Chapter 1524 1523. Maimang VS Mo Ke (Asking for Monthly Votes)
The two referees had doubts about the ownership of the ball. They wanted to watch the replay to determine whether the ball touched Liu Mang's left hand or Odom's left hand at the end.
Kobe ignored Liu Mang's pretentious behavior. He saw it several times every year. He had more important things to do now, so he called several teammates on the court to discuss together.
Liu Mang wanted to eavesdrop, but was chased away by a 2.26-meter-tall player...
"Short-handed men are disloyal!"
Liu Mang sprayed Yao Ming, and then was called away by McGrady. They also wanted to take this time to discuss the countermeasures for the Lakers' players' independent adjustment of their playing style just now.
Liu Mang also knew that the current situation was not really that good. Odom also focused, and even a few minutes of focus was a troublesome thing.
Liu Mang also concentrated on thinking and analyzing, and then told his teammates some small details to pay attention to.
The two No. 24 players are the soul of their respective teams. After the discussion, the two No. 24 players concluded: "The guy on the opposite side is just lucky to have so many good teammates, but I also have you. With you by my side, I believe we are the strongest!"
...
After watching the replay several times, the referee confirmed that the ball finally touched Liu Mang's hand.
The ball was fanned out of bounds by Liu Mang! It was still the Lakers' ball, but there were only 7 seconds left in the attack time!
The Lakers' baseline ball, Odom passed the ball to Kobe, Kobe played directly, and hit a mid-range jump shot against McGrady's defense.
There is no way, McGrady has done the best he can, but Kobe, who has no difficulty to create difficulties and still has to make a few random shots but can still maintain a hit rate of more than 45% all year round, it is really not the defense that decides whether he can make it or not.
The Maimang combination partners in the backcourt, and they must play a positional battle. After all, there is a little Gasol, so the play is very simple and clear, and the outside line takes turns to hold the ball and attack.
No one can stop Liu Mang when he is in the mood. After McGrady breaks through and attracts Odom's help defense, Marion helps Liu Mang block Kobe. McGrady passes the ball to Liu Mang, and Liu Mang takes a long three-pointer from the top right of the arc!
3 of 3 three-pointers!
25 to 18, 7 points difference!
Gasol returns to his own basket with his body shaved off. Now the important thing for the Hawks is defense!
Liu Mang is in the mood. Whether he shoots by himself or attracts off-ball double-teaming or off-ball blocking, he can help the Hawks score. It's just a matter of his own scoring and his teammates' scoring. Anyway, Liu Mang's touch is on fire, and the Hawks' offense is alive, unless McGrady, Scola, and Marion keep missing.
However, when the Lakers attacked, the Lakers' style of play changed, and Yao Ming returned to the mid-range.
However, after Yao Ming went to the mid-range, he did not simply go to the mid-range as a containment point, but helped Kobe block McGrady when Kobe came out. Kobe took the initiative to run in the direction of Yao Ming, and played the role of Yao Ming's huge body to the maximum extent that could be used now.
When Kobe was running, Odom used a breakthrough skill that seemed completely inconsistent with his body to pass Marion and rushed into the inside. Liu Mang had lost the ability to shrink and double-team Kobe, so he could only double-team Odom.
Odom was blocked by Liu Mang, and Marion double-teamed him, but at this time Kobe used Yao Ming's pick-and-roll to go around the middle and go under the basket. He received the ball and easily avoided the shrinking Gasol and made a layup... It didn't go in, but Odom didn't stop after passing the ball, bypassed Liu Mang to grab the offensive rebound and scored two points!
Odom's offensive performance this time was explosive!
One person completed everything!
After two more rounds, the two teams insisted on their established style of play. When it came to a dead ball, the Lakers did not make any substitutions, while the Hawks tentatively replaced Gasol with Brad Miller, who could open up more space and pass the ball in the middle and set pick-and-rolls.
Yao Ming does have a mid-range threat, and it is an effective threat.
But the threat is just a threat. If Yao Ming goes to the mid-range, he will not be lethal. His strongest point is that he is the most dominant super center in the interior singles after O'Neal! And he is the only super center recognized by O'Neal.
But Gasol is too fat! And now he is fat and strong! Fat and muscular!
Of course, with Gasol as a meat shield, the Hawks cannot completely stifle the Lakers' offense. Yao Ming has a mid-range shot, Kobe can go low, and Odom can also serve as a point guard to organize the offense.
But at least, the Hawks blocked Yao Ming's low-post singles, forcing Yao Ming to go to the mid-range.
If you can score the ball with a 60% to 70% hit rate in a one-on-one singles game, you don't need any tactics at all. When he was with O'Neal and Yao Ming when he was still physically fit, their singles were the strongest tactics.
Cutting off the opponent's "super tactics" may not completely kill them, but it is the most important thing that the Hawks want Gasol to do, and this is also the ultimate that Gasol can do.
