The world of basketball

Chapter 178 Height and rebounding
Popovich formulated a lot of tactics to defend Harden, Paul, Zhou Qi, Gordon and even Capela, but he did not expect Rivers to explode in the second quarter.

In the second quarter, Harden rested and Paul organized the offense on the court. Paul and Rivers Jr. are old acquaintances. They were teammates when they were in the Clippers. At this time, the Rockets' lineup was Paul.Rivers Jr., Gordon, Tucker and Zhou Qi, a very small lineup, seem to be going to attack.

The Spurs' current lineup on the court is Mu Xiaobei, James Monto, Jeff Green and Jimmy Butler.

Felton didn't have much playing time in the first round of the series, but in this game, Popovich actually took him out of the rotation. In this way, the Spurs will have fewer players at the No. Popovich is currently letting Jimmy Butler play the No. [-] position. In fact, it doesn’t matter, because the players on the Spurs are all players with very strong execution ability for tactics. They only need to follow the tactics given by Popovich. Just go for a run.

Jimmy Butler's organizational ability is still a bit inferior, and now the organization point on the court falls more on Mu Xiaobei, who himself is a player with a high golf quotient.Um.After experiencing last season, Popovich is willing to allow him to play more of a supporting and organizing role on the offensive end, just like Yao Ming transformed from an inside single player to an inside pivot when he was in the Rockets same heart.

Mu Xiaobei made a ball-holding pick-and-roll for Jimmy Butler from a high position, and then Jimmy Butler passed back to Mu Xiaobei. Their lineup is very high. For the Rockets, the current lineup on the court is suppressed by height.

Jimmy Butler and Gay made a cross screen, Jimmy Butler walked to the basket along the bottom line, Gay walked to the top of the arc along the three-point line, Mu Xiaobei handed the ball to Gay, after the world , Mu Xiaobei immediately cut to the basket, Gay jumped up and passed the ball with a fake shot, and the ball went straight to the basket, a very typical pass and cut cooperation of the Spurs.

Mu Xiaobei received the pass in the air-cut road, and then hit the ground to the left corner to score. Butler, who slipped the baseline, just ran to the corner to catch the ball and shoot.

"Shh-"

The ball went into the net hollow, and Jimmy Butler hit a three-pointer.

In fact, the Spurs generally do not rely on the No. [-] position to organize the offense, but rely on Gasol, Mubei, and Ade as the inside line, because their team is more about executing tactics, rather than allowing the No. [-] position to play freely. , The more role of the first position is to score and initiate tactics.

When Jimmy Butler was selected by the Bulls, his tactical status on the offensive end was not too high, because the Bulls were completely Rose's team at that time. In fact, Butler also started off playing off the ball on the offensive end.

It's just that after the Bulls became famous, Butler became more of an offensive player with the ball. When he arrived at the Spurs, he probably wouldn't have the same treatment as he did in his previous team, so he picked up again. The means of attacking the ball.

Of course, even when he was the absolute core of the team and the leader of the team, his scoring was often off the ball. Therefore, in the offensive system, it is not difficult for him to adapt to the Spurs system. Easy.

At the top of the arc, Paul and Rivers played a pick-and-roll, and then Rivers must have cut out to a 45° angle. The Spurs did not choose to double-team Paul, because Gay and Butler’s defensive capabilities were there, even with unlimited defenses. It's not too bad either.

Paul dribbled the ball continuously under his crotch, facing Guy, Gordon used Tucker's pick and roll to come out, Jeff Green squeezed over to defend, Gordon didn't have any scruples to squeeze over, and his brother-in-law Green, who pounced on him, directly received Paul's Pass the ball, one step away from the three-point line, and directly shoot three-pointers.

The ball hit the neck of the basket, and James Monto squeezed Tucker to receive the rebound and gave it to Jimmy Butler.

The Spurs did not launch a counterattack quickly. Although the Rockets' lineup is short, it is very mobile. It is a very good lineup whether it is playing a fast-break counterattack or defending a fast-break counterattack. The Spurs' current advantage lies in their height. It lies in the control of rebounds and positional warfare.Jimmy Butler saw this clearly, dribbling slowly across half court.

James Monto picks and rolls at the top of the arc, Butler dribbles and squeezes over, Mu Xiaobei provides a second screen, then, Mu Xiaobei cuts outside the three-point line at the bottom corner, James Monto cuts to the top of the arc for a three-pointer Outside the line, Butler made a circle and made a step-back jumper.

The ball hit the rim and failed to score, Mu Xiaobei rushed to grab the rebound, and then scored with a small throw against Tucker.

Tucker is very strong, especially on the defensive end. He can defend from position one to position five. However, after all, Tucker is less than two meters, which is really a bit short, especially on the stage of the playoffs. The ball has seen James Montos's accomplishments in positioning awareness and rebounding awareness. This ball James Montos stuck Tucker and Zhou Qi, allowing Mu Xiaobei to have space to grab rebounds, and Mu Xiaobei Xiaobei was able to complete the second attack relatively easily.

I stress it all the time.In the rotation stage, this lineup.The Spurs have an advantage in height because they really have an advantage, especially in rebounding. The Rockets' rebound protection in the regular season is the second last in the league.His offensive rebounding ranks third in the league, which means that the Rockets can easily allow opponents to grab rebounds, and they can easily grab rebounds themselves. It is a relatively contradictory team.

The most important reason is that Capela has repeatedly reduced Nene's playing time this season. Well, when Capela was away, they played 48 minutes a game, and Capela averaged 38 minutes per game. The 10 minutes were when Capela was not there, and Tucker and Zhou Qi were the insiders during the time when Capela was not there.

Zhou Qi's rebound protection has always been his shortcoming. Due to his height, Tucker can get stuck, but even if he gets stuck, he can easily be grabbed by a tall and long-armed center for offensive rebounds.

D'Antoni immediately requested a timeout.He began to not know the task of the defensive end and the task of offense.This season, D'Antoni is not as obsessed with fast and three-pointers as before. They started to shoot some mid-range shots and started to play slow new positional battles instead of solving battles in seven seconds.

Then the game came back after a timeout, and D’Antoni took Harden up again to form a backcourt light bulb, with Tucker and Zhou Qi on the front line, and a lineup like Capela on the inside. Firth took down Gordon.

The Spurs are still in the original lineup, and they have enough confidence to allow Aldridge Jeremy Lin to get more rest time.

(End of this chapter)