According to the schedule, the first game of the playoffs begins on the 14th, the Kings are on a day off, and the 13th resumes training together.

In the morning, we gathered at the training base, and the team practiced some shooting as a warm-up, and then held a pre-match video conference.

Curry and Brogden also participated. According to team doctor Kaufman, the two recovered well from injuries and may return early. Su Yang felt a little relieved when he heard this. As long as Curry could run on the court, even if he stood in the bottom corner and smoked, someone would hand over the ashtray.

In short, the library has gravity, which is definitely not a false name.

Cousins ​​continued to act as the video coordinator and excitedly introduced to the King: half of the film was edited by me.

Su Yang took the opportunity to praise him and instead spoke in a high-profile manner.

"It's not that I look down on the Thunder, but it's really easy to play the Thunder. All their offensive routines are very basic. We can easily make predictions. As long as we do our best to defend carefully, I'll say conservatively that we can win within six games!"

In the first round of previous years, Su Yang has never been so high-profile. This year, the three main players were injured, so it is necessary to make the players crazy.

Anyway, it means minimizing the psychological impact of the main force being absent due to injury, so as not to have the idea that the main force can lose if it is injured.

While talking, assistant coach Mike Brown continued to speak.

"Westbrook's three-point shooting percentage this season is only 29.8%, and his average playing time has increased from 34.5 minutes to 36.7 minutes. The Thunder relies too much on Westbrook, so the focus of our defensive strategy is to prevent Westbrook from breaking through. Although his ending shooting percentage at the basket is average, we must insist on combining and intercepting, making it difficult for him to take action or pass the ball easily..."

Westbrook still averages triple-double this season.

However, the shock brought to the fans was greatly reduced. The main record and efficiency were average, with an overall shooting percentage of 42.5%, which was a bit inconsistent with the identity of Xinke MVP. The key free throw shooting percentage was only 73.7%, and he could even be cut at critical moments.

Assistant coach Di Brown continued to speak.

"From the observation of the entire regular season, the Thunder performed poorly in defending pick-and-roll. After entering April, they began to use the strategy of changing defenses in all 1-5 positions, which specifically tests the ball-holder's breakthrough and passing ability. We are not afraid of that, but we need to run and let him pay the price for the defense replacement strategy. When there is room to take action, we must be decisive!"

Su Yang nodded while listening.

The reason why the Thunder adopts a defensive strategy when facing a pick-and-roll is partly because Westbrook's poor performance in defending the pick-and-roll. According to statistics from Sportsvu Data Company, Westbrook ranks 32 in the league in defense pick-and-roll efficiency, which is the worst level.

Why is it so bad?

First of all, I don’t like to move, the offensive task is too heavy, the physical energy is consumed a lot, the consciousness is lazy, and it is very troublesome to cross the wall.

Secondly, he likes to shrink inside in advance and want to rush to grab the basket and grab rebounds. Coach Donovan spoiled him and instead arranged for a replacement to prevent delays.

As for off-ball defense, let alone talk about it.

"Westbrook is our breakthrough point. We must focus on offense and defense. I hope he will stay on the court!"

As Su Yang finished speaking, the king and the generals burst into laughter. The atmosphere was not like a video analysis meeting, but more like a talk show scene.

I hope an MVP player will stay on the court.

What a fuck that is.

The offensive and defensive strategy has been established, and the corresponding training has been launched. Payton Little specializes in playing the iron-headed Westbrook, and has always made breakthroughs.

While the training was underway, major media and fans from all walks of life made predictions about the showdown between the Kings and the Thunder.

What is more embarrassing is that espn collects 24-hour voting, and the participating users are optimistic about the King, and are still absent from the three main players of the King, and most of them are used to think that the King will end the battle within six games and advance easily.

And the 21 experts at ESPN, except for Kevin Arnolds from Oklahoma, the other 20 people are optimistic about the King.

