NBA Legends Manager

Chapter 414 Tactical Crushing
After returning from the timeout, the Thunder took Durant back again. Westbrook served the ball from the outside. Durant went around to catch the ball and pulled it up to shoot. Paul George did not lose his position and also jumped up to interfere!Shot missed in interference!
Durant's height and wingspan rarely interfere with his shooting in the league, but Paul George is an exception. Paul George's wingspan and instant explosive power can interfere with Durant. The best defenders of Durant in the previous life were Paul George and Leonard.

Gobert took the rebound and gave it to Curry, who quickly led the frontcourt!

Curry and Gobert played a pick-and-roll, switched to Jordan again, and immediately divided Gorbe in the middle. At this time, Thompson walked around, handed it to Thompson, and blocked Harden. Thompson took the ball and shot!keep going!
Golbe's screen quality is much better than Davis', and Harden can't interfere with Thompson at all!

You have to compare Harden and Thompson alone. There is no doubt that Harden is great. Harden can be the core of team building, but after you have a core, Thompson is undoubtedly the better one. He defends well and does not occupy the ball. The key is that he is accurate, has a big heart, and can always turn the tide!

Here Westbrook led the frontcourt and suddenly accelerated and rushed in. Gobert covered it with his long arms and missed a layup in the confrontation!

This is why Presti went to Gobert. In the previous life, if you want to say who restrained Westbrook the most, it was undoubtedly Gobert. Gobert ranked first in the league in restricting the opponent's shooting percentage, especially in restricting Westbrook's non-shooting guards!
In the previous life, the "Big Three" of the Thunder were eliminated by the Jazz. Many people said that they were eliminated by the rookie Mitchell, but that was only one of the reasons. The most important thing is that Gobert seriously affected Westbrook's breakthrough at the basket, making Westbrook's breakthrough no longer a big threat!
However, because Harden is at the 2nd position, the Thunder is still good on the offensive end, but it has become a disaster on the defensive end. Harden can't keep up with Thompson at all, and often loses a screen, and the same is true for Westbrook!
Harden and Westbrook are able to defend with the ball, and they can defend alone, but they can't look directly without the ball. The Thunder itself is a team that plays defensive counterattacks. Now they can't defend, and they can't push back.
The stars are singled out and recognized as the least efficient scoring method, and the Pelicans' defense against the Thunder is that you can shoot outside, but if you want to rush in, you will be double-teamed!

In positional battles, only Durant is a stable three-pointer. Westbrook and Harden's three-pointers are average, but the Pelicans have a variety of offensive methods, such as pick-and-rolls, face-up breakthroughs, air-cut cooperation, and even single-handed star players!Soon the score came to 16 points!
On the last attack of the half, Durant threw the ball in an arc against Paul George, stopping the bleeding for the Thunder!

During the intermission, Presti continued to emphasize the defensive tactics against the Thunder, still forcing them to take a three-pointer, breaking through the penalty area, and immediately contracting double-teams!

Soon the third quarter will start!
As soon as the game started, the Thunder tried a few three-pointers, all of which ended in iron strikes. On the Pelicans, Curry picked and switched to defend Jordan, and succeeded in the singles. Thompson also used Green's cover to throw the ball in!
Afterwards, Lei Ting began to kill insiders crazily by relying on San Shao's personal ability!Although Davis and Green's defense in the interior is good, they are certainly not as strong as Gobert's frame protection. The Thunder's three young men boldly attacked the penalty area, and this also worked!

Westbrook rushed to the penalty area and got a few free throws. The most important thing is that after Westbrook hit the penalty area to attract double-teams, although he couldn't make it, Jordan missed it, and Jordan easily won the frontcourt to make up!

In the previous life, many people said that Adams was the king of cards. If there was no Westbrook, he would become the king of rebounds. This is generally based on the statistics after the game. The main reason why Adams has more frontcourt boards is that Westbrook rushes in to attract the attention of the opponent, which allows Adams to rush to the frontcourt better!
Harden's singles against Curry and Thompson are not a big problem. Now Harden's fouling ability is already very strong, and he has also won a lot of free throws. It is not so easy for Durant to play George, but Durant's emergency stop is still very threatening.

In the second half, the Thunder relied on free throws and Jordan's frontcourt to close the score, but at the end of the third quarter, the Thunder's fatigue appeared, while the Pelicans were in good shape, because at this time the Pelicans' lineup was full of substitutes, and the Thunder still insisted on three starts!
Westbrook took the ball and continued to hit the inside line, but now the inside line has become Gobert, and the fourth position has also become Antetokounmpo. The confrontation failed.

