Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 284 284. Shocked! U-shaped tactics are born!Pierce, who was knocked into the air and fractured! "That's his mother called a mad dog!"

On December 12, local time in the United States, the annual Christmas game that has attracted much attention in the league officially came.

The league has only arranged three games in this year's Christmas game, and it can be said that every game has made fans look forward to it.

But what fans are most looking forward to is the defending champion Grizzlies' game against the Boston Celtics at home.

The two teams of the Grizzlies and the Celtics are definitely the most luxurious teams in the league, an offensive team with a historical level, and a team with the Big Five. The fight really made the fans a little crazy.

At present, 1/3 of the regular season has passed. The Grizzlies have a record of 27 wins and 2 losses, ranking first in the league. As for the Boston Celtics, they are 24 wins and 4 losses, ranking second in the league.

In addition, there is no longer any team in the league that has lost less than five games. Even the Cleveland Cavaliers, which ranks third in the league, have lost six games. widen some gaps.

The Celtics this season are absolutely crazy under a series of operations by general manager Angie.

In the case that the team originally had the Big Four lineup of Ray Allen, Pierce, Cassel, and O'Neal, Angie introduced Kevin Garnett and "Lone Wolf" Marbury respectively during the offseason.

Although both Garnett and Marbury are not at their peak due to injuries, the lean camel is bigger than the horse. Compared with most players in the league, Garnett and Marbury are definitely stars.

Even though "Alien" Cassel has declined greatly due to his age, his personal data this season has dropped to single digits.

But as the well-deserved main control point on the bench, Cassel's role is still very obvious, and can relieve Marbury's pressure to the greatest extent.

It is worth mentioning that the Celtics with a strong lineup were upset by the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals last season.

The fundamental reason is that the aging O'Neal cannot solve Howard's performance at this point.

Knowing that the center position needs to be strengthened, Angie introduced the younger O'Bryant this summer.

Although O'Bryant is just an inconspicuous marginal man in the league, his height of 270 meters and his weight of [-] pounds are still very strong.

Once the playoffs meet the Magic led by "Warcraft" Howard again, O'Briant will at least give the Celtics more options.

It will not let the old "Shark" O'Neill have to grit his teeth and fight "Warcraft" Howard to the end when he is obviously at a disadvantage.

Angie, an old fox, can be said to have a very thorough understanding of the saying that what he eats makes him wise. During the offseason, he introduced two league stars in a row, and basically filled the vacancies in various positions on the bench.

But Celtics coach Sam Mitchell is a coach who doesn't trust substitute players.

As long as the point difference on the field does not widen enough to make him feel at ease, Mitchell will basically keep the main players on the field, and the average time for the main lineup to rest is very rare in each game.

So far, three of the Celtics' starting five have played more than 40 minutes.

Paul Pierce, who averaged the highest playing time per game, reached 41.3 minutes, and even "Shark" O'Neal, who played the least playing time, had to play 38.2 minutes.

Because of playing time, the 36-year-old "Shark" O'Neal complained to head coach Sam Mitchell a lot.

After all, a tonnage like O'Neal running back and forth on the field consumes a lot more physical energy than other players. In 38 minutes, O'Neal's physical energy was basically squeezed out.

Let O'Neal feel the muscles dancing on him every time he leaves the court, but he can't control the muscles.

Throughout his career, O'Neal has only had four seasons in which he averaged more than 38 minutes per game.

At that time, O'Neal was just a young man in his 20s, but even so, O'Neal would still feel tired, and often staged eye defense on the defensive end to adjust his physical strength distribution.

Physical strength became an obstacle that restricted O'Neal to break through the ceiling at that time. It can be said that any movement of O'Neal's tonnage on the field is a physical consumption.

Sam Mitchell used the 36-year-old "big shark" O'Neal as a peak shark. This made O'Neal, who averaged only 28.7 minutes per game last season, couldn't help cursing, and satirized Sam Mitch in front of the media more than once. Hall is not a qualified head coach.

However, Sam Mitchell's team record in coaching the Celtics this season is not bad. Mitchell can continue to sit firmly in the position of head coach. Even if "Shark" O'Neal is dissatisfied, he can only In every game, he gritted his teeth profusely with sweat and persevered.

