NBA: Top 3D talents to start

Chapter 404 Against the Jazz in the Second Round

The five players selected for the best three teams are Kyrie Irving and Paul George of the Nets, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell of the Jazz, and Anthony David of the Pelicans s.

The Nets and the Jazz are the top record in the East and West respectively. The Nets are a bit better. There is also a second-team Durant in the team. The Jazz won 60+ games in the regular season, but only two of them were selected to the best third team. , it's more or less not very good-looking, especially the Clippers, whose record is far inferior to theirs, has two of them selected to the best team.

However, considering that the fans of the Jazz team are tied together and the fan base of any one of James and Leonard is not as large, there is no way to do this kind of thing.

And being selected for the best team is already very good, and there are still many top players who are too embarrassed to even make it to the third team.

This includes James Harden, who was still a team last season.

After Harden was traded to the 76ers this season, his tactical status has declined. At the end of the regular season, he averaged 25 points, 7.8 rebounds and 10.1 assists per game.

In fact, this data is quite good, not inferior to any player in the second and third teams.

But for Harden, who averaged 30+10 per game in the past few seasons, it is obviously a step backward. Whether it is because of the decline in his personal competitive level or the change of the team's tactical status, the decline in personal data has directly led to Harden. Missed the best team.

Harden's former partner, Russell Westbrook, also failed to make the All-NBA team, but compared to Harden, Westbrook's personal data has declined more seriously, averaging only 18 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists per game, with a shooting percentage of 40. % in his early years, with an average of more than 4 turnovers per game.

Now the outside world generally believes that Westbrook is the main reason why the Clippers have fallen to the sixth position in the West.

In order to get Westbrook, the Clippers sent the best sixth man Louis Williams and Harrell and other capable players. While the strength of the bench has shrunk severely, the arrival of Westbrook also made the Clippers' starting lineup more difficult. The offensive tactics were affected, and James and Leonard had to give the ball to Westbrook. After all, Westbrook would only be weaker without the basketball in his hands.

Thanks to the second half of the regular season schedule, Clippers head coach Rivers decisively adjusted his tactical system, allowing James to control the ball again and allowing Westbrook to play off the ball. This allowed the Clippers to restore a certain degree of competitiveness, which finally achieved the sixth record in the Western Conference.

It is a pity that Lakers forward Ingram also missed the best team.

This season he played the best season of his career, averaging 24.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. When Butler was unable to play due to injury, he successfully shouldered the important task of the team's second offensive scoring point and did a very good job.

At least the Lakers management is very satisfied. Renewing Ingram with the maximum salary last summer was really an extremely wise decision.

You must know that Ingram is only 24 years old now, and he can already contribute 25+6+5 data steadily, and the future is bright!
Unlike the best team that has been subject to various controversies, the announcement of the best defensive team is not so controversial, because compared with the best team, this kind of blue-collar award itself has relatively little attention, and the defensive team in the league There are only a few players, and there will not be much change back and forth.

The five players in the best defensive team are Wang Feng, Ben Simmons, Drummond Green, Antetokounmpo Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert.

The five best defensive second team players are Jrue Holiday, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Bam Adebayor and Joel Embiid.

Wang Feng's defensive efficiency has actually declined significantly this season.

Putting more energy into the offense, it is normal for the defensive intensity to decline.

However, due to the characteristics of the two purple defensive badges of defensive perpetual motion and defensive deterrence, it is doomed that Wang Feng's defense will not be weak even if he focuses more on the offensive end.

This season, Wang Feng averaged 2.2 steals per game, which is a significant drop compared to previous seasons, but he is still the league's steal leader, and his average blocks per game is 1.1. Looking at the entire best defensive team, he is the only one who can do it.

As strong as Antetokounmpo Antetokounmpo, steals and blocks are only 1.2.

Of course, defensive ability cannot be judged simply by steals and blocks, but Wang Feng is not bad at this point either.

