NBA: This Center Is So Stable

The first time, the second time.

Chapter 268 Experience of the Past

Knicks locker room.

The atmosphere in the locker room of the Lakers was completely different from the chaotic atmosphere. In the Knicks, except for the players’ low spirits, the overall atmosphere was stable and improving.

D’Antoni did not put too much pressure on them.

It was just that the situation of falling behind made most of the players feel great pressure, especially in this whole year of competition, the Knicks had been smooth sailing most of the time.

Now that they really encountered this adverse situation, they didn’t know how to solve it for a while.

“Boss, we should change our strategy in the second half!”

Just when D’Antoni was melancholy and confused about the play in the second half, Wang Song, who had been sitting next to him, suddenly spoke up.

D’Antoni always listened attentively to the opinions of this rookie who always had wild ideas.

Not only him, but also assistant coaches such as Herb Sendek and teammates fell silent.

Ahem!

After clearing his throat, Wang Song smiled playfully: “It’s not a constructive suggestion, but I think we can change our thinking in the second half of the game.”

“Since our plan against O’Neal in the first half was not very effective, we might consider changing someone in the second half!”

When he proposed this bold idea, D’Antoni’s pupils shook.

Although the Knicks’ effect on targeting the Big Shark in the first half was not particularly good, the opponent’s visible physical decline has begun to show results.

As long as the original policy is implemented, when the game enters the final quarter, the Big Shark will become a fish on the chopping board, and the Knicks will be slaughtered.

If we give up at this stage, wouldn’t it be equivalent to the efforts in the first half being wasted?

D’Antoni looked at Wang Song with some confusion.

The same is true for others.

You should know that their goal before this game was very clear, which was to imitate the experience of the previous opponents, and to win the game in one fell swoop by constantly putting pressure on the Sharks to make the opponent weak in the last quarter.

However, the premise of this success is that the Knicks cannot be the first to become the soul of the Lakers before O’Neal loses his fighting power.

Once the first three quarters are lost, even without O’Neal, the Lakers with a strong foundation will not be so easy to grasp.

Wang Song naturally realized this and put on a faint smile on his face.

“Don’t worry, everyone. I mean to give up the double-team defense strategy against O’Neal, but I didn’t say… I give up defense!”

Seeing Wang Song’s confident look, everyone felt relieved.

After a whole season of tempering, this Asian boy rarely said things that he didn’t do.

If Wang Song has the confidence to defend alone, most people will not question it. It’s just about giving up double-teaming O’Neal, who should the Knicks double-team?

Wang Song gave everyone a meaningful smile.

“Kobe Bryant?”

D’Antoni asked tentatively and got the other party’s affirmation.

“Is it really necessary to double-team that guy?”

In the first half of the game, Kobe’s offensive efficiency made D’Antoni doubt whether this Milan blacksmith really needed to be double-teamed. Without double-teaming, the other party would also miss the ball.

On this matter, Wang Song nodded firmly.

If Wang Song was a player who grew up in this era, he would definitely agree with D’Antoni and others.

But it was the experience of time travel that made him very clear about the weaknesses of the Lakers, the space battleship.

He watched the video of the finals between the Pistons and the Lakers over and over again. All the teams that had blocked O’Neal in the playoffs failed without exception.

Why did only the Detroit Pistons, a civilian five-tiger team, win?

The core factor is the defensive strategy.

The Big Shark is like a stabilizer for the Lakers. No matter how you target him, the former can get a good performance to deal with it.

If you don’t let O’Neal catch the ball, he will respond with a rebound, which will lead to the Lakers’ outside firepower group to fire wildly.

Even though the Lakers’ outside group was not the best in the league during the three championships, it was because of O’Neal’s backup that the Lakers’ record was not affected at all, and it was getting better year by year.

This is the experience and lesson that predecessors have learned after several years, especially after the Spurs broke the Lakers’ undefeated golden body, Larry Brown, who was once defeated by them, saw the essence of the Lakers.

He led the Pistons, a civilian five tigers, to defeat the Lakers’ space battleship, which was in its heyday, and won the championship in one fell swoop.

The Pistons’ strategy in the finals also helped other teams in the following seasons to end the Lakers’ OK era, and there was no more championship.

The core reason is very simple. As long as you review the video of the finals, you will find that the Pistons have changed their thinking. They no longer target O’Neal like the previous team.

Instead, they began to target Kobe, who was being supported by the Lakers’ top management. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this Lakers team does have good combat effectiveness.

But the one who really took the initiative in the OK battle was never O’Neal, who led the team to three consecutive championships and established a dynasty, but Kobe.

Facts have proved that the Pistons made the right bet!

In the finals that eliminated the Lakers 4:1, the double-teaming strategy of Billups + Hamilton made Kobe average nearly 23 shots per game and only hit 8 balls. His hit rate of 38.1% in the finals was once a new low in his career.

But even with this career-low hit rate in the finals, Kobe was still the second scorer in the entire series, second only to O’Neal.

It is conceivable how low the Lakers’ offensive efficiency is under this background.

Especially except for OK, in this round of series, because Kobe’s connection with others was cut off, Fisher, Payton and others did not have time to make their voices heard and were sent back to Los Angeles.

Although the Pistons’ strategy was to sacrifice Ben and let O’Neal wreak havoc in the interior, the Sharks’ data was once extremely brilliant.

O’Neal, who averaged 26.6 points and 10 rebounds with a hit rate of 63%, could not even drag the series into the sixth game.

This is the Pistons’ solution.

With a template to copy, Wang Song had no reason to miss this opportunity.

The second half of the game began.

After a long break, the OK combination returned to the court in the second half.

The quarrel in the locker room once made other Lakers players think that this would be the beginning of the conflict between the two, but the fact is that the two people’s stern faces on the court did not let the outside world see any clues.

No one knows the importance of this game to them better than these two guys!

However, this is just a superficial trace. Behind the seemingly reconciled situation, there are turbulent waves.

The Lakers’ offense showed signs of improvement.

The stubborn Kobe increased his number of shots significantly from the second half of the game.

The quarrel was just an excuse for him to be in power. The more O’Neal quarreled with this high school student from Philadelphia, the more reason he had to convince the management to kick this big man out.

(End of this chapter)