Chapter 449: 447. The Roof of the World
"Mike, is this arrangement okay?" Although Coach Kruger could see that the opponent wanted them to use offensive and defensive strategies that they were not good at and were not prepared to deal with them, but the opponent's singles was really good! He scored 16 points in seven minutes and hit 57 percent of his shots.
If it was last season, coach Kruger could have decisively chosen to execute this kind of mental game with the opponent, but this year's record is under great pressure, and risky things can be avoided as much as possible.
"No problem." Mike Woodson said he was professional, "Let's see what happens next!"
...
After the timeout, the Eagles deployed a lineup of Liu Mang, Prince, Raheem, Boozer, and Ratliff.
Ratliff hasn't finished yet, mainly because of the opponent's super tall man.
The Blazers sent Damon Stoudemire, Ruben Patterson, Wells, Rasheed Wallace, Sabonis.
The Eagles attack.
Liu Mang advanced to the frontcourt and observed the opponent's defense. The huge Sabonis occupied the entire reasonable collision zone by himself, which was very different from Yao Ming's thin appearance now. Moreover, in Liu Mang's impression, even Yao Ming was at his peak. Not so big, Sabonis' upper body is too strong! And Yao Ming is not a type of player.
Liu Mang has an impulse in his heart!
Liu Mang dribbled the ball toward the top arc, and Patterson, who claimed to be Kobe's finisher, defended him.
Patterson is going to make a big statement and provoke Liu Mang. He has prepared his words and practiced repeatedly off the court. With such a gimmick, after the end of this season, I will go to win a big contract. It feels really cool to get 15 million in three years by claiming to be the Kobe Terminator.
However, before Patterson opened his mouth to shoot, Liu Mang had already waved for a pick-and-roll before he was beyond the three-point line. Just as Patterson was about to open his mouth, he saw Liu Mang pass the ball and pull it one step inside the top arc. Boozer, and then, Liu Mang cut inside without the ball!
Ruben Patterson, ability value 70, offense 64, defense 80, strength 81, speed 89, very good defensive champion.
Patterson hurriedly moved sideways to block Liu Mang's breakthrough, but was blocked by Boozer after he raised the ball high with a dribble! Liu Mang went straight inside! Rasheed Wallace came out with Boozer to defend the pick-and-roll, but Liu Mang passed the ball directly and cut in. Rasheed Wallace couldn't stop him, and Liu Mang rushed to the free throw line and set up Zell immediately passed back to Liu Mang, who easily slipped into the three-second zone 1
This ball is too sudden! The rest of the Eagles were still running, and there was no one who could help Liu Mang respond, so the Blazers did not expect such a situation!
Just as Coach Kruger thought, Liu Mang always "surprises" when he goes up. This kind of simple and rough high and low passes, played suddenly, the effect is really good!
After Liu Mang rushed to the free throw line to receive the ball, he rushed straight to the basket!
Buckle him! Just to detain him!
Looking at the big man who was about the same height as Yao Ming, Liu Mang really couldn't help but want to deduct one!
Ratliff saw Liu Mang coming aggressively, and hurriedly exited the three-second zone. The fans on the scene had already started to exclaim and boo, and some people were shouting to defend and block shots.
Liu Mang rushed inside from the free throw line! …then circled around Sabonis, came out, passed to Ratliff, and Ratliff caught the ball behind Sabonis and dribbled a throw and easily scored two points.
The Eagles scored a goal and scored in double figures, but even Ratliff, who scored the goal, felt very happy, and the fans were even more speechless. What's the matter, what about the agreed-upon dunk? It's all set and Sabonis takes the bastard down with his rough foul.
The players of the two teams also felt that all their strength had been unloaded. They were so nervous just now. The Eagles saw Liu Mang’s sudden inside attack. They were nervous and looking forward to it. Sabonis is a standard Lithuanian with a fierce playing style. He looks like a farm uncle, but he is very irritable when defending. In the 1988 Olympics, a group of young college students on the US team were almost beaten to death. The invincible dominance directly forced the United States to form a dream team.