Commentator Bill Simmons tweeted and joked: "This vote did not give a subdivision reason, and it is difficult for us to figure out whether everyone is so optimistic about the King because they can always believe in Su Yang or because they can never believe in Westbrook."

It only took a minute to post the tweet. Duran liked it, and then quickly canceled it and liked it again.

Some fans speculated about their psychological motivation: the first time was that they thought that the Thunder had Westbrook and could not win, but they realized that it was not appropriate to slander their former teammates, so they chose to cancel, but they also found that there was an option to always believe in Su Yang, and they felt that they could be used to cover up, so they chose to like it again. Durant responded quickly: You tmd really like to guess randomly.

On the 14th the next day, the first game between the Kings and the Thunder in the first round of the playoffs started at the Golden One Center in Sa City.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Su Yang rushed to the stadium, arranged the training content as usual, and went to the media center for pre-match interviews.

Lindsey, a reporter from the team, first asked: "How do you see that the fans and commentators think that the Kings will win easily?"

Su Yang thought for a moment and smiled: "Everyone should be optimistic about the depth of our lineup. We have Lopez and Giannis in the inside, Jeff Green and Covington in the front, Laven and Ross in the outside, Tatum and others are also very good..."

It's not a joke. Just Antetokounmpo Lavender is just a strong lineup that can make the playoffs. With high-quality substitutes like Rose, Covington and Grant, as well as Tatum who has super combat power, there is no problem playing against the Thunder.

The real challenge is to face the Spurs who are likely to advance, and that is a healthy Leonard Ad.

At that time, even if Curry and Brogdon could play, it would not be easy to win, and the depth of the Spurs lineup was terrible.

At 7:30, the game started.

The national anthem was played, the opening performance, the appearance ceremony, and the three-game show was completed. The audience stood up and shouted.

Curry walked to the central circle with the microphone, stood still, raised his left hand and waved his greeting, "Good evening, welcome to the Golden No. 1 Center. We are about to start the playoffs today. With your company, we are full of motivation. As you have seen, we have encountered some troubles in the near future, but we have Giannis, we have coach Su Yang, and I will return to the stadium soon. I hope you can enjoy a different rhythm of the game with us from previous years. Let us cheer for every action, we are the champions!"

"Yeah!"

Cheers resounded throughout the stadium, lights were on all around, and the sound of long whistles sounded. The two teams started and the game was about to start.

The five starting players like the Thunder are Westbrook, Oladipo, Robertson, Ty Gibson, and Adams.

The five starting players on the Kings are Rose, Payton Jr., Tatum, Jeff Green, Antetokounmpo, and Lopez Greater.

Su Yang clenched his fist to encourage him, while Peyton nodded firmly, recalling what Su Yang told him before the game: "This time you will start, the task is to limit Westbrook. This is your chance to make a name for yourself and get a big contract..."

Once Curry returns, it is really difficult for Payton to make his debut again. This round of matchup with the Thunder is his best stage.

The short whistle sounded, and the announcer shouted loudly and jumped the ball.

The referee threw the ball into the air, Adams jumped back and touched the ball first, and used his force to pull it back, and the basketball flew straight to the Thunder halftime.

Westbrook raised his hand to catch the ball, jumped up and changed his left hand to his right hand, jumping forward, and he was very excited.

Sitting on the sidelines, Chinese stars such as Jinfu and Yi Feng, who came to watch the game, saw Westbrook's appearance and complained.

"Wow, Westbrook is full of expectations for the game!"

"He's the kind of player who is 30 points behind, but can be excited by a dunk, without the frustration module."

"You mean Mark Jackson, 31 points behind, and after scoring two points, he shouted at the opponent that we were unstoppable!"

On the court, the Thunder Triangle conduction started, and the basketball was given to Adams on the left waist position, and it was obvious that he would attack from the inside.

However, Lopez fought against one side, but Adams's footsteps and skills were average. He turned around and hooked his hands and slammed the iron.

