Chapter 327: The situation will be even more difficult in the future

"We still have to stick to the defensive strategy of the last game, which is to lock him down at this position before Jack enters the basket."

"He will initiate pick-and-rolls, attack outside the 3-point line, and pass the ball on the move, but these don't matter. Completely containing Jack Fan is a task that even God can't complete. He is a superstar."

"We just need to make two or three successful defenses against him at critical moments, disrupt his rhythm, and affect the Clippers' overall offensive momentum, and we will succeed."

Brooks said to his players before the start of the fourth game.

He is a very, very good coach, and very good at dealing with young talented players. After the Thunder lost the game last season, he said a very famous sentence: "Children, go congratulate your opponents, they played very well, they deserve this victory. You are also very great, you have done your best, it's me who is not working hard enough."

His charm won everyone's trust.

Everyone firmly believed that under his leadership, the team would become better and better.

This game is extremely important for the Thunder and for the occupation of the entire series.

If the Thunder can bring the 2:2 score to Oklahoma and play the battle of the Tianwang Mountain at home, the probability of the Thunder winning the series will be greatly increased.

And once they lose this game and return home with a 1:3 result, the pressure will be unprecedentedly huge.

The playoff first-round format is 2-2-1-1-1.

It is harder than going to heaven to reverse the victory after trailing 1:3.

Therefore, for the Thunder, this is a battle that must be won.

Before the war, they were already of one mind and one heart.

Although the Clippers locker room didn't conduct mobilization, everyone had a real need in their hearts: the championship.

A team aiming to win the championship wouldn't hope to fall in the first round of the playoffs.

Mike Brown and the coaching staff focused on explaining some defensive tactics in the locker room, regarding the limitation of the Thunder's three young stars. In addition, Mike Brown re-mentioned the triangle offense.

Although Mike Brown is criticized by many fans as a top-notch assistant coach, saying he has no master in front of Fan Xi and the former James Huang. But he has won the best coach, and it is impossible if he doesn't have a keen eye.

The reason he mentioned the triangle offense is because he saw Fan Xi's predicament on the breakthrough end. If Fan Xi is always limited, he needs a plan B. Fan Xi has the ability to back down, his offensive ability in positional warfare is very strong, Leonard also initially has scale, plus Nowitzki, he can completely build a super-strong positional triangle offensive connection.

When necessary, he can even let Stephen Nash on the court.

It was another passionate home game. When Fan Xi entered the court, the whole arena was roaring, welcoming the arrival of the owner of Staples.

Fan Xi subconsciously looked around. His eyes seemed to be looking for something. He contacted Jenner again in the afternoon, saying he left a front-row seat for Jenner.

Before walking out of the locker room, Fan Xi didn't receive a reply.

He thought Jenner should be working.

Now, this seat was empty there, and he felt a bit lost.

The surprise he wanted didn't come.

Recently, Chen Ye always said some messy things in his ear, making him feel a bit "nervous."

This was originally something common between lovers, but Fan Xi's charm was too great, he could get the desperate love of all women, which made him master the initiative in emotional life, and he almost had no sense of crisis.

Beep!

The whistle blew soon.

The game began.

As the head referee threw the ball into the sky, DeAndre Jordan and Perkins jumped at the same time to fight for the rebound.

But this time, DeAndre Jordan failed. When they collided in the air, Perkins used his elbow to separate Jordan and tapped the ball to his own half with his left hand.

Westbrook got the ball and pushed forward steadily.

The Thunder's starting lineup tonight was still the Thunder's three young stars plus Ibaka and Perkins.

The Clippers' starting lineup was still: Fan Xi, Hamilton, Leonard, Nowitzki, DeAndre Jordan.

Both sides were based on the third game.

Westbrook brought the ball to the arc top, signaled his teammates to spread out, then suddenly changed direction, Fan Xi chased after him, Ibaka blocked, Fan Xi hurriedly bypassed this stake. But Westbrook killed into the free-throw line like lightning.

Leonard helped defend, Fan Xi saw this, and hurriedly went to fill Kevin Durant.

Westbrook faced Leonard's defense, leaned on Leonard's body, jumped slightly to suppress Leonard, and at the same time leaned back and threw the ball out... Swish!

Hit.

