start with scouting

Chapter 159
With 2 minutes left in the first quarter, taking advantage of the dead ball timeout, the Spurs replaced Ginobili with Hill again, and then took advantage of the free throw timeout to replace Roger Mason and DeJuan Blair as usual. Not flustered.

Su Yang made personnel adjustments at the same time, and the Thunder gradually dispatched a substitute lineup, led by Harden and Green.

The Spurs are considered a three-back lineup. Parker is short, Mason is slow, and Hill is slow. There are many defensive loopholes like a hornet's nest.

The two teams come and go. Regardless of the Spurs guard, Matthews can easily display his personal technical characteristics: precise fixed-point three-pointers, quick dunks with his physical advantage, and the weak side seizes the rotation gap to break through and eat cakes.

Occasionally, for a few rounds, Matthews even wanted to show off his back-up, showing his basic skills as an older rookie.

But every time he put on a back-to-back posture, Matthews quickly canceled it, as if he had some scruples in his heart.

Su Yang guessed that Matthews was worried about being scolded for his mistakes, so he encouraged him to try bravely and express himself boldly.

Encouraged, Matthews let go of his hands and feet, and hit Hill twice in a row, like a top shooting guard.

Harden was a little uncomfortable by Parker and Ginobili. Fortunately, after he suffered a few times, he followed Su Yang's advice, and his defensive position became very smart, and he safely handed over the defensive responsibility behind him to Collison and Ginobili. little jordan.

As for Green facing Mason, he just relied on his rotation speed to forcibly pinch Mason's high-shooting fixed-point three-pointer.

Seeing that the Thunder's lead expanded, Popovich was not in a hurry, and waited for the main players to rest enough before re-playing.

Su Yang then changed his lineup and asked his players to stick to the defensive strategy of switching + shrinking. When Duncan got the ball, he double-teamed. Occasionally, he missed a few times on the weak side, and there were also quick rotations to make up for it. It was extremely difficult to force the Spurs to take more shots. Mid-range pull-up jumper.

The Spurs occasionally had a relatively high hit rate, but overall the scoring efficiency was low, and the Thunder firmly controlled the situation.

The game entered the end of the third quarter, the Thunder led by 26 points, and the Spurs could not see any possibility of a reversal to win.

But the stubborn Popovich did not give up, and frequently tried various strategies to target Westbrook's pick-and-roll.

Duncan seems to have returned to the period from 03 to 07. He single-handedly provoked the important task of defending the pick-and-roll. When the pick-and-roll cuts in, first delay Westbrook, and then withdraw to defend Ibaka. Seeing Westbrook initiate a pick-and-roll from the sideline, he decisively pinches, forcing Westbrook to go to the sideline and make a mistake.

In short, Duncan did everything he could.

Su Yang directed Sefolosha and others to cover for Westbrook in advance, or let Chandler take the ball too much first. The steps are a bit more complicated, but they quickly break through all Duncan's efforts, and the Spurs striker can't give Duncan support, at most help control passing lanes.

After a few rounds of confrontation, the Spurs made up their minds and resolutely let Westbrook or Ibaka shoot and stick to the paint.

Westbrook and Ibaka were not soft on their hands. Su Yang encouraged them to shoot boldly, even if they hit the iron continuously. Otherwise, when they meet the Lakers or other teams later, the situation of opponents sticking to the paint will be more serious, so it is an early exercise. mental quality.

With the sound of hammering iron, the Thunder beat the Spurs 116 to 92, leading 1-0 in the first round of the playoffs.

In the whole game, Westbrook scored 33 points, 10 assists and 4 rebounds, proving once again that Westbrook who gave up rebounds is very strong.

Durant scored 27 points, Harden also scored 23 points, and the Thunder's three minors scored a large proportion of the team's points.

In an interview after the game, Westbrook talked about why the victory was so easy, and replied: "Coach Su Yang did a very good job of preparing for the game. He successfully predicted all the Spurs' styles of play, and gave detailed defensive strategies, and even some strategies. It didn’t work out yet, we executed it very clearly, he was the main reason we won the game, it’s a pleasure to play for him.”

The reporter was about to ask, Westbrook grabbed the microphone and said: "In any case, he is the best coach of the year."

After the words fell, the audience followed the DJ and shouted Su Yang's name, as if celebrating his award in advance.

Su Yang stood on the sidelines and responded with a smile, high-fived Durant and the others, and left the venue together after Westbrook finished the interview.

Back in the locker room, he erased 16 on the whiteboard and wrote 15 again, taking the lead in applauding and cheering.

"Congratulations to many of you for your first playoff win in your career, and congratulations to me for coaching my first playoff win. This is our first step towards a championship. We have a long way to go. keep patient…"

After finishing the summary, Su Yang went to the press conference. The ESPN reporter asked why the Thunder's offensive tactics were so much simpler than before. Most of them were Westbrook finding someone to initiate a pick-and-roll, and some of them were Duran. Special singles.

In the previous regular season, those wheel dynamic offenses, bilateral separation offenses, and European-style pick-and-roll offenses were basically not seen.

Su Yang replied: "The purpose of any tactic is to score the ball as easily as possible, and the best tactic against the San Antonio Spurs this season is pick-and-roll and singles, which can give full play to the technical characteristics of Russell and KD."

A reporter from TNT asked about the experience of the Thunder players in the playoffs, wondering why they were so sophisticated.

Su Yang said with a smile: "Because our players are all geniuses, everyone will find out one day that my career predictions for KD, Russell, James, and Jeff are completely accurate. At that time, everyone will understand that they have This behavior is normal.”

Within a few minutes of the news interview, related reports appeared on Twitter and other social media. Many fans lamented that what Su Yang said was slowly becoming a reality. The Thunder looked impeccable, and the bench lineup could defeat many teams.

The Thunder beat the veteran team Spurs in the first game of the playoffs by as many as 24 points, which brought too much impact to the fans. The key point is that the Spurs did not give up early in the fourth quarter, but insisted on fighting the Thunder until the last moment, and tried various defenses Strategy.

Fans have lamented that the Spurs era is completely over, and the Thunder will be an upstart in the Western Conference and occupy the top three rankings for a long time.

Lakers star Magic Johnson tweeted: "After the Thunder defeated the Lakers in the opening game of this season, I predicted that they would be very similar to the original SHOWTIME Lakers. Now you should understand that my prediction is [-]% correct."

The well-known commentator Bill Simmons tweeted: "Based on my years of experience watching NBA games, even the Bulls of the strongest era, it is difficult to say that they can definitely beat a certain team 4-0 in the series, but this Thunder really Yes, from staffing to offensive and defensive tactics, they can finish the Spurs right now, and this is another era change in the NBA."

With all kinds of compliments, the rest of the day is over in a blink of an eye. On the night of NO.20, the Thunder will play against the Spurs at home.

The Spurs' offensive and defensive strategies have not changed. They are fully committed to the details and want to rely on their experience in the playoffs to gain an advantage. However, under the command of Su Yang, the Thunder's generals have always insisted on playing steadily and steadily, leaving no chance for the Spurs, just like a single cycle. .

At the end of the game, because Duncan tried his best on both offense and defense and played an excellent performance, the Thunder only beat the Spurs by 8 points.

Leading 2 to 0, the game was still uneventful, and those black eight remarks before the game completely disappeared.

At noon the next day, Su Yang received a call from the league office, and President Stern personally congratulated him for being the best coach of the year.

(End of this chapter)