Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

Chapter 335

The day after the opening game, the Bulls visited Milwaukee for their first away game this season and their first back-to-back game.

It is worth mentioning that the three rookies selected by the Bulls this year will officially make their debut.

In the last game the Bulls played against a strong team like the Celtics, and because of the opening game and the Christmas Day game, the Bulls only played 9 rotations.

It just so happens that today we are playing against a weak team in the Eastern Conference like the Bucks, and at the same time we have back-to-back away games, so Curry, Evans and Milicic are allowed to take a rest first.

In this way, the Bulls' starting lineup becomes Harden, Duane, George, Ibaka, and Whiteside.

The substitute lineup is Jeremy Lin, Bradley, Butler, Kawhi, and Vucevic.

After the game officially started, Duan provided a screen for Harden on the outside. Harden also kept holding the ball and rushing inside to feed Ibaka and Baibian inside.

Relying on the protection of Du En on both offense and defense, Harden played vigorously with the ball.

However, Bai Bian still lacks game experience, his defense is relatively rough, and he accumulated two fouls prematurely.

The four-month summer league allowed the Bulls' rookies to enter the competitive state of participating in professional-level competitions early.

Vucevic did not disappoint Duan. He simply ate the cake and then quickly returned to defense, showing great seriousness and hard work.

Duan took the initiative to defend Jennings. No one in the Bucks could connect the team and could only give the ball to Bodog in the low post as much as possible.

Although Kawhi's score is one point lower than Butler's, he is the most efficient in scoring.

For this reason, Vucevic took the lead in replacing Bai Bian more than 5 minutes into the first quarter.

Although there are still some deficiencies in physical confrontation or lack of defensive experience, he has to pay tuition to NBA veterans, but generally his performance is very good.

When the NBA debut officially arrived, Kawhi and others seized the opportunity. Not only did they perform well on the offensive end, they also worked hard on the defensive end.

The Bulls' defense is obviously better than the Bucks, and in order to ensure the players' physical strength and condition, the Bulls quickly started a new round of rotation, and Kawhi Kawhi and Butler also came to the court.

He made three three-pointers in his debut, which shows that Kawhi is indeed an excellent 3D prospect at this stage. In a few years, he will develop control and mid-range skills and he will be the league's top striker.

Kaka's wingspan is too long, making it difficult to practice shooting.

However, Huangtian has paid off. As a famous shooting machine, Kawhi has worked hard to practice three-pointers as early as his sophomore year. What he lacks now is only the mid-range.

The Bulls have Duan to drive morale. As a substitute player, Kawhi can't affect the overall situation even if he walks on the court, defends with his eyes, and keeps showing his hands to the referee.

In the summer, Duan also gave some guidance to Kawhi to first defend well and improve his three-point shooting percentage, so as to become a 3D player.

Fortunately, the Bucks are not a strong team after all.

However, letting Vucevic face Bodog, the No. 1 pick in his prime, still somewhat disadvantaged him.

Compared to most of the Bucks players who were just getting by, the performance of the Bulls players tonight was far superior.

However, now Kawhi is just a small substitute in the Bulls, a little brother next to Du En.

After talking about Duan, let’s look at the NBA debuts of Kawhi, Butler and Vucevic. These three scored 13 points, 14 points and 11 points respectively, all scoring in double figures.

This time, Duan created an open opportunity for Kaka. Kaka was not soft-handed. After getting the ball, he directly raised the knife and shot an extremely standard hollow three-pointer.

By the way, after providing assists to Vucevic and Kawhi, Duen did not favor one over the other.

After the first three quarters, the score reached 78-62, and the Bulls established a 16-point lead.

As the saying goes, basketball doesn’t lie.

Butler plays better than Butler. He mainly focuses on breaking through with the ball, adding a little smart ball, playing simple balls such as air cuts and transition attacks, and trying to cause damage and stand on the free throw line.

Kawhi is also able to listen to advice, and now he is taking one step at a time, slowly improving his defense and shooting abilities.

After the Bulls rested Milicic, the center's deficiencies in defense were exposed.

Tonight, we were able to score in double figures only because the second half of the fourth quarter was completely reduced to garbage time, and we only achieved this with the help of the ball.

Of course, as a first-year rookie, being able to brush is also a skill.

In general, the three rookies of the Bulls this year each have their own advantages and abilities.

As long as he continues to accept Duan's guidance and accept the baptism of the Bulls' winning culture, he will definitely become the backbone of the Bulls in the next few years.

