Chapter 1351 1350. Defense Is Not that Simple

A team ranked sixth in the Western Conference actually looks so threatening!

It’s a stronger sense of pressure than the Spurs brought to the Hawks!

Liu Mang had a feeling, and he didn't know if it was an illusion. He felt that the current Suns team... had no chance of defeating the Spurs in the playoffs!

"The opponent may send O'Neal in the third quarter, and we should plan for this." Liu Mang suggested.

"Yeah, I think so," Stockton echoed.

This is a troublesome thing.

Coach Krueger also has a headache.

The Suns are better than expected. In the Western Conference, coach Kruger originally only regarded the Lakers, Marriotts and Bulls as their strong rivals. After all, these three teams are the most prominent in the Western Conference.

But now Coach Kruger finds that the Suns also have the ability to reach the finals!

That's different.

Originally, when playing against the Suns, Coach Kruger was planning to let Liu Mang play just over 30 minutes as before, but if the Suns can be on par with the Lakers, then Liu Mang's playing time will not be restricted.

And in order to maintain the third position in the Eastern Conference, this time the Eagles have five consecutive away games, and they must work hard to win them all!

…

After the second half of the game started, the Eagles sent out the strongest lineup of Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Tracy McGrady, Marion, and Kwame Brown.

The Suns, as expected, sent out the core combination of Calderon and O'Neal in the second team, but they were paired with Nash, Josh Smith, and James Jones!

It's not like Nash has never played a catch-and-shoot role. In the Mavericks' singles tactics, most of the time one person plays alone, and others are ready to catch and shoot. Nash also does this well.

Compared with other core point guards who have concentrated ball rights, the biggest difference between Nash and Nash is that he is willing to hand over the ball if necessary. This is also the key to his ability to lead the team to the Western Conference Finals many times!

Let the MVP in his prime be a pitcher. In addition to the Eagles and Spurs, there is now a third team doing this!

Superstars who are good at shooting are definitely more confident about open shots than role players who are good at shooting.

Although the Suns did poorly defensively due to the presence of Calderon and Nash, a pair of double-hole defenders on the defensive end, their positional warfare offense was performed very well under Calderon's organization!

Especially the outside pick-and-roll cooperation between Calderon and Josh Smith is simply a slow version of Liu Mang and a fast version of Kwame Brown's pick-and-roll cooperation!

Liu Mang has a big head!

Liu Mang seems to have an impression of the way the Suns point guards play. It seems to be the way Jrue Holiday and Rondo will play under Gentry in the future, but they have changed from defensive to offensive...

It seems that the offense produced by the dual point guard combination of Rondo and Jrue Holiday is not bad. At that time, Rondo could already hit a three-pointer in almost every game...

Moreover, Gentry's dual point guard tactic was too great for the inside. O'Neal played less than 8 minutes in the second quarter and scored 9 points. In the first half of the third quarter, the Eagles tried to Speeding up, but was restrained by the stuck shark combination.

The score difference has always been hanging in the early five points.

At the official timeout in the third quarter, the Hawks trailed the Suns by 6 points, 71 to 77.

Moreover, after Liu Mang rushed to the basket and bypassed O'Neal, who was losing strength and could not guard the basket, and hit a layup to narrow the point difference to 6 points, the Suns called a timeout.

That is to say, after the official timeout comes back, the Suns have the ball!

…

Pause back.

O'Neal was tired, and he might be needed to play at critical moments. Coach Gentry replaced him and Calderon and replaced him with a lineup of Nash, Barbosa, Raja Bell, Josh Smith, and Diaw.

The most difficult part for the Eagles this season is that the substitutes for the strong teams are all players who have already formed their skills. The Eagles did not get high-quality veterans to join them this season like they did in the previous three championship years. If you don’t like it, you can only cultivate it yourself.

Seeing the second lineup composed of Calderon, O'Neal, James Jones, Barbosa, and Tim Thomas, I can only envy while continuing to send Liu Mang, Tracy McGrady, Battier, Granger, and Ma Lyon's lineup.

Kwame Brown played very tired today. Except for a four-minute rest in the second quarter, he hardly took any rest.

The Suns attacked, Nash received the ball from the front court and then met McGrady's defense. Liu Mang followed Barbosa to the bottom line on the left side of the basket.

They were all five small lineups, with no real center. After Nash and Josh Smith picked and rolled, McGrady and Granger switched defenses. Nash did not get a good breakthrough opportunity or passing opportunity, so he handed the ball to the high post player. Dior.

