Chapter 402 Boring

The second quarter started quickly, and Li Liang continued to stay on the court.

This time he returned to the position of power forward, Griffin is playing center.

Following the abandonment of Mullins, Hollins also played less playing time at this point.

These two players belong to the high-slow type of insiders. After some weighing, Rivers hopes to build a fast and strong offensive team. These two people conflict with the team's style, and their playing time will naturally decrease.

The Rockets attacked for the first time, Jeremy Lin saw that Jordan was not there, and tried to score at the basket.

As a result, Li Liang and Griffin formed a wall, blocking Jeremy Lin.

Jeremy Lin passed the ball to Asik and was blown for three seconds.

But the Clippers failed to counterattack. After receiving the pass from Li Liang, Griffin was intercepted by Garcia.

Griffin had to foul.

In this game, McHale was heartbreaking. Casspi was used to defend Griffin in the first quarter, and Garcia was used in the second quarter.

This made it clear that he looked down on Griffin and didn't need Smith to match up. Smith's main responsibility was to defend Li Liang.

Jeremy Lin continued to hit the basket with the ball for the second time after a miss, and finally scored.

Li Liang also rushed to the basket with the ball in the counterattack, causing Smith's foul and going to the free throw line.

The commentators on the scene commented that last season Bruce Lee would never play such an offense, but this season he can.

Li Liang's progress is obvious to all, and the key point is that everyone seems to take it for granted.

Li Liang made two free throws at the free throw line. Li Liang's free throw percentage was as high as 97% last season, the highest in the league.

In the entire history of the NBA, only Calderon made 151 of 154 free throws in the 2009 season, and his 98% shooting rate exceeded Li Liang's record.

In addition, those who took a few penalties in a season did not count, and Li Liang's shooting percentage ranked second.

This season, he continues to maintain the record of not missing free throws after the start of the game. It is not known when the first free throw will be missed.

Then, the Rockets continued to pick and roll in the offense. This trick was tried and tested in the first quarter.

The reason is not that the Clippers' internal defense is not good, but that the Clippers lack pressure on the ball holder.

The person holding the ball lacks pressure, so he can calmly judge whether to attack or pass the ball by himself.

When passing the ball, when to pass, what angle, and strength to pass will greatly affect the receiver's success rate of attacking the basket.

Once the pick-and-roll ball handler is given too loose a choice environment, it will be much more difficult for the defense to contain the opponent's offense

Even if the inside line is impregnable and the opponent goes down to get the ball in the core area of ​​the basket, the success rate of the offense will still be very high.

So this time Li Liang came to defend Jeremy Lin's pick-and-roll in person. He let go of Smith directly, and double-teamed Jeremy Lin with Collison, forcing Jeremy Lin to transfer the ball to the flank.

Once the ball was transferred to the wing, Li Liang immediately returned to the inside and directed his teammates to regroup.

The Rockets failed to find a good offensive opportunity after trying to attack in turn. In the end, Beverly forced a jumper and missed.

Li Liang got the rebound in the backcourt. This is a relatively standard positional defense.

Li Liang was extremely uncomfortable when a pick-and-roll was penetrated in the first quarter.

The Clippers' offense also slowed down, and Li Liang began to command.

He supports in the high post, hands off the pass to Willie Green, and then cuts outside to open the space after the screen.

Willie Green rushed to the basket, made a layup with his left hand and scored two points.

The two sides gradually entered a tug of war.

The Rockets tried two more pick-and-rolls on the offensive end and found that it was not working. Li Liang did a good job of pressing the ball holder.

Moreover, he has a good defensive command, and there are always people protecting the inside line. There is no such thing as a pick-and-roll with an empty basket, and then a lob alley-oop.

The Rockets changed their strategy on the offensive end and began to move the ball in a wide range and run continuously, looking for gaps to shoot three-pointers.

The Rockets currently have five players on the field with the ability to shoot three-pointers, and they have opened up the space.

