The Whip of the God of Basketball

War is a continuation of politics, while the arena is an extension of the training ground. What kind of performance a team or a player can perform in a game depends 80% on what level they have reached in training. In a real game, there will never be new tactics, new routines, or new combinations. Everything has been practiced thousands of times, but how to perform it requires the players' on-the-spot performance and the coach's formation.

Leon made Wang Zhizhi the starter by no means on a temporary basis. They have practiced this routine countless times in training, otherwise the cooperation between Arenas and Wang Zhizhi would not be so smooth. But limited by Wang Zhizhi's own ability, Leon predicts that the opening five minutes will be his limit. After this time, his presence on the court will no longer be a positive effect, but a negative energy.

After Bradley came on the court, Wang Zhizhi could no longer get cheap one-on-one, and he couldn't fully mobilize Bradley. Although this 7-foot-7 big bamboo pole is far from meeting people's expectations, on the defensive end, the NBA The block king is more than enough to deal with Wang Zhizhi, and the problem of the Mavericks' inside defense has basically been solved. On the outside, Michael Finley is not a defensive gate player, but his height, wingspan, and physical fitness are not comparable to Nash. Let him match up with Arenas. It won't be torn apart so easily.

Arenas' offensive skills have not yet reached the point where he can easily surpass Finley, and his experience in offensive organization is not very sufficient. The Celtics players are obviously in a state of confusion. Leon didn't like to call a timeout in the past games. The premise is that even if the situation on the court is unfavorable, the players' positions are not messed up and they can still stick to their style of play.

During a 20-second timeout, Leon made two substitutions. First, Wang Zhizhi’s opening role has been completed. Six points and one rebound are quite satisfactory statistics for him. After that, he will have a chance to perform, but not now. . His replacement wasn't Tony Barty, it was Chris Anderson. Compared with Batty, except for blocking shots, Anderson is inferior to Batty in all aspects of technology, but Anderson has one thing that Leon values ​​very much, that is, his passion. When the team has morale problems, it is undoubtedly a good choice to replace Anderson.

Immediately afterwards, Leon decided to replace Michael Reid and replace him with Steve Kerr.

"Steve, you play shooting guard and replace Michael, but help Gilbert share the pressure of holding the ball. Also, when you defend, you deal with Nash, and Finley continues to hand over to Gilbert. Don't be afraid and The confrontation of the old ball skin, come on boy, use more forwards, remember to defend in advance." Leon said to Cole and Arenas respectively.

This is a combination of two point guards, which has not appeared in previous games, and is also a routine that has been practiced repeatedly in training. In fact, this combination is designed for the Nets, mainly to deal with Kidd and Kidd. Ernes has double locks on the perimeter, and Reed's ability to handle the ball is mediocre. Although Cole will have defensive problems, but with Cole, Arenas and Pierce who are relatively stable on the outside, The Celtics' offensive position will change a lot. In the Eastern Conference Finals last year, the Celtics were often unable to launch a second fast break under the oppressive perimeter defense of the Nets, had to fall into position, and finally died of inefficient positional warfare.

Facing the Mavericks now will be a good opportunity to experiment with dual point guards.

…………………

"Back to the game, the Celtics made personnel adjustments. Let's see, they got Steve Kerr and Chris Anderson, replaced Reid and Wang Zhizhi, so the Celtics have two Point guard, I don’t know if their defense will have problems.” Brad Nessler posed a question to Walton and Tolbert.

"There will definitely be some impact, but what the Celtics need to solve most now is offense. Obviously, they have to shift the focus of offense from the inside to the outside. Wang Zhizhi's shining is only temporary. He is a surprise player and cannot provide stability all the time. The firepower. A mature coach should accurately realize that when a miracle occurs, he must be grateful, but he must not rely on it to survive. I think Leon did it.” Wharton’s rhetoric is always unique.

"The Celtics' outside line will be penetrated! It's that simple." Tolbert retorted as if he couldn't understand Wharton.

At this time, Anderson served a sideline ball outside the boundary, and Arenas continued to control the ball. With Cole on the court at this time, Arenas' mentality was completely different. With the help of the veteran, his body relaxed, and Finley was not so scary anymore, and he was just a swingman with average defensive skills, with longer arms and faster speed.

Leon arranged a No. 1 special tactic for the team during the timeout. This is a tactic commonly used by various teams in the NBA. It is usually designed for the top scorer. will be slightly different. Leon also liked this tactic in the first quarter. It could help the team's two scorers Pierce or Antoine Walker to open up their touch. This time he chose to start with Walker.

