vertical and horizontal point guard

Chapter 104 Against the Thunder
Chapter 1 Thirty Against the Thunder
No one can keep the heat going all game, especially for a player who's been shooting from the perimeter.

Timberwolves head coach Frank adopted a strategy of preventing breakthroughs but not preventing shots, enclosing his penalty area tightly without leaking a single gap, and not giving Westbrook and James Harden a chance to break through and score the ball.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are very strong, but they don't have any outstanding tactical system. This season they made them soar, but they are not deep in offensive and defensive tactics. They rely on the star's own singles ability to provide The team gains the advantage.

The head coach of the Thunder is Scott Brooks. The head coach transformed from the player era has an excellent means of cultivating disciples. This season is his second season in charge of the Thunder. A head coach is really too young, and the age of 44 is really conspicuous among the general "old" and aging head coaches.

Fortunately, Minnesota's head coach, Frank Vogel, is younger and more topical.

The Thunder's record last season was not outstanding, with only a poor record of 23 wins and 59 losses, allowing them to successfully pick the No. [-] No. [-] pick in the summer. This record does not affect people's intuitive evaluation of Brooks' coaching ability.

Especially the fans of the Oklahoma City Thunder, they are tolerant of the newly born teams in their city. How many teams are at the bottom all the year round and have no hope of the playoffs. For future superstar seedlings like Durant, it is an exaggeration to break into the playoffs in three to four years. All they need to do is to be optimistic about every game and cheer for the home team!

Sure enough, this season, the Oklahoma City Thunder team started a blowout explosion. If it weren't for the Timberwolves' dark horse in the same division, the Thunder team would be the focus of the league's attention.

Thunder head coach Brooks has fully demonstrated his outstanding talent in coaching this season, leading the Thunder to the playoffs, and performed well against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns and other league giants.

The young head coach teamed up with a group of energetic young men with outstanding talents, and they collided with the most brilliant sparks.This season, the Oklahoma City Thunder have completed an excellent transformation, and they are fully capable of competing for the playoffs in the highly competitive Western Conference.

These also just set off Brooks' excellent coaching ability!
But behind the glamorous appearance, as an opponent, what Frank sees is a clearer essence.

The Thunder's outside firepower is too fierce. The outside combination led by Kevin Durant and Westbrook has become a beautiful landscape in the league. This outside combination is becoming the most dynamic trend in the league.

Durant's shots cannot be restricted. Once he is allowed to play, it is easy to get a high score of [-] to [-] points. His excellent physical condition allows him to deal with most defenders in the league calmly.

Brewer also played against Durant in the past two years. He has a deep influence on this tall small forward. Let Durant have more innate advantages on the way of scoring.

Last season, many highly professional experts analyzed and pointed out that Durant's confrontation ability is not strong, his anti-interference ability is poor, and he is often overwhelmed by opponents on the defensive end.

In their view, although Durant has excellent physical talent, whether he can become a top scorer in the league still needs to strengthen confrontation, and Durant did not grasp the timing of many shots last season very well. The shooting rate is not stable enough, the efficiency is low but it takes up a lot of opportunities for the team, which is one of the reasons why he is criticized.

But this season Durant has obviously made great progress under the training of Brooks. From his thick upper arm muscles, it can be seen that he has strengthened his physical exercise in the summer.This season Durant has completed the transformation of "Tarantula", and now he is not afraid of any physical confrontation.Not only that, Durant's mid-range shooting ability has evolved a lot, and the words stable and efficient have become one of his labels.He is impeccable in terms of shooting action and shooting percentage. With the advantages of height and wingspan, he can easily score 30+ points with his excellent shooting skills.

Westbrook is also a new star of the Thunder who is gradually showing his talent outside. Once this extremely impactful explosive kid sprints, very few people in the league can stop him.

In addition, this year's No. [-] rookie James Harden has also gradually gained the trust of head coach Brooks. The increase in playing time has allowed him to do more things on the court. He has now become a scoring point that cannot be ignored on the Oklahoma City Thunder's bench. James Harden's gradual growth has provided a perfect continuation of the Thunder's offense.

The chance of victory tonight lies in the continuation of the Thunder's touch. As long as they show a slight cooling trend in the second half, it will be a great moment for them to counterattack.

The game passed by every minute and every second, and the battle situation was still anxious. Li Shihao controlled the rhythm and did not panic. They were not behind by many points. With a gap of two points, they could counterattack and catch up at any time.

As the brain of the team's backcourt, what Li Shihao has to do is to stabilize the situation. As long as the score is held, when the Thunder makes a mistake, they can launch a counterattack in the final quarter, lead a wave of offensive, and turn defeat into victory!

With 4 minutes and 56 seconds left before the end of the game, Durant's mid-range shot went out of the frame, and the rebound was stopped by Kevin Love who was under the basket. This was his 20th of the field rebound.

In this game, he has turned into a rebounding monster. Compared with him, Congo center Ibaka's 5 rebounds are simply shabby.

Le Fu yelled, and swung his thick arm violently. The orange elf in his hand drew an arc in the air and quickly leaped across the battlefield.

Li Shihao, who had just sprinted past the halftime, seemed to have a good heart, and used his right hand to reach back and firmly caught the long pass from Love across the halftime behind him.

At this time, there was no one under the basket, so Li Shihao rushed directly into the penalty area, and flew up, his right arm swung like a full moon, carrying a sharp wind, and the moment his body began to fall, he dunked suddenly, with an astonishing momentum.

Seeing this scene, many media reporters now picked up their cameras and flashed non-stop, for fear of missing the wonderful shot just now.

The news value of the Chinese boy is not low. In New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, there are a large number of Chinese fan groups, especially in New York. This kid’s reputation is not low. Many Knicks fans hope that their Bruce Lee Come to the Big Apple to play.

"Just like he fought for Syracuse! New York fans love him!" Spike Lee, a famous director among New York fans, once said so.

(End of this chapter)