Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 126 Three Points of Rain

The Clippers start with Paul, Redick, Dudley, Griffin and Jordan. Who is the substitute?

Keliu, Collison, Hollins, Mullens, Bullock, Barnes, and later the head coach of the Daigo team, Willie Green, are either veterans or newcomers, as well as Malik Wayans who was reimbursed for a torn meniscus before the start of the season.

Except for Keliu and old Barnes who still had some oil in the fuel tank, there was no one else who could fight.

Of course, as I said before, the main players have assembled such a good card lineup, and it is impossible to replace them, so they can only use them in rotation as much as possible.

And after Paul, Jordan and others all went down, Crawford continued to play with a substitute on the court, and the offense focused on attacking six. He is in really good form today, scoring consecutive points from inside and outside shots.

But on the defensive end, it's not just him, Hollins, Barnes, Bullock, Collison, what are these configurations?
Barnes can still defend first, but the Thunder will definitely not choose to open a breakthrough from his side, because other positions are basically breakthroughs even if there is no misalignment.

And the reason why the Thunder's substitute rotation is so effective is because their offense is more orderly than that of the starters. The combination of Antetokounmpo and Gobert's two organizational points allows the Thunder to basically rely on a high pick-and-roll to play various tactical routines.

Coupled with the fact that Lamb, Robertson, and Collison each perform their duties, if it weren't for less than 2 minutes left, the Thunder might be able to play another frenzy.

Anyway, by the end of the first quarter, the score on the court had become 28:40, and the Thunder had stretched their lead to double digits. At the same time, 40 points was also the Thunder's highest score in a single quarter so far.

A single quarter can score 40 points, and a team will not have many in a season. This also shows the offensive state of the Thunder today.

Of course, he shoots a lot of three-pointers, and his hits are not bad now, which can be regarded as achieving the goal that Li Sheng hoped to achieve.

The next thing to do is to stabilize, start to slow down the rhythm, and get as good a shot as possible by running and moving the ball, whether it is a three-pointer, two-pointer, or one-pointer.

Originally, it was reasonable to say that teams dominated by young people like to play fast, especially now that the Thunder has no shortage of talent on the front line, and everyone can run, jump, and dunk.

It’s like how the Thunder used to play like this, and Westbrook also played in this situation, so there are often times when he is reckless and relying on talent to attack, and the Thunder’s fast break is not just a fast attack after a successful defense, but also when the opponent’s foothold is not stable when the offense and defense transition.

This kind of fast-paced team that can grind the ground and control the rhythm like the Spurs and Grizzlies can win when they are in good condition, because they can also break through the opponent's rhythm in turn, but they are easy to be deflated when they are in average or bad condition.

And they still have a traditional point guard who can control the scene, and it seems that they should implement their own style and play fast.

But the current Thunder is not what it used to be. To put it bluntly, they used to play like that. In many cases, there was no strategy at all, so they relied on rushing. If they were not fast, they would not be able to take advantage of it.

But now that I can stabilize my position and cooperate slowly, the rhythm will naturally slow down, and I can even switch between fast and slow when needed.

In this way, they can grind opponents in reverse, because their conduction is not ineffective blind passing. There are two Spurs coaches, Li Sheng and Udoka, and Gentry, an assistant coach who specializes in offense.

What can be called talent is not just physical hardware. In invisible places like golf quotient, there is also talent. Even Curry proved that touch can also be a kind of talent.

Antetokounmpo's ball quotient, vision, and his passing coordination are realized in the NBA earlier than his physical talent. What is needed is to continue to improve his ability and accumulate game experience.

And Li Sheng also helped develop Gobert's support talent, so that he can be qualified for the position of the setter and the transfer station, so the other three positions can basically be matched arbitrarily, whether it is the main force or the substitute.

They can also move around as blue-collar workers and characters when needed, which is exactly what Li Sheng hopes to see.

Cultivate their good playing habits from their rookie days, and even only from their rookie days, because at this time they are the most obedient and the easiest to draw on white paper.

If Durant, Westbrook, and Harden were rookies, he would bring...

Closer to the point, the intermission period will end soon, and with the sound of beeps, the second quarter will begin.

Because Rivers took Griffin down ahead of schedule, it was supposed to be Crawford who came up to bring the bench to score points, but now it has become Griffin who came online to bring the bench ahead of schedule in the second quarter.

Then the outside combination was Collison and Redick. No one expected that this would become a turning point in the game, including Li Sheng himself.

Collison, a point guard, doesn't feel special, and is also prone to making mistakes. When Li Sheng watched his games in his previous life, he was constantly looked down upon by 3+1.

He partnered with Redick in the backcourt, and the Clippers' perimeter defense was simply a loss.

And if the Thunder still focused on breakthroughs and two-pointers as they did in their previous life, then the impact is probably not that great. After all, Griffin is still inside, and Barnes is on the wing at this time, which can still provide some defense. In addition, Hollins can barely sit in the penalty area. With Reggie and his breakthrough, the offense must not be so stable.

But now the Thunder's three-pointers are obviously much better. On the one hand, Li Yong has paid close attention to this point tactically, and the players have also worked hard on this aspect-sometimes the advanced nature of tactics comes from this. For example, the Spurs and the Warriors are actually at the forefront of the times by passing three-pointers.

On the other hand, the BUG help provided by the system allows the team to take the lead in tactics and personal shooting. At least even Robertson and Antetokounmpo can bring three-point threats.

And this game focused on three-point tactics, and then immediately launched a wave of explosive offenses.

In the 4 minutes of the second quarter, the Thunder relied on consecutive outside three-pointers to open the point difference to 17 points. Even if the Clippers rely on the main player Griffin, their offensive efficiency is not low.

Not to mention that the Clippers' defense couldn't prevent the Thunder's offense, especially their frequent running and passing the ball made the Clippers exhausted. Barnes even filled in for two people by himself several times, which naturally couldn't be filled.

On the contrary, the Thunder can restrain the Clippers. After all, with the abilities of other Clippers players, the offensive end basically depends on Griffin. Collison can't play the court like Paul, and Redick can't play offensively. If the defensive end is free, it will be a pure side effect.

Griffin wanted to attract double-teams, but the Thunder insisted on single defense and didn't even foul much.

After this wave of offense, the score between the two sides came to 38:55, and Rivers had to call a timeout to interrupt.

During this period of time, the Thunder's offense was all three-pointers, and except for Sefolosha, who had no time to shoot one against the man, everyone else was passing the ball to open opportunities, and they were catching the Clippers' defensive flaws.

Now he not only has to consider how to contain the Thunder's offense, but also has to find a way to continue to play his own offense.

(End of this chapter)