Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 66 The Adelman Dilemma
During the two games away to the Mavericks, O'Neal's toes were sore. Jim specially invited Thomas Carter to Dallas for O'Neal's examination and treatment.

Fortunately, the Suns missed the playoffs, and Thomas Carter's season was basically over before he was free to rush from Arizona to Texas. Now he can officially join the Lakers uniform team as long as his contract ends.

The Eastern Celtics defeated the 76ers and the Raptors in a row, and joined the Nets in the Eastern Conference Finals. Many people are already looking forward to a new round of yellow-green battles. The main line that runs through the 80s was defeated by two red-toned teams in the 90s. The team broke through, and now the Lakers have returned to the top of the league, while the Celtics have been silent for too long.

The Western Conference finals are imminent.

The players just had routine training and then they recharged their batteries and prepared for the game, while the coaching staff was still working all night to formulate various coping plans for the game.

Kings coach Rick Adelman is an old rival of the Lakers. In the late 80s, the Portland Trail Blazers he coached were a force to be reckoned with in the West. They met the Lakers many times in the playoffs and won each other.

"...if we look at Adelman's game in the Trail Blazers, we will find that the Trail Blazers at that time and the Kings today are completely two extremes. Their teams relied on athleticism and strong defense at that time. , and the current king just lacks these two things..." Several coaches gathered around the conference table, and Stevens was explaining with a large stack of materials.

"However, we can still find some similarities between the two teams. For example, the team's starting five players are average in strength, without obvious shortcomings, and there is also a good sixth player. Although Adelman changed to offensive basketball, But the overall idea has not changed much. We can find the key to victory from here." Speaking of this, Stevens paused.

Zen Master nodded, motioning for Stevens to continue.

"We can see that Adelman's average shooting system can play gorgeous and complicated tactics in the regular time, which is no problem in the regular season, but in the knockout stage, once the tactics can't be played at critical moments under high-pressure defense, His teams often fall into the chaos of no one taking over the game, such as in the ’92 Finals, and Coach Jackson has more say than me in this regard.”

The Zen master smiled slightly, hiding his merit and fame deeply.Back then, the Trail Blazers' five-black treasure lineup was on fire, but when they met the Bulls in the finals, Adelman's all soldiers were defeated head-on by Jackson's elite tactics, especially in the sixth game of the finals, when they led by 15 points in the fourth quarter The collapse of the fans made Jordan's second championship.

Adelman is not like a Zen master, who usually uses a free-range approach, and the tactical system only provides ideas, relying on the free play of the stars to solve problems; he is not like Riley and Sloan, who strictly manage the army while only using the most critical moments. Simple and effective way.

Adelman can usually come up with a number of gorgeous tactics, but at the critical moment, because of the lack of contingency plans, the tactics cannot be implemented, so he has no choice but to return to simplicity and fall into a bayonet battle with the opponent. This is his team. not good at.

"The second point is that although Adelman's team has a seemingly good rotation length, the main players still play for a long time. If we maintain high pressure for a long time, his system will collapse because their personal abilities are slightly weaker. If there are deficiencies, we rely on the team to make up for them, and we can use stars to solve the problems."

After speaking, Stevens took out a few drawings with various positions drawn on them.

"So, for the above points, we can do this..."

Stevens' analysis is exactly what Zen master wanted. In the last game of the regular season, the Lakers' change was aimed at the King's weakness, which had a good effect.

The first game of the Western Conference Finals also confirmed this point.

Divac's desire to attack is not high. Although he has a certain range, his main threat is to pass the ball after emptying the opponent's inside line. A major feature of the Princeton system is the high support of the center.Divac's cunning awareness and coquettish passing are a duck to water in the Princeton system.

However, O'Neal stayed at the basket and did not give the Kings a chance to make an empty cut layup through the back door. No matter how Divac pulled to the high position, he was indifferent.

Funny scenes appeared on the court. Webber, Stojakovic and Bibby all faced the close defense of the Lakers, and it was difficult to run out of the open space. Arenas and Kobe switched defenses, and the offensive threat was relatively low. Christie.

"Queens, you don't dare to go to Shaq's father's territory, you can only hide outside and shoot!" O'Neal not only let Divac take three or four steps, but also yelled trash talking frantically.

The teammates ran for a long time without running out of the open space. After standing with the ball for a few seconds, Divac could only shoot by himself. There was no rhythm at all, and of course he missed.

This offense has also become a microcosm of the entire game. If Webber is supporting the high position, the muscular power forward of the Lakers-Mason or Wallace-will try to stick to the body, constantly creating physical confrontation, while others Its job is not to give the king a chance to run out of open space, and let Weber choose the singles that consume the most energy.If it is Divac's high-level support, let it go directly.

Stojakovic spent the entire game marathoning and wrestling with Stephen Jackson, while Bryant focused on locking down Bibby on the defensive end.

As for the offensive end, except that Divac's flops can occasionally disgust O'Neal, the King's defense does not cause much trouble to the Lakers at other times.

Throughout the game, Divac shot 18 times, nearly double his average, and he scored a team-high 21 points.

Webber and Bibby contributed 18 and 17 points respectively. They didn't have many shooting opportunities, and a lot of physical energy was consumed in entanglement with the defenders.

Stojakovic only made 15 of 4 shots and scored 10 points. Stephen Jackson stuck to him like a plaster, desperately interfering with his catch, and Peja, who was physically weak, was greatly affected.

The Lakers got off to a good start 95-87. O'Neal scored a large double-double with 31 points and 20 rebounds. When Anthony Mason and Ben Wallace took turns as power forwards to entangle Webber, they perfectly guaranteed the backcourt rebounds.

Kobe Bryant's task is relatively heavy. It is not easy to defend Bibby while ensuring offensive firepower, but Pan Xia still surrendered a comprehensive performance of 26 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals.

As a supplementary firepower, the rookie Arenas initially showed the characteristics of a big heart, and he did not feel frightened at all because it was the Western Conference Finals. He scored 4 three-pointers and arrows pierced his heart. Sam Cassell.

"Sir, I think you can change your job as a coach. The tactics you proposed have successfully restrained the King's offensive routine. When Coach Jackson heard that this was your idea, his expression was very exciting!" Stevens said after the game When Jim called, the excitement was palpable.

Jim's answer left Stevens confused.

"No, this is the unique skill of your lifelong enemy. I just borrowed it."

(End of this chapter)