basketball pope

Chapter 69 [Reverse Killer]

Regular season individual awards have been determined.

Jordan won the tenth scoring title of his career; Rodman won the seventh rebounding title of his career; Strickland of the Wizards won the assists title for the first time; Mucci Blaylock of the Eagles won the steals title for the first time.

The shot-blocking king made a big upset, and it was actually Marcus Camby of the Raptors.The Raptors front office's plan was to get Camby to put up nice numbers, add value to the trade, and send it away.

The 13-man roster for the Knicks playoffs was confirmed, and Mickey Moore was excluded. After this season, it will be difficult for him to get a contract extension. If he wants to become a qualified NBA player, he still needs to work hard.

Knicks VS Nets, tickets sold out quickly, although there is no suspense in this series, but fans like to watch the derby at home!

The Nets are just two kilometers away from the Knicks across the Hudson River.The Washington Bridge connects the two places, and the bustling area is connected by tunnels, one called the Holland Tunnel and the other called the Lincoln Tunnel.If New York fans want to go to New Jersey to watch a game, it is very convenient and can be reached by car.

This has created an embarrassing situation. The Nets can be said to have no home court in the playoffs. At that time, most of the fans must support the Knicks.

In 1998, the first round of the NBA was a best-of-five game system, and the home court advantage was even more obvious.

The New York media predicted the game, focusing on whether the Knicks could continue to play a beautiful offense in the playoffs, and also praised Yang Rui's role in the team.

For Nets coach John Calipari and general manager Ed Stefanski, it's more embarrassing.

The two had a tacit understanding and did not tell the rest of the management that Yang Rui had come to the Nets for an interview, but they could not escape their inner torment.The owner of the Nets has always wanted to strengthen the team's offense, attract fans, and compete with the Knicks. If they know that talent is sent to the door and driven away, will they have good fruit to eat?
The Knicks only made their debut on the 24th. They had four days of repair time. They did not arrange high-intensity training. They only met to teach the players tactics before training on the 23rd.

Van Gundy first talked about defense, Childs started to take special care of Nets point guard Sam Cassell, Johnson followed Van Horn, Bowen strictly guarded Kittles, etc...

Van Gundy's defensive strategy was almost flawless, and he analyzed all the characteristics of the Nets. Except for Ewing, who defended the basket, everyone else guarded them, focusing on mid-range and long-range shots.

The Nets' weakness is the lack of a post-up offense. Van Horn is a big man who pulls out and shoots. He can play in the post, and it's all about skill.

Chris Gatlin, nicknamed "Doping", has been selected for 1 All-Star Game, and his state has declined significantly.

96-97赛季，加特林为小牛打了44场比赛，场均19.1分7.9篮板攀升到职业生涯最高点。

After that, the Mavericks and the New Jersey Nets announced a big deal involving 9 players. In the deal, well-known players such as Cassell, Robert Parker, and "Big Bamboo" Bradley all completed the collective relocation, while the plus Tran also relocated to New Jersey, but due to injuries, Gatlin only played 96 games in the second half of the 97-3 season.

This season, Gatlin averaged only 11.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. He is 208cm tall and weighs 100kg. He is too thin to hit the basket, and his jumper is not as accurate as before.

This season, Jason Williams was selected as an NBA All-Star, averaging 12.6 points and 13.6 rebounds per game.But he is a defensive blue-collar, and his offense is all about picking up leaks at the basket.

Among the Nets players, the person who scored the most with his back is point guard Sam Cassell. It is a bit ironic. This guy's big ass is too stocky, and he turns his back and shoots with the ball.But precisely because he played so ugly, he was even uglier. With 19.6 points, 3 rebounds and 8 assists, he was not selected for the All-Star Game.

After talking about defense, Van Gundy walked straight off the podium and said to Yang Rui, "Come on."

In the past, Van Gundy first organized the coaching staff to discuss tactics and communicated them to the players. After playing for a while in the regular season, he directly asked Yang Rui to arrange offensive tactics. Anyway, the players knew that as long as there were new tricks, it would definitely be Yang Rui. want.

Yang Rui first drew a picture on the tactical board, and then said: "It is not difficult to win the Nets, as long as we have a solid defense, sharpen our position with them, and rely on the depth of the lineup, we can win, but I think we can win more beautifully. The key is to win by surprise, so the core of the offense in the first game is Larry and Patrick, and my idea is to try to shoot as close to the basket as possible.”

Yang Rui explained the tactics in detail. It was very simple, but it was the opposite of the regular season routine.In the regular season, Johnson was mainly pulling out and shooting, and most of the time he played without the ball.Now switch to attacking with the ball, or cutting into the basket to get the ball back.

In the regular season, Ewing covered the outside mid-range to support the offense or jumper. He also changed to cover and then cut to the basket to make a close shot.One of the two always went to the basket, which attracted the Nets to shrink the formation and then split out to shoot from the outside.

After talking about the tactics, he asked with a smile, "You guys made fewer baskets in the regular season, so there's no pressure to play like this all of a sudden?"

Johnson laughed: "What's the pressure? I've wanted to play like this for a long time. If Van Horn starts, he will never be able to prevent me one-on-one."

"I have no problem." The MVP's voice was very high, which made Ewing's confidence stronger.

He does have the strength, and he's not bad even against a star center in the league.In addition to being slightly lighter at 110 kg, Ewing has no obvious weaknesses. He played against the Lakers twice in the regular season, and his data was better than O'Neal.

What is a surprise victory?It is to attack in an unexpected way. Now that all teams play the Knicks, the first thought must be to defend the perimeter three-pointer.In this way, the Knicks' two inside lines may become a big killer.

At this time, Yang Rui no longer considers letting Ewing have reservations. As the core, as long as he can be inside and out, he can pose a greater threat.

Van Gundy completely agrees with Yang Rui's tactics. The first game should not be lost. A big victory will boost morale and have a good impact on the entire playoffs.

After the meeting, Van Gundy and Yang Rui finally left and asked, "Jerry, aren't you nervous at all? This is your first playoff game."

"I'm not a player, what's there to be nervous about?" Yang Rui shrugged.

"When you are interviewed, you always implicitly express your desire to become a head coach. This time our record will directly determine your status in the hearts of other teams' management. I thought you would care about it." Van Gundy analyzed.

He always pays attention to Yang Rui's news and knows that Yang Rui has great ambitions.He admits that he is a good assistant, but he can't stand the assistant's constant finger-pointing.This season, he can tolerate it for the sake of victory. If there is another season, he will be crazy if he is stole the limelight by the assistant.

Therefore, Van Gundy actually hopes that Yang Rui will leave the Knicks after the season.

"I am very concerned, so the Knicks will only have one result this season, and that is to win the championship." Yang Rui paused for a while, and did not hypocritically say that he wanted to stay in the Knicks, and smiled: "Let's have a good time together. Let's finish the season!"

PS
(End of this chapter)