Before the game, experts predicted that the Clippers could defeat the Nuggets 4-3 to advance.
In other words, they are more optimistic about the Clippers, but they unanimously believe that the Nuggets can cause great trouble to the Clippers.
This is not to think too highly of the Nuggets, this year's Nuggets team is indeed impressive.
Easily defeating the Hornets 4-1 is enough to illustrate their strength.
The Clippers started with Lowry, Zhang Zhiyuan, Maggette, Thornton and Kaman.
The Nuggets start with Billups, Dengta Jones, Anthony, Kenyon Martin, and Nenela Sirio.
Except for the No. 2 position, the Nuggets dominate the other positions.
However, the disadvantage of No. 2 is that it is not on the same level.
The Nuggets also know this, but they can't help it.
Their team also has Jr. Smith and Kleiza who are relatively strong, but they must be placed in the substitute lineup to perform well. The defense will not get better if they are placed in the starting lineup, and they have to compete with the main force for the ball.
After comprehensive consideration, George Karl decided to try this regular lineup first.
If that doesn't work, consider changing the lineup.
At the beginning of the game, Zhang Zhiyuan used two attribute chains on Anthony and Billups, and the third one on Lowry.
This choice is cheaper for Lowry, and it is estimated that his value will increase after this series.
The two teams jumped the ball, Nene grabbed the ball, and the Nuggets attacked first.
Billups advanced with the ball, and Lowry stepped forward to harass him, but did not steal it easily.
Billups is a person who has won FMVP. Although he is not as famous as other FMVPs, his strength cannot be underestimated.
After halftime, Billups and Martin started a pick-and-roll.
Lowry and Thornton switched defenses, and Billups broke through Thornton, rushed to the basket and scored a layup.
Billups was not fast, but his rhythm was very good. He rushed in slowly, and everyone who tried to block him was in vain.
The Clippers attacked, and after halftime, the ball was in Zhang Zhiyuan's hands.
Zhang Zhiyuan broke through Deng Tai Jones, and Billups stepped forward to double-team.
He can only step forward. If Anthony double-teams, Maggette will have a chance.
Maggette is the Clippers' second-leading scorer, averaging 20 points per game. This point cannot be missed no matter what.
Martin is far away, and Nene has to guard the basket.
Therefore, Billups is the most suitable person to help.
As for Lowry, he can only let it go.
If Lowry breaks through, Billups can retreat in time, or Nene can make up the defense inside.
If Lowry catches the ball and shoots, then let him shoot.
Lowry's three-point shooting percentage is only 34%, and his two-point shooting percentage is only 40%. It's acceptable, but it's better than letting Zhang Zhiyuan take the shot.
This is the Nuggets' strategy, and Zhang Zhiyuan passed the ball to Lowry without hesitation.
Seeing that his strategy was successful, George Karl excitedly secretly shouted yes.
Lowry caught the ball and shot.
The ball goes in.
2 to 3.
George Karl's smile disappeared instantly.
"Accident, this is just a coincidence, he can't always be so accurate."
George Karl secretly reminded himself that he must not waver in his determination easily. This is a taboo for military strategists.
The Nuggets attacked, Billups and Martin continued to pick and roll, but this time Lowry followed quickly and did not give Billups a chance to make a small impact.
Billups threw the ball to Anthony, who had already seized the position. Anthony made a jump shot and scored.
The Nuggets also have many offensive points. Except for the 2nd position, they can score in other positions.
All they have to do is let the person with the best chance take action.
This has led to their team's offensive efficiency being very high. Their team's field goal percentage is as high as 48%, which is 3.5 percentage points higher than the league average of 44.5%.
If their team's three-point deficit wasn't a factor, their record would have been even better.
When the Clippers attack, they still play like before.
Lowry took a three-point shot but missed.
But no one in the Clippers paid much attention to it. To shoot three-pointers, you have to be prepared to miss consecutively.
During the transition from offense to defense, the Nuggets continued their old routine. This time the Clippers double-teamed Billups, but Martin passed the ball and scored a layup.
With three of three starts, the Nuggets got off to a dream start.
The commentators didn't know whether to praise the Nuggets for their great offense or complain about the Clippers' defense.
If you can't even solve a pick-and-roll, can you go far in the playoffs?
When the Clippers attack, it's Lowry who takes action.
Barkley couldn't help but complain: "Is this the plan to train Lowry to become the new core of the Clippers?"
Smith laughed and said, "Don't worry, the game has just begun. They can't keep playing like this."
Before he finished speaking, Lowry hit the target.
6 to 6.
