Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 100
Because of Westbrook's absence from injury and coaching changes, although the topic of the Thunder's new season has increased a lot, but because the outside world is not very optimistic about them, coupled with changes in other teams' lineups, one ebbs and another, the Thunder's national live broadcast in the new season has been cut a few games.

Of course, even if you don't cut it, the game against the Pistons is definitely not among them.

However, this game was broadcast on TNT, and even specially invited the famous Pistons "Smiling Assassin" Isiah Thomas to come and explain the game live.

"Isay, how do you feel about the performance of the Pistons in the new season?"

This is simply sprinkling salt on the wound. The Pistons currently have a record of 1 win and 3 losses, and the opponent they won was the Bucks with the same belly.

Well, Jennings played against his old club.

This is enough to show the strength of their lineup, it is obviously not good enough, and we can't expect anything.

Before the start of the game, Thomas had vowed that the Pistons would make the playoffs in the new season, which was a good start.

The most important thing is that Stuckey's performance disappointed him. In the first three games of last season, he created the first record of a player with a shooting percentage of less than 10% in three consecutive games.

Fortunately, there are not many shots, but there is still a big impact on the team with a slow starter.

In this game, Cheeks directly delegated Stuckey to the bench, and this year's No. 8 rookie Caldwell-Pope was put on the starting lineup. Obviously, he couldn't bear the performance of Tai Ziji.

Pope's performance in the first four games is also average, but he is still much better than Stuckey, and he is a rookie after all, so he has a fault tolerance rate.

"Okay, the game has started! Let's watch the game first..."

On the domestic side, CCTV5 directly broadcast the game. This is the first game broadcast by CCTV this season. The commentators are Yoga and Yang Jian.

Both of them are veteran commentators of CCTV. When Li Sheng came here to accept an exclusive interview with the sports channel, they met and exchanged contact information. They naturally have different feelings for this young compatriot who has stood on the highest stage, so they talked about him before the game.

"...I think Li Sheng is a very ambitious but humble young man. I think this is a necessary quality for a person to succeed. Especially in this place in the United States, we all know the customs and cultures abroad. He is relatively open and encourages you to express your views.

"So some fans in China may not understand why, as a rookie coach, Li Sheng dared to talk about the championship directly, obviously because of the influence of this atmosphere. And let's not talk about it, he just won the championship with the Spurs before.

"When you have tasted the taste of victory, it may be difficult for you to look back and accept your failure. But as compatriots, we expect him to succeed, but if he does fail, we should also stand behind him and be his solid backing.

"Especially now, it seems that it is becoming more and more difficult for us to see a Chinese who can gain a foothold on the NBA, the highest stage of world basketball..."

When the emotional rendering was in place, the game almost officially started, and the two of them immediately switched states.

With Li Sheng's relationship, they naturally learned more about the Thunder before the game, especially the Thunder's current players and their recent tactics.

"The Thunder are still their regular starters in this game, because the team's starting point guard Westbrook is still recovering from his injuries, and Reggie Jackson has been put on the starting lineup. However, judging from the past few games of the Thunder, their major change is to increase the proportion of wing possession.

"Durant has increased the proportion of the ball, clearing one side and playing singles in the elbow area to attract defense, which is a bit like a triangle offense routine. Because Durant has been in a very hot state since the start of the game, the success rate of this tactic is very high..."

Yang Jian immediately interjected: "The Pistons successfully got the first wave of the ball with a jump ball, but their first wave of offense didn't work. Jennings obviously didn't find his shooting state at the beginning of the game.

"The offensive opportunity for the Thunder is directly to Durant's elbow singles to attract the defense, Stuckey came to double-team, Durant immediately passed to the outside, Sefolosha had an open three-pointer, but there was no..."

Both sides played a game at the beginning. This game was played at the home court of the Pistons. Because the economy of the Motor City has been declining year by year, the good ball market at the beginning is also gradually shrinking. The atmosphere at home is obviously not as good as that of the Thunder.

But then the Pistons took the lead to find their status and hit a wave of 8:2. The Thunder only relied on Ibaka's mid-range shot to score two points.

Durant was in poor form and missed both shots.

This also has something to do with the Pistons' targeted defense against him. The Pistons are rotten, but these players' individual defensive capabilities are not bad, and if there are targeted arrangements before the game, then their team can still be effective in restricting the current only core Thunder.

Of course, Li Sheng also simulated the game before the game, and it is not that he did not predict this, and he also took precautions.

But still the same sentence, all simulations and predictions are just probabilities, not 100%.

The most important thing to watch on the spot is the state of the players, especially the core players. If the state is not good, it will directly affect the whole team.

The Pistons adopted a strategy of letting Josh Smith top defense, Stuckey and one of the inside Monroe or Zhuang Shen saw the opportunity to help defend at any time, rather than directly double-teaming.

This defensive method is good because it is not easy to give other Thunder players the opportunity to shoot openly, but it can limit Durant to a certain extent.

But whether it can be successful depends on whether Josh Smith can restrict Durant. If he lets Durant get what he wants, then others will have to fall into a dilemma, and they will have to double-team more resolutely.

As a result, it was obvious at this time that Smith saw the advantage of the home court and frequently confronted Durant physically.

If Antetokounmpo is afraid of confrontation because his body has not yet been trained and is too thin, then Durant is at a disadvantage in confrontation with heavy forwards even in the Warriors period.

And Smith can be forged with James, so there is no need to say more about the thickness of the body, especially the bottom plate is very stable, Durant is a little uncomfortable being pushed by him.

The weak-side singles of the triangle offense has requirements for the singles player's post-up. If you can play well, there is Joe's leader in front and a volute in the back. They are all picturesque post-ups.

Due to his physical condition, Durant's lower body strength is naturally relatively weak, and if he wants to lean on his back, he can easily be resisted.

So people like Tony Allen and Paul who are so much shorter than him can have miraculous effects when defending him, which is the same routine.

The lunar eclipse at this time is actually the same, making Durant play quite frizzy, and his face was dark when Li Sheng called a timeout to end the game.

Of course, he was quite dark in the first place.

"KD, what's the matter, don't tell me you didn't sleep well last night?"

Glancing at Cheeks next to the Pistons bench, Li Sheng pulled Durant past him, made a joke first, and then patted his forearm and said, "Come on, don't fall into their trap. He wants to irritate you and let you immerse yourself in the one-on-one fight with him.

"But you don't have to fight him hand-to-hand. This is a basketball game and not MMA. You have to play to your strengths. As long as you win the game and you perform well, no one will say that you are inferior to him. But if you lose the game, what if you overwhelm him?"

What's more, in terms of strength, it must be overwhelming.

(End of this chapter)