After all, today's O'Neal is no longer the Big Mac at his peak. Even if he applies for a trade with the team, almost no one dares to ask for an annual salary of up to 2000 million.

How arrogant was Ao Pang at his peak, and how aggrieved Ao Pang is at this stage.

Especially when O'Neal saw that the starting center Marc Gasol, who played for the Grizzlies, averaged only 27.6 minutes per game, O'Neal only felt that the league was full of hostility towards himself at the end of his career.

Before the start of the game, assistant coach D'Antoni supervised the players' warm-up from the sidelines, while Luke beckoned Yi Jianlian aside.

"UAE, you will start this game against Kevin Garnett. This is a challenge for you, but it is also an opportunity."

"Your body shape is very similar to Kevin. Before the draft, some scouts compared you to the second Kevin."

"Kevin is my former student. I really know his offensive habits too well. Now due to injuries, Kevin lacks the explosive power of his peak period, so his main offensive method comes from the middle distance on both sides."

"With your current physical fitness, Kevin is not as good as you in this aspect, but what you should be most careful about is trash talk."

"I believe you should also know that Kevin is a master of trash talking. He often uses this method to try to irritate his opponents and disrupt the rhythm of the opponent's game."

"As long as you can ignore Kevin's trash talk harassment, there is no reason for you to be at a disadvantage in this group of matchups. After all, Kevin is no longer what you think, and you are the same as when you first entered the league. Great changes have taken place." Luke said with a serious face as he reached out and patted Yi Jianlian's arm.

Hearing that he will be scheduled to start against Kevin Garnett, Yi Jianlian was not surprised when he was excited.

After all, since Pau Gasol was injured, Yi Jianlian and Novak have discussed in private, who will be put on the starting lineup by Luke on the day of the Christmas game.

In fact, no matter which of the two starts, the other side will not be surprised, but when Yi Jianlian learned that he will have a head-to-head confrontation with Kevin Garnett on the day of the Christmas game, Yi Jianlian, who had been prepared for a long time, still could not hide his mood excited.

"Don't worry! Coach! I'm not afraid of Kevin at all!"

"I'm already ready to fight Kevin to the end! No! It should be ready to blow him up!"

Seeing Yi Jianlian's confident and excited look, while Luke felt relieved in his heart, he still didn't forget to turn his head and express emotion to Bill Lambir behind him, "The players brought out by you are different, Ah Lian is obviously a lot more confident now, and his current passion is probably beyond the imagination of most people."

Being able to hear the praise and affirmation of himself from Luke's mouth, Lambiel was still very grateful in his heart, but there was a touch of contempt on his face, "Of course! Yi is a real man now!"

"Although that guy Kevin is indeed a bit tricky, and I'm not sure whether Yi can gain the upper hand in this matchup, but I can guarantee that the word back down will definitely not appear on Yi!"

Patting his chest confidently, Lambiel leaned his head over and whispered to Luke, "And Yi is also a master fighter now, and he knows how to respond to the opponent's small moves on the field. At least in the NBA field, Yi absolutely It's a professional!"

"I just don't know if Yi is willing to become a player like me!" Lambiel's eyes revealed a hint of enthusiasm.

"It's best not to become as violent as you, otherwise Asian fans won't have much tolerance for your actions." Luke shrugged helplessly.

……

The Celtics' starting lineup for this game is still the Big Five: Marbury, Ray Allen, Pierce, Garnett, and O'Neal.

For Sam Mitchell, the earth does not explode, the starter does not take a holiday, and the word rotation does not deserve to appear in Mitchell's dictionary at all.

Even if the player's injury is not serious, Mitchell wants the player to play with the injury, let alone be adjusted and rested under healthy conditions.

To say that for the use and arrangement of players with overlapping positions, Sam Mitchell does have his own set of methods, and the effect is not bad.

But when it comes to coaching ability, Mitchell has nothing to do with excellent coaches. If the league's head coaches are divided into five levels of the pyramid, Sam Mitchell will probably be on the fourth level.

Otherwise, he won't be lucky enough to win the league's best coach and then quickly disappear in the league.

