Chapter 1019 1018. Liu Mang's Stability

After trying to play tactics for more than half a quarter, we found that there were not so many open spaces for role players to shoot. Not only did the Hawks' role players have no good opportunities, but the Heat's were the same. Even O'Neal and Kwame Brown didn't have many scoring opportunities.

It was just that Wade on the Heat side was in great form today, so they took a slight lead.

On the Hawks side, when McGrady needed to defend, he could only do two things on the offensive end, pass the ball, or catch the ball and shoot, otherwise his physical strength would not be able to sustain the whole game.

Coach Kruger is very upset now, no one can defend Wade!

Prince defends Wade very badly. Players like Wade are very good against Prince. It is estimated that it would be easier for Prince to defend against peak Kobe and McGrady, even Jordan in the last three consecutive games, but it is very difficult for Prince to defend against Wade. Prince cannot gain weight. 96 kg is already the limit. Gaining weight will affect his flexibility. It is difficult to defend against opponents with strong explosive power and heavy weight like Wade, so McGrady can only be used.

But McGrady's defense was average, not much better than Prince.

After trying for more than half a quarter, Coach Kruger felt that it was a bit of a waste to use McGrady and Prince in this way. Liu Mang could defend Jason Williams when he was there, and it was a waste for Prince to defend Posey's open shots.

During the timeout, Coach Kruger replaced McGrady with Jason Terry, Liu Mang and Prince continued to stay on the court, and Josh Smith and Rasheed Wallace partnered in the interior.

On the Heat side, Pat Riley replaced Jason Williams with Payton, Wade and Posey's forward and guard line did not change, and Haslem replaced Antoine Walker, who had a bad touch today, and O'Neal continued to stay on the court.

…

After the timeout, the Hawks have the ball.

After receiving the serve from Jason Terry, Liu Mang dribbled across half court, then passed it back to Jason Terry, and ran without the ball himself, leading Wade to run.

The advantage of off-ball offense is that it can consume the opponent's defensive players' physical energy. Off-ball running is also very important in offense. Posey followed Liu Mang everywhere.

The Hawks' substitution made the Heat's three defensive masters Wade, Payton, and Posey's outside line combination seem a bit wasteful, just like when the Hawks started. Pat Riley didn't expect the Hawks to replace McGrady at this time. In such a tense game, the main players should be used to death!

Jason Terry saw Liu Mang running to disrupt the defense, and did not consider passing the ball to Liu Mang.

Payton defended Jason Terry at a position a little to the right of the top arc, very focused. Jason Terry played against the Heat four times in the regular season last season, averaging 26.5 points per game, and a three-point shooting rate of 50%, making him one of the Heat's most troublesome opponents.

Jason Terry was very confident and dribbled the ball between his legs continuously. Seeing Jason Terry start to make "meaningless" movements before shooting, Payton immediately stuck to prevent Jason Terry from shooting.

Jason Terry's continuous dribbling under the crotch was a fake move!

The most inexplicable fake move in history!

As Payton was sticking to him, Jason Terry started quickly, passed by Payton, and rushed into the three-point line!

Payton is worthy of being the best defensive point guard in history. He reacted quickly and retreated quickly, trying to press forward and steal the ball from behind, but at this time Liu Mang, who was running without the ball, came up to block Payton. Jason Terry rushed to the mid-range, and Posey immediately switched to Jason Terry.

After Liu Mang blocked Payton, he turned around and cut in from the middle. Jason Terry passed the ball to the middle. Liu Mang received the ball, O'Neal came up to defend, Liu Mang threw the ball into the air, Josh Smith cut in from the baseline and lifted the ball in the air, and the ball hit the backboard and bounced into the basket!

Too difficult!

If Rasheed Wallace hadn't come up and Kwame Brown hadn't gone down to make room under the basket, the Hawks wouldn't have such a good space to play tactics.

However, Kwame Brown went down, and the Hawks' defense at the basket suddenly became several levels weaker.

When the Heat attacked, without Kwame Brown and O'Neal, Rasheed Wallace really couldn't stop O'Neal. O'Neal, who was poorly defended by Kwame Brown in the first half, easily occupied a good position in the defense with Rasheed Wallace, received a pass from Payton, turned around and made a small hook shot.

After Kwame Brown was replaced, there was space under the basket on the offensive end, and the Hawks' offense was better, but there were problems on the defensive end.

Without the 122-kilogram Kwame Brown, the Hawks had no one except Alonzo Mourning who could fight O'Neal, and Alonzo's playing space would become smaller.

There are pros and cons, and the Hawks can only compete with the Heat slowly and test each other slowly.

On the Hawks side, Liu Mang and Jason Terry are the two ball-handlers, Josh Smith can cut and pass, Rasheed Wallace can open up space, shoot and pass, and the offensive efficiency has been greatly improved.

On the Heat side, O'Neal had an offensive opportunity and seized the opportunity to play more, and the score between the two teams continued to be tense.

