The world of basketball

Chapter 172 Did You Buy Real Eyes?

As the old saying goes, judging whether a team is a strong team or a weak team, in addition to the regular season battles, there is another very critical point is their ability to adjust in a series of playoffs.

The playoffs are a seven-game four-win system, and temporary gains and losses mean nothing, but in seven games in a series, a team can make adjustments based on what they did not do well in each game. This is the most important.

Whether it is the head coach of the Mavericks, Carlisle, or the head coach of the Spurs, Popovich, they are all very good coaches among them.

The two should be very familiar with each other. They have played against each other for more than 20 years. Both of them have studied each other very thoroughly and are very familiar with each other. Now it seems that Popovich is probably the one who is superior.

Aldridge performed very well in the last game. The main reason was that Doncic was not used to defending Aldridge. Coach Carlisle saw this, so he raised the lineup and replaced Smith. On Powell.

And Popovich also saw this. He was very bold at the beginning of this game. Instead of letting Aldridge, who performed well in the previous game, perform low-post singles, he let Aldridge play the role of a supporting point, allowing Mu Xiaobei is more in the low position to respond to singles and finish.

As a result, coach Carlisle's defensive strategies before the game were all messed up, because the opponent did not play as he expected, so except for Jordan, many players did not know how to defend.

First, the Spurs played the Lone Ranger at 23:10 in the opening game. In the 6 minutes of the first half, the Spurs scored 23 points. This is relatively more for the Lone Ranger and the Spurs. For the team, it is very rare to score 23 points in less than half a quarter.

Among the 23 points, Jeremy Lin scored 11 points alone, and scored 11 points in the half quarter. What kind of explosive scoring power is this?
In this season, Jeremy Lin's sense of presence seems to be much lower. The main reason is of course the arrival of Jimmy Butler, who shared a lot of Jeremy Lin's shooting power and tactical status in outside offense.

The 32-year-old Jeremy Lin is entering the end of his peak period. Fortunately, last year, he won his last big contract, and he will probably end his career in the city of San Antonio.

But this game benefited from Popovich's tactical formulation and the tactical restraint of Carlisle's head coach. Therefore, Jeremy Lin played extremely excitedly in this game, and he was definitely not worse than the opposite Kemba Walker.

This is what Jeremy Lin does.Although he can't guarantee that he will play a very high-level game every game, but there will always be a few games that will explode, right?And in the game when it broke out, he was the protagonist.

Obviously, this game, this night, belonged to Lin.

With 5 minutes left in the first quarter, Popovich took Mu Xiaobei off to rest.It is true that after two years, Mu Xiaobei's confrontation ability and physical fitness are stronger than last season, but Popovich still pays attention to protecting Mu Xiaobei's body at all times.

The vision of Popovich and the Spurs draft brought James Monto to the Spurs, and during the period when Aldridge was injured, James Monto's ability brought a great buffer zone to the Spurs. Qualified rotation player.

In this way, the Spurs' inside line is filled with many small players. In addition to Mu Xiaobei Aldridge, there are also James Monto and Gasol. Even Kuzma can occasionally play the fourth position.

The abundance of talents in the fourth and fifth positions of the Spurs gave Mu Xiaobei enough time to rest. In this way, the probability of his injury was avoided, and Mu Xiaobei had more time to play. Physical strength and vitality contribute to the team.

After class, I thought I was going to retire from the Spurs. Gasol can be regarded as desperate.The main reason is that Aldridge's injury made the Spurs have too few insiders, and Gasol had to step up, but now the Spurs have more insiders.

Since the beginning of this season, Gasol has averaged less than 15 minutes per game, scoring 8.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.1 assists. However, he is more of a leader in the locker room and an off-court mentor. It is also very important for the team.

In the last 5 minutes of the first quarter, Popovich did not take Jeremy Lin down either. Jeremy Lin played the full 12 minutes and enjoyed the team's first right to fire. At the end of the first quarter, the Spurs led by 43 points: 22 points As many as 21 points, of which Jeremy Lin scored 19 points alone. His firepower is the most important reason for the Spurs to open the game.

During the intermission, Coach Carlisle looked a little uncomfortable.It seems that the game is about to kneel at the beginning of the game, but the head coach Carlisle is a character who has experienced a lot of wind and waves after all, and he didn't let himself be immersed in this negative emotion. Instead, he tried to find a way to adjust the lineup to make up for the first quarter. pit dug.

But then the head coach Carlisle found himself in entanglement and trouble again, which seemed to be an unsolvable proposition.Because if Powell is not replaced, Aldridge's performance will become the biggest trouble, but now that Powell is replaced, he will fall into even greater trouble in the first quarter of the game.

Carlisle gritted his teeth. He didn't believe that Jeremy Lin could play such an outstanding performance throughout the game, because many of Jeremy Lin's points in the first quarter were indeed difficult shots and some magic shots.

But in the second quarter of the game, Jeremy Lin's outstanding performance again made Carlisle's judgment shaken.Are you there?There is a person named Ginobili. Ginobili has many titles, such as the vulture, such as the demon knife, and 20-minute Jordan.

And now, Jeremy Lin's outstanding performance is a bit like Jordan in 20 minutes.

With such a high-intensity demand shock and such a high-intensity game, it is impossible for Jeremy Lin to perform at this level throughout the entire game.Carlisle knows this very well, and Popovich knows it very well.

So at the beginning of the second season, Jeremy Lin completely gave up his offense with the ball, and let the inside do more things. Jeremy Lin himself played the role of a relatively more relaxed catch-and-shoot player who saves energy.

Matthews was once a superb scorer, but he was never known for his defense.In the second quarter of the game, Popovich formulated a lot of tactics for Butler to single Matthews.

Players who can stand up and score at any time in a team are very important, and often such players are the core players of a team. The Spurs have many players of this type. In addition to Jeremy Lin, Aldridge, Mu Xiaobei, Butler Kuzma are too much.

And Carlisle doesn't know why, just like Popovich bought real eyes, he can find many defensive weaknesses in his tactics.

In the second quarter of the game, the Lone Ranger did not fill the hole in the first quarter.

(End of this chapter)