Chapter 549 Only 3 games away from 10 consecutive wins
After a night of fighting, the Trail Blazers defeated the Clippers 101:93, winning 6 consecutive games and continuing their winning streak at the start of the new season.
Judging from the configuration of each position, the Los Angeles Clippers are definitely a team with excellent offense and defense in the league. If you really have to pick a flaw, it is that their overall defense on the court is weak and far inferior to the Trail Blazers.
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Chris Paul at the 1st position is a great defender and has been selected to the All-Defensive Team all year round. But he can't stand up to the Clippers' JJ Redick at the 2nd position and Jamal Crawford at the 3rd position. They are all weak defensively.
In addition, Griffin at the fourth position has average defense and often needs DeAndre Jordan to wipe his butt.
In comparison, among the Trail Blazers' lineup, even Lillard, who has the worst defense, can already be regarded as qualified for his position in the league in terms of defensive ability.
After all, this Lillard is not the Lillard of the original time and space. In the original time and space, if the Trail Blazers wanted to win, they had to rely on Lillard to dominate the offensive end.
As a rookie, even if he is older, as an ordinary fan watching the game, it is difficult for you to ask Lillard to take into account the offensive end while also being good at defense.
Not everyone is like Jordan. When he first entered the league, he was at full level and integrated offense and defense.
Therefore, when Lillard no longer needs an all-around attack on the court and has ample time and energy to focus on defense, it is not that difficult for him to practice defense above a qualified level.
The same goes for Aldridge.
With Wang Zelin, Aldrich's defensive ability is stronger than his own in the original time and space, and he can't even talk about being a defensive colander.
In a one-to-one dialogue between the strongest lineups of both sides, except for Paul at the first position, the Clippers are basically weaker than the Trail Blazers in other positions.
Without the interference of additional uncontrollable factors such as off-court factors, player explosions, etc., it is completely reasonable for the Clippers to lose this game.
After all, it is simply unrealistic to rely on one Paul and two colanders to raise the Clippers' defensive height on the perimeter.
Speaking of which, since Paul entered the league, he has received 4 first-defense and 1 second-defense honors in the selection of the best defensive team. It is no exaggeration to say that he is a gatekeeper in perimeter defense.
However, in front of this so-called "outside defense gate", further positioning is needed, that is, the outside defense battle at the 1st position.
If we really talk about his defensive influence on the court, Paul, who has been selected to the All-Defensive Team many times, is actually not far behind Wang Zelin, who has been selected to the first defense and the second defense once in his career.
This is not nonsense.
After all, basketball is always a sport for adults.
A player's defensive influence on the field increases with his position. Most of the time, a team's defensive system is supported by the players in positions 4 and 5, and the remaining players in positions 1, 2, and 3
, they just need to guard their opponent well.
This is one of the reasons why in the NBA's half-century history, more than half of the No. 1 picks in so many drafts have been inside players.
Of course, defensive masters like Air Jordan and Glove Payton who can compete with players in other positions across positions need to be discussed separately.
But what you need to know is that Paul's external defense ability is definitely not as good as that of his predecessor Payton. Even Payton cannot have the unimaginable defensive influence on the court like many inside players, let alone Paul!
After watching this game, the Clippers feel like a weakened version of the Trail Blazers in all aspects.
If you say they are strong, then they are definitely strong.
But if they are really strong enough to win the championship, they seem to be just a little bit short.
On the court, except for Paul who was able to perform stably, with 2 of 4 three-pointers, and 21 points, 10 assists and 3 steals on 7 of 15 overall, the other Clippers players can basically be said to have performed abnormally.
Jordan made 1 of 6 shots from the field and only scored 5 points from free throws. Griffin was okay, shooting 7 of 17 from the field and scoring 16 points and 8 rebounds on the team second only to Paul.
But don't forget, he is an inside post, but his shooting percentage is actually not as good as that of Paul on the outside. You can imagine how poor his efficiency was tonight.
This game directly opened up the current predicament the Clippers are facing!
The Clippers are an absolutely strong playoff team, but while they are strong, they also reveal a hint of mediocrity.
Because the Clippers lack a hot spot that can provide stable firepower regardless of the opponent's defense at critical moments.
At the end of the first half, 54:50, the Clippers were only 4 points behind the Trail Blazers. As long as they could score two more goals in the second half, they might be able to tie the score. If they scored two more three-pointers, they might be able to come back.
If there had been two more counterattacks, the outcome might have been different.
However, the reality is difficult to achieve. Paul has experienced it, Griffin has tried his best, the substitutes have also tried their best, and the defensive end has also worked hard to defend.
But sometimes there are just one or two balls missing, that last shiver...
I just can’t get hard!
The key is that this problem has been bothering the Clippers for more than a year, and it is a problem that has not been solved for several years.
And what are they going to do next?
On the bench, Paul looked lonely at the Trail Blazers, unable to find any solution.
"...Hurry up and consider changing teams!"
Suddenly, he remembered what Wang Zelin said at the beginning of the game.
Could it be that he really wants to consider changing teams?
At this moment, Chris Paul felt a trace of regret about the five-year, $107 million contract he had just signed with the Clippers last season.
Perhaps, this contract was really signed too early and too long, so that the bond between himself and the Clippers team unknowingly became deeper and deeper.
…
…
Talk about the other side.
Wang Zelin didn't know about Paul's complicated mood after the game after losing, and of course he had no interest in knowing about it.
After winning the away game in Los Angeles, on the night of the 8th, after Wang Zelin finished the press conference, he flew back to Portland with the team before he had time to celebrate.
In this game, Wang Zelin played 31 minutes...
This should be the longest game he has played in the new season.
Of course, the data gained is also remarkable.
He made 13 of 20 shots and 7 of 7 free throws, scoring a game-high 33 points, 17 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks.
There is no doubt that he was elected the best player of the game!
On the plane, he skipped tomorrow's back-to-back opponent, the Denver Nuggets, and took a look at the upcoming schedule.
After the Nuggets, they will face the Hornets at home and go to Denver to compete with the Nuggets on the road.
And then, it’s three consecutive home games!
Let me put it bluntly, during this period after the start of this season, the Trail Blazers' schedule can be described as juice.
Of course, he also understands that he is happy now. After the All-Star Game, there will definitely be a devilish schedule waiting for them.