The Hawks' goal gradually became clear, and they kept on playing.

After the first quarter, the Hawks trailed the Heat by 3 points with a score of 22 to 25.

…

The first quarter was exhausted. Wade broke out, scoring 11 points in a single quarter, and O'Neal scored 8 points. The two scored 19 points in a single quarter, which was an excellent performance. The key was that the defense was very good. In the first seven minutes, when the Hawks lineup could not open up space under the basket, they defended the Hawks very badly.

However, the Hawks' offense was still very good in the last five minutes, but Wade and O'Neal played too well, and the Hawks did a good job defending the others.

Wade and O'Neal made 9 of 15 shots and 4 of 8 free throws, but the other players of the Heat only scored 6 points in the first quarter, 1 of 6, and only Jason Williams made a three-pointer.

Liu Mang scored 7 points and 3 assists, and Jason Terry scored 4 points and 2 assists. The two were the key to the Hawks' tight score in the last 5 minutes of the first quarter.

O'Neal must have gone down to rest at this time. Coach Kruger replaced Liu Mang and McGrady's back line with Iguodala, David Lee, and Kwame Brown's frontcourt combination.

On the Heat side, Jason Williams, Wade, and Posey's three-line combination returned, Antoine Walker and Haslem came up, and Pat Riley also wanted to use a lineup that could open up space to create better singles opportunities for Wade.

In the second quarter, the Heat pointed to Wade.

…

After the break, the Heat attacked first, and Wade continued to break through.

There was no way to stop this. In the league, only Kobe, James, Artest, and Pierce had a chance to defend Wade. Others couldn't stand it.

Kwame Brown's blocking was very timely, but Wade had a good touch today. He relied on Kwame Brown's low layup and pulled the lever to avoid Liu Mang's block and fell into the basket.

However, the Hawks were not in a hurry. There was still a long time. It was only the second quarter.

Keeping the score close was the key!

Liu Mang pushed the ball to the frontcourt. McGrady didn't come to receive the ball. He went to the bottom corner to be a shooter. Defending Wade consumed a lot of his energy. In addition to counterattacks, he didn't take the initiative to attack. He played the same as in the Raptors.

But even so, McGrady did contribute on the offensive end. He didn't hold the ball, and Posey didn't dare to let him go.

After Liu Mang pushed to the three-point line, he saw Wade taking small steps and looking very cautious. Liu Mang moved to the right, and Wade hurriedly followed, not daring to relax at all.

Just when Wade was concentrating on predicting whether Liu Mang was going to break through or shoot, Liu Mang picked up the ball.

What was he going to do? Not a pull-up shot, nor a breakthrough.

In Wade's confusion, Liu Mang lobbed the ball to the inside.

Wade looked at Liu Mang in surprise as he gave the ball to a rookie!

David Lee, the legendary rich second-generation who "loves basketball more than the country"!

David Lee was so excited that he almost jumped up when he heard that he was going to play in the second quarter. It was too unexpected. In the previous few games, he only played in the garbage time of the last quarter and didn't have many opportunities to play. He was a singles player, or a singles player in positional warfare. When the Hawks played fast breaks, he was basically useless. There were better players than him in cutting in, and there were also better players than him in receiving and shooting. Due to poor defense, the Hawks didn't use him when they played defensive counterattacks.

But this time he was replaced as the second main attack point, very excited, and frantically blocked with Antoine Walker on the right side of the three-second zone, and really stood his position.

Seeing Liu Mangzhen pass the ball to him, David Lee received the ball and tried to calm himself down. He had to seize this opportunity and show his singles ability!

David Lee slammed the ball on the ground and directly crashed back, and his broad and solid body hit Antoine Walker's chest.

So direct!

Antoine Walker didn't expect David Lee to be so direct!

David Lee has a high basketball IQ. He used a very different back-to-back defense from other people's back-to-back defenses, which often need to be tested first. He took the initiative to crash into it first. Antoine Walker was not knocked back, but was closely pressed by David Lee. David Lee turned and cut in. While Antoine Walker didn't react, he turned around and blocked the position first, and shot a layup...

When Antoine Walker came to the Heat, his defensive attitude had no place to attack. He was very active. He didn't get discouraged when he lost his position and tried his best to interfere.

"Bang"

David Lee's overly excited shot hit the rim, but David Lee grabbed the offensive rebound himself!

He wanted to continue shooting, but David Lee saw someone cutting in and passed the ball immediately.

Liu Mang followed Wade into the paint when he rushed in to grab the rebound. Wade didn't grab the rebound and his position was exposed.

Liu Mang just followed in, but David Lee unexpectedly had the awareness to pass the ball. Liu Mang received the ball, and he didn't stop his hands and followed up with a shot.

24 ​​to 27, the score difference was still 3 points.

It was the Heat's turn to attack again. Wade's breakthrough layup didn't go in this time. David Lee of the Hawks continued to single out Antoine Walker and turned over to make a close-range jump shot.

