Chapter 970 969. The Spurs' Defensive Paradox
9 to 4, the Spurs called a timeout!
Two minutes, three three-pointers!
McGrady took the lead in opening the situation for the Hawks.
However, Bonzi Wells is still a headache. If you use Kwame Brown to defend, he can't keep up with the flexibility. If you use Rasheed Wallace to defend, he can't keep up with the speed, and he can't get around. He was originally a shooting guard. If he gets around, he will directly pull out to receive the ball and break through. To defend Bonzi Wells, you can only defend the basket. If he gets around and leaves the basket, it will be more difficult to defend him. You can only use Bonzi Wells's lack of impact and poor mid-range shooting to defend.
Coach Kruger took advantage of the Spurs' timeout to replace Rasheed Wallace with Josh Smith, changed the lineup, and arranged a defensive strategy.
The overall tactics did not change, but Rasheed Wallace was replaced in advance.
The Spurs' personnel adjustment at the beginning of the game really caught the Hawks off guard. Although McGrady scored three three-pointers, that was a non-tactical play. The opponent called a timeout and must have made defensive changes to McGrady. Coach Kruger had to adjust the defense against the opponent's strong offensive point at this time.
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After the timeout, Liu Mang took McGrady, Prince, Josh Smith, and Kwame Brown to the court.
The Spurs did not make any substitutions. Parker, Ginobili, Horry, Bonzi Wells, and Duncan continued to play.
The Spurs attacked.
After Parker advanced to the frontcourt, Bonzi Wells continued to look for low-post opportunities.
The Spurs thought that the Hawks replaced Josh Smith to use speed and mobility to defend in front, and were ready to use Duncan to block Kwame Brown and reverse Bonzi Wells. Unexpectedly, Josh Smith used a normal defensive method.
In this case, Bonzi Wells chose to continue to block the low post, and the other Spurs continued to help Bonzi Wells open up space.
Parker moved to the left at a 45-degree angle and passed the ball to Bonzi Wells.
Just when Bonzi Wells received the ball and was about to make a move, Liu Mang double-teamed Bonzi Wells, preferring to let Parker go for a long-range shot.
Bonzi Wells immediately passed the ball to Parker, who received the ball without hesitation and shot. When Prince rushed over, it was too late.
Even if the outside shooting is not good, Parker must shoot decisively at this time, otherwise the opponent will double-team Bonzi Wells unscrupulously.
Iron trees will also bloom. This season, Parker averaged 2 three-point shots per game in the playoffs, averaging 0.2 three-pointers per game. In this season's playoffs, Parker, who only made three three-pointers in total, scored on his first three-point shot!
7 to 9, Parker's three-pointer narrowed the gap to two points!
Liu Mang and Prince had no choice. When the opponent has an extremely advantageous single point for defense, they can only choose to double-team and let go of the opponent's weakest link. Parker is obviously the soft spot of the Spurs' outside shooting. He actually made a shot, so there is nothing they can do.
Attack and defense change, the Hawks attack.
Liu Mang received the serve and advanced to the front court, passed the ball to McGrady, and then cut to the inside with Ginobili. Prince ran to the right corner with Parker, and Josh Smith screened for Liu Mang from the left mid-range.
McGrady received the ball outside the 45-degree three-point line on the right side, which is the strong side, and faked a shot. Horry was already scared and jumped up immediately. McGrady didn't spend much effort to rush into the three-point line and rushed to the inside.
At this time, Liu Mang used Josh Smith's pick-and-roll to force Ginobili and Bonzi Wells to switch defense. After Ginobili was blocked by Josh Smith, he immediately rushed towards McGrady who broke through. Liu Mang took Bonzi Wells away. McGrady immediately sent the ball to Josh Smith. Bonzi Wells was really active in his contract year. He immediately turned around and rushed towards Josh Smith. Josh Smith took a step towards the basket, attracted the defense of Bonzi Wells and Duncan, and passed to the left three-point line. Liu Mang had already run to the best position of 45 degrees!