The purple Hall of Fame-level defensive deterrence badge directly determines that Wang Feng can effectively reduce the opponent's shooting percentage even if he just defends with his eyes. How can the defensive effect be poor?

Therefore, the decline in Wang Feng's defensive ability is only relatively speaking. Looking at the defensive players in the entire league, Wang Feng is still the most outstanding one.

……

2021 4 Month 29 Day.

The second round of the playoffs, that is, the series of the divisional semifinals officially started.

In the Energy Solutions Arena, home of the Utah Jazz, the fans cheered loudly and greeted the stars of their home team.

The Lakers generals who played on the other side got boos.

It is normal to be booed by home fans in an away game, but anyone who has played in the NBA for several seasons, especially the playoffs, will not be unfamiliar with this situation.

But the Lakers players will still feel a little bit of a violation.

This is the first time in nearly three years that the Lakers lost their opening home court advantage in a playoff matchup.

The Lakers, which ranked first in the league in the previous two seasons, had home court advantage even during the Western Conference Finals and Finals because of their superior record.

But this season is different. The Lakers, who are only fourth in the West, can only play away games against the Jazz, who has the No. [-] record in the West.

Of course, this is just a trivial matter.

Whether it is home or away, the only ones affected are the noise of the fans and the fatigue from the long journey.

How the game should be played or will continue to be played.

The starting five for the Lakers has not changed. It is still point guard Wang Feng, shooting guard Jordan Poole, small forward Brandon Ingram, power forward Kyle Kuzma and center Brook Lopez.

The Utah Jazz's starting lineup is point guard Mike Conley, shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, small forward Bojan Bogdanovic, power forward Royce O'Neal, center Rudy Gobert .

Compared with the Lakers, the Jazz's starting lineup is mediocre, but the strength of this team itself is its excellent role players and rotation strength.

The Jazz's bench sits with a number of outstanding role players, such as Joe Ingles and Jordan Clarkson, who was still playing for the Lakers last season.

Clarkson is a fairly good role player who has been able to consistently contribute more than double-digit points in several seasons with the Lakers.

However, with the end of last season and the expiration of Clarkson's contract, the Lakers had to give up renewing the contract with Clarkson due to the pressure on the salary space brought by the average salary of the Big Three of 3000 million.

The Jazz took the opportunity to sign Jordan Clarkson with a four-year, 4 million contract.

Clarkson, the veteran of the two-time NBA championship, came to the Jazz and still served as a substitute role player, but his playing time and possession of the ball have improved significantly, which also allowed Clarkson to play the best performance of his career.

In the Jazz this season, Jordan Clarkson played 74 games, averaging 26.7 minutes per game, scoring 18.4 points, 4 rebounds and 2.5 assists, ranking second in the team in scoring, even more than Bogdanovic in scoring Even higher, second only to Mitchell, who averaged 26 points per game.

To put it bluntly, Jordan Clarkson's stable scoring contributions off the bench are crucial to the Jazz's ability to pass the regular season and get the No. [-] record in the Western Conference.

Wang Feng is also very aware of this.

In another time and space, Jordan Clarkson's experience is completely different from here, but the results are surprisingly similar.

As early as the 17-18 season, he should be used as a bargaining chip by the Lakers to the Cavaliers in exchange for Thomas Jr. and others. After two seasons in the Cavaliers, Clarkson will be traded to the Cavaliers in the 19-20 season. Jazz, and completed a contract extension with the team after the Jazz played for one season.

In the 20-21 season, which is the current season, Clarkson will also perform super well, helping the Jazz win the first record in the Western Conference and being selected as the best sixth man of the season.

It's a pity that although he knew that Jordan Clarkson was very good, Wang Feng could only watch helplessly as the Lakers let this outstanding player go.

The pressure on the Lakers' cap space to re-sign Ingram is simply too great.

The original annual salary of 700 million suddenly became 2800 million. This is no joke.

