From sparring to superstar

Chapter 180 178. The Magic Dog
Li Ao and Ray Allen played back and forth, and the Clippers fans were so excited, they were all calling for Li Ao to do it again!
Their Spiderman has two consecutive 40+ games, and they certainly hope to continue!

It's just that they have one thing that feels weird-the way Li Ao and Ray Allen scored in the first few rounds, the fans feel weird.

With comprehensive skills, he can shoot suddenly and play back. The three areas outside the three-point line, under the basket, and in the middle and short distances all happen to be averaging 2.5 goals per game. ball shot.

However, Spider-Man, who has a single skill and a ball possession rate that was once only able to sit at the same table as the blue-collar insiders, started off mostly with singles points.

But that's also why the two got off to a good start.

As the top scorers of their respective teams, the two are the first shots in the tactical play, and the opponent has made targeted defensive preparations for them.

Even the Bucks, which have a poor defense, have made full preparations for Li Ao's off-ball style. The big dog sticks, Ray Allen and Cassel help defend on the flanks.

The Clippers' defensive preparations are simpler. Li Ao defends against thunder-Allen attacks with the ball in the middle and long range, and O'Neal under the basket is covered.

The two's style of play suddenly changed, and the opponent's defensive preparations fell through!

Li Ao responded to the voice of the fans and came to the high position again. The big dog became rough this time, and he also made defensive moves around the front.

Even though Dagou has always had the attitude of 'accepting being blown up', he is still active on the defensive end after being scored 3 goals in a row by a rookie.

Li Ao held the big dog's defense, raised his left hand to ask for the ball, clenched his fist with his right hand and tapped his chest with his thumb, then turned around and cut towards the basket.

The big dog tried too hard, and took a step forward. When he turned around to catch up, Li Ao had already stopped on the sideline of the three-second zone, received the ball, and made a short-range jump shot...hit!
Li Ao turned around and retreated, stopping for a moment when he passed the big dog.

"Save your energy, otherwise what will you do if you don't get 20 points?"

The big dog looked at Li Ao who was running back to the backcourt, furious, rushed up... beckoning for the ball for singles.

Li Ao's trash talk took effect, but he followed Ray Allen to the bottom corner and watched Cassel go to the other side of the baseline. Jason Caffey, who has a certain high jumper ability, came near him and Ray Allen... 屮!

The Bucks have a tactic that the big dog singles the ball. There are so many rounds in each quarter, and the big dog wants the ball, and the rest of the Bucks immediately adjust their positions.

Maggette's oppressive post defense, the big dog took a step back, deftly dodged Maggette's post defense, changed direction, and charged forward!
The Bucks players followed the Big Dog singles to move, the space opened up, and the Big Dog made an emergency stop jumper one step inside the free throw line!

Tall and strong body, dexterous breakthrough like a point guard, superb pull-up jumper, precise shooting... Big Dog has shown his strength in averaging 47 points per game with a 21% shooting rate in his career so far!

Li Ao's trash talk took effect, but the big dog used his personal ability to strengthen his threat in the eyes of the Clippers players.

The trash talk had the opposite effect, and Li Ao felt a bit pained.

It is indeed the league's number one offensive team!

That being the case, let's attack!

Li Ao continued to go to the high position to lean on the big dog.

The Bucks are so numb, even a silent lazy guy like Big Dog swears.

Really just catch him and beat him up?

Seeing Cassel looking towards Li Ao, Greg Anthony took the initiative to move to the right side of the top arc, took Cassel to move a little, and then lobbed the ball to Li Ao.

Li Ao understood, received the ball, and made a gesture of turning over and jumping with one step.

Kassel chose to flank Li Ao, Greg Anthony immediately ran to the left at a 45-degree angle, and Li Ao split the ball when Cassel flanked him.

Greg Anthony received the ball at a 45-degree angle on the left, Ray Allen on the left side of the three-second zone made up for it, Greg Anthony passed Maggette again, Maggette cut to receive the ball, separated by Scott William James smashed the ball into the basket!

As good as the Bucks' offense is, they are as bad as their defense.

Gentry's general direction for tonight's game is to attack soaring!
He studied all the games of the Bucks after the All-Star Weekend, and found that the games the Bucks lost were not because of how well the opponent defended, but because they were more aggressive than them.

Even the Magic, which defended around the TT combination, defeated the Bucks 109 to 105 by offense.

The tone of the game has been set, and in the following time, the two teams played a fierce attack.

As long as Li Ao encounters a big dog defending, he will attack from a high position with his back.

Playing against a big dog alone is easier than running and catching the ball.

If you switch to Ray Allen's defense, just run and play off the ball.

