Chapter 438:

Although the combination of Harden, Cousins, Rondo, and Guy does not have a perfect chemistry, they can occupy a place in the declining West because of their personal strength. However, when they faced the Bucks in the upper east, the situation was different.
Let’s not talk about anything else. Rondo, who is 1.85 meters tall, has a big head when he sees Brother Alphabet who is 2.11 meters tall. How to prevent this?
Of course, the Kings will not really allow Antetokounmpo to bully Rondo wantonly. Small forward Rudy Gay and Rondo changed defense, but this is just a drop in the bucket.
Gay is not a good defender. Although his physical fitness is excellent, he is of first-rate level among small forwards, but neither his defensive attitude nor his defensive awareness can be considered qualified, let alone his matchup. Is he stronger than his brother Antetokounmpo in terms of height, weight and strength?
More importantly, Antetokounmpo is not the strongest guy on the Bucks. What should Kevin Durant do?
The Kings defending Durant is Cauley Stan, a first-year rookie who averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds per game this season.
Wang Xiao is a little impressed with this player. In the future, his highest light-time average per game is 12.8 points and 7 rebounds.
Cauley Stan’s defense is better than offense. As a center with a height of 2.13 meters, he has fast footsteps and can change guards in the face of pick-and-rolls. The ability to protect the frame is also very good.
In this Kings team, he is the blue-collar who does the dirty work inside.
Letting him defend Durant is the most suitable arrangement the Kings can make, but it is far from enough for Durant.
After playing in the league for 9 years, Durant has faced a variety of powerful defenders. A first-year rookie can't threaten him no matter how active the defense is.
At the beginning of the game, 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.
Harden, the Kings' ace, is in 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 not played once or twice.
Thompson had to admit that Harden is a very powerful player with a cunning technique and a one-on-one can't prevent death. So Thompson simply let go of the defensive distance, prevent penetration, and let Harden shoot from the outside. "Shoot."
In recent years, the three-pointer has become one of Harden's main scoring methods, but his three-pointer shooting rate is not stable, has been hovering around 35%.
By contrast, this season, James' regular season three-point shooting average is 36%, and the Bucks' veteran, Oladipo, who is very unstable in three-point shooting, has also shot close to this value.
Of course, Oladipo and Harden's three-point shots per game are very different and cannot be compared, but this also shows that Harden's three-pointers are not very efficient and are totally worth a try.
Thompson obviously tried it right.
Harden didn't feel very good today. He shot a few three-pointers with a few retreats. Using the quick counterattack after grabbing the rebound, the Bucks expanded the point difference to more than double digits in one fell swoop.
auzw.com The Kings called a timeout, and then began to adjust their tactics after re-entering the field. Cousins ​​started to touch the ball more often. Obviously, the opponent wanted to start from the inside.
If there are any obvious shortcomings in the Bucks' death five, it can only mention the inside defense.
Jokic is absolutely top-notch in terms of offense and support organization, but he is a bit under-recognized in terms of defense. His slow-moving footsteps are basically unable to guard against pick-and-roll tactics, but under one-on-one defense, relying on height and weight Advantage, Jokic can basically defend most of the league's centers.
Of course, this does not include Cousins.
In the era when the league’s top centers are dying, there are not many offensive centers in the NBA. Most of them are blue-collar centers like Jordan, Whiteside, and Drummond, even if they are. Howard, the former first center, also gradually lost the explosive power to survive due to injuries and age, and began to gradually evolve into a blue-collar center.
There is only one center at the center position this season who can average 20+10 per game, and that is Marcus Cousins.
When Cousins ​​began to take over the ball and make a strong attack inside, Jokic's pressure immediately doubled.
Wang Xiao noticed this situation, but did not act.
It is a rare encounter for Jokic to meet his rivals. It is necessary for him to feel and experience it. After all, there will still be a few powerful inside centers in the future league.
For example, the thick eyebrow brother Anthony Davis, another example is Wang Xiao's disciple, Hao Peng who has the David Robinson growth template card.
Of course, the main reason why they can let it go is that the Bucks dominate the game.
Even if Cousins ​​had the upper hand in the heads-up with Jokic, his scoring efficiency was far lower than Durant and Antetokounmpo.
As a center who can get an average of 20+10 per game, Cousins’s shooting percentage is not qualified, hovering around 45% all the year round, and his career shooting percentage is only 46.1%. This shooting percentage can be considered among outside players. Qualified, but not among the inside players.
In the final analysis, the Kings can stand out in the West because of James Harden instead of Cousins. In another time and space, when Cousins ​​led the team alone, the Kings never even made the playoffs, Cousins. It was only after joining 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 if Cousins ​​scored 27 points and 11 rebounds in front of Jokic, the Kings still lost the game 99:113.
Harden under Thompson's full guard, played abnormally in the first half of the game, and gradually recovered his feelings in the second half and 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, 26 points and 6 assists.
Facing Thompson's high-intensity defense, it is very rare to get such data, but as the core and leader of the Kings, this is obviously not enough.
This also directly caused the Kings to be behind in this game, and there was absolutely no counterattack to chase points.
Although it was only the first game of the series, this game has already made many people see the difference in strength between the two teams.
As expected, the Kings are afraid it will be difficult to compete with the Bucks. This year's championship will be the stuff of the Milwaukee Bucks!