Liu Mang received the ball and shot a three-pointer...
"Ding... Sharpshooter level 5 triggered..."
Liu Mang was in a perfect shooting opportunity, but unfortunately he didn't hit it.
Liu Mang felt it was a pity. McGrady's offensive threat sent a pass, using Josh Smith's physical fitness to completely contain the opponent's defense under the basket, but he didn't make the final shot.
Duncan firmly defended the defensive rebound, and the Hawks quickly retreated. When retreating, McGrady waved to Liu Mang to indicate that he didn't need to worry. Although the ball didn't go in, it was just that Liu Mang's touch was not good. The overall tactics were still played out completely.
There was a player who played an absolute threat on both sides, McGrady on one side and Bonzi Wells on the other. McGrady's face-to-face breakthrough pass and Bonzi Wells, a low-post pass expert who averaged 3.4 assists per game this season, led his teammates to compete at the beginning.
The Spurs' defense is very good. Horry specifically blocked McGrady's three-pointer, and the others quickly rotated to double-team the inside. Role players basically had no chance to score. After McGrady started to break through, the Spurs' rotation defense was very good. Liu Mang couldn't get a shooting opportunity as easily as at the beginning. There was always a defender in front of him. The Spurs' lineup of one big and four small players, the four outside players can rotate defense without distinction, and the defense is quite good.
The key is that the characteristics of the Spurs' game are large confrontation and many small moves, and the Hawks don't have a good way to score.
The Spurs also didn't have many good scoring opportunities. After Bonzi Wells scored 4 points, he was double-teamed by Liu Mang. The Hawks' defensive rotation also started. Prince and McGrady switched defenses when they were closer to Parker. Liu Mang waited for Bonzi Wells to pass the ball and then went to cover the person exposed by McGrady or Prince.
The two teams played fiercely in the first two minutes, and then missed shots in the next three minutes. The two teams played until the 4th minute and 10 seconds. The score only increased from 7 to 9 to 10 to 12. The Hawks used McGrady's 3 three-pointers at the beginning, and Liu Mang received the ball and made a layup, and Kwame Brown made a free throw in Duncan's three-second defense, scoring 12 points and maintaining a slight lead.
The game was tense from the beginning.
It was the Eagles' turn to attack again. Liu Mang failed to break through and passed the ball to McGrady. McGrady used his height to shoot a mid-range jump shot in the high position against Ginobili who switched defense...
It seemed that McGrady had used up his touch at the beginning, and he missed two mid-range shots in a row.
This time, Kwame Brown seized the space under the basket when Duncan went to defend Liu Mang, and stuck Duncan behind him. When the ball fell, Kwame Brown was about to grab the offensive rebound and dunk directly inside, but an arm stretched out from behind his head!
Duncan's long arms and big hands, jumped up and stretched out his fingertips vigorously to flick the ball, then used his physical fitness to jump again and pick the ball from Kwame Brown's head!
Duncan's static physical fitness is too good! Both are 2.11 meters tall, but Duncan's 2.31-meter wingspan is more exaggerated than Kwame Brown's 2.28-meter wingspan!
Liu Mang felt speechless when he saw this scene, and immediately retreated to defense, thinking about a player so tall in his own national team with a wingspan of 2.21 meters...
The Spurs chose to advance quickly this time!
Duncan grabbed the ball and immediately turned around to dribble away. His basic skills were quite solid. Kwame Brown reached out to grab it when he returned to defense, but Duncan dribbled behind his back to avoid it and passed it to Horry at the midline.
Horry received the ball and continued to attack, rushing into the three-point line, and McGrady blocked him.
At this time, Duncan inserted from the middle. This guy was too threatening. Kwame Brown was sticking to the side, and Josh Smith and Liu Mang were guarding the basket.
At the same time, Parker screened Ginobili outside the three-point line on the other side. Horry quickly passed the ball to Ginobili, and Ginobili took a jump shot on the three-point line...
