start with scouting

Chapter 257 Battle against Carlisle

After beating the Grizzlies, the Thunder team flew back to Oklahoma, and Su Yang gave the players a three-day holiday as usual.

He himself didn't worry about whether he would play against the Mavericks or the Nuggets in the second round, and he didn't worry about who the best head coach would be. The new Fast and Furious 5.

In a blink of an eye on the 28th, the results of the first round of the eight groups in the Eastern and Western Divisions were all released, and there were no upsets.

In the East, the Bulls will face the Eagles in the second round, and the Celtics will face the Heat in the second round to determine the true Big Three.

In the west, the Spurs defeated the Hornets, and the Lakers defeated the Trail Blazers, continuing to stage a classic matchup in the semifinals.

The Mavericks defeated the Nuggets 4-2 and joined the Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals. The first game started on May 5.

ESPN once again gave 21 experts to predict the result of the battle between the Thunder and the Mavericks. Among them, 4 experts supported the promotion of the Thunder. In terms of specific scores, three of them thought it was 0 to 4, five of them thought it was 1 to 4, and six of them thought it was 2 to [-]. Think it's [-] to [-].

The other six experts supported the promotion of the Mavericks. They believed that the Mavericks were too underestimated in the first round. Nowitzki was at his peak. Defensive speed guard problem.

Specifically, Kidd and Terry are responsible for positioning and controlling the breakthrough route, while Perkins is responsible for intercepting and perfectly cooperating.

Of course, because Perkins is slow and Nowitzki is not Garnett, that kind of defensive strategy is more afraid of mid-range shots.

However, Mavericks head coach Carlisle's assistant, Devin En Casey, created a very powerful defensive rotation system for the Mavericks, which further made up for the Mavericks' weak defense on the outside and on the flanks, and Barkley called the Mavericks a championship. potential.

For the 21 expert predictions, fans from all walks of life gave their own opinions. In the voting statistics initiated by ESPN, a total of 24 people participated within 198521 hours, and 78.53% of them supported the promotion of the Thunder, almost overwhelmingly optimistic.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban forwarded ESPN statistics and wrote: "Time will prove once again that only a few people can see through the correct direction of development. I want to congratulate the 21.47% of fans. You really understand basketball!"

Famous Kay fan Bill Simmons reposted Cuban’s tweet with a thumbs up emoji to show his approval. Barkley tweeted emphasizing the underestimation of the Mavericks’ strength. Even Stephen A. Smith, a die-hard fan of Su Yang, chose to stand on the side of the Mavericks’ promotion. side
After several big discussions, a large number of fans unequivocally supported the Thunder, and many commentators publicly supported the Mavericks.

On the morning of the 29th, the Thunder officially resumed the team union.

After the regular shooting drills, the whole team held a video conference to watch the first-round video of the Mavericks playing against the Nuggets together.

A total of six games, the Nuggets averaged 107.5 points per game in the regular season, and only 92.5 points per game in the playoffs.

Obviously, the Nuggets failed to play the characteristics of their own track and field team. Instead, because of a large number of irons, the Mavericks grabbed more rebounds than the regular season, which in turn allowed the Mavericks to initiate more quick offensive and defensive transitions, helping the Mavericks get more rebounds than the regular season. Score.

"We're going to overpower the Mavericks with talent..."

Halfway through watching the video, Su Yang said: "They are very patient and calm, especially when defending the zone defense. If we use the traditional Cross or Thumb Up to deal with it, it is tantamount to helping them take advantage.

We need to try to force them to defend one-on-one or two-on-two, especially in the 45-degree area, to weaken their synergy advantage.

To achieve that, we need to implement more simple coordination tactics. We need to make two-pointers and three-pointers with a high enough shooting rate, so as to force them to expand their defenses, and then find more loopholes in them, and achieve scoring in simple ways... "

As someone who has been there, Su Yang too understands how powerful the Mavericks' zone defense is. If they are as strong as LeBron and Wade in breaking through, they will suffer a lot. Bull defensive formation.

