NBA Legends Manager

Chapter 433 The new season begins!
In the end, Durant chose the Thunder, but he did not sign a long-term contract, but signed a 1+1 contract. Durant's only goal now is the championship, but it is difficult for other teams in the league to compete for the championship even if he is added. However, there is still a team that can threaten the Pelicans with him, and that is the Cavaliers.

However, although Durant and James have had a rough time winning the championship, and Paul George has already held several championships, when ranking small forwards, James and Durant are still in the top two.

After the Thunder got Durant's contract extension, they also started to actively operate,

The Thunder traded Ibaka to the Magic for Victor Oladipo, Ethan Ilyasova and Sabonis Jr. The Thunder were easily defeated by the Pelicans this season.

Thunder: Send Ilyasova + 2020 first-round pick (top 20 pick protection), 76ers: Send forward Jerami Grant!After Ibaka left the team, someone needed to replace Ibaka to help defend in the penalty area, so the Thunder aimed at Jerami Grant.

Jerami Grant is a tall and long-armed athletic forward with full explosive power; he can defend multiple positions and has good rebounds; his shooting is unstable and his style of play is between No. [-] and No. [-]. In addition, the Thunder did train him in the direction of Ibaka in his previous life.

Thunder: Send Cameron Payne, Geoffrey Lovergne, Anthony Morrow, Bulls: Send Ty Gibson, Doug McDermott, 2018 second-round pick.

The Thunder's move is to further enhance the thickness of the bench. At the same time, it also introduced an excellent shooter like Doug McDermott. Next season, the Thunder will be a very difficult opponent.

David West announced his retirement this year. In his previous life, David West announced his retirement in 2018. Now David West has won 5 championships and has no regrets. David West said: "In fact, since last offseason, I spent a long time deciding whether to continue my career." I spent a month evaluating myself, and then another month, but the desire to train did not come.At that time, I knew it was time to retire! "

Presti immediately invited David West to continue working in the Pelicans, and David West readily agreed. This move made many close people praise Presti. Obviously, the Pelicans are a humane team.

In the end, Carter did not renew his contract with the Pelicans, but entered the free market. In Carter's words, he has no regrets. Now he can take young people and watch them grow.

The current lineup of the Pelicans is, point guard: Curry, Barea
Shooting guards: Bradley, Thompson,
Small forwards: Paul George, Middleton, Antetokounmpo

Power forwards: Draymond Green, Porzingis, Siakam, Saric

Centers: Anthony Davis, Jokic, Harrell, Zubac

But after the team's roster was confirmed, the experts were surprised and shocked again. The salary space of other teams was running out, and the Pelicans still did not pay the luxury tax, but this team that did not call the luxury tax has won 5 consecutive championships. Presti's operation is sighing.

When it comes to playing with the team, Myers will hand over the other chores, while Presti is going home to look after the children. Now, except for things that must be done by him before returning to the team, Presti stays at home the rest of the time, and his energy and focus have been shifted to his family.

Finally, in September, the new season is about to start. On the media day, Presti said in an interview that his goal this year is undoubtedly the championship, but when asked who is the most difficult opponent, Presti thought for a while and said: "Thunder!"

In the first game of the new season, the league also arranged for the Thunder to play against the Pelicans!
After the championship award ceremony, the first battle of the new season started.

In the opening game, the Pelicans defensively switched positions 1-5, with Westbrook + Jordan high pick-and-roll, and the double delayed return to limit Westbrook's speed; the Thunder defensively, Paul George instigated a high pick-and-roll, and double-teamed Paul George to prevent Jordan from being misplaced. Block Curry! ——The Pelicans focused on limiting Westbrook's breakthrough, while the Thunder focused all their defensive attention on Curry.

On the offensive end, the Thunder used the Pelicans to switch defenses to focus on dislocation offense. Jordan Jr. dislocated his back and killed Curry in a low position.

The Pelicans used Paul George George to instigate positional pick-and-rolls. Curry mainly played off the ball to avoid defensive pressure.

首个暂停之际，鹈鹕追至11-12雷霆。鹈鹕11中4，三分球4中1；雷霆8中4，三分球6分2。雷霆失误2次，鹈鹕失误1次。

During the rotation period, the Thunder used Westbrook to chase down Li and Curry, who was carrying two fouls, and Jordan converted to kill the Pelicans penalty area with an absolute advantage;

After the timeout, the Pelicans' main player Paul George + Draymond Green launched a pick-and-roll attack in the middle. Paul George George used the pick-and-roll to force out Oladipo or Gibson's misplaced heads-up or Fade Raymond Green went down to end;

The Thunder launched a high pick-and-roll with Westbrook or Curry + Gibson who had just played, Westbrook led the breakout and McDermott grabbed a three-pointer, and Gibson penetrated the Pelicans penalty area.

首节战罢，雷霆29-27领先鹈鹕2分。雷霆投篮命中率46.6%，三分球12中4；鹈鹕投篮命中率为41.9%，三分球12中4。库里4分2助2断，威斯布鲁克7投5中独得13分3助，从这也可以看出，多诺万来到雷霆后，确实将重心移到威少身上。

At the beginning of the second quarter, Jokic + Antetokounmpo + Bradley + Barea + Middleton VS Gibson + Grant + McDermott + Westbrook + Harden.

