 spot, allowing him to swap with Gasol Jr.

Anthony Davis is a little reluctant in his heart, his stature, size, has always taken the route of the fourth position, like Kevin Garnett.

Playing the No. 5 position, hand-to-hand combat with the big center, is it appropriate to let him show off as a champion?

However, Davis still obeyed the coach's arrangement and played the No. 5 position, but he didn't expect the effect to be good.

He is faster and more capable of blocking than Gasol Jr. on the inside, and the Clippers' ability to protect the basket on the inside is a notch.

At the same time, he doesn't need to engage in hand-to-hand combat, because apart from Lopez, the Lakers don't have a low-post heavy center, and he can just hold the basket.

The Clippers quickly launched a wave of 7-0 offensive climax, Curry hit consecutive three-pointers on the counterattack, scoring 15 points in a single quarter, and the Clippers led the Lakers by 9 points at 31:22 in the first quarter.

However, things changed a bit as the game entered the second quarter, and Rivers boldly used bench players in the second quarter.

Henry, Nick Young, and Blake came on and fired three-pointers with the Clippers.

Especially the little-known Henry, who is surprisingly accurate in his outside three-point shots, faced Harden and Dragic, and hit consecutive face-to-face three-point shots.

In the second quarter, the counterattack played an 11:2 offensive shockwave, erasing the difference between the two sides, and the Lakers' strong bench and second team combat power caught the Clippers off guard.

Min Congda was happy for only three minutes, and immediately began to suspect that there was something wrong with the team's locker room: "Curry is going to win the MVP and mess up the team's rotation." ”

(End of chapter)