If this continues, although Dune may not be able to win the scoring title again this season, there is still hope for him to average a triple-double in another season.

Whether it is physical fitness, skills, or the growth of game experience, it can help them better adapt to the rhythm of NBA games.

In addition, his expressionless defensive response after scoring a goal may affect his teammates who pass the ball to him, making it difficult to share the joy after he scores a goal.

Not long after, Butler also relied on Du En to score the ball from the basket, allowing him to make a layup and score 2 points.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Duan came up to make up a point, played 4 minutes, and scored 9 points, helping the Bulls consolidate their advantage in the game, and then clocked out.

Du En was exposed to both rain and dew. As the team leader, he provided pick-and-rolls for Xiaoka and encouraged him to shoot.

The only thing worthy of criticism is that the shooting arc is a bit low. If you keep shooting like this, the basketball will easily hit the front edge of the basket.

Bodog is not particularly strong in singles. He frequently takes the ball in the low post and is flanked, which will turn it into a black hole for the ball. He cannot pass it out and cannot score, and in the end he can only be intercepted or blocked.

整场比赛，杜恩出战29分钟，收获了27分6篮板11助攻4抢断2盖帽的数据。

It is not conducive to teammates conveying the emotions of pride, joy, and mutual achievement to each other, and it is difficult to make the game more passionate and united.

Vucevic has tried singles in the low post, because his body is not strong enough, and he needs to continue practicing in the low post, so his scoring efficiency is relatively average.

After all, it was his NBA debut. After Vucevic came on the court, Duan took the initiative to hit the basket with the ball and gave Vucevic a piece of cake.

104 to 85, after the Bulls beat the Bucks by 19 points, they were followed by the Western Devils' five consecutive visitors.

Counting the Bucks' away game this time, which is six consecutive away games in a week and a half, the schedule is still relatively tight.

Fortunately, the Bulls are all young players. As long as Duan is not injured, he can be used as he wishes.

On December 12, the Bulls came to the Staples Center, and the first away game in the Western Conference was against the defending champion Lakers.

However, Du En and others were not afraid at all, and were actually a little happy. Because the Lakers have exposed some of the sequelae of winning the championship this season. Judging from the two games the Lakers played in the past two days, the Lakers do not look like a defending championship team at all.

Perhaps it was the honor of winning two consecutive championships that allowed them to live happily ever after and have nothing to worry about.

Except for Kobe and Hinrich, everyone else is one size larger and their steps are much heavier, so naturally they cannot guard against others.

It was precisely because the Lakers' defense collapsed that the Lakers lost their first two games in a row.

The Bulls faced such a "weak team in the Western Conference" and naturally wanted to take advantage of the Western Conference's dividends.

Duan took the initiative to defend Kobe alone and weakened Kobe to win the game.

After this summer, Kobe may have reached his age, or he may have relaxed a little. Although his body shape has not changed much, his strength has still declined somewhat.

As an opponent, Duen can obviously feel that Kobe's explosive power is not as strong as before.

In the past, after Kobe's elbow cleared the way, he directly exploded towards the basket with an explosive step. Duan was stuck in Kobe's position, unable to readjust his pace and keep his defense in position.

In this encounter, the moment Kobe broke through with the ball, Duan only had to react quickly to turn around and defend in front of Kobe.

At first, Duen thought Kobe was hiding it on purpose, trying to save energy for breakthroughs so he could shoot more baskets. Who knew that Kobe didn't have much physical problems, but his explosive power still declined.

People get old first. Although No. 23 Kobe's scoring method is mainly shooting, the decline in explosive power still has a great impact on him.

In the past, Kobe Bryant was taller and bigger than Duane. He could fight against outstanding strikers and still rely on his ability to break through and make hard shots.

Now that Durn's defense is basically out of position, Kobe has no other way to blast Durn at a single point except using fake moves and shooting.

Faced with Kobe's forcible pull, Duen naturally wanted Kobe to recognize the reality - I'm going up the mountain again, get down here!

Kobe refused to admit defeat, refused to accept Duan, and refused to accept the years. He vented his anger on the basket and tried his best to score 24 points on 24 shots...

Relatively speaking, Duane, who played the whole game, shot 17 of 9, 5 of 3 three-pointers, and 6 of 5 free throws. He scored 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists. His performance was undoubtedly much better than Kobe.

