(This chapter has been revised. You can continue reading. It will be ready soon. I will update it in the next few days to express my apology.)
In the new season, the Lakers' starting lineup has not changed at all compared to last season. It is still the starting five tiger lineup of Wang Feng, Butler, Ingram, Kuzma and Lopez.
After a major overhaul in the offseason, the Pelicans' starting lineup has changed greatly. The starting point guard has become Chris Paul, shooting guard JJ Redick, small forward Jordan Clarkson, and power forward Zion Williamson.
Si, the thick-browed center Davis.
The Pelicans' lineup is a small one. From the 1.83-meter point guard Paul to the 1.98-meter power forward Zion, except for the 2.08-meter center Big Eyebrow, no one is taller than 2 meters.
On the other hand, for the Lakers, none of the starting five is less than 2 meters tall. Wang Feng and Butler, who serve as point guard and shooting guard, are both 2.01 meters tall, not to mention Ingram and Kuzma.
When the starting players from both sides stand on the field, the height difference is particularly obvious.
Although height does not necessarily equal strength, for the sport of basketball, the advantages brought by height are indeed real.
Davis, the big-browed brother, fought for the jump ball. Paul dribbled the ball across half court, immediately commanded his teammates to open up space, and then lobbed the ball to Davis, who was stationed inside.
The thick-browed brother received the ball and hit Lopez with a back-up. This was the only advantageous position of the Pelicans on the line. Lopez, who was not good at defense, was half a beat slow when facing the flexible Davis, and was turned around and wiped close to the basket.
Scored a layup.
The offense and defense switched, and it was the Lakers' turn to attack.
Wang Feng looked at Paul, who was only 1.83 meters in front of him, and didn't even bother to do any fake moves. He just jumped up and jumped on the spot.
At this time, his position was outside the three-point line at a 45-degree angle on the left, which was the effective area of the Golden Badge Hot Zone Hunter.
The hot zone hunter badge is activated, and the two golden badges of the remote turret and fast hunter are also activated.
With a bounce of 91, Wang Feng's take-off height was very high. Paul, who was much different in height from Wang Feng, jumped up and tried to block the shot, but the highest height of his arms only reached Wang Feng's chin.
With such defensive interference, even the marksman badge Wang Feng used to resist interference could not be activated and triggered.
The basketball hits the basket accurately and goes into the net.
"No... we can't let Chris defend Wang Feng. He is too short and cannot effectively interfere with Wang Feng!"
It only took one round for the Pelicans head coach to realize this serious problem.
He could only shout loudly from the sidelines and instruct the players to change defenses.
In the Pelicans' offensive round, the basketball was once again handed into the hands of Brother Big Eyebrow.
Still playing Lopez from behind, the thick-eyebrow brother hit a fadeaway jumper with his back. The Lakers' interior defense is indeed a weakness. This is also the case with the same playing style and similar statistics. Horford can earn close to 30 million in annual salary.
The reason why Pace is only worth 10 million.
In terms of frame protection ability, Horford is not even a little bit better than Lopez. Even when facing opponents such as Davis and Giannis Antetokounmpo, Horford can rely on his defense to limit their performance.
If the Lakers want to limit the performance of the thick-eyebrow brother, there are only two ways. One is to replace Lopez and replace him with Howard, who is more defensive.
But Howard's role on the court is only to protect the frame. He does not have the ability to shoot from mid- to long-range and cannot help the team to stretch space. Moreover, because of his age, his pace has also slowed down a lot, and he cannot do a blue-collar job like Capela.
Players use the pick-and-roll to catch the ball and eat the pie efficiently.
Therefore, Lakers head coach Walton can only choose the second method.
…
The Lakers attack, and at this time the player defending Wang Feng has been changed from Paul to Clarkson.
Paul was responsible for guarding Butler, while Redick deferred to guard Ingram.
As Wang Feng's teammate for three seasons, Clarkson knows Wang Feng relatively well, but understanding is understanding, and whether he can defend well is another matter.
Clarkson, who is 1.96 meters tall, is not much different in height compared to Wang Feng. At least compared to Paul, he is much better at defending pull-up jumpers.
"Don't you want Zion to guard me?" Wang Feng stood outside the three-point line, looked at Zion who had been guarding Kuzma, and shook his head slightly.
Last season's showdown seemed to scare Zion.
