start with scouting

Chapter 440 The Young King (seeking tickets)

Seven o'clock, Sleep Train Arena.

Accompanied by the cheers of the audience, Su Yang pointed at the camera and waved his hand, and the king's first introduction officially ended.

The long whistle sounded immediately, and the game between the Kings and the Trail Blazers was about to start. All the players spontaneously formed a circle and waited.

"Mr. Mayor said just now that we have maintained a complete victory in the past 13 home openers, ranking first in NBA history. That is a record with many restrictions, but we should continue to maintain it. We beat the pioneer…"

Between words, Su Yang encouraged

From the off-season to the first game of the regular season, in nearly three and a half months, the king's training has ushered in a test opportunity, while the opponent, the Blazers, ranks fifth in the West in the ESPN combat power list, especially the strength of the starting five, which can be called the whole league. T0 level.

Su Yang remembers that the Blazers starting five, Robin Lopez, Aldridge, Batum, Matthews, Lillard, will be the starting combination with the highest plus-minus value in the league in the 13-14 season, that is to say It's hard to lose points when all five of them are on the court at the same time.

The Kings now want to beat the Blazers to maintain their winning streak in the home opener, so they must withstand the Blazers' starting impact.

"Pay attention to avoid dislocations when defending, especially the two positions of point guard and power forward, try to switch defenses in advance..."

Su Yang did not evade Thomas Jr.'s defensive flaws, and pointed out that Millsap's height would be very disadvantageous when facing Aldridge, and the disadvantages of the two would usually be compensated by double-teaming and rotation, but for the Blazers, Lillard, Matthew Smith and Batum are all players who can shoot three-pointers. Occasionally, double-teaming and rotation are okay. Long-term heavy use will only consume physical strength quickly.

Switching defenses in advance has naturally become an important defensive method for the Kings. Originally defending players like Adelaide who are not good at low post passes, they can also use one hand to help defend in advance, but Cousins ​​is so big and heavy, running around consumes too much energy. Give it to Antetokounmpo.

"Giannis, we need you to show your talents, play your defensive ability, sweep the paint like Garnett..."

Antetokounmpo nodded again and again, and Su Yang encouraged Millsap to rush for rebounds and block shots boldly, and the short whistle sounded.

Cousins ​​immediately assumed the responsibility of the boss, raised his right hand to signal, and the whole team clapped hands and fists, and shouted in unison, King, come on.

Players from the two teams enter the court and stand still, and the central big screen shows the starting matchup: point guard Thomas Jr. V Lillard, shooting guard Marcus Thornton V Matthews, small forward Antetokounmpo V Batum, power forward Miller Sapp V Ade, center Cousins ​​V Lopez.

The audience cheered and applauded, Su Yang followed suit, and quickly glanced at the entire Sleep Train arena, and found that it was not full. He couldn't help but recall the report from the commercial director Chris half an hour before the game: More than 7000 people bought tickets, and more than 2000 not coming.

The fans of the Kings are full of buying tickets, and the support is almost meaningless. It's like automatic subscription to novels, but they don't read the content.

"It's incomparable to Los Angeles..."

Su Yang felt emotional, and casually glanced at the VIP seats on the sidelines, but they were not full, and the biggest audience was the old acquaintance mayor.

There were no TV stations such as TNT and ESPN to broadcast the game live across the United States, only the king's own local channel broadcast live.

Between emotions, the Blazers won the jump ball and the game started.

The Trail Blazers were third on the right and second on the left, imitating the triangle offensive formation. Lillard ran across the center line with the ball and passed it to Matthews on the right wing. Quickly rush to the bottom corner on the right.

That kind of starting operation not only takes away the potential double-teaming on the right wing, makes it easier for Matthews to operate, but also continues to provide scoring threats.

The routine is quite basic, practical, and easy to predict. Considering Matthews' level of ball handling, pick-and-roll offense and singles are impossible, and considering Lopez's position, and Lopez is not good at singles, the Blazers' goals are quite good. clear.

Obviously, it is necessary to connect the high and low positions, and pass it to Adelaide from Lopez, so that the situation becomes Adelaide's low position and Millsap alone.

Su Yang saw it, and shouted a reminder to the arena. As soon as the voice flew out, Millsap had already stepped forward to interfere.

Almost at the same time, Matthews passed the right elbow with both hands, Lopez caught the ball and turned to face the basket, Adelaide relied on his height advantage to get in position.

Seeing Millsap circling forward, Lopez gave up hitting the ground to pass the ball, and instead raised his hands high and passed it backwards, easily avoiding interference.

Adelaide turned around after receiving the ball, ignoring Millsap's potential block threat, and directly raised his back and threw a mid-range shot.

