Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

“Kawhi, you’ve made great progress!
I have to say, I am no longer your opponent now.

But if you want to beat us, you have to beat Stephen!"

G1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Bulls and the Magic was played at the United Center. In the first quarter, Durant played against Leonard for several rounds and found that he was suppressed by Leonard on both offense and defense.

Offense depends on condition, defense depends on attitude.

It's already the Eastern Conference semifinals, and he's facing Leonard, the Bulls' abandoned player, so Durant naturally can't let him win.

Therefore, the reason why he cannot beat Leonard now has no other factors, it is simply the difference in strength.

Of course, considering that Leonard is now at his peak, his skills have been perfected, his physical condition is also very good, and he has no injuries.

Duane's physical fitness has long shown signs of decline, and the fact that he can now maintain his position in the top 15 of the league and be included in the best lineup is also due to the skills and game experience he has accumulated in the past.

Despite this, it has been going downhill for a year or two.

Therefore, it is normal that he is not as good as Leonard now.

“Thanks for the compliment! Duane, I will do as you wish.

I'm not only going to beat you, I'm not going to beat Curry, I'm going to beat everybody.

I made it to the playoffs to beat every opponent that came my way.

I’m going to win tonight and you can’t stop me.”

Leonard answered confidently.

Leonard started out as a younger brother to Duane, so he naturally knew how strong Duane was.

In the past, whether it was team training or playing against each other on the court, Leonard would have a hard time playing against Durant.

Now the offense and defense have changed, and they can even achieve positional suppression. This is undoubtedly a shot in the arm for Leonard.

Leonard firmly believed in his heart that as long as he could defeat Durant, he would definitely be able to defeat the Chicago Bulls!

And in the league, there is no shortage of stars who have this idea.

For those challengers and losers who have overcome all difficulties to stand before Dunn in the past, Dunn is a mirror and a benchmark.

Defeating Dune is not only a reflection of his own strength improving, which has surpassed the past, but also the key to breaking through his inner demons and making further progress on the spiritual level.

Now Leonard feels that he has broken the bottleneck that has been restricting his strength improvement, even though he was facing Durant, whose strength has declined.

"Haha, let's wait and see!
But I think you underestimate Stephen, he is stronger than you think!

Don’t forget, you worked hard and got a huge improvement, and Steph worked hard, too.”

Hearing Leonard's words, Dunn was not angry, but smiled.

Duane knows that Leonard's strength has improved greatly in the past two years. Now he has grown into a regular season MVP-level star and is one of the best superstars in the league.

This season's regular season MVP is basically competed by Leonard, Curry, and Durant.

Curry and Durant have the advantage of record, but considering that their teams are super teams, the benefit of record will be greatly reduced.

On the other hand, Leonard's team's record is also in the upper half, not to mention that he is younger than Curry and Durant, which conforms to the league's unspoken rule of supporting new faces.

That said, Leonard still has some advantages.

Unlike Curry, who is a guard with full offensive points, Leonard has the physical fitness of a super forward. Not only is his offense full, but his defensive deterrence is also one of the best in the league.

Judging from the content of tonight's game, a superstar like Leonard who is both offensive and defensive seems to have a greater impact on the game than a superstar like Curry who simply relies on shooting to create offensive threats.

After all, Leonard's offensive performance is not much worse than Curry.

Although a two-point shot scores one point less than a three-point shot, its hit rate is higher, not to mention that Leonard is not incapable of shooting three-pointers.

Judging from tonight's performance, Leonard's performance was undoubtedly outstanding, worthy of the evaluation and identity of "super giant".

Tonight, under Duane's tight defense, Leonard's game was not difficult, but it was certainly not easy either.

However, he is able to score points by shooting from beyond the three-point line and in the mid-range with his personal ability.

In addition, Leonard can break through with the ball and continuously attack the Bulls' more vulnerable inside defense.

On the defensive end, Leonard not only restricted Duane with his one-on-one defense, but also used his long arms to interfere with Duane's passes. In addition, with his agile footsteps and excellent assisting defense, he brought considerable pressure to other Bulls players by relying on his ubiquitous backup and assisting defense.

As far as the first quarter was concerned, Leonard was indeed the best player on the court.

Tonight's United Center seemed to have become a stage for Leonard's personal performance.

However, a basketball game is not just about watching one quarter.

Players who are good at both offense and defense often don't know how to allocate their physical strength properly because they are too comprehensive and too active.

If you continue to push yourself to the limit, you will often become exhausted and in poor condition at the critical moment of the fourth quarter, unable to lead the team to victory. Duen is very clear about this situation.

