Chapter 651: 650. Deja Vu Style of Play
Stockton is Stockton. He used technology and experience to help the Eagles maintain the score tightly when they had no physical advantage at all. At the fifth minute of the second quarter, the Rockets Bian finally tied the score, the two teams tied at 42, and the Eagles called a timeout.
Although Stockton had a few minutes of rest during the intermission, he obviously couldn't hold on for 10 consecutive minutes.
Liu Mang reappeared, bringing Jason Terry and Prince, Muhammad and Kwame Brown on the field.
The Rockets replaced Francis, Mobley, Jim Jackson, Maurice Taylor, and Cato.
Mobley is back, Maurice Taylor is back, but Yao Ming is still resting, and Van Gundy Jr. is getting more and more cautious in using Yao Ming. Reserve a little more energy.
For this point, the Eagles have also thought about it, so they haven't implemented the defensive method discussed by Liu Mang and Mike Woodson for the time being, but play normally.
Back from the timeout, the Eagles have the ball.
Liu Mang advances to the frontcourt. Francis may not be so careful in defending others, but he is very active in defending Liu Mang every time.
It’s just that, the more active Francis is, the easier it is for Liu Mang to pass him. Francis relies on his physical fitness to rely on oppression to steal, but Francis’ defensive awareness is really poor. Regardless of his height, he may be more physically fit than Kobe, McGrady is okay, but his defensive awareness is terribly poor, and pressing is hard grabbing.
As soon as Liu Mang was beyond the three-point line, Francis pressed up. Liu Mang followed the movement of Francis pressing up and pulled the ball to the left, and Francis rushed to the right. Liu Mang easily slammed Francis with a change of direction. Behind him, Francis flew straight to the right.
Liu Mang became more and more experienced in beating Francis.
After passing Francis, Liu Mang entered the three-point line and went straight to the basket. Kwame Brown and Muhammad stuck their defenders on both sides of the three-second zone. Liu Mang entered the basket in the middle and easily dunked to score two points .
Francis' defense is positive, but the effect is really touching. He was passed in one step, and the Rockets were too late to even assist in the defense, and were firmly stuck by the expected Eagles inside.
Offensive and defensive transition, the Rockets attack.
Francis felt that he was going to be blown away by Liu Mang again. That feeling was very powerless. Now Liu Mang no longer relied on tricks to fight him like in his rookie season. This year, Liu Mang's strength has clearly surpassed his.
This sense of powerlessness drives Francis crazy. Although his style of play has been criticized and his defense is surprisingly poor for his physical fitness, his fighting spirit and competitiveness have always been praised by people.
If you can't beat it, you need hard steel!
Moreover, Francis has a physical advantage over most of them except Baron Davis and other very few point guards. He is going to use his body hard!
The Eagles did not send Ratliff or Rasheed Wallace. Francis is confident that even if Liu Mang lets him go two meters, he can go in and stir up the inside.
However, after Francis advanced to the frontcourt, he found that Liu Mang was waiting for him on the three-point line! There is no humiliating defense that retreats to the free throw line!
Francis was a little puzzled, but more ecstatic!
Finally a chance to physically bully this bastard!
Francis immediately sped up and rolled towards the right side of Liu Mang's body. Liu Mang did not dodge, nor did he choose to retreat and defend. Instead, he took a step to the front of Francis' breakthrough and lowered his center of gravity to wait for the impact!
At this moment, Francis' facial expression became grim, and he slammed into Liu Mang with all his strength. Liu Mang moved from behind. won't blow!
Francis slammed into Liu Mang's body fiercely, and then...
Francis seemed to have bumped into a tumbler, Liu Mang's foot was only retreating a little bit due to the force caused by the impact, Francis himself was staggered by the force rebounded by the force he hit, and Francis himself was hit Return!
Liu Mang had quick eyesight and quick hands. When Francis panicked and failed to control the ball, he bullied himself and stabbed the ball, then immediately threw himself to control the ball and counterattacked directly!
Francis was shocked and angry!
He was about to explode, and immediately chased after Liu Mang, the speed of the two was about the same.
