One Guard

Chapter 797: Unsatisfactory winning streak

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As early as when Deron was still playing for the Jazz, Cuban had thought about letting him come to the Mavericks and form an impeccable double point guard backcourt combination with Yiyang.

At that time, the dual point guard lineup of Yiyang and Kidd was always able to achieve good results, so the wealthy Cuban was ready to spend a lot of money to poach the star Deron.

At that time, Cuban was only superstitious about the superstar effect and was not as cautious in signings as he is now.

But it turns out that Iguodala and Tony Allen were more suitable for the Mavericks and Yiyang's style of play. If Cuban had given up these two defensive heroes for Deron's big contract, maybe the Mavericks would not have had the previous two championships.

Deron is certainly an outstanding player, but under the circumstances, Iguodala and Tony Allen were more suitable for the Mavericks. But now, when the team already has Tony Allen and Iguodala, it may not be a bad thing to try the backcourt combination of Yiyang and Deron.

However, neither Carlisle nor Deron are ready for this change. After losing to the Rockets, Carlisle informed Deron that he was likely to be put into the starting lineup to take over Wade's position.

After learning the news, Delong was very surprised. He didn't expect that after he came to the Mavericks, he would still have the opportunity to start. After all, it has the best point guard in the world.

During the confrontation training, Carlisle also paired Deron and Yiyang for a while. But the effect was disastrous.

Deron is a player who needs to have the ball in his hands to play his best role. When Yiyang controls the ball, Deron seems a little at a loss.

And when Deron was in possession of the ball, he obviously lacked confidence, was timid, and was not decisive in playing the ball. You know, there is a big difference between caution and lack of confidence. If a point guard delays handling the ball, it is a fatal flaw.

Deron is now confident in leading the second team, but if he is given the starting point guard position, he is afraid that he will mess everything up.

The training effect was not as good as expected, Carlisle shook his head. Maybe letting Deron and Yiyang play as double point guards was not a good decision from the beginning.

But the battle of the NBA regular season will not stop because of the Mavericks' personnel shortages. On December 6, the Mavericks will travel to Washington, D.C., to challenge the Wizards, who are equally strong.

John Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter, through the draft, the Wizards have now formed a "trident" of their own. There is no doubt about the Wizards' offensive power, and their firepower is among the best in the entire league.

In today's game, Carlisle continued to experiment with the lineup. He asked Barea to play the starting No. 2 position. This was the second time the Mavericks' starting lineup changed after Wade was injured.

On the contrary, Tony Allen can only defend. After Jose Barea became the starting shooting guard, his offense improved, but his defense was stretched.

Barea's official height is 1.83 meters, but Yiyang and the rest of the Mavericks team know very well that the Puerto Rican guard's actual height is actually less than 1.8 meters, or about 1.78 meters!

Although Barea plays very hard, the height disadvantage cannot be made up for by hard work.

On the offensive end, Barea had just received a pass from Yiyang and scored a three-pointer, but in the next round, Bradley Beal could immediately return the favor easily.

One after another, Barea didn't score. Let's use Tony Allen, he can only defend. With Barea, he will only score points. Carlisle shook his head, it seemed that this plan still didn't work.

Even so, due to Yiyang's strong field control ability, Wall has been pushed to the second place by Yiyang in the recent draft rearrangement. Judging from this game, Wall, the top pick, is indeed not as good as Yiyang.

Wall is still a top player, but Yiyang, he is the top of the top.

, the Mavericks won handily in Washington, DC. Yiyang scored 36 points, 11 assists and 6 rebounds. He worked hard to score.

To fill the void left by Wade. Although Barea scored 13 points, he allowed Bill to score 21 points. In Carlyle's view, this was a serious imbalance.

Barea may be suitable to shoot a few three-pointers in a limited time to show his value, but if he plays the starting lineup for a long time, he will only become the opponent's cash machine.

The Mavericks successfully avoided a losing streak and immediately recovered. But Carlisle still can't feel at ease. Winning can't cover up the vacancy in the Mavericks' starting No. 2 position...

In subsequent trainings, Carlisle was still trying to get Deron and Yiyang to partner in the backcourt. But Deron seemed to be cursed and performed well when he came off the bench. As soon as he started playing with Yiyang, he was at a loss.

The once best point guard in the league seems to have lost his temper.

On December 7, the Mavericks flew to New York, the "Big Apple City", to face the Knicks in back-to-back games.

At this time, Carmelo Anthony is no longer the master of New York. Latvian big man Porzingis took over the keys to New York City.

In this game, Porzingis let the world see his outstanding talent. With a terrifying height of 2.21 meters, he has the touch of a guard and the mobility of a small forward.

