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On May 18, the first game between the two sides started in New Jersey.

The Wizards continued the starting lineup from the previous series, with Jordan as a substitute. The Nets' main defensive strategy in the past two years has also been a 122 zone defense, which requires a three-pointer from the corner to break it.

The Wizards: Alston, Bell, Hamilton, Marshall, Stoudemire.

The coaching staff's idea is very simple. If the Nets send Eddie Curry to start like they did in the last round, then Alston and Stoudemire playing pick-and-rolls in the middle will easily cause mismatches. The three people will run apart, and the defender will break through or the center will cut. , can directly threaten the basket, attract double teams and then score the ball.

Against the Nets in the regular season, Jordan has always been the starting small forward. When he organized forwards in the middle, he threatened the Nets but failed to win. He lost easily in low-post singles. With the regular season as a reference, in order to win, the Wizards must make new attempts.

The Nets coaching staff also has experience in dealing with the Wizards. They know that Stoudemire is fast and can easily be passed by the center in the tank, so they did not send Curry or veteran Mutombo, but Aaron, who is 206cm tall and weighs 100kg. -Williams pairs with Kenyon Martin to increase mobility.

Kidd is a strong point guard. He can also push Stoudemire when encountering a pick-and-roll, preventing him from making quick air cuts and limiting the Wizards' pick-and-roll tactics. The Wizards' three-man running team, while the Nets' role players can also run, cannot directly get open.

Kenyon Martin's physical fitness is not inferior to Stoudemire's, and he runs like a defender. Stoudemire can pass Curry in front of the frame, but it is much harder to think about Martin. Aaron Williams can also keep up with Marshall, and the two are similar in size.

The Nets' offense is dominated by positional warfare. Williams is an inside coolie type player who is good at grabbing rebounds and blocking shots. He has no special skills in offense and cannot open up space. The Wizards can use a combination to defend the penalty area and their defense is also good.

Five minutes later, Stephen Jackson began to show off his power. During the counterattack, he hit two three-pointers against Bell, broke through the ball, and assisted Martin for an alley-oop dunk.

Kidd also has an advantage when holding the ball against Alston, who is much stronger. When Yang Rui saw that it was not working, he quickly called a timeout and made substitutions. Jordan and Wesley came on the scene and replaced Alston and Bell.

After the substitutions, the Wizards still couldn't find the feeling on the offensive end. The Nets insisted on man-to-man tactics and did not lose their position easily. Excellent defense is their magic weapon to win. The Nets only averaged 95.1 points per game in the playoffs, which is not much, and only lost 90.7 points per game.

The Wizards trailed 18 to 25 in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Yang Rui sent out a smaller lineup, including Alston, Bell, Maggette, Wallace, and Boozer.

The Nets sent Anthony Johnson, Lucious Harris, Stephen Jackson, Rodney Rogers,

Eddie Curry defended the zone.

The Nets are all swingmen on the perimeter, and Johnson is 191cm tall and weighs 91kg. He only needs to come up for a while in each game. Scott will let Kidd play the entire second half, and his playing time is usually about 42 minutes.

Entering the playoffs, all coaches will increase the playing time of the main players. The Nets have a three-man rotation in the swingman and a five-man rotation in the interior, which can ensure physical strength. Only Kidd must be present. If he rests, the Nets will be completely different. The team doesn't play so well.

In Yang Rui's previous life, Kidd was not elected MVP. When he won the championship with the Mavericks in 2011, his form had declined and he was more like a 3D player. In fact, even top Nash and Paul may not be better than Kidd in terms of overall strength. Now in Kidd's prime, he is excellent both offensively and defensively, averaging 20 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game in the playoffs.

The Nets' substitutes maintained their advantage. When the starters returned, the two sides continued to grind out positions. The points difference was not big, but the Wizards just couldn't catch up.

The highlight of the Wizards is also their defense, relying on zone defense to limit the high pick-and-rolls of Kidd and Martin.

