start with scouting

Chapter 260 You have to work very hard

After the second game, according to the schedule, the Thunder has four days to adjust and can relax a bit.

The team's travel plan is to go to Dallas after a day's rest, but Su Yang feels that in order to ensure the competitive state and avoid the situation of being unable to enter the state in the first quarter of the away game against the Grizzlies, it is necessary to arrive in Dallas in advance to start training.

He first discussed with the coaching staff, assistant coach Brian and others also felt it was necessary, and then reported to Presti, explaining the necessity of rushing to Dallas in advance, mainly because the Mavericks are too strong, and they must work very hard to ensure that they will finally win the series game.

Presti agreed with his idea after listening, and the two jointly sent an email to notify the staff in charge of travel arrangements.

At noon the next day, the Thunder team set off and flew to Dallas at [-]:[-] pm, preparing as usual for an away game.

The whole team watched the second game away from the Lakers against the Spurs. The Lakers still maintained the lead all the way like in the first game, but in the last few minutes, the Lakers' defense collapsed. The Spurs came back 9-0 and won again. Kobe was so angry that he threw a towel .

Seeing the situation, Harden and the others lamented that Kobe was old and was fighting with injuries, and the Lakers would probably be eliminated.

Su Yang thought it was normal. After all, it was the Spurs' home court, not to mention that the Spurs had to grit their teeth and persevere to win, which was extremely exhausting.

On the morning of the [-]th, the Thunder team resumed joint training. Apart from the regular shooting training, they continued to repeat the content of the previous training, such as "circling the front + defending against Kidd" to interfere with Nowitzki receiving the ball, and "three guards + Green" mobilized the Mavericks overall defense.

There is almost no new content. Su Yang knows that Lei Ting has played all his cards, and he is sure that there will be no content on Mavericks.

When the training was coming to an end in the afternoon, he racked his brains to think that he needed to practice free throws, and by the way, double practice serving the sideline, just in case the Mavericks used shark-slashing tactics to target Jordan or Westbrook. After all, Carlisle is the kind of eclectic coach .

At the same time as the whole team was training, fans and the media were discussing the progress of the Thunder Mavericks series.

Regarding the Thunder's 2-0 lead, many fans think that it's not that the Mavericks are too weak, but that the Thunder is too strong, especially when comparing the starting centers of the two teams. What Perkins can do, Chandler can do, but Perkins cannot. Chandler can still do things.

The fans also think that it is very difficult for the Thunder to win. The last time I saw Su Yang standing on the sidelines so excitedly to make a temporary command was a few years ago when the Trail Blazers participated in the summer league. To command.

But in the first two games against the Mavericks, Su Yang obviously felt that he would lose if he didn't command, and Carlisle was the same.

The opinion of the media was the same as before. ESPN again asked the 6 commentators who predicted the Mavericks would advance to the Western Conference Finals. The 6 people insisted on their original opinion, thinking that the Thunder's victory depends on home court advantage, and it may not be so smooth to come to Dallas.

The league announced the best team candidates and other awards at the same time. Ibaka and Sefolosha regretted not being selected for the defensive lineup. Won the error king.

In a blink of an eye, on May 5, the third game between the Thunder and the Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals started at the American Airlines Arena.

During the shooting warm-up, Su Yang chatted with Aldridge, who was specially present to watch the game, and congratulated Adelaide for being selected to the third team.

The game started immediately, and the starting lineups of the two teams remained unchanged.

Perhaps it was a coincidence that Su Yang stood next to the technical platform near the center line and prepared to command, as did Carlisle.

The Thunder won the jump ball, starting with an inside and four outside formation, Ibaka took the ball from the top of the arc to support, and Durant moved from the bottom line with a screen.

Marion's pursuit was particularly tight, and Durant failed to get a good chance to catch the ball at the waist.Ibaka immediately cut inside to create a lob threat, and took advantage of the situation to set a screen for Chandler. Chandler took the opportunity to lift the ball to the top of the arc, turned around and patted to the right.

Westbrook ran over to catch the pass at the same time, strided into the paint with a sideways stride, and successfully attracted Perkins to squat in the pit to defend against breakthroughs, while Chandler took the opportunity to disassemble and turn around, and received the pass from Westbrook with his hands raised , Take advantage of the momentum to take off and put the basket to wipe the board to score.

The Mavericks attacked on the other side, and Nowitzki took the ball in a big circle with the help of a screen, without stopping for half a step, he turned around and made a long shot.

