Starting from the last bus in the NBA

Chapter 214 Break the deadlock
At the end of the first quarter, the Sonics firmly held the lead.

27:19
The difference of 8 points is neither big nor small.

According to the Blazers' offensive rhythm, it takes four offensive rounds, at least about 2 minutes.

Moreover, this has to ensure that the ball is scored every time, and the Supersonics must be defended every time.

This is obviously impossible.

When the substitute came on, I don't know if it was because Sean Kemp was very excited to return to Seattle.

Facing Pervis Ellison, who came off the bench, it was really a casual game, and you could ask for anything.

Coupled with Bunch Wells, there is really some momentum to chase points.

But you, Michael Reid is in good form today, first hit a three-pointer, and then assisted his teammates to score.

Plus Quentin Richardson and Brent Barry, at least for a short period of time, played back and forth with the Blazers' bench.

During this period of time, the Supersonics did not fail to find ways to continue to widen the point difference. It is best to establish the victory in one fell swoop.

It's just that the strength of the Blazers lies here after all.

Whenever this time, someone will always stand up to help the team, but they didn't let the Sonics continue to widen the point difference.

The point difference of around 8 points seems to be a balance point, which everyone wants to break, but can't break.

The Blazers want to narrow the point difference to 5 points, or even smooth it out, and the Supersonics want to widen the point difference to double digits.

But nothing can be done.

The two sides come and go, this score lasted from the first quarter to the end of the first half, and was deadlocked until the fourth quarter.

第四节比赛只剩下不到5分钟，确切地说应该是4分46秒，双方的比分是87：80。

After Steve Smith made a foul and made two free throws, the difference between the two sides remained at 7 points.

Even if it's just a free throw, the Blazers have already shown great excitement.

It can be seen that they want to even out the difference in one fell swoop.

Supersonic attack, Wang Hao wanted to catch the ball, but this time, Pippen came directly and didn't talk about martial arts.

Instead of following behind Wang Hao, he chose to go one step ahead and adopted a strategy of not allowing Wang Hao to catch the ball.

You know, this is very embarrassing.

It's like an inside player, when can he use defense around the front and feel that he can't defend the opponent.

Pippen's adoption of such a defensive strategy is equivalent to admitting that he really cannot guard Wang Hao.

Well, the game is not over yet, Wang Hao has already scored 27 points, and the statistics have already explained the problem.

However, the sudden change of tactics this time really caught the Supersonic a little off guard.

Wang Hao failed to catch the ball, and the tactics could not be executed.

Thanks to Gary Payton holding the ball, he quickly made a decision, chose to play by himself, and asked for an inside pick-and-roll.

Ewing just came on the court, when he was full of energy, he quickly raised to a high position and set up a pick and roll for Gary Payton.

Although Stoudemire's height is not enough, but the speed is very fast, did not give Gary Payton a chance to break through.

On the contrary, Ewing, a very experienced one, seemed to get a chance.

Gary Payton didn't delay, and quickly passed the ball.

It's a pity that today's Ewing is not the same Ewing who was capable of all kinds of violent dunks.

Switch to Ewing 5 years ago, he can start after receiving the ball, and then rush to the inside to complete the dunk.

But now, he had to dribble, and it was this dribble that gave Dale Davis a chance to be in place.

Dale Davis was able to enter the All-Star last year. Although there is an element of luck, he still has strength, especially in defense.

The defender is already in place, and Ewing still wants to force his shot, but unfortunately, he is no longer what he used to be.

"Bang!"

There was an unusually crisp sound of iron hitting, the basketball bounced out of the frame, and the rebound was protected by the roaring Tianzun.

That is to say, attack now, otherwise, Rasheed Wallace will have to pick a board angrily and roar.

The Supersonic's defense is not bad, and the defense is very timely.

Well, the Trail Blazers had no idea of ​​a fast break and were idling across half court.

Stoudemire wasted no time this time and handed the ball to Steve Smith.

In today's game, he has scored 16 points, which is the team's highest score just like Rasheed Wallace.

Although there are Lewis' defensive problems, it also shows that Steve Smith is in good condition.

The combination of two players in the best condition worked really well.

Steve Smith drives hard and, after drawing a double-team, immediately passes the ball to Rasheed Wallace.

