NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 445 Defensive Support, Offensive Integration

Jia Fei stepped to the free-throw line and easily made both shots, finally breaking the Clippers' scoring drought.

There were also many Clippers fans at the scene, chanting "MVP" for Jia Fei. When someone shouted "MVP," they didn't even need to call out his name; everyone knew they were talking about Jia Fei, because he was the only active player from both teams to be considered the MVP.

Lonzo Ball dribbled the ball with difficulty across half-court. His ball-handling skills are excellent, but Patrick Beverley's defensive aggression is undeniable. Beverley's defense is like glue, constantly testing the limits of foul play; the intensity is so high that it sometimes injures opponents, and of course, he himself is frequently injured. Last season, Beverley was relatively healthy, and with Jia Fei as his backcourt partner, his defensive pressure was much less.

Ball passed the ball out, and it ended up in Luol Deng's hands.

Unable to shake off the determined Paul George, Luol Deng passed the ball to Brook Lopez in the penalty area.

Big Lopez was sitting down on Olynyk, but his hook shot was disrupted by Jia Fei who came over to help defend!

Pao Jiao leaped to grab the rebound, pushed the ball forward himself, and was forced to defend before passing to Jia Fei on the other side!

Jia Fei pushed forward through the middle lane, Sam Gode passed Nance Jr., and advanced triumphantly, overtaking everyone with absolute speed, and then smashed Andes Mountain!

Wow--

4:7. Although the Clippers' offense wasn't great, they kept narrowing the gap by strengthening their defense and using offensive plays in the paint and transition offense.

Lonzo Ball's three-point attempts for the Lakers, though seemingly off-target, missed!

Olynyk grabbed the rebound, and Jia Fei launched a counterattack!

Jia Fei launched a counter-attack, sending a quick attack down the left flank by Pao Jiao!

Paul George received the ball and slammed it home, going on a 6-0 run to narrow the gap to just one point!

The Lakers have called a timeout!

It was clear that the Lakers' offense had completely lost its rhythm; each player seemed clueless with the ball, moving around like headless chickens. While the players' own performance was one factor, the fundamental issue was their unfamiliarity with the Clippers' highly aggressive defensive intensity.

The Clippers' perimeter defense was too intense. Although they lacked height in the paint, Olynyk played smart defense, didn't foul easily, and had good defensive positioning.

Most importantly, apart from Beverley, the other four players in this lineup are all over 2 meters tall, which allows them to switch on any defense. Jia Fei and Paul George have a wide help defense range and strong individual defensive ability, which is almost suffocating.

The Lakers players looked somewhat disheveled. Encountering such a tough defense in the opening game was a worrying sign. They often assume strong teams are simply offensively strong, but a truly strong team's defense is absolutely crucial. Take the Warriors, for example; sometimes they miss shots, but their high-intensity defense and fast-break offense often seal the victory.

LaVar Ball calmed down a bit, and the baseball cap he had been waving wildly earlier was back on his head. Under Beverley's defense, Ball looked a bit disheveled, which was nothing to brag about.

"Charles, the Clippers' defense is picking up, and the Lakers are having a hard time scoring!" Kenny Smith said.

"Yes, the Lakers' offense is still too poor. With Nance Jr. and Brook Lopez starting together, the paint is too crowded. Everyone's playing small lineups now, and everyone's shooting threes. The league today is completely different from the league we had back then!" Barkley said.

The timeout is over, and the Lakers' offense remains stagnant. Ingram and Luol Deng are completely shut down by Jia Fei and Paul George. Ball, who isn't known for his offense, struggles to organize the game when Beverley sticks to him. The ball often ends up in Nance Jr.'s hands because he faces the least defensive pressure.

Larry Nance Jr. is a rim-running big man with great jumping ability and a powerful dunk, but he genuinely lacks a jump shot, and his ball-handling and offensive skills are truly on par with DeAndre Jordan. If you let him attack, he simply can't do it outside the paint!

The Clippers' offense wasn't great either, mainly because their outside shooting was off. However, thanks to Jia Fei's drives to the basket and occasional fast breaks, their scoring steadily increased.

The Lakers went five minutes without scoring after going on a 7-0 run. During this time, Walton called two timeouts, but to no avail.

Walton had no choice but to adjust his lineup, with substitutes such as Clarkson, Kuzma, Randle, and Brewer coming on one after another.

The Lakers' second unit players are really bad at defense, but they are quite good at offense.

The Clippers' second unit is led by Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, supported by Art Mayok, Wesley Johnson, and Dillon Wallace.

The Clippers' second unit had a good offense, but their defense was not as good as the starters, so the two sides started to go toe-to-toe.

At the end of the first quarter, the Clippers led by 10 points, with a score of 28:18.

贾飞首节就得到8分3个篮板2次助攻2个抢断1个盖帽，表现非常全面。

Paul George had a bad shooting night, but he still managed to score 5 points, grab 2 rebounds, dish out 1 assist, and make 1 steal. Even though he's not in good form, he's still a star player, and he can still help the team in various ways.

Despite a sluggish offense, the Clippers still managed 28 points, demonstrating a significantly higher offensive ceiling compared to last season. Last season, the team relied far too heavily on Jia Fei in the first half, and with Coach Li lacking effective tactics, Jia Fei often found himself in a state of extreme offensive stagnation when double-teamed.

Coach Budenholzer is infusing the Clippers with the offensive DNA of the Hawks era: "Motion offense." This involves star players not holding the ball for extended periods, moving it around more, and role players participating in the offense instead of waiting for the stars to feed them the ball. This offensive system is well-suited for the regular season, allowing stars to play comfortably while role players feel involved. On the defensive end, he's also working on building a system. The Clippers' defensive system is built around their perimeter stars, JaVale James and Paul George, so it involves more help defense, double-teams, screens and switches, strong-side marking, weak-side rotations, center delays, and forward rotations to protect the rim. Unlike the era of DeAndre Jordan, who always stayed in the deep end, the Clippers' current defensive system is more flexible and adaptable, better suited to today's fast-paced, small-ball era with its abundance of outside shooting.

The Clippers' cohesion is still developing; they committed 10 turnovers in the first half and only made 4 of 15 three-point attempts, yet this didn't prevent them from leading the Lakers by 15 points at halftime. Their defense has increased their margin for error, and their fast-paced offense and multi-ball movement system make their offense difficult to completely shut down.

In the third quarter, the Clippers' offense was still in the process of gelling, while the Lakers' starting five were severely limited on offense, and the point difference once widened to 20 points.

However, during the rotation phase, Clarkson and Kuzma erupted, narrowing the gap to just 10 points. With Jia Fei and Paul George returning and increasing their defensive intensity, the game instantly lost its suspense.

Ultimately, the Clippers easily defeated the Lakers 108-90 on the road, ushering in the 2017-18 season with a resounding victory.