Chapter 455 Big Change
2013 is numbered and the Clippers have two games left in the year.
For Li Liang, 2013 was a year full of miracles and harvests.
All-Stars, championships, Finals MVP, new teams, new teammates, all happened in 2013.
Li Liang certainly hopes that 2013 will have a good ending.
At present, the Clippers continue to occupy the first position in the East and West, losing only 3 games in 30 games.
This has to make people start discussing the issue of 72 wins again.
Anyway, there are only a few NBA topics that go around.
The team has won 72 games in the regular season, winning streak, playoffs, and whether they can win the championship.
Players in the regular season, various scoring records, rebounding records, occasionally bragging about Corvo's 81 points, and then bluffing people with Chamberlain's 100 points.
In the playoffs, Jordan and Iverson scored 40 and 50 points in a single game, and they averaged 40 points in the finals.
Of course, now there is one more Li Liang's 60 points in a single game in the finals, and the enthusiasm is still quite high.
It's just that the finals are about explosion, and the regular season is about endurance competition and state adjustment.
Besides, the results of the regular season pay attention to "going with the flow", while maintaining a reasonable rotation and rest, it is good to win all the way.
Obviously the results are enough, and the league is number one. In order to break the record, the player's state has fluctuated and is affected by injuries. Once something goes wrong in the playoffs, the glory of the regular season will only accentuate the bitterness of failure.
Even if you surpass the Bulls' 72 wins and fail to win the championship, you will still be ridiculed by opposing fans and Chinese celebrities.
Regarding this point, Rivers was quite touched.
Because in 2008, the Celtics sang all the way in the regular season and got an excellent record of 66 wins.
As a result, when it came to the playoffs, the first round and the semi-finals had to be played for seven games before being promoted. If they were eliminated, it would be a black spot that could not be cleared by jumping into the Yellow River.
Then in 2009, Garnett was seriously injured and the team fell short of defending the title. In 2010, the Celtics began to learn to play dead in the regular season.
Reluctantly won 50 wins, and as a result, the Cavaliers and Magic were easily killed in the playoffs, showing the demeanor of the Eastern Conference.
With this experience and understanding, Rivers believes that there is no need for the Clippers to rush too aggressively in the regular season.
Also, the team's substitutes still need to be strengthened, otherwise the main force will still be under too much pressure.
Especially Li Liang.
The accidental "bruise" at Oracle and fell to the ground frightened Rivers.
Li Liang must not hurt this point. Thinking about it now, signing Odom as a backup is really a good decision.
Of course Rivers didn't know that Li Liang wouldn't get hurt!
Li Liang will not be injured, but Paul is different. After this little man entered the league, he suffered from different injuries almost every year.
Paul can't be called a glass man, but injuries did cause him a lot of trouble.
At present, the team's backup point guards are mainly two, one is Bledsoe and the other is Darren Collison.
Rivers is not very satisfied with the performance of these two players.
Bledsoe is very strong, but his style is far from Paul's.
After returning from injury, Bledsoe's data is still good, especially when he is on the bench, his offensive efficiency is very high.
But his organizational skills are average, and his style of play requires possession of the ball and playing time.
Darren Collison is not as good as Bledsoe in terms of strength. He is mediocre in all aspects and can barely be a substitute.
Moreover, both of them are short in height, one dwarf is enough, and the three dwarfs are really unable to stand up, and the pressure inside is not normal.
At present, Jordan's supplementary defense and movement have been practiced alive.
Among them are not only the credit of Rivers and the trainer, but also the hard work of the three dwarfs and Crawford.
Therefore, Rivers has begun to think about making a deal, trading Bledsoe or Collison, and changing to a more useful backcourt.
...
In the last few days of 2013, the Clippers played against the Jazz and the Suns at home.
The Jazz were full of competitiveness last season. With Jefferson leaving and Millsap leaving this season, the team began to rebuild based on Gordon Hayward.
At present, after 30 games, their wins have not yet reached double digits, and they have basically withdrawn from the playoffs.
The NBA is like this. After one summer, some teams will change so that you can't recognize them at all.
When Hayward confronted Li Liang last season, he felt quite "evenly matched".
In less than a year now, except for his appearance, he is no longer Li Liang's opponent.
It's not that Hayward is not good, it's that the fans have high demands.
Li Liang abruptly overstated the demands of the fans.
It can be said that in the future at the small forward position, any rookie will inevitably have to compete with Li Liang.
Can't make the All-Star rookie season?
Garbage, Li Liang can make it to the end of the second round of the show.