However, Sam Mitchell is deeply valued by the general manager of the Green Army Angie. Even the old fox Popovich reluctantly gave up. There is really no reason for this kind of thing.

For the Grizzlies, the starting five are: Paul, Martin, Artest, Yi Jianlian, and Marc Gasol.

Seeing the starting lineups announced by the two teams, the on-site commentator Thomson couldn't help laughing: "I didn't expect Lu to use Yi Lai as the starting forward to replace the vacancy after Paul's absence."

"You know, the player Yi is facing in this game is Kevin, the man who has won the regular season MVP for three consecutive years and the best defensive player for many years in a row."

"I don't know if Lu's adjustment this time is a kind of confidence in Yi's personal strength, or if the team was forced to make a choice."

"Of course, I personally prefer the latter. Although Yi has been in the league for three years, he has never proven himself on this field."

"As for Kevin, I believe I don't need to say much at all. The records he has kept will be difficult to break in the next few years."

Partner Tom Horvath: "I don't think it's too early to make jokes. Just like before Yi and Andrew had a physical conflict not long ago, no one thought that there was a beast hidden in Yi's body."

"And according to the gossip in Memphis, Yi has been training with that guy Bill recently. I believe everyone knows who Bill is."

"Yi has been training with him for so long, it's hard to believe that Yi hasn't changed."

"I think Yi's debut may surprise everyone again!"

After the game started, the Grizzlies took the lead in getting the ball.

As soon as the Grizzlies came up, two people with two guns in the backcourt launched an attack. As for the others, they were all pulled to the outside, and even the center player Marc Gasol was pulled beyond the three-point line, posing a set of all players on the court. Everyone stands outside the three-point line.

Seeing the offensive formation of the Grizzlies, the Celtics were obviously a little confused. Even the head coach Sam Mitchell stood on the sidelines with a puzzled face, apparently not knowing what the Grizzlies and the guys were doing. .

Could it be that five people stood outside and frantically shot three-pointers?

What a joke!
Celtics players are not wooden stumps, how could they allow the Grizzlies to shoot unscrupulous three-pointers on the court!
Since no team will defend the zone defense at the beginning of the game, when Marc Gasol stood outside the three-point line to open up space, the old "Shark" O'Neal had to follow out with resentment.

Let the "big shark" O'Neal, who weighs close to 150 kilograms, defend the three-point line, this is definitely something that can make O'Neal feel broken.

Just when Sam Mitchell was standing off the court with a dazed look on his face, Chris Paul on the Grizzlies side suddenly started to exert strength, using his speed advantage to pass Stephen Marbury's defense at once.

Since the five Grizzlies all stood outside the three-point line to form a U-shape, this also forced the Celtics players to stand further outside.

When Chris Paul passed Marbury in one step, the Celtics' inside line was wide. Even if Kevin Garnett in the right corner immediately reacted to the basket to help defend, he couldn't Stop Paul from layup this time.

"Shu~"

With Chris Paul's easy layup, Sam Mitchell hasn't reacted too much yet, and hasn't figured out where the Grizzlies' offensive intentions are.

Could it be that everyone pulled away and let Chris Paul play singles with the ball alone by hanging the Celtics' defense in the penalty area?

Seeing Sam Mitchell frowning and thinking hard on the other side of the field, Luke sat expressionlessly below the field, as if everything on the field was expected.

In fact, the "U-shaped tactic" used by Luke is the favorite offensive method used by Tylen Lue in later generations.

And with this stunt, the Clippers led by Director Lu not only severely educated the Utah Jazz, who has the best defensive player Gobert for three times, in the Western Conference semifinals.

In the case of star Leonard being reimbursed for the season, he had to lose six games with the Western Conference champion Suns.

Among them, facing the Utah Jazz in the semifinals, Tyronn Lue's "U-shaped tactics" directly made Gobert, the best defensive player, useless.

Even if Gobert's defensive ability in the penalty area is excellent, all he can do in the face of the "U-shaped tactic" is to be hung out and stand at attention.

Therefore, some fans have dubbed Lu's "U-shaped tactics" as "roll-call tactics".

The core purpose of the U-shaped tactics is that all five players stand outside the three-point line and "short" the opponent's penalty area defense.