Fortunately, Durant's shooting is much better than LeBron's, but considering that Durant needs to be on the court for a long time to provide a threat, he must find a way to let Durant get the ball easily, so as to avoid being consumed too much energy early, resulting in the fourth Section shots become stretched.

Hearing Su Yang's words, the four assistant coaches nodded in agreement. Su Yang continued: "Considering that Deshaun Stevenson is not the type of Kobe Bryant, James can start and provide a greater shooting threat. Follow up..."

According to Su Yang's vision, the Mavericks will definitely substitute Terry. With Terry's off-ball running speed, if Harden is allowed to focus on defense, he will probably lose a lot of points. The Thunder will either use Sefoloza to defend, or use Wei Don't defend less, at least you don't suffer from speed.

As for Harden, it is suitable for Kidd, who is slow in defense and experienced, and his weight is not afraid of Kidd's sitting.

These two key strategies have been verified in the past two seasons against the Mavericks, and they are practical.

Between Su Yang's words, Harden and Sefoloza nodded repeatedly to express their understanding, and then the topic of discussion turned to defense.

Assistant coach Brian asked with a half-smile: "How do we defend Dirk Nowitzki at his peak?"

After the words fell, everyone in Thunder looked at Ibaka one after another, and Ibaka scratched his head in embarrassment, pretending not to see it.

In the regular seasons of the past two seasons, every time the Thunder played against the Mavericks, Ibaka hardly showed good results in defending Nowitzki. The main thing is that Nowitzki has too many offensive methods, and he can always easily lie Baka's body center of gravity has been tried and tested.

In one game, after Ibaka was forced to fly by Nowitz, he sent three two plus one, and he was listed in the top five highlights of the day.

However, Su Yang already had countermeasures, and immediately went on to say: "It is very difficult to defend Dirk Nowitzki alone, especially when he gets the ball, but we can continue to consume him, so as to prevent He catches the ball and starts.

Nick Collison did a better job on that point. In addition, Sergey can ask Tracy McGrady for advice. Tracy defended Nowitzki well back then, so he can practice for a few more days before the game. How much counts. "

After Su Yang finished speaking, McGrady showed a little proud expression, and naturally recalled the past when he took the initiative to apply to switch to Nowitzki during the Fire Bull War. start up.

Ibaka seemed to have found a savior, and hurriedly beat his chest to McGrady to signal, and the two agreed with a smile.

As for Collison of the team, he is still so calm, because he always likes to do that kind of laborious and unobtrusive work. As long as he plays every time, he can always bring contributions to the Thunder. It is hard to eat and collide to create an offensive foul.

Compared with Ibaka, who likes to bounce, Collison is the best candidate for the Thunder to defend Nowitzki alone.

Seeing that everyone figured out what to do, Su Yang continued: "The Dallas Mavericks are a team with the strength of a championship. If we want to win this round of the series, we need everyone to stand up and play well. Preparations for a protracted war..."

Su Yang is not bluffing. The Mavericks lineup is too thick. Except for the starting five, the main substitutes are Terry, Barea, Brewer, Haywood, and Peja. Overall, they are not much worse than the Thunder lineup. The key The Maverick was still holding his breath.

"Please follow the plan, everyone. As for the on-the-spot reaction, our coaching staff will fight Rick Carlisle's coaching staff for [-] rounds..." Su Yang turned his head to look at Snyder and other four assistant coaches, not so confident in his heart. foot.

You know, in addition to the tactical master Carlisle, the Mavericks coaching staff also has Terry Stotts and the Raptors Dwyane Casey, and Carlisle allows the two assistants to shout commands from the sidelines. Habit.

It's like after Kidd became the head coach, his former head coach Lawrence Frank shouted a few more tactics from the sidelines, and Kidd yelled at Lawrence, "Shut up, I am the head coach", which made the team atmosphere pretty stiff...

(End of this chapter)