Hit!
12-all!
Ginobili kept telling the referee that he was shooting a three-pointer, but the referee was very sharp-eyed and decisively made a two-point hit gesture. The fans in front of the TV saw a slow-motion replay, and Ginobili did step on the three-point line when he jumped.
The Hawks were lucky, otherwise they would have been overtaken by the opponent!
The Spurs suddenly accelerated their offensive speed and brought up the rhythm. Although they scored, coach Popovich on the sidelines was roaring.
Because just after Ginobili shot the ball, Liu Mang picked up the falling ball and immediately passed it to Josh Smith, then ran to the frontcourt. Josh Smith immediately passed the ball back to Liu Mang, and Liu Mang quickly rushed across the center line with the ball. Because the Spurs' rhythm became faster and their positions were messy, they failed to use their positions to block the Hawks' counterattack!
Liu Mang pushed forward to the front court. The Spurs retreated quickly, but it was in a mess. When Liu Mang rushed into the three-point line, a group of people blocked him in disorder. Liu Mang passed the ball to the middle. McGrady rushed to the free throw line. The two attracted four people's defense. McGrady hung the ball to the basket. Kwame Brown rushed in and dunked to score two points.
14 to 12, the Hawks continued to maintain a slight lead.
The rhythm was brought up unconsciously!
From the extremely slow positional offense and defense to the fast offense and defense conversion, Popovich's shouting on the sidelines was useless. The players were already excited.
The Spurs attacked, Kwame Brown dunked and scored, Ginobili quickly sent the ball out, and Parker quickly pushed forward.
When he reached the front court, Parker broke through the inside line, attracted the defense and passed it to Duncan, who jumped and dunked to score two points.
The two teams were in chaos because of the fast offense and defense conversion.
The Hawks like to disrupt the battle the most!
After Liu Mang pushed forward to the frontcourt, he used McGrady to block Ginobili and took a mid-range jump shot with a pick-and-roll...
This time, Liu Mang didn't consider rebounds and passing at all. He was very focused on shooting and wanted to throw the ball!
"Ding... Pick-and-roll master level 5 is triggered, the host has speed +8 and strength +5 in two seconds."
Liu Mang's jump height was very high, and it was useless for Duncan to rush up. Liu Mang took a decisive mid-range shot and hit the backboard and bounced into the basket!
16 to 14, the scoring speed of the two teams suddenly accelerated!
After playing half a quarter, Liu Mang found that if he didn't focus all his attention on shooting, he would have no chance to make a real threat to attract double-teaming when playing against the Spurs. But if he focused on shooting, he didn't have too much energy to think about passing the ball. The same was true for McGrady. It was too difficult to win the game against the Spurs by passing the ball!
This feeling was very awkward, a complete paradox. The Spurs' defense gave the players who organized the offense an uncomfortable feeling.
Liu Mang understood why the Suns played against the Spurs. Nash and Stoudemire averaged nearly 65 points per game, but their scores were increasing with each game, while their assists were decreasing. When watching the game, Liu Mang thought that the Suns were being defended by the Spurs and could not pass the ball.
Now I find that it is not that the Suns' passing was blocked, but that Nash and Stoudemire did not take shooting as their first choice, and they could not even maintain their scoring efficiency! The Spurs' defense is too strong!
The Hawks played for more than 5 minutes at the beginning and scored 16 points. Except for a dunk and a free throw by Kwame Brown, the remaining 13 points were all scored by Liu Mang and Madison.
It is too difficult to cooperate, and the Spurs seem to be expecting two people to pass the ball, which makes it easier to defend others.
Liu Mang thought of the 2001 Western Conference Finals, when the Lakers averaged 100 points per game, Kobe averaged 33 points per game, O'Neal averaged 27 points per game, and Fisher averaged 18 points per game. The three of them averaged 78 points per game, which means... there was no tactical play at all! It was just the stars swinging!
It is not feasible to rely on tactical cooperation to play against opponents like the Spurs!