Chapter 1033 1032. The Real Joy of Passing the Ball
After the halftime break, the game was about to start again, and the starting players of the two teams in the second half came on the court.
On the Warriors side, the double point guard combination of Fisher and Baron Davis continued to play. Fisher's three-point shooting was very accurate, and he made two three-pointers in the first half. In the past six years, except for the year when he was a substitute for Payton, Fisher's three-point shooting rate in the other five years was above 37%, and he dared to throw it. He would shoot four or five times every game. The three-point shooting was steady, which was perfect for Baron Davis.
Jason Richardson continued to play as a small forward, and Murphy and Andres Biedrins partnered in the interior.
On the Hawks side, Liu Mang, McGrady, Iguodala, Josh Smith, and Rasheed Wallace played.
Liu Mang followed Jason Richardson to run.
How can we do what Stockton said?
During a halftime break, Liu Mang didn't think of it.
If it was so easy to think of, there wouldn't be so few masters of organizing offense.
When the team staff came to inform the players that the second half of the game was about to start, Liu Mang still didn't understand.
He simply didn't think too much about it. Anyway, he had 10 assists in the first half. Liu Mang's assists were in double digits for the second time this season. It was a good start.
Defend first, and the most important thing is to catch up with the score.
Baron Davis pushed through half court, and McGrady's defense became more active and more oppressive. He pressed on to defend from the moment Baron Davis crossed half court.
Baron Davis immediately started to accelerate and rushed into the three-point line next to McGrady.
Peak Baron Davis' breakthrough was difficult to stop. McGrady stuck to Baron Davis and squeezed to the right side of the free throw line, but was still shaken off. But at this time, Josh Smith quickly helped to defend.
Baron Davis immediately passed the ball to Murphy who was pulled to the bottom corner. When Murphy received the ball, Iguodala had already let go of Fisher and went to Murphy to defend.
Murphy quickly passed the ball to Fisher. McGrady no longer chased Baron Davis at this time, but blocked Fisher!
Super fast defensive rotation!
The Warriors' large-scale ball transfer this time did not break through the Hawks' defense!
Seeing that there were only 7 seconds left, Fisher had no chance to shoot due to McGrady's height and wingspan, so he chose to break through.
When Fisher was young, his breakthrough was still quite threatening, but at this time, Fisher no longer had that ability and was closely followed by McGrady.
Fisher rushed to the right side of the three-second zone, leaned on McGrady with his strong arms, and threw a shot at a distance...
"Snap"
McGrady suddenly jumped up and gave Fisher a frontal block!
Iguodala and Murphy both rushed up from the bottom corner. Iguodala grabbed the ball first and immediately passed it to Liu Mang, who was one step inside the top arc. After Iguodala passed the ball, he immediately ran towards the frontcourt.
McGrady and Josh Smith also rushed forward quickly, and Rasheed Wallace followed closely behind Liu Mang, who was advancing quickly after receiving the ball.
The Hawks players were actively looking for scoring opportunities for themselves so that Liu Mang could pass the ball to them.
The Warriors players were also actively blocking Liu Mang's pass. The Warriors' lineup was fast, with five players retreating to defend four players who were looking for opportunities. They did a good job of blocking.
However, they only focused on blocking four opponents who were shooting and forgot about Liu Mang!
Liu Mang went directly to the basket from the middle, took a step inside the free throw line, and easily dunked an empty basket!
In the first half, Liu Mang was focused on passing the ball. Now he found that as long as he ran back, he had opportunities everywhere! Whether it was chasing three-pointers or breaking into the basket.
9 points, 10 assists, 3 rebounds, only 1 point away from a double-double.
After Liu Mang succeeded in the dunk, he quickly retreated, and the other players on the Hawks also retreated immediately.
Coach Kruger felt much more comfortable when he saw Liu Mang start to score. He changed this lineup to match Liu Mang's speed and the opponent's fast pace.
47 to 49, the score difference was still two points.
The Warriors were scored on, but they didn't think anything was wrong. Their defense was bad to begin with, and they were lucky to hold the Hawks to 45 points in the first half.
