Chapter 110 A Very Very Hard Effort

The New Orleans Arena, the arena was more than 80% full.

Although it was a small city like San Antonio, the enthusiasm of the fans here was obviously much higher.

For a city still under reconstruction, nothing was more exciting than watching a ball game.

Of course, this was also related to the Pelicans' sales strategy.

The Pelicans' ticket prices were very affordable in the entire league.

Among these fans, there were quite a few Chinese, even Chinese fans from China.

New Orleans was a port city with a developed tourism industry, and Tang Tian was now extremely popular in China, with fans coming from thousands of miles away to support him.

The pre-game ceremony began, and the starting players from both sides entered the court one after another.

On the Warriors' side, the Splash Brothers, Curry and Thompson, combined to average 7 three-pointers per game this season.

The forwards were Iguodala and David Lee, and the center was Bogut.

This lineup was balanced on offense and defense, with shooting and inside scoring ability, and with a suitable set of tactics, it could really take off.

However, precisely because of this, the Warriors' record this season was mediocre, and head coach Mark Jackson was facing a lot of outside criticism.

The Pelicans made adjustments to their starting lineup.

The guards were still Holiday and Gordon, the small forward was still Tang Tian, but the frontcourt became Davis and Jason Smith.

Williams listened to Tang Tian and made adjustments to the starting lineup.

Tang Tian spent a month establishing his position on the Pelicans, and he was the second to last to appear.

When he came out, the fans in the arena erupted in cheers, and it was easy to hear voices with distinct Chinese characteristics.

Although he had only played for a month, there was no doubt that he was already one of the most popular players on the team.

After the opening ceremony, the final warm-up before the game took place.

Thompson greeted Tang Tian at center court.

But unlike before, Thompson now regarded Tang Tian as a target to catch up with, and he no longer said anything about surpassing him.

"I'll try my best to defend you."

That was his current tune.

"Then you have to try really, really hard."

Tang Tian also used some brotherly trash talk.

After Thompson finished greeting him, he returned to his half of the court, and Iguodala stopped him at this time.

"Klay, leave him to me, you just focus on scoring."

"We need your points."

Iguodala added after speaking.

Thompson had a good personality and would always share things with his teammates.

Iguodala knew about Thompson and Tang Tian's relationship, and he could roughly guess what they had said during their conversation.

That was why he said that.

Thompson's average score this season was second only to Curry on the team, even more than David Lee, so his offense was very important to the team.

Letting him defend the opponent's number one offensive player would be very detrimental to the team.

And he had basically been doing defensive and connecting work since he came to the Warriors.

Moreover, as a top defender, he had a lot of experience in defending players like Tang Tian who mainly relied on shooting.

Thompson nodded after listening.

Besides his strength, Iguodala also brought a locker room presence to this team.

He always thought of others, and he had no pursuit of stats or ball possession, truly loved by everyone on the team.

The pre-game warm-up ended, and the starting players from both sides entered the court.

Bogut and Davis jumped for the ball.

Davis won the jump ball against Bogut, winning the first offensive opportunity for the Pelicans.

This was the Pelicans' first attack for a month in a row.

Holiday got to the frontcourt, and Gordon took the initiative to reach out for the ball.

Williams' coaching system was relatively free, unlike Popovich who strictly followed tactics.

Although the consistent style of play in the past was for Tang Tian to attack first, it was not a must.

Now that Gordon asked for the ball, Holiday gave him the ball.

Gordon had only been in the NBA for five years, and he still wanted to prove himself.

After he reached out to signal Davis to pick and roll, he broke through directly.

However, Thompson's defensive awareness was very good. Seeing Davis's size, he took a step back, and when Gordon broke in, he was still in a defensive position.

Gordon forced his way to the basket, and shot in the air after colliding with Thompson.

"Bang!"

Bogut helped defend and gave him a big block.

Bogut only played in 30-plus games last season due to injury, but he had already established a defensive system for the Warriors. This season, he averaged 7 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks, and he was still an inside barrier.

After the block, he took down the defensive rebound, and the Warriors directly launched a defensive counterattack.

Bogut's long pass in the backcourt was given to Curry, Curry dribbled past Holiday behind his back, and then directly passed it to Thompson who was following on the right.

Thompson caught the ball and shot a three-pointer.

"Swish!"

The ball went in as soon as it left his hand!

Because he no longer went to nightclubs, but trained hard with Tang Tian during the offseason, his strength improved much faster than normal.

Gordon turned around and picked and rolled with Smith, and took a three-point shot from Holiday's pass, wanting to return an answer ball.

But Bogut's defensive awareness was very good, and he rushed out to interfere in advance.

"Bang!"

Gordon's consecutive shots missed.

David Lee grabbed the defensive long rebound, and the Warriors pushed the counterattack again. This time, Curry broke through and scored himself.

The Warriors took the lead, scoring a 5-0 run against the Pelicans at the start!

The Pelicans attacked to the frontcourt again, and Tang Tian saw that Gordon still wanted to play, so he took the initiative to lean against Iguodala in the high post to ask for the ball.

He could understand Gordon's desire to prove himself, but the first two rounds had already shown that he was in average condition.

Not everyone was Kobe, who could get a 15% bonus to all attributes after missing 13 shots.

Holiday passed the ball to Tang Tian.

He still chose to execute Williams' tactical intention.

Tang Tian held the ball, and Holiday directed the others to create space.

Because Anderson didn't start, the sense of space on the court was not very big at this time.

So Iguodala didn't restrict Tang Tian from receiving the ball, he was very confident in himself, if he defended against the shot and the breakthrough, he could completely lock down Tang Tian.

Tang Tian put on a triple threat posture, creating space for himself to pull up, and then made a pull-up fake.

Iguodala rushed up directly.

If Tang Tian ran off-ball like before, it might be more difficult for him to defend.

But with the ball in his hands, as long as he stayed close enough, he could completely defend Tang Tian to death.

Tang Tian made a pull-up fake, and he exerted force on his left foot and took a step to the left.

Iguodala didn't fall for the feint, and retracted again.

He had studied the pre-match game video very clearly, besides the pull-up from the spot, Tang Tian's more threatening move was the step-back pull-up.

Because the pull-up technique was sudden, people with poor defensive awareness were easily tricked.

But he was obviously not an ordinary defensive player.

ps: Special thanks to Qiankun Dou Zhuan Tiandi Bian for the myriad rewards!!