Especially in the past two years, as his physical fitness declined and his physical strength during the game was obviously insufficient, Duane began to gradually give up some defense and then some ball possession in order to maintain his condition and efficiency on the court.

Duen has been through this before, so he knows how to solve such problems.

Leonard, on the other hand, may be at a stage where he is too young to know the value of physical strength.

Or like McGrady back then, his teammates are a little bit weaker, and if he wants to not lose to the strong team, he has to try his best in the first three quarters.

If teammates fail to step up in the fourth quarter, they will always be in a situation where they have the will to kill the enemy but are powerless to do so.

James may be more clear about this situation.

Therefore, James always blames the defeat on role players instead of sacrificing some ball possession in the first three quarters to save energy for shots at critical moments in the fourth quarter.

Dunn doesn't know much about Leonard's current situation, but Leonard is definitely better than McGrady, much better.

As of now, Leonard has at least led the team to the Eastern Conference semifinals, and he is obviously unstoppable in the first round of the playoffs.

If the Bulls want to stop Leonard in the Eastern Conference semifinals, they must show strong enough strength.

In order to win the game better, Duane kept backing Leonard with the ball from the second quarter, accelerating the consumption of Leonard's physical strength.

However, things are different now. Leonard's games over the years were not played in vain. He soon realized Duane's intention, so Terrence Ross was the one to be beaten instead.

Terrence Ross's defensive level is average, but his enthusiasm is good.

Considering that he was here to exchange with Dunn, it was enough for the Magic.

However, when facing Terrence Ross, Duane did not just force his opponent to play.

In the playoffs, one-on-one plays with the ball are usually only used to play against mismatches or superstars at critical moments.

Being able to score in a pick-and-roll is definitely better than inefficient one-on-one play.

Seeing that he could not consume Leonard and that Leonard's help defense might further reduce his offensive efficiency, Durant gave the ball to Curry or Jokic, and played without the ball and acted as a shooter.

Shooting is the simplest and most difficult technique, and it is also the technique that relies most on the body and the least on the body.

As long as there is an open shot opportunity, Duane can still be as sure of success as he was in the past.

Curry understood Duane's idea, and also knew that the Magic led by Leonard were not easy to beat.

As the leader of the team, Curry must take the responsibility of leading the charge and solving problems.

After Durant played without the ball, Curry took over a lot of ball possession and kept breaking through.

Leonard did not take the initiative to lock down Curry, but continued to assist in defense and took the opportunity to attack.

But Curry was like an assassin dancing on the edge of a knife. Even when surrounded by the Magic, he was still able to rely on fake moves and a combination of breakthroughs and shots to get to the basket and finish.

Of course, Leonard also got what he wanted during this period. He had excellent defense, blocking Curry's shot, but also had embarrassing moments when Curry shot him in the face or passed him by one step.

In general, Curry completes more offenses than he is defended.

Leonard's outstanding defense had little effect on Curry, and the Magic focused their defense on Curry. Even Duane got two or three open shots, and then helped the Bulls hit a three-pointer worth a thousand gold.

As the game time went on, the Magic players were exhausted and sweating, but the score was somewhat disappointing and was gradually pulled away by the Bulls.

Entering the fourth quarter, the score difference was hovering around 15 points. Although the outcome had not yet been completely determined, the situation was already clearer.

"Kawhi, you don't need help, you don't have to fight anymore.

I told you so at the beginning! A strong team cannot rely on the star player fighting alone.

That’s why I trained Stephen and trained you.”

Duane chose to attack Leonard's heart and persuade him to surrender.

However, Leonard still had no intention of giving up the game, so Duane had no choice but to risk his life to accompany Leonard and continue to play for a few more minutes.

When the fourth quarter was halfway through and the score difference reached 18 points, Durant left the court early to rest, recharge his energy, and prepare for the next Game 2.

Curry left the court two minutes later than Duane. When Curry left the court, Duane took the initiative to stand up from the bench to greet Curry.

“Stephen, congratulations, you beat your competitor!”

Curry smiled when he heard this: "Just for tonight, we still need to win three games. As for the rest, who cares!"

Curry knew exactly what Duane was talking about, but now was not the time to talk about it.

It’s not that Curry doesn’t value the regular season MVP, but the voting for this year’s regular season MVP has already been cast. Defeating direct competitors in the playoffs will not get more votes and increase his chances of winning.

Moreover, as the team leader, it means more to Curry that the team advances to the Eastern Conference Finals!
Championship, FMVP! Curry knows what he wants most! (End of this chapter)