"Come on, keep playing. If I don't throw myself to death, you will lose."
Lori shouted, but she felt quite uneasy in her heart.
Although Zhang Zhiyuan said that as long as there is an open space, it is not a problem to shoot 30 times in a game. But how dare Lowry take this seriously?
This is Zhang Zhiyuan's team. He, a small role player, made 30 shots. Is this a rebellion?
If the shot is successful, it's okay, but if the hit rate is low, the fans will still hate him.
Lowry tried to scare his opponent so Billups would stop double-teaming him.
Billups is also confused.
If he didn't help, Deng Tai Jones wouldn't be able to defend him at all.
As for helping, Lori seems to have a good touch.
Before he had time to think about it, Billups had already carried the ball past half court.
He observed the situation and then handed the ball to Anthony between Nene and Anthony.
Nene's position is also good, but Anthony is the boss of the team.
When the opportunities were almost there, he chose to give it to Anthony.
Anthony caught the ball and Thornton rushed over to help. Anthony had to take two steps back to avoid the double-team, and then took off and shot a jumper.
What was originally a good position, because he took two steps back, is further away from the basket. His shooting percentage in this position is not very good, only about 40%.
The ball goes in.
Anthony has good luck, but if he keeps playing like this, he will definitely lose today's game.
The ball was scored, the problem was not exposed, and George Karl remained silent.
The game continues.
This time Billups hesitated and failed to double-team in time. As a result, Zhang Zhiyuan passed Deng Tai Jones in one step and went to the basket for a dunk. Nene immediately avoided it when he saw this.
If you can't stop it, there's no need to commit any more fouls.
"Double-team him and be firm."
George Karl yelled dissatisfied off the court. He felt that Billups, the ball monster, did not firmly implement his defensive strategy, and Billups couldn't express his pain.
Lowry has already scored two three-pointers, can this really be missed?
The Nuggets attacked and Anthony missed a mid-range jumper.
Billups was helpless. They obviously had better options, but Anthony was used to playing like this.
Although Anthony can score a lot of points, his shooting percentage is the lowest among the main players.
The Clippers counterattacked, Zhang Zhiyuan broke through and passed the ball to Lowry, and Nene rushed from the inside to cover.
It's a pity that Lowry is not a fixed-point shooter. His breakthrough is better than his shooting.
With the addition of Zhang Zhiyuan's attributes, Lowry was in excellent condition. He started directly, passed by Nene, rushed to the basket and jumped directly for a dunk.
"Good guy, what's going on? Lowry played like an All-Star today. Maggette really isn't worried about the team's status?"
Barkley complained.
In just a short time, Lowry has already scored 8 points on 3-of-4 shooting, the highest score in the game.
George Karl directly called a timeout, and the Clippers' choice to let Lowry play the main offense disrupted his plan.
"Anthony goes to help defend, and Lowry is responsible for keeping an eye on Lowry. I don't want to see that kid score anymore, and I think you don't want to see a news post after the game that says 'The Nuggets were defeated by the Clippers.'"
George Karl rearranged his deployment.
Back on the court, the Nuggets' offense failed.
The tactic worked, but Martin failed to seize the opportunity.
It's a bit of a pity, but it's normal.
Even though he is better than Kobe, his field goal percentage is less than 50%, which means he misses more often than he hits.
Even Zhang Zhiyuan only had a 52% hit rate and spent almost half of his time striking.
The Clippers attacked, Zhang Zhiyuan continued to break through, and Anthony went to double-team.
Zhang Zhiyuan passed the ball to Maggette, and the pass was a little slow. After Maggette received the ball, the Nuggets had already reacted, and Martin made up for him.
Maggette made a hard move, and his posture was not fully adjusted when he went for a layup, so he missed the shot.
At first glance, it seems that George Karl's defensive strategy is working.
In fact, this was just because Zhang Zhiyuan passed the ball a little slower and missed a good opportunity.
Of course, Zhang Zhiyuan cannot be blamed for this. He was originally planning to pass Lowry, but who knew that the Nuggets suddenly changed their strategy.
A temporary response is definitely not as fast as preparation.
It was just a strike, not a big problem, the Clippers retreated quickly.
The Nuggets counterattacked, and Billups suddenly started to try to sneak attack, which is his usual trick.
But this time, Lowry reacted very quickly and stood in front of him, preventing him from breaking through.
Billups was slightly surprised and quickly stopped and reorganized.
This is also one of his strengths. If Iverson failed to break through, it would most likely be a forced shot or a mistake.
Billups's breakthrough is very slow. After being blocked, he can brake in time and carry out secondary organization.
