From today on is the king

Chapter 1344 1343. Feature: Rejecting Horses
At 12:16 pm on December [-]th, the Hawks and Raptors played against each other for the second time this season and officially started.

For the Eagles, the starting lineup of Liu Mang, McGrady, Prince, Marion, and Kwame Brown is on the stage.

For the Raptors, the starting lineup of Ford, Joe Johnson, Richard Jefferson, Bargnani, and Milicic debuted.

Kwame Brown wins the jump ball and the Eagles go first.

After Liu Mang advanced to the frontcourt, he handed the ball to McGrady, and he cut inward.

After McGrady received the ball, Marion ran out from the right baseline to pick and roll for McGrady.

McGrady used Marion's pick-and-roll to pass Joe Johnson and enter the middle. Bargnani switched defenses and looked like a wooden stake. TJ-Ford was too late to make up the defense so quickly. McGrady entered the three-second zone and passed the ball to Kwame Brown.

The pick-and-roll of McGrady and Marion is the main offensive method of the Eagles when Bargnani is on the court in this game.

Using Liu Mang's first cut to compress the opponent's defense to the basket, Marion came from the bottom line to the top arc at the same time. At this time, Marion pulled out, and the restraining force of Liu Mang's cut was still there, so the open space came to Kwame Brown.

In the last game against the Cavaliers, after Marion made two consecutive air cuts, he was able to attract the defense and helped Granger make a three-pointer. Today, the Eagles played against the Raptors, which have two master defense masters, Milicic and Richard Jefferson. The Eagles continued to take advantage of this.

Gradually let the characteristics of each player be fine-tuned in the direction the team needs. Of course, the team's tactics are also fine-tuned.

The offensive end played smoothly, taking advantage of TJ-Ford's speed and passion but lack of good team defensive awareness and Bargnani's poor defense, aiming at breaking, disrupting the internal and external connection of Richard Jefferson and Milicic's internal and external defensive combination.

Liu Mang has become a check point. Of course, after scoring more inside shots, it will be easier for him and McGrady to score outside shots.

After Liu Mang saw that Kwame Brown had succeeded in eating the cake, he immediately retreated, focusing on defense.

This season, the Raptors averaged 105 points per game in positional battles. It has the feeling of the Kings back then, and has a stronger offensive ability. There is Joe Johnson, a guy who can score 20 points per game in singles.

After Milicic came to the frontcourt, he immediately came to a high position.

If he goes inside, Milicic’s score will definitely be much higher. It’s not a big problem to score 20 points per game, but he is unwilling to do that. He can’t give full play to his organizational ability just by playing low-post singles and splitting the ball. After all, the opponent is Kwame Brown. He can score a few, but the opponent will never double-team.

It is still necessary to play high position support, and bring out Joe Johnson's open three-point ability when he is not playing alone, Bargnani's open mid-range and long-range shooting ability, TJ-Ford and Richard Jefferson's air cutting ability.

Milicic gets to the high post, receives a pass from TJ Ford, and sure enough, Milicic sees Kwame Brown blocking his left, and the right-hand defense gives him a chance to break through.

This is not the point. The point is that Milicic saw TJ-Ford just ran to the right side of the basket, that is, Liu Mang was also on the right side of the basket. His rushing in will inevitably enter Liu Mang's basket defense area, and TJ-Ford has almost no shooting ability.

However, the Raptors still have an off-ball pick-and-roll!

Richard Jefferson cut to the inside and was stuck by Prince. He didn't get a chance to attack the basket, but his purpose was not to score for himself, but to rush in to help TJ-Ford block Liu Mang!
TJ-Ford stepped forward with the Richard Jefferson pick-and-roll and was ready to shoot. Normally, at this time, he only needs to catch the ball and put it in the basket!
Milicic grasped the time difference between TJ-Ford and Richard Jefferson after the off-ball pick-and-roll, and when he was about to pass the ball, he suddenly stopped because Kwame Brown let him go and took him in ahead of time to pinch TJ-Ford!

This... Let him vote?

Milicic quickly grabs the ball with Kwame Brown's envious big hands, recovers the ball, jumps from the free throw line...

Liu Mang has rushed to Milicic and jumped up!