After receiving the ball from mid-range, Rashid faked away the defender, then broke through and scored a layup.

"Roar!"

Although he scored a goal, he didn't dunk. It can even be said that the goal was ugly.

But Roaring Tianzun didn't care about these things, he just roared up to the sky and successfully picked off two pairs.

18 points and 10 roars.

He didn't look very good at first, but if he played like this, Wang Hao could even see that the referee had puffed up his cheeks.

Thanks to being an NBA referee, somewhat professional, he endured it abruptly and didn't blow it.

If it were a referee from a flower grower, there would be nothing to say, and the whistle would have sounded long ago.

After all, if you can say "I know I was wrong, but I will not change it", what else can't be done.

"Gary, control the rhythm, don't worry, we are still ahead, and the advantage is mine."

On the sidelines, Paul Westphal had already stood up and told Gary Payton not to worry, just keep playing fast.

He said not to worry, but in fact, as the head coach, he already had psychological fluctuations.

Seeing that the score difference is only 5 points, everyone will have a little reaction.

It's just that, although Paul Westphal is anxious, what he cares about is not the outcome of a game.

It's the judgment of the Trail Blazers before the game.

If the judgment is misplaced, it means that everything they did before was wasted.

More importantly, there is no way to handle the Blazers.

The outcome of a regular season doesn't matter, not to mention Paul Westphal, even Mike Dunleavy doesn't care.

Mike Dunleavy is the head coach of the Trail Blazers and the NBA's best coach in the 1998-1999 season.

Speaking of the best coach, I have to mention that Paul Westphal was actually eligible to win the best coach last season.

However, the league still gave Rivers.

The reason is that he led the civilian Lakers and achieved very good results, which deserves this award.

But the question is, what kind of outstanding achievement is 41 wins and 41 losses?Neither made it to the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Moreover, this year's Rivers instantly slapped the NBA in the face, because his team did not improve.

Wang Hao remembered very clearly that this season, the Magic still only had a record of 43 wins and 39 losses.

You know, with an All-Star McGrady, you will win two more games!

Although the Magic still entered the playoffs, the question is, can such a result be convincing?

This is definitely the worst coach of the season in NBA history.

Closer to home, there are only 4 minutes left in the game, and the 5-point difference will be evened out at any time.

Similarly, it took so much effort to catch up with the score. If they are pulled away again, the Blazers will probably collapse.

The game has come to the most anxious time, it depends on who has better toughness and who can persevere.

Gary Payton pushed the ball into the frontcourt unhurriedly, and decided to play tactics after all his teammates were in position.

It was still his and Wang Hao's pick-and-roll tactic. After several times in actual combat, he also discovered the abnormality of this tactic.

In the past pick-and-roll tactics, most of the inside and outside pick-and-rolls, after all, the inside players are more solid and the quality of the pick-and-roll is higher.

At the same time, it can also call out the opposing inside defender, so that the inside has more space.

And Wang Hao's pick-and-roll for Gary Payton, although it can't open up the inside space, is more flexible.

Both Gary Payton and Wang Hao are players who can shoot inside and outside, and can shoot suddenly. They also have more choices when handling the ball.

To put it bluntly, the former plays tactics, while the latter plays personal strength.

And Wang Hao and Gary Payton are exactly the kind of players who can handle the ball in various situations.

As long as there is even the slightest chance of misalignment, they can cash in this opportunity and score.

As for the problem of inner line congestion, the Supersonics have already had a solution.

That is to reduce the inside players, push Rashad Lewis to the fourth position, and let him pull out of the three-point line during the game.

Of course, in this way, the Sonics' rebounding will be a little problematic, and it can be regarded as a gain and a loss.

But it's not impossible to solve it, mobilize the whole team to protect rebounds more actively.

Seeing this posture, the Blazers players instantly felt a headache, especially Stoudemire and Michael Dixon.

In this game, the two have felt the power of this tactic more than once, and they are really helpless.

Whether it is Gary Payton or Wang Hao, they are both top-notch scorers, let alone the two together.

Logically speaking, in the face of this tactic, the best way is to switch defenses infinitely and not give the opponent any gaps.

