Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 303 303. The strategy of defending James?Luke: "I know this!", James' confusion
As the cavaliers led by lebron james eliminated the celtics 4:3, the cavaliers returned to the stage of the finals after three years and will compete with the defending champion grizzlies in the finals.

It is obviously something that the outside world did not expect that the Cavaliers could knock out the Celtics of the Big Five in the Eastern Conference Finals.

When the Celtics formed this luxury lineup during the offseason, everyone thought that the Celtics would be the team that rushed out of the Eastern Conference this season, with a high probability of facing the defending champion Grizzlies at the end.

However, as the Celtics struggled in the playoffs and the Cleveland Cavaliers played a dominant game, more and more people from the outside world were optimistic about the Cavaliers' advancement, and the Celtics' support rate began to decline in a straight line.

In the end, the tenacious Cleveland Cavaliers won the tiebreaker with a better overall performance, and the Celtics, who sit on the Big Five, missed the finals again, and could only bow their heads amidst the criticism from the outside world.

According to reports from local media in Boston, Celtics head coach Sam Mitchell has the courage to take responsibility, blaming all the reasons why the Celtics failed to advance to the finals on his upper body, and intends to resign to give Boston fans an explanation .

However, Angie, the current general manager of the Celtics, didn't seem to want to dismiss the coach Sam Mitchell, and took the initiative to stand up to excuse Sam Mitchell. It seemed that he wanted to give Mitchell another chance.

The Celtics' internal crisis has made the team's future full of surprises. No one knows what the Celtics' future will look like, and what adjustments the management can make during the offseason.

After all, the team-building lineup centered on Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and O'Neal has disappointed Boston fans for two consecutive years. I believe that Angie will take the initiative to make adjustments and will never sit still and accept failure.

Whether the outside combination of Pierce and Ray Allen will be dismantled, fans don't know for the time being, but fans can be sure that during the offseason, "Shark" O'Neal will definitely become Angie's first operation.

The aging "Shark" O'Neal has been unable to play a dominant performance in the interior, and has performed poorly in the playoffs for two consecutive years, which is not worthy of a salary of up to 2000 million.

Now there is still the last year of O'Neal's contract. It is not easy for the Celtics to trade O'Neal. Unless the Celtics are willing to take some draft picks as compensation, few teams are willing to swallow O'Neal has a contract of up to 2000 million.

To make matters worse, as the team with the highest salary for active players in the league, the Celtics' salary space in the next few years has basically been locked.

Among the top ten players in personal salary, the Celtics have four players in the top ten.

Among them, Kevin Garnett's $2475 million contract ranks first in the league, which is about $300 million higher than Jason Kidd, who ranks second in the league.

In addition, the contract salaries of "Sharks" O'Neal, Ray Allen, and Pierce ranked fifth, seventh, and tenth in the league respectively.

Even Paul Pierce, who has the lowest annual salary, has a contract of 1800 million US dollars. This kind of salary space is really a headache for the Celtics management.

In order to snatch the championship ring from the defending champion Grizzlies, the Celtics did not hesitate to pay a large amount of luxury taxes to compete with the Grizzlies, becoming the team with the highest amount of luxury taxes paid in a single season in NBA history.

As a result, the Celtics with a luxurious lineup fell to the feet of the Cleveland Cavaliers before the finals. They didn't even have the qualifications to meet the Grizzlies in the playoffs. It is really a sad and ironic thing.

…………

While the Cavaliers successfully advanced to the finals, the Grizzlies coaching staff has already made tactical deployments for the Cavaliers in advance.

This season, the Cavaliers are one of the best offensive and defensive teams in the league. The offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency of the regular season are both ranked in the top three in the league.

From the perspective of efficiency alone, the Cavaliers are definitely the team with the strongest comprehensive offensive and defensive capabilities in the league except for the Grizzlies and Celtics.

However, in Luke's eyes, the threat posed by the Cavaliers to the Grizzlies is far lower than that of the Celtics. At present, most teams in the league have a very big misunderstanding when defending LeBron James.

Because James' inside breakthrough ability is too powerful, most teams in the league either use double-team attack when defending James, or use a center with excellent shot-blocking ability to push James out of the penalty area, forcing James to finish at a farther position.

But in fact, as a star with his own system, what really kills people on the court is far from sharp personal scoring.

But while James can score individually, he can also drive the offense of other teammates, making the entire team extremely united.

