Chapter 1425 1424. Record End
Garnett's popularity does not mean that the Bulls are popular. This is the consensus of the media this season.
From the number of people who bought the live broadcast of the Bulls' games and the actual ratings of the games, it can be seen that the average number of people who bought the live broadcast of the Bulls' regular season this season exceeded 5 million, ranking fifth in the league after the Lakers, Hawks, Cavaliers, and Knicks, and higher than the Suns, Warriors, Nuggets, and Magic.
But the actual ratings can only rank 17th. Most American fans with a strong sense of authenticity are only willing to watch the beginning when Garnett appears and the key moments, after all, the rhythm is too slow.
For example, the number of people who bought the live broadcast of the game between the Hawks and the Bulls exceeded 17 million, and the ratings dropped by half before the first quarter was over.
The two teams only scored six points in the first two minutes, which made the fans in front of the TV feel shocked.
Sure enough, at the end of the first quarter, the Hawks only led by two points with 18 to 16...
This was in the last two seconds of the first quarter. Jason Terry received a pass from Liu Mang who was double-teamed in a dead corner. Jason Terry hit a 27-foot long three-pointer at the buzzer to overtake by two points.
In the first regular time, the Hawks only scored 15 points!
On defense, Liu Mang could think of 10,000 ways to hinder the Bulls' offensive tactics with his eyes closed. Garnett's high-post coordination ability was not fully reflected in the Bulls.
Without the threat of holding the ball in the interior, it is difficult to implement high-post coordination. The Raptors' Bargnani is a small forward after all, and has an inside ball attack. The Magic's Howard and Rahim are both inside scorers, and Milicic and Turkoglu's coordination ability is so good. The Spurs' Parker is the player with the highest three-second zone hit rate among the league's outside players, higher than Liu Mang and James' three-second zone hit rate. Needless to say, the Lakers, both of them are low-post masters, and Gasol's improved coordination is easy to play.
The Bulls' lineup cannot fully utilize Garnett's high-post coordination ability.
Therefore, the strategy discussed by Liu Mang and Mike Woodson to limit the Bulls' team offense is very effective.
The Bulls can only rely on the personal abilities of Garnett, Luol Deng, and Hinrich to score, and only scored 16 points in the first quarter.
However... the Bulls have also studied the Hawks' offensive strategy thoroughly.
The introduction of "Snake Science" not only benefits the Hawks, but other teams are definitely better at it than the Hawks who have Liu Mang. However, if you spend more time, you can always analyze it according to the analysis method used by Liu Mang in the program.
From the hit rate of players in various shooting areas, the probability of using various breakthrough routes, the probability of various choices after pick-and-roll... other teams may not be able to use it well, but the Bulls, who only have defense and are ranked first in the league, use it very well, allowing the Hawks to only score 15 points in regular time.
Thanks to Jason Terry's shot, the Hawks led by two points in the first quarter.
Liu Mang and Rondo, who came on as a substitute after the official timeout, have tried very hard to pull up the rhythm, but the Hawks still only got 21 shooting opportunities in the first quarter, and the Bulls had even fewer, only 17.
This is a bit different from the Hawks' average of 95 shots per game and nearly 24 shots per quarter in the first round.
Such a game will be more and more beneficial to the Bulls!
The Hawks easily swept the Pistons in the first round, which did give the Hawks an advantage in terms of physical fitness.
However, the Bulls had been fighting the Nets on defense since the first round, and had a single-game score of more than 60 to 60. The Bulls were used to this situation.
After the Hawks had a difficult lead of two points in the first quarter, they began to fall into a clear disadvantage in the second quarter.
The Hawks scored 18 points in the first quarter, but only 15 points in the second quarter.
The Bulls scored one more goal in this quarter and scored 19 points in a single quarter.
35 to 33, at the end of the first half, the Bulls led by two points and entered the halftime break.
…
Headache, discomfort, madness... but helpless!
This is part of basketball. It's not about how strong your personal ability is, or how many ways you come up with.
Sometimes it just doesn't work!
Garnett's iron-blooded roar made Liu Mang want to complain.
But don't say that Garnett's fighting and passionate style of play is really hard to deal with.
He has the strength to show for it. It looks funny afterwards, but at that time, his opponents and teammates did feel his strength.
The Bulls and Garnett didn't match well on offense, but they were very tacit on defense and strong!
The outside confrontation was too intense, which led to a decline in the shooting efficiency of the Hawks. The Bulls had been playing this style for a year and had long been accustomed to it.
"Mike, if we don't defend them, will they not be able to shoot? Why do they feel that the greater the confrontation, the more accurate they shoot?" Liu Mang complained to Mike Woodson.
"Ace, this is a good idea. You can talk to the coach." Mike Woodson felt that Liu Mang had a unique idea.
