Chapter 1203 1202. Heat Three Collapses
Wade made 9 free throws in the first quarter!
4 of 8 shots, 6 of 9 free throws, 14 points in a single quarter.
The performance was very good, but the game did not go as Wade and Pat Riley expected.
When the league gave Wade a body whistle, the biggest advantage of the Heat was not how many free throws Wade had. Wade was not good at free throws. If he was given 20 free throws in a game, he would be lucky if he could make 13 or 14.
The main purpose was to take advantage of the Hawks' fear of pressing Wade, and the Hawks had to double-team in advance if they could not press Wade. In this way, the Heat would have a lot of open shooting opportunities, and use the body whistle to put McGrady and Iguodala, two Hawks players who were relatively more effective in defending Wade on the outside, into a foul crisis. McGrady's foul crisis had a huge impact on the Hawks. The biggest advantage of the body whistle lies here.
But Pat Riley and Wade never expected that Liu Mang would come to defend alone, and the Hawks, after the person who helped defend Wade got two fouls, would rather let Wade force Liu Mang one-on-one, and not double-team, and not help defend under the basket, and let Wade eat Liu Mang alive.
Even if it is a decoration, as long as the footsteps can be followed, it will have a certain interference to the offensive players.
Moreover, Liu Mang, whose defense is close to the best defensive lineup, although he does not give such strong physical contact like McGrady and Iguodala, and cannot lock Wade in the mid-range like Prince, but Liu Mang is more balanced, and can give some interference in the mid-range and under the basket.
The key point is that Liu Mang defended alone, and the other Hawks did not double-team, and even Wade went to the basket to challenge Liu Mang one-on-one. The other players did not double-team, so Wade shot 3 of 5 in the second half of the quarter, and scored 14 points in a single quarter, but did not let the other players of the Heat enjoy the advantages brought by the hair whistle!
Liu Mang and Prince defended Wade alone, the main purpose is here!
Wade can play Liu Mang one-on-one, Liu Mang can only slightly limit the peak Wade, but this is enough, at least he will not be called for fouls all the time, and there will be no situation where McGrady or Iguodala will be called for fouls and unable to contribute if they touch Wade closely. This is enough.
Moreover, Wade scored 14 points in a single quarter, and Liu Mang scored 10 points in the first half of the quarter!
With the body hair whistle, Wade scored 14 points and 3 assists in the first quarter, while Liu Mang scored 16 points in the first quarter!
After the first quarter, Wade, who was whistled, was unable to help the Heat turn the situation around. Instead, because he deliberately wanted to use this advantage to replace O'Neal, Wade rushed to the three-second zone without a basket to receive the ball, and there were only a bunch of shooters on the perimeter. Facing the excellent outside defense of Iguodala and Josh Smith of the Hawks, Wade became a one-man show. There was always someone in front of his teammates on the outside when he passed the ball, and there was no basket to receive the ball. There was only the opportunity to pass the ball to the outside. The Heat did not play very well in the first quarter.
Wade's hit rate against Liu Mang was very high, but there were also situations where Liu Mang forced him to have no good shooting opportunities. In this case, Wade could only pass the ball to the outside, and there was always someone defending the outside, so his hit rate was average.
In addition, O'Neal was replaced, the Heat's interior defense fell sharply, and the rebounding protection was relatively poor. Haslem was very strong in rushing, but his ability to help his teammates to grab rebounds was much worse. The Hawks repeatedly counterattacked, Liu Mang, Iguodala, Josh Smith, Kwame Brown counterattacked and attacked the basket, and Jason Terry's three-pointer was flying in the first quarter!
The Heat only scored 22 points in the first quarter, while the Hawks scored 33 points!
The Hawks led by 11 points in a single quarter!
Wade and Pat Riley were a little excited when they first got the whistle, but they didn't expect that they would be used by the opponent just after using this point.
O'Neal was replaced in advance, and the defensive center Mark Jackson was replaced instead of Haslem who opened up space. The Heat took the initiative to give up their iron-blooded defense. After the Hawks were technically fouled by McGrady, they scored 21 points in more than six minutes!
This was a strategic mistake made by the Heat. Without O'Neal or Mark Jackson guarding the basket, the Heat's inside line was like a playground, allowing Liu Mang, Iguodala, Josh Smith, and Kwame Brown to abuse them at will.
…
With a method to limit the effect of the hair whistle, the Hawks took an 11-point lead at the start!
The Hawks began to become more stable.
In the second quarter, Pat Riley of the Heat saw the situation in the second half of the first quarter and knew that he could not fully utilize Wade's hair whistle characteristics to arrange a circle of shooters on the outside. He could only replace O'Neal again, stabilize, and continue to sharpen the iron-blooded defense.
On the Hawks side, the strategy has been determined, let Liu Mang or Prince take turns to defend Wade alone, never double-team, and would rather give Wade the opportunity to score high points.
After receiving psychological counseling from Rasheed Wallace, McGrady calmed down. As one of Jordan's successors, among the six Jordan successors, only he and Carter did not have the so-called star whistle. Liu Mang, Iverson, Kobe, and James all had them. He was used to it, but he was very angry at the time.