Westbrook remained stable under confrontation.

It was as if a gyroscope was installed in his body.

This device made him more stable in dynamic offense and confrontation conditions. There should also be this thing in Derek Rose's body, even more advanced than Westbrook's.

The "body stabilizer" Arenas mentioned might be this thing.

The structure of the human body is very peculiar.

Many players have amazing physical qualities, but they never learned to combine people and balls in their lives, such as the famous water-goods second pick Stromile Swift, water-goods number one pick Olowokandi... and Kwame Brown.

This type of player can't see any clues in high school and college, and they are brave and incomparable. But once they enter the NBA, facing the world's highest intensity confrontation and the most intense defense, they immediately can't look at it.

Fan Xi's ball-handling shooting is not good, maybe it's for this reason. He enjoyed "water-goods" treatment to some extent, although he was an undrafted player.

After Westbrook opened the first river, Fan Xi received the inbound pass from Leonard.

It was still James Harden defending.

Fan Xi adopted a surprise strategy, but before he arrived at the basket, Ibaka and James Harden closed in on him in the same way.

Fan Xi jumped up and hit Ibaka, a bit like a copy of Westbrook.

But Fan Xi made a behind-the-back pass in the air, passing the ball to Nowitzki.

Nowitzki easily scored with a layup.

Coach Brooks using such a defensive strategy is a risk to some extent.

However, he had to take this risk.

If Fan Xi was allowed to rush into the basket paint unscrupulously, the Thunder wouldn't have a single chance. He had proven this in repeated deductions.

Of the two evils, choose the lesser.

The game continued to advance.

Westbrook was full of confidence after hitting the first ball, and he immediately hit a stop-and-go jump shot, using his standard zombie jump shot.

The Thunder seemed to be looking for the feeling of the second game.

The Clippers were looking for the feeling of the third game.

However, Hamilton hit the iron.

Turning back, James Harden hit again.

The reason is that Westbrook, the initiator, opened the situation.

Fan Xi dealt with the moves on this side.

The game played for 6 minutes.

The Thunder led by 3 points with 15:12.

Mike Brown requested a timeout.

He brought on Stephen Nash, let Nash control the main court, Fan Xi came to the 2nd position, Leonard still stuck to the 3rd position, dealing with Kevin Durant. The 4th position was still Nowitzki, but the 5th position became Kwame Brown.

Play triangle offense.

The decision made by Mike Brown.

"Jack, in the playoffs, your invincible assault has encountered some trouble." Westbrook saw Fan Xi give up the main control to Nash and sprayed trash talk at Fan Xi.

Fan Xi ignored him.

The intensity and confrontation of the playoffs are incomparable to the regular season, and the Thunder played too cunningly. James Harden's physique served as a buffer wall, plus Ibaka who could pounce at any time to kill, the defensive intensity was indeed great.

But even at this level, Fan Xi still had enough ability to destroy, but he had to take risks. In the playoffs, every ball must be played steadily, because every ball is related to the final solution, and must be calculated carefully.

Therefore, the Clippers' active change is understandable.

If it were the regular season, Fan Xi would have rushed up with his head, fighting to see who would die.

But in the playoffs, he needs to be calm, restrained, and play a high success rate.

The Thunder also value this point.

Nash brought the ball to the front court, Fan Xi pulled to the elbow area to ask for the ball, James Harden hurriedly defended closely, his lower limb strength is very good, very good at top defense.

However, he was seriously lacking in skills and experience in defending the back.

Fan Xi bypassed him with two clever fakes, turned around, and passed him cleanly with a straight step.

Fan Xi killed into the basket, but didn't rush to layup, but used a clever bounce pass after attracting a double-team... this was a move learned from Nash... Nowitzki received the ball and easily scored a layup.

Nowitzki once had a very good cooperation with Stephen Nash.

Now, there are two "Nash" inside and outside the court, and he played like a fish in water.

When the Clippers fell into positional warfare, the Thunder's counterattack became rapid.

First, Kevin Durant hit a pull-up 3-pointer outside the 3-point line, and then James Harden also scored after running outside the 3-point line. The source of all this is Westbrook's advantage in the 1st position.

Stephen Nash is a defensive loophole, he needs help defense.

