Chapter 1554 1553. The Bulls Want to Destroy Their Main Players (Ask for Monthly Votes)

Good news comes one after another!

The media began to add fuel to the flames, advocating that Liu Mang won the sixth Player of the Month in April and broke the record for Player of the Week.

Garnett only got two blocks, temporarily interrupting the competition with Liu Mang...

From the current small goals, Liu Mang attaches great importance to the competition with Garnett on the block list, and the back-to-back away and home games against the Bulls on the 12th and 13th.

But starting from December this season, Liu Mang has a big goal for the season... a super record that only two people in NBA history have achieved, and now it is getting closer and closer!

Originally in April, the last month of the regular season, Liu Mang was not sure whether he could get the Player of the Month. Even if he hadn't averaged 6.25 blocks per game in the first week of the four games, Liu Mang would definitely not get the Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

The Raptors originally had a slim chance of winning 60 games after playing the games in March, but they won all five of the first five games in April, soaring from 52 wins to 57 wins, and 60 wins are in sight. The contemporary Jordan Joe Johnson averaged 37.4 points in 7 days and 5 games, and scored 40+ three times in 5 games, all of which were more than 30 points. He was originally the biggest favorite for the best player of the week.

But Liu Mang's data of 28+10+5+6 this week was too amazing. Even with Joe Johnson's performance, Liu Mang snatched the best player of the week.

This made Liu Mang's goal seem to be one step closer.

After playing two games with the 76ers, the Hawks still had 5 games left. They rested for a day on the 8th and faced the Pacers for the last time this season on the 9th.

122 to 106, the Hawks defeated the Pacers at home without a single blow. The Hawks' defense was quite poor in this game, and they were scolded by Coach Kruger after the game.

However, the pace was fast and the Pacers players had many opportunities to cut into the inside. Liu Mang turned into a jumping man and got 6 blocks!

Although the actual defensive effect was not as good as Liu Mang's usual two to three blocks per game, the Pacers coaching staff did not want to win, but the players wanted to fight for the opportunity, and the Hawks' offense was also not inferior to the Pacers, the team that "topped" the last place in the Eastern Conference again, and it was easy to win.

33 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 6 blocks, and 2 steals! Liu Mang continued to maintain the explosive data in April!

After defeating the Pacers, the Hawks' record improved to 66 wins and 12 losses. There are four games left in the regular season. The away and home games are back-to-back against the Bulls. The last two games on the 15th and 17th are both home games, playing against the Celtics and the Heat, that is, a wave of three consecutive home games to end the regular season.

Next, the away and home games on the 12th and 13th will be back-to-back against the Bulls, and it is time to verify the team's strength.

…

…

"Of the four special tasks of Lian Zhu, the first one related to Milicic has been completed. The "Prison Killing" special task of Wind Chaser's Wrath is still going on, and the old grudge related to Garnett has now reached a critical moment; the special task of Dynasty Restoration has not yet been opened; and the one related to the Spurs system..."

Sitting on the plane to Chicago, Liu Mang was studying the four special tasks of Lian Zhu.

After defeating the Pacers on the 9th, Liu Mang rested in Atlanta for a day on the 10th, and went to Chicago with the team on the 11th. The next 12th and 13th were regarded as the key back-to-back rehearsal for the Eastern Conference Finals.

However, Liu Mang now averages 2.91 blocks per game, which has firmly suppressed Garnett's average of 2.85 blocks per game, which is considered to be in the lead. Next, he only needs to maintain it, and then win at least one of the two games against the Bulls, and it is possible to complete the "Old Grudge" task.

However, the progress and opening time of the last three characteristics seem to be a little bit wrong!

"Doesn't it mean that the first task that comes out must be completed first?"

Liu Mang discovered a problem, that is, the characteristic of the second characteristic task "Prison Kill" is too powerful!

"Prison Kill: It has an excellent restraining effect on teams that have a high concentration of ball possession and attack around the core of the ball."

Although I don't know the specific effect because I haven't got this skill yet, but it looks very powerful from the description.

In the future, when we enter the point guard era, almost half of the teams will be teams that attack around the core of the ball, and such a tendency will become more and more serious in the future, and there will be more and more tall point guards with good athletic ability... Then as time goes by, this characteristic is simply amazing!

In this way, Liu Mang feels that this task is not that simple. The completion of Garnett's "old grudge" task here will definitely not be the end, because Garnett is not the core of the ball-holding offense. Now he is older and plays smarter. To be honest, Garnett's current organization of offense is very similar to Liu Mang, mainly transiting passes.

Liu Mang has a hunch that the dynasty may be restored, and "Prison Kill" has not been obtained yet. It may even be completed at the end like the "Spurs system" that was defeated at its peak!

But some things can't be rushed. Liu Mang studied it for a while and didn't think about it too much. He took out his laptop to watch the Bulls' game video.

It's hard to say about the regular season games. The preparation time is too short, especially in the middle and late stages of the season. The Hawks only have one or two days to prepare for each opponent, sometimes only one day or even no time, so many strong teams will be upset.

The Bulls are strong, averaging 99.3 points per game and conceding 91.6 points per game this season. Although they don’t have the defensive efficiency that was the best in history last season, their defensive efficiency is still ranked first in the league. They also have Reed, a guard with excellent offensive ability, and they are a very troublesome opponent.

…

Time passed quickly. After a night of rest in Chicago, on April 12, the game between the Hawks and the Bulls started.

The Hawks played all their main players in this away game!

The second round of the playoffs last year was a bit strange. Both teams played better away from home, and it seems to be the same this time.

