ebonymovies Chapter 649 649. Want to prove myself
Chapter 649 649. Want to prove myself
Chapter 649 649. Want to prove myself
Strong duels are the best thing for fans and players.
Even though the players played well and the fans on the winning side enjoyed watching the games like abusive games, they never made people remember deeply. How big is the difference.
And the classic game of strong confrontation can make fans remember deeply.
Not only the fans are excited to see today's game, but the players are also very excited.
Popovich looked at Leonard and Aldridge, who were about to move, and had a headache. After D'Antoni viciously forcibly praised them, both of them became a little excited.
Popovich knew that Leonard would be excited when he saw Liu Ren. The two entered the NBA in the same year, and they were both the best players in the league's top teams. Naturally, they would use it as a comparison, with Irving, Thompson, and Jimmy- Like Butler and others, they all regard Liu Ren, who took the lead in winning the regular season MVP, as their imaginary enemy.
Popovich is very entangled. If Leonard does not improve so much this year and is still at the level of the previous two years, there is no need to worry about him wanting to fight Liu Ren head-on. Leonard still has self-knowledge, or Liu Ren Popovich doesn't have to worry about playing the data performance of last season, because Leonard will definitely not be able to play that kind of data, so he will not have the idea of comparing his performance with Liu Ren.
However, this year Leonard has grown into a first-tier star in the league with an average of 24 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game. Liu Ren has fewer performance opportunities due to the great strides of young Lakers players, and his data has declined, averaging only 21 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists per game. Assists, not as good as Leonard's performance, let Leonard have the mentality to compete with Liu Ren.
The game between the Lakers and the Spurs will start at 1 pm on January 23.
Sure enough, as Popovich expected, Leonard's desire to attack was extremely strong after the start of the game, and he faced Liu Ren in singles consecutively.
This caused the Spurs' offense to stall at the beginning of the game.
To be honest, Popovich himself doesn't think Leonard is such an excellent singles player now.
Of course, everyone can see Leonard's hard work and talent, and his increasingly rich offensive methods make him possible to become a top scorer in the next year or two at most.
But it is by no means now. Popovich’s training method for Leonard is gradual. Now that the troika is still capable of fighting, Leonard does not need to do too much about offense, so Popovich used to The main thing to hone in the past few years is Leonard's pass support and defense, pick-and-roll, etc. Leonard's offensive talent has not yet been fully developed.
This is different from Liu Ren. The Lakers and D'Antoni's coaching staff regard Liu Ren's offense as the first training point. As for Liu Ren's defense, he relies entirely on his own consciousness. Ren probably couldn't even learn team defense.
Leonard is going to play one-on-one with Liu Ren, so the Lakers are naturally happy.
Liu Ren was the scoring leader in the NBA last season. Scoring is as easy as eating for him. After D'Antoni gave the information that he can fire freely, as long as Leonard's fighting spirit does not drop, Liu Ren is decisive. Unleash all his offensive firepower, face-up singles from the outside line, three-threat shots from mid-range, low-post straight-arm O'Neal overlord step and small hook, low-post turnaround and throwing shots, chasing and emergency stop jump shots...
For offense alone, in Liu Ren's opinion, Leonard is not so worth watching, no matter his offensive skills, awareness, or even experience.
Leonard's scoring method is more suitable for cooperating with his teammates instead of doing it alone. If Leonard doesn't want to show his offensive ability so much, but honestly cooperates with Duncan and Aldridge to play pick-and-roll Liu Ren would still be a little apprehensive about attacking.
But singles...
Liu Ren scored 14 to 6 against Leonard at the start.
The Spurs were obviously as expected by Popovich's bad premonition. Leonard wanted to perform too much today, so he didn't pass the ball after receiving the ball. He almost became Kobe's number two. The hit is huge.
The Spurs are off to the best start in team history this year. This is the first time in team history that they have won more than 35 games and only lost 9 games.
This near-best record in team history is not due to the superstar basketball played by the star who looks very eye-catching, but to rely on the team play*** Nader destroyed the Spurs' team play, and their strength suddenly decline.
