From today on is the king

Chapter 1115 1114. Blocked Comfort Zone
Liu Mang retreated to the three-point line, waited for Parker to advance, and immediately posted it.

Today, the Eagles have a very heavy task for perimeter defense. The Spurs have a lot of singles masters in the starting lineup and the bench. The Spurs' reinforcements last summer were aimed at dealing with the Eagles' top three perimeter defenses.

Parker advanced to the frontcourt. In the fifth year of his career, Parker finally began to gradually enter the peak period. With an average annual contract of [-] million yuan, he played an outstanding performance this season and began to feel that he could keep up with Liu Mang's footsteps.

This time, Parker didn't hesitate. After Liu Mang posted it, he pouted his butt and avoided Liu Mang's hand, protecting the ball and looking for opportunities.

Seeing that the Spurs' attack time was only 10 seconds left, Liu Mang clearly felt that Parker was wasting time!The Spurs averaged 77 shots per game this season, the second-lowest in the league, and averaged 90.3 points per game, the second-lowest in the league.

Liu Mang pushed his chest towards Parker resolutely, pressing him down.

At this time, the opportunity that Parker was waiting for came. Sprewell took advantage of Oberto's pick-and-roll and took a step inside the top arc. Parker passed the gap from Liu Mang's underarm to the top arc.
Slow and steady!

The point is that when the Spurs attacked for the first time, Liu Mang could see their changes. Just like the game video and scout report, Duncan changed from the starting point of the offense to the end of the offense!
This guy actually started eating cakes!

Liu Mang didn't go to catch the serve, but ran towards the frontcourt, running close to Duncan while spraying: "Why did you start to catch and shoot the ball, playing like Kwame, you should play singles, hit Kwame! Aren't you so good at singles before? Fuck him!"

Kwame Brown just ran across the center line, and he almost lost his breath when he heard this!What are you doing with me when you talk trash!

Duncan glanced at Liu Mang, and actually smiled!Then Duncan ignored Liu Mang and ran to the basket to guard Kwame Brown.

McGrady received the ball from Prince and pushed forward. Liu Mang felt something was wrong with the ball for the first time. This time he chose to attack without the ball. After McGrady came over, Liu Mang cut into the center under Sprewell's defense. When he got to the basket, Kwame Brown came up to help Liu Mang block Sprewell. Prince, who was in the corner, went around to block Liu Mang's receiving route. McGrady wanted to pass Prince, and Duncan went up to block Prince's receiving route after the pick-and-roll.

On the other side, Rasheed Wallace was stuck by Oberto, a light-footed Argentine white tough guy. The most important thing was that McGrady had already caught the ball, and the hard shot was stuck by Finley.

McGrady saw Kwame Brown squeezing Sprewell under the basket, and immediately dropped the ball in. Kwame Brown received the ball and turned around to dunk...

"Snapped"

With a fairly crisp sound of slapping the ball, Sprewell cut the ball when Kwame Brown was holding the ball and turned around!
Kwame Brown's offense with the ball is terrible!
Moreover, the ball hit Kwame Brown's leg and popped out of bounds, a mistake for the Eagles!
Liu Mang felt something was wrong, the Spurs' three-point defense was good enough!
In the transition between offense and defense, Liu Mang returned to the top arc of his own three-point line, and patted Kwame Brown on the back when he ran back. Kwame Brown nodded and retreated to the three-second zone.

After Parker advanced past the halftime, Liu Mang went up immediately, and the halftime was tight!
Parker originally wanted to beat Liu Mang with his speed, but he had no chance to speed up!
Parker thought that his team had made a defensive arrangement against Liu Mang, and now he was also targeted.

Parker controlled the ball very steadily. Under Liu Mang's defense, he slowly approached the three-point line. When the attack time was exhausted and there were 10 seconds left, he took a step back and prepared to speed up.

However, Liu Mang's defensive awareness was far better than when Parker fought Liu Mang last time. Parker felt that he couldn't breathe, and his whole body seemed to be shrouded in the defensive range of those big hands!
"Ding... Features: The glove effect is triggered, and the host's single-defense players will feel like they may be robbed or blocked at any time."

The feeling is just a feeling. Gary Payton relies on his strong defensive ability and the deterrence of being the best defensive player to give the opponent this feeling. Liu Wei only needs to defend alone, and the opponent will have this feeling.

Although this feeling is just a feeling, it will more or less affect the opponent, such as Parker who is already very afraid of Liu Mang.

Parker thought he had improved enough this year to become the team's second-leading scorer, scoring more points than Duncan, averaging 17.6 points per game, but he found that Liu Mang improved even faster!This defense made him feel the feeling of meeting Payton in his rookie season!
This time the Eagles did a good job of changing defenses against Sprewell's running position in the three-second zone. They didn't give Sprewell a good chance to catch the ball. Seeing that there were 6 seconds left on the offensive clock, Jordan's successor Finley came out to respond. Facing Prince's defense, he forced a jumper to the left of the free throw line...

Iron!

Kwame Brown knew his shame and was brave, overpowering Duncan to grab a defensive rebound.

