Curry's concerns aren't entirely unfounded, and it's often the case with many teams.

When a core player is there, the stats look good, the game is good, and the team loses.

When this core player is absent and others fill in, the team will play better and the team will win.

Such players are often called "tumors" and "black holes".

Because basketball is a team sport after all, no matter how strong the individual ability is, if there is a conflict with the team operation, and your play affects the overall performance of others, then the team will definitely lose.

Curry wants to be the MVP this season, and everyone feeds him the ball, which destroys the original ball distribution system to a certain extent, which will naturally have some negative effects.

But in terms of scoring efficiency, Curry is not a black hole in the ball, and his shooting percentage is also very high, so what is the problem?

Is there a problem with the defense? Or is it because after the ball is concentrated in him, it affects the overall offensive efficiency of the team, which requires the whole team to work together to find the answer.

At this time, the game had reached the fourth quarter, and the Clippers were 81:75 later, leading by 6 points into the final quarter.

The Nets relied on Kobe Bryant and Pierce's offense, biting the score and not letting the game end early.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Livingston hit back-to-back jumpers to help the Clippers regain a 10-point lead.

On the Nets' side, after Bradge came to the No. 4 position, he was like a fish in water, using his weight and feel to kill the inside line in a row.

It's a bit of a Randolph feeling, but Randolph, tonight's performance is very average, the offensive touch is not good, and he looks quite weak in the face of Bradge, Garnett, and Plumlee.

It's normal to think about it, after winning two championships, Randolph's career with the Clippers can be said to be quite successful, and there are no big regrets.

He is 33 years old this year, and he is still in good physical and competitive condition, but he does not have a strong fighting spirit in the regular season.

When the Clippers were just starting out, he was the big brother of the whole team, often holding the ball in the low post at critical moments, and carrying the burden of the whole team alone.

Later, these little brothers grew faster and stronger, and Randolph's tactical position gradually became marginalized, but he was still able to make a significant contribution at critical moments.

This is Randolph's contract year, and it stands to reason that he will have to work hard to show himself and work hard for his next contract, especially with the stats.

But Min Congda gave Randolph an early contract extension, a four-year contract of $52 million, with an average salary of 13 million, which is quite generous for a veteran like Randolph.

Randolph was also happy to stay in Los Angeles, where he had everything he could think of, so it was a bit of a paddling experience in the regular season.

Tyronn Lue also understands Randolph's mentality, and after Blatch scored back-to-back points, Lue called a timeout and replaced Randolph with Anthony Davis.

Anthony Davis' playing time has increased significantly this season, and the No. 1 pick has become an increasingly important player on the Clippers' interior and is a key development target for the team.

As soon as Davis came on the court, Blatch immediately lost his voice, this height, arm span, and defensive awareness are really not comparable to Randolph.

At this time, Harden and Kobe Bryant also reappeared, and after Davis successfully blocked one of Bracky's shots, Harden got the ball and launched a counterattack from the backcourt.

Harden changed the first three slightly lazy ball-holding advances, and instead spread out the ball and dribbled towards the frontcourt!

Harden passed in a row, rushed to the basket and forced a layup! While scoring two points, it also caused Garnett's defensive foul! Penalties!

Compared to last season, Harden is stronger, his two arms are like crab claws, and although he is only 196 tall, he weighs 100 kilograms!

This weight is already nearly 20 pounds heavier than the current Kobe, no wonder Kobe Bryant is difficult to stop Harden when he is defending one-on-one or blocking and dismantling.

The weight difference is 20 pounds, how can you stop it? Pierce, who has a bigger ass, has to fight it.

But Pierce is big and big, his speed is not good, especially the speed of retreat, a veteran in his 30s, where can he keep up with Harden, who has good legs and feet.

With Harden's sudden acceleration, the Clippers began to increase the pace of their offense, apparently to drag down the Nets in terms of speed, because the Nets are a team dominated by veterans.

In this case, the Nets did not choose to compete with the Clippers for the rhythm, you speed up and I will reduce the speed pressure, on the contrary, Kobe Bryant also sped up the speed and played against the Clippers in the fourth quarter!

Kobe Bryant used the block to get into the basket, he used the speed change to dodge and move, and hit the board into the basket with a close-range step-back jumper, which made people see what Kobe Bryant's offense looked like at his peak.

The Clippers immediately counterattacked, Harden quickly passed the half, and the ball rotated back and forth in the hands of Livingston, Harden, and George, using passes, breakthroughs, and passes to tear apart the Nets' defense.