After reaching the frontcourt, Liu Mang entered the free throw line and took off in one step. He switched the ball from his right hand to his left hand in the air, avoided the hand of Francis who was chasing after him, and dunked the ball into the basket with his left hand!
After landing on the ground, Liu Mang patted his chest muscles, and said to Francis with a sincere expression: "You are quite strong, I hurt a little from the impact, but it's not enough, try harder next time."
After speaking, Liu Mang turned around and returned to defense.
Francis looked at Liu Mang's back to defend, and wondered if he was dreaming? And it's still a nightmare!
If it was the end of the last season, and it was the first time the two had faced each other until now, if Francis was held back when he forced Liu Mang to be crushed by strength, he would still be able to accept it, but just over a month ago, on December 10th No, the two have played against each other before. At that time, Liu Mang could only retreat to defend and rely on the inside to defend against him, but after more than forty days, Liu Mang was able to hold him hard!
Francis is a little confused!
He didn't believe what happened. After Jim Jackson ran back and sent the ball to Francis, Francis advanced to continue singles against Liu Mang.
However, Hayes is already known as a pick-and-roll expert who can handle Howard and Bynum internally and switch guards externally. With his better mobility, single defense trapped Francis at the three-point line!
Seeing Liu Mang's contemptuous eyes and guarding himself with a smile, Francis was furious!
Squeezing Liu Mang forcibly, Francis insisted on breaking into the inside line, but under Liu Mang's defense, Francis' strength did not have the obvious advantage as before. Standing against it, Liu Mang's strength was as high as 91, center level, and even a lot of jumps A center forward is not as strong as Liu Mang, and Liu Mang's mobile confrontation power is also 84. Although it is not as good as Francis' terrifying 88 power, it is still enough to suppress Francis from going to the side.
Francis was forced to break into the inside lane from the bottom line, and came to the right edge of the three-second zone. At this time, Kwame Brown blocked him and covered Francis' passing space with Liu Mang. Francis could only resist Liu Mang's desire Push Liu Mang away and force him up.
But when Francis squeezed Liu Mang to get stronger, he couldn't squeeze! On the contrary, when Liu Mang got to the basket, the hot pot feast was triggered, and he accurately predicted the movement of Francis picking up the ball, and cut the ball with one palm!
Another steal!
This is not over yet. When the Rockets attacked in the next round, Francis still lost his basic judgment and continued to rush forward. For two consecutive rounds, the unbelievers wanted to hit Liu Mang with the ball. Counting the first steal, Francis He was intercepted by Liu Mang three times in a row!
The Eagles lineup can run as much as they can. After Liu Mang's second steal, Jason Terry and Prince immediately stepped down. Taking advantage of Jason Terry's ability to attract the defense, Liu Mang passed Running to Prince at a 45-degree angle on the right, Prince caught the ball and made a three-pointer.
After the third steal, the Rockets retreated to the defense and became alert, and returned to the defense immediately, but the Eagles pressed up with five people, and the Rockets were not able to gain a firm foothold. hit.
In just 59 seconds, the Eagles played a wave of 7-0, hitting the Rockets to a timeout!
It was just a minute and a second away, and it was a 7-0. Little Van Gundy was angry and sprayed at Francis, and it was not time for Yao Ming to play. Little Van Gundy tried his best to make Yao Ming draw in the first quarter. Play more in the last quarter, play three or four minutes at the end of the second quarter, and play three or four minutes at the beginning of the third quarter, so that Yao Ming has enough physical strength to play the fourth quarter. This is the trick learned from the Lakers using O'Neal, Yao Ming His physical fitness is about the same as that of O'Neal at this stage. A team with a weak inside defense can play for 37 to 8 minutes, and a team with a strong inside defense can only maintain his physical fitness for about 30 minutes.
Van Gundy Jr. resisted the idea of replacing Yao Ming now, angrily reprimanded Francis for occupying the ball, and asked Francis to share the ball with Mobley, Morris Taylor and others to play more united.