Duncan made a move to steal, scared Kwame Brown out of bounds holding the ball with both hands, seeing his teammates retreated halftime, Duncan immediately turned around and ran back.

Rhythm!

The slow pace of the Spurs!
After Liu Mang received the ball, he felt that he had entered the rhythm of the Spurs.

But Liu Mang was not in a hurry, the game had just started, the two teams were still in the trial stage, and the opposing team still had a knife on the bench.

After Liu Mang advanced halfway, Sprewell continued to block the right side. Liu Mang had already understood part of the Spurs' strategy to defend him. He wanted to pinch him on the left side, but Liu Mang didn't go to the left. After he crossed the center line and was blocked by Sprewell, Liu Mang waved to McGrady. McGrady came up to help Liu Mang block Sprewell.
"Ding... the pick-and-roll master is triggered at level 5, and the host's speed will be +8 within two seconds..."

Liu Mang's speed soared, and when he rushed to the three-point line, he left Finley behind, but the Spurs blocked him very much. Oberto directly let go of Rasheed Wallace on the right sideline and rushed towards Liu Mang. Liu Mang passed the ball to Rasheed Wallace.

Rasheed Wallace took a dribble, avoided Finley who was jumping up to block the block, stepped inside the three-point line, and made a two-point shot...

"bang"

Iron!

Kwame Brown struggled to get the ball from Duncan's head and slapped the ball out. Liu Mang grabbed the ball over Oberto's head and withdrew from the three-point line. Oberto immediately pounced on him. Liu Mang took a step to the right, avoiding the defense, and shot a three-pointer at a 45-degree angle from the right...

Didn't go in either!
Duncan was not bullied by Kwame Brown this time, he was weak and held the defensive rebound.

After failing to score, Liu Mang called his teammates to retreat.

However, the Spurs didn't intend to play a fast break, and they still advanced slowly.

The Spurs averaged 102 points per game and conceded 90.3 points. The net rating this season is actually not much lower than that of the Eagles. The defense is doing great!The key is that their own shooting rate is 40.00% nine, and the opponent's shooting rate is 40.00% two, which is very strong.

The Eagles were forced to follow into a defensive rhythm.

Liu Mang watched Parker slowly advance through the half and played a few rounds. He learned that the opponent's research and preparation for them were more adequate than theirs. After all, the Spurs' mid-season schedule was relatively much easier.

Parker came to the frontcourt and encountered Liu Mang's close defense again. This time, Parker learned his lesson and stopped confronting Liu Mang. He had no chance to confront him head-on.

Duncan came out to help Parker block Liu Wei. Liu Wei felt that the two No. 21s were despicable and shameless villains. They moved the pick-and-roll very well. Liu Mang couldn't get around it. In his hand, defending Duncan is... Liu Mang!
Parker will be affected by Liu Mang's oppressive feeling, but Duncan will not. Facing Liu Mang's jumping hand to block the shot, he makes a mid-range shot!
So stable!
The ball bounces off the backboard and into the hoop!

Compared with the Eagles who mainly run for three-pointers and the basket, the Spurs almost always play mid-range!

4 to 3, the Spurs lead by one point.

grind!
From the beginning of the game, the Spurs, who had more time to prepare, were grinding their rhythm.

After playing for a while, Liu Mang finally fully understood the Spurs' defensive strategy against him.

It's not that you don't give him a chance to shoot, or that you don't give him a chance to organize an offense,
Liu Mang was forced to stay away from his comfort zone!

The area with an angle of less than 45 degrees to the left of the top arc and the area with an angle of less than 45 degrees to the bottom corner on the right are the two areas where Liu Mang's three-point shooting rate is the lowest, with only 30.00% three-point shooting rate.

For others, the 30.00% three-point shooting rate this year is already very good, but for Liu Mang's opponents, letting Liu Mang shoot from these two positions is already a very successful defense!

Not only Liu Mang, McGrady only scored 3 of 1 in the start today, and only made a three-pointer from the bottom corner.

Although the Spurs did not take the lead, they have been trying to keep Liu Mang and McGrady away from their shooting comfort zone.

Finally, when it was almost time for the official timeout, Liu Mang couldn't bear it anymore. After advancing to the frontcourt, he ran directly to the left side of the top arc, facing Sprewell's defense, and forced a shot!
Still didn't make it, but fortunately Bo got a foul. Sprewell suppressed Liu Mang's action and was called a foul by the referee.

Liu Mang didn't go to the free throw line right away, just 6 minutes into the game, the referee gave Liu Mang the whistle and entered an official timeout by the way.

11 to 12, the Eagles started 6 minutes, the Eagles only scored 11 points, except for Prince and McGrady who made a three-pointer, Liu Mang made a tip-up, and Rasheed Wallace's layup 2+1, the Eagles' other outside shots are solid!

Liu Mang returned to the bench and began to think about the problems before him.

The opponent's defense this time did not pinch him as before, but just forced him to stay away from his comfort zone. Liu Mang is trying to solve this problem.

(End of this chapter)