The Bulls relied on Dunn's efficient scoring, coupled with the Lakers' tight defense, to win another big victory with a 109-point advantage of 87 to 22.

After beating the Lakers, the Bulls continued to stay in Los Angeles, and the next day, they came to the Staples Center again to face the Clippers back-to-back.

The Clippers are a bit amazing this season. In addition to the two All-Stars Caron Butler and Maurice Williams, they have another All-Star in Chris Paul.

Coupled with the Clippers' own No. 1 pick Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan, who has lottery talent.

The Clippers' starting configuration is also ranked among the top five in the league.

I have to say here that the league officials have sent warmth to the Clippers.

As early as last year, the NBA officially acquired the NBA team New Orleans Hornets for the first time, making the Hornets the first NBA team to be hosted.

The reason why the Hornets were sold to NBA officials is also very simple. The team's attendance is too low and it makes no money at all.

The Hornets have a market capitalization of 300 million and a debt of 100 million. The loan interest alone costs almost 10 million every year.

Since the league officials did not allow the Hornets to move out of New Orleans, they were unable to find a local New Orleans owner for the Hornets in a short period of time. Therefore, they had to spend their own money to buy the Hornets.

At this time, Paul, who was worried about his uncertain future with the Hornets, applied for a trade to the team and wanted to go to other teams to compete for the championship.

Paul is a maximum-salary player, but because his first rookie maximum salary is not a big contract, he is scrambled by the entire league.

Stern has seen the spending power of Los Angeles fans after the Lakers won the championship in the past two years.

Seeing that the Clippers have been in ruins for decades, they have relied on the league's subsistence allowance to make money, wasting the big ball market of Los Angeles.

So Paul was deliberately traded to the Clippers to see if Clippers fans could get excited, to see if they could increase Clippers attendance and ticket prices, and give the league more ticket share.

In addition, it also depends on whether Clippers owner Sterling is willing to pay more luxury tax in order to compete for the championship.

In short, in Stern's view, it is easier to make more money from the Clippers than to painstakingly manage the Hornets, slowly cultivate the New Orleans ball market, and rely on the Hornets' self-transfusion to fill the 300 million hole of buying the Hornets. .

It is also because Paul airborne to the Clippers that the Clippers' competitiveness in the Western Conference has been greatly improved.

However, after all, Paul has only arrived at the Clippers not long ago and is not familiar with other teammates.

As one of the best point guards in the NBA, and having been the boss of the Hornets before, it will take some time for Paul to officially take control of the Clippers and let the Clippers play around him.

The Bulls took advantage of this opportunity to defeat the Clippers before they had a firm foothold.

Of course, after a while, the Bulls discovered that the Clippers were stronger on paper and had more gorgeous offensive resources.

In other words, the Clippers' defense is in a mess. For a disciplined and talented team like the Bulls, it is still very simple to take care of the Clippers.

Facing Paul and Morris, a pair of short perimeter players, Duan couldn't hold back and took a few more shots from the perimeter.

With 43 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists, Duan was full of firepower and single-handedly penetrated the Clippers' perimeter.

Also relying on such excellent form, Duan helped the Bulls defeat the Clippers 109-102, extending the winning streak to the fourth game.

However, the Bulls played the Kings in Game 5 of the season.

The Kings have risen rapidly under the leadership of Rose, and Rose's personal performance is worthy of being the No. 1 pick.

The Bulls' outside defenders couldn't keep up with Rose's pace, and the defensive quality of the inside line also declined due to Milicic's "weight gain."

Duan also tried to lead Rose, but Rose didn't know how to pass the ball.

The King and Cousins ​​are here! Cousins, who is world-class from the head down, is also playing very well under the leadership of Rose.

Before the Bulls' forward group has fully grown up, Duan alone will not be able to make up for the shortcomings on the outside and inside defensive ends.

As Duan failed to hit the tying three-pointer, the Bulls still lost to the Kings 98-101, a 3-point deficit, and ushered in their first defeat of the season.

Fortunately, this trip to California is not over yet, and the Bulls can still rely on abuse to find the confidence and state to win.

In the previous draft, the Warriors were able to grab Thompson ahead of the Bulls, which shows that the Warriors really only have the strength to be in the lottery.

On January 1, the Bulls did not capsize in the gutter, but easily defeated the Warriors with a score of 1 to 102, regaining the feeling of winning.

On January 1, the Bulls flew to Memphis and won another game, ending the Devils' six-game away schedule with 3 wins and 5 loss.

(End of this chapter)