start with scouting

Chapter 362 Stephen, You Are Going to the Finals
As the magician predicted, after the first game between the Lakers and the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, fans and the media rarely discussed tactics.

On ESPN's "Hand in Hand", the Bulls star Scottie Pippen shook his head again and again, and said in disappointment: "The Lakers' few Princeton offenses were only at the college level in complexity. The Thunder just need to improve their defense a little bit. The Thunder players headed by James Harden either lacked concentration or were too slow, and the Lakers could always score easily.

What puzzles me even more is that the simplification of the Thunder's offensive tactics seems to be at a high league level. In the whole game, my biggest feeling is that first Durant plays singles with the ball, then Westbrook plays singles with the ball, or Harden plays singles with the ball. Every once in a while I'd see them go through a screen and I'd make a fist, and then they'd go to a screen just to move on and continue isolating.

Judging from the final score, the Thunder did not lose too much. Judging from the rhythm and situation of the audience, the Lakers easily controlled the game.

The Thunder were not like this before. They had ladder screens, Iverson crosscuts, and even a series of dynamic wheel offenses. Even if Tyson Chandler left, even if Jeff Green failed to play, it would not be so exaggerated. Take turns playing singles.

I know that Coach Brooks intends to make a distinction with Su Yang, but this is the Western Conference finals, and winning is the first goal. "

Pippen's remarks quickly became a hot topic on Twitter. Many Thunder fans expressed their sorrow: Several Thunder bosses were the culprits who forced Su Yang to leave. Back to Oklahoma City.

Su Yang was a little excited when he saw those comments. The main thing is that it is a sense of accomplishment to be recognized by Thunder fans, but he also knows that the enthusiastic Thunder fans don't understand. In fact, Durant, Westbrook and Harden all like it. That simple and rude style of play.

Otherwise, the three of Durant, as the absolute core, have already proposed to change the tactical system. Although coach Brooks is relatively blind in rotation and on-the-spot, there is absolutely no problem in copying a few characteristic tactics, so the Thunder's problems cannot be pushed to the head coach.

The Eastern Conference Finals followed. The Heat beat the Celtics 93 to 79 in the first game. LeBron gave up all-inclusiveness and scored 32 points and 13 rebounds, but only three assists. Wade Send out a game-high 7 assists.

Su Yang watched the entire game and confirmed that the Heat have entered the strongest state: LeBron's shooting has improved to the average level, and he doesn't worry about how much possession of the ball is. There are many TMs.

Anyway, I often see the famous scene of Janeway connecting, not to mention the general team, even the Celtics can't hold back the defense like that.

The Heat's shortcomings are also obvious, and like the Thunder, they are particularly prone to losing points in the second quarter. The core root of the problem is even the same, that is, LeBron and Durant often play the entire first quarter, resulting in a lack of support for a long time in the early part of the second quarter. Definitely strong point.

Without an absolute strength, the offense is easily blocked, and then falls into a scoring shortage, resulting in too much lagging behind, and the whole game is chasing hard.

That kind of rotation strategy is basically used for dozens of games or the entire season, and it will be very difficult to adjust it in a short time.

In Su Yang's view, coaches like Tyronn Lue who have continuously changed in the Western Conference finals, regardless of their level, are absolutely commendable for their courage.

At 29:[-] pm on the [-]th, the second game of the Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and the Thunder continued at the Staples Center.

After the pre-match ceremony, the lights were turned on. Su Yang found that more than half of the fans chose to wear uniform and custom-made support T-shirts. He speculated that the fans' confidence in winning the championship was greatly increased, probably because the first match started 0-8. Easy win.

The Thunder did not make personnel adjustments. After the game started, Durant and Ibaka's defensive enthusiasm was full. The two blocked Kobe and Gasol consecutively. Immediately after the next round, Perkins blocked Mike again. Roberts, the team seems to be desperate.

The Lakers naturally responded strongly. Curry took the lead in stealing Westbrook who was trying to single him out, and then hit two consecutive mid-range shots.

McRoberts surrounded Ibaka and Perkins, aggressively grabbed offensive rebounds, and made a strong tip-up.

Just like that, the Thunder's defensive end was full, and the offensive end was stretched. The Lakers took advantage of the situation and played a 13-4 start, showing a crushing trend.

Back from the timeout, Durant relied on his super personal ability to score 5 points on 3 of 7 shots in about two and a half minutes, plus a steal, leading the Thunder to play a 7-6 attack wave and forcibly stabilized the situation. It was too late to narrow the gap.

Su Yang was happy to see such a situation, and deliberately asked Artest and the others not to defend so hard, and induced Durant to play more.

After the half game, Kobe scored 11 points on 8 of 17 shots, and had 5 assists and only 1 turnover. The efficiency was very high, but it was a pity that he did not defend Harden himself, allowing Harden to score 14 points in a single quarter, resulting in The Lakers only lead the Thunder by 11 points.

Back from the intermission, Kobe continued his good form. In the third quarter, he made 5 of 4 shots and scored 9 points and 2 assists.

Durant performed equally well. He scored 14 points in the third quarter. However, he got 4 fouls and still failed to help the Thunder narrow the point difference. The only Thunder player who can help Durant is Westbrook, but Westbrook 8 of 4 shots and 2 fouls in a single quarter.