Moreover, Gasol was replaced, and Yao Ming did not rashly return to the inside line, but maintained the style of play in the previous few rounds.
After all, the team play in the previous few rounds was very effective. He felt that if he returned to the inside line to play singles, the Hawks would definitely replace Gasol again. Once the singles were not effective, it would affect the tacit play just now, and it would be more harm than good.
The Hawks' purpose of forcing Yao Ming to the mid-range was very successful.
But!
Odom's X factor made the Hawks' idea of consolidating their advantage fall through!
Odom's breakthrough, passing, rebounding awareness...
All aspects are top-notch!
Under Odom's organization of offense, although the Lakers failed to bring out Yao Ming's characteristics of a low-post killer, the offense was not affected except for the three rounds after the official timeout. Kobe played better with the help of Odom!
The Hawks' offense was as Liu Mang expected. Liu Mang scored 17 points in the first eight minutes, and only 3 points in the next four minutes, just 20 points in a single quarter, but got 1 assist in the next four minutes. Moreover, whenever Liu Mang used the pick-and-roll, two people would first block him, giving Marion or Brad Miller better space. The key is that when Liu Mang did a pick-and-roll without the ball, the opponent would mainly block him, one blocking him to receive the ball, and the other blocking him to cut in around the pick-and-roll again.
After the first quarter, the Hawks led 34 to 30 and entered the intermission with a 4-point lead.
The TV commentator commented: Except for his long-term brain disorder, it is really hard to say that there is anything Odom can't do in basketball.
…
Looking at McGrady who was out of breath after playing the whole first quarter, and then looking at the all-around warrior on the other side who scored 4 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block in less than half a quarter...
In Liu Mang's opinion, that guy is just like McGrady who has grown a few centimeters taller, weighed more than ten kilograms, and slowed down!
Of course, unlike McGrady, whose all-round abilities are first-class and close to the top, Odom is worse than McGrady in all aspects. Except for rebounds and steals, McGrady's evaluation is not particularly high, and the others are almost all 88 or 89. Odom's technical evaluation is almost all around 85 when he is serious. If Odom's height is changed to the same as McGrady, his ability evaluation in a serious state is estimated to be just at the top level, but Odom is tall! 2.10 meters! And he is a real inside player. Height cannot be trained no matter how much you practice.
Breaking through like a small forward, shooting like a shooting guard, passing like a point guard, and rushing for offensive rebounds like a center with physical fitness.
No matter how many times I have seen it, Odom's style of play is too surreal.
Serious Odom + Kobe, and the cross-time and space combination of Magic + Kobe seem to be not much different...
However, Liu Mang is very motivated now!
They are in the lead!
In the first half of the first quarter, Gasol went crazy, and in the second half, Odom went crazy. The Lakers played such a coquettish performance when Yao Ming was targeted, and the Hawks were still leading by 4 points. In other words, the Hawks have played a very successful game so far!
Seeing that Wade and his teammates Jason Terry, Grant Hill, and Kwame Brown were about to play, Liu Mang also put away his surprise at Odom and prepared to continue playing the second quarter.
After the break, the Lakers sent out Anfernee Hardaway, Kobe, Radmanovich, Odom, and Gasol.
No matter what, the Lakers will always have two of the three super inside players on the court.
The Zen Master looked at the opponent's lineup of one big and four small players, and the opponent's super outside players gave him a headache.
In contrast, Coach Kruger of the Hawks team is expected to have a few fewer hairs on his head, and the opponent's super inside players also gave him a headache.
However... after the two head coaches looked at the opponent's lineup, they couldn't help but look at the opponent's bench. The two head coaches looked at each other and saw that the other party had the same idea, and they felt a sense of mutual appreciation.
Since the Hawks relied on the outstanding performance of a group of super outside players in the first quarter to avoid the defect of insufficient inside attack ability, the Lakers used the three super inside players to play a team offense. The two teams were helpless on the defensive end. In the rotation lineup time in the second quarter, both teams put on offensive lineups and wanted to soar!
The second quarter began, and the Lakers attacked.
Liu Mang watched Penny push forward, and Jason Terry defended him. Jason Terry, of course, defended the opponent's weakest outside player.
After Penny's contract expired in 2006, he went to Europe to recover from his injury for a year. This summer, he returned to the NBA to work for the Lakers. With his relatively outstanding performance in the training camp, he got a non-guaranteed contract. He has played 16 games so far this season, averaging 0.5 three-pointers per game with a 42% three-point shooting rate, averaging 4.2 points and 2.4 assists in 15 minutes of playing time.
Now Penny can only be responsible for carrying the ball to the frontcourt beside Kobe.
Liu Mang sighed at the ruthlessness of fate and immediately invested in the defense, without any idea of letting the opponent down!