The "Big 6" of the Spurs sound good, but as D'Antoni said, except for Leonard and Aldridge, the others are all old men, except for the youngest of these two, David West, who is almost 36.
This group of old men can still play a considerable role by relying on the Spurs system to continue their lives. Popovich's system allows these old men to continue to shine.
And once the Spurs system fails, Tony Parker and Duncan will almost become negative effects on the court.
But the Lakers are different. If Liu Ren is determined to go it alone, at most he can return to the style of the 13-14 season. Anyway, the core players are those people, and Liu Ren is much better than back then. There are more means of singles.
The most important thing is that the Spurs dare not double-team, because Kobe's off-ball shooting efficiency is extremely high, once Antetokounmpo is released, he will cut wildly, Green is on the other side of the basket and Liu Ren is at the same distance from the basket Ready to receive the ball at any time, Whiteside is a nightmare for the Spurs with only old Duncan and little defensive interest in the paint.
Leonard and Liu Renbiao spent most of the quarter, Leonard only scored 4 points, resulting in only 9 points for the Spurs, and the Lakers scored 14 points led by Liu Ren scored 22 points in more than half a quarter, the Lakers The team took a surprising 13-point lead at the start.
Originally, Popovich had calculated how to deal with the Lakers. He even calculated the whole process from the beginning to the end of the game against the Lakers, and then how to find the key point for his team to lead in the middle, how to Maintain the advantage, or should we stabilize the rhythm and delay until the end to overtake and defeat the opponent with morale or attack the opponent... Wait, wait, Popovich has been planning for today's game for a long time, will he become another player? The team's first imaginary opponent was put aside first, the main thing is to win the game against the Lakers when both sides send their main players.
However, I didn't expect that the Lakers would not start from the inside, but gave the Spurs a knife from the outside...
……
"What...what did Greg think that Leonard would go it alone like this? The opponent is Liu! I admit that Leonard is very good, but he and Liu are not on the same level of attacking at all! Do you really think Leonard is better than Liu this year because he averaged more points per game than Liu?" Kenny Smith said suspiciously.
Kenny Smith was a Spurs player at the beginning of his career. Although Popovich was still working as an assistant for Larry Brown and Nelson at that time, Kenny Smith later went to other teams and still had a good relationship with the Spurs. And Popovich is also a good friend for many years.
"I think Popovich will immediately let Leonard change his style of play." Barkley said uncertainly.
"I think so, maybe Greg wants to test Leonard's offensive ability?" Kenny Smith was not so sure, and then saw O'Neal with an unhappy face, and asked strangely: "Shaq , why do you talk so little today?"
O'Neill said with a gloomy face: "The boss used so many offensive methods today, but as a result, he only used the attack taught by his mentor once, and he hasn't entered yet."
"..." Kenny Smith asked the sky speechlessly, why did this guy's commentary salary increase again this year?Isn't professional knowledge not as good as a funny one these days?
……
In the first official timeout, the Lakers started to make substitutions. Liu Ren continued to play, but replaced him with a point guard with strong cutting ability. Today Clarkson rested, so LaVine was replaced, and a pitcher was replaced. , Korver was replaced, and the two insiders were replaced by Gasol and Monroe, which D'Antoni used to annoy Popovich.
The lineup of the Lakers looks sloppy, but the two insiders have support, and both have excellent height at the basket. It is not a disadvantage to deal with the old man lineup of the Spurs on both offense and defense. LaVine and Korver are fast on the outside. If one can shoot, Liu Ren's singles tactics can continue to play.
Before playing, Popovich told Liu Ren to be careful about the changes in the Spurs' style of play. Popovich would definitely not let Leonard continue to be self-willed. The Spurs' iron discipline is the most difficult part for them to deal with.
Liu Renshen believed it, and began to pay more attention to Leonard's passing after playing. Leonard also averaged 4 assists per game this year, a new career high. The organization has improved a lot compared to last season, mainly because the offensive threat in the Spurs system is very strong. Big, with many opportunities to pass to open teammates for assists.
However, after the timeout came back, the Spurs attacked first. After Leonard got the ball in the frontcourt, he saw that Liu Ren was not so tight, so he directly shot from outside the three-point line...
(End of this chapter)