hotmtlnovel Chapter 582 Mission Completed
Chapter 582 Mission Completed
Chapter 582 Mission Completed
Livingston collapsed on the sidelines, feeling the strength of his legs, ready to go.
After coming to the Clippers, Livingston didn't get too many opportunities to perform, and most of the time he really just kept it as Min Congda thought.
After all, the Clippers' lineup is indeed too thick. Although there was one less point guard in the previous point guard position, the three of Harden, Curry, and Dragic are enough in a normal 9-man rotation. Will not give the third point guard too many opportunities to play.
In the few appearances, Livingston did not perform too well, because when he can play, the game will basically have no suspense.
But even so, Livingston will seize the few playing time to perform seriously, and accumulate the feeling and state of the game.
And in terms of play style, the offensive systems of Livingston and the Clippers are not particularly well matched.
He is not good at three-pointers, and his ability to catch and shoot off the ball is average.
In the application of some technologies, it is obviously the template of the previous era, or even the previous era.
Generally speaking, the tall point guard style of play that was popular in the early 21st century can use the back body very skillfully.
Good at mid-range shooting, good at attacking from two waist positions, and has a pretty good turnaround jumper.
This style of play is slowly being eliminated by the league, and it seems a bit out of place in a team like the Clippers who pay attention to new styles of play.
In the first round against the Jazz, Livingston didn't get too many chances to play, and his opponent fell down with a little force.
In this round of playing against the Lakers, Livingston thought he would be able to sit on the bench, but he didn't expect to let him play in the second quarter.
Before going on the field, Tyronn Lue patted him and said, "Mr. Smart asked you to play. He said that after the stage, you will play more singles, and you will focus on Paul and play your state!"
When Livingston heard that it was Mr. Smart who made him appear on the stage, his eyes lit up and he felt his body full of motivation!
Livingston is full of gratitude to Min Congda. His three-year guarantee contract not only gave him work and money, but more importantly, gave him new hope in his career.
After half a season of training, Livingston can feel that the impact of the injury on his body and spirit has been minimized, and he can already play well.
Back to the Clippers, even though he didn't have much playing time, he still didn't dare to slack off for a moment, trained hard to maintain his competitive state.
The so-called raising soldiers for a thousand days, using them for a while, Livingston knew that it was time for him to use his energy!
Hit Paul, right?
Paul... What about the Paulians?
How come you can't see him?
Oh, behind McGee, out of sight.
Too short.
Facing Paul, a well-known point guard in the league, Livingston was not afraid at all.
In terms of height, wingspan, and style of play, Livingston absolutely restrains Paul on the offensive end.
And in terms of defense, Livingston is not a colander. The Clippers have already formulated a defensive strategy before the game. No matter who is in the first position, it will bite Paul and don't care about others.
If you are passed by Paul, it doesn't matter, someone will wipe your ass behind.
Like some defensive gates, when facing the opponent's core players, they often have to be distracted.
While facing each other, you have to look back, look left and right, look at the running positions of your teammates and opponents, and decide your next move.
Livingston, Curry, and Dragic don't have such troubles tonight, just bite Paul tightly.
So, after the timeout ended, Paul once again encountered an all-round oppressive defense with no dead ends, and had to give the ball to Kobe again.
Kobe broke through the basket from the outside line, faced the defense, made a twist in the air, changed hands and made a layup, scoring two points.
Kobe's condition is really good tonight, he was fed by the Clippers.
But playing in this way consumes a lot of physical energy, and this is only the second quarter.
Kobe's physical fitness is no better than in the past. During the regular season, D'Antoni has been reducing Kobe's usage rate to ensure his physical fitness.
In the first half of the playoffs, Kobe had already taken a lot of shots, because there was no way, Kobe couldn't open this point, and the Lakers couldn't play offensively.
Paul was not only welded to death on the offensive end, but a catastrophic situation appeared on the defensive end-Livingston began to list on Paul's head.
After a blocker, he went to the waist to catch the ball, bumped Paul, then walked to the bottom line, turned around and shot a jumper!
Paul reached out and couldn't even cover Livingston's eyes, and Livingston hit a jumper from close range and scored two points.
Kobe twisted the twist to score two points, and Livingston easily smoothed out the jumper.
The ball began to be given to Kobe more, and the Lakers' offense dominated, tilting from Paul to Kobe.