On the offensive end, the Clippers rely more on the personal abilities of the players for one-on-one singles.

Li Liang provided very good pick-and-roll coverage for Crawford, Collison, and Willie Green.

And every time Li Liang holds the ball and cuts outside after a screen, someone from the Rockets must follow, and this point must be followed.

After nearly 6 minutes in the second quarter, the Clippers caught up with the score a little bit, overtook, and then suppressed the Rockets in the situation.

Although there is no way to open the score, it can be clearly felt that the Clippers played quite methodically.

Having rules does not mean that you must play beautiful tactics, but that you have a certain amount of advance and retreat at both ends of the offense and defense, and the style of play is clear and will not be messy.

And the Rockets didn't let the Clippers open the score because they shot a good three-pointer.

Beverly hit two three-pointers, Garcia made one three-pointer, and firmly stabilized the point difference at 2 to 3 points.

Until the main players of both sides reappeared, the Clippers had regained the initiative.

Li Liang was finally able to rest for a while, and these few minutes gave Rivers a new understanding of Li Liang.

Rivers originally thought that Paul must be the absolute core of the team. No matter how good Li Liang is, no matter how much the boss likes him, with his qualifications and ability, he can only be the second core.

But in the past few minutes, Li Liang played quite well with a substitute lineup that always lost points.

Paul is indeed better than Li Liang in offensive organization, more creative, and able to lead the team to play a stronger offense.

But Paul's height and position determine that the impact he can exert on the defensive end is too small.

Even if he is one of the best defensive point guards in the league, it still cannot change that sometimes he will become a defensive loophole and become a point of attack by opponents.

Li Liang is different, from position 1 to position 5, he can defend every position.

And this is not just talk, when the Lakers suffered an injury crisis last season, Li Liang could really be the fifth position.

This determines that with Li Liang on the court, the Clippers' defense is very solid, especially when he is at the 4th position.

The No. 4 position is originally the position with the greatest defensive influence. The Celtics' defensive system is based on Garnett's strong defense at the No. 4 position.

Li Liang is actually more suitable to play the third position, but the Clippers are not strong enough to defend Li Fen at the fourth position!

At present, there is such a situation that the defensive end is not particularly compatible. The Clippers coaching staff has not thought of any good solution so far.

Rivers tried to get Li Liangduo to help in defense, but defense was a remedy after all. How could he be as strong as defending in the fourth position himself?

In short, this problem requires the Clippers coaching staff to slowly find a solution, and the Clippers players also need more running-in on the field.

Li Liang only rested off the court for 3 minutes, and soon returned to the court, returning to the small forward position.

The Rockets' counterattack is still very fierce. Parsons, Jeremy Lin, and Harden all have a strong ability to counterattack quickly.

Josh Smith, on the other hand, is one of the league's best quick-down rim shooters when he's not hitting the mid-range and just attacking the rim.

After Parsons hit a horseback archery in the counterattack, the Rockets tied the score again.

After the timeout, Li Liang reappeared. Poor Rockets, the camera swept across the Toyota Center auditorium during the timeout, and there were still one-third of the seats vacant!

Judging from the fact that the Rockets' tee ticket sales rate is not low, it is estimated that many fans just don't want to come.

Immediately after Li Liang came on the court, he hit a three-pointer from the outside, which also caused Harden's thug foul!

Four points! To be punished.

But to be honest, Li Liang felt that playing at the Toyota Center was boring.

In the away game, the audience was supposed to be screaming wildly. After he scored the fourth point, the audience was silent, and then he blew his fingers like a veteran, or made a "silent" movement, which was so cool.

As a result, there was no sound on the scene, but when he made a three-pointer, the audience became a little moved.

Maybe it was woken up by the referee's whistle, and seeing the rare four-pointer, there were some Chinese fans at the scene, but they applauded.

Where are you? ah?

The Rockets players are screwed, and Li Liang also thinks it's boring.

With an additional penalty hit, the Clippers regained their advantage.