activa-t Chapter 169 169. The Postponed Christmas War (for Subscription)
Chapter 169 169. The Postponed Christmas War (for Subscription)
Chapter 169 169. The Postponed Christmas War (for Subscription)
Satisfied with food and drink, Luo Xi continued to tease little Noah, it could be seen that Luo Xi really liked children.
Nina put the Longevity Lock given by Luo Xi on Little Nuoah's neck. The silver-white lock and the jet-black skin complement each other, which is inexplicably beautiful.
"Be sure to take it off for him to sleep at night, it's dangerous to wear it on your body." Li Cha reminded Westbrook.
"I didn't want to wear it for him at first, it was to save face for Roxi." Westbrook choked Li Cha back with a word.
so awkward!
"Or, let's watch the ball. Is this year's Christmas game a battle of bravery?" Li Cha switched the TV to ESPN with ease.
No basketball game!
Li Cha looked at the time, it was almost 9:[-] p.m., it was impossible that the game hadn't started.
"You don't know?" Westbrook asked in surprise.
"Know what?" Li Cha was even more surprised.
"Some teams hardly spend the holidays with their families because they have to play the Christmas game all year round. Some players proposed to adjust the time of the Christmas game, so the league has changed the rules since this year. There is no game on Christmas Eve, and it is changed to Christmas Day."
"Ah?" When did it happen?I don't know at all.
In other words, tomorrow's game against the Rockets is also one of the Christmas games?
Westbrook seemed to see what Li Cha was thinking, and nodded.
The league thinks highly of the Thunder so much, just because of signings during the offseason?But the Christmas game is a focus battle. If it is arranged against the Warriors, it will be a preview of the Western Conference Finals and the real recognition of strength.
And the Rockets... the bigger possibility should be the MVP battle.
In the last season of last season, the gap between Westbrook and Harden was very small, and the winner was decided at the last minute, so the two teams were arranged to compete at Christmas, and it must be because of this.
It wasn't until Little Nuoah was about to go to bed that Luo Xi couldn't bear to part with Li Cha and went home.
On December 12, the first Christmas game after the league changed, the Thunder played at home against the Rockets.
The Rockets made a series of large-scale heavyweight transactions during the offseason, in exchange for Paul and Anthony to form the Big Three, and achieved surprising results in the first half of the season.
And after having his own very powerful helper, Harden did not come to the Thunder for halftime contact before the game.
Same as preseason.
But even if Harden didn't come over, George's eyes were still weird, as if he was about to fight Harden to the death.
The game started, players from both sides came on the field, and the Thunder played Adams, Grant, George, Richard, and Westbrook.
The Rockets' players are Capela, Anthony, Ariza, Harden and Paul.
Both teams played with all their strength, and those who had minor injuries did not take a rest, because the result of this game would affect the ranking. The difference between the two teams was only 0.5 wins, and this game received a lot of media attention.
The Rockets and Thunder will definitely be opponents in the playoffs if both teams want to compete for the championship.Both teams want to get some feel from each other first.
On the same day, the Cavaliers and Warriors also had a rehearsal for the Finals. Except for Irving who replaced Thomas Jr., the core lineups of the two teams remained intact. Before knowing the true strength of each team, it is reasonable to arrange the two defending division champions as a rehearsal for the finals.
There are still three games between the Knicks and the digital people, the Lakers and the Timberwolves, and the Celtics and the Wizards. This is only because of the needs of a highly popular and high market value team to satisfy enough fans.
Because of the existence of these games, the game between the Thunder and the Rockets did not have a particularly large number of fans. It is possible that most of the fans who watched the live broadcast of the game were Chinese fans.
The battle of the century between Li Cha and Zhou Qi!
It only exists in the beautiful imagination of the Chinese media.
Zhou Qi has been sent to the Development League for exercise again.
Since signing with the Rockets, Zhou Qi has played 12 times so far. This is the second time he has been transferred to the Development League.
The average is less than 3 points per game, and the total playing time is less than 20 minutes. They are all the last appearances in garbage time. It cannot be said that Zhou Qi played for the Rockets at all, because it is not representative.
This is also caused by the discrepancy between Zhou Qi and the Rockets' systems.
The Rockets' magic ball theory requires players with outstanding three-point ability and fast movement speed, so as to maximize the offensive efficiency and allow unlimited defense changes in defense.
So a player like Zhou Qi who is not fast has no chance.
Especially the presence of Capela and Anthony at the basket has compressed the space even more, and Zhou Qi has little chance to play.
The imagined Harden or Paul feeding never came to pass.
Back to the game.
The Thunder still played a tough game at the beginning. George fired continuously from the outside and hit a three-pointer. Westbrook can also break into the inside and make a pass or score himself.
Li Cha didn't do much offensively, he made only one of two shots.
