Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 69 69. Underrated Defensive Coach, Luke!
After returning from the second half, the Rockets made another adjustment to their offensive style of play.

If Jeff Van Gundy wanted to hit more balls into Yao Ming's hands before, because he wanted Yao Ming to use his height advantage to overwhelm the inside lane, then in the second half, Yao Ming became a transfer station.

Still asking for the ball in the penalty area, and then David Wesley, who made 38% of the three-pointers, stood on the outside to respond on the strong side.

However, as long as Yao Ming catches the ball, he will face the Timberwolves' attack, so Van Gundy's strategy in the second half is to use Yao Ming's point to attract the defense as much as possible, so as to create more offensive space for other role players.

Originally, this matter should be the task of Tracy McGrady, the outside core. However, Yao Ming was targeted by the Timberwolves in this game. Instead, Tracy McGrady, who ranked sixth in the regular season scoring list, was relaxed by the Timberwolves.

In this situation, Van Gundy can only allow McGrady to focus more on personal offense, thus shifting the burden of driving role players to Yao Ming.

Even if Yao Ming averaged only 0.8 assists per game this season, Jeff Van Gundy has nothing to do. After all, this Rockets team is completely driven by Yao and Mai.

The division of labor between the two has always been very clear, but with the Timberwolves targeting on the defensive end, Van Gundy had to make temporary changes, allowing Yao Ming to test areas he hadn't touched this season.

The Rockets were attacking, and as soon as Yao Ming received the ball inside, the Timberwolves would attack immediately. Yao Ming, who has been double-teamed all the time, has also mastered the trick of passing the ball.

Yao Ming can quickly transfer the ball to the outside before the "alien" Cassel pinches up.

"boom!"

However, the Timberwolves' rotation defense was very fast. David Wesley, who was originally in a wide open position, was interfered by the madman who came to defend when he shot the ball.

Shooting is naturally a no-brainer.

Seeing that the team missed consecutive shots in the offensive round after returning from the second half, Jeff Van Gundy's face gradually became gloomy.

Only this time Van Gundy didn't yell at the players, but fell into a thoughtful silence.

As a top defensive coach in the league, Jeff Van Gundy is well aware of how strong the current Timberwolves' defensive pressure is on the court.

Especially when Cassel pinched the inside, the other players grasped the timing of the open rotation really just right.

This is still in the case of Timberwolves defensive core Garnett being transferred to the defensive weak side by Jeff Van Gundy, otherwise the Rockets' offensive situation will be even worse.

The Timberwolves' rotation defense is not because the players' defensive ability is very good, but the head coach Luke's defensive concept is very capable, and Garnett's excellent defensive ability can maximize the advantages of one defense and two defenses to the extreme.

Then the other four made up for the vacancy after the flank attack to the greatest extent by constantly moving and filling positions.

In other words, Luke discovered that Yao Ming's single passing route made a big fuss, so that the Timberwolves only need to move according to the pre-planned defensive route, and they can completely disintegrate the Rockets' chances on the offensive end.

Thinking of this, Jeff Van Gundy's facial expression was a little strange, and he couldn't help but look at Luke who was sitting on the Timberwolves bench.

I saw Luke watching the field expressionlessly at this time, as if everything on the field was under Luke's control.

Luke's calm made Jeff Van Gundy feel powerless. Originally, the Rockets were at a disadvantage in this round of the series, but now Luke showed Van Gundy's face in terms of tactical attainments, which made Van Gundy feel discouraged. Feeling helpless like the ball.

It wasn't until this time that Jeff Van Gundy realized that he had always underestimated Luke.

No!To be precise, the entire league underestimated Luke!
In people's personal impression, Luke is a "court tyrant", leading the team either to fight or on the way to fight, as if there is nothing special about Luke except fighting.

It is precisely because of this that people ignore Luke's talent in tactics and think that Luke is just a court bastard who can only play hard.

As a result, in this game, Luke used practical actions to teach Jeff Van Gundy a good lesson, telling Van Gundy who is the toughest defensive coach in the league today!
After all, the defensive efficiency of the regular season is second in the league, and this is what Luke led the Timberwolves to deliver.

