After Harden comes to the Clippers, how should the lineup be placed? Director Lu clearly informed the outside world early that Wei Shao + Harden + George + Xiaoka + Zubac will go together.
Considering that Wei Shao and Harden are among the backcourt players, they are relatively large, have a relatively strong ability to grab rebounds, and have the ability to swing upward on the defensive end; George + Jr. are two genuine forwards with the ability to swing down defensively. Before the game, everyone had already thought that the Clippers' defense would be infinite changes from No. 1 to No. 4, and No. 5 Zubac squatted in the pit to protect the basket!
It seems that the size of the Clippers can be matched in positions 1 to 4; However, in actual combat, the Clippers' four core defensive substitutions are often unclear. Coupled with the starting lineup, it is equivalent to using Harden to directly top a genuine No. 4 position, resulting in a smaller size, and Zubac is also not athletic, this series of chain reactions led to the Clippers' rebounding being blown up, and the Knicks' outside line was accurate enough, and they continued to grab two rebounds and give the Clippers punishment.
Of course, even if the rebounds were blown up, the Clippers only conceded 111 points; With the offensive level of the Big 4, not to mention all of them, even if there are only 3 normal plays, it is possible to fill the hole with offense. But in the first game of the combination, although only George was the only one of the Big 4 who was efficient, none of the four fully showed their scoring ability. This is certainly related to the lack of chemistry, and it also exposes the problem of ball distribution again.
After Coach Lu took over the Clippers, he asked George and Jr. to dominate the ball more. And after the young master came last year, because George was reimbursed after not playing a few games, it means that Director Lu didn't do "addition and subtraction" at all, and directly handed over the ball that originally belonged to George to the young master. And in the playoffs, if Xiaoka is injured again, it will be over with the young master and Powell.
After the adjustment of the offseason, judging from the performance of the first few games of the season, Coach Lu basically sorted out the allocation of the ball of Wei Shao + George + Xiaoka. As soon as the distribution of the ball of the Big Three was sorted out, the Big Four came again; And it's still a ball-handling core like Harden, which is tantamount to making all the work that Coach Lu did for the distribution of the ball in the offseason overturned again.
Under the "effect" of egalitarianism, the Big 4 made sacrifices to each other in the presence of the Big Four! In the case that the starters can't get so many balls, Coach Lu has a clear intention of using Harden to lead the second lineup, so that he can find the way he is used to playing when he leads the second team.
But the lineup that Harden is used to bringing is that the interior must have excellent athleticism and pie-eating ability, and the wing must have enough projection threat at the same time, he must be energetic and defensive.
Then the problem also comes, in the deal of getting Harden, the Clippers sent out the 4 major forwards and only exchanged for Harden + Tucker, the Clippers' second lineup has neither athleticism nor size, and there is only one Bobby left with a stable projection threat.
Hyland is an easy-to-play mess, not a pitcher, and a defensive colander in the absolute sense of the word.
Tucker, whom Harden named, is now defense, and he can't prevent it; Attack, stand in the bottom corner, you let him throw, he can't throw.
The reason why it was in the fourth quarter that Coach Lu returned the main force back in advance for a decisive battle was that Tucker and Hyland were too delayed on it, and they had been pulled away by the other side in waves, and they had to change the main force back in advance.
Of course, this is Harden's first game with the Clippers, and the front team directly dismantles the depth of the front, and the Clippers will inevitably experience the pain of running-in.
But in addition to the pain that must be experienced, in fact, the current personnel structure of the Clippers has exposed the problems that are also very obvious - in the case of overdrawing the front line in exchange for Harden, and Tucker is old, slow and no three points on the court, the only forward that the Clippers can really play is Xiaoka and George.
If you talk about offense, you can believe in the talent of the Big Four, then losing the height and depth of the front line, losing the defense and rim protection of Covington and Batum, when the Clippers' second team simply does not have a forward line that can relieve the pressure on Kajiao at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, the current Clippers lineup is very difficult to match.
If the Clippers finish this season with this lineup, it will still be difficult for us to put them in the first echelon of championship contention. But if they can use Bo Kobe (the Clippers are determined not to give up Mann, if they don't come out of Bo Kobe, nothing can be exchanged), and then exchange for a forward who can play the starting 4 and the small ball 5, they have a chance to wrestle with the Nuggets.
As for the question of who should play on the bench if Harden and Wei Shao are not compatible for a long time. Personally, I think that if there is really to be a substitute, it is Harden.
On the Clippers team, Ka Pepper's dual-core status is impossible to shake (so in the fourth quarter, George felt so bad, and this is the reason why he had to give him the ball heads-up); Wei Shao and Harden, the positioning of this team can only be three and four, and they are here to assist Ka Jiao. And after changing 4 teams in 3 years, Harden himself may have realized that the past Rockets will never come back with a hamstring strain during his time with the Nets.
Coming to play support means that Harden can only find a way to fit in as soon as possible by his side, rather than going around you. Now the Clippers' starting 5 is a newcomer to Harden. And after a preparation period, Wei Shao + George + Xiaoka at the beginning of the season, has formed a chemical reaction, for Harden, he must either integrate as soon as possible, or need to make more sacrifices.