One Guard

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Paul George responded forcefully, allowing Thunder fans to sit back and relax. As long as the Thunder's Big Three want to win, they will have a chance. These three people can stand alone when they are separated, but when they are together, they become weaker for no reason!

Although the Thunder scored a timely goal to tie the score, Billy Donovan still stood nervously on the sidelines, unable to sit still. The Thunder just scored a goal, but their offense was also very simple. To put it bluntly, he is still a mid-range superstar in singles. However, mid-range singles are currently recognized as the least efficient offensive method in the league. Donovan couldn't help but worry, with this method, how long can the Thunder survive? System, Donovan still needs the Big Three to develop the system!

One round later, Carmelo Anthony hit Rudy Gay again and the Thunder scored again. It seems that the Big Three are in full swing today. However, Anthony's offense was still a mid-range single. So far, the Thunder have relied on the individual abilities of their stars to solve problems.

There is no doubt about the individual abilities of the Big Three, but that's not how basketball is played. After all, it is still a team sport of five people.

In the first quarter of the game, the Thunder and the Mavericks were inseparable. After 12 minutes of fighting, the Thunder even led by two points, 25-23.

"It's very strange. The Thunder obviously have a lead, but their offense is as uncomfortable as constipation. The Dallas Mavericks, who are in a lagging position, are playing very smoothly on the offensive end."

"It's not surprising at all, Kenny. The Thunder only gave up 3 assists in the first quarter. The Mavericks had 8, which is almost three times as many as the Thunder! The Thunder's offense is a little too reliant. The Big Three. Didn't you notice? Most of their points were obtained by Westbrook, Paul George and Anthony taking turns in singles, and the rest was picked up by Adams and Robertson. Playing like this, the Thunder's offense will definitely not be smooth. And it's extremely difficult. They may still be ahead of the Mavericks in the first quarter. But if they continue to play like this, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the Thunder to last until the end." Chris Webber spread his hands. There was obviously something wrong with the Thunder's data. This problem has existed for the Thunder since the beginning of the season.

Webber can count Donovan's tactics on three fingers: Westbrook singles, Melon singles, and Pickle singles. Defense relies on the body, and there is no good system to support offense and defense.

Westbrook does pass the ball, but he also loses his identity. Pass a few to George, pass a few to Anthony, and then attack a few more yourself. Passing the ball for the sake of passing the ball will not break down the defense.

Billy Donovan naturally knew what was wrong with the team. Although the team was leading now, Donovan couldn't laugh at all. After all, a temporary lead does not mean final victory.

"Pick and roll! We need to play an efficient pick and roll! Use the screen to finish the offense in the mid-range and keep putting pressure on the Mavericks!" Donovan anxiously wrote and drew on the tactical board, and the Big Three also listened very carefully.

In the past few seasons, Westbrook has often used pick-and-rolls to get shooting opportunities in the mid-range. This is also a common offensive method for this zero guard. Now, Donovan is asking George and Anthony to do the same. He believes that with three attack points working at the same time, the firepower will surely swamp the Mavericks.

But after the second quarter started, the result was not as smooth as Donovan thought.

Anthony holds the ball at the top of the arc, and Adams comes to cover. After the screen, Anthony took a sudden step and shot directly. At this time, Gobert directly shrank to the basket, and Hayward came over to interfere with Anthony's shot.

This is actually a defensive trap that gives the Thunder's giants the illusion of getting mismatched offense. However, this is still a poor shot choice. Anthony shot the ball, but the Thunder's pick-and-roll was useless.

"We saw that the Thunder were also trying to make changes. But the results were not very satisfactory."

Yiyang stopped trying to keep up with Westbrook. After getting the ball, he ran straight to the frontcourt.

The Mavericks played a fast-paced offense and defense.

Facing Westbrook, Yiyang, who was traveling at high speed, swayed his upper body, used a one-handed change of direction that was too fast to catch, and rushed past Westbrook with ease.

After a successful breakthrough, Yiyang rushed to Hayward who was in the right corner and made a fake pass, but actually made a layup himself. Being deceived by the fake action, Adams' reaction was half a beat too slow, and half a beat was more than enough time for Yiyang.

Compared to the Thunder's constipated offense, the Mavericks' offense is as smooth as silk. It is not enough to have a eloquent coach, a team must also have a group of players who can implement all the coach's arrangements. Obviously, the Thunder's execution ability is not at the same level as the Mavericks. Now, they can't even run simple pick-and-rolls well.

In the subsequent attack, Westbrook still did not hit the basket, but planned to continue passing the ball to George. But this time, George couldn't even catch the ball safely.

Hayward got stuck in the bottom plate and pushed George as high as possible, unilaterally going forward to interfere with the ball. Westbrook tried to lob the ball, but had no chance, so he used a simple pick-and-roll to go directly to the inside. However, under the joint interference of Yiyang and Gobert, Westbrook's forced shot missed.