Martin's style is very similar to Stoudemire's. Both are unstoppable when facing the frame. If they can't rush, they won't be so scary. The Wizards coaching staff certainly knows how to reduce Stoudemire's efficiency, just use it on Martin.

If an inside line blocks Martin's alley-cut route, they will not be able to perform domineering alley-oop cooperation. Kidd can only shoot from mid- to long-range, and his shooting percentage is average. Martin is not very efficient in low-post singles, showing off his stiff throws and hooks again and again. The Nets' three-point shooting is also average, not taking many shots, averaging 16.1 shots per game, making 5.6 goals, and shooting 34.8%.

At the end of the quarter, Stephen Jackson became the protagonist on the court again. He hit three three-pointers and restricted Maggette on the defensive end.

Maggette was impressive against the Pacers, struggled against the Bulls, and didn't perform well against the Nets.

To put it bluntly, this is a functional player. If the opponent does not have a strong swingman, Maggette is the star. Against fighters like Artest and Jackson who are not afraid of confrontation, Maggette is no good. He takes fewer free throws and only relies on sports games to score. He averages 15 points per game and his efficiency is average.

Stoudemire also encountered the same difficulty and "contradicted" with Martin.

Harris and Kittles took turns following Hamilton, and there was no problem with their physical strength. The "Scalpel" had no advantage.

In the last minute, Kidd faced Wesley and hit a three-pointer from the outside, widening the point difference to 11 points and sealing the victory.

The Wizards players failed to bet on three points, 88 to 98, and lost the first away game.

The good news is that the Wizards are only slightly behind the Nets, the game is not one-sided, and it looks like there is still room to win.

The bad news is that the Wizards made 19 turnovers in this game and the Nets only made 6. From this point, we can see Kidd's control of the rhythm. Wizards players need to do better in details and make fewer mistakes. In this regard, they are not as good as the Nets.

The next day, Yang Rui held a coaching staff meeting in the hotel room to study tactics, and Jordan also participated.

As soon as they met, Yang Rui found that the three of them were in low spirits and could not laugh at all.

Except for Yang Rui, everyone else thinks it is "hell-hard" for the Wizards to reach the finals this year. If we continue with the previous tactics, we may be able to win one or two games, but we won't be able to defeat the Nets. It won't work to focus on run-and-gun counterattacks. The Nets players will return to defense quickly and the rhythm will be messed up. The Wizards may lose even more miserably.

After closing the door, Yang Rui said seriously: "The Nets are very strong, and the lineup has some restraint on us. As the news said, this is our fifth consecutive loss to the Nets this season. Let's discuss it now. We need to find ways to recover from the disadvantage. If we lose again and return to home court 0-2, the situation will be even more severe."

Jordan frowned and curled his lips. Losing five games in a row is a nice way of saying it. Counting the two sides' matches last season, the Wizards lost eight games in a row. It's really a sad story.

The Wizards defeated the Nets 98-86 in the first game of the 2001-02 season, but that regular season game is not worth mentioning because Jordan had a concussion in his hand and scored 45 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals from a 50% shooting rate.

The three of them remained silent. They were at their wits end.

The Jazz stuff that Hornacek brought didn't work. In addition to pick-and-rolls, Sloan would ask his players to attack the basket and take shots close to the basket to ensure a hit rate. If they couldn't score, they would try to draw fouls. This trick was used by the Wizards in the regular season, but it didn't work against the Nets.

D'Antoni's favorite tactic is run and gun, grabbing backcourt rebounds and immediately counterattacking. Players can go one-on-one or shoot three-pointers. Nets players are not weak in one-on-one defense, and Kidd will not follow the Wizards' rhythm. He can be fast or slow. If the counterattack is not successful, it will be difficult to guarantee efficiency, let alone.

Yang Rui was not surprised at all. They had discussed it before the first battle, and all three of them had lost their minds. But it doesn't matter, Yang Rui asked the question just to attract others.