NBA Legends Manager

Chapter 383 The Season Is Long, Avoiding Injuries

Soon came back from a timeout, Green held the ball at the top of the arc, Curry started to run, Griffin stepped back to give Green space to shoot, Curry ran to the top of the arc again, Green screened sideways to block Paul, and handed it to Curry! , Curry broke through on the left!

Griffin pounced and didn't give Curry room to break through and shoot, but at this time Green cut to the basket and gave Green a hit!Green took the ball to avoid Jordan's block and made a three-step layup!
Paul quickly leads the frontcourt and observes the running position of his teammates at the top of the arc. Paul is known as the most stable point guard, but in fact, many times it is because he does not pass the unstable ball and often needs to dribble for a long time before returning to finish it for his teammates.

In the end, Paul passed the ball to Griffin this time!Griffin backs up Green!The reason why Presti did not replace Green was to allow him to defend Griffin. I remember that Green defended Griffin in the previous life, which really made Griffin suffer. I was more impressed by the Clippers and Warriors in the regular season. Again, Griffin averaged 24.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game before.

Griffin punched Green with his back, Green was very experienced in defense, lowered his center of gravity, and kept harassing with his hands, but Griffin didn't move!Returning to the outside line Paul, Paul can only get the ball by himself. With the help of a screen, he breaks out to the left.Paul's CIC is still a hit!Paul's CIC can be said to be very stable.

Curry quickly led the frontcourt, or Paul came over, oppressive defense, and gave it to Paul George on the right!If the Pelicans have the most advantage over the Clippers, then there is no doubt that they are small forwards and centers!Because there is no Jordan, the Clippers did not get it, and now Glenn Davis is at the center!Glenn Davis is completely unable to guard against a flexible center like Davis.

And the very important reason why the Clippers have not been able to break through to the Western Conference Finals in their previous lives is because there has never been a better small forward, and the position of the small forward has always been very weak!At present, the Clippers' small forward is Matt Barnes, who is completely unable to guard against Paul George in terms of height, weight and skills.

After Paul George got the ball, facing Barnes, he broke through without any complicated moves, jumped up and pulled the bar for a layup!Although Griffin jumped up to block the shot, he didn't interfere. Seeing this, Presti remembered a series of sad pictures of Griffin in his previous life!All kinds of jumping first but being blocked, the hands are short.

Paul took it over here, Griffin stepped forward to cover Thompson, the Hornets decisively switched defenses, Paul faced Green and swayed back and forth, Green was still motionless, did not eat the shaking, jumped into the middle distance, Green stretched out his hand to pounce, and more!

Presti stood up and applauded to encourage Green's defense. He had no problem defending at all. As for advancing, it could only be due to his personal ability. It is impossible for any superstar in the league to defend against death.

The Clippers were forced to single out, but the Pelicans' offense was much easier. Paul defended well?It's okay, I'll let Curry run all over the court, consume you, and take fewer shots at worst, but you, Paul, can't do it.

Here, Paul George took the ball and continued to single out Matt Barnes and went in easily. Barnes had no choice but to foul. George made two free throws.
Helpless, Paul could only do it by himself, and fortunately his shooting percentage was good. At the end of the first half, the Pelicans led the Clippers by 4 points!
Entering the second quarter, Presti replaced the full bench lineup, while the Clippers defended Griffin on the court. After all, David West is difficult to defend Griffin, but the Clippers ignored a problem, that is, the Clippers.
In addition, David West on the bench is really not good at helping defense, but there is Gobert at the basket, and the general insiders can't help him. There is also an interesting point about the Pelicans, which is that the defense of the bench is stronger than that of the starting team.

After 4 minutes of the game, the Clippers immediately called a timeout. The Clippers' substitutes played completely chaotically. The Clippers' substitutes centered on Griffin and played singles inside!But Collison on the outside line, and Claude are used to holding the ball, so they just stood there. Griffin turned around and walked to the baseline to pass David West. He was about to make a layup and was blocked by Gobert again!The Pelicans counterattack again!

Back from the timeout, Griffin was still playing with the ball. This side was directly double-teaming the low post. Griffin distributed the ball outwards, and the Pelicans immediately interfered and gave it to Claude in a wide range.
Jimmy Butler grabbed the rebound and rushed to the frontcourt to score again, and also caused a foul!The Clippers can only get the starter back.

After returning, Paul led the Clippers to blow the horn of counterattack, using his mid-range shooting and breakthrough ability to create space for his teammates, and the point difference was quickly recovered.

Tonight's Paul feels hot, and his shots are accurate. Relying on this performance, he has been playing back and forth with the Pelicans!Played until the end of the third quarter, and the score was still tied!
In the fourth quarter, Presti brought Gobert up and replaced Green to increase the frame protection. In the previous few quarters, the Clippers basically couldn’t counterattack and relied on Paul’s mid-range shots to score points in positional battles. Now that Gobert is on the court, in addition to better protection of rebounds, it is his excellent frame protection ability. He is the best person to restrict opponents from shooting at the basket!
Presti decided to give Paul a mid-range shot and pass defense. Paul and Glenn Davis played too many pick-and-rolls before. Davis, as a center, was at a disadvantage when colliding with a tough guy like Jordan. Gobert can solve this problem!
As for Paul's small fight big?It's okay to want to shake the CIC, but if you want to come in, then Davis's defense ability will definitely make him deflated. Besides, can the CIC shoot the Pelicans?Obviously impossible, can the shooting percentage be 100%, maybe it is possible, but now that Paul has played for 30 minutes, his physical strength must have been a little bit behind.

Sure enough, after Paul and Glen Davis picked and rolled, Gobert didn't come out, and he missed the shot!Gobert took the rebound and gave it to Paul George. Paul George counterattacked and made a layup.