Baron Davis pushed forward to the frontcourt, and after a breakthrough, he passed the ball, but he still couldn't break the Hawks' defense.
The Hawks' lineup is too mobile! The defense switch is too fast!
Coach Kruger put all the five players who did the best defense in the first half on the court. They can run and defend, and locked the Warriors' large-scale ball transfer. The Hawks fell behind at halftime. The Hawks players didn't want to find out the reason. If they found the root cause, where would the boss put his face, so they put all their enthusiasm on defense.
The ball finally went to Jason Richardson who was guarded by Liu Mang.
Jason Richardson's ball-handling attack is getting worse and worse. He has the ability to break through, but he uses it less and less. The low-post ability he had before has disappeared as the team's play becomes faster and faster. Most of his shots are from mid-range and long-range. In the past two years, he has only taken 4 shots per game under the basket, accounting for less than a quarter of his shots.
Jason Richardson tried to break through, but was blocked by Liu Mang's speed and confrontation. Jason Richardson found that he could not squeeze Liu Mang with his body to get shooting space like in previous years!
There was no other way. With 3 seconds left, Jason Richardson faced Liu Mang's long defense and shot a two-pointer...
It missed again!
McGrady grabbed the rebound and immediately threw it to Liu Mang, and continued to run to the front court without the ball, counterattacking!
Liu Mang wanted to try to pass the ball, and his teammates were very supportive. Although there were problems in the first half, they still supported him. The other four players of the Hawks were very active in running to find opportunities to catch the ball and shoot for themselves.
Liu Mang quickly advanced across half court. After reaching the top arc, he saw that except for the mid-range help defender who blocked his breakthrough dunk, there was still no one defending the top arc!
This...
Liu Mang chased the three-pointer!
Liu Mang actually had a good touch in the first half, and he made one of two three-pointers, but he shot less, had less offensive threat, and had no free throws, so he only got 7 points.
After the third quarter, Liu Mang made his first three-pointer!
50 to 49, the Hawks only played for 1 minute in the third quarter and overtook the score!
Liu Mang hasn't felt this way for a long time, holding the ball in a wide open space.
Although the first half was a failure, it also made Liu Mang find some fun in increasing the number of passes.
With more passes, the opponent dare not double-team so strictly, and even because his teammates scored more points, he would have more shooting opportunities!
Liu Mang still needs to learn how to organize the offense, but he has found the fun. It is much more fun than the simple and boring passing in the first half!
Liu Mang scored 5 points in a row, 12 points and 10 assists. He got a double-double just at the beginning of the third quarter!
Baron Davis and Fisher both found that Liu Mang's playing style had changed. It seemed that he was not only keen on passing the ball, but also started shooting!
The 4-point lead that was obtained after half a game was gone in an instant!
Since Liu Mang has recovered, he can only attack. Baron Davis knows that Liu Mang can't always be stupid.
The Warriors strengthened the decisiveness of the offense. Baron Davis went to the frontcourt and made a three-pointer with a quick stop outside the three-point line!
Clean and neat, although the hit rate is not good, Baron Davis can make one or two three-pointers in every game, and they are all single-player strong shots. McGrady was shot this time.
McGrady was helpless. The opponent's three-point hit rate was only 31%. This time he chose to take a step to prevent breakthroughs, and the opponent shot directly.
But soon, after Liu Mang advanced to the frontcourt, facing Fisher's single defense, he broke through to the right side of the free throw line for a one-on-one high single, leaned on Fisher and then made a turnaround jump shot!
7 points in a row!
The score became 52-all!
Baron Davis is also the kind of player who wants to try a second shot after making a shot. This time McGrady was very close, and Baron Davis wanted to rely on his touch to get the lead again. He shot again against McGrady's defense...
The characteristic of Baron Davis is... He dared to make an empty three-pointer last time, and he dared to miss three shots next time!
Liu Mang was following Jason Richardson around the baseline, and suddenly saw a round object coming towards his head, and subconsciously caught it with both hands.
Lying down to receive a rebound!
