Coach, I don't want to retire yet

Chapter 618 Coach D’s Legacy!
Duncan, O'Neal and Thabeet are all unable to play. Durant certainly knows that the Bobcats have huge problems in the interior.

Therefore, all Du Kang can do is to increase the overall height of the team.

Du Kang knew very well that Popovich could definitely see the current problems of the Bobcats.

Because Popovich has been keeping Jokic for no reason.

Even if Yao Ming was left alone to face the three tall players of the Bobcats, Jokic was not used. The hope was that after Yao Ming, Jokic could become the one to crush the Bobcats.

So, when the starting players of both sides appeared on the court in the third quarter, everyone saw Popovich's shrewdness and that he was still waiting for the Bobcats.

Popovich really prepared a pretty good supporting lineup for Jokic in the third quarter.

Jokic, Rickie, Roy, Dinwiddie and McCaw.

Li Kaier is an excellent all-around forward who can pass, break through, shoot and control the ball. He is the best offensive lubricant player in the league and Jokic's best striker assistant.

Roy is one of the best outside singles players in the league, Mr. Clutch Ball. At the age of 32, he performs at a superstar level whenever he appears on the court, often scoring more than ten points in a short period of time as a substitute. Next to Jokic, Roy will have a lot of singles opportunities.

McCaw is the player prepared for Jokic to use his offensive threat to pick and roll and break through the basket.

Without a center, the Bobcats are already in a weak position in the interior and need to focus on guarding Jokic, which will give McCaw plenty of opportunities to get to the basket.

There is also Dinwiddie, who is a little Kobe that Du Kang trained in the Lakers back then. He is comprehensive, extremely comprehensive, can attack and defend, has the ball or doesn't, can make two or three points, can hold the ball and be a shooter, can break through and stop suddenly, he can do everything. If most of Kobe's abilities are A-level or above, then most of Dinwiddie's skills are above B+ level. It can be said that he is an all-round weakened version of Kobe.

Although he looks like a weakened version of Kobe in all aspects, he is 1 meters tall and he is a point guard. For the point guard position, a 96 meter tall little Kobe is really impressive.

Dinwiddie's position in the Lakers back then was the deputy on the court.

The secondary ball handler next to the main point guard.

A secondary singles hitter next to the main outside singles player.

The receiver and shooter next to the super giant.

Dinwiddie is definitely the strongest all-round supporting player in the league.

Some players are very strong, but if you ask them to play a supporting role, they actually can’t do it. They can’t bring out their abilities and can’t cut in seamlessly.

Dinwiddie has no problem in this regard at all.

A superstar-level comprehensive auxiliary talent with an ability value exceeding 90.

In this year's regular season, Dinwiddie averaged 17.1 points and 4.8 assists per game, with a 40.4-point shooting rate of 14.2%. In the playoffs, Dinwiddie averaged 3.6 points and 41.7 assists per game, with his -point shooting rate rising to %.

Obviously, although Dinwiddie was trained by Du Kang, Popovich has found the right way to use Dinwiddie. With Jokic, McCaw and Roy by his side, Dinwiddie will amplify the power of the three of them, as well as his own power.

Therefore, although the Bobcats' Rose and Beasley are both on the court and seem to be stronger, in fact, the system of Rose, Beasley, Marion, Batum, and Myles Turner does not have such tacit understanding, and there are not many opportunities for the five to play together.

The five people have some overlap in their characteristics, but they are not so compatible.

Du Kang let five people play on the court together, not for adaptation, but to increase the height of the players on the court.

Except for Rose, the height of the other four players of the Bobcats is not a problem on the court. In addition, all five of them can defend. In fact, the meaning of Du Kang's lineup is very clear.

Just defense!

Then look for an opportunity to fight back.

Players who don’t know Jokic may think that this Lakers lineup is a very poor defensive lineup. Only those who know Jokic know how much Jokic can do.

Jokic can do everything Yao Ming can do, but Jokic is not as tall as Yao Ming.

But without Duncan, Thabeet and O'Neal, Jokic's lack of height compared to Yao Ming is actually not a problem.

Therefore, if you see this Lakers lineup and try to attack, you will definitely fall into a trap.

Jokic has never shown the world his full capabilities.

This is also the reason why Du Kang has always said that in this finals, the Lakers' real strength is above that of the Bobcats.

In this Lakers lineup, everyone's ability value is above 90, and except for Roy, they are extremely young.

In comparison, except for Rose and Beasley, the Bobcats' lineup actually includes Myles Turner, Marion and Batum, whose abilities are not as good as any of the other players.