Van Gundy made arrangements based on the style of play they played in the first half of the second quarter when they had an advantage. The Rockets' three outside lines all had ball-handling attacks. The offensive effect was very good in the first half of the second quarter. Maurice Taylor was replaced, and Van Gundy Jr. was more confident. He felt that he was beaten 7-0 just now. Francis did it all alone. A point guard was intercepted three times in a row. The opponent was very lucky, Francis was a point guard anyway, how could he be intercepted so easily, all because Francis was too careless and played too alone in these few rounds.
And Francis could only nod with a dull expression. He still couldn't believe what happened just now, but the facts were in front of him, he couldn't even attack Liu Mang!
At this minute, Francis felt the oppression of that bastard in Los Angeles from Liu Mang, the feeling that the offense and defense would kill him!
Francis didn't have any objection to Little Van Gundy's arrangement, he... was scared!
Both teams did not make any substitutions and continued with the lineup just now.
However, after returning from the timeout, even though Francis began to share the ball, the Rockets' offense still couldn't open.
Liu Mang locked Francis to death, mainly because Francis did not expect such a situation at all. When Francis did not expect Liu Mang to be able to hold his strength, he was intercepted three times by Liu Mang, which made Francis lose his accurate judgment. I was beaten, and in the next confrontation with Liu Mang, I completely ignored the fact that I still have skills, and spread the word if I couldn't handle Liu Mang.
And on Mobley's side, meeting Prince...
Mobley is very good, very good, very good quasi-first-class star, breakthrough, three-pointer, stop jump ball and pull-up bar are very good, but facing Prince, except for strong three-pointers and emergency stop jumpers , He has nothing to do, and he can still lean back even on strong shots. Prince's height, wingspan and mobility are too scary for non-top physical outsiders!
As for Maurice Taylor, when he met Muhammad and Kwame Brown's defense at the basket, he pulled out and was marked by Muhammad. He wanted to hit the basket and was shot by Kwame Brown. Cato's offensive end is This is a decoration, except for the second offense and the direct dunk and layup after catching the ball, he has no offensive ability.
Jim Jackson...you have to blame Pat Riley. He is now a shooting-type offensive rebounder. In addition to fixed-point shooting and support, the offensive end also hits the rebound. Muhammad, there is no chance at all, Jim Jackson can only shoot under the interference of Jason Terry, and the efficiency is not high.
When the Rockets called a timeout, they didn't call it. The only difference was that the people who made the strong shots changed from Francis to Mobley and Jim Jackson, and they were able to shoot.
Counting that wave of 7-0, starting from the fifth minute of the second quarter, the Eagles played for three and a half minutes and hit a 16-6 scoring shock wave, that is, Jim Jackson and Mobley felt good today. Scored a three-pointer.
Van Gundy Jr. called timeout again.
The Rockets with Yao Ming and the Rockets without Yao Ming are completely two teams, less than the gap between a team with 30 wins and a strong team in the Western Conference playoffs!
The Rockets scored 48 points with three and a half minutes left. It can be said that they performed very well on the offensive end, but the Eagles scored a full 58 points!
Seeing that it was time for Yao Ming to play, Van Gundy quickly replaced the starting lineup, trying to recover the score during the intermission.
The Hawks have also started to make substitutions. Coach Kruger seems to be a little desperate for this substitution. However, the first half of the first quarter and the last time they played against the Rockets have already proved that when Yao Ming is physically fit, the regular The defense can't defend at all. When Ratliff was around, Yao Ming was still very smart to open up the space to play, playing mid-range shots and running back to the basket to catch and shoot, and he couldn't defend at all.
Unless the Hawks have the super defensive giant Mutombo in the late 1990s and a top blue-collar power forward, they have a chance to defend against the combination of Yao Ming and Morris Taylor.
Therefore, Coach Kruger can only try the unreliable defense developed by Liu Mang and Mike Woodson. He can't just watch Yao Ming come back to eat away the point difference! It is certain that Yao Ming will start to force the basket when he comes back, so he must double-team, and he can't just watch Yao Ming force it, and then the Rockets' offense will be revived again.
On Liu Mang's side, he also went up with the mentality of giving it a try. Anyway, he opened up 10 points just now, so he can give it a try, but let's talk if he can't.
