The world of basketball

Chapter 158 Defensive Battle
Both the Spurs and the Thunder are very good at pick-and-roll teams, especially the pick-and-roll between the fourth and fifth positions against the first position. The most classic ones are Adams' pick-and-roll against Westbrook and Mu Xiaobei's pick-and-roll against Jeremy Lin.

In the first quarter of the game, the Thunder's tactics did not show much, and the lead was still not very good. The Thunder's offense mainly relied on Adams' second offense and Paul George's singles.

However, Jimmy Butler was originally a defensive player.Paul George feels good, but facing Jimmy Butler's defense is still a bit difficult.

The core of the Thunder, Paul George, Westbrook, Adams, Schroder, Robertson, Grant, etc. are still in the team.They didn't leave only Felton and Noel this year.

With the loss coming, Felton's status is not so high.In 2013, Noel was selected sixth in the first round.He used to play well in the 76ers, but he didn't play very well in the Thunder, so the team didn't keep him.

这个塞奇威少的合同是3818万美元，保罗乔治的薪资合同是3300万美元。亚当斯的薪资合同是2584万美元，施罗德的合同是1550万美元，罗伯森的合同是1074万美元。格兰特的合同是935万美。这些就是雷霆队整一个骨干薪资空间的大致情况。

NBA的新规定2019年至2021年球队的奢侈税线是1.32亿美元。而雷霆队今年的薪资空间达到了，1.6亿美元，比奢侈税线足足高了3000万美元。

This number is a very high number.Well, as a comparison, the salary space of the entire Spurs team this year is just over $1270 million.

But every money for the Thunder seems to be worth it. Looking at these big contracts, it seems that everyone is worth so much money.Needless to say, Westbrook and George, every team is willing to offer them an annual salary of more than 4000 million, and Adams does not need to say that his rebounding ability is enough to be worth the 2500 million. Schroeder's 1500 million seems a bit A premium, but in fact Schroeder's ability is very strong.The best value for money, however, is Robertson and Grant.In terms of Robertson's defensive ability and his improvement of the Thunder's defensive intelligence as a whole team, $1074 million is not much.

In the first quarter, Robertson defended Jimmy Butler a little uncomfortable. Paul George is also a player with super defensive ability. In fact, their entire lineup is a very strong defensive lineup.

The problem with the Thunder is simply the simplicity of the offense and their lack of focus.Many Thunder fans believe that the Thunder's player configuration is enough to develop more tactics, not just let Westbrook and Paul George very tired into the endless loop of continuous singles.

This summer, the Thunder did not get a strong reinforcement. They just signed the original Lakers insider Zubac as a substitute for Adams. Driven by Westbrook this season, Zubac played pretty well. .

In the first quarter, the Spurs' offense was not smooth, and the Thunder's defensive efficiency was also very top in the league.

It's not that the Thunder don't counterattack, they also counterattack, especially Westbrook's ability to directly promote the counterattack after taking off the backcourt rebound is absolutely historical.

The appearance of this style of play is very accidental.The first is to have Westbrook. He has a very strong defensive rebounding ability, very fast speed, and a very strong driving ability. The second is that he has a very good teammate Adams to help him get a position and get backcourt rebounds.

When Westbrook held the ball to push the counterattack, the wing and another backcourt followed Westbrook to the frontcourt to ambush outside the 45° corner or the top of the arc, waiting for Westbrook's points. .

In this way, Westbrook's style of play seems to be a smaller version of LeBron James.

Yes, it looks like both of them have incredible physical fitness in front of them, but James' basketball seems to be even better than Westbrook.

This shooting percentage from Westbrook is really bad.Of course, his basket attack is still very threatening.

In this game, Mu Xiaobei has never played back singles against Adams, because Adams' strengths are his strength and tonnage, and it is really not a wise choice to play one back.

For Adams, it is necessary to focus on his speed. Adams is very slow, and his house is outside the three-point line, so try to play pick-and-rolls on the outside as much as possible, let Adams switch out as much as possible, and let the first position play Adams or even wood. When Xiao Bei singled out Adams, he had to go to the high position and use his speed to attack him, instead of attacking him with his back in the low position.

Mu Xiaobei made a ball-holding pick-and-roll for Jeremy Lin from the outside line at the top of the arc, and Jimmy Butler and Kuzma left behind to make a cross screen.

After Mu Xiaobei's pick-and-roll, he cut outside the arc top three-point line. Jeremy Lin hit the ground and passed the ball to Mu Xiaobei. The cross pick-and-roll between Kuzma and Butler caused Butler to form a dislocation, facing Grant one by one.

Mu Xiaobei's pass was timely, the others pulled away, Butler dribbled the ball at a 45° angle, and faced Grant's defense one-on-one.

Butler made a cross step, then went to the left to kill towards the basket, turned around and leaned against Grant, moved the other hand and took a step back to withdraw from the space, and then Butler directly stepped back and made a mid-range shot.

A very beautiful set of moves, the ball also fell into the basket very competitively, and Butler succeeded in singles against Grant.

Jerami Grant, was selected with the ninth overall pick in the second round in 2014. The [-] meter four started as a defensive player. Although he looks thin, he has enough height and wingspan , The footsteps are also very fast, and it is completely capable of dislocating and defending many positions.

In the Thunder last year, he was entrusted with a heavy responsibility as the starting No. 13, and then his shooting percentage and statistics have achieved great breakthroughs.He scored in his career, averaging double digits per game for the first time, scoring 56 points, shooting 38% from the field, 70% from the three-point range, 5.4% from the free throw line, and averaging 1.4 rebounds per game. Sending 1.0 assists, sending 1.3 steals and [-] blocks.

Very comprehensive data, he is very adaptable to playing next to Westbrook, and his technical characteristics are also good. On the offensive end, he can shoot, position, three-pointers, make air cuts, test samples, and pick-and-rolls. It belongs to every player and coach. The kind of jack-of-all-trades player who cooperates.

The game between the two sides was very stalemate and it was not very good, because the defense of both teams was good, but the offense of the two teams was not very good, so it would make the fans feel a little boring.

As the whistle sounded in the first quarter, Jeremy Lin hit a three-pointer at the buzzer, leading the Thunder by five points into the second quarter.

(End of this chapter)