Paul picked and rolled with Griffin this time, went in again, and Gobert still didn't come out, so he gave you a shot, and this time he hit it!But for the Pelicans, Green handed the ball holder at the top of the arc to Thompson, and JJ Redick couldn't guard Thompson at all, catch the ball and shoot again!besides!
Paul gave it to Griffin, and Griffin was also a high-post supporter. He wanted to pass the hand to Redick, but Curry made him unable to catch it. Curry's defense has always been good.

The Clippers have no choice but to rely on Paul's touch to last until now, but now that Paul is tired and the touch is gone, the Clippers can only collapse in an instant!The Pelicans scored too many points, strangled one, and there are 4 more!
In the end, the Pelicans defeated the Clippers 115:108. In this game, Curry only had 13 points, 8 of 5 shots and 4 of 3 three-pointers!Plus 5 assists and 2 turnovers.Although the statistics are mediocre, everyone knows Curry's ability to restrain the Clippers from the outside in this game. You can often see the Clippers dispatching two people to defend!

After the game, Presti praised Curry fiercely: "Although Curry's scoring in this game is mediocre, you all know how good the shooting environment Curry's involvement has provided for his teammates. It can be said that many of his teammates' scoring are due to him."

The next day, the Pelicans played back-to-back away games against the Thunder!Presti decisively rested Curry, Paul George and Davis, and mentioned Livingston, Jimmy Butler and Gobert to the starting positions.

Presti is too aware of the physical damage of back-to-back to players, and playing against a strong team like the Thunder will inevitably last four quarters, or even the last moment. The long season has just begun, so there is no need to fight like this from the beginning, and Davis on his team was really a "glass man" in his previous life, with constant minor injuries.

And Presti has another consideration, which is to decompress the players. Now that the Pelicans have won 12 consecutive victories, the longest winning streak in the league, players with such a winning streak must be under pressure. He remembers that Kerr said in his previous life.
Of course, many fans were disappointed in this game. After all, these are recognized as the two strongest Western Conference teams. Now that a team’s three cores are not playing, what else to watch, but after all, the heat of this game is still not diminished. After all, the other players of the Pelicans are not good at it.

At the beginning of the game, the Pelicans were a little tight. Without Curry, Paul George and Davis, the Pelicans had very limited space. Jimmy Butler and Livingston's outside deterrence was too small, and the Thunder decisively contracted!
On the inside, Green and Gobert don't have the ability to attack autonomously at all, and the Thunder are even more relaxed in defense. The Thunder further shrunk the defense, and the inside line became crowded. Jimmy Butler couldn't break through, only mid-range.
As for the Thunder, Presti's tactic is to give Westbrook a mid-range tactic. Because of Gobert and Green, it is not easy for Westbrook to break through and score. Fortunately, his touch tonight is so-so, making the score stalemate. The score was not stretched too much. At the end of the first quarter, the Thunder led by 5 points!
When it came to the bench stage, the Pelicans couldn't wait anymore. The Thunder's bench was still brought by Westbrook. Without Gobert, the Pelicans' inside line was no longer deterrent, and they could easily hit the basket for a layup, or dunk!Presti could only bring Gobert up again, but it still didn't change much, because after Gobert came up, Harden became the master, and Westbrook went down to rest.

In addition, David West is still flourishing in the penalty area, but after the Thunder double-teams, it will not work. It is divided into the outside line brother Antetokounmpo, no blue, and then divided into Middleton!After Middleton received the ball, the Thunder immediately got another shot. Middleton almost has no offensive ability to hold the ball now. When he passes it to Bradley, he still has no offensive ability to hold the ball. He continues to guide and returns to Antetokounmpo!The time is almost up, close your eyes and throw it away!Miss!

Westbrook got the rebound and sprinted one-stop, and he couldn't prevent it at all!Dunk directly!

Three-core is no longer really difficult to play. Even with Curry or Paul George, the game will be much easier to play. After all, they can be playmakers!This incident reminded Presti that no one can prevent injuries during the long season, so what should we do if we are all injured by then?It is necessary to speed up the cultivation of Antetokounmpo's ability to be a playmaker.

In the second half, the Thunder's offensive became even more violent. Durant singled out Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler's height and wingspan were almost equal to an open spot for Durant, so he just pulled it up and threw it!
And Westbrook, who didn't feel good in the first half, also found the crosshairs after a few misses, and scored from the middle distance of the free throw line!This is not the worst. The worst thing is that Jimmy Butler, who had a good touch in the first half, felt cold in the second half. The Pelicans completely lost the ability to tear apart the defense.

Because of the Thunder's fiery offense in the third quarter and the Pelicans' offensive stagnation, at the end of the third quarter, the point difference has come to 17 points!
Presti knew that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't beat the Thunder with the current configuration, so he replaced the main players and continued to train Antetokounmpo. This time, he replaced Ray Allen, Belinelli, Bradley, and Jason Smith!Cultivate Antetokounmpo's breakthrough ability with the "one star and four shots" style of play! !

This lineup has indeed achieved results, Antetokounmpo actually got 4 assists in the fourth quarter!And when the Thunder did not replace the starting lineup in the early days, they were evenly matched. Of course, the main reason was that the Thunder relaxed after seeing the Pelicans replace the bench, but even that also shows that Antetokounmpo has made significant progress compared to the beginning of the season!
In the end, the Thunder defeated the Pelicans 108:99, ending the Pelicans' 12-game winning streak, and this is the first time since the start of the game that the Pelicans have not scored more than [-] points.

However, after the game, people did not comment too much on this game. After all, the Pelicans lost three cores. If the Thunder, the second strongest team in the West, lose again, the Pelicans will be too scary.

After losing to the Thunder, the Pelicans started a wave of winning streak again until the Christmas game on December 12.

(End of this chapter)