More importantly, at the end of this season, Wang Feng's contract is about to expire. Renewing Wang Feng's contract will be the most important task for the Lakers. For this reason, it is not unacceptable for the Lakers to give up a role player.

And at that time, the Lakers didn't expect Butler to be injured, so they felt that even if Clarkson left the team, the impact on the Lakers would not be very great.

It's too late to say anything now.

Clarkson, who left the team, has now become an enemy, and he is also the opponent the Lakers need to pay attention to most in this series.

The core of the Jazz's offense is Mitchell. This is not a problem. Although Mitchell is a very good player, he had a scoring battle with Murray of the Nuggets in the playoffs last season. Wang Feng is still too young in front of him. He is not Durant after all. James, the top scorer in the league, can completely limit his performance with Wang Feng's top defensive ability.

It's the same as the Lakers team thought.

The game started and Gobert won the scrum.

After Conley held the ball for halftime, he immediately directed his teammates to run and execute tactics.

Mitchell found Wang Feng who was following him at the first time, and couldn't help but shudder in his heart.

Wang Feng, who was the point guard, did not defend Conley at the same position, but stared at him, and it was Lakers shooting guard Jordan Poole who defended Conley.

Obviously, the Lakers intend to let Wang Feng, who has the strongest perimeter defense, to defend Mitchell in a targeted manner.

Once Mitchell, the team's strongest scoring point, is restricted, the Jazz's offensive rhythm is bound to have problems.

Of course the Jazz expected this.

After all, Wang Feng is a player who has been selected to the best defensive team for many years in a row. In his early years, he was famous for defending top scorers such as James, Durant, and Harden.

Mitchell doesn't think he has the ability to keep scoring efficiently in front of Wang Feng, especially in the first game of G1 in the series, it's better to find out first.

Mitchell was running without the ball. After some running without the ball, he didn't catch the ball. Instead, he came to the bottom corner and stood at the three-point line, taking Wang Feng away from the basket.

On the other side, Bogdanovic cut to the basket with the help of his teammate's off-ball screen, received a pass from Conley and scored a layup.

With the conversion of the ball, the offensive routine of the Lakers is not as complicated as that of the Jazz.

The basketball was directly handed over to Wang Feng.

The Jazz player responsible for defending Wang Feng is Royce O'Neal.

Royce O'Neal is 1 meters tall and weighs 98 kilograms. He has a strong body and tough confrontation. He is the best defensive player in the Jazz's forward position. This is why his offensive ability is obviously not as good as Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles. Under the circumstances, it can represent the reason why the Jazz started the game.

Of course, compared with Wang Feng, Royce O'Neill's so-called tough confrontation is not so tough.

With the strength of 88 and the blessing of badges such as the powerful terminator, Wang Feng's physical confrontation ability is the top in the league, and he can completely fight with monsters such as James, Antetokounmpo, and Zion Williams.

In order to limit Wang Feng, Royce O'Neal is only the Jazz's first barrier. They still have Rudy Gobert standing inside, ready to help defend and support at any time.

The defensive ability of the two best defensive players is absolutely not to be underestimated.

Wang Feng calmly looked at Royce O'Neal's defensive position in front of him, and raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Is it that close?"

Obviously, Royce O'Neill, like most of the players defending him, followed the attitude of preventing the shot and not the rush.

You can hit the rim with the ball, and Gobert is protecting the rim anyway, but there is absolutely no way to take an easy shot from the outside.

Wang Feng is a three-point shooter that is even more threatening than Curry. Once he is allowed to fire outside the three-point line, the result will be disastrous.

"In this case, it will be as you wish."

Wang Feng paused slightly while holding the ball, then suddenly turned into an afterimage in the next moment, and broke through to the right of Royce O'Neal!

quick!too fast!
The master badge was activated in the first step, and Wang Feng easily passed Royce O'Neal in one step, and rushed to the basket at an extremely fast speed.

(End of this chapter)