Ibaka's interference plan failed, and he was at a disadvantage in height, so he jumped up forcibly with the speed of the bullets and did not cause interference.

The basketball went into the net hollowly, and Su Yang immediately directed the Thunder generals to encounter a similar situation again, switching defenses ahead of time and delaying Nowitzki.

The two teams switched offense and defense. The Thunder still started with an inside and four outside formation, but Su Yang took the initiative to change the formation. Ibaka stopped in the low position and Chandler ran to the top of the arc to support. Seeing that Durant was out of trouble, Decisively turned around early and asked Westbrook to do a pick-and-roll.

But Kidd has a tight defense. If Westbrook forcibly cooperates hand-in-hand with Chandler, the effect will be relatively poor.

Su Yang saw it, and quickly waved and shouted at Durant who was squatting in the right corner, reminding him to take the initiative to lift the ball.

Durant seemed to have thought of that trick too, and started to rush to the right wing almost at the same time, while Chandler decisively gave up looking for Westbrook as a cover, and directly dribbled the ball diagonally, pretending to cooperate with Durant, but actually passed the ball to retreat To Ibaka in the short corner on the right.

Nowitzki didn't expect Ibaka to do that at all. The defense speed was slow, and Ibaka made a steady mid-range shot.

Amid the cheers and cheers from all over the court, the Mavericks launched a counterattack. Kidd took the ball and advanced along the sideline. After all failed, he immediately withdrew to the outside line.

Perkins ran over to set up a wall at the same time as a screen, and formed a pick-and-roll cooperation with Kidd.

The cooperation was extremely smooth, but it was a pity that Perkins took off a little too short, and he just couldn't put the ball into the basket.

Chandler grabbed the rebound, the Thunder team launched a fast break, Durant rushed to the frontcourt with the ball, and made a three-hook shot.

The ball bounced off the rim and into the net, and the Mavs scrambled to counterattack, but Carlisle yelled from the sidelines to slow down.

Kidd then decelerated and braked, but the subsequent consequence was that it was difficult for the Mavericks to get an offensive opportunity. After struggling for a while, it was handed over to DeShawn Stevenson to break through with the help of a pick-and-roll, but Stevenson entered the paint area and was double-teamed , actually passed the ball out of bounds.

When the Thunder changed sides to attack, Su Yang also yelled to slow down.

Westbrook got the order and directly asked Ibaka to do the pick-and-roll, but did not launch an attack immediately. Instead, he pretended to break through and pull the Mavericks' defensive formation, and then passed the ball to Harden, who was supporting the left wing. Durant simultaneously used Chandler Leaving the screen, easily transferred to the left waist.

Harden passed the ball to the left waist without hesitation. Durant caught the ball and pretended to sit hard, but actually pulled the ball and turned back.

The CIC went into the net hollowly, and the Thunder unexpectedly led the Mavericks 8-2 in the start, and the form was very good.

Carlisle hesitated for a moment, but did not call a timeout.

Who would have thought that Nowitzki was double-teamed with the ball, and Westbrook flew to steal the pass and scored a fast break dunk.

Facing a 2-10 deficit, Carlisle had to ask for a timeout, and the Mavericks then relied on Stephenson for a three-pointer.

However, the two teams had all their cards in their cards, and there was no trick to chase points or expand their lead. It all depended on the details and execution of the competition. The Thunder always maintained the lead until the end of the game, and finally defeated the Mavericks 113-106, taking a 3-0 lead.

Su Yang shouted for command from the audience. After the game, he was too tired to talk. When he never wanted to participate in the press conference, the reporters all bluntly said or hinted that the Thunder won too easily. suppress.

To make matters worse, ESPN reporter Lauren Ayer asked eccentrically: "Coach Su Yang, many experts mentioned that James Harden's possession of the ball and Russell Westbrook's breakthrough are typical Spurs systems during certain periods of the game." The way you play, that gives you guys a big advantage, did you borrow from Coach Popovich, or did Manager Presti give you advice?"

Between words, ESPN reporter Lauren Ayer gave examples of Popovich's Manu Ginobili + Parker combination in the Spurs, Mike Brown Cavaliers Delonte West + Mo Williams, and Presti in the Thunder Engage in a combination of Harden + Westbrook.

There is only one core, these combinations are typical Spurs style, obviously high IQ shooting guard + strong breakthrough point guard.

Those words intentionally or unintentionally obliterated Su Yang's efforts, implying that he only benefited from the Thunder's powerful 'Spurs' team building strategy.

(End of this chapter)