Under the pull of the huge offensive space, as long as there is a little gap in the Nets' defense, the three will use their speed to eat the defender and rush to the basket, either directly attacking the basket or giving Anthony Davis to complete the finish.

This time it was Paul George, who received the ball and scored from the baseline, the Nets closed inside, George threw a high toss to Davis, Davis jumped high, and the aerial relay dunked it.

But the Nets immediately counterattacked, Kobe Bryant ran across the half court with the ball, smashed into the basket to attract the defense, and returned the ball to Pierce, who received the ball and hit a three-point shot directly!

The Nets continued to maintain the margin at 10 points and did not give the Clippers a chance to open the gap.

"Kobe Bryant's choice is correct, if you blindly press the rhythm and speed, the Nets will probably end early. Speed up, step up the offense, and the Nets still have a chance. From a sideline perspective, Min Congda agrees with the Nets' decision.

Times are indeed different, and Bryant's transition is very clear.

A few years earlier, in this situation, Kobe Bryant would definitely press the rhythm, and the Lakers would choose to grind the position, suppress the opponent with defense, and slowly chase the positional offense.

In just a few years, this style of play will only make the point difference widen wider and wider, because if you want to press the rhythm, you can't hold it down at all, but let your offense collapse.

And there's often a misconception that older teams are good for playing slow and not fast, which is actually a misconception.

The slow-paced games in the early years were indeed popular with veterans, but the premise was that there were superstars in the team with a dozen or four to watch, and there was plenty of time to walk.

Can a walk not be fragrant? Not to mention that veterans like to walk, young people also like to walk.

But if it's a slow pace of high rotation and high-intensity defense, veterans will not be able to adapt to it, especially in the long regular season.

This kind of game is physically exhausting, tiring, and there is no data yet, and veterans, especially some old oilers, do not like to play this kind of game.

The kind of stunned youth who has just entered the league for a long time, who is doing it when he gets on the field, and his physical fitness is not exhausted, which is most suitable for this kind of game.

On the contrary, the kind of fast-paced game where everyone attacks each other and can also brush up on the data is the veteran's favorite.

is different from the defensive war of the year, the defensive war of the year, to the end, depends on whose sharp knife can make a breakthrough first.

For example, playing with the Detroit Pistons back then, he scored 60 or 70 points in a game, and everyone attacked in the whole game.

In the end, if you want to win, if you have a superstar, you have a sharp knife, and you score a few key points, you have a chance to win the game.

And today's attack, pay more attention to the continuity of the offensive end, you score a goal, I also score a goal, everyone takes turns to score, to see who can't bear the hit first.

Such games are undoubtedly better to watch, with higher ratings, and higher requirements for role players, and the number of shots of superstars is limited after all.

The Clippers and Nets have a lot of stars, and the individual abilities of the players are very strong, especially the Clippers, who are still strong without two main players.

The game reached this point, and the scene was already extremely intense and good-looking, and after Harden was blocked by the break, Paul George stepped up and became the Clippers' number one knife in the fourth quarter.

He broke through the baseline and scored a backhand layup, received the ball in the middle and strode with a one-handed dunk, faced Kobe Bryant at the top of the arc, and hit a quick stop jump shot after dribbling under the crotch in a row.

And the Nets, Kobe Bryant was in the center to command the cards, Pierce held the ball and singled out George to hit consecutive mid-range jumpers, Kobe assisted Garnett to catch the ball and make a layup, and Alan Anderson made a steal and counterattack dunk......

The two sides contributed high-quality offense, and when the Nets were closer, the difference between the two sides was narrowed to 4 points, and Bryant hit a three-point shot (the fourth three-point shot of the game), and Anderson's steal dunk, giving the Nets hope of overtaking.

But Coach Lu immediately called a timeout, and at this critical moment, Coach Lu once again used one big and four small, this time Gasol Jr., Harden, George, Butler plus Dragic.

Two European passers, plus a Harden, with George and Butler, the two crazy attackers, the Clippers will fully open the line when attacking, which is to give George and Butler space for them to break through, cut in the air, and impact the Nets' interior line.

Garnett played until the last two minutes of the fourth quarter of the game, and left the court with six fouls directly blown by the referee.

Although Garnett looks like he's babbling all day, he's always been good at foul control.

There are some unnecessary fouls in the game, Garnett will not reach out indiscriminately, just watch the opponent score, you can't defend every ball.

It's a compulsory subject for a top-level interior defensive core, and if you have to fight for every ball and go all out, you won't be able to survive the game.

But tonight, Garnett really ran out of options, playing from the No. 4 to No. 5 position, and suffered the impact of the Clippers players in turn on the inside, Harden, George, Butler......