No matter whether Carlisle used Dirk or Nance Jr., he couldn't guard against that unreasonable "monster". Since the emergence of Durant, there have been more and more big men who are skilled, long, capable of shooting and mobile. Carlisle still remembers that when they were young, Garnett and Odom were already typical representatives of all-around big men.

But compared with the current Porzingis, Durant, Towns and others, they are embarrassed to call themselves "Mr. Almighty".

Porzingis scored 28 points in the game. There was no way around it. When he shoots, no one on the court can interfere with the Mavericks.

Anthony, who only scored 17 points on 33% shooting, looked more like a nervous rookie in front of Porzingis.

But 28 points were not enough for a weak team like New York to defeat the defending champion. Yiyang scored 30+ points in a row today, with 33 points, 10 assists and 4 steals to help the Mavericks win.

Barea performed very well today. He scored a season-high 20 points in the starting lineup! But what Carlisle was more concerned about was that Barea actually allowed Spanish veteran Calderon to score 14 points!

You know, Calderon is just a veteran point guard with a brain who averages less than 5 points per game. His duty on the court is to organize the offense and try to let Anthony follow the tactics. Scoring is basically just about picking up misses.

If he can score more than 10 points, it is enough to show that there is a huge problem on the defensive end! Carlisle is fortunate that Barea's opponent today is Calderon. If it had been someone else, it might not have been as simple as 14 points.

The Mavericks have won two games in a row, and their 20-2 record still bites the Warriors, who have won 22 games in a row and have yet to lose.

Deron Williams, when will you adapt to the dual point guard combination? If you continue to use Barea as the starter, sooner or later there will be problems...

※※※

This season's NBA league is destined to belong to three-pointers and small lineups. The Warriors started with a 22-game winning streak, and this number is still rising, almost replicating the myth created by the Mavericks last season.

Last season, when the Mavericks did this, people said that such an achievement would probably never happen again. However, after just one season, the Warriors have the momentum to overtake the Mavericks.

It was very rare before that two super teams strong enough to dominate the league appeared at the same time. The Warriors are still working hard to create their own myth, while the Dallas Mavericks are still trying to get out of trouble.

Since Wade was injured and the Mavericks lost to the Rockets, they have won two consecutive games. But Carlisle did not let the victory go to his head. The Mavericks were able to win consecutively again not because they solved the problem of Wade's absence, but because Yiyang scored 30+ points in three consecutive games and the opponent was not particularly strong. Only then did such a result occur.

But looking at the predicted starting lineup of the next opponent, Carlisle has one head and two big ones. Atlanta Hawks, Kyle Korver, one of the most accurate three-point shooters in the league. Last season, he averaged a terrifying 49.2% shooting percentage from open three-pointers, which made people exclaim that he couldn't even do it even in games!

Let Barea go against Korver. Without a fight, Carlisle knew it would be a disaster!

Let Tony Allen start? No, then Yiyang will be targeted to death!

The overall defense of the Eagles is very good. Everyone will participate in the defense. The players encourage and support each other. They are very aggressive and very efficient. The transition between offense and defense and the placement are very timely. Quick rotation, this is the Eagles' defensive secret. This sounds easy to say, but it is very difficult to find a whole team of players who faithfully implement the coach's defensive arrangements. However, the Atlanta Hawks have such a group of players.

Maintain pressure on the ball at all times, release people in the middle to destroy the inside route, and force the opponent to send the ball farther. The Hawks have the capital to do this because everyone on the court has excellent mobility. Horford, the tallest at 2.08 meters, is even fast enough to keep up with the opponent's offense and defense transitions.

If Yiyang and Dirk were left to carry the scoring banner, the game would not be unwinnable, but it would definitely be extremely difficult.

Carlisle rubbed his temples. At this point, he had to force Deron. In the next game, he plans to let Deron come on as a substitute and form a backcourt with Yiyang to see the effect.

Although the Hawks were one of the best regular season teams last season, to be honest, they still pose little threat to the Mavericks. Carlisle has the capital to do some small experiments in this game. Even if it fails, the Mavericks still have the ability to win.

Just like that, Carlisle turned off his computer and let his overloaded brain take a break.

He stood by the floor-to-ceiling window of the office and looked out at the beautiful scenery outside the arena.

In the afternoon, people came and went around the American Airlines Center Arena, which has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Dallas. Countless tourists linger outside the venue and take photos, making it extremely lively every day.

But among the surging crowd, Carlisle's eyes were attracted by a familiar figure.

A gray-haired old man, supported by a young girl, stood outside the arena, staring blankly at the logo of the American Airlines Center Arena.

The old man's eyes were dull, his mouth was open, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably. Carlisle was shocked, how could this guy become like this now?

He rushed out of his office door and ran to the old man's seat outside the arena. Deron on the training ground looked at Carlisle in confusion. What happened?

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