After Diaw received the ball, Barbosa cut in from the left baseline. When Liu Mang followed in, he heard the system prompt!

"Josh Smith..."

Liu Mang immediately changed direction and blocked Josh Smith who was cutting through the middle.

As soon as Josh Smith reached the free throw line to receive the ball, he was blocked by Liu Mang!

"Ding...Characteristics: Rejection of horses triggers, 30% chance of successful prediction."

Liu Mang switched defense, and Granger tacitly put the ball under the basket, but at this time Josh Smith passed the ball to the bottom corner!

Barbosa ran halfway, saw Josh Smith cutting in and went back to the bottom corner. Josh Smith received the ball and passed it to Barbosa. Barbosa took an open three-pointer...

The good chance is that we didn’t make it! Liu Mang grabbed a defensive rebound.

Big gap! This is it!

The Suns passed the ball three times and easily created a three-pointer opportunity.

In terms of individual strength, the Hawks are undoubtedly stronger in the current lineup of the two teams.

However, running and gunning can eliminate many disadvantages!

Running and gunning is similar to the small ball in the future. The roles are fixed, and the players do not need to master too many techniques. They just need to shoot three-pointers and run positions. Moreover, the Suns are more extreme in small ball than the future Warriors. They don’t even need to defend...

Dio’s pass scared the Hawks, especially Liu Mang. He predicted Dio’s pass, but... Dio’s high-post support is more than just a pass!

The feature of the barricade is useful, but it still takes time to accumulate experience. The last time it defended Milicic, it was very effective, but from the perspective of experience, Milicic is still very young. Milicic, who just turned 21 in the summer, has developed his talent through three years of patient training by the Raptors, but he has not yet reached his peak. This year, they have just started to win and are still accumulating experience in winning.

Milicic judged the first pass. Relatively speaking, with the characteristic of the barricade, it will be easier to defend at this stage. You only need to judge his first pass. His organization of offense has not yet reached the stage of calculating so many steps.

But the real high-post support masters, such as the double 21 and Gasol, are different. They organize the offense not only thinking about the result after the first pass, but also considering the offense of the whole team.

Although Dio has not played for a long time, he is better than Milicic in this respect. Milicic has good physical talent, but Dio is a little better in technology, especially his high-post support. If it were not for his lack of self-discipline and his habit of eating and drinking like O'Neal and Barkley, he would be better!

Liu Mang thought that he could deal with these high-post organization masters with the characteristic of the barricade, but now he finds that it is not that simple!

It still requires Liu Mang's own experience accumulation and the accumulation of team defense command experience.

But this characteristic is really great. Only by predicting the opponent's first pass can we have the opportunity to defend more.

When the Hawks attacked, Liu Mang advanced to the frontcourt.

71 to 77...

After falling behind by 6 points, Liu Mang was already used to this situation, so he just went for it!

After Liu Mang pushed forward to the frontcourt, he went straight to McGrady for a pick-and-roll. Just as McGrady was about to throw the ball from the left to the right at a 45-degree angle to open up space, he immediately came up to block Liu Mang's left.

Seeing this, Marion immediately called Granger to the inside.

McGrady came up to help Liu Mang block Raja Bell, Liu Mang moved to the left to bypass the pick-and-roll, and when Barbosa came up to defend, he jumped!

"Ding... Level 5 of the Air Magician is triggered..."

When Raja Bell and Barbosa saw Liu Mang jump, they were sure that Liu Mang was going to make a fuss, so they rushed towards Liu Mang. Liu Mang took the ball back in the air and threw it from behind to the right side of the top arc.

Raja Bell and Barbosa were deceived by Liu Mang, and McGrady immediately rushed to the right at a 45-degree angle after the pick-and-roll, caught the ball when it was about to go out of bounds, and turned around to shoot a three-pointer...

Hit!

74 to 77, the difference narrowed to 3 points!

The Suns' pick-and-roll encountered McGrady and Granger's poor defense, and they used high-post coordination to get an open three-point opportunity but failed to make it. The Hawks made a simple two-man cooperation at the top arc and made a three-pointer!

Assists 7 to 8, Liu Mang is still one behind Nash! Three-pointers are 4 behind 9 to 13.

However, the difference has narrowed to three points!

Successfully narrowed the difference to within 5 points!

