Chapter 883 882. Death Five Vs. Nash's Run and Gun (Asking for Double Monthly Tickets)
The Hawks tried to play fast, but they pushed the Suns' already fast pace to a higher level. The Suns scored 17 points in 4 minutes, 7 of 7 shots!
The Hawks scored 12 points with 5 of 8 shots, which was already very good. They also stole a shot from the Suns in the middle, but after scoring 12 points in 4 minutes, they were still 5 points behind!
Coach Kruger called a long timeout to interrupt the Suns' rhythm for a long time, mainly to adjust.
Liu Mang recalled that in the original time and space, the Spurs, who eliminated the Suns in the Western Conference Finals this season, seemed to have an average score of over 100 points per game, and the Spurs were unable to suppress the Suns' rhythm. Liu Mang couldn't remember the exact score, but he remembered a very interesting set of data. The Spurs' average score in the Western Conference Finals and the Finals was 24 points different. The Spurs' average score in the Finals was less than 85 points, but the average score in the Western Conference Finals was more than 105 points.
The Spurs defeated the Suns by offense.
What Liu Mang remembered was that the Spurs defeated the Suns' fast-paced shots by their success rate.
That was definitely an atypical Spurs team, a bit like the future team-type Spurs, but also very different.
Liu Mang was a bit confused. The way he could think of for the Spurs to defeat the Suns was to rely on "stability", a stable offense, and a stable mentality. What Liu Mang remembered most clearly was that the Spurs were behind in all five games at halftime, and even behind in three quarters, and finally stabilized the reversal, relying on Ginobili's MVP-level offensive performance in almost every fourth quarter of the playoffs that year.
Liu Mang found that his understanding of the Suns was a bit biased, and he unconsciously substituted the Warriors into it. However, although the Warriors had a strong offense, they were a defensive team. In the 2017-2018 season, they averaged 7.5 blocks per game, breaking the NBA record since accurate statistics were available.
Liu Mang had seen D'Antoni lead the Rockets. At that time, the Rockets' defense was not weak, which made Liu Mang lose some of his impressions of real running and gunning. It was also related to his age. He watched the Suns when he was a child.
But now he found that D'Antoni was even crazier than old Nelson when he was young! Liu Mang looked at the smiling mustache on the bench of the Suns. The so-called overnight fame is known to the world, which is what D'Antoni said.
While Liu Mang was thinking, Coach Kruger called him over: "Ace, don't be in a hurry when you shoot, slow down..."
"Slow down the rhythm and play position?" Liu Mang asked.
"No, we still play fast on the offensive end and look for offensive opportunities as quickly as possible, but we have to make some subtle adjustments. Andre, Josh, come here..." Coach Kruger called the five players who were going to play next and said some tactical changes.
Coach Kruger did not change the rhythm in a hurry, but was making "fine adjustments". Liu Mang looked at the four teammates called by Coach Kruger, and his eyes widened.
If the head coaches of most teams were replaced, they would definitely be in a panic and try to slow down the rhythm, and then the rhythm they had prepared would also be disrupted.
But who is Coach Kruger? He is the head coach of a disciple named Ace Liu. At this time, he has to be wild! And he has to be wild in a unique way!
…
Liu Mang looked at the four teammates who played with him, glanced at Coach Kruger, and thought: Coach, are you kidding me or are you starting to get revenge on society because of your baldness?
What are these four teammates doing together?
What about the agreed fine-tuning of tactics?
But the strategy for dealing with it seems pretty good!
Just talking about this substitution, the opponent was caught off guard!
Liu Mang, Iguodala, McGrady, Prince, Josh Smith.
The Hawks sent out a five-small lineup!
In fact, it is called a five-small lineup, but except for Josh Smith who is two centimeters shorter than Stoudemire, the Hawks are taller than the Suns or at least of the same height in other positions. Liu Mang is two centimeters taller than Nash, Iguodala is the same height as Big Q, McGrady is two centimeters taller than Joe Johnson, and Prince is five or six centimeters taller than Marion.
But the center is Josh Smith, who occasionally plays as a small forward. The Suns were shocked. This substitution is a bit cruel!
D'Antoni looked at the Hawks' substitutions. He felt that the lineup he arranged was crazy enough, and the substitution of the big-headed coach on the opposite side was even crazier!
