Chapter 732 731. You Are Much Worse than Popovich (for Subscription~)
From the data point of view, Hamilton is not a pure shooter, and his average assists per game has always been very high, averaging 3.1 per game, which is extremely high in terms of pure scoring.
But his assists are different from others. Others are either breaking points, passing and supporting, or picking and rolling.
Hamilton's assist is very special, connecting the offense of the entire Pistons.
Hamilton needs to rely on his own running position to get rid of the first defender, and then after receiving a pass from Billups, if the opponent has no defense, he will shoot. Being torn, he can pass to teammates who are vacant due to the opponent's supplementary defense.
The Pistons' record has improved year by year, and Hamilton is crucial. This season is fine, with Stephen Jackson and Bosh. In the first two seasons, the Pistons' offensive end was pointing at Hamilton. But all of this is based on the fact that Hamilton can run out of space.
For example, Bosh's air cuts and open mid-range shots, and Stephen Jackson's two-wing three-point catch-and-shoot shots, many of them were made by Hamilton tearing up the defense.
But when playing the Eagles, Hamilton was almost desperate every time.
Chased by Liu Mang who was as active as usual but with the expression of a rabid dog on his face, Hamilton ran more and more sadly, and finally got open to receive the pass under the continuous pick-and-roll of his teammates, but almost made a three-point shot. !
The ball thrown by Hamilton will hit the front of the basket, and it will fly out of the bottom line after rubbing against the basket!
Offensive and defensive transition, the Eagles attack.
After Liu Mang advanced to the frontcourt, he continued to break into the inside line, and Hamilton was passed by Liu Mang again.
Just as Liu Mang rushed to the free throw line, he grabbed the ball and started. When the first step of the three steps was taken, Ben Wallace immediately rushed towards Liu Mang, and Liu Mang took the first step. Before landing, he threw the ball behind Ben Wallace with his right hand. When Ben Wallace saw Liu Mang's movement, he immediately changed direction and rushed towards Ratliff.
As expected of the strongest defensive center in the league, Ratliff's mobility is completely incomparable, and it is completely crushed by his physical fitness.
When Ben Wallace jumped in front of Ratliff, he realized that Ratliff had no ball in his hands and was retreating towards the baseline.
Ben Wallace also saw the fans stand up and let out a cry from beyond the baseline, and the cameraman on the baseline also shot up the camera.
not good!
Ben Wallace screamed inwardly, reacting very quickly, he understood what happened in an instant, without turning his head to look, and continued to rush towards Ratliff, as if he didn't notice that he had chased out of bounds.
Just when Ben Wallace threw himself on Ratliff, as if he didn't hold back the feeling of rushing forward with Ratliff, there was a creaking sound immediately behind him, and Ben Wallace Turning his head to look at Liu Mang who just fell from the basket, he secretly praised himself, thinking that his on-the-spot reaction was too witty.
With such a mentality, obviously, Ben Wallace did not focus on the game, but avoided embarrassing himself.
Usually, even if he can't defend, Ben Wallace will turn around and press on Liu Mang. He doesn't dare to make too many fouls. He has already suffered a foul, but he will never give up to block the shot.
Ben Wallace has some of the blocks, it's the kind of dunk timing that looks like he, his size and the other person are close to perfect, impossible blocks, the kind of blocks that look amazing, every time It's huge Improve the defensive enthusiasm of the Pistons.
Of course, it also made Ben Wallace a high-frequency member in the background wall.
But today, Ben Wallace completely lost the enthusiasm to defend to the death. After blocking Liu Mang's first wave of attack, he saw that he was in danger of being detained, and his acting skills broke out to save the bottom line.
This is the most intuitive display of the current fighting spirit of the Pistons.
It's the Pistons' offense again, and most of the Pistons' offense started here from Hamilton, but today, Hamilton is going crazy.
Although Liu Mang has half the chance of catching the ball and ignoring the rhythm of running in a wide range, other shots are completely useless if he runs like Hamilton, and there is no second Hamilton in the league who can run and shoot like that. He is accurate, but Liu Mang doesn't have these problems on the defensive end. He just needs to run along. When he is tired, and before he recovers, he will follow Hamilton closely. Like a mad dog, his expression is more ferocious than usual. And because Liu Mang's physical fitness will not be affected after he is relieved, he will give him a physical potion when he is tired, chasing Hamilton to the point of weakening his nerves!