He is a point guard who holds the ball for a long time, and plays longer than Anthony, but his turnovers are lower than Anthony.
This statistic of turnovers is easily overlooked by fans, but it is extremely important.
One mistake could be a 4-point difference.
Billups then passed the ball to Nene, who turned around Kaman and scored a layup.
During the transition between offense and defense, after Zhang Zhiyuan broke through Dengtai Jones, he made up the defense inside and caused Zhang Zhiyuan an offensive foul.
This makes Nuggets fans extremely happy. After all, Zhang Zhiyuan's failure is very rare, and every time it seems so precious.
In the next round, Zhang Zhiyuan completed his revenge and almost completed the dunk while riding Nene.
Then George Karl replaced Dengta Jones. This guy completely disappointed George Karl and was really useless.
It's understandable that you can't guard against it, but it's outrageous that you can't guard against it every round. Just give it a try and hit it once.
This kind of person who has no strength and no luck is simply wasting the efforts of other players.
Their offense was obviously good, but the score was still lagging behind, which was very outrageous.
Jr. Smith came on the court, but he was somewhat reluctant. He preferred to wait until Zhang Zhiyuan came off the court before coming on.
Facing Zhang Zhiyuan, the pressure is huge.
The Nuggets attacked, and Smith ran wildly, trying to seduce Zhang Zhiyuan and consume Zhang Zhiyuan's physical strength.
Compared with the current Zhang Zhiyuan, his physical strength is a bit advantageous.
It's a pity that Zhang Zhiyuan ignored him at all and just moved inside the three-point line.
Smith takes three steps, and he only needs to take one step.
If Smith throws a three-pointer, Zhang Zhiyuan doesn't care. He wants to see whether this nerve knife can hit the Clippers or the Nuggets themselves today.
Zhang Zhiyuan thought too much. With Anthony, Billups, Nene, and Martin all on the court, how could Smith get the right to take the shot so easily.
The ball came to Anthony's hands, and Anthony hit a mid-range jumper.
In the transition between offense and defense, it turned out that it was not Dengtai Jones who was bad, but Zhang Zhiyuan was too good, and Smith was also unable to guard against it, and was also passed over.
Although Zhang Zhiyuan may have put in a little more effort, fans can't see such details.
In their eyes, Smith was also treated badly.
Zhang Zhiyuan burst into the paint and reluctantly committed a foul.
Stepping to the free throw line, a miracle didn't happen and he made two free throws.
Ranked first in the league with a free throw shooting rate of 95.6%, free throws are equal to giving away points.
During the transition between offense and defense, Billups threw the ball to Anthony and cut to the basket. Anthony passed the ball back and Billups caught the ball for a layup. Kaman had no choice but to foul.
Billups stepped to the free throw line, and his free throw percentage was as high as 92.4%, third in the league. Free throws are almost equal to picking up points.
Made both free throws.
The Clippers attacked, but Zhang Zhiyuan didn't rush anymore. He had to rest for one or two rounds.
Although he hasn't had many strong attacks before, he has also used up a lot of physical strength. He needs to pay attention to the control of physical strength and cannot be too aggressive in the first quarter, otherwise he will not have enough strength later.
Lowry broke through, but unfortunately he couldn't take advantage of Billups' strength, let alone attract the defense. The Nuggets are very confident in Billups' defense.
Helpless, Lowry could only pass the ball to his teammates.
Although he scored 8 points quickly with consecutive shots and scores before, he is now an ordinary starter. It is very difficult to win FMVP alone.
Maggette catches the ball, and he has no advantage in hitting Anthony.
However, he still chose to break out, after all, the team needed him to stand up at this time.
Halfway through the rush, Maggette used his excellent experience in drawing fouls to cause a foul on Anthony's hand.
Anthony jumped up and explained to the referee, but the referee ignored him.
Maggette made two free throws.
The game continued, with both sides fighting back and forth.
However, overall, the Clippers still have some advantages. The Nuggets cannot handle Zhang Zhiyuan's point, resulting in the Clippers' offensive efficiency being too high.
Of course, this is also a problem for every other team when facing the Clippers.
After the first quarter, 33 to 37, the Clippers led by 4 points, which was not much.
Among the 37 points, Lowry scored 12 points and Zhang Zhiyuan scored 14 points.
Lowry's 12 points surprised everyone and were the key to the Clippers' lead.
The Grizzlies fans who were watching the game were already eager to tear down the team's manager's office and give the Grizzlies coach a slap in the face.
What the hell kind of crazy deal is this? Why would you trade such a strong general for a role player with potential injury risks?
