The world of basketball

Chapter 157 The classic pick-and-roll at the beginning

The Thunder this season is still unstable, or Wei Shao is still unstable, but Paul George has recovered his state of one defense for a while.

Westbrook's unstable performance is imaginable, because it is obvious that he is changing his style of play, and with the change, there will be some labor pains.

Many people love Westbrook, his passion, and his loneliness and fearlessness in rushing into the enemy camp like carrying a pack of explosives.

Of course, there are also many people who don't like Westbrook, because his sometimes offensive choices are really open to question.

But Westbrook is reducing his irrational choices, becoming mature, learning how to mobilize his teammates, and learning how to find some changes from Donovan's very simple style of play.

Generally speaking, Westbrook is the object of criticism during meetings, and Donovan is probably the other object of criticism.Many people are wondering why Donovan has been able to sit steadily as the head coach of the Thunder. He obviously has no tactics. less rush.By this season, it will probably be that Westbrook will finish Paul George and Paul George will finish Westbrook.

On the contrary, the Thunder's play system and tactics are not so important.The feel and state of Westbrook and Paul George are the most important things for a team to win.

The Thunder are now in the ninth position in the West, only one win away from the eighth Pelicans in the West.

"Netizen friends, welcome to watch the NBA regular season game between the Spurs and the Thunder at home brought by Penguin Sports. The studio is very happy to invite Mr. Su Qun and Guoguo to watch the game with you." Wang Meng said.

"The Thunder's recent state is very good, especially the two core states of Westbrook and Paul George. So far, they have won four consecutive victories. If they win the Spurs, they will win five consecutive victories. For the Thunder , The five-game winning streak is their longest winning streak this season." Wang Meng said.

"On the contrary, looking at the Spurs, they lost to the Warriors, Rockets and Nuggets before. They narrowly won the last game against the Pelicans in December, but when Popovich was interviewed, he emphasized that their team There is no problem with his state, he thinks that losing is just a very normal ups and downs, and they lost to strong teams. But three and a half years, after all, it is not a good signal. Teacher Su, what do you think about this problem?" Wang Meng said.

"I agree with Popovich. The so-called victory or defeat is the common sense of military strategists, and in the games they lost to these three teams, the point difference was not mostly lost at the last moment. This shows that There is no big problem with their system. How to perfectly integrate Jimmy Butler into their system is what the Spurs need to pay attention to and care about the most,” Su Qun said.

At the beginning of the game, Mu Xiaobei and Adams started to jump the ball, but Jeremy Lin managed to get the ball and won the first wave of possession for the Spurs.

Mu Xiaobei made a pick-and-roll for Jeremy Lin from outside the top line of the three-point arc. Adams is the type of center who can't defend against the pick-and-roll.Jeremy Lin used the pick-and-roll to get outside the three-point line.With a full second of defensive delay, Mu Xiaobei's pick-and-roll quality is very good.Due to his growth in size and tonnage, he puts a lot of pressure on the pick-and-roll when he is in the pick-and-roll.

Then Jeremy Lin glanced at the basket, glanced at it, and pulled out directly from outside the three-point line.The basketball crossed a beautiful arc and went into the basket with a swish.Jeremy Lin's three-pointer gave the Spurs the lead.

A long time ago, not too long ago, well, pick-and-roll substitutions were actually considered a performance of not working hard. Generally, when encountering a pick-and-roll defender, they would squeeze past them.

Until later, it seems that the head coaches of the University of Kentucky or Duke University invented the fifth position for the first position to pick and roll, and then formed a switch defense, allowing the first position to play small and big or the fifth position to play small, so the pick-and-roll switch became popular. Coupled with Curry and his Warriors pushing the ball to a climax, the NBA's requirements for centers have changed a lot.

In the past, um, the requirements of the center were the type of black and tough, able to defend the frame, help defend and block shots to protect the rebound, but now more requirements are lateral movement speed, assist defense awareness, strong height, wingspan, and sufficient agility. When it comes to changing defenses, big and small can be defended. Of course, if he has a three-pointer, then his value will increase exponentially, just like Zhou Qi.

Adams is more like the traditional type of center, while Mu Xiaobei is more like the type of center required by the modern NBA.

Therefore, Popovich's style of play and system are a bit strange. He uses an ancient traditional style of play, but chooses a modern center for the core of the interior. Of course, this stubborn old man is also loosening his basketball. idea.

The Thunder's first offense was handed over to Westbrook. Adams picked and rolled outside the three-point line. Westbrook accelerated to the left and followed Adams to the basket.

For Thunder fans, this is a familiar style of play that can no longer be familiar.It is the classic pick-and-roll between Weishang and Adams, and it is also one of the Thunder's very important tactics.

If it is said that Westbrook can get about [-] assists in a game, [-] of them should be given to Adams in this way, and the rest are from Westbrook hitting the basket and sending the ball to the bottom corner to ambush. shooter.

Westbrook and Adams have been on the same team for such a long time, they are so familiar with each other, Westbrook didn't even look behind when he passed the ball, but the pass was placed on Adams' chest. , Adams can form an offensive threat when he receives the ball.

The most essential thing of this style of play is that Adams' pick-and-roll quality is very high, which can often delay outside players for a long time, and when inside players shrink their defense, they often cannot keep up with Westbrook's speed. And the explosive power is amazing.

The most important thing is that Adams has a strong ability to finish at the basket, and he has a half-stop throw, so Adams doesn't have to leave quickly.He only needs to be able to run to the half-block position when Westbrook hits the basket, which is probably enough. The opponent's inside players have to shrink their defense and help defend Westbrook, while the opponent's outside players have already been left behind , or there is no threat to Adams' throwing at all.

What if the inside players don't choose to shrink the defense?Then Westbrook will be even happier. He can directly hit a jumper with an emergency stop or a layup, which is so troublesome.

However, for the fast insiders, it is easy to crack this tactic, because they are fast, and when they pass the ball against Westbrook, they can turn around and face Adams again.

And we all know that Adams' shot speed is not fast. Before that shot, if the defensive players can keep up, his shooting stability is not so high.

So Adams made a throw and hit the iron, Mu Xiaobei received the rebound and passed it to Butler, Jimmy Butler pushed forward to counterattack, Kuzma ambush the ball outside the three-point line in the bottom corner and made a direct three-pointer.The Spurs scored a fast break and started 6:0.

(End of this chapter)