Paul and Howard's Pick-and-Roll Tactics, a New Version of Lob City is Born

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On December 25th, at the Staples Center, home of the Los Angeles Lakers, the stands were packed. Countless fans from Los Angeles gathered in the arena solely to witness the first matchup of the Lakers' new Big Three.

In the front row, newlywed Jessica Alba was wearing a white knit sweater. Her perfect figure was perfectly framed by the tight sweater, and her exquisite makeup made it impossible for anyone to look away.

"Done, Wang Chong is a dog thief, you stole my beloved, you deserve to die!"

Wang Chong had now become a public enemy, envied, jealous, and hated by millions of male compatriots.

Before the game, Jessica Alba was the center of attention, but as soon as both teams' players stepped onto the court for warm-ups, the focus of the fans immediately shifted.

After all, they had paid to come to the arena to watch the game, not to look at beautiful women.

The appearance of NBA superstars made them even more excited.

"Kobe! Chris! Dwight!!!"

The Lakers' local fans cheered for the new Big Three, especially Chris Paul and Dwight Howard, the two superstars who were making their debut in Los Angeles, with waves of applause.

The Bulls' starting lineup hadn't changed from the previous season. They still featured Curry, Billups, Wang Chong, Garnett, and Gasol. This winning lineup had repeatedly demonstrated their strong dominance.

In comparison, the Lakers' starting lineup had undergone drastic changes.

To acquire Paul and Howard, the original Lakers lineup, which had reached the Finals for three consecutive years, had been completely dismantled. The new starting five now consisted of: point guard Chris Paul, shooting guard Kobe Bryant, small forward Ron Artest, power forward Troy Murphy, and center Dwight Howard.

Everyone knew that power forward Murphy was not a standout player, but when he played for the Warriors in the past, he averaged a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds per game in the regular season, which was more than enough to serve as a starter. However, Murphy had suffered an injury last season, and due to illness, he only played 35 games in total. His averages had drastically dropped from 14.6+10 in the previous season to just 3 points and 3 rebounds. Though he had returned from injury, it was clear that he was no longer as dominant as before. The Lakers were in the free agent market and only offered him a contract with an annual salary of $1.35 million.

Having Murphy serve as the starting power forward was truly a move of desperation. To bring together the Big Three, the Lakers paid a high price. There was a shortage of talent on the bench, especially among the big men. The current big man for the Lakers is the number one center in the league, Dwight Howard. Even if the players at power forward weren't stellar, Howard could singlehandedly support the Lakers' entire interior defense system.

The game was about to begin, and both teams' players took the court.

Howard and Gasol jumped for the opening tip-off, and there was essentially no suspense.

At that time, Howard had not yet suffered from his back injury. In the original 2011-2012 season, Howard was supposed to have an injury that ended his season in April 2012. However, in December 2011, more than 100 days were still left before the injury happened. Considering the different lineup structures of the Lakers and Magic, it was still unknown whether Howard would suffer a major injury.

Therefore, Howard was still at his peak at this moment, and his jump and explosive power were unaffected. Jumping for the tip against Gasol was like an adult intimidating a child. He easily jumped and won the tip-off.

Paul caught the ball, dribbled to the halfway line, then stopped and waited for his teammates to get into position.

After Howard caught up behind him, he didn't immediately go inside but came to Paul to help with the pick-and-roll.

Paul used the pick set by Howard to run straight into the paint. Paul, being a typical undersized and quick defender, was very fast. Gasol clearly couldn't keep up with Paul's speed. On the other hand, Garnett had to give way. He raised his defensive posture and came to help defend.

But Paul, running toward the basket, didn't panic. He threw the ball into the air. Behind Garnett and Gasol, Howard's magical weapon descended from the sky. He jumped high into the air, caught the pass, and dunked it violently.

"Boom—!"

The rim shook from Howard's powerful dunk. The eyes of the Lakers fans lit up, and they stood up to applaud and cheer.

What a beautiful alley-oop combination! How many years had it been for the Lakers?

