Vol 3 Chapter 661: Evenly matched

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In the few minutes near the end of the first half, the Thunder played very passively.
Siakam constantly attacked the Thunder's inside line. When Adams was pinned out by Gasol Jr., the Thunder's defense in the penalty area seemed a little insufficient. Robertson won't suffer too much when facing most of the four positions, but facing a player like Siakam who can make a sudden jump and has a very prominent wingspan, he is still a little weak. Although Donovan adjusted Gallinari and Robertson in time, the effect was even worse. So Donovan had to adopt double-teaming tactics to limit Siakam.
But this guy is not so easy to be held down. He not only has strong breakthrough ability, but also has outstanding mid-range shooting ability and good passing. Coupled with Lowry and Van Fleet on the outside, the Thunder's defensive effect is not ideal. Fortunately, there is another Grant who can relieve the pressure on the court, but he has been playing for a long time. Donovan is not D'Antoni. He controls the playing time of the Thunder's players very appropriately.
This is not the thing that annoys Donovan the most. What annoyed him the most was that Roberson, who was outstanding in defense, once again became a burden for the team in the offensive round. On the defensive end, he was indeed able to make his due contribution and did not allow Siakam to take off completely, but on the offensive end, he became more at a loss than before the injury. It feels like he is the dream chasing Green of these two seasons, even worse than the other. After losing the ability of COSCO, the cooperation with Westbrook and others is also a bit jerky. Of course, due to injuries, Robertson has been absent for too long and has not yet returned to his best form. But the opponents on the field will not let go of such obvious shortcomings. They directly emptied Robertson in the defense and concentrated their defensive strength to deal with Anluo and Gallinari.
In this way, the Thunder's offense has also been greatly affected. Although Anluo can still help the team score, every round he scores will consume a lot of his physical strength. Although I can't see how much impact it has for the time being, it is really troublesome for the whole game.
Donovan has no good way to deal with this problem. After Paul George left, they would often face this situation. Unless, Grant's defense can take another step. Or, Robertson can develop a stable scoring method, at least on the offensive end must have a certain deterrent, so that the other party does not dare to empty him unscrupulously.
But these two points are not things that can be done easily. Unable to fundamentally solve this problem, Donovan can only put hope on his two core stars. Of course, he is not expecting Anlow and Westbrook to support the entire team's defense, although their defensive abilities are not bad. What he hopes to see is that these two guys can make a breakthrough on the offensive end, attack with offense, and suppress each other with a stronger offense.
Therefore, Anluo has been under tremendous pressure during this period of time. Donovan's ideas led him to take on more scoring tasks, and he had to face a more difficult defensive environment. The Raptors' players were given the treatment of Anlo's superstars under the arrangement of Nas. This is a situation that An Luo has rarely encountered since entering the NBA. In the past few seasons, he occasionally encountered this kind of treatment, but at that time there was also a Paul George in the Thunder lineup. Even if he was completely locked by the opponent, the latter could still support the Thunder's offense. But now, Paul George is replaced by Gallinari. The latter's scoring ability is not bad, but the lack of Paul George's aura of others is the main reason why he has always been unable to break through the hurdle of quasi-All-Star players.
Gallinari could not resist a team's offensive banner. Fortunately, Westbrook is more or less able to share some of An Luo's pressure. The defense he faced was not as tight as An Luo, so when he found An Luo could not open the situation, he stood up.
In the past two seasons, due to Westbrook's initiative and decentralization, his role in the Thunder has become an offensive initiator, but this does not mean that his scoring ability has become weaker. In fact, he just asked Anlo and Paul George, who are better at scoring, to do these things. After all, he was never an efficient scorer. However, when he focused on scoring, he was still quite powerful.
When Anlo attracted the double-teaming of the Raptors, Robertson had more free space to help other players. His pick-and-roll screens allowed Westbrook to catch the ball and layup in a more open environment~EbookFREE.me~ More than once, everyone saw An Luo decisively dribbling the ball when he was double-teamed by two opponents. Passed to Westbrook who threw off the defender with Robertson's screen. The latter caught the ball and went straight to the penalty area, and a European step bypassed Gasol or Ibaka and scored the ball. In some cases, he even completed the goals carried by the opponent's big man.
The roles of Anlow and Westbrook were swapped at once. If it was the first time I watched the Thunder game, I really wouldn't have thought that the person who scores now should be the first position to organize the offense, and the passer is the second position who can compete for the top scorer.
Under the impact of Westbrook, the Thunder stabilized the game. But they can only do this for the time being! The Raptors are also very happy to see the game reach such a situation. Compared with Anro's burst output, they hope that the Thunder will concentrate on Westbrook, who is constantly rushing to the basket. Although that kind of offense will cause them foul trouble, but Westbrook's free throw tonight is not particularly accurate, the damage caused is very ordinary.
Gallinari has always maintained a deterrent outside the three-point line, and both Powell and Anunobi have followed him inseparably. However, this defense can only be said to be a normal level. Therefore, although he did not have too many chances to score, he still played the most basic role in the game with an excellent three-pointer. He and Anluo firmly controlled most of the Raptors' lineup and provided a great help to Westbrook.
Even so, the Thunder can only stabilize the game. Even their lead in the first quarter was scarce. The blossoming of Siakam and Van Fleet inside and outside, coupled with the occasional inspiration of Gasol and Lowry, the Thunder want to get a good start this night, but it is not so simple.