start with scouting

Chapter 216 The True MVP
After finishing the press conference, Su Yang went straight to the VIP parking lot and boarded the team bus to the airport.

Before he found a chair to sit down, he heard Durant and the others laughing, and after a little inquiring, he learned that it was because the Heat's Big Three lost.

On the first game day of the new season, the league has arranged three games in total. Except for the Thunder vs. Bulls and the Lakers vs. Rockets, the other game is the Heat vs. Celtics. The battle between the old and new big three attracted a lot of attention and the ratings exploded. .

Perhaps with the idea of ​​self-proof, the old Celtics made a deadly move in the first quarter and directly used the most brutal defense, allowing the young Heat to score only 9 points in a single quarter. The key Celtics only had 2 fouls in the first quarter , can be called a pure defensive effect.

The Heat really have no good solution, because LeBron and Wade belong to the core ball holders, and a lot of points are obtained through breakthroughs with the ball. What a miserable horse.

After the game, Twitter and other social networks quickly emerged with various comments. The mainstream direction was to praise the Thunder and belittle the Heat. The main reason was that the Thunder played against the Celtics and performed much better than the Heat. Many fans who had hope for the Heat, Big disappointment.

There are also a large number of fans complaining about Wade's 14 points and Bosh's 8 points, which is simply holding LeBron back.

The major gaming companies in Las Vegas have also lowered the odds of the Heat winning the championship, and the Thunder rose to the first place in disguise.

Su Yang looked at the news and felt emotional: This really proves that famous saying again, it all depends on the background of his peers.

Between emotions, Durant and the others were still discussing excitedly, obviously very happy for the Heat's loss. After all, the Heat were underestimated because of the Heat before, and the Heat are also potential opponents in the finals.Su Yang didn't think it was necessary, but he didn't stop him, just playing.

The team bus arrived at the airport very quickly, and the whole team flew to Detroit overnight, before checking into the hotel at midnight.

After waking up at noon, Su Yang took the coaching staff to a meeting as usual, and formulated a strategy against the Pistons based on the scout report.

Considering that back-to-back games would consume a lot of players, Su Yang decided to increase the number of players in the rotation, and chose to activate Livingston to the playing list, and by the way, reduce the playing time for Durant and Westbrook, and at the same time try some new tactics on the bench.

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

Thunder regular starting, Pistons starting five are Stuckey, Hamilton, Prince, Daye, Ben.

Seeing Austin Daye as the starting power forward of the Pistons, Su Yang was a little surprised. The Pistons have Villanueva, Mark Hill, and Thunder veteran Wilcox at the power forward positions. The second-year rookie of combat power will be appointed.

Su Yang doesn't understand what Pistons head coach John Kushiter is thinking, but considering that he used Richard Hamilton, the Pistons' championship hero, to serve as a long-term substitute for Ben Gordon, an outsider with zero defense, in the last season, think about it. It's also quite normal.

The Thunder won the opening jump ball, and after simply passing the run, Ibaka made a long shot from the free throw line.

The Pistons grabbed the rebound, tried to play a fast break but failed, and turned to the ground. Prince broke through Durant with the ball, and made an emergency stop on the right waist, gliding in the air with his right hand high, and threw a skillfully Hook and score steadily.

Durant actively defended, but Prince's wingspan was outstanding and failed to form effective interference.

When the Thunder changed sides to attack, maybe Durant felt the need to respond. He also broke through for a layup, but it was a pity that he smashed the basket and hit the iron.The main reason is that Da Ben is on the edge of the reasonable collision zone, and the 35-year-old still has big muscles, forcing Durant to shoot farther.

The Pistons switched offense and defense and ran a basic floppy tactic. Stuckey assisted Hamilton with a mid-range shot.

Immediately afterwards, Westbrook made a shot and hit the iron, Ben grabbed a rebound, the Pistons switched positions, and Stuckey made a successful mid-range shot through a screen.

The Pistons played a 6-0 attack wave at the beginning, not because of how well they defended, but because the Thunder generals were too anxious.

Su Yang knew that the Thunder generals despised the Pistons, and the East only regarded the Heat as their opponents, so this game was a bit casual.

After thinking about it, he felt that he shouldn't do it because of the smallness of the evil, so he decisively requested a 60-second timeout to remind the whole team not to underestimate the enemy. In an NBA-level game, even if you rank last in the league, you may still beat the number one in the league. You must not develop bad habits.

The Thunder generals sincerely took the lead. First, Ibaka turned over and made a jumper, and then Ibaka successfully rotated the defense, interfering with Austin Daye's three-point shot, allowing Chandler to grab the rebound and handing it over to Westbrook. Under the fast break, causing Ben to block the foul.

The Thunder made a second attack from the sideline. Durant used the cover to get the ball on the right waist, and he faced the basket and caused a foul by Prince.

After making two free throws, Ibaka interfered with Austin Daye's long shot again, and Westbrook grabbed a rebound and scored a fast break.

A wave of 6 to 0, the Thunder tied directly.

Su Yang also understood the intention of the Pistons to arrange Austin Daye to start, which is to use its range advantage to involve space.

Daye does have that ability. In the 09 draft, he was described by scouts as: a small forward with the height of a power forward. Quite high...

If you obscured the scouting report's name, you might think you were describing Durant as a one-in-a-million talent.

It's a pity that Daye can do a good job of passing and positioning shots during training, but he can't do it at the NBA level, because he doesn't have Durant's strong coordination and explosive ability, and his overall value is not as good as small forward Nova with the same height as a power forward. gram.

