Chapter 508: Dumbfounded Popovich!

After the jump ball was completed, Durant slowly walked to the frontcourt as usual.

It's not that he's lazy or unwilling to compete.

But this is his basketball style.

He's too tall to be constantly moving like Yes or Ray Allen.

That consumes too much energy.

What's more, in the Seattle SuperSonics, he is not the player who needs to be constantly moving. He is more of a connecting point next to Yes during the game.

As long as Yes can find him when he wants to pass the ball.

After Yes found him, that was the stage where he needed to give his best. ,

As for the time before he was found, he could do whatever he wanted according to his own ideas, even walking on the court or resting on the court.

The minimum number of shots taken in a game is thirty, which is really not that easy to accomplish.

He has now played 50 games with the Seattle SuperSonics and taken a total of 1,600 shots.

1,600 times is calculated using 82 games, which means that the number of shots per game is 19.5.

Last season, in the entire NBA, there were only 4 players who took more than 19.5 shots.

Yes, Kobe, James, Anthony.

So how many players in the league averaged more than 10 shots per game last season?

95 people!

The number of players in the entire league is close to 450. In other words, if the workload is calculated by the number of shots, his current workload is greater than the workload of the 350 players in the league in two seasons!

What kind of intensity is this?

Even if he often rests and paddles on the court, it is still quite burdensome.

It can be said that in the past half of the season, his greatest improvement was not in confrontation, shooting stability, or ball-handling offense. What made him most improved was his physical distribution on the court.

It’s really impossible not to learn how to distribute physical strength.

Yes treats him like this, values ​​him like this, if he can't even do this, he will really lose his face.

Fortunately, in every game, everyone's attention is on Yes. Although he will not be left unguarded, there will basically be no team to specifically consume him.

We can be a little bolder. It should be said that no team has ever wanted to consume him in a targeted manner.

With no extra consumption, and the fact that he has the privilege of resting at will on the court, he can complete the task of taking a minimum of 30 shots per game and averaging 32 shots per game during the season.

For him, after training for more than half a season, he has gradually become accustomed to this situation of taking at least 30 shots in a game.

Durant also knows very well that if Yes had not recognized his offensive strength, he would have been in such a state of play.

As a fan of Kobe and Tracy McGrady.

He once dreamed of having unlimited shots in every game in the NBA.

Like Kobe and McGrady, you can score how you want.

But after more than half of the season, Durant now always has an urge that feels so hot that he wants to pass the ball.

It's just that his passing skills are so poor right now.

What Yes can't stand the most is mistakes.

Yes can accept his efforts and any teammates' efforts, but he cannot accept mistakes.

For most of his season with the Seattle SuperSonics, he didn't have that much responsibility on the court, and he didn't have to do that much.

It can be said that these are the reasons why he can now average 32 shots per game and average 35.1 points per game.

But now, a team actually interfered with him in a personal and exhaustive way at the beginning of the game!

The Seattle SuperSonics' starting lineup for this game is center Milicic, power forward Millsap, small forward Durant, and the two guards are Yeas and Rondo.

For the Jazz, this is center Okur, power forward Boozer, small forward Kirilenko, and guards Fisher and Deron.

The Jazz's best defensive player is Kirilenko, a player who is very good in both single and assist defense.

Now one is standing in front of him and the other is standing beside him with Deron Williams.

This was the way the Jazz played when they beat the Sonics five times last season.

When the Jazz defeated the SuperSonics five times last season, there was no other reason than that Yes was more afraid of Kirilenko's defense.

Yes has no passing ability, and he has no receiving point for him to pass the ball stably. When he encounters the defense of Deron and Kirilenko.

As long as you jump up, you can only take action.

Deron is very fast, and Kirilenko's defense is excellent. It is difficult for him to find too many good opportunities to hit in the game.

Most of his jumps are accompanied by very high-intensity defense.

After jumping up, there is no way to pass the ball but to shoot, and to shoot, you can only hit the ball.

In this case, Ye Si can only reduce his jumps, reduce his shots, and protect his hit rate.

When he is preparing to protect his hit rate and rarely jumps up, of course it will be difficult to get more good touches. If he cannot get more good touches, he will not get more points.

This is a vicious cycle.

Without his scoring, the Sonics would certainly not be a match for the Jazz.

So much so that he was killed five times by the Jazz in the end.

And this season, because of Durant as a stable receiving point, Ye Si can jump up without any scruples, shoot when he gets a good touch when he jumps up, and pass the ball when he can't get it. Anyway, he has Durant. Guarding his bottom line on one side.

With Durant's protection, the Sonics, who were defeated by the Jazz five times last season under his leadership, have already beaten the Jazz twice this season.

It's just this game... Ye Si, who was jumping in the air, used his peripheral vision to glance at Fisher, who was fighting with Durant not far away. The look in his eyes was not fake surprise, but real surprise.

45…56…61…58…

Not a very good feel!

Moreover, he still has Kirilenko's big hands in front of him, and Deron Williams' blockade next to him.

This is not a good opportunity to take action.

Ye Si almost instinctively threw the pot in his hand in the direction of Durant!

In order to avoid Kirilenko and Deron's blockade, he passed the ball fast and high.

With his current passing ability, he can only use this method to break through the blockade of Kirilenko and Deron Williams.

Can Durant catch this ball?

Normally, he wouldn't worry about this.

But now, looking at Fisher who is fighting with Durant...Yes is not sure.

Ye Si has the instinct to do so when faced with a situation where he needs to take the blame.

And Durant has taken the blame for so long, so of course he has some kind of instinct.

The basketball is very high and fast, and the angle is extremely tricky. There is no way for ordinary people to use such an angle to break through the blockade of Deron Williams and Kirilenko and pass it in his direction.