Baron Davis missed three three-pointers!
The Hawks immediately counterattacked!
Liu Mang quickly advanced across half court. This time, the Warriors did not dare to let Liu Mang go. Fisher retreated to the midline and tried to block Liu Mang at the midline. Liu Mang changed direction while moving at high speed, destroying his knees while pulling horizontally at high speed, and continued to sprint at high speed.
Baron Davis blocked the three-point line as soon as possible, and Liu Mang immediately transferred the ball.
Iguodala received the ball from the left mid-range. Iguodala, who was running, did not dribble after receiving the ball. He took two steps and followed McGrady to the basket. Biedrins turned around to defend. Iguodala jumped one step, dodged, and made a layup to score two points!
The referee had the whistle in his mouth and wanted to blow a traveling call, but he thought it seemed to be a new rule, so he didn't blow it.
The whistle was almost blown because the referee had not seen anyone else use this trick except James, and he didn't react for a while.
Iguodala, who has a good relationship with the little emperor James, was the first to learn this trick in a fast break! Usually, dribbling breakthroughs are not used, but fast breaks do not require dribbling. Iguodala jumps one more step, making fast breaks more difficult to defend!
This is what David Stern wants to encourage offense, but he did not expect that the rules have been announced for half a month, and almost no one still uses them. Those who use them just accidentally took one more step and the referee did not blow the whistle.
54 to 52, the Hawks immediately took the initiative after the start of the second half.
And what surprised Liu Mang was that this ball was actually counted as an assist!
Iguodala did not dribble, and it was regarded as a three-step layup after receiving the ball, which was a continuous action!
14 points, 11 assists and 4 rebounds!
The fans at the scene began to cheer again. The Hawks home court was almost silent in the first half. Now seeing Liu Mang get 7 points and 1 assist in more than two minutes, the team also overtook the score, and finally became enthusiastic again.
Playing against a team like the Warriors with average defense, Liu Mang should do whatever he wants like now! 10 assists in the first half are good, but what kind of game is that? The fans can't stand it.
That is to say, this game was not broadcast live in the United States, and the imperial TV station did not broadcast it, otherwise Liu Mang would have been scolded like a dog on the Internet.
The Eagles' defensive enthusiasm was good, and now that they started to score, their defensive enthusiasm became stronger. In addition, this was the best lineup for defending the Warriors that Coach Kruger replaced specifically to clean up Liu Mang's mess, so the Warriors missed more shots than in the first half.
The Hawks counterattacked continuously. Liu Mang scored by himself when he was defended alone. When he was double-teamed, he passed the ball to his teammates. For the time being, regardless of whether there was an assist, McGrady, Iguodala, Josh Smith, and Rasheed Wallace could pass the ball. The Hawks' offense suddenly became alive. However, all four of them were concerned about Liu Mang's desire for an assist, so the main thing was to find a way to throw the ball without dribbling after receiving the ball, just like Iguodala's bold attempt to take three steps and then jump and layup.
Although it affected some offensive efficiency, it couldn't withstand the counterattacks!
In the official timeout in the third quarter, Liu Mang scored 9 points and 3 assists in half a quarter, leading the Hawks to a 20-6 wave!
65-55, the Hawks played half of the third quarter and quickly overtook the score and widened the gap to 10 points!
The Warriors are going to collapse!
This situation is too uncomfortable!
In the first half, they seized the offensive mistakes of the Hawks and relied on their active defense, which they were not good at. They finally led by 4 points in the first half, but the opponent took only half a quarter to overtake and lead by 10 points!
Fisher, the veteran, was okay. He had no competition with Liu Mang. Baron Davis' target was not Liu Mang, but Francis and Mike Bibby.
But Jason Richardson, a player in the same class as Liu Mang, saw that Liu Mang wanted to score and quickly overtook the score. This feeling was too torturous for him!
Especially when the opponent fell behind and wanted to catch up, Jason Richardson felt that he would never be able to surpass Liu Mang in his life. The gap between the stars of the same class was so big that Jason Williams wanted to give up competing with the strongest wave of stars.