In the second quarter, the Hawks sent out a lineup of Liu Mang, McGrady, Korver, Rasheed Wallace, and Mourning.
The Heat sent out a lineup of Payton, Wade, Derek Anderson, Haslem, and O'Neal.
Liu Mang looked at the Heat's rotation lineup, which was really amazing. Derek Anderson took over the 9 million premium contract just to strengthen the lineup and take advantage of O'Neal's peak period to hit the championship.
After the start of the second quarter, the Heat attacked first.
Wade advanced to the front court with the ball. Seeing Liu Mang defending, he wanted to rest on the court for a while. Liu Mang had a high success rate in singles, but it was tiring!
Liu Mang was like a perpetual motion machine, as if he never knew fatigue. After playing hard on the defensive end, he could still go wild on the offensive end.
And the one defending Liu Mang was Wade!
Payton fell to the low post and blocked McGrady for the ball. Wade passed the ball to Payton.
Payton played Kidd and Carter in the low post in the second round. His low post single hit rate was as high as 50%, and his efficiency was comparable to O'Neal. However, when he met McGrady, Payton was a little depressed.
He turned around and the opponent blocked him with half a step. He ignored the fake move to shoot. Payton picked up the ball. McGrady raised his arms to interfere, but he didn't jump!
Don't say it, Liu Mang may not be able to defend Payton in the low post, but McGrady can. He has a big height advantage, just like Richard Jefferson, who can cover Payton in the low post single without jumping.
Payton twisted in the low post for a long time, and seeing that he was about to commit a five-second violation, he could only throw the ball towards the basket. Fortunately, O'Neal was under the basket. O'Neal squeezed Mourning and touched the ball in the air. Payton's three-point shot turned into an assist, and O'Neal touched the ball into the basket.
Mourning failed to defend, gritted his teeth and said nothing, picked up the ball and passed it to Liu Mang.
Mourning's role, or the role of the Hawks center, is to consume O'Neal's physical energy. When O'Neal's physical energy declines, Wade can't use the body hair whistle to create opportunities for his teammates, and their advantage will be great!
When it was the Hawks' offense, Liu Mang passed half court and encountered Payton's defense. Liu Mang gave the ball to McGrady who was defended by Wade!
After calming down, McGrady was mainly responsible for defending Payton or Jason Williams, the two point guards, and the effect was very good. When defending others, McGrady was not targeted by the referee. The referee just wanted to give Wade a body hair whistle. After all, this is the Hawks' home court, and the Hawks are more popular than the Heat.
On the offensive end, Liu Mang and McGrady will play singles against whoever Wade defends!
Wade's style of playing both father and mother is unbearable even though he is only 24 years old and young!
After Coach Kruger discovered this, he allowed Liu Mang, McGrady, and Jason Terry to keep two people on the court at any time to provide super singles firepower to fight against the Heat when O'Neal is in good physical condition.
Wait until O'Neal is tired and Wade starts to play.
Focus on consuming Wade and O'Neal!
With a lead of more than ten points, the Hawks have enough opportunities to grind!
…
When the Hawks took advantage of the Heat's attempt to play tricks and used the hair whistle to make a fuss to counterattack the Heat in the first quarter, the Hawks took the initiative.
This advantage is like a snowball, rolling bigger and bigger, and the Heat fell into a passive position. They restarted the iron-blooded style of play, and the Hawks also followed the iron-blooded style of play.
It is true that the Heat can send out two lineups that can make the playoffs in the East, but the Hawks have a better lineup depth!
At the end of the first half, the Hawks led by 9 points 59 to 50. The Heat relied on O'Neal's 13 points in the second quarter and Wade's 10 points in the second quarter. They had a small advantage in the second quarter and scored a single quarter score of 28 to 26.
But the Heat's continuity was not so strong in the third quarter. O'Neal was withered, and only Wade was left. Wade scored 11 points in the third quarter.
On the Hawks side, the three Hawks took turns to play and maintained an efficient level.
Especially in the third quarter, Wade's physical fitness declined significantly, and his defensive efficiency dropped. The angry McGrady scored 15 points in the third quarter, helping the Hawks score 29 to 22 in the third quarter.
After three quarters, the Hawks were 88 to 72, and the score difference was widened to 16 points!
If the Heat hadn't wanted to use the help from the referee in the first quarter and wanted to use the rules to deal with the Hawks, Liu Mang couldn't think of a good way to target the Heat. After all, the Heat was getting better and better, and Liu Mang was ready to fight to the death from the beginning. The two teams looked similar at the moment.
But they wanted to use the rules, which gave Liu Mang a chance to counterattack! It gave the Hawks a chance to establish an advantage in the first quarter.
The Heat had the strength to slowly grind with the Hawks, so as not to be pulled away by 10 points, but they made the wrong choice, which made them enter the quagmire of chasing points from the second half of the first quarter!
Chasing points has not been able to narrow the gap to within 5 points, and trying not to let the gap widen to more than 5 points, there is a big psychological difference!
The Heat was defeated in the third quarter!