They are no longer the little Karami who was not particularly strong in ball handling last season, but a new star with a strong breakthrough ability.

The Nets' defense is obviously a little untenable, and with Kevin Garnett being sent off, Kidd can only replace newcomer Plumlee, and how can Plumlee make up for the loophole in Garnett's absence.

The Clippers played the Nets 6-1 in the final two minutes, and the Nets only relied on Plumlee's free throw to hit a one-point point - after he caught the ball under the basket, Gasol Jr. decisively fouled him to the free throw line.

With 30 seconds left at the end of the game, the Clippers led the Nets by 8 points at 109-101, and the Nets had no hope, but Bryant still caught the ball and hit a three-point shot, and the difference was back to 5 points.

Bryant's score in this game also came to 30 points.

Min Congda looked at it and scolded in his heart: "Stinky and shameless, you already have to lose, and you have to throw three points and brush yourself to 30 points!" ”

Unexpectedly, then there was a mistake in the Clippers' sideline serve, and Harden was unstable in receiving the ball and was cut off by Kobe!

Kobe Bryant counterattacks and makes a layup!

At 109:106, the Nets chased the difference to 3 points at once!

At this point, there were 15 seconds left before the end of the race.

Harden played well throughout the game, scoring 31 points and diching out 11 assists.

However, at the critical moment, I lost my attention, and the old problem of receiving the ball and dribbling loosely was committed again.

Kobe Bryant's goal was scored, and the audience was jubilant, and everyone was cheering for Kobe.

Win or lose tonight, Kobe's performance is well-deservedly excellent.

Tyronn Lue called a timeout and rearranged the key serve.

The game that was originally won was suddenly suspenseful.

Everyone is waiting to see if a miracle will happen.

Thankfully, the Clippers didn't make another mistake in the final stages.

After Harden received the ball, the Nets fouled him, and Harden, who stood at the free throw line, was still very reliable.

With both free throws, the margin returned to a safe score of 5 points, and then the Nets attacked again, Kobe Bryant was caught and the ball was released, and Alan Anderson missed a three-pointer from the bottom corner.

Under the basket, Gasol Jr. grabbed the backcourt rebound, and the Nets' last hope was dashed, and there was no hope of winning, and the game was over.

In the end, the Clippers won the battle against the Nets 111-106 at home to win the matchup.

Harden scored 33 points, Kobe Bryant scored 32 points, and matchups like this between top shooting guards are becoming less and less few.

After Jordan retired, he set off a trend of scoring guards, and with the aging of Kobe and Wade, the curtain is gradually coming to an end.

Harden was outstanding, but as you could tell from the way he played tonight, he wasn't the style of that generation of shooting guards at all.

Instead of flashy, it is moving towards efficiency and well-roundedness, which may herald a new direction for shooting guards.

Harden was also the man of the match and showed his immense potential.

Bryant gave a wonderful performance, but overall, it was still a sense of powerlessness.

The last three points, steals and layups, as if he was his last struggle, had tried his best, but still couldn't win.

After the game, Kobe Bryant went to the Clippers locker room and said hello to Min Congda.

Bryant is still obsessed with the bet between the two of them in the summer - this guy is really careful.

"When will we have another round, Smart?"

"I'm the general manager of the team, can you let me go?"

"No, I must find a way to play another game with you, and you can book the time. As long as I'm not dead, I'll keep reminding you that I'm going to win you. ”

Min Congda was speechless, he didn't want to play anymore because he didn't want to lose money.

Kobe Bryant bet on him, and he will definitely bet $500,000 a game.

"Otherwise, I'll make a trade proposal to your Nets, and we'll settle it, how about it?"

"Trading advice? You can trade Anthony Davis directly to us. ”

"I'm sorry, it's not that I don't want to, it's not allowed."

"Not allowed? Who doesn't allow it? ”

"Uh... Anyway, it's not allowed. I'm telling you, you need a good 3D small forward, you have to get a good 3D small forward. ”

Now the Nets do have the idea of continuing to trade to strengthen the team, but whether to add a high-quality interior or outside is controversial within the team.

The management's tendency is to bring in a serious coolie center to give Garnett a meat shield and make the Nets' interior defense more solid.

However, this kind of thinking is a bit too traditional, and the Thunder Perkins is already a bloody lesson, and if the Nets continue to drill into it, they don't know what to do.

Kobe patted Min Congda on the shoulder and said, "Thank you for your suggestion, I accepted it." But the heads-up business is not over. ”

"Shet! Then it's time to fight it out in the finals! ”

(End of chapter)