Build a Dream Dynasty

Chapter 793: A Good Start

On April 11th, the NBA played four games first. The Clippers easily defeated the Pelicans 105 to 85. Durant clocked in three quarters and scored 32 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Durant has performed really well this season. Even completely suppressed Curry in terms of personal data. But there is no way. The Nets' 74 wins this season are too dazzling. Durant can only hope that he can win an honor for himself in the playoffs.

There has never been an era where the third man in the NBA has no MVP or FMVP in his career, not to mention Durant doesn't think he is just the third!

The Jazz defeated the Kings 101 to 94. Although Cousins ​​performed well, he scored 28+16 in the game and completely suppressed Gobert. But helplessly, the team couldn't defend the Jazz from outside. Clay and Hayward scored 52 points together, accounting for more than half of the team's total points. Speaking of which, they are indeed not super giants, but there are people who show super giant performances in every game, which is enough to cause headaches for opponents.

The 76ers beat the Celtics 123:94. The 76ers scored the most points in this game. It was not James, Harden, or Gasol, but Grant, who the team chose to right. The second-year power forward scored 31 points from inside and outside the game. Gentry was caught off guard.

The Cavaliers defeated the Raptors 109:98. The Raptors have died in exactly the same way for so many years. In the playoffs, you can always believe that garbage brothers are garbage. Ujiri on the sidelines looked at the situation on the court and seemed very dissatisfied.

The game on the first day of the playoffs can only be said to be uneventful, and the team with the highest ranking wins, it seems that the Jazz have encountered a little bit of trouble.

On the 12th, the Nets made their home debut.

The team's starting lineup has not changed at all. The fully adjusted Nets do not seem to encounter much difficulty facing the Hornets. If there is suspense, it is only a question of how long the Hornets can resist.

This is the second time the Hornets have played in the playoffs in recent years, but it seems that there is a high probability that it will be another dead end. In terms of style of play, the Hornets are almost the Nets' favorite opponent. The two insiders, Caudi Zeller and Kaminsky, are both insiders with solid basic skills, high tactical literacy, and average athletic ability. The big defense and the junior don't know how to die in the face of Curry. McGeeji, who defends best on the flanks, is better at blocking opponents with his long arms and legs, and Leonard, who is in a tank, is basically helpless. On the offensive end, the team relies heavily on Batum's organization and Walker's strong play. The main reason for this team's ability to enter the playoffs is that the Eastern Conference as a whole is too weak, and the Wizards are playing tricks.

The Hornets traded for Batum this season, which has greatly improved the team. Batum's French Pippen nickname is not wrong at all. As a wing player, his passing organization, offensive connection, including defensive marking are very good. It is very good to match with a breakthrough guard like Walker. . The tactical quality of the entire Hornets team has been brought up by him.

Porzingis won with a jump ball and the Nets went first.

Leonard holds the ball frame in the middle, Chasing Dream Green pulls out to pick and roll, and Porzingis provides an off-ball screen for Curry on the left.

Leonard used the pick-and-roll to get rid of McGee with the ball, broke through from the right, Kaminsky switched defenses in time, Leonard forced a layup and missed under the interference, and Batum retreated to get the ball.

The Hornets attacked and focused on the inside. Facing Green, who was a head shorter than himself, Kaminsky sat down twice and made a forced shot. The Hornets took the lead.

The Nets attacked, and Curry took the ball to the frontcourt. Facing Walker, he suddenly made a three-pointer from the left side and missed it with a little force.

The Hornets took the initiative to slow down the pace and did not play fast with the Nets. The players pulled away, and Zeller stepped forward to pick and roll with Walker, attracting Porzingis to switch defenses. Walker broke through and passed to McGee in the low post on the right. Ji, the latter followed suit, trying to use his height and wingspan to put the ball into the basket, but overestimated his touch, and Porzingis grabbed the rebound.

Porzingis made a pass to Curry, and the latter advanced quickly. He took it to the frontcourt to see Leonard wanted the ball but failed to pass, and suddenly there was another pull in the middle. This time his shot rhythm was very good and he hit a three-pointer. 3 to 2.

The Hornets attacked and almost used up 24 seconds. Walker missed a jumper under the interference of Green. Porzingis grabbed the rebound and launched a fast break again. Although Leonard's breakthrough in the fast break was eventually cut off by McGee, it disrupted the Hornets' formation. JR easily picked up the miss and scored a layup. 5:2.

The Hornets attacked. Facing the Nets' well-structured defense, Walker forced a breakthrough and got into the crowd. McGeeji had no good chance to be followed closely by Leonard, so he had to pass Batum again.