It's a pity that Millsap's positional awareness is excellent, and Adela is stuck half a step short of Adelaide's stride, which makes Adelaide take off so calmly.

when!Basketball hits the basket and hits the iron.

Cheers broke out in the ball sense, Millsap turned around and jumped to grab a rebound, Thomas Jr. stepped forward to get the ball and push for a counterattack.

Su Yang nodded slightly, thinking that Millsap was worthy of winning the second team of the best defense at the end of his career. He had a strong sense of positioning and rebounding. In addition, he played with Sloan in his early years and had a deep understanding of tactics. Judge the Blazers goal.

Offensive and defensive transitions on the field, the Kings' one-in-four-out formation, following Su Yang's previous steps, Thornton stood in the right corner, Cousins ​​stood in the left corner, Millsap stood at the top of the arc, Antetokounmpo Standing on the right waist, maximize their respective characteristics.

Let Antetokounmpo stand at the waist, mainly to use his mobility to initiate tactics and avoid the amplification of his shooting weaknesses.

Amidst the cheers of the audience, Thomas Jr. ran across the center line with the ball, took advantage of the opportunity to raise his big butt with his back, and held Lillard with his back.

With that move, Lillard lost his temper immediately.

Little Thomas is strong, and according to Su Yang's request, he imitated Billups, Paul, Kidd and others to control the ball more, to make up for the height disadvantage to the greatest extent, and at the same time increase the threat of turning and breakthrough, at least facing Lillard's kind Defensive, no worries.

Seeing Thomas Jr. looking to the right, Millsap immediately started to walk in, and made a PINDOWN screen for the raised Antetokounmpo, which could then produce a RAM routine in which Antetokounmpo went to screen for Thomas Jr., or he could directly attack the basket.

After three and a half months of special training, Antetokounmpo's muscles have grown, and the quality of cover is very good, which made it difficult for Adelaide to catch up for a while.

Batum decisively signaled to switch defenses, turned around and chased Millsap, preventing Thomas Jr. from passing the ball directly to the basket to attack the basket.

Seeing that the man defending him has become Ade, Alphabet is confident that he has the advantage of speed, so he interrupts RAM, voluntarily gives up covering for Thomas Jr., and immediately turns around and runs to the left corner, preparing to cover for Marcus Thornton. Create greater misalignment.

In the blink of an eye, Matthews and Adelaide shouted and communicated, making an appointment to make a big delay first. After all, Thornton can shoot three-pointers.

That thought, Antetokounmpo suddenly slipped apart ahead of time, turned around and went straight to the basket, and Thomas Jr. hit the ground and passed the ball simultaneously.

The audience showed anticipation. Antetokounmpo picked up the basketball with his left hand, kicked the ground hard to take off, hugged it with both hands in the air, and smashed the basket for dunks.

Bang Bang!The basketball exploded into the net.

Cheers immediately resounded through the arena. In the commentary, Kings star Rich Richmond laughed and said: "From this offense, I can see that the Kings players are implementing basic but practical tactics. The key is that they are not rigid. Coach Su Yang's transformation was very successful."

The commentator Grant Napier answered: "Dynamic offense! Mr. Su Yang always emphasizes that the new season will focus on dynamic offense. He encourages players to try boldly, so even a rookie like Giannis dares to try the most threatening tactics..."

The offensive and defensive transition on the field, Batum ran the ball across the center line, took advantage of the opportunity to use Alder to cover, and went straight to the right wing position.

Antetokounmpo quickly bypassed the cover and chased without giving a chance to break through. Batum saw the posture and turned around to seek a second cover.

Adelaide cooperated extremely tacitly, Batum suddenly threw off Antetokounmpo, and in a hurry, Millsap took the initiative to switch defenses and intercept.

But Batum didn't rush, he stopped suddenly and turned around and passed the ball to Adelaide who ran to the right wing, and then strode away to make room.

Ade took the ball and raised it high to make a shot. He easily tapped Antetokounmpo, who was jumping immediately, and skillfully took off sideways and leaned back.

when!Basketball hits the basket and hits the iron.

Lopez took advantage of the early card position to grab an offensive rebound, turned around and threw it to the top of the arc, and Cousins ​​stared angrily.

Lillard took the ball and made a shot, but Thomas Jr. didn't take fake moves, so he could only cross and stride to the left.

Cousins, who had nowhere to vent, immediately went up to intercept and double-teamed with Thomas Jr., Lillard was suddenly forced to the ground.

The referee then blew his whistle and whistled Thomas Jr. for fouling the cylinder with a ball from behind, giving the Blazers a second offense on the sideline.

