start with scouting

Chapter 104

On the afternoon of the 26th, the entire Thunder team rushed to the Quicken Loans Arena.

The previous night's hard-fought game loss, as well as the long flight journey, plus a few buses, back and forth between the hotel, the airport and the arena, made the players' mental state obviously poor, and the shooting warm-up was a bit weak.

After arranging the training content, the coaching staff will hold a pre-match video analysis meeting in the away locker room as usual.

Time was rushing, Su Yang quickly glanced through the scouting report, and felt something was wrong in his heart.

"LeBron actually switched to playing off the ball. How did Mike Brown convince him?" Assistant coach Mark Bryant asked in confusion. Snyder and other assistant coaches also showed curiosity.

"This is Mike Brown's season at his highest level as a head coach."

Su Yang said with a smile: "Maybe you may think it is a bit exaggerated, he is even close to Popovich this year."

"Haha!" The teaching assistants laughed, as if they felt that Su Yang was joking, or deliberately mocking Mike Brown.

Su Yang also laughed, it was difficult to explain for a while.Because Mike Brown has always been famous in the coaching circle for "praising LeBron with fancy renovations after the game", and he can always find a way to praise LeBron, even if LeBron sometimes performs mediocre.

As for Mike Brown's tactical level, he keeps saying that he wants to play a dynamic offense, but the actual combat is LeBron's high-post singles and 'Big Z' Ilgauskas' low-post singles, plus a little run-and-gun tactics, it can't be considered a dynamic offense.

But this season, Mike Brown has turned around and somehow convinced LeBron to play off the ball.

The Cavaliers' offense has become extremely smooth, and their offensive efficiency once ranked second in the league, losing only to the Warriors.

The Cavaliers did not lose their basic defense, and because Ben found his form, his efficiency once ranked first in the league.

The weirdest thing is that once, because the Cavaliers trailed the Nuggets by 4 points at halftime, Mike Brown forced the entire Cavaliers team to watch their halftime defensive video during the halftime break, successfully motivating LeBron to show off in the second half and directly locking Anthony.

A coach who can play dynamic offense, improve defensive quality, and motivate superstars through small tricks, if he is at Popovich's level, there seems to be nothing wrong with him. Anyway, Mike Brown is making great strides towards the best head coach .

"Oh shit, it's actually LeBron's main off-ball game..." assistant coach Mark's eyes widened in surprise.

Su Yang chuckled when he heard the sound. At this time, in the video, it was playing that LeBron used the screen to go around and catch the pass from Xiao Mo and made a successful shot.

"How to prevent this?" Assistant coach Ralph asked subconsciously, as if he didn't know what to do.

Su Yang is also a little worried, because LeBron with a good shooting touch is close to being difficult to defend. Now he still uses the screen to go around and shoot, and it is not easy to prepare for double-teams in advance. breakthrough.

Before doing it, it would be possible for the center forward to prepare to shrink to the basket to intercept.

But now the Cavaliers have a good dynamic offense. Both Big Z and Big Ben give up the paint. LeBron not only has a lot of room to break through, but can also distribute the ball to Big Z and Big Ben for mid-range shots at any time. High risk low return.

"It's no wonder that the Cavaliers can play the best in team history and the league's first 66 wins this season."

Su Yang felt emotional in his heart, and turned to say: "It is better to give priority to defending against breakthroughs and shooting, that way the benefits are the highest..."

The assistant coaches nodded silently. Rather than letting LeBron break through and destroy the defensive system, it is better to bet on his shooting.

After about 5 minutes, the offensive and defensive strategy was finalized.

Everyone left the locker room immediately, went to the stadium to watch the players' training, and submitted the final lineup list by the way.

Su Yang observed carefully for a while, and found that the players were all in poor condition, and they were shooting continuously without interference.

Just as he was thinking about how to improve the state of the team, his cell phone rang and General Manager Presti called.

Su Yang answered the phone with a smile, and frowned when he heard it, even slightly surprised.

Presti said that the news on social media that Clayton thought he was arrogant and disrespectful was fake, but Clayton did encounter great pressure in the board of directors, and there were indeed some voices in the board of directors who wanted to fire him. .

Presti also helped him explain, emphasizing that the rookie of the rebuilding team is the main force, and it is really difficult to win.

However, the recent nine-game losing streak has made the Thunder's profit prospects somewhat bleak. Because the Thunder moved to Oklahoma, they need to pay a total of 8500 million US dollars for repairs in Seattle, which puts great pressure on the consortium headed by owner Clayton. .

The hardest part, though, was the Oklahoma City fans.

Many Thunder season ticket holders either wrote to the ticket office by mail, or called the ticket office, or left messages on the official Twitter and Facebook, criticizing Su Yang for allowing players to play freely, lacking tactics and only playing European style pick and roll.