This time Westbrook went around the screen to block Barea's breakthrough space, and at the same time reached out to prevent Barea from making a shot, but Barea immediately split Gobert in the middle, Gobert made an air cut, Jordan blocked it, and then split Middleton in the bottom corner!Middleton catches the ball!
Middleton's three-pointer is no joke. He was the one who called the Celtics "Dad" in the series in his previous life!
Here, the Thunder have no choice but to stay in the ground. Once the Thunder lands, they can only break through with the ball and attract double-teams to score the ball. But the problem is that the Thunder's outside line has no three-pointers at all.So you can only come by yourself!
After taking the ball, Westbrook made a strong charge again, and undoubtedly missed it. This is considered by others to be a top shot and a no-brainer, but now Westbrook can only play like this. Durant Harden went down to rest. There is no stable pitcher on the court, so he can only rush by himself!
After the miss, the Pelicans played a fast break, Antetokounmpo rushed up again, and Jordan quickly caught the foul!Antetokounmpo made two free throws,
On the last attack, Westbrook chose to make a three-pointer at the top of the arc and continue to hit the iron!
In the fourth quarter, the Thunder began to let Westbrook go to rest, replaced Harden, and Durant came to bring the bench, but they were still overwhelmed by the Pelicans.

Middleton actually made a breakthrough against Durant. Collison came to help defend, and then divided Bradley on the outside. Harden quickly made up and continued to give Barea, who took the ball and made an open shot!besides! !

After playing a few rounds, the Pelicans stopped the Thunder with a wave of 9:3!

After returning from the timeout, the Thunder switched to all starters. At this time, the Thunder's starting five players, Harden, who played the least amount of time, only played Hughes for 3 minutes. Durant, Westbrook and others only rested for less than 2 minutes!Now that they're here, they're obviously going to fight to the end!

Presti also changed the lineup, replacing Curry, Thompson, Paul George, Antetokounmpo, and Davis, played small ball tactics, and defeated the Thunder in one go!
Back in the game, the Pelicans launched a swift attack. Durant hit Paul George in the low post and was double-teamed.still none!Antetokounmpo grabbed the rebound and counterattacked quickly. The Thunder's defense was much slower than at the beginning of the game. After reaching the frontcourt, the Thunder gave up defending Antetokounmpo, fearing the Pelicans' three-pointer, but Antetokounmpo did not slow down.
The Thunder's Westbrook rushed again, but he still made a defensive shot. He was blocked and had to score outside. Paul George made a lightning strike and stole the ball!

This is the significance of the Pelicans to Westbrook's defensive tactics, but after Westbrook rushed in and was blocked, he either made a strong throw or split the ball. Not only did the Pelicans push back and split the ball, the Pelicans cut off the passing route and counterattacked again!

Westbrook and Harden were the top two mistakes in the previous league!
After Paul George broke the ball, he accelerated his counterattack and went to the frontcourt. Paul George feigned a shot. Durant rushed over and avoided the defense for a three-pointer!There are too!
On the Thunder's side, Harden faced Curry, changed direction and rushed in. Brother Antetokounmpo came to help defend, and his long arms interfered!

Rockets fans in the previous life knew that they least liked to play with a team with a strong striker, because it was very restrained from Harden's breakthroughs and passes, and Harden missed the throw!Antetokounmpo took the rebound and continued to fight back!
Ibaka quickly hugged Antetokounmpo, a tactical foul!
Davis received the ball from the outside, and Curry accelerated to run over, and continued to throw after passing hands!Not this time, the Thunder started to counterattack, but the Pelicans retreated very fast!The Thunder can only drop the position, Westbrook directly pulls a three-pointer against Thompson!Strike the iron!

Presti saw this and knew that Westbrook was on top. In his previous life, as long as the Thunder led the game, Westbrook played very reasonably, but once they fell behind, then Westbrook would shoot a three-pointer like crazy!But Westbrook's three-pointers are very unstable, only 32.3% this season!

The Thunder missed a three-pointer, and the Pelicans continued to counterattack. This time Davis made an air cut, received the ball against the ball and scored!

Obviously, although the point difference is getting bigger and bigger, the Thunder players are in a hurry. Durant led the frontcourt and directly made a three-pointer, Harden did the same, and these missed goals were also converted into counterattack points for the Pelicans!