Batum held the ball and signaled Zeller to step forward to play a pick-and-roll. A fake pick-and-roll swayed JR and missed a mid-range shot. Curry grabbed a rebound, but was fouled by Batum at the first moment when he tried to launch a fast break .

After the opening, the Hornets had a problem on the offensive end. The Nets hadn't exerted their strength yet.

In the arrangement of this game, Stevens placed more of the team's offensive dominance on Leonard. This move is to reduce the loss on Curry. The greater the pressure on this sharp knife. The second is to exercise Leonard more without any danger.

The timeout is expensive, and the performance of the Hornets has improved, especially Walker has recovered his offensive state. After a season of offense, the technique of attacking the frame has improved a lot. If the Nets want to talk about their weaknesses, they are a little bit taboo about this type of point guard.

33 to 27, the Nets led by 6 points in the first quarter.

But at the beginning of the second quarter, the Nets began to crush the lineup. Stevens put Curry on the field and brought Royce O'Neal, Joe Harris, Covington, and Nurkic to bully the Hornets' substitutes. line-up. Curry, who played in the first quarter, scored five points in a row, and then assisted Joe Harris and Covington to hit three-pointers after attracting double-teams. The team had a wave of 11:2 attacks. In 3 minutes, the point difference was widened to 15 points.

In the Nets team, the two most stressed people are Joe Harris and Royce O'Neal who have squeezed out Pierce's quota, and they are also the two who perform the most hard work on the court. Although O'Neal didn't perform much on the offensive end, he showed his value on the defensive end. This season, he started from an undrafted pick and reached the playoffs. He was ranked ahead of Carter, which also shows that his progress has been affirmed by head coach Stevens. If JR is renewed at an appropriate price, Royce O'Neal's status in the team is likely to be improved. And Joe Harris is regarded by many people as a player of the Novak type due to his two characteristics of precise three-pointers and poor defense. He is also the player who has been attacked the most in the Pierce mine explosion incident. Including Jiang Mingliang also feels that he is not necessarily suitable for the playoffs now. After all, except for a few white shooters, most of the performances in the playoffs will be greatly reduced. It's just that Stevens chose him, and Jiang Mingliang trusted Stevens unconditionally.

After being able to perform in the playoffs, he hit two consecutive three-pointers in the second quarter, helping the team further expand its advantage.

The Hornets replaced the main force in time, trying to reverse the situation of being passively beaten, and achieved certain results for a time. However, after six minutes, the main force of the Nets returned, Leonard and Porzingis dominated the game inside and outside. The Hornets were completely overwhelmed.

At halftime, the Nets led by 24 points.

Although Curry didn't play too hard, he still scored 15 points and 4 assists, made 6 of 9 shots and 3 of 4 three-pointers. He was the team's number one contributor in the first half.

At the beginning of the second half, Curry continued to perform eye-catchingly, rushing to shoot a three-pointer, widening the point difference to 27 points.

Leading by a large score, Stevens replaced the main force, saying that it was to give the substitute lineup more opportunities to perform and let the young people get exercise. In fact, it was to give the main force a rest.

Throughout the second half, Curry only played four minutes at the beginning of the third quarter, and then was replaced after a minute of debut in the fourth quarter. He played 25 minutes in the game and scored 23 points and 7 assists. While eating popcorn and drinking drinks, I watched my teammates reap the game.

At 118:94, the Nets maintained a 20+ lead until the last second of the game and got off to a good start.

Five of the team scored in double figures. In addition to Curry, Leonard, Porzingis, Joe Harris, and Nurkic all contributed double-digit scores. But I have to criticize Joe Harris. In the case of 3 of 3 three-pointers in the first half, he made 1 of 6 shots in the second half. Without the core players to help contain the defense, the decline in performance is still very obvious.

At the press conference, Hornets coach Clifford directly admitted the gap between the two sides: "This Nets may be the strongest team in history, and their lineup is very luxurious. In the next game, we I will try to create some troubles for my opponents and prevent them from advancing easily."

Clifford's words seem to have some "surrender" tone, there is no way, the gap between the lineups of the two sides is too obvious. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Curry did not play hard today, but the gap between the two sides is still like a natural moat, which cannot be bridged.

Clifford is a good coach. At least leading this Hornets into the playoffs shows his coaching ability, and the responsibility for the loss is indeed not on him.

Fortunately, now is not the Hornets' championship window, or in other words, there is no championship window in the history of the Hornets. Their more realistic approach is to make good use of the opportunity of the skyrocketing salary space in the summer to make suitable signings, at least to stabilize themselves in the ranks of the playoff teams, and then think about waiting for the Nets to disintegrate. past.

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