Facing Garnett head-on with a block...

Liu Mang really doesn’t know how to block this. The Bulls are probably the team that least wants him to get a block. Garnett’s behavior of blocking shots in the first few games was supported by his teammates the most.

In terms of height, it is much easier for Garnett to block shots than Liu Mang. If the role of defense is not taken into account, it will be much easier to block shots, just like DeAndre Jordan averaged 2.5 blocks per game in his peak season, but the Clippers' interior defense was as bad as scum that season.

So, Liu Mang did the opposite, no one should block shots!

Whoever Garnett defended, Liu Mang would play pick-and-roll with that teammate, let Garnett switch to him, and then pass the ball to contain Garnett.

On the defensive end, Liu Mang just defended well and defended normally.

At this time, Liu Mang did not block shots. Playing back-to-back against the Bulls was the best opportunity to verify the team's strength.

But... in normal play, when Liu Mang played against the Bulls, he blocked a lot of shots without deliberately doing so!

With Reed, a top scorer with excellent three-point and mid-range shooting, and Hinrich, who is also a good three-point shooter, the two outside players of the Bulls opened up space and were strictly guarded by the Hawks. Naturally, other people had more opportunities to cut in. With Garnett's transfer pass, Ben Wallace and Luol Deng's cuts were the main scoring methods for the Bulls' inside line.

As a result, Liu Mang's blocks increased, and they were normal defensive blocks!

The Bulls fans at the scene had been swearing at the Hawks fans online, calling Liu Mang a block brush, and the blocks looked good but were useless.

But... when the Bulls fans saw with their own eyes that Liu Mang repeatedly slapped the Bulls' frontcourt players' cut-in dunks or layups under the basket, they found that it seemed different from what they imagined!

Bulls fans naturally don't like to watch the Hawks' games. It's hard to describe their hatred for the Hawks, and their subjective consciousness is very strong. Some people suggested that Liu Mang was brushing blocks, so they thought Liu Mang was brushing blocks all season.

Now I remember that Liu Mang had already averaged 2.7 blocks per game, not losing to Garnett before entering April.

Liu Mang 19 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 blocks!

Garnett 12 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks.

In the first back-to-back game against the Bulls, Liu Mang blocked more shots than Garnett!

The starting lineup was led by Liu Mang, and the rotation was led by Wade. Of course, the main point was the rotation of Kwame Brown and O'Neal as centers, and the rotation of Marion and Grant Hill as power forwards. The basic points of the inside defense tactics played the biggest role. The high-intensity defense maintained throughout the game allowed the Hawks to dominate this defensive battle!

92 to 85, the Hawks took the lead in the back-to-back game at home and away, defeating the Bulls by 7 points!

…

Currently 3 to 0! The first two games against the Bulls were won. In terms of blocks, Liu Mang's average of 2.91 blocks per game temporarily surpassed Garnett's 2.84 blocks, and the advantage was huge!

However, Liu Mang had no time to be happy. After playing against the Bulls, he went back to the hotel and went to sleep. The next morning, Liu Mang returned to Atlanta with the team and took a few hours of sleep. At noon, he had something to eat and went to the stadium to prepare for the back-to-back game in the evening.

It was not easy to win the game last night. The Bulls' defense was too good. Only the Hawks had Wade, who could continue the defense when rotating the lineup. Relying on the many defensive players on the outside and the center position in the inside who could help Liu Mang block the inside and let Liu Mang play a defensive threat, they were able to maintain a single-digit lead until the end.

Public opinion is also a very important aspect. It may be that the local fans in Chicago said that Liu Mang said too much about "blocking shots", and their players really believed it. Even if they didn't believe it, they couldn't help but have that kind of guess. When Liu Mang showed the defensive role of a "giant killer" in the interior, he scared the Bulls' cutting players.

He is the real guard in history. The block king! The 2.21-meter-tall Big Z's dunk was blown away.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the second back-to-back game between the Hawks and the Bulls started.

In tonight's game, the Hawks still let Wade, Marion, and McGrady take turns to rest. Marion and McGrady did too much dirty work and needed a rest. The playoffs are about to start. Last night's game has verified how strong the team's defense is based on the rotation changes in the interior, and there is no need to verify it in back-to-back games.

It's not a lockout season, and there are no back-to-back games in the playoffs.

On the Bulls side, coach Thibodeau is simply a god. Four of their five starters have an average playing time of at least 40 minutes per game, and they still have all the main players in the back-to-back games!

Even the Hawks didn't expect this. The Bulls' fourth place in the Eastern Conference was basically secured, but they still didn't let the starters who had fought for the entire season take a break during the back-to-back games!

Do you want to ruin the main players?

Even Liu Mang felt incredible about Thibodeau's playing arrangement. Liu Mang thought of the reason why Derrick Rose was seriously injured for the first time, because Thibodeau still let the exhausted Rose continue to play in garbage time. The Bulls led by more than ten points at the last moment of that game, but Rose was played out. After a serious injury, Rose began to avoid using the injured leg, causing the other leg to bear too much pressure, and then the other leg was injured again, and the vicious cycle continued...

Liu Mang remembered that even if he played Rose out, Thibodeau did not stop. Later, he used Luol Deng, Noah, and Jimmy Butler in the same way. Luol Deng and Noah were also played out early and their status plummeted...

After Liu Mang fought with the Bulls to 18-all in the first quarter, he saw that the Bulls continued to send out the four starters in the second quarter, but the center was replaced...

Liu Mang now has only one thought: "We must not let Jimmy play under Thibodeau!"