The Kings grabbed the rebound and counterattacked, Tatum dribbled the ball across the center, played pick-and-roll with Lopez on the left wing, and the Thunder replaced defense.

Such a defensive strategy is not very similar to what the Kings pre-match video conference analysis said, it cannot be said to be very similar, it can only be said to be exactly the same.

Tatum immediately pulled the ball away, creating space for sprinting, suddenly sank and lowered his shoulders, and rushed to the left toward the basket.

Robertson, who was on the weak bottom corner of the Thunder, quickly shrank and blocked the ball. Seeing this, Tatum stopped quickly and raised his hand to throw the ball towards the right bottom corner. However, Oladipo was quick-witted and rushed the ball to Jeff Green, and pulled the ball out of bounds. The referee whistled.

Kings front court ball.

Su Yang stood up to set up corner kick tactics and played stack pick-and-roll, praising Oladipo in his heart as the best first-defense player.

The players were each on their own and stood still. The referee blew the whistle to the ball. Peyton Jr. went straight to the bottom corner on the left with the help of the elbow on the right, providing an open receiving threat and dispersing the defenders. López actually ran to the right wing to receive the ball.

After serving the ball, Antetokounmpo entered the field and rushed to the basket, providing an all-receiver and a threat under the basket, and once again dispersed the defenders. Jeff Green also used Tatum's cover to go straight to the 45 three-point line on the left, providing a long-distance open-receiver threat, and also dispersed the defenders.

In a blink of an eye, only Lopez and Tatum remained on the right side of the King. The basketball was passed to Tatum. Lopez slipped the fake pick-and-roll? It really went astray. Adams thought it was a real pick-and-roll, and delayed Tatum according to his habits, and invisibly missed Lopez.

The basketball flew straight to the basket, while Lopez kicked off with a clang and dunked, which was not as difficult as the training match.

"Awesome! This tactic is awesome!"

"Boss Su is a god!"

"I saw a bunch of people here, and I thought it was a star-running tactic. I still underestimated Boss Su's tactical guidance!"

In the field, Westbrook dribbled the ball through the half, while Oladipo used the left corner to lift the ball with the help of a wide-bottom cover, and took the ball and scored a two-pointer, and the basketball hit the iron. The whole tactic was very simple, and Walton also liked to use it in the Lakers.

However, the simpler the tactic, the more powerful the players are, just like short corners are lifted and caught with the help of cover. In the whole league for so many years, only McGrady and Durant have used it more. Both of them have long arms and legs, and they have three-pointers with mid-range shots.

The Kings got the rebound and counterattacked, and Tatum dribbled the ball to the top of the frontcourt, directly cooperating with Antetokounmpo for pick-and-roll screening.

However, the two of them didn't communicate well, Antetokounmpo turned around and opened the incision speed too quickly, and the cover had not yet worked.

Tatum was indeed just right. Seeing Gibson retreating, he immediately jumped up and shot, but he did not touch the ball.

But unexpectedly, most players of the two teams did not expect to take this three-pointer, and only Payton rushed to the basket.

Seeing that the basketball was about to fly out of the baseline, Peyton flew to save, twisting in the air to pass the ball to Lopez who followed.

At that time, Westbrook was still standing at the three-point line.

Daluo took the ball in the short corner on the left and turned around to observe, suddenly raised his hand and passed it to the right wing. Green received the ball and faced Robertson, but he didn't dare to play.

But Payton Jr. ran back into the field and quietly slipped along the bottom line to the left corner, while Westbrook didn't notice and was watching Green.

Green threw the ball towards the bottom corner, Payton Jr. received the ball in a large open space, Robertson rushed forward unwillingly, and the basketball flew back to the right wing.

After all, people are not as fast as the ball.

Green raised his hand and threw a three-pointer, and the basketball went into the net hollow.

"Westbrook, ah hahaha!"

"Awesome, Master West, just fight like this!"

"I think it's not good. Westbrook's distracted game at the beginning often gets back on track because it's too outrageous..."
Chapter completed!