The Strongest Bishop in the NBA

Although the combination of Harden, Cousins, Rondo and Gay does not have a perfect chemical reaction, but relying on their respective personal strengths, they can also occupy a place in the declining West. However, when they faced the Bucks in the East, the situation was different.

Not to mention anything else, Rondo, who is 1.85 meters tall, already has a big head when he sees Antetokounmpo, who is 2.11 meters tall. How to prevent this thing?

Of course, the Kings will not really let Antetokounmpo bully Rondo wantonly. Small forward Rudy Gay switched defenses with Rondo, but this is just a drop in the bucket.

Gay is not an excellent defender. Although he has excellent physical fitness and is at the first-class level among small forwards, he is by no means qualified in terms of defensive attitude or defensive awareness. Stronger than his Antetokounmpo in terms of height, weight, and strength?

More importantly, Antetokounmpo is not the strongest man in the Bucks, what should Kevin Durant do?

The king's defense against Durant is Cauley Stein, a first-year rookie who averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds per game this season.

Wang Xiao has a little impression of this player. In the future, he will average 12.8 points and 7 rebounds per game at his peak.

Cauley Stein's defense is better than offense. As a center with a height of 2.13 meters, he has fast feet, can change guards when facing pick-and-rolls, and has excellent frame protection ability.

In this Kings team, he is the blue-collar inside who does the dirty work.

Letting him defend Durant is the most suitable arrangement the Kings can make, but it is still far from enough for Durant.

Playing in the league for 9 years, Durant has faced all kinds of strong defenders. No matter how active the defense is, a first-year rookie cannot pose a threat to him.

As soon as the game started, the Bucks took over the offensive initiative.

The defensive strength of the Kings is difficult to limit the scoring of the Bucks. Durant, Antetokounmpo and others continue to rely on their personal ability to attack and score.

But the ace Harden of the Kings has encountered a little trouble.

Thompson and Harden are also old acquaintances. Although Thompson only came to the Wizards after Harden was traded by Wang Xiao, as a shooting guard over the years, he and Harden have played against each other not once or twice.

Thompson has to admit that Harden is a very strong player with a cunning overall technique and can't prevent death one-on-one, so Thompson simply let go of the defensive distance and let Harden shoot from the outside .

In recent years, three-pointers have become one of Harden's main scoring methods, but his three-pointer shooting rate has not been stable, hovering around 35%.

For comparison, James' average three-point shooting percentage in the regular season this season is 36%, while the Bucks' veteran Oladipo's shooting percentage is also close to this value.

Of course, the number of three-point shots per game between Oladipo and Harden is very different and cannot be compared, but this also shows that Harden's three-point shooting efficiency is not very high, and it is completely worth a try.

Thompson clearly got it right.

Harden didn't feel very good today, and he made several three-point shots with a few steps back. Using the quick counterattack after grabbing the rebound, the Bucks expanded the point difference to more than double digits in one fell swoop.

The Kings called a timeout, and then began to adjust their tactics after reappearing. The number of times Cousins ​​touched the ball began to increase. Obviously, the opponent wanted to start from the inside.

If there are any obvious shortcomings in the Bucks' top five, it can only mention the defense of the inside.

Jokic is absolutely top-notch in terms of offense and support organization, but his defense is not enough. With his slow feet, he basically can't defend against pick-and-roll tactics. However, under one-on-one defense, relying on his height and weight Advantage, Jokic can basically guard against most of the league's centers.

Of course, this does not include Cousins.

In today's era when the league's top centers are withering day by day, there are not many outstanding offensive centers in the NBA. Most of them are blue-collar centers like Jordan, Whiteside, and Drummond. A center, Howard, also gradually lost the explosive power he relied on for survival due to injuries and age, and began to gradually evolve into a blue-collar center.

There is only one center forward who can average 20+10 per game at the center position this season, and that is Marcus Cousins.

When Cousins ​​began to take over the ball in the paint for a strong attack, the pressure on Jokic immediately doubled.

Wang Xiao noticed this situation, but did not take any action.

It is rare for Jokic to meet a strong opponent. It is necessary for him to feel and experience it. After all, there will still be a few strong inside centers in the future league.

For example, the thick-browed brother Anthony Davis, or Wang Xiao's disciple, Hao Peng who has a David Robinson growth template card.

Of course, the main reason why they can let it go is that the Bucks have the initiative in the game.

Even if Cousins ​​has the upper hand in the heads-up with Jokic, his scoring efficiency is far behind Durant and Antetokounmpo.

As a center who can average 20+10 data per game, Cousins' shooting percentage is not considered qualified, hovering around 45% all the year round, and his career shooting percentage is only 46.1%, which can be regarded as a shooting percentage among outside players. Qualified, but not among post players.

In the final analysis, the reason why the Kings can stand out in the West is James Harden, not Cousins. In another time and space, when Cousins ​​led the team alone, the Kings never even made the playoffs. Cousins It was only after he frantically joined Wang Chaoyong in the 18-19 season that he played in the playoffs for the first time in his career.

...

In the first game, there was no suspense. Even though Cousins ​​scored 27 points and 11 rebounds in front of Jokic, the Kings still lost the game 99:113.

Under Thompson's full-time marking, Harden performed abnormally in the first half of the game. After gradually regaining his feeling in the second half, his performance returned to normal, but by then it was too late.

Throughout the game, Harden made 19 shots and hit 7 goals, including 2 of 7 three-pointers, 5 of 12 two-pointers, 10 of 11 free throws, and scored 26 points and 6 assists.

It is very rare to get such data in the face of Thompson's high-intensity defense, but as the core and leader of the Kings, this is obviously not enough.

This also directly caused the Kings to fall behind throughout the game, and there was no counterattack to chase points at all.

Although it is only the first game of the series, this game has already made many people see the huge difference in strength between the two teams.

As expected, it may be difficult for the Kings to compete with the Bucks. This year's championship will be in the pocket of the Milwaukee Bucks!