But the question is, let Stoudemire defend Wang Hao, how can this be defended?
The Blazers still adopted the tactic of bypassing the defense, and Dixon did not dare to delay.

Once he is a little farther away from Wang Hao, Wang Hao can pull away quickly. At that time, either the Blazers will forcefully switch defenses, or Wang Hao will be left open.

As for letting other people make up for it.

Are you looking down on Wang Hao's defense?
Occasionally, once or twice, it may be successful, but more often, it is to let Wang Hao pass the ball to help his teammates score.

Sure enough, after the pick-and-roll, Stoudemire wanted to bypass Wang Hao, which really gave Gary Payton a chance to break through.

How could Gary Payton be polite to his opponent, break through directly and quickly, and easily pass Stoudemire.

But this time, Little Momonga was not in a hurry, but followed closely behind Gary Payton.

At the same time, Dale Davis on the inside has already taken measures in the first place and chose to double-team.

Gary Payton's first thought was naturally to pass the ball to PJ Brown, after all, he was the open spot.

However, looking up, PJ Brown didn't move the first time, and the offensive position was so poor that he couldn't pass the ball at all.

To be honest, it's frustrating.

PJ Brown's defense is very good, and his attitude is also very positive, but it is this offense that makes people very helpless.

But this is also a time when there is no way. If PJ Brown is really good offensive and defensive, it is impossible to get that salary.

Of course, now is not the time to think about these things. When he is double-teamed and forced to stop the ball, he has to pass the ball immediately.

Under the double-teaming of the two, Gary Payton still protected the ball and threw the ball to Wang Hao on the outside.

Now, there are only 9 seconds left in the attack time, which is enough to complete an attack. If you want to play tactics, it will not work.

It's time to test Wang Hao's singles ability.

Wang Hao didn't delay either. Facing Dixon's defense, he tentatively dribbled and adjusted his rhythm.

Suddenly, he started to speed up, breaking through to Dixon's left side, but the speed was not slow.

Dixon is indeed not slow. At this point in the game, every ball must be contested.

However, just after Wang Hao stepped into the three-point line, he suddenly changed direction and pulled the ball back.

Caught off guard, Dixon almost failed to stop.

Dixon tried his best to regain his focus, wanting to continue to follow Wang Hao and prevent him from making easy moves.

However, what he didn't expect was that after the change of direction, Wang Hao did not continue to break through.

Instead, he joined the ball with both hands, and then took a step towards the side and back, a very standard step-back shot.

In the NBA, there are many players who are good at using step-back shots, but there are really few players who play step-back steps outside the three-point line.

Wang Hao's movements were very coherent, and it can be said that they were done in one go, without giving Dixon any chance to react.

By the time he made a shot to block, Wang Hao had already completed his shot.

"Shh!"

Without any accident, there was a crisp netting sound, and the basketball hit the net.

"boom!"

……

The key arena, which was already lively enough, is now more and more boiling, and the fans are constantly cheering.

90:82
Wang Hao's goal completely broke the stalemate, and the balance of victory once again favored the Sonics.

The next thing to see is whether the Blazers have such tenacity, and in such a situation, they can still turn the situation back.

The point difference, which had been forced close, has now been widened again. The 8-point point difference seems to have returned to the starting point.

I have to say that this is definitely a blow to the morale of the Blazers.

After finally seeing some hope, whoever realizes it will immediately have a basin of cold water poured on his head.

What's more, they don't know what to do.

Especially Michael Dixon, he felt that he had done well enough, but he still couldn't defend.

This is the personal strength that makes people helpless.

The two attacks, one back and one back, consume a lot of time, and it seems that they will enter within 4 minutes.

Stoudemire was also a little anxious. Seeing that his teammates had no chance, he simply chose to force Gary Payton.

After all, he is shorter and faster, which really allowed him to get into the inside lane.

Seeing that there was a chance to make a move, Little Flying Squirrel was not polite, and directly chose to make a move.

However, at this time, PJ Brown has already defended in place. With his height and long arms, he completely blocked the shot route of Little Flying Squirrel.

A big cap fanned the ball out of the baseline. Although he did not grab the ball, it also destroyed a Blazers offense.

This is PJ Brown. His offense does have problems, but his defense is still very trustworthy.

(End of this chapter)