The only team with a higher defensive efficiency than the Timberwolves this season is the Spurs, but unfortunately, the Spurs' offensive efficiency can only be ranked lower in the league. On the other hand, the Timberwolves rank sixth in the league, which is a true offensive and defensive balance.

As for the Detroit Pistons, who were able to stabilize the Timberwolves on the defensive end, they directly ushered in a collapse on the defensive end because of the absence of Double Wallace.

By the end of the season, the Pistons' defensive efficiency had slipped to ninth in the league, definitely the saddest team this season!
With Jeff Van Gundy unable to find a way to crack the Timberwolves' defense in the second half, the game finally ended. The Timberwolves beat the Rockets by 21 points at home and won the team's first victory after entering the playoffs.

In this game, the Timberwolves were able to beat the Rockets at home, relying on the Timberwolves' excellent overall defense.

Under Luke's defensive system, Yao Ming only scored 7 points and 8 rebounds.

And this is when there is no outstanding defensive center in the Timberwolves, otherwise Yao Ming's data will shrink further.

As long as the Timberwolves have a defensive center like Diop who basically has no playing time on weekdays, Luke is confident that Yao Ming will be zero in this round of the series.

But it is a pity that after the veteran Irvin Johnson was traded away, the Timberwolves' inside line became more and more offensive and began to move closer, and the focus on the defensive end has been compressed.

Even though "Sugar Man" Olowokandi's defensive ability is not bad, and he can be used as a meat shield in front of a strong center like O'Neill, but Sugar Man's offensive ability is too weak.

That's why in this round of the series, Luke chose to let Divac serve as the starting center to defend Yao Ming, rather than the more suitable "sugar man" Olowokandi.

In fact, as long as the "sugar man" has a higher presence on the offensive end, the sugar man's height of 213 and his weight of 130 kg are definitely the best candidates to defend Yao Ming.

But still the same sentence, the sugar man on the offensive end is really stretching his hips too much, to the point where even Luke can't bear to look directly at his hips!

In terms of offense, the Timberwolves scored the highest score in the team in this game was "Madman" Sprewell.

面对防守能力极其一般的鲍勃苏拉，狂人全场16投10中，其中三分线外6中2，罚球5中4，强硬砍下26分4篮板1助攻以及2次抢断。

It was Madman Sprewell's outstanding performance that allowed the Timberwolves to maintain a double-digit lead on the offensive end.

Otherwise, even if the Timberwolves successfully defend against the Rockets' offense, it will be difficult to solve their own offensive problems. After all, the Rockets' defensive efficiency is also among the best in the league, and it is not something the Timberwolves can penetrate if they want to.

In addition, the performances of leading stars Kevin Garnett and "Alien" Cassell are also very stable.

加内特21分18篮板6助攻4抢断以及2次封盖，卡塞尔16分2篮板8助攻。

The "three-headed monsters" worked together to help the Timberwolves defend the victory at home, giving the team the first to win a good start.

As for the performance of Nehbar and Salmons on the bench, they are also quite extraordinary.

其中内赫巴尔在登场26分钟的情况下贡献出14分5篮板6助攻以及1次抢断。

Salmons also had 11 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. Among them, the three consecutive three-pointers at the end of the third quarter laid the foundation for the Timberwolves to win.

After the game, Jeff Van Gundy took the initiative to walk towards Lu Ke, looking at the young and charming young star coach in front of him, Van Gundy's face was full of helplessness: "You are an excellent basketball coach, I admit that I have always underestimated you. You, but I will not give up in this round of the series, I hope you can surprise me in the next match."

"Trust me, it will." Luke said the most pretentious words in the calmest tone!
...............

At the press conference after the game, Luke simply answered a few questions from the reporter, but he did not express with confidence that the team would sweep the Rockets in an interview.

There is also no disparaging of the losing Rockets.

It wasn’t until a reporter asked Luke why he made a frenzied defensive attack on Yao Ming, who was also yellow-skinned, that Luke opened his mouth after a brief silence: “I just want to tell some people that blindly gaining weight will only become a burden. It's an advantage, but it's also a disadvantage!"

(End of this chapter)