If I were Yi Di in the NBA

Chapter 123 The situation in the west is still unclear
Is Parker strong?Although the players have weak links, the French are still strong and are at the All-Star level.

It's just that after Duncan, a superstar, has been downgraded, the Spurs are still a little bit close to relying on Parker to support the Spurs' offense.

Now Parker and Duncan can make the Spurs a playoff team.

But if the Spurs want to become a championship contender, they still need to help GDP find enough suitable helpers.

Now that the GDP is not complete, it is not so easy for them to beat the second-tier team in the West after the Lakers.

The Thunder with a complete lineup, whether in the Western Conference or the entire league, is only slightly behind a few strong teams in the first tier. They are already stronger than the average playoff team.

When the Spurs' offense is unfavorable, they can only rely on defense to deal with the Thunder.

It's just that they can't prevent it just by defending.

Yi Jian and Durant are too strong, while Lowry and Lopez are getting more and more stable.

Spurs coach Popovich can only hope that Duncan can expand the defense area and help the team get the Thunder's two All-Stars.

However, both Yi Jian and Durant can fire from the outside.

And even if Yi Jian continued to hit the inside line, it was impossible for Duncan to completely restrain him.

Just as the Spurs were trying to figure out a way, the Thunder was already planning to lock down Duncan and the Spurs' three-pointers.

After Duncan broke out, the offensive end was not so strong. Lopez can withstand it, and Yi Jian only needs to help defend a little.

Keeping an eye on the Spurs' three-pointer, they only have Parker's long two-pointer, which can't kill anyone.

In the third quarter, the Spurs couldn't stand the joint attack of Yi Jian and Durant.

Then their substitute players didn't perform well, and they continued to be overwhelmed by the Thunder. The Spurs suddenly had nothing to do. When they changed their lineup, the Spurs fell behind by double digits, and they suddenly lost their fighting spirit.

The Spurs' basketball is more utilitarian, and they will not fight too hard with strong teams in the regular season.

Even though the two teams seem to be competing fiercely in terms of record, their head coach Popovich calmly chose to deal with it calmly, and it is okay to say that they surrendered.

Their main players should rest when they should, and how to adjust their tactics.

As Duncan also hit the free throw, the Thunder easily won the victory.

Even Yi Jian felt a little unreal, and the Spurs, who had a better record, didn't fight as hard as the Suns before.

But it's normal to think about it carefully. The Spurs are actually not worried about the playoffs.

In the last month, the fringe teams in the playoffs will be desperate.

This game was actually a thousand games coached by Popovich, and the media also exclaimed that Popovich's thousand-game celebration was disrupted.

But Popovich himself doesn't care much, he said: "Sometimes, this is a coach's nightmare. We got an advantage early today, but we lost the game. Being caught by the opponent from behind, this kind of thing happens often. .”

Yi Jian also expressed polite congratulations in the interview, but also said: "We are just trying to win, obviously we are stronger."

He doesn't care whether he wins or not. The Spurs this season are indeed a bit weak.

The Spurs are not strong enough, but the record is still relatively good.

After defeating them, the confidence fluctuations of a group of Thunder youths due to injuries returned to normal.

This season must be their time of rise.

In March, the rest of the Thunder's schedule is not very tight.

Although they are a young team and their head coach is also a rookie, they have to prepare for the playoffs.

But it seems that there is not much preparation to do, the young team just needs to do it.

It was Yi Jian who made a suggestion to let the team pay more attention to the health of the players.

It would be too uncomfortable to enter the playoffs at that time, but become soy sauce because of the absence of major players.

On March 3, the Bulls came to Oklahoma.

The Bulls are the fringe playoff players in the East, and now the Bulls are completely young.

Gooden was sent away, Luol Deng was injured, Rose got more ball rights, and Noah finally got reused.

It's just that the current Bulls are still taking the offensive route, which is because Noah's defense is slightly better.

The Thunder are naturally not afraid of a team like the Bulls who mainly play outside but are not very accurate in three-pointers.

And Noah just helped defend well, and Lopez has the upper hand against him.

Players like Noah belong to the patch type of strong teams, and their personal abilities are not top-notch in any aspect, so it is no wonder others did not get more opportunities in the early stage.

At the beginning of the game, the Bulls couldn't defend against Yi Jian and Durant, and the overall defense was not very good.

The Thunder gained the lead very smoothly, and did not encounter any trouble until the rotation period.

Hinrich and Bai Miller on the Bulls' bench still have relatively rich game experience. If it weren't for the impact of injuries, the Bulls would actually have a lot of players.

They can rise in the future with a different coach, also because they have a relatively large talent pool.

Now they play a strange offensive mode, all kinds of perimeter players play singles, which is a complete waste of talent.

In front of the Bulls, Ben Gordon and Rose broke out in turn and could barely withstand the Thunder's offense, but after Tyrus Thomas, who was mainly defending Yi Jian, had a foul problem, they couldn't stand it anymore.

When Bai Miller was replaced, he soon had foul problems.

They just couldn't guard against Yi Jian, so they were naturally passive.

In this way, the Thunder easily won the victory.

The level of the fringe teams in the playoffs, it is easier for them to deal with now.

Feeling the team's progress, Yi Jian wanted to suggest that the team pick an opponent in the first round of the playoffs.

It’s just that this kind of operation is too difficult in the West. After all, the competition in the West is fierce. There are several teams with similar records, and the next few teams have similar records. Variety.

It's too troublesome, it's better not to worry about it.

After the Bulls, the Jazz and the Thunder are playing at home again.

After Boozer came back, the Jazz finally completed the lineup.

The full lineup of the Jazz still has a certain combat effectiveness, but because the previous record has been pulled down a bit, they are now the third tier in the Western Conference.

With their not-so-good attack power, there is basically no hope of overtaking them in the final stage.

It's a bit dangerous. The current situation in the West is that the Lakers have the best record.

The Spurs, Nuggets, Thunder, and Rockets are relatively stable, leaving the Trail Blazers, Jazz, Mavericks, Hornets, and Suns. There will always be two teams that will miss the playoffs.

The sun is the most dangerous, followed by the Jazz, Hornets and Mavericks.

So the Jazz is going all out at this stage, and the Thunder must not take it lightly.

Moreover, apart from the Lakers, the Thunder may not be able to meet anyone in the first round of the playoffs. They must be taken seriously against these teams.

After the game started, the Thunder also arranged for the Jazz's pick-and-roll coordination.

Deron and Boozer are the key targets of prevention.

It's just that the Jazz with a well-organized lineup actually has a lot of players who can play.

(End of this chapter)