At the same time, use the star's excellent singles ability to gain an advantage in one-on-one, forcing the opponent to shrink inside and start assisting defense.

And once the other side assists in defense at other positions, the breaker with the ball can pass the ball to the open player immediately, so as to achieve a connection between the three-point line and the star's personal ability.

The premise of using "U-shaped tactics" must be that the center player has the ability to shoot three-pointers, and it can also make the opponent feel threatened and dare not try to let go in defense.

In order to use "U-shaped tactics", the later generations of Director Lu even pushed Morris Jr. to the starting center position. It makes people feel that Tyronn Lue is the coach who is best at playing small ball.

You know, Morris Jr. has always played the small forward position since he entered the league. Due to the advent of the small ball era, Morris Jr., who is more than two meters tall, began to play at the fourth position.

But playing at the fifth position was indeed something no one dared to imagine before Tyronn Lue coached the Clippers.

The use of "U-shaped tactics" not only requires the center player to have the three-point shooting ability, but also has very high requirements for the personal offensive ability of the ball holder.

Otherwise, if the offensive player can't play a personal advantage in one-on-one, then the whole "U-shaped tactic" will be meaningless at all.

The main reason why Luke will use "U-shaped tactics" in this game is that the Celtics have excellent defensive capabilities.

The three forward players Pierce, Kevin Garnett and O'Neal all have good defensive capabilities, at least they are far from the Grizzlies' offensive breakthrough.

In contrast, the defensive abilities of Marbury and Ray Allen are slightly inferior, especially Stephen Marbury, who doesn't like to defend at all, is gradually developing into a defensive black hole at this age, and his defensive efficiency should be in the Below average point guard.

Knowing this, Luke naturally launched an offense around Chris Paul, and the best way to avoid Kevin Garnett's over-helping defense on the defensive end is to use "U-shaped tactics" to completely short the entire Celtics. Insider.

The Celtics can only be forced to focus their defense on their opponents, otherwise, once the defensive end loses position, the Grizzlies will give a fatal blow from outside the three-point line, revealing their fangs hidden in the dark.

As for Sam Mitchell switching to defense, Luke is not worried at all.

Although the zone defense can restrain the "U-shaped tactics", for a team with the top shooting ability in history, any zone defense position will become cannon fodder.

As the basketball coach with the most efficient zone defense in the active league, no one dares to defend the zone defense in front of Luke!

Whether it's two-three zone defense, three-two zone defense, or 2-1-2 zone defense, as long as you put this set of positions in front of Luke, half of the game is basically over.

As Pierce missed a mid-range jumper on the left, Kevin Martin, who took off the backboard, immediately pushed back.

However, the Celtics responded very quickly. Except for the old "Shark" O'Neal, the other four players settled down immediately. Obviously, they made strict arrangements for the Grizzlies' defensive counterattack before the game.

But when the Grizzlies once again placed a U-shaped position on the offensive end and Chris Paul launched the offense, the Celtics were still in a state of confusion.

Only Kevin Garnett, who has a keen sense of defense, keeps an eye on Chris Paul at all times, and is ready to help defend the penalty area as soon as possible.

Seeing that the Grizzlies were clearly targeting themselves on the offensive end, making Chris Paul single again and again, Stephon Marbury's temper got a bit high, "Damn guy! Do you think you can pass me twice in the same position? I You will regret making such a decision!"

Taking a casual look at Marbury, who had a ferocious expression, Paul had a look of disdain on his lips, "The ending can't be changed a hundred times!"

As soon as the words fell, Chris Paul suddenly exerted force on his feet. Even though Marbury retreated back immediately, the slow moving speed of his feet still made Marbury only watch Paul kill him.

"hateful!"

Because Chris Paul's three-point shooting percentage reached 38.7% this season, Marbury didn't dare to stay too far away when defending Paul.

I was afraid that Paul would raise his hand and shoot a three-pointer without warning, but once Marbury stood forward and moved slowly laterally, he could only watch Paul kill in front of him.

Marbury has never been more clearly aware of the marks left by time and injuries on himself than at this moment.

Seeing Paul pass Stephon Marbury's defense and go to the basket again, Garnett, who had already prepared to help defend, hurriedly blocked Paul's breakthrough route.