But Liu Mang is a famous dunk maniac, even when he was thin last year, he insisted on dunking, so the Eagles players are looking forward to it.
While the Trail Blazers players are full of confidence in Sabonis, they are still a little bit worried, and their expectations are mixed with anxiety.
But regardless of whether Liu Mang succeeds in the dunk, or is severely capped or overturned, at least it will give the players of the two teams the restless and expectant hearts to have a result.
Who would have thought that Liu Mang roared loudly, burst out ferociously, and was full of momentum, so he rushed in and circled around to pass the ball.
Even Sabonis was confused, and forgot that there was Ratliff behind him, otherwise his huge body, which was more than a circle bigger than Ratliff, could knock Ratliff to the ground with a single slap when he turned around.
As for the foul?
Doesn't exist, are Lithuanians afraid of fouls?
"Wow, it's so risky, this big guy is terrifying! That arm is so imposing!" Liu Mang felt that it was inappropriate for Yao Ming to regard Sabonis as his target. The body proportions of the two were too different, and Sabonis was flexible. The upper body strength of a standard white man looks terrible, but Yao Ming's upper body strength is too average. Of course, it is average compared to a top center, and he is more suitable for technical skills.
Liu Mang breathed a sigh of relief. When he rushed in, he saw Sabonis's raised arm. If he really wanted to force it, he might be elbowed in turn. It was so dangerous.
Seeing the eerie silence at the scene, Liu Mang could probably guess the contempt of others.
"Damn! That guy's arms are thicker than the young master's neck, use his head to hit the steel!" Liu Mang felt that it would be fine if he scored a goal, and quickly ran back to his own half to wait for defense.
The other nine players on the field were speechless, and the powerlessness of punching cotton was not enough to describe the huge gap in their hearts just now.
After adjusting my mentality, the game continued.
Sabonis picked up the ball and sent it to Damon Stoudemire. The Blazers played very slowly offensively. They did not have the fast pace of breaking through or passing low in the first half of the quarter, because Sabonis is really slow now. , After all, he is 39 years old, and he will be 40 in a few months.
Little Flying Squirrel can no longer fly. He is no longer the ball-handling core who can still control the ball last season. This year, his statistics are only 6 points and 4 assists per game. The position was stuck at a position about three meters away from the basket, and the little flying mouse immediately passed the ball to Sabonis.
Sabonis averaged only 16 minutes per game this year, and the ball was often in his hands when he was on the court.
All the Blazers pull away! Rasheed Wallace took Boozer to the weak-side corner, Raheem followed Wells who was ready to cut, and Prince followed Ruben Patterson to the strong-side corner where Sabonis was.
Sabonis gets the ball, back to Ratliff, Ratliff Alexander! The big white man who weighs nearly 140 kilograms in front of him is scary to look at.
Sabonis leaned on Ratliff and bumped into it. Ratliff lowered his center of gravity as much as possible and held on!
After all, he is old. The 39-year-old Sabonis has no explosive power and relies on static force to squeeze. Ratliff can still handle this kind of back hitting.
However, this is the effect of Ratliff completely lowering the center of gravity, and what Sabonis wants is for the opponent to lower the center of gravity!
After bumping into Ratliff, Sabonis made a big turn towards the baseline. Ratliff quickly raised his weight and squeezed up to the baseline. He slapped Ratliff's crotch, and turned left nimbly to squeeze Ratliff away. Ratliff couldn't stop him without lowering his center of gravity, and was pushed aside by Sabonis. Sabonis received the ball and gently put it into the basket.
Take it easy!
Not to mention, after gaining weight, Yao Ming really seems to be playing like this! When Liu Mang saw the data comparison between Yao Ming and Sabonis, he sneered when he heard that Yao Ming was a "reprint" Sabonis. Now he sees Sabonis' body shape and footsteps, he is already 39 years old, uncle!