For the Bucks, Ray Allen continued to attack without the ball, Cassell launched an attack in singles, and the Big Dog played singles after a few rounds to guarantee 5-6 points per quarter.

The two teams played back and forth, and the Clippers led the Bucks by 34 point 33 to 1 in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Bucks with stronger offensive continuity had the upper hand, soaring even more fiercely than the first quarter, scoring 35 points in a single quarter!
They used their strength to tell the Clippers why they are the league's number one offensive team!What is the Three Musketeers!

The Clippers' offensive performance in the second quarter was relatively good compared to their usual performance, but it was a step worse than the Bucks, scoring only 28 points.

68 to 62, the Bucks took a 6-point lead at halftime!
Fortunately, Li Ao continued to score goals in the first half. He scored 11 points in 14 minutes in the first quarter and 9 points in 10 minutes in the second quarter.

Relying on the blessing of his "pumper", although the Bucks were pressed to play in the second quarter, the morale of the Clippers did not drop too much.

During the intermission, Li Ao discussed the situation of the first half of the game with the coaching staff.

They reviewed the first half and found that the teamwork of the Bucks in the second quarter was quite different from that in the first quarter.

Ray Allen also scored 14 points in the first quarter, 15 points in the second quarter, and 29 points in the half.

However, there is a big difference in the way the two games are scored.

Ray Allen had only 3 singles in the first quarter, and two of them were misplaced. When Li Ao was not defending, Ray Allen chose singles.

But in the second quarter, Ray Allen scored nine of his 15 points with the ball.

Based on this situation, Li Ao speculates that Ray Allen is not used to playing without the ball, and when he hits the ball, his offense with the ball increases.

According to Li Ao's speculation, after thinking about it for a while, in the tactical adjustment stage, Gentry emphasized the supplementary defense against Ray Allen when he was off the ball and used the screen, not to miss people, and strengthened the physical confrontation with Ray Allen.

...

After returning from the intermission, the Clippers continued their first-half style of play in the third quarter.

With 62 points in the half, their offense was already playing very well. Gentry didn't make random adjustments. He couldn't think of how to play the offense better. Making adjustments may destroy the current offensive rhythm.

On the Bucks side, George Karl deduced at halftime that the Clippers were going to strengthen their defense.

Therefore, the Bucks players are under great pressure. The Clippers started off defense this season and have only lost 92.7 points per game so far this season.

Just look at the confirmation of the main defense in December last year, and the 12 games before this game, the Clippers averaged only 60 points per game. During this period, the Clippers ranked seventh in the league in terms of limiting opponents' scoring.

Although the level of iron and blood is not as good as those abnormal teams in the top five, it is not so easy to deal with.

Who would have thought that the Clippers would choose to continue to attack them. The Bucks players are happy, so let's go!

Ray Allen's 29-point halftime off-the-ball running was met with tighter defenses. The Bucks players thought it was normal. George Karl also guessed that Ray Allen would be targeted, so at the beginning of the third quarter, he played Tim Thomas sent in, Cassell and the Big Dog made the main attack, Tim Thomas responded to the long-range shot, and veteran Elvin Johnson was sent to the basket.

With Ray Allen's restraint, the Bucks soared 19 points in the half quarter, which was even more fierce than the second quarter!

As for the Clippers, their performance was not far behind in the second quarter, with 14 points in the half quarter. Compared with the Bucks, their only advantage is "stability".

87 to 76, the Bucks led the Clippers by 11 points and entered the official timeout.

But after the official timeout came back, Ray Allen screamed badly in the first offensive round!

The big dog is starting to stand up!Enthusiasm directly to zero!
The defensive end has not changed much. As always, "I only take one shot", I will grab rebounds when I have the opportunity, and I don't stand in the frontcourt and wait for the opponent to finish the offense and go to "fast break".

But on the offensive end, the big dog stood up, pulled away from the sideline, shot when the ball came, and didn't move his feet if it wasn't there, let alone cover for his teammates, it was almost akimbo.

The reason for this situation-in the first half of the quarter, Ray Allen was looking for a cover for the big dog.

With the cover, he can help a teammate create an open opportunity, of course he can find a more accurate one.

The Big Dog has a 46%+ shooting rate this season, which is much more accurate than power forward Tim Thomas who only has a 43% shooting rate.

Glenn Robinson's performance did not disappoint his teammates, scoring 10 points in the half quarter, but, plus the 11 points in the first half... Dear user, your time for today's Superstar Big Dog experience has expired.

Ray Allen adjusted quickly. This is not the first time this has happened. In the second round of offense, he immediately went to Tim Thomas to cooperate.

Without cover, running alone, he really can't outrun Li Ao.