Can't make it to the Finals in his rookie season?
The ability to lead the team is not good, Li Liang can reach the finals with Kobe.
Can't get the FMVP in the rookie season?
The young man has insufficient potential, do you know what it feels like to score 60 points in the finals?
In short, Li Liang has completely raised people's expectations for "rookies". Second-year players have already begun to count on him to win the regular season MVP.
Moreover, Li Liang has already ranked second in the competition for the regular season MVP.
Second only to LeBron James.
The main reason is that although Li Liang's two lore kills were extremely exciting, his overall statistics in the lore game were not high.
And games with high overall statistics often have garbage time, and this guy also likes to exercise in garbage time.
The eyes of the masses are still discerning, but he is very close to the number one MVP.
In this jazz game, facing Hayward, Li Liang completely suppressed the Salt Lake City coach.
Hayward played very badly tonight. Facing Li Liang's outside defense, he had no fresh moves and played a game with 2 of 11 shots.
The audience only scored 7 points.
The Jazz is no surprise, 90:102, with a gap of 12 points, and swallowed the bitter fruit of defeat at Staples.
From beginning to end, the Jazz were crushed and beaten by the Clippers, with no chance of turning over.
After all, without two important insiders, the strength gap is really a bit big.
However, Li Liang did not score crazy points in this game, but played for Blake Griffin with Paul.
Griffin was in excellent form tonight, scoring 40 points on 13 of 20 shots, and the Jazz players were dazzled by various dunks.
The Clippers continued their winning streak.
On December 30th, this is the Clippers' last game of the year against the Phoenix Suns.
The Suns are looking good in their second season of rebuilding after Nash left.
The Suns are also a traditional offensive team, and are very good at developing and using point guards.
One season, their starting point guard was Kevin Johnson, with Jason Kidd as the first backup on the bench and Steve Nash as the second backup.
In terms of collecting point guards, the Suns are similar to the Clippers collecting small forwards.
The Suns got Goran Dragic this season, and they seem to have the answer to their No. 1 position.
The Slovenian point guard has made rapid progress, averaging 20 points per game, and has become a core player in rebuilding the Suns.
The Suns' record also reached 17 wins and 13 losses, more than 50%, and they are among the playoff teams.
Li Liang still remembers that when he was with the Lakers last season, playing the Suns was the easiest, because the Suns' lineup and style of play were defeated by the Lakers.
But like the Jazz, after one summer, the sun also has a shit.
Their style is completely different from last season, and they started a crazy three-point journey.
As an offensive team, the Suns have shot a lot of three-pointers in history.
They regained the three-pointer this season.
The starting five players, except for center Plumlee, the other four are all three-pointers.
For the Clippers, only Li Liang can be considered a real three-pointer in the starting lineup.
Paul is very accurate on three-pointers, but it is the mid-range that he really kills.
Barnes didn't say anything, it was completely unreliable.
Griffin is only occasionally able to shoot a three-pointer, and DeAndre Jordan...forget it, he is not in the offense.
The Clippers are essentially a mid-range team. Paul, Griffin, including Crawford, shoot a lot from mid-range.
The Suns knew that they were not as strong as the Clippers, so they let go of the three-pointer.
I didn't expect that such a thing as a three-pointer would really beat the master to death.
The Suns beat the Clippers 30:25 in the first quarter, leading by five points.
In the second quarter, the Suns continued to make three-pointers from the bench, but the Clippers suddenly misfired on the offensive end.
The substitute is misfired, and the main force is still misfired after returning.
In the third quarter, Li Liang started the outside three-pointer and the Suns.
In the end, it didn't fly!
The man on the Suns was named Gerald Green, the former nine-finger dunk king.
In the third quarter, if his three-pointers were divinely assisted, he would throw the ball straight up when he got it from the outside line, and he would score after throwing it.
As a result, he and Li Liang lived together abruptly.
In the fourth quarter, the Suns took the lead all the way, and Dragic extinguished the Clippers' counterattack momentum with consecutive key shots.
In the end, the Clippers failed to hold on to the last game in 2013 and lost the game by a 12-point disadvantage at home with an upset 109:97.
The Suns made 15 of 31 three-pointers, nearly 50 percent.
Among them, Gerald Green made 6 of 10 three-pointers, Channing Frye made 4 of 7 shots, and Dragic made 2 of 3 shots.
Can't stop it, really can't stop it, even Jordan can't stop it.
With some regret, Li Liang ended his 2013.
2014 is about to wait for him, with even greater challenges.