Chapter 403: Basketball Is That Simple

In the middle of the second quarter, the Clippers relied on Li Liang's re-appearance to stabilize the situation.

However, Li Liang's performance alone did not curb the recovery of the Rockets' overall state.

The defensive enthusiasm of the Rockets team was driven by Beverly, who succeeded in stealing Paul twice in a row.

A fast break was launched, Parsons was assisted for a dunk, and the ball was knocked out of the sideline once, destroying the Clippers' offense.

Beverley's energy and positivity were contagious, and finally gave the Rockets fans a little bit of a home-court feel.

Moreover, the Rockets made a very high percentage of outside three-pointers in the first half, making 6 of 13 three-pointers, which is close to 50%.

At the end of the halftime game, the two sides scored 55:52, and the Rockets led the Clippers by 3 points.

McHale's lineup adjustments in this game still had an effect, and the Clippers did not allow the Clippers to play continuous quick counterattacks.

Beverly's garbage dog's restrictions on Paul are obvious. In defense, he kept provoking Paul and putting pressure on Paul.

Parsons, Garcia, and Casspi all scored three-pointers, providing outside fire support for the Rockets.

Jefferson has reduced the singles in the low post, and his pick-and-roll threat is greater than the sit-up.

But the core player of the Rockets, James Harden, played mediocre in the half.

Only scored 5 points and 3 assists.

Harden missed several outside three-pointers.

Houston has the largest strip club in the United States. I don't know if Harden went to suck his butt again last night.

In fact, when Harden played the Lakers last season, he played very badly.

Once he meets Li Liang in the matchup, Harden will be easily deflated.

Harden's strengths lie in his sense of rhythm, strong body, and smart style of play.

But these encounters with Li Liang are a little bit blind. What Li Liang is most afraid of is rhythm flow. As for a strong body, can you be as strong as James?

Although your name is James too.

As for being smart, can you be as smart as Li Liang?

In the past, Li Liang had no talent in playing, and relied on his brain.

The brains he played on the court were enough to eat zombies for a year.

Harden wanted to cheat fouls on Li Liang and play time difference, which is really male on top of male.

Harden himself also found that every time he played against the Lakers before, his tricks of cheating free throws did not work.

It was useless to explain to the referee. Occasionally, he succeeded in cheating, and the referee had to step up and explain to Li Haohao.

For example, Harden caused a foul by Li Liang in the first half. The referee Mark Davis talked with Li Liang and Yan Yuese for a while, saying why Li Liang was sentenced to a defensive foul.

After that, it became much more difficult for Harden to draw a foul.

Harden himself couldn't figure it out, what is this guy's background?

Everyone said that he was taken care of by the referee, so this guy is the godson of the referee, right?

No, this is not a godson, he is purely the referee's father.

In Harden's heart, Li Liang has become the father of referees.

Anyway, I have never seen any player get such treatment.

It's just that Li Liang doesn't have any preferential treatment on the offensive end, and it's normal to give free throws.

So the players in the league were just puzzled by this, and did not express any dissatisfaction.

During the intermission, in the Clippers locker room, Li Liang began to curse.

He began to scold the team's defensive enthusiasm, and continued to scold the players for not wearing their belts neatly.

Li Liang's shoelaces have always been tied very neatly, which is the experience he learned from John Wooden.

And he has laces on his shoes that Wooden gave him, so he never sprains his feet.

Li Liang just wanted to say that the Clippers players didn't really care about defense.

The Clippers have always played well offensively, and the first three games were even more powerful, which to some extent covered up the team's lack of defense.

Li Liang could endure one game or two, but he couldn't endure it forever.

Especially if it comes to the playoffs, the Clippers' defense will have problems.

Li Liang turned on the hair dryer and blew it for a full fifteen minutes, until Rivers couldn't even get his mouth shut.

Rivers thought at first, who is the head coach of the team?

And you are a young player, is it appropriate to criticize old players like this?

As a result, after listening to it, Rivers felt, oh, it seems to make sense, listen to it.

After listening to it, although some of Li Liang's words were fierce, every word hit the team's defensive shortcomings and key points, and also hit Rivers' heart.

Rivers built a strong defensive team in the Celtics. Although the Clippers have to teach students in accordance with their aptitude, they can't continue to pursue the Celtics.

But defense is something that really cannot be lost. Any team that wants to win the championship must not have major problems with defense.

Judging from the performance of the Clippers in a few games after the start of the season, there is really something wrong.

Rivers and the coaching staff have been looking for a solution, but they are not in a hurry.

