Chapter 839 838. Atlanta Swindlers
In the Phillips Arena, fans holding "Fifty-seven" signs were everywhere.
When the players of both teams came out, the cheers kept rising.
Hawks fans are very proud now. As the defending champion, the first in the Eastern Conference, with a record of 16 wins and 3 losses, they are closely following the record of 17 wins and 3 losses of the Suns who played one more game. Hawks fans can't help but be proud of their home team.
Now Liu Mang is challenging various scorers, and fans naturally hope that Liu Mang can make a strong response!
As for the Bulls, although people think that the Bulls are a strong competitor to snipe the Hawks, Hawks fans are not worried about this. In their view, the Bulls are just a "mere fifth in the Eastern Conference" team.
That's how confident they are. This strong confidence has also infected the Hawks players and put pressure on the Bulls players.
"Hawks fans are annoying. Do you really think that guy is the best in the league? How many points do you want to get?" Tyson Chandler saw the two players of the same class on the opposite side and couldn't help complaining.
"I can easily beat that useless center who can only defend." Eddy Curry was very disdainful of Kwame Brown.
Useless center who can only defend? Tyson Chandler glanced at Eddy Curry and sat back on the bench.
Hinrich looked at the proud attitude of the away fans and saw that Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry, two talented high school students, could not help but complain when they saw the cheers of the fans holding the 57 sign. Hinrich didn't say anything. He was so calm.
Being calm doesn't mean not wanting to win. Hinrich really wants to beat the Hawks.
But the Hawks are really too strong. Although the Bulls have defeated strong teams one after another this season, Hinrich was not very sure that they could beat the Hawks.
However, when he learned from the pre-match news that the Hawks didn't take them seriously and the whole team wanted to help Liu Mang score points, Hinrich felt that the opportunity had come!
Seeing the Hawks' arrogant look, Hinrich was happy.
It's time to become famous!
...
The game is about to start, McGrady feels so ashamed! It's just a regular season game, and he's playing dirty! But this sense of shame makes McGrady a little excited.
"It's really annoying and happy to be teammates with Ace." McGrady saw Liu Mang still practicing three-pointers, and couldn't help sighing, and then prepared to play with a shameful and excited mentality.
Liu Mang was observing the Bulls players.
It's really amazing!
It's almost a perfect nine-man rotation!
Hinrich, ability rating 85 (peak), offense 84, defense 86, three-pointers 87, mid-range shots 79, layups 85...averaging 15 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists per game.
Eddy Curry, ability rating 88 (contract year), offense 95, defense 73...averaging 17 points, 6 rebounds, 1.2 blocks per game.
These two are the only two first-rate players Liu Mang has seen on the Bulls. Hinrich has reached his peak in his second year, which is not a big surprise. He is a standard traditional point guard, and even his career is very traditional. He finished four years of college before entering the NBA. His skills have long been mature. After a year of adaptation, Hinrich quickly reached his peak.
As for Eddy Curry, the system has given him a mark, a contract year player...
It’s true that contract year players are awesome, and they are already very powerful among first-rate players, with an offensive ability of 95...
Although there are no top stars, and there are only two first-rate stars, but the others...
Luol Deng, ability rating 78; Ben Gordon, ability rating 79; Tyson Chandler, ability rating 81; Antonio Davis, ability rating 80; Chris Duhon, ability rating 72; Othella Harrington, ability rating 76...
Among the nine rotation players on the Bulls, except Duhon, no one has an ability rating lower than 75!
Eddy Curry, who just celebrated his 22nd birthday yesterday, can continue to improve at the current speed, the Bulls will be amazing!
Especially the two rookies, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, whose rookie ability ratings are better than Howard... Thinking that Okafor's rookie year was better than James' rookie year, and even Du Hong, a second-round pick, had an ability rating of 72, Liu Mang couldn't help but complain: 2004 was really a strange draft year...
Moreover, because Al Jefferson was snatched away by the Celtics, the Hawks had to choose Varejao, which led to the failure to choose Du Hong, which has always been a pain in Liu Mang's heart.
But Liu Mang knows that Eddy Curry is a player in a contract year... Unless he is about to lose his salary, he will never think about playing hard.