To be precise, since Kobe grew and went from being an athletic dunker to a master of mid-range shooting, the Lakers, who had focused primarily on positional warfare, rarely had such a powerful dunking offense.

Wang Chong watched this scene but narrowed his eyes slightly.

This play was very similar to the one the Clippers used most frequently after Paul joined the team.

The Clippers, who had Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, often used these two to set screens for Paul in pick-and-rolls, and then immediately received alley-oop passes from Paul to attack the rim. Both players were top-level athletes. They were very fast among the big men, combined with excellent jumping ability and strength, making their alley-oop dunks visually stunning. Paul's passing skills, especially his alley-oop passes, were absolutely perfect in the history of point guards.

Under his cannon-like passing, both Griffin and Jordan performed legendary dunks that would go down in history.

Griffin's dunk of the century, the dunk over Thunder center Perkins, and Jordan's alley-oop dunk over Pistons guard Knight were brutal and bloody scenes that made people's blood boil.

Now, Griffin and Paul hadn't been able to join the Clippers due to the butterfly effect caused by Wang Chong.

However, the current development prospects of the Los Angeles Clippers were still good. After all, they didn't get the first pick. Although they missed out on Griffin, they had acquired James Harden.

Harden could definitely be called the strongest shooting guard in the league after Kobe and Wade. Without the three years of inactivity while working for the Thunder, Harden, who was trained as the main core as soon as he was drafted, had lived up to expectations and grown quickly.

Last season, in his second year, Harden consistently contributed 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. His individual performance had surpassed that of other strong rivals such as Curry, Evans, and others during their rookie seasons in the same period, making him the best rookie of the 2009 class.

Wang Chong knew better than anyone that Harden would only become stronger in the future, and his cost-to-performance ratio was definitely much better than Griffin's.

It was just that at this stage, the Clippers only had Harden, Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan, Kaman, and other players. The team's strength was limited, and they weren't strong enough to make the playoffs in the Western Conference with so many good players. It was difficult to deal with them, and it would take time.

The topic has drifted, back to the Lakers.

Paul didn't have the cooperation of Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, but he had a stronger weapon in Howard.

At his peak, Howard was incomparable even to Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Not only did he possess the same athleticism and dunking abilities as Griffin, but he also had the height and wingspan to rival DeAndre Jordan. Both of them could do it on the court, but Howard could do everything perfectly. At the same time, on the defensive end, he could provide a level of impact that far surpassed both of them.

It was no exaggeration to say that only Howard could allow the Lakers to take the title of Alley-Oop City away from the Clippers.

The pick-and-roll alley-oop coordination between Paul and Howard was both pleasing to the eye and impactful.

But the Bulls were unfazed.

In the transition from offense to defense, Garnett served the ball from the baseline.

After Curry quickly dribbled the ball to the halfway line, he immediately handed the ball to Wang Chong.

The defender in front of Wang Chong was his old rival Ron Artest.

At this point, Artest had changed his name to Charity World, which is how Director Zhang referred to Metta World Peace.

But the name change couldn't hide the fact that Artest's own defensive ability had declined.

Although Artest was only 32 years old in the 2011-12 season, his competitive status as an external player shouldn't have diminished so drastically.

But Artest's situation was special. He was too strong. He was almost the only player in the league who could challenge James head-on in terms of strength. After all, Artest wasn't James. His weight exceeded James'. While Artest's strength of 110 kilograms hadn't been affected, his speed had drastically dropped, especially his lateral quickness, which had become almost as slow as an interior player.

As an external defender, lateral quickness was his lifeline. Without it, he was powerless against most perimeter players who could attack with the ball.

Wang Chong was well aware of Artest's changes, so after standing still with the ball, he raised his hand to fake a shot and suddenly used his strength to begin his move.

Now, Wang Chong had experienced qualitative changes compared to the previous season. Several attributes affecting his advance speed had reached 87 in speed, 85 in agility, and 82 in explosive power. Along with last season, Wang Chong had increased to 87. The Silver Master of First Step badge at level 87, although his advance speed wasn't comparable to that of Rose, Wade, James, and Peak McGrady, it was still faster than what an average person could react to.