In the final analysis, NBA coaching is also a job. If the team's strength is not bad for the time being, then there is no need to rush to solve the problem.

But Li Liang is anxious, the father of the system, and the identity of many legendary coaches, he is not allowed to sit and watch the team's defense play like this.

The incisive analysis and criticism made the entire Clippers locker room quiet.

Not only that, everyone nodded after hearing it.

Former Lakers player Jamison said to himself: "As I said, Bruce's speech is very reasonable, and he is very fair."

You see, after being scolded a lot, I still think he is fair.

After Li Liang finished speaking, Rivers asked, "Then what should we do?"

Li Liangdao: "If I want to know what to do, what do I need you to do? I don't know, but I will do everything I can."

Li Liang really doesn't know, he has ideas, but he understands that putting some ideas into practice requires a lot of experience and considerable coaching ability.

Li Liang can speak up, but if you really ask him to come up with a solution for the team, he really can't.

Therefore, Li Liang can be regarded as a big troll.

After the halftime break, players from both sides returned to the field.

The Clippers players were still a little confused, and they were scolded for a while, but they didn't feel angry, but felt reasonable.

Li Liang's brainwashing of the Clippers has already begun.

...

During the intermission, the Toyota Center also held a commendation event for US Air Force soldiers, all of whom are minorities, to strengthen the patriotic beliefs of people of all colors in the United States of America.

It can be said that the patriotic education of Americans is absolutely all-round and has no dead ends, moistening things silently and penetrating into the hearts of every general public.

From this point of view, there is still a gap between Li Liang's hair dryer and Laomei's propaganda department.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Rockets still used the twin towers starting at the beginning of the first quarter.

It seems that McHale did not realize that the twin towers are not effective against the Clippers.

The Rockets' first offense allowed Jefferson to play a low single, but Jordan knocked the ball out before he even made a shot.

Jordan got the ball and wanted to pass the ball to Paul to launch a quick counterattack, but Beverly suddenly rushed in and broke the ball!

If it weren't for the force of the blow, it would still hit Beverly's feet and fly out of bounds, and Beverly would be another steal.

Li Liang said directly to Jordan: "Pass the ball to me!"

Li Liang is very dissatisfied with Paul's possession of the ball tonight, he should stand up and share more.

Li Liang held the ball across the half, first passed the ball to Butler in a high position, and then went around to the right to receive the ball again.

After receiving the ball, with the help of Jordan's cover, he dribbled the ball and broke through the middle, and then stopped at the free throw line to make a jump shot!

Caused Parsons' thug foul, free throw!

Parsons shook his head. This Li Liang has more and more tricks. He can cut into an emergency stop jump shot after a high pick-and-roll?

He didn't know that Li Hao was learning jump shots from Alan Houston anyway, and he still knew this.

Two free throws were made, and the score was close to 1 point.

Then the Rockets missed an outside shot, the Clippers got a rebound, and the quick counterattack was destroyed.

But Li Liang was looking for an opportunity on the outside again. With the help of Griffin's wall at 45 degrees on the right, he caught the ball and hit a jumper.

Li Liang's mid-range shots flew off tonight, and he felt it.

The Rockets originally wanted to strictly guard against Li Liang's three-pointers, but they didn't know that his mid-range shots were also deadly.

Harden had to stand up at this time. He held the ball on the right side. Li Liang asked Butler to go away to face Parsons. He had to defend Harden himself.

Harden was helpless against Li Liang, no matter whether he used speed, strength or fake moves, the effect was not very good.

Jefferson came out to cover and respond to Harden twice, but Harden didn't get rid of Li Liang's defense.

In the second screen response, Harden took the ball from Jefferson, and Li Liang stepped forward to take the ball.

Just when his arm reached near the ball, Harden's arm suddenly moved towards Li Liang's arm.

The arms of the two men were twisted together, Harden lifted his arm up, and hit Li Liang's arm as if he was about to shoot.

This is Harden's common foul-making method. When he lifts his arm and hits the opponent's hand, the opponent will foul.

As a result, as soon as Harden finished lifting, the whole person fell back, as if he had been pushed.

And what about Li Liang?

Li Liang was already sitting on the ground...

Jefferson stood there and looked around, what happened?

The referee blew his whistle, hesitated for a while, and finally called Li Liang's foul.

But it's not a shooting foul, it's just an ordinary foul.

"OK, OK Bruce, don't worry, let me explain to you..."

The referee Mark Davis saw Li Liang getting up and rushing over, so he went up to hug him and explained to him why he was blowing like that.

To be honest, it doesn't matter who you want to call a foul on this kind of ball, both of them are acting school.