There's only one and a half people in the world who can pull off one of the greatest passes in history.

One person is Yes.

The other half is Nash.

Normally, he would catch such a pass with a slight jump and a move of his right hand.

But now...

"hateful!"

Durant looked at the condition of his clothes being grabbed by Fisher's hands.

He couldn't jump at all!

He had been fighting with Fisher for a long time, but he couldn't get the pudgy veteran away!

"Incredibly beautiful pass, this is Yes' iconic greatest pass in history!"

Buckley was excited.

Although the Sonics did not hit the opening fast break, it was great to see such a pleasing pass at the beginning.

Yes's greatest pass in history is one that you will never get tired of watching, and it will never get old no matter how you watch it!

Um?

Just when Barkley and Kenny Smith were about to exclaim for this pass, the basketball did not slow down and flew over Durant's head, then flew hard towards the audience with a whoosh.

When the basketball passed by Ye Si was finally received by the Seattle SuperSonics audience in the auditorium, the Seattle SuperSonics fans who were still cheering wildly suddenly became as quiet as suffocation!

"Durant...didn't jump up?!"

Buckley was transfixed now.

Such a great pass, such a mistake?

And what about Durant?

He was actually unable to jump while being pinned down by a point guard?

He just wasted a great pass from Yes and added a mistake to Yes' technical statistics!

"This is the first time in the NBA that a team has targeted Durant from the beginning!"

"Jerry Sloan did it on purpose!"

on purpose?

Barkley looked at his partner on the side, while Kenny Smith nodded seriously.

"If my guess is correct, Jerry Sloan is going to use the same method he used against Durant to target Yes's greatest pass in history!"

"Use the pass against Durant to target Yes..."

Barkley quickly understood what Kenny Smith was talking about.

No matter how great the pass is, it is also the transfer of basketball between two players.

No matter how great Yes's pass is, if there is something wrong with the person receiving the ball, the pass will not be completed.

Like just now, Yes's pass that can pass between Kirilenko and Deron is great enough, right?

But if Durant couldn't jump and catch the ball, the ball would just be a mistake!

"This is the first time Durant has been targeted in an expendable manner in the NBA. His performance was terrible!"

Kenny Smith's words made many Coconuts and Sonics fans in front of the TV begin to whisper.

The fans at Seattle Key Arena have already started whispering.

With the Seattle SuperSonics' opening mistake, everyone could see who had the problem.

As the center of attention on the court, Durant himself was quite shocked and uncomfortable.

That old guy Fisher is too powerful, and he was tugging on his jersey just now!

The moment he was about to take off, he grabbed his jersey!

If Fisher keeps tugging on his jersey, the referee will definitely find it and it will be a foul.

Fisher's timing was so good that Durant can only sulk to himself now!

Seeing Durant sulking in front of him, Fisher looked at the Jazz bench next to him in surprise.

Is this method really effective?

Can this method really block Yes's strongest pass in history?

Is the league's current scoring leader really such a weakling now?

"Durant is no weakling!"

Jerry Sloan looked at Fisher's surprised look and thought secretly in his heart.

Under the training of Yes, Durant has the ability to become a third-year player in the first grade.

The speed of improvement in all aspects of strength is staggering.

But there is one thing that cannot be compensated for in the training of Yes.

That's confrontational experience!

Durant has almost no confrontation experience in the game!

His current confrontation experience is actually not much better than other rookies of the same period.

Generally speaking, players who have played in the NBA for three years know how to deal with a defense like Fisher's and how to receive Yes's pass.

But Durant was beaten to death by Fisher!

Just like a baby in front of old football gangsters.

"Yes..."

"Don't worry, just enjoy the game."

Yeos smiled, patted the guilty Durant on the back and led the Sonics players back to defense.

He has been helping Durant hide his presence on the court.

The national public opinion's evaluation of Durant as rubbish and his tolerance of Durant's walk before catching the ball on the court are all to prevent Durant from being targeted.

National public opinion can make Durant look down upon.

Durant walking on the court before receiving his pass can make the opposing players relax their supervision of him.

Durant is walking and is not aggressive. Defensive players will naturally not be foolish enough to defend too tightly. If they are too tight, they will easily lose their position.

Ye Si never thought about hiding for Durant his whole life.

He will develop Durant's ability to fight physically on the court.

But it needs to be gradual, not now.

Durant's main focus now is still to improve his offensive ability rather than physical combat ability.

"Jerry Sloan..."

As he walked back, Ye Si secretly thought about this name in his heart.

Jerry Sloan changed his plans for Durant.

"Have a good feel for the game?"

Yes, does it mean that I can learn to fight with Fisher in this game?

Durant is a little unsure.

The Jazz's first offense of this game was still initiated by Deron Williams and Boozer's pick-and-roll.

It's just that pick-and-rolls like Deron and Boozer, who are unfavorable against other teams, will always be quite bad when facing the SuperSonics.

"Yes suppressed Deron too much, and Boozer didn't take advantage of Millsap that much!"

Sloan frowned.

The Jazz's first attack also failed. Deron Williams stared at Yes's defense and struck outside the three-point line.

The Jazz's pick-and-roll tactics were difficult to initiate and they could only simplify the offense. This simple offense and defense gave Sloan a headache.

Fortunately, the Jazz performed quite well in this game under his targeted defense.

And Yes, just as he expected, he didn't ignore Durant!

"Another mistake?!"

"Yes's strongest pass in history made a mistake again!"

Barkley was roaring, and the surrounding Seattle SuperSonics fans were completely whispering.

And as this game goes on.

The strong Western teams that have been paying attention to this game now have the same shocked expressions on their faces.

"Yes's strongest pass in history was cracked like this?!"

Watching the 15-14 score between the two sides at the end of the first quarter on TV, Popovich was dumbfounded!