When the Suns attacked, Nash and Josh Smith's pick-and-roll cooperation was restrained by the Hawks' five-small unlimited switching defense. This was the Hawks' plan to defend the Suns. This was well defended, but Dio's high-post coordination and Liu Mang's exhaustion could only allow the Suns to pass the ball one or two more times.

Nash received a pass from Barbosa and made a close-range horse-riding archery jump shot. Marion did not dare to press on after switching defense, because pressing on would be a foul. Nash scored two points with a close-range jump shot.

Still 5 points difference.

The Hawks attacked, and the Suns were very afraid of the pick-and-roll between Liu Mang and McGrady. McGrady ran to the right after the pick-and-roll, and Raja Bell chased McGrady. Barbosa's switch defense was difficult to defend Liu Mang's direct shooting. Even though Liu Mang only scored 16 points and 7 assists at the end of the third quarter today, and only made two three-pointers, they did not dare to let Liu Mang go.

So, this time Liu Mang and McGrady picked and rolled, and Nash, who was defending Battier in the bottom corner, chased McGrady's receiving line. When McGrady received the ball, Nash was already in place. McGrady passed the ball to Battier in the bottom corner, and Battier received the ball and shot three...

It also went in!

The Hawks players' touch was up!

In contrast, the Suns' touch was also good. When the Suns attacked, Barbosa did not miss the opportunity this time, and he received the ball in the bottom corner and shot!

For the Suns, it was a pity that Barbosa stepped on the three-point line when he took off for a long shot, so it was only two points.

81 to 77, the Suns are still leading by 4 points!

In the rest of the third quarter, the Hawks played simply and roughly. On the offensive end, Liu Mang and McGrady cooperated in the pick-and-roll. McGrady cut in when he had the chance, and shot three-pointers when he had the chance. The opponent used three outside defenses against two, and Liu Mang and McGrady could pass the ball. If the opponent used the player defending Marion to help defend, Marion's empty cut dunks were also very successful.

On the defensive end, the Hawks' five-small lineup was very good at defense, and the restrictions on the Suns' perimeter and the basket were slightly greater. Although the restrictions were not too good, at least there was some effect, forcing the Suns to rely more on Nash and Barbosa's mid-range shots as the main scoring method.

Especially as the pace became faster and faster, neither side could defend the other. In the first half of the quarter, the Hawks only scored 14 points and the Suns only scored 12 points, but in the second half of the quarter, after O'Neal and Calderon, two slow-paced guys, went down, the scores of both teams skyrocketed!

24 to 20, the Hawks played a fierce offensive battle with the Suns in the second half of the third quarter!

In the third quarter, the Hawks and the Suns played a terrifying single-quarter score of 38 to 32!

This score is very common ten years later, but at this time, even if the league rhythm has improved significantly because of Liu Mang, it is still quite exaggerated.

95 to 97, after three quarters, the Hawks' deficit has narrowed to two points!

...

The crucial fourth quarter!

The two-point difference can basically be regarded as nothing, and the two teams are back to the same starting point.

During the intermission, the Hawks were discussing the fourth quarter's play style fiercely.

If the Hawks sent out two of the three Hawks, plus Kwame Brown and Marion, Prince or Granger, and Battier, even if the Suns sent out the strongest lineup, the Hawks would still have a certain strength advantage.

But the problem lies in physical fitness!

Liu Mang is fine, McGrady and Kwame Brown played for a long time, Jason Terry and Marion were okay, and they were all within the controllable range.

The biggest disadvantage of the Hawks compared to the Suns is not the number of stars, but the fact that the Suns have two very sharp lineups.

Although the Suns' tactics have not reached the extreme, there is still room for improvement, such as the rhythm control when switching lineups. There were some problems at the beginning, which gave the Hawks a chance to catch up, but it was still very powerful.

The most terrifying thing is that there is still room for improvement!

When they perfected the tactics of Nash plus Josh Smith plus Dio, Calderon plus O'Neal's two core lineups, this Suns team was too scary!

Liu Mang remembered that this season was the strongest year for the Suns in the playoffs in the original time and space, and they almost defeated the champion Spurs of that season. They thought they would collapse after O'Neal went, but who knew that Gentry actually turned the situation around and performed so well!

From the overall situation, this is very beneficial to the Hawks. A strong Suns team will inevitably bring great torture to the Lakers and Spurs...

But what Liu Mang needs now is to win this game!

Everything else is behind. The Hawks have 17 wins and 9 losses, and the Heat have 18 wins and 12 losses. If they lose to the Suns, they will be tied by the Heat in the win difference!