Liu Wei now understands why some people will say that Yao Ming's inside teammates are bad. If Yao Ming is on the court, his inside partners will look very good, because Yao Ming takes away the defense, and his inside teammates look good, but Yao Ming is not there. His post teammates looked as hot as they could be.
Mike Woodson called a few players who were going to play with Liu Mang to draw tactics together. Liu Mang walked on the court and twisted his waist to prepare for the next big thing!
...
The two teams began to rotate, and the Rockets replaced the full starting lineup, trying to chase points before the end of the second quarter.
Yao Ming is ready to kill the Quartet inside!
Although Ratliff or Kwame Brown is good for single defense, there is only one player. If Rasheed Wallace is not there, Yao Ming is very confident. Just him! And he's also ready for when Muhammad or Boozer flanks Ratliff, anyway, it's just now!
However, Yao Ming saw that the Hawks sent Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Prince, Raheem, and Ratliff.
This is a bit incomprehensible. Yao Ming knows that Raheem defends well and can defend against power forwards. It is also difficult to defend against Maurice Taylor! Moreover, Yao Ming is confident that even if Raheem and Ratliff attack him together, he can go straight in for a hard dunk. When he was playing against the Pistons before, Ben Wallace and Bosh could not stop him.
Yao Ming had only one idea, that the Eagles probably wanted to speed up their counterattacks. He was confident that as long as he played a little more stable offensively, he would be able to stop the Eagles' cavalry tactics and prevent them from rebounding and counterattacking!
The timeout ends and the Rockets have the ball.
Francis advanced to the frontcourt and saw Liu Mang retreating to the free throw line to defend, so he stopped fighting. He wanted to finish the game quickly and go home to find out what happened!
Yao Ming stuck Ratliff under the basket with strong lower body strength. Although Ratliff also has strong lower body strength, this time, he felt like he met O'Neal. Although he did not have O'Neal's explosive power, Yao Ming was very stable! Use static force to firmly block the position.
Francis lobs the ball to Yao Ming.
Although Yao Ming has an advantage in strength, it's not that big. It's okay when he's stuck, but now he needs to fight with his life!
Just as Yao Ming received the ball, he suddenly saw Liu Mang shrunk directly to the basket!
That position is not the kind of position where the outside line double-teams the inside line, but the position where two inside lines double-team!
Yao Ming obviously felt that as long as he knocked Ratliff away and turned around, Liu Mang would pounce on him and form a pincer attack, and it would be a pinch attack on the ball!
If it's two inside defenses, as long as it's not a combination like Rasheed Wallace and Ratliff, Yao Ming doesn't care that much, just go ahead, but Liu Mang is so short, it's too easy to cut the ball off!
Seeing that Liu Mang retreated to that position, Francis immediately cut from the middle to the inside, and Yao Ming immediately sent the ball to Francis, who went straight to the basket. He felt that Liu Mang could not stop Liu Mang even if he was strong. Not to mention Liu Mang, he rushed to the basket at full speed, and the center couldn't stop him!
But as soon as Francis entered the free throw line, he saw Raheem block in front of him. Just when Yao Ming just passed the ball, Raheem blocked him. At the same time, Ratliff started to go forward to Yao Ming. Yao Ming is on the right edge of the three-second zone. This little distance is awkward. He doesn't have the ability to run back and get rid of the front circle. Liu Mang switches to Morris Taylor.
Francis immediately distributed the ball to Morris Taylor on the left, expecting his teammates to knock Liu Mang over and directly dunk!
Morris Taylor received the ball a little outside the left side of the three-second zone. Seeing Liu Mang behind him, he felt that he finally had another chance to play coquettishly like he did in the first half of the first quarter!
It may take a little bit of work to beat Raheem, but against the little guy who is about 1.9 meters tall, Maurice Taylor relied on Liu Mang to hit the ball on the ground and squeezed it hard. An opponent with such a big height gap who is standing still will definitely dribble and hit someone, so he squeezes.
When Morris Taylor squeezed up, he was already fantasizing about how to dunk the dunk, but when he exerted his strength on Liu Mang, he found that Liu Mang was nailed to the floor, unable to squeeze at all!