Walker raised slightly from the support position of the free throw line, and quickly made a posture of pretending to get rid of Nowitzki's defense. At the same time, Arenas moved the ball laterally from right to left. Pick and roll screens. On the other hand, Chris Anderson has left the left rib where he was standing and rushed to the middle to cover for Walker.

The two screens were carried out at the same time. Arenas went 45 degrees to the left, and Walker used Anderson's screen to cut to the left hemline. At the same time, after completing the screen, Paul Pierce went to the top of the arc to make a threat, and Anderson turned around and went in, ready to grab a rebound. At this time, Arenas has three options for passing the ball. The first is to leave Pierce free and pass the ball directly to Pierce for a three-point shot. The second is to pass through the moment Walker walks to the basket. The second is that Walker came to the left rib and lobbed Walker to complete the singles.

Leon knew that with Arenas' current level of passing, he could only do the third type. The first type required good judgment and timing, not to mention the second type, which required master-level passing skills and precise positioning. Prediction, otherwise it is a mistake. Sure enough, Arenas gave Walker a lob. When Walker received the ball, Nowitzki was not ready for his defense. Walker turned inside and squeezed Nowitzki away, and succeeded in a small throw with his right hand.

"Excellent footwork, extremely fast stride frequency, Nowitzki is not good enough on the defensive end today." Wharton commented on Nowitzki's defense, his footwork and confrontation are indeed a problem.

But on the offensive end, Nowitzki is not a vegetarian. The Celtics switched defenses and let Chris Anderson deal with Nowitzki. Leon knew that Anderson couldn't guard Nowitzki, but he needed Anderson to experience what it was like to face the league's top shooting power forward. Looking back, Nowitzki received the ball to the right of the familiar free throw line, a coherent and soft mid-range shot, and Anderson tried to block it, but it was simply out of reach. The ball arced high in the air and went hollow into the net.

"Judge his shot timing, don't think about blocking!" Leon couldn't help shouting off the court. Good defense is not to block the opponent's ball, but not to give the opponent a good shot. For a player like Nowitzki, when he realizes that he can make a shot, there is basically no possibility of blocking him.

In the next few minutes, the two sides began to score goals from you to me. Leon's transfer is obviously effective. Cole's playing releases Arenas' pressure, and Cole's threat on the right three-point line is no less than Reed's, and when Cole organizes the Celtics When attacking, the Celtics obviously played more flexibly, not as simple and rough as Arenas organized, just with three tricks.

At the same time, the Mavericks' offense is also very clear, repeatedly using Fist1 tactics, using Nash's assault ability, Nowitzki's shooting ability after the pick-and-roll and Finley's containment ability, constantly infiltrating the Celtics' inside line. Nash's brisk breakthrough did not tear the Celtics' defense, but he was able to come and go freely in their three-second zone, launching an attack from the Celtics' hinterland. Fortunately, the existence of Anderson and the two blocked shots sent out made the Mavericks players understand that the Celtics' insiders are not able to come in and out casually.

At the end of the first quarter, the battle between the two sides was 28:29, and the Celtics temporarily led by one point. Wang Zhizhi's consecutive scoring at the beginning still gave the Greens a little advantage. After that, the Mavericks had a slight advantage in the overall scene. of. Walker scored 10 points in the first quarter and is the player with the most points in the Celtics. Leon is now in the game. In the first quarter, one of the twin stars must be activated and let him open, so that the team's offense tonight can be Basic protection.

Leon's two experimental tactics in the first quarter have achieved good results, but it seems that there is still a lot of way to go before they can truly become a basic part of the Celtics' tactical strategy. During the break between the first and second quarters, Leon walked up to Arenas and asked, "How do you feel? After the first quarter, your offense was not very good."

Apart from his good performance against Nash in the opening game, Arenas was quite mediocre against Finley afterwards. It seems that he still lacks experience in dealing with misplaced defenses.

"I still have to push him on the defensive end, I'm a bit struggling." Arenas said while drinking water, the offensive end is okay, but it is indeed a bit difficult to face Finley and Arenas one-on-one on the defensive end, although he has already done Not bad, but Finley still scored 7 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. He was the best player for the Mavericks in the first quarter.

Leon still had a move in mind at this time, but after thinking about it, he decided to save it until the third quarter, and he decided to rely on Pierce to survive the second quarter.