The entire Cavaliers' offensive system revolves around James. The advantage of this style of play is that the Cavaliers will not be confused at any time.

As long as LeBron James is on the court, the Cavaliers can always find opportunities on the offensive end.

Later generations have summed up the experience of many teams defending James. The most efficient way to defend James' team is to use unlimited defenses to force James to score individually and cut off James' connection with other teammates around him.

When James can't use his best breakthrough points to help the team open the situation, the threat posed by James will naturally decline.

At the same time, unlimited defense can also force James to not easily break into the penalty area, while trying to cut off James' contact with other teammates, forcing James to take more shots from the outside.

For James, who made only a little over 30% of his three-pointers in the playoffs, once he can't take advantage of his breakthrough and organizational advantages, the Cavaliers' offensive system will naturally break through without attacking.

In the conference room, Luke stood in the center, holding a tactical board and explaining to the coaching team: "Once James can't use his personal ability to drive other teammates to attack, what the Cavaliers can do is to watch LeBron and Mo Williams fall into singles again and again."

"Among all conventional offensive methods, singles is the least efficient tactic, and the reason why the Cavaliers have strong offensive firepower this season is to rely on the passing and cutting between LeBron and other teammates."

"Double-teaming is what LeBron and the Cavaliers most want to see. Only through double-teaming can LeBron drive other teammates to attack to the greatest extent, allowing the Cavaliers' shooters who have long been ambushing outside to get better opportunities. "

"To deal with the Cavaliers, we must avoid frequent double-teaming, don't follow LeBron's rhythm, and try to disrupt LeBron's offensive rhythm from other aspects."

"As long as this can be cut off, the Cavaliers have no chance of winning the game."

Luke's tactical explanation made the chief assistant coach D'Antoni think deeply. After thinking for a while, D'Antoni agreed very much: "Yes, I originally wanted to attack LeBron in this round of the series. After all, the entire Cavaliers except Outside of LeBron, Mo Williams is the only threat."

"But looking at it now, double-teaming LeBron is indeed a misunderstanding."

Bill Laimbeer picked up the notebook and took the words: "The only players who can really score after the Cavaliers enter the playoffs are LeBron, Mo Williams and Delonty West."

"Among them, West is a player who can only attack from the right. As long as the defender is stuck on the right side of his body, West's offensive end will become very uncomfortable."

"As long as we can guard against two of these three players, even if the last one ushers in an explosion, we will not be able to lead the team to win at all."

"At present, the team has three players selected for the best defensive team. It is not difficult to limit the offense of the two players of the Cavaliers."

"My suggestion is to let LeBron score at will, and put all the focus on Mo Williams and West. After all, relatively speaking, LeBron is the most difficult to defend among the three."

"According to the information we have so far, as long as the team can limit the offensive efficiency of Mo Williams and West to 70% of the average level, the probability of the Cavaliers being swept 4:0 will be as high as 95% or more."

Putting the notebook on the table, a smile appeared on Ranbir's face.

"I'm curious, how did you calculate the probability in the end. Big data calculation? Or efficiency value calculation?" Luke looked very interested.

"No, no, no, that's just my guess." Lambiel spread his hands casually.

Luke: "..."

…………

On June 6, local time in the United States, the highly anticipated NBA Finals officially kicked off.

Before the start of this round of the series, the outside world generally believed that the Grizzlies would definitely win the championship trophy this season.

The suspense is not at all whether the Cavaliers can complete a comeback without being favored by anyone, but whether they can win a victory in the hands of the Grizzlies and avoid being swept out by the Grizzlies.

It is worth mentioning that the Grizzlies have won 12 consecutive playoff games and are very hopeful to become the first team in NBA history to win the playoffs.

Prior to this, the best record in the playoffs was 00 wins and 01 loss set by the Lakers "OK combination" in the 16-1 season.

Before entering the finals, the Lakers also had a record of 12 consecutive victories, sweeping their opponents in three consecutive rounds of the series, shocking the league in one fell swoop.

But in the finals, "Answer" Iverson was like a god descending from the earth, forcibly snatching a victory in front of the mighty "OK combination".

The best defensive player, Uncle Mu, was almost completely shattered by the "Shark" O'Neal in that round of finals.

However, Iverson, whose official height is only 1.8 meters three, dragged his heavy body to the inside again and again, using free throws to score more than 50 points abruptly, completing the sniper attack on the OK combination.