Liu Mang just complained.
During the halftime break, Coach Kruger rearranged the tactics.
However, the biggest problem is that this is the Bulls' home court. The referee will not blow the whistle easily in the confrontation. Sometimes controversial whistles are likely to favor the Bulls.
McGrady and Jason Terry just complained and were called for technical fouls.
The Hawks played well in the third quarter, at least much better than the first two quarters. Liu Mang, Jason Terry, and McGrady played together and scored 17 points in a single quarter. With Marion's 2+1 tip-in, the Hawks scored 20 points in a single quarter.
But the Hawks scored only these four people in the whole quarter.
The Bulls took advantage of Jason Terry in the third quarter and let Du Hong play singles continuously, scoring 9 points in a single quarter, helping the Bulls score 23 points in a single quarter!
At the end of the three quarters, the Bulls led the Hawks by 5 points with 58 to 53 and entered the intermission.
…
Too many mid-range and long-range shots!
Too many!
Except for the second attack and the rare counterattack, Liu Mang and his teammates rarely got the chance to score in the interior.
When the official timeout came in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Hawks were already 7 points behind, and the score distribution of the two teams was shown on the big screen.
The Hawks scored only 17 points in the interior, and only 29 points including free throws! Although the Bulls scored only 14 points in the paint, and 25 points with free throws, which is lower than the Hawks.
But the Bulls are not a team with strong paint scoring. The Hawks, a team that ranked first in the league in paint scoring in the regular season, higher than the Lakers and Spurs, played for 43 minutes and only scored 17 points in the paint!
At the seventh minute of the fourth quarter, the Hawks were still behind the Bulls 64 to 71, and the score difference was the largest in the game, 7 points.
There were some obvious home whistles. The Bulls gave a high-intensity defense that was completely different from the Pistons. Liu Mang really couldn't lead the team to catch up.
After trying several times, it didn't work very well in the end.
After the official timeout, Liu Mang tried to force his way into the inside, but in the playoffs, it is not as easy to get a whistle as in the regular season. With Garnett as the core, Ben Wallace or Big Z in the inside, and Luol Deng, Hinrich or Duhon, Sefolosha and others rotating defense on the outside, it is a quagmire to break through, either turnovers or misses.
The key is that you can't get a whistle!
It is disgusting and unsolvable to touch porcelain players in the regular season, but in the playoffs, this advantage will be greatly reduced.
Liu Mang played very poorly in this game, only 8 of 20 shots, 2 of 8 three-pointers, 9 of 12 free throws, only 27 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, but there were 5 turnovers, and... Two of the assists were scapegoats, McGrady and Jason Terry each took the blame and threw in a three-pointer.
In addition to Liu Mang's 27 points, McGrady's 15 points, Jason Terry's 11 points and Marion's 7 points, only Grant Hill's 6 points and Kwame Brown's 4 points... Rondo, Granger, David Lee and others all scored zero points.
Gortat played for 13 minutes... 0 out of 3, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists... only 3 irons.
The rookie played too badly against the bad inside combination of Ben Wallace and Garnett.
David Lee, who Liu Mang had high hopes for, also performed poorly in the low post, even worse than his sister-in-law's performance against Garnett in the playoffs. He made 0 of 5 shots and was blocked by Garnett twice, and Garnett yelled at the sky.
The Hawks only scored 73 points in the whole game and finally lost to the Bulls by five points 73 to 78.
…
…
The Hawks lost the first game of the series!
This... is the first time in Liu Mang's career!
It made the headlines decisively.
Liu Mang played 19 series in his career and won the first series in 19 times. Even in the 2002-03 season, the Hawks won the first series in three series without home advantage.
In the end, this record ended at 19 times.
"This was a very bad game. I didn't take more shots. Their defense was very good, but we have found a way to win. We will go home with a tie the day after tomorrow."
Liu Mang made a strong statement at the press conference after the game.
Next game, we must win!
This game was actually... not much to lose!
This is an important reason why Liu Mang was not particularly disappointed after the game.
It was indeed lost, and it was very passive all the way.
But in the end it only lost 5 points!
This means that as long as the Hawks can make two more shots out of 46 of 74 shots, they will have a chance to win!
The first game was originally to test the strength of the Bulls.
As a team coming to challenge away, Liu Mang knows what the team wants.
If the Hawks have the advantage and can overpower the home team, Liu Mang won't need to do anything.
But the Hawks don't have that kind of strength this year, so they need to test the Bulls' playoff strength in the first game.
Watching the game video is never as good as experiencing it in person.
Of course, we must fight for victory, and the Hawks also defended the Bulls to only 78 points in a single game.
However... the first game has already been lost, and the second game... Liu Mang can't afford to lose!
Shout out the goal of winning first!