But this year is exactly the contract year for this No. 4 pick, and in the competition with the same class of inside players, Eddy Curry has always performed well. Whether playing against Gasol or Kwame Brown, he has always had the upper hand. Last season, he played against the Hawks and scored 37 points and 14 rebounds in one game.
Seeing Eddy Curry's body, weighing more than 130 kilograms, Liu Mang went up and patted Kwame Brown, who was practicing rebounding while he was shooting, and mourned for a few seconds.
Kwame Brown knew that it was Liu Mang's intention, but he was not afraid now, just go ahead!
…
"Ding... The Hawks' devil home court was triggered, from Rasheed Wallace and the fans of the Phillips Arena."
With a roar from Rasheed Wallace, Liu Mang sprinkled magnesium powder into the air.
Kwame Brown came to the center circle and jumped the ball with Eddy Curry.
The starting lineup sent by the Hawks remained the same, Liu Mang, McGrady, Prince, Rasheed Wallace, Kwame Brown.
On the Bulls side, Hinrich, Duhon, Luol Deng, Antonio Davis, and Eddy Curry played.
Liu Mang saw that Kwame Brown and Eddy Curry were full of fighting spirit! The ferocious feeling on their faces was very strong.
Both of them were high-ranking rookies in the 2001 class of high school players, and they were the two most talented rookies that year. Seeing the two of them fighting to the death as soon as they met, Liu Mang found it very interesting.
Liu Mang had asked Kwame Brown before the game. He knew that Kwame Brown was bullied by two high school rookies of the same class on the opposite side two years before he came to the Hawks. Liu Mang laughed so hard that Kwame Brown was very resentful and wanted to find someone to comfort himself.
The feud between Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler can be traced back to 1997, when they were both 15-year-old high school freshmen. The first time Kwame Brown played against Tyson Chandler, they almost got into a fight.
It was because of the playing style. Kwame Brown has always had good physical fitness. In high school, he was the kind of player who flew around and dunked. Tyson Chandler was the kind of player who focused on defense in high school. Although his physical fitness was also good, his body shape did not support his violent playing style. The two played against each other for the first time in the National High School Basketball Championship today. Kwame Brown dunked Tyson Chandler and almost got into a fight.
Later, in the senior year of high school, Tyson Chandler actually played better. He thought he could become the No. 1 pick, but who knew
As for Eddy Curry, he was talented and looked down on everyone. He had a bad relationship with his teammate Tyson Chandler. He envied Kwame Brown's salary, which was nearly twice as high as his. He was jealous and hated him. Every time he met Kwame Brown, he would beat him to death.
Chandler is a defensive player, while Eddy Curry is an offensive player. Unfortunately, both of them can only play center. Chandler was tried to play power forward, but that guy was shot to death by those shooting power forwards, so Chandler could only play as a substitute, because Eddy Curry has been so strong since he wanted to renew his contract in advance last season.
The same team, the same position, or the same age and the same period of joining the team, the competition is naturally fierce.
After the referee selected the ball, he came to the center circle.
It's time to jump the ball!
Liu Mang saw Kwame Brown jump high and pass the ball back from Eddy Curry's head, which was within Liu Mang's expectations.
Liu Mang jumped up and received the ball, and immediately played a fast break!
After Liu Mang received the ball, he rushed to the front court. Unexpectedly, Eddy Curry came up to block him!
With that huge body and flexible hands, Liu Mang could only pull sideways to avoid it. At this time, the other four players of the Bulls had already taken defensive positions.
Watching Eddy Curry run back to the basket quickly, with a speed of 80 and a weight of 130 kg, Liu Mang thought of O'Neal.
This guy is really talented. His jumping ability is a little worse than Kwame Brown, but his speed is only a little bit worse!
Liu Mang continued to advance and came to the three-point line, and saw Hinrich defending.
Hinrich's close defense is very strong. He is a defensive expert who can defend from the 1st position to the 3rd position. His close defense is very strong, similar to Stockton's defense.
He can keep up with the pace and defend against shots.
Liu Mang leaned against Hinrich sideways to avoid being intercepted by this future All-Defensive Team player. He observed the Bulls' defense and found that Du Hong and Luol Deng were both close to the middle of the defense, ready to double-team at any time. Liu Mang chose to break through and attack!
Liu Mang used the high-post back-to-the-basket technique at the top arc. He first turned to the right with one step to trick Sinrich's center of gravity. When he saw Sinrich's feet move, Liu Mang grabbed the ball to the left rear with his left hand, and with his left foot as the axis, he swung his right foot to the left rear, turning left and breaking through!
