I was determined to be bad, but I went straight to the Basketball Hall of Fame

Chapter 274 Persevere (Part [-])
Curry's unexpected surgery missed most of the season, casting a shadow over the Clippers' prospects for this season.

Even though Curry is only in the second grade, his position in the team's tactics is already very important.

Last season, it was Curry's outstanding performance at the point guard position that allowed the Clippers to catch up with the last bus in the playoffs.

On the night that Curry underwent surgery and immediately signed a new contract, the Clippers played against the Dallas Mavericks at home.

The Mavericks can be described as strong this season. In addition to renewing Nowitzki's contract in the summer, Cuban strengthened Tyson Chandler at the center position, traded Caron Butler at the third position, and added Stephenson at the second position.

Coupled with Kidd, Heywood, Jason Terry and other players still staying on the team, the Mavericks' overall strength has improved to a higher level.

The Clippers, who lacked Curry, changed their starting lineup, with Kirk Hinrich replacing Curry in the starting lineup and partnering with Baron Davis in the backcourt.

Due to Curry's absence, the Clippers' offensive style changed and slowed down completely.

Started to make a fuss about the two inside points of Randolph and Gasol Jr.

Low position attack, high and low position coordination, scoring in and out, looking for open shot opportunities.

Fans discovered at this time that the Clippers with Curry and the Clippers without Curry are completely two teams of play.

No other Clippers player has such a big influence, and no one will change much without anyone.

Even Zach Randolph, even without Randolph, Xiaojia can still be a pivot in the low post.

Without Xiaojia, Milicic can go up. Although his support is not very good, he can do the cover.

Only Curry is unique and irreplaceable. He is a combination of Hamilton + Arenas on the court, which can inject a lot of vitality into the Clippers' offense and bring many possibilities.

The Clippers are missing an important point, and some of the fundamental problems of the team are still unresolved.

Defensive issues, for small guards like Jason Terry and Chris Paul, the Clippers are still not enough.

Not to mention Nowitzki, the 33-year-old is as good as ever this year, and it is difficult to limit.

Moreover, in this game, the Mavericks used Nowitzki's high pick-and-roll coordination extensively.

The repeated pick-and-rolls created mobile opportunities for players with good shots such as Terry, Kidd, and Butler on the outside.

This is different from the Portland Trail Blazers. The Trail Blazers are similar to the Pistons in this game. They take the traditional way of restraining the inside and creating space for the outside.

The Mavericks made less use of Nowitzki's low-post containment power, but took advantage of Nowitzki's range and used a lot of pick-and-rolls.

Compared with the traditional rigid way of combining inside and outside, this kind of tactical routine with a large number of pick-and-roll coordination is more diverse and flexible.

Terry, Kidd, and even Barea, who came off the bench, can control the ball independently after the pick-and-roll to make offensive choices.

Min Congda only watched half of the game from the sidelines, and he had a refreshing feeling that the Mavericks' offense has changed quite a lot from last season.

"This kind of offense is really difficult to defend. It is difficult to crack tactically. If you really want to crack it, you can only force it. It depends on the player's personal strength to suppress it, or..."

After solving Curry's worries, Min Congda watched the game a lot calmer and less emotional.

After all, the Mavericks have firmly suppressed the Clippers since the first quarter, leading the Clippers by 11 points at halftime.

It seems to be similar to the first game, but you can tell from the scene that it is different from the game against the Trail Blazers.

Sure enough, in the third quarter, the wave of counterattacks that the Clippers fans expected did not appear.

James Harden came off the bench to lead the second team to counterattack.

But in the face of the Mavericks' tacit zone defense, the Clippers really don't have many options.

The NBA has allowed zone defense for less than 10 years, and the number of games used is not much.

Because the zone defense requires a high degree of tacit understanding of the players, and the NBA has a three-second defense, which greatly weakens the power of the zone defense.

NBA teams have a relatively high turnover of personnel. It is very troublesome to practice zone defense in daily training.

The Mavericks' core lineup has been maintained for several years, and they are all experienced veterans.

So once the zone defense was used, the Clippers played very hard.

Mike Dunleavy missed Curry so much at this time.

If Curry is there, the Mavericks will suffer a lot from using zone defense for such a long time.

Sure enough, you only know the importance and preciousness when you lose it.

Although Harden's organizational skills are very good, breaking the zone defense requires a lot of experience and a very tacit cooperation with his teammates.

These two points are not enough for the young Harden, and without Curry as a partner, Harden always feels that something is missing.

When he was in the Thunder, Harden and Westbrook partnered. There is actually not much difference between having this partner.

Unlike Curry, both of them are young people with high golf quotients and smart players. They will learn from each other on the court, discuss with each other, and even compete with each other in some small details.

This kind of fun disappeared after just one and a half games, which made Harden very disappointed.

By the third quarter, the Clippers had trailed by 15 points, and Harden had decided to find a Los Angeles woman with a big butt to compete with each other after the game to resolve the troubles on the field.

The core players were absent, and the morale of others was low. In the end, the Clippers lost the game 100:91 at home with a 9-point disadvantage without much suspense.

Two-game losing streak this season.

After the game, the mood in the Clippers' locker room was low.

Losing, everyone is not very happy.

Dunleavy frowned and held an emergency meeting with the coaching staff.

They need to rearrange the team's tactics and personnel rotation.

According to Dunleavy's idea, they should shorten the rotation appropriately.

Return to the inside-based tactical strategy, strengthen defense, and improve team stability.

At this time, Min Congda rushed out and forcibly joined the meeting of the coaching staff.

Min Congda asked Deng Levy: "Mike, let me ask you, what is the purpose of our team's game?"

Lao Deng had to think about it, and Kim Hughes quickly answered: "Everyone has a ball to play!"

Min Congda pointed to Lao Jin, meaning that he was right and would answer quickly.

"Although we lost Curry, we must still insist on the strategy of everyone playing with the ball! Let more players appear on the field and make more tactics work. Train our newcomers and truly make everyone play with the ball , to create a harmonious playing environment.”

A lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.

Since last season, Min Congda has often emphasized the principle that everyone has the ball to play.

The coaching staff went from being disdainful at the beginning to being skeptical, and later felt that it was very reasonable.

Now, when Min Congda mentioned it a little bit, everyone's thinking has returned to "everyone has a ball to play".

Even Dunleavy, who was the most sober-minded, nodded and said, "Smart, you are right. We still have to stick to the previous strategy, continue to develop new players, and let everyone have a chance to play."

Min Congda smiled and said, "Old Deng, you have finally enlightened and can understand my thoughts."

(End of this chapter)