But the referee calls a foul not only based on the fact of the foul, but also on the state of the game.

At the beginning of the third quarter, both sides had very few fouls. Li Liang fouled once in the first half, and Harden fouled once.

So it doesn't matter who you blow.

And the Rockets are at home, and when the whistle blew, the ball was dead, and one had to be blown, so Li Liang was blown to allow the Rockets to continue their offense.

If it is a critical moment, or if Li Liang has committed 4 or 5 fouls, the referee will consider not blowing the whistle.

If the two of you want to act, follow your lead, I don't care.

After Davis explained briefly, Li Liang forgave him.

The game continued, the Rockets made a throw-in, but they played a good tactic.

Parsons got an open chance in the corner, Beverley passed the ball, and Parsons hit a three-pointer.

The Rockets re-established their advantage and overtook.

And the Clippers' counterattack was very straightforward. After Paul hit the basket in the middle, he attracted the defense, followed by a high throw, and Jordan followed up with a violent dunk in the air!

The two sides began to compete head-to-head in the third quarter.

Li Liang and Harden are two people acting each other, as long as Harden meets Li Liang, Li Liang doesn't care about anything, just talk about it first.

It made Harden not used to it, damn it, I used to play someone else, why is he playing me now?

And Beverly soon got into a fight with Paul.

In a one-on-one defense, Beverly once again beat Paul!

Then he quickly counterattacked with the ball for a layup, and Jordan gave Beverly two points with an interference ball.

But soon Paul succeeded in stealing an out-of-bounds serve from the Rockets, and Beverly counter-robbed on the spot, but was called a foul by the referee.

The two had some physical contact after the referee blew the whistle. Beverly is like this on the court, he will keep biting and interfering with the opponent, which is very annoying.

It's just that his fans will like him very much.

The two sides have been playing inextricably in the first half of the third quarter, and the point difference has been 1 point, 2 points, and 3 points.

It was tied until 68:68. Beverly received another foul while defending Paul and had to rest.

The Clippers served the ball from the sideline, and after Li Liang caught the ball in the corner with the help of a screen, he made a direct three-pointer and hit it!

Afterwards, there was chaos on the field. First, Parsons broke through for a layup and was blocked by Li Liang one-on-one.

The Clippers quickly counterattacked, Griffin received a pass from Paul and rushed to the basket, but was blocked by Asik!

Poor Short Fen.

The Rockets counterattacked again, Jeremy Lin quickly rushed to the basket with the ball, and wanted to pass the ball to Josh Smith.

The intention of passing the ball was too obvious, and was stopped by Li Liang again - why the hell are you everywhere!

After stealing the ball, Li Liang didn't pass the ball. This was a mess, so I won't play with you anymore.

After Li Liang dribbled the ball for half the court, he took a step outside the three-point line at the top of the arc and made a direct three-point shot!

scored!

Two consecutive three-pointers.

Then, Asik caused Jordan to foul inside and made two free throws.

Li Liang once again took the ball by himself, and he stopped passing.

One-on-one with the ball on the outside, Josh Smith, dribbled until the last five seconds.

Start the breakthrough, then stop the jump shot at the top of the arc!

The ball was very difficult. Josh Smith defended very well and almost blocked the ball.

Li Liang made a two-point shot with a high arc, and then hit the board and went into the basket!

Seeing that the situation was not good, McHale immediately called a timeout.

But after the timeout, Harden passed the ball to Jefferson who cut in after breaking through the basket, and the ball was still lost!

Damn Li Liang, he seemed to have guessed the Rockets' passing route in advance and made consecutive steals.

In fact, the intentions of the Rockets' internal passes are too obvious.

Li Liang once again held the ball and counterattacked, passed the ball, and passed Nima's ball.

The Rockets obviously panicked, and Josh Smith, who returned to defense, directly pushed Li Liang and made a foul.

After the ball was fouled, the number of fouls by the Rockets in the third quarter had reached four times, and Li Liang was going to the free throw line.

The Rockets were obviously frightened by Li Liang's fiery touch, knowing that if they let him shoot again, they might score another three points.

That being the case, foul it and send him to the free throw line. Two points are always one point less than three points.

Ever since, Li Liang made two free throws and scored 10 points in a row.

With his own efforts, he opened the point difference to more than 10 points.

After Li Liang hit the free throw, he said to Paul: "See, basketball is as simple as that, just score! Kobe taught me that!"

Paul shook his head helplessly. He had to admit that this was where he was a little worse than many champion guards.

This kind of thing actually exists on Li Liang.