Jason Richardson was only seven months older than Liu Mang. At the age of 24, he averaged 24 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists per game. He was also one of the top players and had the opportunity to become a top star in his peak period.
The top stars are already the ones standing at the top of the NBA. They are definitely guaranteed to get a veteran contract or a maximum salary when they change teams, just like Rahim and Arenas.
But when there is a player like Liu Mang in the same class, Jason Richardson is under too much psychological pressure. He thought that Liu Mang was stupid and could win once, but now he finds out that he is just kidding...
After the official timeout, the Hawks continued to send out the lineup in the first half of the quarter. Coach Kruger finally breathed a sigh of relief. Liu Mang played normally.
In this case, continue to play with this lineup that Liu Mang played normally, let Liu Mang play normally for a while, and let Liu Mang get used to the feeling of playing normally.
Coach Kruger no longer objects to Liu Mang passing the ball. Opposition is useless, isn't it? The key is that the player who organizes the offense must play reasonably. Now Liu Mang is doing well.
Liu Mang has the talent to organize the offense, but in the past two years, his passing role has been infinitely weakened. The team needs him to take on almost one-third of the scoring tasks. He mainly strengthens his offensive skills, so it is just abandoned.
Now I started to actively try to organize the offense, and slowly began to find the fun, especially after not deliberately seeking assists, I slowly got some feeling.
At the end of the third quarter, Liu Mang scored 22 points, 6 rebounds and 14 assists! Helped the Hawks to lead by 18 points in three quarters with a score of 81 to 63!
The Hawks only scored 45 points in the first half, but 36 points in the third quarter!
And the defensive lineup was more targeted, and the defensive enthusiasm was even stronger than before, and the Warriors were defended by 14 points in a single quarter!
Liu Mang only had 4 assists in the third quarter, especially only 1 assist in the second half, but he first used his own points to create a threat and then passed it out, so that his teammates could organize the offensive pass, and the Hawks' offense suddenly came alive!
It was also four or five assists in a single quarter, but the effect was completely different! 15 points and 4 assists in a single quarter, Liu Mang only sent out 4 assists, but his teammates scored 21 points!
In the fourth quarter, Liu Mang was replaced and did not continue to play. With a difference of 18 points, the game almost entered garbage time.
Calderon, Jason Terry, Barry, David Lee, Kwame Brown went up, Jason Terry and Kwame Brown held the lead firmly.
In the end, the Hawks won 106 to 94 and won nine consecutive games!
After the game, Liu Mang was surrounded by reporters for an interview.
"Ace, you seemed to pass the ball too deliberately today, what's the reason?"
When Liu Mang heard this question, he answered without thinking: "Brush assists! What else can I do? Can't you see it?"
What is the meaning of talking to death? It's Liu Mang.
The reporter wanted to dig something, but now he really has no mood to dig news!
Too direct!
The reporter caught Jason Terry who was circling around and trying to get the camera. Although it was not a live broadcast across the United States, it was not bad to show his face in the news.
"Jason, what do you think of Ace's play in the first half?"
Jason Terry was so happy. He forced his score to double digits in garbage time and scored 12 points. He scored 6 points in the fourth quarter and made 3 of 4 shots, all from mid-range. He showed his power as the king of the last quarter. It seems that his next contract can get 40 million a year. However, the data of 12 points and 4 assists is still a bit average. He didn't get the opportunity to be interviewed, so he came to get some camera time, and he really got some.
What should I say? Just say something nice to my teammates! Jason Terry replied: "Ace did a good job. He had 10 assists in the first half and led us to win by 12 points in the end."
Is this a compliment?
The reporter didn't feel that it was a veiled criticism, so there was no point in talking!
At least talk about what the teammates did wrong!
One directly admitted that he had made assists, and the other praised his teammates. The news material was available, but this process... made the reporter feel that he had learned media for so many years in vain!
The players were so honest and united, how could he use his pen?
Liu Mang waved his hand and turned away: "Okay, I'm very tired today, and I have to go back to continue studying how to make assists in the next game..."