With 3 minutes left in the game, the Pelicans lead the Thunder by 21 points!The big picture is settled.

In the end, the Pelicans defeated the Thunder 116:101 and got off to a good start!

I was expecting the Thunder to tie the game with the Pelicans, but after watching this game, almost all fans thought it would be great if the Thunder could win two games. The Thunder's weaknesses are too obvious, there is not enough space, and the substitutes are weak!

After the game, the media commented: "This game made us more aware of the strength of the Pelicans. The Thunder is completely passive on the court. Although they can still rely on Westbrook, Harden and Durant at the beginning, the weakness of the substitutes made the Thunder quickly collapse in the fourth quarter!"

Presti said in an interview: "There is no doubt about the Thunder's talent. I have said since I first selected them that they are all MVP-level players. They have an absolute advantage against any team, but they can't do it against the Pelicans. Don't forget that we also have several MVP-level players in our lineup, and our substitute players are not comparable to the Thunder! Because our substitute players can start on any team!"

The second game will start soon. In this game, the Thunder will be stronger defensively, so as to interfere with the Pelicans' outside shooting percentage!

The Thunder's defensive moves in this game were very strong, tearing and pulling, especially against Curry and Thompson, making them unable to catch and shoot comfortably.

The Pelicans appeared passive at the beginning of this confrontation. Curry shot 7 of 2 from the outside, and Thompson shot 8 of 1.
In contrast to the Thunder, Westbrook violently attacked the penalty area and caused a foul. Harden singles and Curry also drew a foul. Durant played Paul George with a low post and hit back!
The biggest impact was the rebound protection in the penalty area. Jordan and Ibaka pushed, tore, and pulled in various ways, causing the Pelicans to lose 6 backcourt rebounds in the first quarter, and the Thunder also used these frontcourt rebounds to lead the score to 6 points!
In the second quarter, the Thunder thought they were ahead and boldly let Jordan and Westbrook go to rest. After all, the last quarter of the last game was a loss of physical strength. As a result, Barea of ​​the Pelicans started a crazy journey and returned to the 2011 season overnight!

Facing Harden, he directly accelerated to the left, reached the penalty area, and avoided the blocked shot!

Then after Harden missed a three-pointer, Gorbeka allowed Barea to get the rebound, speed up the frontcourt, gain confidence and chase the three-pointer, continue to advance!

The Thunder immediately paused!
After the Thunder took Westbrook and Jordan Jr., the Thunder's backcourt was completely stabbed by thousands of people. Harden's low-post defense was at the forefront of the league.

After returning from the timeout, the Thunder continued to start. Presti did not change the lineup. The substitute played very well at this stage, so let's continue to play. He will never make any substitutions.

After the Thunder came back from the starting lineup, the defensive end has improved significantly, but the offense is still average. Jordan Jr. faced Gobert, and Westbrook faced Gobert.
Curry's outside line and Gobert's pick-and-roll, the Thunder can't solve it at all, the Thunder can only rely on switching defenses, but Curry hits Jordan too easily, changing direction and easily rushing in, Gobert goes down, Ibaka gives up Davis to help defend, Curry throws Gobert to complete the alley-oop!

The Pelicans played differently, and the Thunder could only rely on the star wheel. At halftime, the Thunder trailed by 8 points!
In the second half, Presti continued to play pick-and-rolls, supplemented by Thompson, Paul George and other shooters. The Thunder couldn't defend at all, and Curry easily broke through the defense. If he didn't switch defenses, Curry could shoot directly!

The Thunder finally got along with the center and put up the line to pinch Curry, but Gobert caught the ball by the way and dunked easily!Then the Thunder prepared to rely on Ibaka's supplementary defense to limit the center's roll!
In the previous life, the Thunder often used this trick to force the ball holder to make mistakes, so the Thunder was always No.1 in the steal list, but this trick against the Pelicans was death. After Gobert was blocked by Ibaka, he directly scored Davis on the left!
At this time, it was too late for Ibaka to return, and he easily threw the shot. In the next round, he became Durant to help defend, and Thompson, who scored the bottom corner, hit a three-pointer again!
The Thunder still can only rely on superstars to solve the problem, but under the targeted defense of the Pelicans, they missed shots repeatedly!

Soon the game came to garbage time again!In the end, the Pelicans once again beat the Thunder 117:99, and the series was 2:0!

(End of this chapter)