No way, Paul's first pass was basically contained, breaking the ball, stealing points, and one-on-one eating.
This kind of pertinence is unprecedented in Paul's career.
If you target it a little bit, I'll just avoid it. How can there be someone who keeps staring at people and targets them to death?
But the Clippers aimed at death, with a sense of life and death. The whole team was united, as if they had a grudge against Paul.
In fact, there is no hatred, it is entirely Min Congda's strategy.
When Min Congda saw that Livingston got the offensive rebound, dribbled the ball, turned around and scored two points on Paul's head, he felt emotional in his heart: "Mom, why are the people I picked useful? I thought Livingston just came to the Clippers to retire, but he didn't expect this guy to be effective in eating, training, and playing Paul."
Min Congda analyzed the situation on the field while eating oranges.
Livingston has scored 6 points in a row on Paul's head, and the point difference between the Lakers and the Clippers remains at about 15 points.
If they can't catch up, the Clippers have no intention of further widening the point difference, they just consume at a slow pace.
The defensive intensity of the game has increased by two levels compared with the regular season, and the movements of both sides are also getting bigger and bigger.
In this state, Kobe played so happily, he is really used to this kind of high-intensity confrontation.
And Paul's already dark face looked even darker. After being scored two more points by Livingston, Paul, who got the ball from the backcourt, smashed the ball hard.
Then calm down and continue to organize the Lakers' offense.
After halftime, Paul handed the ball to Bryant, then ran to the bottom corner and squatted, waiting for the opportunity.
Paul is still very smart, and he is waiting for his opportunity.
But Livingston kept his eyes on Paul.
When Kobe broke through with the ball from a 45-degree oblique side, Livingston, who was squatting in the bottom corner, didn't reach out to help defend, and didn't even look at Kobe, just let him in.
Paul wanted to move around to see if there was a chance, but there was always someone in front of him!
The first half is almost over, and Paul didn't score in a sports game? !
Kobe took the ball to the basket, and without anyone double-teaming to help him, he completed a difficult fadeaway jumper and scored two points.
Kobe had already scored 18 points in the first half, and Paul only scored 1 point with free throws.
Paul was completely angry. In the subsequent defense, when Livingston tried to hit Paul with the ball in the waist again, Paul pushed Livingston directly and called for a foul.
"Fxxk you! Fxxk!"
Paul couldn't help being rude, and the Lakers called a timeout.
Paul really can't bear it, is your entire Clippers team Comey?
Do you need to suppress me like this, just let Kobe score alone?
Back on the bench, Paul threw the towel angrily. His performance in the first half was completely unqualified.
The Clippers are simply sacrificing the integrity of the defense to suppress Paul's role in the offense.
The key is that if other teams play like this, the defensive system is probably already broken, and the score will definitely fall behind.
And the Clippers can still lead the Lakers by 15 points in this way, which shows their strength.
But you are so strong, why do you have to target Paul?It's simply murder.
Not only to win, but also to provoke and intensify the conflicts within the Lakers, killing two birds with one stone.
The whole team of the Clippers is also very happy to play. Paul is an admirable player, but to be honest, it is really uncomfortable to play against him.
His small moves, trash talk, and cleverness in the game are really annoying.
For example, the Kings center Cousins, every time he plays with Paul, he has to be fucked.
Cousins, who has an upright personality, loses his temper every time he hits Paul, and he can't wait to go up and give Paul a while to relieve his anger.
Curry played against Paul, and he was often targeted by Paul, so biting Paul tonight made Curry feel very enjoyable.
Livingston only played 4 minutes, but made three shots in three shots. After returning from a timeout, he made two free throws and scored 8 points.
The efficiency is staggering.
Curry took a break off the court and returned to the court.
Bite the braces, continue to come to Paul, stick to it before talking.
Paul is already in a semi-collapsed state. The last time he was so collapsed was when he lost 58 points in the playoffs.
He may not lose that much tonight, but he can't score 0 points in a sports game!
Paul couldn't take it anymore, he had to score.
After all, he is only 27 years old. Although he suffered a serious knee injury and changed his style of play, as a league superstar, he can still score points forcefully.
A change of direction accelerates past Curry, directly enters the three-second zone in the middle, and faces Gasol Jr. and rushes to the basket!
He worked hard enough to dunk one on the Clippers' basket!