Sinrich was blocked to one side by Liu Mang!
Liu Mang rushed to the middle, and Sinrich could only run close to Liu Mang, but he was out of position and could not interfere with Liu Mang's breakthrough route.
However, this was within Sinrich's expectations. Luol Deng had already defended to the free throw line, and Liu Mang jumped up with one step outside the free throw line!
Sinrich, who was going to switch to McGrady, immediately rushed from behind Liu Mang, and Luol Deng also jumped up to interfere.
At this time, Liu Mang pulled the ball back and threw it to McGrady!
McGrady had already cut into the inside line. After receiving the ball, he rushed to the inside line in two steps and easily scored two points with a slam dunk.
Eddy Curry gave way... He might be dunked if he tried to defend, and he might not be able to interfere. Eddy Curry chose to play it safe...
Passed the ball?
This surprised the two perimeter defenders of the Bulls. Didn't Liu Mang want to throw the ball?
Or was it because he was double-teamed too quickly?
Liu Mang retreated immediately after landing, and the Hawks retreated quickly.
The Bulls are a team with extremely balanced offense and defense. Their balance is a little different from other teams. All five players of the Bulls have the ability to attack with the ball, and even Antonio Davis has a pretty good close-range shooting and close-range face-to-face singles.
So the Hawks' defense is to defend their own defenders.
Liu Mang waited for Hinrich to advance, and when he saw Hinrich coming to the three-point line, he immediately stuck to him. Liu Mang's advantage in defending a traditional guard like Hinrich is obvious.
Sure enough, Hinrich was going to set a pick-and-roll. Liu Mang saw Antonio Davis coming to his left. In order to avoid being targeted by Rasheed Wallace, Hinrich prepared to shoot around the pick-and-roll!
Liu Mang was so unique that he went around Antonio Davis and did not defend Hinrich's pick-and-roll breakthrough, but blocked Hinrich's three-pointer.
Hinrich could only step into the three-point line to avoid Liu Mang, and before Rasheed Wallace could make up, he took a long two-point shot!
Liu Mang's choice was correct. Hinrich's mid-range shot was far worse than his three-point shot, and his long two-point shot was a miss!
Kwame Brown easily grabbed the defensive rebound from Eddy Curry's head and immediately passed it to McGrady. Liu Mang was the first to go down.
The Bulls retreated quickly. They were always ready to return to defense if they missed a shot. Their winning tactic was defense. On the offensive end, they would shoot if they could, and retreat quickly if they couldn't. This season, Eddy Curry, who was in his contract year, retreated very quickly.
After Liu Mang rushed through half court, McGrady passed the ball to Liu Mang. Liu Mang jumped up to receive the ball while Hinrich caught up with him, and then rushed to the left at a 45-degree angle. All the Bulls players who retreated to defense rushed towards Liu Mang. Du Hong and Luol Deng blocked the breakthrough, and Hinrich defended Liu Mang's three-pointer.
Liu Mang saw Kwame Brown had already rushed into the three-point line, and immediately threw the ball to McGrady who had rushed through the center line. McGrady ran to the top of the three-point line to receive the ball and shot a three-pointer directly!
Hit it again!
Liu Mang got two assists at the beginning, and McGrady scored 5 points in a row!
Kwame Brown, who rushed into the basket and was ready to dunk, was so resentful. He didn't get any rebounds or points. He obviously had a better chance!
Kwame Brown thought of Liu Mang's teachings: Kwame, in the future, when I am double-teamed by the person who was supposed to defend you, I will shoot and you will grab the rebound. It's not that I play alone. Think about it, if I score, it's also two points. If you don't score and you grab the rebound, it's the rebound plus two points. Isn't it great? So it's normal that he didn't pass it to you.
Kwame Brown actually understood this magical theory... What else can he do if he doesn't understand it? Can he grab the defensive rebound and dunk it by himself?
However, this counterattack dunk without passing the ball is too much!
McGrady felt weird, and was frightened by Kwame Brown's resentful eyes. He thought he should pass it to this guy who is also a high school student next time.
The Bulls found something wrong!
Liu Mang was actually organizing the offense at the beginning!
The Hawks are cheating!