The Pelicans used Barea + Antetokounmpo to instigate a strong side pick-and-roll. Barea used a single-block assault to create, and the Pelicans moved the ball from multiple points outside. Bradley and Middleton grabbed a three-pointer.The two sides battled to a 39-39 tie.

When the main force returned, the Thunder took advantage of Jordan’s high position at the basket to attack the restricted area, and at the same time attracted flanking attacks.

Presti called a timeout. After returning, Curry went to the right to make an assault. Since Jordan controlled the connection between Curry and Davis, he had to rely on Green and Thompson's weak side to launch an air cut to attack the basket; .

半场结束，雷霆51-46领先鹈鹕5分。雷霆投篮命中率为42.6%，三分球21中7；鹈鹕投篮命中率为38.0%，三分球23中9。雷霆失误6次，鹈鹕失误4次。库里半场贡献8分4助4断1帽，威斯布鲁克18分3助。

In the second half, the two sides continued to be strangled: the Thunder used Westbrook/Harden to kill Curry, who was backed by 3 fouls, and soon Curry got 4 fouls; supplemented by Gibson chasing Thompson in a misplaced position, and Durant chasing Kaglin in a misplaced position—the Thunder dragged the Pelicans into a dull positional battle with kills and fouls;
The Pelicans insisted on using Curry to go to the right to attract assist defenses and create breakthrough points. Davis could also link up with Thompson to grab a three-pointer from the bottom corner.

In the second matchup, the Thunder's main player Durant/Harden + Jordan launched a high pick-and-roll, using the Pelicans to attack the ball holder.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Curry singled out Jordan Jr. on the offensive end of the Pelicans, and scored from the right to create Davis;

At the time of the main decisive battle, the Pelicans mainly played high-position pick-and-rolls. Curry singled out Jordan or Gibson to create sudden points from the right, and linked Paul George/Green's weak side bottom corner to start a second sudden point support, supplemented by Thompson to grab three points;
The Thunder set up an online double screen for Durant with Jr. Jordan + Gibson. Durant took advantage of the pick-and-roll one-on-one challenge. At the end of the game, the Thunder were still behind by 3 points. At the last moment, Durant faced Paul George and missed a three-pointer.

整场比赛，鹈鹕投篮命中率为39.4%，三分球42中15；雷霆投篮命中率为42.6%，三分球41中12。鹈鹕篮板球55-47雷霆，雷霆禁区得分36-34鹈鹕，雷霆快攻得分14-10鹈鹕。

The Thunder played very well today. The tactical system of "one inside and four outside" maximized Jordan's advantage at the basket. Kills and fouls caused the Pelicans to fall into the rhythm of the Thunder.

However, after the game, the media still strongly praised the Thunder: "The Thunder's lineup has not yet finished running, and they have been able to play against the Pelicans like this. It is foreseeable that after the end of the 82 regular season games, the Thunder will very likely beat the Pelicans."

Immediately afterwards, the Pelicans began a wave of winning streaks. The teams that the Pelicans All-Stars had encountered before were few strong teams. Presti looked at the schedule, combined with the memories of his previous life, and saw that most of them were weak or fringe teams in the playoffs.

At the end of November, the Pelicans had a record of 11 wins and 15 losses, undoubtedly ranking first in the league. One of the two games they lost was the Spurs and the other was the Celtics.

Leonard still exploded in the Spurs game. Now Leonard is undoubtedly a superstar in the league, both offensive and defensive. Now Paul George is a bit deflated when he meets Leonard.

Another loss to the Celtics was because Presti rested Davis. Without Davis, Thomas Jr. exploded in the fourth quarter, basically by rushing in. In his previous life, this season was Thomas Jr.'s peak season, especially the fourth quarter. He is known as the king of the last quarter.

However, the biggest reason for the loss of this game was that the players had a hard head and did not want to chase Thomas Jr. to play.Kuang still made three points, and finally threw himself to death!
After entering December, the team learned the lesson of the failure on the field and took every opponent seriously. In the end, they did not lose a game this month and achieved a record of complete victory. Among them, the most disappointing thing for other teams in the league is that the Pelicans' substitutes are too strong!
The first is Jokic. This season, Jokic has been the strategic starting point of the Pelicans' bench. He averaged only 25.7 minutes per game, scored 15.1 points, 7 rebounds and 4.3 assists, shot 57.8% from the field, 36.6% from the three-point range, and 83.6% from the free throw line!

Jokic fights to the top of the arc, and the opponent's center can only come out, so the basket is basically empty, and Antetokounmpo attacks the inside line in various ways!And Jokic's screen quality is too high, Middleton and Barea use the screen to make shots very easily.

Antetokounmpo has improved even more. This summer, Antetokounmpo has gained weight again. He can't stand up to him at the [-]th position under the basket. As long as he wants to get the ball in the depths, he will dunk when he turns around!In addition, the positional battle cuts to the basket, and the breakthrough can also divide the ball to create scoring conditions for others. Whether it is one-on-one on the defensive end or assisting in defense, it is very good!Of course, the most impressive moment is Antetokounmpo's fast-break snap!
Middleton's improvement is also surprising. Now Middleton's three-point shooting percentage has reached 42.1%, averaging 1.2 three-pointers per game, which is very good.

(End of this chapter)