When he has the advantage in terms of strength, Zion can force the ball into the basket against Wang Feng's defense. However, in order to achieve this goal, he must spend a lot of energy to squeeze into the basket with his back. After several rounds,
, your physical fitness will be severely exhausted, and you will not be able to play in the subsequent games.
Zion didn't understand why Wang Feng's physical ability was so exaggerated. He could still play the whole game with full energy despite fierce physical confrontation with him.
But since that time, Zion has understood that he cannot go head-to-head with Wang Feng because his physical strength is too much. Whether on the offensive or defensive end, avoiding one-on-one duels with Wang Feng is the most efficient way to play.
Wang Feng holds the ball at the top of the arc, activates the master badge in the first step, and instantly passes his old teammate Clarkson in one step, taking the lead and rushing toward the basket.
When Wang Feng broke through with the ball, Big Eyebrow Brother and Zion both gave up their defensive players and rushed towards Wang Feng.
Double-teaming? The Pelicans still use double-teaming tactics when facing Wang Feng, who averaged double figures in assists per game last season?
Wang Feng was not in a hurry, he saw the right moment, and the basketball in his hand was instantly sent out, passing through the crotch of Brother Nongmei, and then sent to Lopez's hands.
Lopez, who was open, immediately took off and shot, about six feet away from the basket, and made the shot.
Wang Feng probably understands the Pelicans' defensive strategy against him.
It's a one-on-one defense with double-teaming. I would rather let Wang Feng pass the ball than let Wang Feng score by himself.
This kind of defensive strategy has been proven to be useless last season, but what can the Pelicans do? They can't think of a better tactic to curb Wang Feng's performance, so they can only use this method to pray for Wang Feng's teammates
Poor condition and poor performance.
The Pelicans attacked, and after Paul dribbled the ball past half court, his movements paused slightly.
He looked inside, and the person standing next to the thick-browed brother was no longer Lopez, but Wang Feng.
"Change defense?"
After thinking about it, Paul lobbed the ball to Brother Nongmei.
Wang Feng's defense is very strong, which is recognized by the league. From being a top outside defender at the beginning to being both inside and outside in the back, Wang Feng's inside defense ability is now also quite good.
But no matter how good his defense is, Wang Feng is only 2.01 meters tall after all, while Brother Big Eyebrow is 2.08 meters tall. As a top inside scorer, he still has an absolute advantage in height. There is no reason to avoid singles in this kind of mismatch.
Instead of fighting.
Brother Nongmei thought the same way, so as soon as he caught the ball, he immediately started to post up.
With his back against Wang Feng, Brother Nongmei tried to push inside twice, but found that it didn't move at all.
Wang Feng's 88 strength is at a disadvantage when facing Zion Williams, but when facing Brother Big Eyebrow, he will not be too weak because Brother Big Eyebrow himself is not a player who relies on his body to play.
Without being able to squeeze Wang Feng, Brother Big Eyebrow directly jumped up and shot with his back. Wang Feng took off with his opponent. Although there was an obvious difference in height and wingspan, relying on his excellent jumping and early judgment, he still successfully formed
Effective interference.
The defensive shock badge was activated, and Brother Big Eyebrow's shot was interfered with and missed the frame.
…
In the following rounds, when facing Wang Feng, the thick-eyebrow brother began to consciously reduce the number of shots and turned to Paul and Zion to attack. However, it is obvious that the Pelicans' scoring efficiency is much worse than that of the Lakers.
few.
In the first quarter of the game, the scores of the two teams were 36:28 respectively. The Lakers led by 8 points on the road. After entering the second quarter, Wang Feng and Butler teamed up to hit a 10:0 wave and took advantage of the situation before halftime.
The difference widened to 18 points.
The Pelicans are in trouble.
Brother Nongmei was guarded by Wang Feng, and his efficiency obviously began to decline. Although his shooting percentage could still be maintained at around 50%, every attack required a lot of effort, time and effort.
As for Paul and Zion, the shortcomings of their heights are very obvious, especially Zion Williams. Unlike Paul, who has been in the league for many years and has long been accustomed to playing small and big, Zion, who is 1.98 meters tall, plays
Law is mainly an inside player, and his style is more like Barkley or the smaller O'Neal than James.
However, this style of play can easily get blocked once you encounter a taller player.