But Matt Halprin, who came off the bench to defend Tim Thomas, has much better awareness and defensive ability than Maggette and Big Q, who take turns defending the big dog!
Ray Allen asked Tim Thomas for a pick-and-roll, and Li Ao's defensive pressure suddenly dropped. Not only could he easily cover Tim Thomas' receiving space, but when Ray Allen wanted to run back to the baseline, he could also easily Block back.

The Bucks' offense stagnated. After returning from the official timeout, they made 4 offenses, only relying on Cassel to score a free throw line emergency stop jumper and get two points!

But the Clippers' "stableness" played a role at this time, and scored two goals in four offenses. Li Ao met Ray Allen and used a cover to switch to a 4-degree angle on the right and scored a three-pointer. Maggette scored. A cut for a layup and a solid 45 points!
81 to 89, the Clippers narrowed the point difference to 8 points.

When the Bucks attacked, Ray Allen took the initiative to catch the ball from the outside.

Matt Harprin breathed a sigh of relief. If Ray Allen insisted on playing off the ball and cooperating with Tim Thomas in the pick-and-roll, he might not be able to stand it a few more times.

Cassel wanted to let Ray Allen continue to run, but he was afraid of offending the opponent, so he passed the ball and pulled it to the flank.

The three musketeers don't have a good relationship with each other, one is lazy, one is withdrawn, and the other is always excluded because of his appearance...

Ray Allen made a breakthrough in singles, Li Ao followed closely and blocked the middle.

He was able to rush in, but he couldn't get rid of Li Ao. This was expected by Ray Allen. He rushed to the right side of the three-second zone, stopped suddenly, retreated and took off!
Li Ao rushed forward to follow and jumped, reaching out to interfere.

Ray Allen took off and leaned back directly, avoiding Li Ao's interference, and threw the ball to the basket... Iron!
When the Bucks attacked next time, Ray Allen continued to play singles. He chose to break into the close range, facing Jermaine O'Neal's supplementary defense with a high toss... It's iron!

His singles in these two rounds are no different from the singles in the second quarter in terms of playing style, and the difficulty of shooting is similar. Li Ao's single defense and O'Neal's supplementary defense have always been going all out.

The difference is that Ray Allen's touch is no longer as hot as the first half!
In fact, before the official timeout, when Ray Allen was holding back and the Big Dog was the main attack, Ray Allen only scored 3 goal in 1 shots. Those 3 goals were relatively difficult, and they were all shot with defense , but it can also be seen that his terrible touch of 16 of 10 in the first half has passed.

If Ray Allen continues to run without the ball and continue to use screens to catch and shoot, the containment force will not change. No one in the Clippers would dare to let him open to catch and shoot.

But the big dog has a posture of 'get off work quickly', and Tim Thomas' offensive efficiency is low tonight... Ray Allen still chose to attack with the ball in the next time.

In the second half of the third quarter, Ray Allen made a total of 4 shots, 4 of 1 shots, and only scored 3 points.

Coupled with Kassel's 4 points and Irvin Johnson's two points, the Bucks only scored 5 points in more than 9 minutes!
For the Clippers, they played steadily, scored 12 points in the regular offense, continued their offensive performance in the second quarter, and scored 4 points in counterattack goals, scoring a score of 16 to 9 in the half quarter.

92 to 96, the Clippers narrowed the point difference to 4 points!
...

Entering the intermission, Li Ao analyzed his defense against Ray Allen in the first three quarters tonight while drinking energy drinks.

半场16投10中拿到29分，到三节23投12中拿到34分，雷-阿伦似乎是在宣告，他未来将成为超音速队的顶级得分手。

Li Ao felt that Ray Allen's defense against Ray Allen was successful in the third quarter. Ray Allen's feeling of not being as hot as the first half was one reason, but not the main reason.

The main reason is that Ray Allen's style of play is chaotic.

In the first half of the third quarter, Ray Allen took the initiative to help Big Dog create air cuts and long-range shots. Li Ao felt blind.

It has nothing to do with the outrageous operation of Big Dog's '20-minute clock in and off', but as a professional off-ball shooter, when Li Ao plays off the ball, he only tries to throw off the defense and reduce confrontation.

Ray Allen's operation was completely looking for confrontation, putting himself in a difficult shooting environment.

However, Ray Allen's seemingly outrageous 'off-the-ball style' can also be understood by Li Ao. After all, Ray Allen is an all-around player at this time, which is completely different from the way he played after going to the Celtics. He cannot be demanded by the standard of a pure off-ball shooter.

Now Ray Allen's style of play is obviously chaotic, and it's time for their Clippers to come back.

After returning from the holiday break, Li Ao yelled when he took his teammates on the field: "Sail! Set sail!"

(End of this chapter)