NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 548 The Clippers in the New Era

This match was broadcast live on Tencent, with commentators Wang Meng and guest Yang Yi providing commentary.

Wang Meng first gave a professional advertisement to a certain company, and then turned to Yang Yi and asked, "Mr. Yang, please give us your outlook on this series!"

Yang Yi smacked his lips, twirled his pen, and then said slowly, "It's hard to say, hahaha, really hard to say. We'll have to wait and see how the games go. As for this round, if you let me choose, I'd still favor Jia Fei's Clippers."

"Is it because Jia Fei is stronger than Deng Ge?" Wang Meng asked.

"Jia Fei is definitely better than Harden! Let me state this first, Harden is very strong, and Harden's fans, please don't attack me. I'm just stating the facts, Harden is very strong, but it depends on who you compare him to. Compared to Jia Fei, he's only slightly weaker," Yang Yi said sarcastically.

The starting lineups for both teams have been announced.

The Clippers' starting lineup remains the same as in the previous round. In fact, they've been using this lineup since the regular season last year—a standard five-forward lineup, and not a pure small-ball lineup. It has height, shooting ability, and exceptional perimeter defense. The only weakness is interior defense, but of course, the Rockets aren't exactly a strong interior team, so using this starting lineup isn't a major problem for them.

The Rockets' starting lineup for the away game was Chris Paul, James Harden, James Harden, P.J. Tucker, and Clint Capela.

The Rockets' lineup is definitely a "big man and four small men" combination. In fact, the "big man" in Cardiff isn't actually that big, and the four "small men" aren't really small, but rather they are actually short. The tallest of these four is PJ Tucker at 198cm, the second tallest is Harden at 196cm, the round-faced Harden is 193cm, and we know that he is 183cm tall.

和快船相比，火箭每个位置的身高都要矮一些。快船首发5人组的身高是185cm、201cm、203cm、208cm、211cm。

However, apart from Cardiff being a tall and slender player, the other four members of the Rockets' roster all have large butts and are short and stocky, possessing considerable strength, so they shouldn't be underestimated. Especially 58 and Harden, their abilities are still top-notch.

On the sidelines, Lin Ning interlaced her fingers, resting her chin on her hand. She hoped Jia Fei and his team would win, but she also felt somewhat uneasy; their opponents were indeed very strong. The Rockets were not comparable to the Spurs, at least not at the moment.

The starting lineups of both teams are on the field, and Olynyk and Cardo are preparing for the jump ball near the center circle. The match is about to begin.

The jump ball began, and Cards won the jump ball against Olynyk, giving the Rockets possession of the ball on their first offensive possession.

58 dribbles over and immediately sets a screen with Card.

The Clippers' defensive strategy is to squeeze through screens, avoid switching easily, and not double-team the ball handler.

It's worth noting that both 58 and Harden have excellent passing abilities, and double-teaming the ball handler can easily result in a numerical advantage. Card's ability to cut to the basket and finish plays is extremely strong, and he can easily get a free throw if he's not careful.

58 and Harden are different. Harden is stronger in driving to the basket after using screens and has a better three-point shot. 58 is stronger in orchestrating the offense in the half-court and in the mid-range.

Although the Rockets play Moreyball, they are not completely without mid-range shots; their mid-range game mainly comes from 58.

Although he's short, 58 is incredibly powerful from mid-range. And because of his excellent passing and dribbling skills, his mid-range jump shot with a slight fadeaway is really hard to block or interfere with.

Beverley was really aggressive when it came to screens, almost tearing the screener's card to shreds while muttering to himself, completely unafraid of the former league's best point guard.

The fans at the stadium gave Beverley a warm round of applause for his performance. Modern Clippers fans have long forgotten the contributions 58 (Beverley's nickname) made to the team. Compared to Jia Fei (Jia Fei), his contributions are truly insignificant.

58 passed the ball to Harden.

It's well known that Harden doesn't move at all when he doesn't have the ball. He really doesn't move, but fortunately, his shooting ability is undeniable, so defenders don't dare to rush in to help.

Harden becomes a completely different person after receiving the ball; he's like he's on a rampage, unstoppable.

He kept cooking on the spot, waving his beard, looking just like a young version of Santa Claus.

Jia Fei knows Harden too well; this guy has a lot of feints, so don't make a move rashly. If the enemy doesn't move, I don't move either.

Harden is now aiming to drive inside!

Jia Fei also started moving, using the league's fastest lateral movement speed to keep up closely!

Harden leans against Jia Fei, gathers the ball, and slams it upwards with his arm!

Jia Fei suddenly put his hand behind his back, which left Harden and the referee, who was just about to blow the whistle, momentarily stunned!

Can you still play like this?

Harden adjusted quickly, shoving the ball to PJ Tucker in the corner!

But Tucker wasn't quite ready for that shot, stepping out of bounds and making a mistake...

"Jia Fei's move is amazing! He defends with his hands behind his back. My goodness, that's incredible! Hahaha..." Wang Meng laughed.

Boos erupted from the crowd. Harden's blatant act of drawing fouls was truly disgusting, comparable to the "holding hands, one step, two steps, three steps, four steps, looking at the sky" scene from the Running Man show back in the day...

Harden shrugged sheepishly, because the other player's hands were behind his back; how could it be a foul?

Tucker made an embarrassed gesture. There was nothing he could do; his shoes were too big... Who says people under two meters tall can't have big feet?

Possession changed hands, Beverley dribbled the ball over and passed it to Jia Fei.

The Rockets' defensive strategy is as follows: 58 guards Beverley, Harden guards Jia Fei, Tucker guards George, Harden guards Gallinari, and Cardiff guards Olynyk.

The advantage of this arrangement is that it hides Harden. Harden doesn't have to guard against stars like Jia Fei and Paul George. Gallinari is tall, but slow and not known for his ball-handling offense. Harden is not tall, but he has enough weight and is very good at defensive endurance.

Jia Fei passed the ball to Gallinari, the meaning of which was crystal clear: he wanted Gallinari to guard Harden.

Gallinari dribbled the ball and faked several shots, but Harden didn't move at all.

Gallinari drove to the basket, attempting to use his height to force a layup, but Harden swatted the ball away...

58 intercepts the ball and launches a counter-attack, sending a long pass to the fast-moving Erdengo!

Harden flies in for a layup...

Jia Fei arrived in a flash and blocked the ball out of bounds with a powerful volleyball block...

Wow--

The crowd erupted in cheers. Jia Fei's shot was so cool, it was just like a powerful spike from a volleyball player, it was incredibly powerful.

The Rockets inbound the ball from the baseline to 58 at the top of the key.

58 opted for a pick-and-roll with Card, but when he passed the ball to Card on the roll, Gallinari, who came over to help defend, broke the ball away...

The Rockets continued their attack. Harden held the ball and faced Jia Fei. After a series of crossovers, he suddenly stepped back and attempted a three-pointer—but missed!

Long rebound!

Pickled peppers are ready!

The Running Man team sent a long pass to Jia Fei in the frontcourt!

Jia Fei pulled ahead of Harden, caught the ball and completed a flying dunk, scoring the first 2 points of the game!