The Pope of Basketball Community

After the Pacers made substitutions, the mobility inside was enhanced. Davis mainly defended O'Neal Jr., the two have similar bodies, and O'Neal Jr. was not so easy to perform.

A minute later, Yang Rui also made an adjustment, replacing Brad Miller and Christie with Cato and Tracy McGrady.

Larry Bird builds a team that pays attention to the balance of offense and defense, switching man-to-man defense quickly, strictly guarding against outside shots, and leaving at least one big man to guard the penalty area. The Pacers did a better job than the Raptors in lowering their outside shooting percentage. During the regular season, their opponents averaged only 32.7% three-point shooting per game, making 4 of 12.3 attempts.

The opponent is good at defending three-point shots, but Yang Rui goes in the opposite direction, asking players to hit the basket as much as possible, so he sends in a heavy inside Cato.

Dale Davis is 211m tall and weighs only 104kg. He is a tall and lanky insider. Crohill, who comes off the bench, is 208 meters tall and weighs 106 kilograms. He is not very strong and can play as a small forward. Their ability to protect the rim is limited.

The Raptors' tactics have changed to McGrady attacking with the ball in the middle. He can go up by himself and organize passes. The two insiders cover Carter and Billups on both sides, helping them run and catch the ball.

McGrady attracts Rose's defense in the middle. Carter receives the pass from the side and has a physical advantage in singles out Reggie Miller. If the defense is attracted, Carter lobs the ball inside, and O'Neal Jr. has an even greater advantage in singles out Reggie Miller.

Cato and Billups have the same screening routine on the right side. Billups receives the ball. Even if Jackson bypasses the screen, it is difficult to prevent him from lobbing the ball inside.

Although Cato's offensive skills are rough, after all, he is 211 meters tall and weighs 125 kilograms. His strength and explosive power are not comparable to Crosier.

Sure enough, Reggie Miller was soon suppressed by Carter.

His defensive attitude is very good, but due to his physical limitations, the effect is mediocre. He is often beaten hard by strong men, and he can only keep nagging in his ears when facing stars to disrupt the opponent's offensive rhythm.

Carter's method of playing Reggie Miller is very simple. He leans back, turns towards the baseline or the middle, takes the ball and forces a layup when he can start. Miller follows closely, and he turns around and shoots a jump shot. He can still avoid the block by bouncing.

The Raptors and Trident are on the court together, unable to double-team. After Cato screens, he gets into the low post and can also grab offensive rebounds.

Bird happens to be a coach who doesn't like to arrange double teams. In his era, the game was mainly one-on-one. Against the Knicks and Heat, the Pacers relied on a slightly better offense to win. Compared with the Raptors in a one-on-one match, they were at a disadvantage overall.

34 to 20 in the first quarter,

The Raptors lead.

In the second quarter, the Raptors dominated the position battle and still started a one-on-one duel.

Boykins, Christie, Detrev, and Brad Miller moved outside the three-point line to create singles opportunities for McGrady.

In order to strengthen the offense, experienced veterans Willis and Hornacek continued to sit on the bench.

Bird asked Rose to continue playing against McGrady. The other four were 180m point guard Travis Best, veteran shooting guard Chris Mullin, and Crohill partnered with 39-year-old veteran Sam Parkin in the post. Sri Lanka.

Boykins was in action again, pestering Best. Best has average organizational skills and is a defender who relies on breakthroughs and scoring. It is difficult to get past Boykins with the ball.

Christie is responsible for guarding Rose, and McGrady is responsible for guarding veteran Mullin. Once the Pacers miss a shot, the Raptors immediately counterattack. McGrady can get the opportunity to bully veterans with the ball.

In positional battles, Rose is the main defender, McGrady distributes the ball, and Boykins and Brad Miller play pick-and-rolls, which can create mismatched offensive opportunities.

After 6 minutes, the score difference widened to 20 points. The Pacers gradually replaced the main players. The Raptors' O'Neal replaced Detrev, Carter replaced Christie, and Billups replaced Boykins.