The Pistons were not good at attacking. This time, Hamilton was chased by Liu Mang for 1 of 5 at the beginning. With the positive attitude of squeezing over or going around and continuing to chase desperately, Hamilton already has no fighting spirit, and now his shots are weak.
The Pistons had no choice but to switch to Billups, Stephen Jackson, and Bosh taking turns in singles.
Billups meets Prince, Stephen Jackson meets Raheem...
Prince almost perfectly suppressed Billups, a long-time pitcher-type player, and Prince was not afraid of Billups' ability to draw fouls at all. Most of his team's training was against a certain No. 1, and that No. 1, even when he played fiercely during training, he would play shamelessly.
Stephen Jackson, he is not fast, he mainly relies on height, rhythm, and strength to play, and as long as he is not a speedy opponent, Raheem can defend well. He is devoted to the defensive end, and he is paired with Stephen Jackson. Locked up a key single point for the Pistons.
Ben Wallace can just ignore it, the Eagles can't wait for the Pistons to pass the ball to him.
So, the Pistons team with the highest singles efficiency was actually Bosh...
In the first quarter, 3 of 7, Bosh singles Rasheed - Wallace is the best performance of the Pistons.
However, in addition to Bosh's 7-for-7 scoring 6 points, Hamilton's 5-for-1 scoring 2 points, Billups scored a three-pointer, Stephen Jackson caused Raheem to get two points for a foul, the Pistons No one else on the team scored!
For the Eagles, Liu Mang scored 12 points alone in the first quarter and had 4 assists. Liu Mang just started to pass the ball, which is outrageous.
But even so, the Eagles were 25 to 13, leading the Pistons by 12 points in the first quarter!
Larry Brown was already furious. He called timeouts several times in the first quarter, and every time he paused, he pointed at the players' noses and cursed.
Neither team made any substitutions in the first quarter. The Pistons have been using the starting lineup all the time. This is the characteristic of Larry Brown's coaching. The Eagles do not make any substitutions.
Leading by 12 points in a single quarter, limiting the opponent to only 13 points, the Eagles completely locked the Pistons at the start.
What surprised the fans the most was Liu Mang's style of play, breakthrough or breakthrough, high-frequency impact to the rim, completely different from his usual style of play, the usual breakthrough is not so sharp, the Pistons' inside defense is the strongest in their entire defense. Strong, with Ben Wallace guarding him, but Liu Mang just wanted to force his way. With Stephen Jackson and Bosh both watching the show, Ben Wallace didn't have a problem with a player who rushed in directly. Way!
Ben Wallace made up for it, and Liu Mang passed the ball. What's more, in Ben Wallace's view, Liu Mang also played pass fakes.
In Ben Wallace's impression, among active players, there is no second person who plays this way!
The sharp breakthrough is the characteristic of Liu Mang playing with Kobe's star card. Similar to McGrady's passing fakes, it is because of his big hands. On the basis of Kobe's play, he also added passing fakes and shooting fakes, so that The opponent is hard to guard against!
After the first quarter, Liu Mang heard the wilder cheers than ever before, and finally understood why the blacksmith brother didn't deliberately do anything, didn't bother to maintain his idol image, and even went to the court in Kezhou, There are still so many fans.
This style of play is really attractive to fans!
...
During the intermission, the Eagles began to make substitutions. Stockton and Jason Terry went up, bringing Prince, Boozer and Kwame Brown on the field.
Liu Mang drank Gatorade crazily on the sidelines to replenish water and electrolytes. His scoring efficiency in the first quarter was actually not particularly high, 4 of 9, and his teammates' shooting efficiency was average. The Eagles' scoring efficiency was not very high. The Pistons Although there is no fighting spirit, at least the defense still has the first or even second defense, but it is not as strong as it usually is when playing against other teams. The offensive efficiency can only be said to be quite satisfactory. Of course, this is relative to the Eagles' own offensive efficiency.
Liu Mang also consumes a lot of energy. After the first quarter, he used two rounds of physical potions. He usually chased Hamilton. Such a session uses two physical potions, but today it breaks through continuously, averaging once a minute, which consumes a lot of energy!
Stockton took Boozer and Jason Terry up, and the defense was indeed weaker by several notches. The offense of the Pistons was at least back to normal. After more than half a quarter, they scored 13 points.