The Lakers led 16 into the fourth quarter, and the form was excellent.

The stubborn Thunder would not give up. Brooks chose to let Durant and Westbrook, who played the third quarter, together with Harden and Ibaka, come on the bench in the fourth quarter ahead of schedule, while Su Yang performed the rotation as usual, using Gasol and Diaw led the main team.

The gap between the lineups of the two teams is quite large. Jeremy Lin and Sessions, against Harden and Westbrook, were completely unable to guard against each other and were broken through in various ways.

But the Thunder generals were too tired. On the offensive end, they scored 15 points in 2 seconds in singles, and then turned to the defensive end and lost 2 points in [-] seconds.

After coming and going, the gap between Thunder and Thunder failed to narrow. Su Yang rotated the main force one after another to firmly control the situation.

After the game, the Lakers beat the Thunder 120-107.

科比全场21投16中，仅有2次罚球，狂砍35分8助攻，库里则拿到20分。

On the Thunder side, Durant, Westbrook and Harden scored 88 points in the whole game, and the other players scored 19 points together.

Many Thunder fans scolded Thunder coach Brooks on Twitter for not being able to arrange tactics, and they were also curious about why Ibaka, who was so useful against the Spurs in the second round, faced the Lakers except for a few blocks. There is no sense of presence.

The commentators also analyzed Ibaka's sluggish performance, and concluded that the Lakers rarely double-teamed, which resulted in Ibaka rarely getting a shot. After finally getting a shot, he was easily returned by Diaw and Mike Roberts. anti-jamming.

ESPN analyzed the difference between the Lakers' use of power forwards on the program and found that both Dior and Mike Roberts have their own tactical design. The key to each shot is to attack the basket with an empty cut or use a screen to shoot steadily.

In contrast, Ibaka is always flying jumpers against defenders in the high post, and occasionally has a few low-impact lob dunks.

The famous Lakers magician tweeted: "I praised Su Yang last time, and this time I will also praise Su Yang. Both Jim and Mickey have clearly told me that the management has been preparing to sign Dior in the buyout market very early. And the proposer was Su Yang.

We have all seen that the joining of Boris Diaw not only made up for the shortage of personnel at the Lakers' power forward position, but also greatly enriched the Lakers' tactical options.If it weren't for the fact that I have a good relationship with Mickey, I would have suggested that Su Yang be the president of basketball affairs..."

While the outside world was discussing, the entire Lakers team flew to Oklahoma to continue their battle with the Thunder for Game [-] of the Western Conference Finals.

The game started on the 31st, and the Thunder did not make any adjustments, but the home field advantage and several calls took advantage.

Those biased calls, especially Kobe's three fouls, made the Lakers play more uncomfortable, trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half.

Su Yang didn't panic at all. In the third quarter, he stuck to the original offensive and defensive strategy, and the referee's calls became normal, gradually narrowing the point difference.

In the last 3.8 seconds of the game, as Durant turned over and hit a two-point jumper, the Lakers trailed 108 to 109.

Amidst the cheers from the audience, Su Yang asked for a timeout to set up lore tactics: "We played Diamond Chest, Kobe stood at the top of the arc, Curry and Diaw stood at the free throw line on the left and right respectively, Tracy McGrady stood at the basket, and Mike Roberts took the ball out of bounds. ..."

"After the referee blows the whistle, the first option is for Kobe to use Curry's back screen and go straight to the left sideline for an opportunity.

If the Thunder are over-defensive or delayed early, the second option is to pass the ball to Curry and shoot a three-pointer.

If the first two options are unsuccessful, then McGrady starts from the basket, uses Curry and Diaw's double elevator door to cover, lifts up to the top of the arc to catch the ball, and forms a horn with Curry and Diaw. How to play then, Can play freely.

Flare can screen and attack the rim, or directly attack the basket with a back screen, or even a hand-to-hand three-point shot..."

During the conversation, the whistle sounded at the end of the pause.

The two teams entered the stadium and stood in the field. Because McGrady suddenly came up and stood in the paint, the Thunder didn't know who to use to defend.

Before the Thunder could think too much, the referee blew his whistle to count down the time, and all the Thunder fans stood up, boos hitting like waves.

Kobe immediately started from the top of the arc and rushed to the left sideline. Curry simultaneously provided a back screen, but the Thunder did not over-defend.

The first and second options suddenly lost the opportunity. Seeing this, McGrady immediately started to rush, and used the elevator door to get rid of Durant to the top of the arc. Take flare cover.

In the blink of an eye, Curry started to get rid of Westbrook, strode from the left elbow to the 45-degree three-point line on the right, raised his hand to catch the pass from Tracy McGrady, turned around and went inside, facing Iba Ka and Sefolosa surrounded each other and hit the board with a two-step high toss.

boom!
Ibaka knocked Curry straight to the bottom line, but the basketball bounced off the board and into the net, and the game-ending whistle sounded.

The Lakers beat the Thunder 110-109 and took a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals. The final promotion is set.

Curry got up by himself without waiting for his teammates to pull him, and quickly ran in front of Su Yang, raising his hands excitedly for a high-five.

Su Yang said with a smile: "Stephen, you are going to play in the finals..."

(End of this chapter)