Before this game, Wang Feng specifically told the Lakers insiders that if they were responsible for defending Zion during the game, they should not insist on competing with him under the basket. They could give in and wait until Zion takes off.
, and then perform defense such as blocking shots.
Nowadays, Zion is still a young man who thinks that having strength can solve all problems. Whether it is a layup or a dunk, there is no fake movement. It goes straight and it is easy to judge the trajectory of his movements.
In another time and space, Zion was blocked for 27 times in the first ten games of his second season, becoming the player with the most blocks in the first ten games of the new season in the past twenty years.
Although the time of the new season is different and the opponents are also different, Wang Feng feels that Zion's mentality and technical style of play will not change due to these off-court factors.
The result is indeed the case.
Seeing that the player guarding him was Kuzma, Zion didn't take it seriously at all. In his eyes, Kuzma, who averaged only about 12+5 per game last season, was a nobody.
But Zion, who easily squeezed away Kuzma and raised his hand for a layup, was met with a surprise.
Kuzma, who kept Wang Feng's tips in mind, took full advantage of his height and completed the block.
In the first half, this scene happened many times. Not only Kuzma, Ingram, and Wang Feng also received Zion's hat.
It was obvious that the opponent was a little anxious about being blocked and frequently hit the basket with the ball, which led to the score suddenly widening to such an extent.
"Zion, you are playing too anxiously. The opponent has obviously figured out your technical characteristics. In this case, you should come up with other ways to deal with it instead of just rushing in regardless!"
During halftime, Chris Paul said to Zion without any scruples.
He was very dissatisfied with Zion's performance in the first half, not because Zion was blocked frequently, but because Paul wanted to control the ball to stabilize the situation when the situation was not going well, but Zion did not listen to him.
of command.
Obviously, this proud man who has been praised to the sky by the league and Nike does not give face to Paul, the veteran who has a pivotal position in the Pelicans.
"Okay, let's analyze the problems in the first half after the game is over. What needs to be solved now is how to recover the point difference in the second half!"
Seeing that the atmosphere in the locker room was a bit off, the Pelicans head coach quickly clapped his hands and changed the subject.
At the same time, I sighed secretly in my heart.
The combination of the three giants is quite good, but if it is not decided who is the first core, the situation will not be as smooth as imagined.
The Big Three of the Pelicans look great. They have point guard Paul who can control the rhythm of the whole game, strong and impactful small forward Zion, and a big-browed interior lineman with comprehensive technical characteristics who can play both inside and outside.
But who among these three is the team's first core, at least for now, the Pelicans have not yet decided.
The thick-browed brother has been playing in the Pelicans for many years and has always been the core big brother. Naturally, it is impossible to give in to a young boy like Zion who has just entered the league.
Zion believes that when he comes to the league, he is destined to be shrouded in countless spotlights like James. The thick-eyebrow brother has been with the Pelicans for so many years, and his statistics are good enough, but the team has not played in the playoffs a few times.
, what qualifications do you have to be the boss?
As for Paul, he considers himself to be the veteran of the Pelicans. As the top point guard in the league, he has led the team for more than ten years and has never missed the playoffs. He should get the respect he deserves as a veteran when he returns to the Pelicans.
, and also shoulder the task of teaching two young people, Brother Nongmei and Zion, how to help the team win. You two young people should study hard and watch well. How can you still be disobedient?
The three of them now feel that no one is convinced by the other. Although the execution of tactics on the field seems to be quite tacit, in fact they are at odds with each other.
They all know that if this continues, the Pelicans will definitely not have the potential to win the championship. Fortunately, the regular season has just begun. In the long season, it will eventually be decided who will be the team's first core main force. The other two
An object of cooperation and assistance.
…
The atmosphere in the Lakers' locker room is much more relaxed than that of the Pelicans.
The players were talking and laughing, and head coach Walton also said in a calm tone, happily saying: "As long as we can stabilize the score in the second half, we can win this game. The Pelicans' Big Three are more lethal than me."
It was much smaller than I imagined. Before this game started, I thought our inside line was going to be completely attacked."
"Thanks to Wang Feng, you defended Brother Big Eyebrow very well. Not only did you effectively curb the opponent's scoring on the offensive end, but you also protected the rebounds and didn't allow the opponent to steal too much offense in the first half.