In the end, Presti told him, the board wanted the game to change.

Otherwise, the situation will become ugly.

Su Yang hung up the phone and couldn't help shaking his head and chuckling, wondering why it happened to hit the knight.

The Cavaliers are too strong, and it's not easy to play against the full-blown Lakers, let alone the Thunder who play back-to-back.

In fact, it is understandable. After all, the nine-game losing streak, the goals promised at the beginning are becoming out of reach.

The boss Clayton's request is not too much, but it is a little threatening, which makes him a little uncomfortable.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Snyder, who was standing next to him, asked with his hands on his hips.

Su Yang smiled and said, "Quinn, you can be ready to take over from me as the head coach!"

Snyder was dumbfounded on the spot and quickly asked what happened. Su Yang gave a brief introduction with a smile.

After listening to the whole process, Snyder pouted and shook his head: "I firmly support you, I know how powerful you are."

Su Yang felt a little heartwarming, and the two then discussed how to help the players recover as soon as possible. The current state is absolutely for nothing.

At the end of the discussion, he went to the pre-match interview and was asked what he thought of the rumors after class, and replied that he didn't care.

On the way back to the locker room, he suddenly saw the ESPN broadcast team actually appear in the arena.

I asked the staff a little, and it turned out that ESPN discovered the rumors about the end of get out of class and the various disputes between Durant and LeBron a while ago. Many fans paid attention to it, so they temporarily gave up the live broadcast of the Wizards against the 76ers, and changed to live broadcast of the Thunder against the Cavaliers.

Su Yang expressed his admiration on the spot.

ESPN's behavior like this is simply fueling the flames and fanning the flames. It is not a big deal to watch the excitement.

Back in the locker room, he arranged the offensive and defensive strategies, and the players still looked lazy.

There is no good way, I can only take a step first, make adjustments on the spot, and wait for the players to enter the state.

At seven o'clock in the afternoon, the game officially started.

Perhaps he wanted to slap those doubters in the face, LeBron's offensive and defensive ends were full of firepower, and on the Thunder's side, Durant and Westbrook were not in good condition, and they were quickly attacked by the Cavaliers with a wave of 13-0. Like a CBA team.

Su Yang had to ask for a timeout, give up part of the defense, and let Joe Smith come on the field to replace Jordan

At that time, the Thunder's offense still failed to improve, and the rebounds were also robbed. The team made 18 of 4 shots.

After the first quarter, the Thunder trailed 14 to 33, and all statistics were crushed by the Cavaliers.

勒布朗单节7投5中0罚球，砍下10分3助攻3篮板1抢断1盖帽。

Durant, who was compared with him before, made 4 of 1 shots in a single quarter, scored 2 points and 1 foul.

Such a gap is even more exaggerated than that of North Qiaofeng and South Murong.

When the intersection was suspended, the big central screen showed the data comparison between the two, and the fans burst into laughter.

The only place where the Thunder had an advantage was by having both Delonte West and Szczerbiak carry 2 fouls.

Su Yang didn't make any long speeches, nor did he make any passionate speeches, he just said don't panic, there is still time.

But in the second quarter of the game, the Thunder's offensive and defensive situation did not improve, and they paid a few more fouls than in the first quarter.

The Cavaliers LeBron and Big Z, the two main players, did not appear in the entire game, and they sat on the bench and applauded.

But just like that, the Thunder only scored 18 points in a single quarter, trailing the Cavaliers 32-66 at halftime.

When Su Yang midfielder was interviewed by reporters, he could see sympathy from the reporter's eyes, it was too miserable.

ESPN repeated the same trick, and compared him and Mike Brown on the central screen, which attracted wild cheers from the audience.

Social media is also full of jubilation, ESPN released data, claiming that the ratings have reached a new high.

After finishing the interview, Su Yang and Snyder returned to the locker room and met Rich Qiu, assistant general manager at the door.

"Su, the board of directors asked me to inform you..."

Richie Qiu hesitated to speak, and whispered awkwardly: "If you can't reverse and win, you will leave."

"WTF?" Snyder frowned directly, "That makes no sense, we are rebuilding the team!"

Su Yang waved his hand to indicate that it was okay, Richie nodded and turned to leave, Snyder punched the wall.

Su Yang thought about it and said nothing, Snyder calmed down: "If you go, I will go, but I still want to try, how about you?"

"I'm not someone who likes to be threatened, but I want to get results with this group of players."

Su Yang said with a smile: "Right now we can only do our best to attack. Mike Brown can let LeBron play off the ball, and I will let Jeff Green play the point center..."

(End of this chapter)