Because Liu Mangdu's action was relatively large, he didn't let TJ-Ford get close to the bottom line. Richard Jefferson picked and rolled from the top line, and TJ-Ford didn't have the space to cut in the bottom line pick-and-roll, so the distance between Milicic's pass and TJ-Ford's catch was too small!

Milicic swung a shot and broke through from the left side of Liu Mang. Marion clipped in. After Liu Mang landed, he went to the left side of the free throw line. Milicic made a fake shot and made a breakthrough.

Liu Mang's mobility and jumping pose a great threat to steals. Milicic faces the pincer attack of Kwame Brown and Marion, and there are TJ-Ford, Prince, and Richard Jefferson inside, which is very crowded.

When Milicic wanted to look for someone again, Bargnani had already been stuck outside the three-point line by Liu Mang, and Joe Johnson was also stuck tightly by McGrady. Facing this opponent who scored consecutive goals on him, McGrady defended very seriously today!
Milicic has no choice but to attack for three seconds. With his right shoulder leaning on Kwame Brown, he is facing the backboard sideways. He stands up and stretches the ball to the backboard with his left hand to force a shot...

Milicic's hands are very good, and he forced a throw and hit the basket and fell into it.

Milicic's goal sparked exclamations from the scene, the goal was all scored!
Kwame Brown really can't help it. The ball is pushed to the limit. The shooting posture and the shooting method are obviously unconventional shots, and the opponent can't help it.

Although the opponent scored a goal, the Eagles have a good mentality. They have scored one or two such goals. They have forced Milicic to the point where they have no choice but to make strong shots. The defense is successful.

The buff of Liu Mang's Heart of the Strong allows the Eagles players to have confidence despite their mediocre record so far this season!
Kwame Brown and Milicic each scored a goal to start the game with one each.

It was the Hawks offense again, and it was McGrady and Marion’s pick-and-roll. This time the Raptors attacked faster. TJ-Ford released Prince and shrunk in. McGrady passed the ball to the right, but not to Prince, because Prince was moving, and the direction of the pass was the sideline at a 45-degree angle on the right!

Mistake?Fans see no one there!

Just when the ball was about to go out of bounds, a No. 24 player caught the ball!

When TJ-Ford was going to pinch McGrady, Liu Mang led Richard-Jefferson to run not at the left bottom corner and left 45-degree angle, but on the right side!

Prince, who was emptied, came up to block Richard Jefferson. When Liu Mang ran to the right sideline, he just received a pass from McGrady!
Take a deep breath and take off at the same time. When you jump up, air is poured into Liu Mang's mouth. After reaching the apex, he makes a standard three-point shot...

Liu Mang exhaled his breath as he landed, the ball fell into the basket and made a hollow hit!
After the pick-and-roll, Liu Mang made a three-pointer!

Can't resist!
The Raptors' ability to switch defenses is too poor. Bargnani and TJ-Ford know how to pinch. If they have an average defensive awareness and have Milicic and Richard Jefferson as two defensive gates, they can build a good defense.

The Raptors averaged 106 points per game, much higher than the NBA average of 98.1 points per game, but they conceded 101 points per game, which was also much higher than the NBA average of 98.1 points per game.

Playing against a team without so many stars, the Raptors can actually defend well, but when they encounter a strong offensive opponent, they can only attack aggressively.

The Raptors were attacking, and Liu Mang was defending against TJ-Ford, who was advancing. When he was beyond the three-point line, Milicic came up to block him without any disguise!

After Milicic arrived in the frontcourt, he didn't go to the high post to ask for the ball, but chose to pick and roll with TJ-Ford!

There is no fake action, and it is obvious that the Eagles should switch defenses quickly.

When Milicic was not depressed, his mind was very clear. They saw it the first time they attacked. The Eagles wanted to force him into a pinch.

TJ-Ford used Milicic's pick-and-roll to break through with Kwame Brown from the right side of the top arc.

Kwame Brown's defensive awareness is also very good, he didn't post it, but retreated towards the back, and TJ-Ford missed the shot.

After Milicic blocked Liu Mang, he cut in from the center and asked for the ball from TJ-Ford. Facing Liu Mang who was quickly retreating down the line, Milicic didn't care at all, just received the ball and ran it in.