However, Stockton and Boozer's pick-and-roll attack, the Eagles were not blocked by the Pistons, and also scored 13 points. When the second quarter was officially suspended, the Eagles still led by 12 points, 38 to 26. With a leading edge.
Seeing that Liu Mang was going to exhaust the team, coach Kruger hurriedly replaced Liu Mang, wanting to establish a bigger lead before halftime.
Coach Kruger shouldn't be too satisfied with Liu Mang. Liu Mang's style of play today is completely beyond everyone's expectations. Who would have thought that he would use such a sharp breakthrough as his first offensive choice? The Pistons didn't expect this kind of aggressive play at all. In addition, their defensive confidence has collapsed today, so the Eagles can still lead the Pistons by 12 points under the circumstances of today's very large defensive scale.
The two teams have played for one and a half quarters, and there are very few free throws. Except for Liu Mang's 5 free throws in the first quarter, the rest of the Eagles have now passed 19 minutes of the game, with a total of 7 free throws. Only 4 free throws.
Coach Kruger predicted the opponent's defense and kept Stockton on the court...
...
On the other side, on the Pistons bench, Larry Brown was swearing again, and the Pistons players all held back their anger.
Why did Larry Brown lead the team to the finals for two consecutive years and win a game when he played so well with Billups and Ben Wallace, the two Pistons' inner and outer cores? In the case of the champion, he will be fired for the simple reason that even Ben Wallace and Billups don't like him, or even hate him.
It’s just that the Pistons have been winning, won the championship, and reached the finals in 2005. They have been winning for nearly two seasons, but once they didn’t win and lost the finals, he was fired immediately .
Larry Brown's entire coaching career has been very characteristic, that is, he can only rely on maintaining his coaching position when he is still winning. Once he starts to lose, his coaching position will be unstable.
The Pistons players can still swallow their anger now because they really didn't play well.
Usually Larry Brown swearing at people will stimulate the defensive combat effectiveness of the Pistons players, but Larry Brown's various swearing this time did not stimulate the players, only generated hatred, because the Pistons players themselves I don't think I can win.
...
Back from the timeout, the Eagles have the ball.
To play, you still have to play well. Although the Pistons players have no fighting spirit, they still have professionalism. I saw the players from the Eagles, Stockton, Liu Mang, Raheem, Boozer, Rahim De Wallace, judged that the Eagles were going to play a pick-and-roll.
The Pistons didn't make any substitutions and continued to start. Larry Brown is indeed a capable coach. It is easy to judge that as long as there are substitutions, even one of the five strongest players will probably collapse immediately.
After receiving the serve, Liu Mang advanced to the frontcourt. It was strange that the Pistons didn't shrink their defense anymore, and the Pistons' defensive focus didn't seem to be on him.
Although I don't understand why, this opportunity is really good!
Liu Mang came beyond the three-point line and saw the Pistons' wide-open defense, so he immediately chose to break through!
Hamilton's attention is still on Stockton and Boozer, and he is predicting the running position and passing route of the Eagles for a while, and he is going to cut off the connection between Liu Mang and others. The ball was handed over to Stockton. Unexpectedly, Liu Mang shot directly. Hamilton didn't even have a chance to go inside against Liu Mang.
Liu Mang rushed into the basket from the right side of the three-second zone. Ben Wallace and Bosh reacted quickly, and they both caught him. When Liu Mang stepped into the three-second zone, his rhythm suddenly changed and became very Slowly, then suddenly jump up, step out from the bottom line to take off, turn 180 degrees in the air, and throw back!
The change of rhythm, Bosh was the first to fly out, and Liu Mang took off directly on the second step. Ben Wallace reacted, but he couldn't do anything about Liu Mang's back. Liu Mang's waist strength is simply, After turning around in the air, you can also lean back!
Liu Mang broke through the basket, made an emergency stop and changed direction, slid the bottom line, turned and pulled the bar and fell back to throw, cutting the already fragile hearts of the Pistons players like a sharp knife.
The only thought of the Pistons players now is: they can't defend at all, the opponent will score immediately after scoring, and they can't play anymore. Basketball is too difficult to play...
This goal made the Pistons dare not block Liu Mang's breakthrough. They had to focus on dealing with Liu Mang after halftime. When Liu Mang saw the Pistons' defense, he immediately gave the ball to Stoke. Dun went to play without the ball, and when the opponent paid more attention to Stockton and Boozer, Liu Mang broke through again.