Whether Fan Xi helps defend or Leonard helps defend, the Thunder always have a young master who forms an open position.

Even if the Clippers start to play zone defense, it is of no avail.

This is so damn!

The playoffs are so real. Sometimes what you compare is not how long your long board is, but how short your short board is.

The Thunder just grabbed the weakness of Fan Xi's ball-handling jump shot and developed a series of tactical plays.

The Clippers fell into a passive position.

Although they played very well.

But the first quarter still trailed by 6 points with 29:35.

When the TNT camera gave Fan Xi, he looked a bit overwhelmed.

He frowned, he had to make a decision.

Either rush in and fight to the death with the Thunder's trap, or expose the pick-and-roll tacit understanding with Nowitzki, so that subsequent opponents have research data.

"Let me on the court."

At this time, Arenas came to Fan Xi and Mike Brown, "I can go to defend Harden on the defensive end, he can't push me away, can't shake me off."

"You can still play triangle offense on the offensive end."

Arenas said: "Maybe, you can still kill in and fight with them, I will do your wing support."

Arenas' ability to read the game is very strong, although his career peak was also known for "selfish play." But he and Kobe are the same, being selfish doesn't prevent them from having high basketball IQ. This is like we all understand many truths, but still can't live our lives well.

Mike Brown nodded.

At this time, Arenas opened his mouth again, he seemed to want to say something, but finally didn't make a sound.

He wanted Butler to come on, he felt Butler was a good partner.

However, the knot between him and Butler had not been untied... In fact, he didn't mind anymore, but the steps had never been found.

It was impossible for him to take the initiative to make peace, he was a senior who had been brilliant after all.

Chen Ye reminded young players about their lifestyle in the locker room and said a sentence that made him remember deeply. Chen Ye said: "People going up the mountain should not look down on the gods going down the mountain."

Chen Ye's original intention was to make young players more humble and accommodate the old comrades in their living habits.

But for old comrades, especially Arenas, it was simply a life motto. He immediately became familiar with Chen Ye. He even spent 100,000 US dollars on the spot to purchase Chen Ye and his wife's summer rehabilitation training course.

Arenas now calls himself "the god going down the mountain" in his friends or other unofficial occasions.

His sense of responsibility on the court is also constantly increasing, which is why he always takes the initiative to ask for orders.

Fan Xi sat on the bench, he was still thinking, he knew this matter was treating the symptoms but not the root cause.

Even if he takes down the Thunder, there is the next opponent, and the next opponent might play this set more deeply.

"No, Kim, we can't do this. This will stimulate Jack... Listen, stop the car quickly. I can't do such a thing, I don't want to be that kind of scheming woman, I don't want to make my man jealous."

Kendall Jenner shouted in the business car heading to Staples Center, she was very angry at her sister's arrangement.

She didn't like the scheming that women should have in Kim Kardashian's mouth.

She also didn't want to establish her image as a palace fighting expert through this matter, she didn't want her man to be jealous at all.

But Kardashian told her that if you want men to respect you more, you must make him realize the crisis.

"... Look, that guy Justin is so happy in front."

Kardashian pointed to the Ferrari LaFerrari sports car leading the way with double flashes in front.

"He can afford a luxury car worth millions of dollars at just over ten years old. Using such a guy to stimulate Jack is the best thing. He must respect the women of our Kardashian family, Kendall, you know when we first met Jack, he was still a nobody..." Kim Kardashian continued.

But Kendall Jenner was particularly angry, she said: "I hate your worldly remarks, I like Jack, and it has nothing to do with these things..."

"My stupid sister, I'm not doing this to make you break up with him, I'm doing this to make him like you more. Do you understand? Don't you want him to favor you more among so many women? Look at Taylor's triumphant remarks on TV before, she said she is a Clippers shareholder, what about you? Can't you be one too?"

"Obviously you met Jack earlier than her, but she is now acting like she is Jack's wife, she even interferes with Jack's career, damn it. I hate that 1.8-meter-tall woman!!"

Kim Kardashian shouted in the carriage.

She had been ridiculed by Taylor, who said she was a woman good for nothing but sponging off traffic everywhere.

Her loud shouting finally made the carriage quiet.

And the car had already driven into the interior of Staples Center. ===== CHAPTER 328 =====