The Pistons were not idle even after tying. Hamilton broke through and made a foul first, and Prince slipped to the baseline to catch the ball and layup.

The two teams tied at 14 to 14 in a blink of an eye, and the game entered an official timeout immediately, and each made slight adjustments.

According to the scouting report, Su Yang speculates on the possible attempts of the Pistons, and gives a detailed solution strategy.

After the timeout ended, the Pistons really asked Stuckey and Daye to frequently initiate pick-and-rolls, intending to give full play to Stuckey's ability to hit the basket and Daye's long-range shooting ability. Quick rotation, straight to the pinch.

Just like that, the Thunder played an 8-0 attack wave.

Pistons head coach John Custer scrambled to replace Villanueva and told Prince to drop the others and focus on Durant.

That kind of adjustment worked. Durant had a hard time getting the ball, and Green came on to replace Ibaka and went 5-of-1 from the field. As a result, at the end of the first quarter, the Thunder only led the Pistons 26-21. Failed to establish victory.

In the second quarter of the game, Villanueva, who claimed to be in the best state of his career, and Ben Gordon, who had the lowest statistics in his career last season, faced the Thunder's second team with less strong defense, and played like returning to the top Performance.

After a few rounds, the Pistons chased to a 30 tie, and the cheers in the Palace of Auburn Hills were deafening.

Su Yang didn't call a timeout, and only let Harden single out more. The point guard who bullied the second team of the Pistons was Ben Gordon, who was "not strong enough to guard against shooting guards, and lacked the speed of guards". Harden hit the basket continuously. Basket, efficiently scored 6 points in a row.

Then the main players of the two teams returned to the court. Durant and Chandler cooperated continuously to help the Thunder lead by five points at halftime.

After returning from the halftime break, the Thunder stepped up their defense and expanded aggressively, suppressing the Pistons outside and deliberately putting inside.

Stuckey and Hamilton were made very uncomfortable, but Ben and Daye couldn't score inside efficiently. As a result, the Pistons took a full 4 minutes, and only Prince sneaked to the baseline to steal chickens to score, but the Thunder only took The lead extended to 12 points.

The Pistons are in crisis, and Stuckey, as the absolute core of the team, can't stand up at all, almost wasting Pistons President Joe Dumars' two years of training, the overall situation and sense of rhythm have not improved, and the long-range shooting percentage is also low. Not improved.

On the contrary, the veteran Hamilton made sudden shots and made 7 of 5 shots in a short period of time, forcibly stabilizing the situation.

Prince may have been inspired, and he seemed to be back to the top after defending Durant's three offenses in a row.

The Thunder entered the last quarter with a 4-point lead. Harden and Jordan played very well together. However, Green suffered a bit defensively. The Pistons Villanueva made 6 of 4 shots from the bench. As a result, the Thunder was still unable to establish a victory .

Fortunately, in the last minute, Durant finally found a chance to score two goals in a row, forcing the Pistons to use foul tactics.

But Su Yang really didn't expect that with 7 seconds left, Villanueva used a three-pointer to help the Pistons lead by one point.

The reason why it was able to hit was because Green lost his position defensively.

During the timeout, Green's face was tense.

Su Yang saw it, decided to bet on the game, cultivated Green's good attitude, and directly ignored Green's previous poor performance: "Jeff, we need you to complete the final goal, KD will act as a bait to attract defensive attention..."

In fact, it is not pure gambling. It is mainly to use Durant's fiery touch to make sure that the Pistons will fully defend against Durant.

There is also the winning moment of the Pistons. According to the scout report, Mark Hill, who is only 201, will probably be arranged as the power forward.

After the words fell, Durant and several people expressed their support, and Green nodded seriously to accept the challenge.

The whistle for the end of the pause followed.

Players from the two teams returned to the game, Harden stood at the top of the arc, Chandler stood at the left waist, Green stood at the right elbow, Durant stood at the bottom line on the right, Westbrook stood at the left sideline and waited out of bounds, while the Pistons stared People stand, and it turns out that Max Hill is responsible for defending Green.

Beep!The referee blows his whistle to count down.

Chandler immediately pulls up from the elbow, setting a back screen for Harden 'running to the left corner'.

And a moment later, Durant started from the bottom line on the right, and with the help of Green's positioning cover, he went straight to the top of the arc.

Because Harden has run away from the top of the arc, Durant has room to receive the ball.At the same time, because Chandler raised the ball, Green also had space to receive the ball, and everyone in the Pistons focused on defense, and Max Hill also focused on Durant.

Amid the boos all over the court, Westbrook vigorously passed the ball towards his right elbow.

Green took off to catch the ball, landed and sprinted forward, carrying the short and stout monster Maxiel, and raised his right hand to put the basket.

The basketball slammed into the net, Su Yang yelled at the court to return to defense, and the Thunder generals quickly turned around and ran back.

With only two seconds left, the Pistons did not pause, and the backcourt made a fast break, but Stuckey failed to complete the shot.

The final whistle sounded, the Thunder defeated the Pistons 107 to 106, and Green made a layup to kill the lore.

At the end of the game, in the TNT studio, Barkley jokingly said: "I think the MVP should consider Su Yang. His tactical design is bold, efficient and innovative. Anyway, I didn't expect that it wasn't KD who shot the lore. He is the real MVP. "

Kenny Smith agrees: "Especially with Jeff Green playing badly before..."

(End of this chapter)