Artest didn't expect Wang Chong's advance to be so fast. He didn't even have time to react before Wang Chong passed him.

"How fast!"

Artest was surprised and quickly turned to follow Wang Chong, but it was already too late.

Wang Chong, who ran straight into the paint, was met by Howard's supplementary defense.

When Howard was in the East, the Magic had become one of the strong rivals of the Bulls, so he was very familiar with Wang Chong. Because of this, he truly understood how strong Wang Chong was.

Since the two had similar heights, Howard had no height advantage. If he wanted to block Wang Chong's shot, he could only take off early and use his superior jumping ability to block the shot in advance.

But the question now was when Wang Chong would act. His mid-range shot was textbook-level, and even the experienced Howard couldn't judge it.

All Howard could do was get closer to Wang Chong and follow his steps as he retreated.

As Howard backed into the paint, he knew he couldn't retreat any further. If he kept backing up, and even more so if he didn't protect Wang Chong, he could even get dunked on by Wang Chong.

So, he immediately stopped and took the initiative to meet Wang Chong, wanting to apply physical pressure on him.

Wang Chong noticed Howard's movements, slowed down, bent his knees, and stopped to take the shot. His movement was, of course, a fake to bait Howard. With the blessing of the Golden Emergency Stopper badge he had reached, his movements were very realistic.

In fact, Howard was tricked and immediately jumped to block the shot.

But just as he jumped, Wang Chong dropped the ball to the floor, bypassed Howard, and scored an easy layup.

2:2.

The cheers of the local Lakers fans slightly quieted down.

Although they had the Big Three, their opponent was Wang Chong, who was currently recognized as the number one scorer in the league.

The game continued. The Bulls and Lakers both played with full force. The Bulls continued attacking and scoring, with Wang Chong as their main offensive point, while for the Lakers, Paul and Howard were the absolute stars. Their coordination seemed to be in perfect harmony, whether it was Howard's alley-oop dunk after receiving a pass following a pick-and-roll, or Paul's graceful layup after using the pick-and-roll to drive to the paint—everything was very exciting.

But slowly, the fans began to forget about Kobe Bryant, the core of the Lakers.

While Paul and Howard were running pick-and-roll tactics and working together flawlessly, Kobe was lost on the court and outside the tactics.

In fact, this was also a result of the shortened season. Both the team's training and the preseason time were too tight. Every team in the league lacked enough time to adapt, and the situation for the giants was even more chaotic. So far, they didn't even have a complete tactical system.

These three players were definitely not suited for the triangular offense that was characteristic of Phil Jackson. Phil Jackson wasn't a mediocre person who only knew the triangular offense. That was why Paul and Howard's pick-and-roll tactics were used.

The playing styles of Paul and Howard were highly compatible and could yield good results, but Kobe's situation was somewhat embarrassing. Neither Paul nor Howard could cooperate tactically with Kobe, at least not in the short preseason stage. Out of the Lakers' Big Three, Kobe was the one left out of the tactical system.

Of course, this didn't mean Kobe was useless. Phil Jackson developed two main offensive tactics for the new Lakers. One was the pick-and-roll tactics of Paul and Howard, which had now proven effective.

The other set of tactics was based on Kobe's style. In simple terms, they were Kobe's individual ball-handling tactics.

After all, he was the strongest shooting guard in the league after Jordan. Even if Kobe didn't cooperate with anyone, he still had great offensive and scoring ability.

In fact, most of the time, what Kobe did best was to fight on his own based on his personal skills.

As the game progressed, occasionally, when the timing wasn't right, Paul passed the ball to Kobe and let him handle things on his own.

Although Kobe was able to score efficiently against Billups' defense, he always felt a little uncomfortable in his heart.

He always felt that this new Lakers team was somewhat different from the previous one. The sense that he was the core of the team, and that everything revolved around him, had disappeared.

End of this chapter

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