After the game, Iverson's tough personal performance also won the respect of many fans. Until now, Iverson's battle has also been regarded as a classic by fans.

16 wins and 1 loss in the playoffs is the best record in league history, and the Grizzlies will have a great chance to break this record this season.

Once the Grizzlies can really sweep the Cavaliers 4:0 in this round of the series, the Grizzlies this season will simultaneously break the best record in NBA regular season and playoff history and become an unsurpassable existence in the eyes of fans.

Before the game, players from both sides warmed up for shooting in their respective halfs. Luke beckoned to call the Gasol brothers to his side, and gave orders with a relaxed expression.

This season, Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown has been insisting on using a twin-tower lineup. Although the inner twin towers composed of "Big Z" Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace are very good at defending the penalty area, their poor lateral speed is really a problem. It's hard to say.

The slow movement brought by the twin-tower lineup forced Mike Brown to defend the zone on the defensive end, helping Ben Wallace and Ilgauskas avoid being called out of the penalty area by the opponent many times.

The Grizzlies Gasol brothers are the league's top inside combination, both of them have good outside shots. For the Cavaliers who stick to the penalty area, this is obviously a headache.

The Gasol brothers will play a very important role in this round of the series. As long as the two can feel stable on the offensive end, all the Cavaliers can do is watch the ball go into the basket again and again.

And the inside twin towers, whose defensive efficiency has always been among the best, can only hide in the inside and passively paddle.

After all, whether it is Ben Wallace or "Big Z" Ilgauskas, the lateral movement speed of the two is too slow. Once they leave the restricted area, they can only stand at attention and be beaten.

In a confrontation of this level in the finals, the flaws exposed by the Cavaliers are undoubtedly fatal.

After the game started, the Cavaliers who got the ball first gave the ball to the LeBron James organization as usual.

As a point guard, Mo Williams plays the role of an off-ball attacker, ready to cut inside and make three-pointers after the pick-and-roll.

However, in this round of the series, it is the "former best defensive player" Artest who is more powerful than James and is responsible for defending LeBron James.

As the representative of the league's wildest Brutalists, Artest's defensive ability is definitely the top in the league. Not only was he selected for the best defensive team this season, but he also defended Brandon Roy in the Western Conference Finals.

It only takes one Artest to go from "Yellow Mamba" to "Panic Scar".

Seeing that the defender in front of him was Artest, James did not use his strength to try to crush Artest.

After all, James knows very well what kind of freak Artest is, and he also remembers the fear when he sprinted with all his strength a few years ago, but was overturned by Artest's elbow.

Reaching out to call the pick-and-roll inside, it seems that James wants to use technology to get cheap from Artest.

However, the Grizzlies have already made arrangements in advance for James' pick-and-roll style of play. While James was using the pick-and-roll to break through to the inside, Pau Gasol was instantly stuck on James' breakthrough route, allowing James to use the pick-and-roll. blocked.

And Artest followed up with Ben Wallace, who was cutting to the basket while Pau Gasol stepped forward to make up the defense, and completed a very fast defense change.

Pau Gasol and Artest's instant defense made James unable to pass the ball.

But what James didn't expect was that after blocking his breakthrough route, Pau Gasol immediately shrank to the inside, and Artest, who had originally defended Ben Wallace, also moved up.

The intersection of the two was very fast. When James was still puzzled and lost, the two had quickly switched positions and changed back to Artest standing in front of James.

Gasol and Artest are very fast. Even if James keeps an eye on them all the time, he can only shoot three-pointers on the spot at most. It is difficult to find opportunities to break through from the infinite defense.

This is the surprise that Luke specially prepared for LeBron James before the game. As a super giant, James likes to call pick-and-rolls very much, but the poor outside shooting rate makes James' pick-and-roll efficiency not as good as that of top guards.

At least James in this period is not yet mature enough. Turnover jump shots and horseback archery have not yet been developed. The main means of killing come from breakthroughs and dunks in defensive counterattacks.

Since James likes to call pick-and-rolls so much, Luke will naturally not disappoint James. Unless James chooses to shoot three-pointers from the outside every time, there is basically no way for James to use the pick-and-roll to break through the inside.

Looking at Artest in front of him who seemed to have no changes at all, but seemed to have undergone some changes, James only felt a little confused.

　I wish you all a happy Mid-Autumn Festival. The mental state has been a bit poor for the past two days. Tomorrow, I will start to make good adjustments and try to get back to [-] a day. I can't continue to be depressed.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)