However, when TJ-Ford was about to pass the ball to Milicic, Liu Mang ran to the baseline, and Marion had already switched to Milicic!

At this time, Bargnani cut into the basket, collided with Liu Mang, turned around immediately, and leaned sideways on Liu Mang to ask for the ball.

TJ-Ford couldn't pass the ball to Milicic, but he caught the ball again. He stopped the ball in this position and Kwame Brown was in front of him. There was no way!
Fortunately, the left side of the basket has become an absolute weak side. Bargnani leaned on Liu Mang to ask for the ball, and TJ-Ford quickly hoisted the ball to the left side of the basket.

The ball did not go through Milicic's hands!
The Eagles' strategy worked in the first start!
Just when Marion switched to Milicic and Liu Mang blocked Bargnani from colliding with Bargnani, the system prompt came!

"Ding... The host successfully restrained Milicic's high-ranking support. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the talent skill: Lianzhu. The first feature: Resisting horses. Talent skill: Lianzhu, upgraded to level 2."

What counts as successful containment?
This is a question Liu Mang has been thinking about for a long time, and he has been obsessed with defending Milicic before.

But in the discussion with the coaching staff, Mike Woodson pointed out that it is not necessary to guard against Milicic's high position support.

Really want to lock down a big center who may be the top three talent in the league?
This is unlikely.

So what exactly is to limit Milicic's high-level support?

This is too difficult. The reason why support is difficult to defend is because of his variability, especially Milicic, a high-level support player with a mid-range shot. Except for a little less experience, his awareness is not worse than Duncan, Garnett, Gasol, and Webber and Divac back then!
The task is to prevent Milicic from grasping weak timing. Liu Mang has studied it for a long time, and what he is going to experiment with today is to make Milicic uncomfortable, let him play singles, or simply not catch the ball.

Liu Mang also wants to complete this task today, but the difficulty is too great. It is more difficult than expected to upgrade the talent skills. The talent skill of fighting left and right has been activated for so long, and it is only level 3 now. The shooting ability of the left hand is still far behind that of the right hand.

So Liu Mang just tried it, unexpectedly, the effect was better than expected!

In other words, the lineup problem of the Raptors team is bigger than imagined!
TJ-Ford has the basket but no perimeter, and Bargnani has the perimeter but no basket, but he is also a seven-foot power forward, and his lack of ability to attack the basket has a relatively large limitation for the Raptors' offense. Marion, who is as short as a power forward, relies on his impact.

Thus, Liu Mang's strategy succeeded!
In terms of system judgment, this defensive strategy succeeded!
This method is estimated to be effective only against the Raptors on a team with a very high supporting star. For the Spurs, Lakers, and Bulls with a more complete lineup, Liu Wei probably does not have such a good effect... It is even unlikely to be effective. This is specially used to deal with Milicic.

But apart from this method, Liu Wei really can't think of any way to defend against Milicic's high-post support. Without defending for three seconds, Milicic's performance is no worse than in the international arena. What he has enhanced in the international arena is his long-range shooting ability and defensive ability.

"Rejection level 1: When the opponent has a player to support in a high position, the host has a [-]% chance to accurately predict the opponent's first pass choice."

Others have the awareness of defensive prediction, while Liu Mang has the function of direct prediction!Straightforward hints from features!

But... Liu Mang can't be happy about getting new features for a while now, and he can't even care about Zhu's promotion to level 2.

After Liu Mang heard the prompt, he saw the ball flying into Bargnani's hands from above, and saw Barney Barney, who received the pass from TJ-Ford, come up to him with his butt pouted...

Big trouble is coming!
Blocking Milicic's high pass and curbing Milicic's pick-and-roll cooperation, but this kind of defense is bound to allow Liu Mang to face Bargnani or Richard Jefferson in the low post!
Richard Jefferson is all right, only 10 centimeters short of height, but Bargnani... a full 20 centimeters difference!The rest of the Raptors pulled away immediately after Bargnani received the ball, and TJ Ford also contained Kwame Brown on the baseline.

Bargnani met a defender in the low post, so excited, his Italian guns are about to start crushing!Bargnani pouted and sat in.

Seeing that Bargnani bumped into him with his butt pouted, Liu Mang had no choice but to hold on to Bargnani's butt, straighten his waist and push him up!

(End of this chapter)