This is the lineup that Coach Kruger and Mike Woodson spent many days to determine in case the defense can't stop the Suns, and they will be replaced to attack.
The Suns did not make any substitutions. It was still the combination of Nash, Big Q, the contemporary Jordan, Marion, and the Little Overlord. Their starting lineup played more than 35 minutes, and every game was played in the first quarter to establish an advantage.
After the timeout, the Hawks attacked.
Liu Mang passed the ball to McGrady, who pushed forward to the frontcourt.
When Liu Mang arrived at the frontcourt, he saw Marion defending him. The Suns actually used a "power forward" to defend the guard!
The Suns had no defense to begin with, and now seeing the Hawks use five outside players, they just defended casually. Marion has a long wingspan and is fast. He is the best inside and outside defender of the Suns. He can defend James and dare to defend Yao Ming. They want to use him to limit Liu Mang.
Liu Mang cut into the inside from the middle. Sure enough, Marion's defense was N dimensions stronger than Nash. He couldn't keep up with the speed, but he relied on the interference of anticipation and arm span to catch up with Liu Mang. Liu Mang held up his left arm and leaned on Marion to ask McGrady for the ball. Nash actively interfered with McGrady's pass, but he couldn't interfere at all. McGrady easily passed the ball to Liu Mang who cut in with Marion.
Liu Mang received the ball and stopped at the free throw line. Marion defended Liu Mang in front. Liu Mang suddenly shot the ball to the left and dribbled to the left front. Marion wanted to follow up, but was blocked! It was Josh Smith! Liu Mang easily broke into the basket from the left, stepped on the left edge of the three-second zone with his left foot, grabbed the ball, and jumped towards the basket with his left foot.
When Liu Mang jumped up, he looked behind him on the right. Sure enough, Marion, Joe Johnson, and Big Q were almost down immediately, not caring whether the Hawks scored or not.
Stoudemire jumped up to interfere with Liu Mang, but Liu Mang did not shoot after he jumped up, because he jumped on one foot, his right foot landed on the ground, and continued to take a step, passing by Stoudemire, came to the other side of the three-second zone, and threw the ball into the air from behind Stoudemire!
Stoudemire, who was about to land after falling from the air, was knocked away by a huge force! Josh Smith helped Liu Mang with the pick-and-roll and turned to rush in. Seeing Liu Mang's high lob, he jumped directly, knocked Stoudemire in the air away, and smashed the ball into the basket!
After landing, Stoudemire took several steps back and hit the sponge of the basket. Liu Mang rushed into the basket and received the ball that bounced up from the ground after Josh Smith dunked. Seeing Josh Smith who wanted to show off and roar, he kicked him. Josh Smith immediately reacted and quickly retreated, and the other members of the Hawks also retreated.
"Amare, are you okay?" Liu Mang asked "kindly".
Stoudemire was stunned. Ace is a good man! He shook his head.
"That's good." Liu Mang threw the ball to Stoudemire and turned to run back. At this time, the other four players of the Hawks had all returned to defense.
Josh Smith's physical fitness is too good. When Liu Mang was still a fan, he felt that if Josh Smith met D'Antoni and Nash, he might have the same ability to catch the ball as Stoudemire. Moreover, he is similar to James, rarely injured, and is very suitable for running and gunning. Of course, Josh Smith's main attack and defense are not comparable to Stoudemire.
Although Josh Smith's physical fitness is similar to James, he and James are not the same type of players at all. The difference in basketball IQ and personality is too big. Otherwise, he would not have performed so well in high school, but was only selected in the middle of the first round in a small draft year, while James was the No. 1 pick in a big draft year. Josh Smith should develop towards a fixed role to avoid the fact that his playing style is easily affected by others' words due to his lack of basketball IQ and personality.
Liu Mang took the ball and cared about Stoudemire, which made Nash feel that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell.
Stoudemire passed the ball to Nash. Nash saw that the Hawks had returned to defense and did not pass the ball long, but the advancement was still very fast. He and Stoudemire quickly came to the frontcourt.
The Suns were actually very good at playing positional warfare, mainly because they could turn positional warfare into fast breaks!
The Hawks occasionally forced fast breaks in positional warfare, but the Suns always played like this.
Liu Mang was waiting for Nash to come over at the top arc. Nash and Stoudemire's pick-and-roll, Liu Mang chose to defend himself. McGrady and Prince were not very good at defending, so Iguodala, the young man, was used to follow the Suns' most capable big Q.