During Westbrook's breakthrough, except for Adams who followed up, the other three players on the Thunder team just stood there.

Without running, how can we play the system? Letting all the Big Three attack in the mid-range, Donovan is really wasting his resources.

This is a very common round in the game. The Mavericks used confrontation to prevent Thunder players from receiving the ball in their comfortable offensive zone and tried to compress their offensive time to reduce the opponent's offensive success rate.

But then, a more common way of playing than this is that Thunder players advance with the ball from the backcourt, set up a single screen in the frontcourt, throw away the defender, and immediately stop and shoot a jump shot in an attempt to end the offense. A large number of offenses are ended through simple singles, without coordination of passing and cutting, only stationary one-on-one, which is boring and inefficient.

In the second quarter of the game, several of the Thunder's favorite offensive methods: transition offense, scored 098 points per round and shot 463%. In individual singles, he scored 085 points per round and his shooting rate was only 424%. The pick-and-roll ballhandler finished, scoring 083 points per possession and shooting 365% from the field. Either way, they performed extremely poorly.

So far, the Thunder's offense has basically stopped. Donovan only hopes that the Thunder can use their defense to stabilize the situation and make adjustments at halftime. However, how could Yiyang, this huge "icebreaker", be restricted by the Thunder's defense?

Westbrook and Robertson double-teamed Yiyang. Yiyang passed the ball from between Westbrook's legs to Mitchell who cut into the penalty area. Mitchell succeeded in a layup and fouled Adams, winning a three-pointer. Chance.

Yiyang held the ball in the left corner. Kuzma set up a pick-and-roll for Yiyang, causing Yiyang to mismatch Anthony. Just when everyone thought Yiyang would return the ball to Kuzma for a mid-range shot, Yiyang suddenly accelerated without warning and passed by Anthony.

Anthony seemed to be still clinging to Yiyang's side, but in fact he had completely lost his position. After entering the penalty area, Yiyang did not hide and fight. Instead, he took the initiative to confront Anthony, gained space for himself by pushing his butt, and then succeeded in a layup before Adams came back.

The thinking was clear and neat, Yiyang scored again, and the Mavericks were gradually opening up the score.

Every pass, every breakthrough, every shot, Yiyang had a precise plan in his mind before doing it. Therefore, every attack by Yiyang is pleasing to the eye and worth savoring like a work of art.

The offenses of the Mavericks and Thunder are completely at two extremes, one is simple and ugly, the other is complex but efficient. In this game, even Thunder fans saw the huge gap between Westbrook and Yiyang. The two men's ability to control the game is completely different.

On defense? Is Donovan reliable? In this era where offense guides the game, defense is of course also very important, but it is difficult to win the game solely relying on defense. Famous defensive coach Frank Vogel was fired by the Pacers because Larry Bird thought he couldn't attack. Now some well-known defensive coaches in the league, such as Vogel and Tom Thibodeau mentioned above, have begun to try to transform, began to emphasize offense, and began to adapt to the run-and-gun era. So it's obvious that Donovan's method of relying on defense to stabilize the situation is outdated.

The offense led by Yiyang allowed the Mavericks to widen the point difference to 11 points in 8 minutes! The current situation of the Thunder's Big Three is that the three brothers share the ball equally, and then rely on their own individual abilities to play. It often happens that one person is playing and four people are watching. And what about the Mavericks? With the Yiyang organization, all five members of the Mavericks can participate in the offense. Whether they are rookies like Mitchell and Kuzma or centers with no skills at all like Gobert, they can score easily.

Gobert is still averaging 135 points per game this season. In addition to proving that the Frenchman is indeed hardworking, it also proves from the side how powerful Yiyang's ability to create opportunities is.

If Gobert is placed next to Westbrook, the Frenchman may not even be able to average 6 points per game.

Eight minutes into the second quarter, Carlisle made a big move and the Mavericks entered rotation time. The Big Three of the Thunder must take turns to withstand the pressure and have no time to rest.

"Yi left in a hurry, leaving only Westbrook who had to stay on the court and use his body to break through the defense again and again. Yi alone revitalized the Mavericks, but Westbrook still stopped passing for the sake of passing. The stage of the ball. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to say that Westbrook was questioned after becoming the MVP last season. Judging from today's performance, Oklahoma's MVP can't even get close to Yiyang! "

Webber knows that he is likely to be criticized by Thunder fans for saying this, but it is the truth!

Two different defenders, bringing two completely different games. I believe that fans all over the world now know who is more qualified to become mvp.

That sentence is correct, there is no harm without comparison. The Thunder that gave Yiyang such a headache at the beginning can no longer pose any threat to this legendary star. (No. 1 Guard)