Seeing this, Thomas Jr. walked towards the referee, and before he could argue, Cousins ​​dragged him away: "Calm down, calm down."

Hearing that Cousins ​​made people calm down, Su Yang laughed out loud, and greeted Brother Antetokounmpo to the sidelines, reminding him: "You need to be patient, don't be easily deceived by fake moves, you are in good physical condition, you can observe your opponent more action…"

Between the words, I can't help but think of Anthony's sweeping in front of his body, making an emergency stop, turning around and breaking through for a layup. Ignore the capital of the opponent's feint.

"Okay, coach..."

Antetokounmpo nodded in agreement, turned around and returned to the court, and the Blazers simultaneously set up a second offensive formation, two high and two low.

The referee whistled the ball, and the Blazers left and right halves, Matthews and Lopez used the cover to try to catch the ball at the same time.

Batum passed to Lopez at the 45-degree three-point line on the right, then strode into the court, hit the basket with Lillard's back screen, and raised his right hand to signal that he could pass the ball. However, the tactics were very good, but Lillard covered The quality is not good, and Antetokounmpo easily catches up.

Seeing that he failed to directly attack the basket, Lopez immediately turned around and faced the right wing, and handed over to the oncoming Lillard to form a Chicago cooperation. However, the tactical intention was exposed too early, Thomas Jr. chased it in time, and Lillard failed to get rid of it completely. .

In an instant, Lillard gave up the screen, stopped and pulled the ball in the opposite direction, and then returned to the right sideline, lowering his center of gravity and rushing close to the ground.

Cousins ​​hurriedly chased after him, his feet flipping at full speed, he just didn't give a chance to break through, and went straight to the bottom corner on the right.

The audience on the sidelines booed and interfered.

Lillard stopped in a hurry to find someone, while Lopez went down at the same time and made a threat with his back on the right waist. Seeing this, Millsap could only step forward to defend, and Alder took the opportunity to go 45 degrees to the right for a three-pointer Walking over the line position, the Blazers' tactical literacy is full.

The king's tactics were not bad either, and the rotation was activated simultaneously. Antetokounmpo faced Adelaide who had just received the ball at 45 degrees on the right.

The basketball passed to the top of the arc again, and Batum, who was open, received the ball. Seeing that Marcus Thornton made up the defense, he turned around decisively and passed to the left wing.

In the blink of an eye, Millsap, who had been prepared for a long time, flew forward, intercepted the pass, and pushed two steps hard.

There were cheers in the arena, the king launched a fast break counterattack, Antetokounmpo received the ball from the 45-degree three-point line on the left side of the frontcourt, took advantage of the situation to start the ball, took a sudden step to the elbow area, kicked off the ground directly, gliding in the air for a layup, and immediately Hughes and Batum didn't respond.

There is no way, others are fast break three-step layup, Antetokounmpo is fast break one-step layup, it is difficult for the Blazers to adapt.

boom!The basketball rebounded into the net, 4 to 0.

Cheers erupted in the Sleep Train Arena, the Blazers made a fast break, Lillard took the ball and dribbled a step, and raised his hand to make a long pass to the center line.

Matthews rushed with the ball and reached the right wing in a second, but he couldn't get rid of Antetokounmpo, so he had to slow down and brake, shaking in place.At the same time, Batum quietly used the ladder cover, crossed the paint area from left to right, and quickly reached the short corner position on the right.

Seeing this, Matthews hurriedly hit the ground to pass the ball, but he didn't expect that Thomas, who was short in stature, followed Batum closely.

I saw Thomas Jr. stealing the pass around the front like lightning, rushing to the center line, and raising his hand to make a long pass to the frontcourt, while Antetokounmpo received the ball from the left wing, turned around and accelerated, ignoring Lillard who was trying to defend, and arrogantly raised one hand The ball took off, gliding and smashing vigorously.

The basketball went into the net, 6 to 0.

Trail Blazers coach Stotts got up and shouted at the court, and Lillard slowed down and dribbled the ball slowly.

The audience shouted for defense in unison. In the commentary, Rich Richmond said: "I remember that ESPN had a high evaluation of the Blazers' combat power before. Maybe it is difficult to explain the problem in one game, but our Kings are the better one." team."

"Maybe it's more about the substitute lineup..." Grant Napier answered perfunctorily, without any detailed consideration at all.

"Our bench lineup is definitely stronger than the Trail Blazers. Don't forget that Rudy Gay is sitting on the bench waiting. Now I believe that coach Su Yang can bring the Kings into the playoffs, and it may not only be the first round. We will soon would be shocked…”

(End of this chapter)