The main reason was that Donovan wanted to play defensively first, and Li Cha was replaced by Robertson after only 6 minutes to defend Harden.
If Harden has a touch, the game will be difficult to play, and the Thunder, who are familiar with Harden, can always find a way to limit him.
But the Rockets also have a way to deal with it. Anthony has no special way to limit the Thunder singles inside. Paul also sorted out the team's offense in an orderly manner.
The Rockets led by 31 points at 29:2.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Li Cha led the team again, and Anthony stayed on the court under the Rockets' rotation.
It was like a PK between two singles players, and it brought the game back to ten years ago, attacking slowly one goal at a time.
Anthony thought highly of himself, and he didn't think that Li Cha could be regarded as a player who could wrestle with him, let alone reach the level of equal eye contact.
Anthony, known as the "offensive kaleidoscope", showed off his abilities in the Thunder's interior, enjoying the fun of attacking and scoring.
Li Cha is just the opposite. He works hard and tries to play the ball as simple as possible. If he can score with one action, he will never do a second one. If he can make a strong attack, he will attack hard.
With the support that Li Cha showed in the game against the Nuggets a week ago, the teammates also trusted and supported Li Cha more and more, following Li Cha's rhythm to attack, the whole team seemed coordinated and integrated.
Whether it's running, passing or shooting for rebounds in the offense, the team as a whole is playing the game.
In contrast to the Rockets, Anthony held the ball and others basically stood and watched, because regardless of whether he scored or not, Anthony rarely passed the ball out, and the team's offense did not seem smooth.
The two teams continued to alternate scoring evenly.
But D'Antoni has a problem that many people criticize.
8-man rotation, or even 7-man rotation.
In human terms, he likes to use people to death.
There are 15 players in a team, not to mention all of them have to play, but at least there should be substitutes in each position to let the starters rest, and the rotation of 10 players is the normal practice.
Sometimes combo guards or swingmen can replace two positions, and in order to ensure the playing time of substitute players, there will be coaches playing 9-man rotation.
If you enter the garbage time, you need to give the players practice and feel the atmosphere of the game, or if some rotation players are not in good condition, they will be drawn from the water dispenser administrator to enter the rotation, then it may be a rotation of about 12 people.
But D'Antoni is not like this. What he is best at is the 8-man rotation, which means that there are at least 2 starters on the field at any time, and the playing time of the starters often exceeds 39 minutes, and the players basically have to play multiple positions.
In this way, for the coach, it can reduce the energy of player management and increase the thinking of tactics and situation, but it puts a lot of pressure on the players. Whether the body can bear it is on the one hand, and on the other hand, it must be dual-capable or above.
For example, Anthony sometimes has to go to the fifth position.
Anthony's height is already more difficult to play at the [-]th position, but it is not a disadvantage to have a relatively large weight. Once he reaches the [-]th position, the team facing the small ball tactics is fine. As long as the team has a normal center, they can beat the Rockets inside.
After the first half of the season, Anthony's scoring average has dropped a lot compared to before, and he has suffered enough.
Harden's possession of the ball is basically in Harden's hands, Paul can sort it out a little while on the court, and Anthony can get some possessions.
So before Harden came on, Anthony had to play when he had the ball, and worked hard to collect data for his next contract.
Li Cha's opponent is a very unknown player, Brian Te Webber. The Rockets' Big Three, Ariza, and Capela take up too much salary, and the boss is a stingy guy, so the role players are all cheap players found in the free market.
Li Cha can score easily whether he is playing with his back or facing the basket. Once he encounters a double team, he can quickly divide the ball. In the end, he can only let Ariza defend to stop Li Cha's attack.
But it also left Abrines open, and Felton took the opportunity to grab several assists.
When Harden came on the field, the Rockets fell behind by 2 points.
Li Cha has contributed a lot to this.
Westbrook and George also played again.
The two sides continued to launch fierce offense and defense, and were evenly matched again.
In the first half, relying on the score scored by Li Cha leading the team alone, the Thunder went ahead by 2 points and entered the intermission.
哈登8投2中拿到13分5篮板7助攻，依靠罚球得到8分……
Paul scored 8 points and 3 assists. Paul's assists were basically swallowed by Harden. The pass to Harden either missed the shot or Harden passed it again...
Anthony also had 10 points and 4 rebounds.
On the Thunder side, Westbrook continued to focus on organization and led the team to move closer to the traditional point guard style of play, scoring 10 points and 4 assists on 10 of 6 shots.
George scored 5 points on 3-of-9 three-pointers.
Li Cha's excellent performance in the first half of the second quarter attracted Westbrook's pass. In the second quarter, he made 8 of 6 shots in a single quarter and scored a total of 2 points with 18 points in the first quarter.
With the Big Three on both sides 31:37, the Thunder took the initiative.
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(End of this chapter)