NBA Building Cardinals

Chapter 189 Offensive and defensive balance

After returning from the second half, Liu Rui felt that Jefferson's state was still hot. Liu Rui felt that there was no need to delay the game too much.

End early and rest early, after all, the team still has many games to play.

Moreover, after Mo Williams was traded, the team may have to face a new run-in.

At that time, the real offensive firepower of the Bobcats may be transferred to the backcourt double guns.

After all, Liu Rui never wanted to change Mo Williams' style of play.

The reason why I fell in love with him is precisely because of his style of play. Otherwise, on the defensive end, he and Du Hong would really be different.

At that time, coupled with the excellent flank defense in the league, Wallace and Ariza, as well as Okafor, who is both offensive and defensive inside.

Then this lineup can truly be called a strong team.

After returning from the second half, Liu Rui directly adopted the tactic of man-to-man and resolutely not double-teaming, and directly switched defenses after the pick-and-roll.

Prevent James from taking a step back and give James enough room to shoot. As long as he dares to keep shooting, Liu Rui will dare to keep shooting.

And if James and the center play a pick-and-roll in the high post, no matter what the situation, just choose to switch defenses.

After all, if Wallace defends against a center, it is difficult for a center in a high position to have any advantage at all.

After switching defenses, the center only needs to delay backwards. If James chooses to make a mid-range shot, then Liu Rui will be overjoyed.

After all, what Liu Rui likes most is to let the opponent shoot mid-range shots.

In the eyes of people in this era, the mid-range is the most efficient means of scoring besides hitting the basket.

Because compared to three-pointers, it will be closer, allowing players to hit a higher percentage.

But Liu Rui, who came back from the small ball era, does understand that the mid-range has become an extremely inefficient means of scoring.

The representative figure among them is of course DeRozan, a classical guard who was born in the wrong era, which made him a bit out of place in that small ball era.

Leading the team has not been able to make any breakthroughs, and was beaten out of depression.

The most annoying thing is that after DeRozan was traded to the Spurs, Leonard directly led the Raptors to defeat the Warriors that year and won the championship that season.

This made DeRozan, who was far away in San Antonio, even more depressed, training crazily throughout the offseason.

Although his personal ability is still excellent, his style of play has been difficult to help the Spurs win.

After all, Leonard's main scoring method after he first entered the league was also from the mid-range, but later, Leonard's three-pointers also increased from season to season, and he chose to adapt to the trend.

Instead of maintaining your own style of play, you will definitely be beaten if you fall behind.

Suddenly changed the defensive strategy, which brought the Cavaliers' offense on the court to a standstill.

And this style of play is equivalent to directly cutting off the connection between James and his teammates, forcing the Cavaliers to use their individual singles ability if they want to score goals.

In personal defense, on the wing, both Ariza and Wallace can limit James very well.

Even if the Cavaliers choose to play the pick-and-roll, Okafor may be slower than James after the pick-and-roll.

But after the backward delay, if James still chooses to force a layup, then Okafor at the basket will not suffer in the slightest in terms of physical alignment.

After all, no matter how strong James is, it is impossible for him to be stronger than Okafor.

This is why Liu Rui likes to use Okafor so much, although in terms of offense, Okafor can only be of an average level in the interior.

At least compared to Jefferson, it is indeed a grade worse, but the most attractive thing about Okafor is that his performance on both ends of the offense and defense is very stable.

It can be called an inside player with both offense and defense. The most important thing is that he is not bulky.

While having a tonnage, it can also have a speed beyond the general inside line, which can make it smoother after defending against pick-and-rolls.

It is very in line with Liu Rui's style of unlimited defense.

A center with this attribute does not have too many advantages, but also does not have too many weaknesses. It can be said that it is one of the favorite pieces of a championship team.

Otherwise, just like Curry, although his offensive firepower is very strong, his defensive ability is really to be discussed, and people will always be infinitely targeted in the playoffs.

Everyone wants to misplace Curry after the pick-and-roll.

If Curry can't make any more shots on the offensive end, then his role on the court will only remain, to contain the defender on the offensive end.

In that era when troubled times were king, Jordan was able to sit firmly on the No.1 throne in the league because of his offensive and defensive skills.

A man who can win the scoring champion and the best defensive player.

With the changes on the defensive end, and the personal defensive ability of the Bobcats players on the field, this also led to the Cavaliers seeming to be directly caught in the third quarter.

At the end of the entire three quarters, the Bobcats have been awarded:

84:72
Leading by as much as 12 points.

An advantage of 12 points is not a small amount in this era, unlike in later generations, if you say catch up, you will catch up.

In addition, the momentum on the field is now completely on the side of the Bobcats, and the Cavaliers have no way to break through the Bobcats' defense.

This made the Cavaliers coach Paul Silas standing on the sidelines look a little embarrassed, but he seemed helpless.

All the tactics of the Cavaliers are now initiated through James, and other teams dare not completely cut off the connection between James and his teammates because they do not have a player who can limit James well in one-on-one or after the pick-and-roll.

But these two points happen to be owned by the Bobcats.

This made the Cavaliers, who had played half a season relying on this system, helpless.

After all, there is a huge difference between the Cavaliers with James and the Cavaliers without James.

After the start of the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers made a symbolic counterattack, but they were quickly suppressed by the Bobcats.

Even though James and several other main players returned to the field, they were still widened by the Bobcats.

Seeing the general trend of the team, Silas could only shake his head helplessly, and replaced the team's main lineup in advance.

After all, the season is still long, and the Cavaliers are currently ranked ninth in the Eastern Conference. It is an important moment to hit the playoffs. There is no need to continue to do their best for such a game that is difficult to hope for a comeback.

The players are tired enough that it's easy to cramp and get injured in this situation.

In this situation, if another player is injured, it will be a real loss to his wife and another soldier.

I'm afraid Silas will really cry to death...

(End of this chapter)