But while Garnett's eyes were fixed on Chris Paul, Paul passed the ball from his crotch to Yi Jianlian's hand outside the three-point line by hitting the ground.

After receiving the pass, a very large open space was formed in front of Yi Jianlian. Even if Paul Pierce in the bottom corner moved to this side in a hurry, he couldn't keep up with Yi Jianlian's shooting speed.

After carefully aiming at the basket, Yi Jianlian perfectly grasped this open opportunity.

"Shu~"

As the sound of the basketball hitting the net sounded, the Grizzlies fans on the scene were already excited, and even the commentator Thomson was greatly shocked: "It's unimaginable that the Grizzlies used a goal in this game, and all five players stood on three-pointers." Tactics outside the line!"

"This style of play is really unheard of in the league. It should be Coach Lu's own tactic!"

"But the most shocking thing is that this kind of offensive tactic that sounds impossible to be recognized has played such a big threat, leaving the Celtics helpless for two consecutive rounds. Unbelievable thing!"

Compared to the shock shown by Thomson, his partner Tom Howarth was also a little surprised: "This kind of tactic that looks like a "U" shape, I am afraid that only Lu dares to use it."

"Even the center players are placed outside the three-point line by Lu, this is really a bold and crazy thing!"

"In particular, Chris helped the team score two consecutive offensive rounds, a layup, and a pass, which seemed to confirm that the troubles belonging to the Celtics had come."

"Although the current observation of this new tactic developed by Lu is still short, in just two rounds, Chris kneaded offense and organization together, making it difficult for the Celtics to quickly make a trade-off on the defensive end."

"I have to say, this is really a god-like idea!"

The Grizzlies succeeded in two consecutive offensive rounds, which made Sam Mitchell no longer calm down on the court, and decisively called a timeout to the referee.

Although Sam Mitchell has not yet deeply understood the core concept of Luke's "U-shaped tactic", judging from the two short offensive rounds just now, Mitchell feels that the situation is not good.

During the timeout, Mitchell, who didn't think of a good solution, loudly emphasized the positioning and speed issues to the players.

Want to limit the Grizzlies' nasty and sharp offensive play by shrinking and fast rotation.

But after returning from the timeout, Mitchell found that he was still too young.

When Stephon Marbury's defense was deep, Chris Paul used his superb shooting ability to teach the former All-Star point guard a lesson.

And it is difficult for the old bones of the Celtics to achieve a large-scale rotation. When Marbury is completely unable to handle Paul on the court, the Celtics rotate back and forth like a big windmill, but they can't pinch it at all. The lifeblood of the Grizzlies' offense.

With Artest standing in the bottom corner and hitting an open three-pointer steadily, the Grizzlies have extended their lead to double digits.

Faced with the Grizzlies' sharp combination of sudden shots, Paul Pierce only felt that his lungs were about to explode.

Especially Chris Paul, who won the best player of the month in November with himself, performed so explosively that he almost drove the offensive rhythm of the entire Grizzlies by himself.

Paul Pierce only felt that he was about to face another wave of abuse after this game, "Fuck! What a disgusting way of playing, running back and forth like a monkey, it's disgusting!"

Throwing the headband on the ground angrily, Pierce looked at Artest who had been pushing and shoving him on the defensive end, only feeling that the guy in front of him was more hateful than Chris Paul.

More than half a quarter of the first quarter has passed, but under the defense of Artest, Pierce only made 4 of 1 shots and struggled to get 2 points, which made Paul Pierce, who was eager to perform, anxious.

"Go away! You crazy dog ​​who only knows how to use brute force!" Stretched out his hand and pushed away Artest, who was sticking to his body like a nougat, Pierce immediately got out with the help of Garnett's pick-and-roll.

But before Pierce could figure out how to end the attack, he felt a shock in his chest.

The savage and rough strength even made Pierce breathless for a moment, and the faint fracture sound from the rib bone on the left side made Pierce's eyelids twitch.

At the same time that Pierce flew more than three meters away and fell heavily on the field, the last words Pierce heard were Artest's beast-like growl, "This fucking is a crazy dog!"

　Begging for a monthly pass, the youngest knelt down and begged for a monthly pass!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)