Immediately Wade broke through and passed the ball to Haslem, who also scored.

Then Liu Mang's three-pointer missed, and Wade's three-pointer to Posey also missed. The touch of the two teams' outside lines was tortured enough, and they returned to the main attack on the basket.

The reason why the Hawks scored so many points in the first four games was mainly because the opponent's defense was not very good, so the Hawks could play like that. If they met a team coached by Pat Riley, their efficiency would drop immediately.

The league's rules to encourage offense were not as exaggerated as they would be 10 years later, which is why coaches like Popovich did not panic and make changes immediately after seeing the Hawks' aggressive start.

Old-school basketball is still the mainstream, but the Hawks can kill some teams with shooting.

Wade felt too much pressure because he could not widen the score gap!

Even though they played so well, the opponent was still keeping the score close.

Wade was under great pressure, but little did he know that Liu Mang was also under great pressure.

However, Liu Mang did not show any anxiety. The confidence of a player who had always won allowed Liu Mang to respond calmly to the current situation.

Grind!

In the first half of the second quarter, the Heat maintained a slight lead with Wade's breakthrough and passing style.

On the Hawks side, in addition to Liu Mang's containment point, there was always another strong point, either McGrady occasionally played, or David Lee's low-post attack.

At this time, David Lee's role was reflected. Selecting him was a very correct choice for the Hawks in this draft. He was strong in combat power and deserved to be the MVP of the Rookie Game in Liu Mang's impression.

In the second half of the second quarter, O'Neal came up, and the Heat's offense began to be more fierce. The combination of the two superstars Wade and O'Neal was very strong.

The Hawks also replaced Jason Terry with Liu Mang, Prince, Josh Smith, and Rasheed Wallace in a timely manner.

Pat Riley was really envious of the Hawks for having so many players to rotate!

The key is that there are so many stars, and they are so cheap, paying only more than 9 million but less than 10 million in luxury tax, and they are all high-quality trading chips, with flexible salary space.

After the official timeout, O'Neal, who had rested for most of the quarter, scored two consecutive goals, while Prince and Jason Terry missed two consecutive three-pointers, and the score difference was widened to 6 points!

At this time, Liu Mang held the ball, did not pass it, and played alone.

Wade defended Liu Mang at the top arc, and Liu Mang took a step back. Wade saw that Liu Mang's action was very similar to his own, and he knew what Liu Mang was going to do at once, but Liu Mang made the move first, and Wade was a beat slower!

"Ding... The strongest first step is triggered. The host's speed will increase by 5 within two seconds of this breakthrough..."

Liu Mang broke through from the right like a flash of lightning. Wade was a beat late and didn't have time to catch up. Liu Mang broke through to the mid-range. Haslem rushed over and Liu Mang made a mid-range jump shot!

Haslem was a beat late. When he hit Liu Mang's arm, Liu Mang had already thrown the ball out.

"Beep..."

"Shua"

The referee's whistle and the sound of the ball going in came at the same time. The goal was valid and there was a penalty!

Amid the boos of the Heat fans and the cheers of some Chinese fans and Atlanta fans, Liu Mang also made the free throw

38 to 41, the score difference returned to within 5 points.

Wade was anxious, holding the ball and forcing the inside line, passing it to O'Neal, who received the ball and made a high-pitched shot, and the score became 43 to 38, back to a 5-point difference.

It was the Hawks' turn to attack again, and Liu Mang continued to hold the ball and play singles, still forcing the ball.

Wade was well prepared this time. Wade was different from Liu Mang. Liu Mang's strong breakthrough could have the same burst speed as Wade, relying on skills, while Wade relied on his body. When he moved sideways and retreated, he could also have the same burst speed, and suddenly blocked Liu Mang's breakthrough route.

But this is what Liu Mang wanted, he just wanted to use Wade's ability to defend against breakthroughs!

Liu Mang's right foot just stepped into the three-point line, and seeing Wade's explosive speed retreating, he stepped out with his right foot and pushed hard on the ground, and his body bounced to the left and back, and bounced to the top arc.

When it bounced out, Liu Mang had already grabbed the ball and put it on his left waist. When Wade rushed over in panic, Liu Mang had already thrown the ball out!

Liu Mang's sniper three-pointer...

Also scored!

The mid-range 2+1 just now made Liu Mang find his touch!

41 to 43, the score difference was narrowed to 2 points again!

Here it comes again!

The psychological pressure on the Heat team is too great!

In the regular time, the Hawks relied on team play to keep the score close. Whenever Wade or O'Neal exploded and wanted to widen the score, Liu Mang stood up and scored continuously.

Liu Mang was actually under great pressure, but he did not show any nervousness on his face, which put a lot of psychological pressure on the Heat players, especially Wade who was on the opposite side!

The Hawks continued to keep the score close! Withstood the explosion of Wade and O'Neal!

Liu Mang was too stable and had excellent scoring explosiveness. At the end of the first half, he scored 19 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, helping the Hawks to keep the score close at 47 to 49!