Morris Taylor squeezed again in disbelief, but he still couldn't squeeze!
As a power forward, Maurice Taylor has a strength of 83. Even if he has a weight advantage, he can only compete with Raheem at most, but Liu Mang's current lower body strength is at the level of a real center with strong lower body strength. Maurice Taylor blocks!
Maurice Taylor couldn't move, was surprised, and chose to turn around and cut in. He wanted to rely on his weight and height to deal with Liu Mang, but he couldn't move, so he turned around and pressed his weight to suppress the head office!
Maurice Taylor turned from the baseline and wanted to attack the basket directly for a layup. Don't expect domineering, just play honestly.
Just when Morris Taylor turned around and wanted to squeeze Liu Mang away, Liu Mang also judged that he would not be able to handle the opponent's beating like this, but his disadvantage of short height and light weight could also become an advantage! Seeing Morris Taylor turning around and pressing on him, Liu Mang took a step back and took a chair to defend himself!
Morris Taylor didn't expect this at all. It was too late to take back his pressing force and the upper body that had already moved, and he lost his center of gravity and fell to the ground!
Ball out of bounds, Eagles baseline!
Everyone at the scene was stunned. Liu Mang defended Morris-Taylor, an opponent with a height difference of 13 cm and a weight difference of 15 kg, who actually defended one-on-one in the low post!
Rao is that the Eagles players have blind confidence in Liu Mang. When Mike Woodson set up this defense, they all felt that it was too unreliable, but based on their trust in Liu Mang, they felt that Liu Mang must have some tricks , So I executed it with all my strength, but I didn't expect Liu Mang to defend like that, resisting hard, and then really defended Morris Taylor to the bottom line and relied on his weight to suppress him, and then Liu Mang withdrew his chair to defend and fell down!
At least the Eagles had some tactical arrangements and were mentally prepared. The Rockets were going crazy, especially Francis. He didn't expect that he couldn't beat Liu Mang, and Morris Taylor couldn't beat it either!
The big fat man of T.N.T who was broadcasting the game was also terrified. Why did he feel that this scene was so familiar?
But this guy, that size, is simply not the type that can do such a defense!
Taking advantage of the dead ball, coach Kruger followed the plan, and when he could replace Boozer on the offensive end, he would replace Boozer and replace Boozer.
Originally, if there was Rasheed Wallace, there would be no such trouble, but now there is no such trouble.
The Eagles attacked, and Liu Mang went to serve and passed the ball to Jason Terry.
Jason Terry advanced with the ball, and Liu Mang ran to the front court. He didn't ask for the ball for singles or to open up space. Instead, he ran inside and asked for the ball in the low post on the right!
Boozer took a step inside the 45-degree three-point line on the right and pulled Yao Ming out. Raheem went to the left corner to open up space, Prince went to the right bottom corner to open up space, and Jason Te Li lobbed the ball to Liu Mang who stuck Francis in the three-second zone.
Liu Mang has low-post ability, which Xiaolu had mastered last season. When he played the Nets this year, he even used it as a regular offensive method. The Rockets were not particularly surprised.
And Francis has excellent physical fitness. He has played against Kobe many times. Compared with outside defense, Francis has done a better job in low post defense. The Rockets players are quite relieved that Francis needs to defend Liu Mang's low post alone.
However……
After receiving the ball, Liu Mang observed the position of himself and the basket, stabilized for two seconds, waited until his teammates completely opened up the space, slapped the ball, hit Francis directly with his ass, and then turned left to throw the ball Swinging towards the basket with his right hand, he stuck his foot on the line where Francis was going to move to the left, squeezed Francis away directly by relying on the strength of his waist and abdomen, forced his way into the inside line to catch the ball with both hands, took off on the spot, jumped high, and with both hands Smash the ball into the hoop!
Everyone at the scene was dumbfounded. When did Francis become so good? The offensive and defensive ends were blasted to pieces!
The most surprising thing is that Liu Mang's style of play seems familiar!
There is another chapter, maybe three or four o'clock, friends, let's get up tomorrow morning and read it! too late