This is the Raptors' strongest offensive lineup. In Yang Rui's previous life, he was one of the Big Five. They can shoot. Any three of them can form a triangle offensive line.

Bird did not dare to replace Schmitz, and Davis and Perkins partnered inside. But Perkins is 39 years old and can't jump. O'Neal has a clear advantage in singles against him. To defend Miller, the speed after the pick-and-roll cannot keep up with McGrady and Carter.

In order to protect the penalty area, Davis needs to retreat to help defend. The ball is distributed, and Brad Miller and Billups each hit a three-pointer. Brad Miller also attracted Rose to cover up the defense and assisted McGrady for an alley-oop dunk.

At halftime, the Raptors led 70 to 42, and the two teams looked completely different.

Raptors fans are more enthusiastic than last season, and the arena was very noisy during halftime. Some fans chatted and some sang.

Yang Rui rotated in the second half, with point guard Boykins, shooting guard Hornacek, small forward Jumaine Jones, and inside players Detrev and Cato.

Bird sent Schmitz again. Boykins and Cato's pick-and-roll alone was difficult to guard. The other three did not move outside the three-point line, leaving room for breakthrough.

The Pacers fielded their strongest offensive lineup, and their two outside stars began to show their strength, scoring 33 points in a single quarter. But the Raptors also had a way to score, scoring 25 points in a single quarter.

95 to 75, the Raptors led by 20 entering the final quarter.

McGrady and Brad Miller, who had rested for a whole quarter, returned to the court. The Raptors' offense was unstoppable and soon widened the point difference to 28 points, entering garbage time.

At the end of the game, 122-97, the Raptors defeated the Pacers and lost their temper.

Six Raptors scored in double figures. O'Neal Jr. played 34 minutes and scored 36 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. He had the best performance of the game.

Carter had 20 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, and McGrady had 18 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists.

Cato also performed well in this game. He only played 20 minutes, scored 12 points and 8 rebounds, made 5 of 6 shots, 2 of 3 free throws, and performed 4 dunks!

With Schmitz on the court, he couldn't defend the pick-and-roll and O'Neal Jr.; without Schmitz, Cato cut to the basket and it was difficult for others to resist, not to mention that the big man had to frequently switch to guard the Raptors' defenders.

After the game, Bird was unwilling to shake hands with Yang Rui and looked extremely embarrassed. In the second half, Yang Rui just sat on the sidelines watching the show, drinking drinks and eating snacks without calling a timeout.

As one of the greatest pretenders in the NBA, Bird has many famous quotes. In Yang Rui's previous life, even though he had been a manager for many years, once Kobe Bryant said that Dream Ten could defeat Dream One, Bird showed his eloquence. He responded calmly: "It's hard to say, they are indeed possible. After all, we are more than ten years old." I haven’t played ball in years.”

This time Bird had no chance to show off, and was made red-faced by Yang Rui. Because Yang Rui looked at him sincerely and said: "Don't worry, I have washed my hands with pure water."

Hearing such words, Bird couldn't feel any respect.

Damn it, sister, are you really here to lead the team in the game? !

At the post-match press conference, reporters asked Yang Rui questions about tactics.

Yang Rui smiled and said: "Our tactics are very simple. As you can see, we open up and play one-on-one or pick-and-roll and then one-on-one. On the defensive end, you must have a good attitude, keep an eye on your own people, and don't lose position."

The reporter asked: "How would you rate the team's performance today?"

"1 point, let alone 99 points because I'm afraid they will be too proud. After all, we won't win the championship until June." Yang Rui once again turned into a jokester.

The reporters went straight to Sparta. After just one game, did they show that they don’t take the Pacers seriously?

ps: "The Pope of Basketball" has been on the new book monthly ticket list for a month, and now it is no longer in the top ten. Please vote for me and support me! It would be really annoying if my monthly subscription ended up being surpassed by a book that was released in the middle of the month.

An additional chapter will be added today, updated on the hour of 9, 11, 15 and 17.