freenovelworld Chapter 675 Civil War Between Best Friends
Chapter 675 Civil War Between Best Friends
Chapter 675: A Battle Between Best Friends - Jia Fei dribbles the ball across half-court.
The player guarding Jia Fei was naturally not his good friend Kemba Walker.
Kemba Walker is only 183cm tall, but he is not a true defensive weakness. He is just a bit short, but he is still very strong and his defensive effort is also good. His defense is worse than Lou Williams, who is the same height. Of course, he is not as good as 58cm, but he is not the type of player who is always targeted.
However, when defending Jia Fei, Kemba Walker's height difference was too great, creating a pure mismatch.
Many teams have faced a problem this season: finding the right matchup for the Clippers' starters. With Jia Fei as the starting point guard, if you assign a point guard to defend him, it's almost always a mismatch. But if you assign a shooting guard or small forward to guard him, it means your point guard has to guard someone else, who is also over 2 meters tall, resulting in another mismatch.
So the final decision was to send a defensive stalwart to guard Jia Fei, and have the point guard defend Bridges. After all, although Bridges is tall, he's not an offensive threat, so this would minimize the risk of injury.
Ojeleye was guarding Jia Fei.
Ojeleye is certainly not a defensive stalwart, but if Jaylen Brown doesn't play and he doesn't defend Jia Fei either, it means that the team's core player, Tatum, will have to defend him, which is too risky.
Harten was very proactive and immediately came up to cover.
The Celtics opted to switch on defense.
Jia Fei VS TT!
Tristan Thompson (TT) secured such a lucrative contract with the Cavaliers not only because of his role on the variety show "Running Man," but also because of his exceptional individual skills. As a shorter center, he possessed several advantages that many other centers lacked, making him a specialist in the paint. First, he excelled at offensive rebounding. Despite being only 206cm tall with a modest wingspan and average jumping ability, his large rear end allowed him to drive to the basket effectively, and his decent hand-eye coordination made him one of the league's leading offensive rebounders at the time. Second, he was incredibly resilient, a crucial factor. Frequent rests and injuries significantly impact a role player's contract, and TT was renowned for his ironmanship. Before his relationship with Khloe Kardashian, he consistently played every game, willingly taking on the role of a blue-collar worker, doing the dirty work, and always displaying passion and a clear role on the court. Third, he was capable of switching on defense to a certain extent. His one-on-one defense is actually average, and he often struggles against tall centers. He's explosive on the offensive boards, but not so good on the defensive boards. His rim protection is even worse than that of a running man. However, he can switch on defense, which can often break up the opponent's pick-and-roll, a skill that is very rare for an inside player in today's small-ball era.
However... the TT of today is not the TT of 2015 or 2016, and he is facing Jia Fei!
Jia Fei, holding the ball and facing TT, used his left hand to hold the ball, followed by a dragging step and a left-handed dash forward, then an in-out crossover to his right hand. This combo was fluid and fast, and TT couldn't keep up with it...
TT is only one year older than Jia Fei, but he has been taking a lot of toll on his health over the years. It's not easy for a small center to make a living in the paint. He's not exactly a prodigy, and we can already see his physical decline, even though he's not even 30 years old yet.
Most importantly, TT actually expended more energy when facing Khloe than when playing the game. He's tough, but against Khloe, even Jordan and Running Man would be defeated. Sometimes it's not that we don't try hard enough, but that the opponent is too strong!
Jia Fei dribbled past TT, and Tatum provided help defense.
Jia Fei leaned against Tatum and went straight up, with Theis providing help defense under the basket!
Jia Fei made a no-look behind-the-back pass to Grant on the other side!
Grant makes a layup, and the Clippers score first!
"My God, Jia Fei's shot was so cool!" Wang Meng exclaimed.
"Jia Fei can really get past TT in one step. TT's legs feel like lead now, and he can no longer switch to defend guards," Yang Yi explained.
The Celtics are on offense, and Kemba Walker dribbles the ball across half-court.
The Clippers' defender on Kemba Walker is Bridges.
Bridges is now specifically responsible for guarding the ball handler, covering the entire court, and using his speed and defensive coverage to become the Clippers' primary starting defensive lead.
Kemba Walker and Theis ran a pick-and-roll, and Theis executed a "Qin King circling the pillar" move, hitting a mid-range jumper in response!
Jia Fei brought the ball over and continued to run pick-and-rolls with Hartenstein.
Hartenstein's pick-and-roll was quite good. After setting the screen, Jia Fei moved to the right side, drew the defense, and then made a pocket pass to Hartenstein who was cutting to the basket!
Hartenstein made a decisive run down the court, catching the ball without any butterfingers, and attacked the basket with both hands!
Theis tried to protect the rim, but it was too late; Hartenstein slammed home a two-handed dunk!
Jia Fei's assists +2!
"My God, Jia Fei's pass was so beautiful, and Harten's spike was amazing too!" Wang Meng exclaimed.
The Celtics are on offense. Tatum receives the ball, and he is being guarded by Jia Fei.
"Mr. Yang, what do you think is the reason why the Clippers assigned Jia Fei to guard Tatum instead of Paul George?" Wang Meng asked.
Yang Yi twirled his pen and smiled, "Maybe he's taking care of his teammates who just came back from injury. Jia Fei is the team leader, so it's only right that he takes care of his teammates who have just returned. That's the responsibility of a leader!"
Facing Jia Fei, Tatum made a series of probing steps before driving in, then combined the ball with a series of shoulder feints, the movements executed flawlessly, reminiscent of the West Coast Black. As one of the heirs of the Mamba system, he has absolute confidence in his individual offense.
However, having confidence doesn't guarantee success. For example, I was confident I could win over Liu Yifei, but she wouldn't even give me a friend card.
Jia Fei ignored the fakes and jumped again after Tatum jumped to block the opponent's jump shot.
Although Tatum is taller than Jabe, his physical abilities are below average among superstars; his jump is far inferior to that of his idol, Black Snake.
Everyone says Black Snake's health isn't good, but that depends on who you compare him to. He's a bit worse than the old rogue from Running Man, but he's much better than some of the Mamba successors like Tatum, Booker, and LaVine.
Tatum's jump shot missed!
TT frantically tried to grab the offensive rebound, but Hartenstein got it!
TT's offensive rebounding has also declined, making it difficult for him to box out against 7-foot centers. The peak of these smaller, blue-collar centers is very short; passion and hustle cannot overcome the effects of time.
The Clippers were on offense, and Jia Fei passed the ball to Paul George.
Paul George, facing Ojeleye, dribbled with unparalleled fluidity, eliciting screams of excitement from teammates like Art Mayork on the sidelines. In terms of the sheer spectacle of his game, he's definitely a top-three forward. It's so incredibly smooth, smoother than eating Dove chocolate!
But Paul George's jump shot missed!
But that doesn't matter, as long as he looks good! Just like the Black Snake back then, what does it matter if it's iron(III) oxide?
A beautiful shot is more important than a crab-like jump shot!