After Nash came over, he played a pick-and-roll with Stoudemire at the top arc. Stoudemire came over to block Liu Mang. Liu Mang did not choose to go around the pick-and-roll to block Nash's three-pointer, because they had Josh Smith! A super physical man who can defend from one to five!
Liu Mang immediately switched defense with Josh Smith and blocked Stoudemire's route. Stoudemire wanted to turn around and cut in, but was blocked by Liu Mang. Nash saw that the Hawks' inside and outside defense combination had expected this. After the switch, he decisively chose to break through and rushed from the right side of the top arc. Josh Smith stuck closely to Nash to the inside.
Liu Mang was too familiar with Nash's breakthrough method. The action of rushing directly to the right side of the three-second zone was exactly the same as his Dragic's layup breakthrough route? Dragic learned this from Nash!
Liu Mang followed the defense inside. Stoudemire's current mid-range shot was not a big deal. Stoudemire developed his mid-range shot after a serious injury in 2006. Now Stoudemire has no intention of practicing mid-range shots.
Liu Mang went to the inside and pretended to rush over to block Nash. After Nash changed from a layup to throwing the ball into the air, Liu Mang stopped suddenly under the basket and bounced back, making a gesture to block the rebound, leaning on Stoudemire.
"Ding... Rock Solid Level 5 is triggered, and there is a 25% chance of perfectly blocking when grabbing offensive rebounds."
Iron Mountain relied on the impact of Stoudemire's attempt to jump, and the iron foot skill was rooted in the ground to resist Stoudemire's brute force. Rock Solid played an extra role, and Liu Mang blocked Stoudemire tightly!
Nash threw the ball for Stoudemire to catch in the air, but he made a mistake!
Liu Mang entangled with Stoudemire with all his strength, and the two rushed to the ball hanging "over the bridge". Liu Mang was much faster and more flexible, and he hit the ball first. McGrady rushed over to pick up the ball and hugged the ball!
Defended!
This is the first time the Hawks defended the Suns' offense in this game!
After defending, it is very simple to attack. Although McGrady advances quickly after protecting the ball, he does not follow the Suns' rhythm blindly before the timeout. After advancing to the frontcourt, he waits for his teammates to get into position and let the Suns players get into defensive position before passing the ball.
If they keep running, the Suns don't need to get into position at all, but the Hawks fall into a positional battle and then start a fast attack. The Suns must defend in place. No matter how reckless they are, they can't let the opponent get into position and slowly adjust to throw a three-pointer. They don't have so much adjustment time when playing fast breaks.
The Hawks' offense is still very easy. Liu Mang continues to cut into the inside with Josh Smith's off-ball pick-and-roll. McGrady is a step slower and passes the ball to Liu Mang. After Josh Smith's off-ball pick-and-roll, he cuts to attract Stoudemire's attention and takes Marion away. Liu Mang easily lays up and scores two points.
After scoring, Liu Mang caught the ball again, and waited for his teammates to run across half court before throwing it to Marion who served the ball.
Nash saw this scene and finally understood what he felt was wrong in the previous round of offense! That shameless MVP, where was he "caring" about Stoudemire, he was clearly taking the opportunity to interrupt their fast break!
That bastard! It's so shameless!
"Amare, Sean, when you defend later, pay attention to grabbing rebounds and the balls that fall after they shoot!" Nash quickly reminded.
When Liu Mang turned around to defend, he heard Nash's words, and he was really discovered by this guy!
16 to 17, the score difference was narrowed to one point. Liu Mang knew that the real contest would only start when the opponent discovered his cunning!
Requesting double monthly tickets, thank you friends for so many monthly tickets and rewards! Thank you! Speaking of the ten thousand rewards and the leader, both are double monthly tickets, but it was not displayed when rewarding, but the tickets Xiaofeng saw in the background were directly 20! Thank you! Xiaofeng knows that many friends have already voted for 5 monthly tickets, so vote for recommendation! Of course, it would be even better if there are rewards! Try your best to rush to the second place, and finish the next chapter before 3 o'clock. Xiaofeng will finish this chapter first and then go to work. It's the National Day holiday, and I will be very busy in the next two or three days, but I will still try my best to write more! Prepare for 20,000 words a day starting on the 30th!