Without Prince and Rasheed Wallace, as long as Stephen Jackson and Bosh, their defense is still much worse than the original Five Tigers. Although they are also the top three defensive teams in the league, It is second only to the Eagles and Pacers, but it is far from the defense of the original Five Tigers that surpassed the league by a large margin!
In addition, the mentality of the Pistons players has collapsed. When the game reached the third quarter, the point difference was finally completely opened!
After the official timeout of the third quarter, the Eagles 67 to 47, leading the Pistons by 20 points!
Liu Mang drank a lot of Gatorade during the intermission, and now he continued to drink until the staff preparing Gatorade next to him began to complain.
Liu Mang knows why some people like to drink sweat. This style of play consumes too much, and it also exaggerates the physical fitness of a certain player!
Liu Mang remembered that when he competed with that guy, he never seemed to be tired...
Just as Liu Mang was thinking about it while drinking a drink, there was a sudden exclamation at the scene, and there was also noise from the Pistons.
Liu Mang and his teammates looked at the Pistons bench curiously, and found that the Pistons were arguing!
Larry Brown is arguing with a Pistons player.
It is definitely impossible for Billups and Ben Wallace. Both of them have been wandering for many years and finally gained a foothold. They will not quarrel with the head coach and do not want to ruin their reputation.
Hamilton is Larry Brown's favorite player. Larry Brown rarely scolds him alone. Although the relationship between the two is not good, it is not bad.
Bosh is still a rookie.
It was Stephen Jackson who quarreled with Larry Brown...
Stephen Jackson's violent temper, he endured more than half of the game, and was scolded again during the official timeout, and Larry Brown pointed at his nose and "pushed-baby-baby", Stephen Jackson didn't do it, but Immediately replied: "You are far worse than Popovich."
This touched Larry Brown's taboo. He hates to hear people say that he is not as good as Popovich, and he hates being told that Popovich has won another championship. It's not a good thing to be a champion.
Then, the two quarreled more and more.
Larry Brown finally threw down a sentence: "Go away! As long as I am the head coach of this team, you don't want to play!"
"As long as you are the head coach of the Pistons, I will not be playing as a Pistons player!"
Stephen Jackson tore his Pistons jersey from the neckline, threw it on the ground, and walked toward the player tunnel with his upper body bare.
The last conversation between the two just now was too loud, and the fans at the scene tried their best to hear what they said. The scene became very quiet, and the Eagles bench could clearly hear the content of the last two sentences.
The fans around the Pistons bench could hear it even more clearly, one pass was ten and ten was passed... There was an uproar at the scene!
Then I don't know who took the lead, and the crowd began to shout: "I-love-you-Larry..."
Liu Mang looked like a crowd eating melons, watching the Pistons fall into silence, no one spoke, only one on-site staff picked up the torn jersey...
This scene is too familiar. It was also the same conversation when Larry Brown and Iverson had a conflict before!
Stephen Jackson's temper was more explosive than Iverson's. He tore his jersey and announced that he would not play for the Pistons!
This can't even come back after the game!
...
There was no desire to play at all, and they were already 20 points behind, and there was infighting. The Pistons players didn't have the heart to play at all.
The Eagles didn't hold back, especially Liu Mang. As long as the main force of the Pistons didn't go down, he wouldn't go down. He didn't want to give the Pistons any hope of chasing points, so he continued to press the lineup.
As for Larry Brown, in the remaining minutes of the third quarter, there were no other substitutions except for Michael Curry to replace Stephen Jackson, who was in the direct position. Yep, I didn't even bother to reach out when I saw Liu Mang rushing in.
Liu Mang scored 7 points in the last 5 minutes of the third quarter, bringing his personal score to 30 points. The Eagles played a wave of 14 to 3!
Seeing the 31-point difference, Liu Mang was finally willing to leave the field, and was forced by Jason Terry to point his nose and scold him... It delayed Jason Terry's scoring in garbage time, see Jason Terry Wake up, all alone...
In the end, relying on Liu Mang's three-quarter performance of 30 points, 2 rebounds and 7 assists, the Eagles slaughtered the Pistons 98 to 71, with a score difference of nearly 30 points!
This game not only allowed Liu Mang to complete the potentially threatening task brought about by his own death, but also a surprise. I didn't expect the Pistons to fight among themselves!
Finally finished writing, huh...