As a result, Anthony Davis, who was defended over, took a big hat down!
The combination of Anthony Davis and Gasol Jr. has greatly improved the defensive ability to protect the basket.
When the ball was pressed down, the ball did not go out of bounds, nor did it leave the hands of the two. The referee called a scrimmage.
Paul shook his head at the referee, you might as well call me an offensive foul.
You make me Anthony Davis scrimmage, isn't that an insult to me?
Just give the ball to the Clippers.
Standing on the free throw circle, the two scramble for the ball.
Paul didn't dance at all, how could he pass it.
In fact, short stature does not necessarily mean that you cannot compete for the ball.
The key aerial confrontation ability and shoulder width are very important.
Because in addition to the vertical height of the scrum, the horizontal space is also very important.
For a tank point guard like Fisher, sometimes Yao Ming can't compete with him when fighting for the ball.
Yao Ming is tall enough, right?
But Paul just has average shoulder width, and he is not a tank like Fisher in aerial confrontation.
I had no choice but to not jump, trying to judge where Davis scrambled the ball.
Davis is not stupid, and directly allocated the ball to Gasol Jr.
The Clippers attacked, Curry accelerated with his left hand after receiving the ball, rushed to the basket for a layup, and caused Paul's defensive foul.
Paul raised his hand helplessly.
Comey, you are all Comey, and the referee is also Comey.
You all want me dead!
Curry made two free throws.
The first half ended quickly, and Paul stopped struggling.
Halftime, 1 point, 2 turnovers, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, the data is very neat, but it is useless.
The Lakers mainly relied on Kobe's performance. In the first half, they barely fell behind too much. With 15 points, they can still catch up.
But those who watched half of the game know that the Lakers basically have no chance in this series, and the gap is indeed big.
Kobe is actually not a fool. After playing for more than ten years, he knew that the Clippers were targeting Paul and let him play.
The scene was so obvious that Kobe didn't hate Paul so much in his heart, and even had some sympathy.
It's just that during the intermission, the two still didn't communicate.
In other words, distance creates beauty.
The two had just cooperated, and they admired each other very much during the honeymoon period.
The cooperation in the first season was also quite pleasant, but everything was ruined by the Clippers.
Kobe knew in his heart that if the Clippers wanted to, they could block Kobe with all their strength and let Paul play to his fullest.
How the Clippers want to win depends entirely on their mood. They have a choice, but Kobe and the Lakers have no choice.
This feeling is really uncomfortable. Kobe and the Lakers were once so strong. It was 2001. They were completely invincible in the playoffs, unstoppable, and they could win whatever they wanted.
The only miscalculation was that Iverson counterattacked in the first game of the finals, but later in Philadelphia, the Lakers did not give the 76ers any chance.
Kobe could see that everyone was quite depressed, and Kobe tried to cheer everyone up with motivational words and his own performance.
However, after the start of the second half of the game, the situation did not change substantially.
Behind by 15 points, the rhythm is completely controlled by the Clippers. All the Lakers can do is run at a constant speed with the Clippers.
The Clippers scored 2 points, the Lakers scored 2 points, the Clippers scored 3 points, and the Lakers scored 3 points.
Whenever Kobe or the Lakers want to struggle, they want to increase their strength to break the stalemate and close the score.
The Clippers have the ability to put up the same intensity and regain control of the situation without chaos at all.
With a 15-point point difference, the Lakers can't play a defensive counterattack climax, and if they don't pull the point difference to within 10 points, they won't have a chance.
Even, the Clippers have the ability to widen the point difference to 20 points in one wave, but they don't, they just control the points, they just don't relax the rhythm and let some people steal points.
With such control of the field, the Lakers players and some senior fans are all breaking out in cold sweat.
Including the Clippers coaching staff, like Mike Malone, he knew that Min Congda was in charge of the game, and he discovered that Min Congda's command level is so high. His understanding of the Clippers, Lakers players, and computing power are quite amazing.
It turns out that there has been such a great god hidden in the team, no wonder he can dismiss Cole at will and let him go to the opponent Cavaliers.
Of course, there is one person who doesn't realize this, and that is the Clippers coach, Tyronn Lue!
He faithfully carried out the arrangement on the note, and then thought to himself, "I did a good job tonight and completed the task."
(End of this chapter)