In terms of fame, people like Bobcat are definitely more powerful, but in reality, they are completely different.

Popovich knew that he was well aware of the strength of these Lakers players, so he naturally did not arrange this lineup to deceive himself. Instead, he was simply showing Du Kang that he had a very deep understanding of the Lakers and that he was already a qualified head coach of the Lakers.

Du Kang now admits this.

In fact, Popovich decisively suppressed the internal strife of the Lakers and forced the Spurs players he brought to the bench. This actually shows that he is already a qualified head coach of the Lakers.

He didn't know the strength of the ten players left by Du Kang from the Lakers before, so in order to be able to go further with the Lakers, and at least lead the Lakers to four consecutive championships, he brought in five strong Spurs players including Zhang Tielin.

He thinks these five Spurs players will be useful to the Lakers.

Then, he found out that he was wrong. These five players from the Spurs would be top role players in most NBA teams, but in the Lakers, the gap between them was really too big.

The Lakers players that Du Kang left behind all have ability values ​​above 90, and almost all of them are good at both offense and defense.

Even Li Kaier, who looks the weakest, usually looks weak, but in fact, when Du Kang was in the Lakers, he added the most potential to him, and his ability value has even reached the super giant level.

And although he looks thin and weak and seems slow, he is actually very fast, accurate and ruthless when defending. He is absolutely good at stealing the ball and interrupting passes.

Offensive breakthroughs do not even require speed and burst, just a slow pace is enough to make the scalps of those talented players in the NBA numb. In this year's Western Conference Finals, Durant of the Thunder was almost broken by Li Kaier's rhythm. Durant, such a strong player, was not able to beat Li Kaier when he faced off against him, and was even toyed with by Li Kaier in some rounds.

It is also because of this that the five Spurs players brought by Popovich, who wanted to make trouble before, are now completely submissive to the ten players left by Durant of the Lakers. They are really strong.

These superstar-level players don’t feel that their playing time is insufficient. So what do role players like them, even elite role players, have to complain about?

Therefore, the Lakers, which were on the verge of internal strife before, are now extremely harmonious from top to bottom. It can only be said that in the NBA, strength is everything, and no matter how unruly a person is, he will become obedient after a few beatings on the training ground.

The third quarter of the game resumed, and Beasley, Rose, Jokic and McCaw naturally became the most watched players on the court.

Among them, Beasley seems to be the strongest, followed by Jokic and Rose, and then McCaw is slightly weaker.

However, in the eyes of most spectators and media experts, these four are the only super-giant players among the ten players on the court.

In the third quarter, the Lakers took the lead in attacking, and the one who dribbled the ball across half court was not McCaw, but Jokic!
Watching Jokic dribbling the ball across half court, Rose wanted to go up, but after glancing at McCaw beside him, Rose gave up.

He wasn't sure if Jokic did that on purpose.

He is the only one on the court who can defend McCaw's speed, and he can't leave McCaw. McCaw's impact under the basket is too threatening to the current Bobcats.

If there was O'Neal, Duncan or Thabeet under the basket, maybe he would take a risk.

Now, he just needs to follow the coach's instructions and stand firm on defense.

Rose's judgment was correct, Jokic was really luring the snake out of its hole.

In fact, Jokic dribbled the ball across half court in the hope that the opponent would come and steal the ball from him.

Then he leaned back and passed the ball to his teammates on both sides, and the mismatch attack immediately appeared.

It's such a simple thing. He doesn't even need to set a pick-and-roll with his teammates, which may lead to a double-team. The way he dribbles across half court gives opponents a chance to take risks in defense, which actually kills them invisibly.

However, Ross was not fooled.

Finally, Jokic successfully dribbled the ball across half court and reached the three-point line, where Myles Turner immediately came out to defend.

As the person facing Jokic in the third quarter, Myles Turner was of course given special instructions by Du Kang, and Turner was definitely mentally prepared for Jokic.

"Don't think of him as a young player, he is no different from Yao, TMC, and Kobe!"

Myles Turner is highly expected by Du Kang. Du Kang hopes that he can be a little Nowitzki on the offensive end and a little Davis on the defensive end.

Turner's offensive talent is definitely not as good as Nowitzki's, and his defensive talent is definitely not as good as Davis', but if he can become a combination of Davis and Nowitzki, then his future fighting effectiveness in the NBA will definitely not be inferior to these two.

Of course, Turner does not have such strong ability now, but the prototype is already there.

This time, Rose instructed all the players not to move and to keep their eyes on their defenders.

This directly led to the Lakers' Jokic not getting a good mismatch opportunity when he pushed across half court.

However, Jokic didn't seem to express anything about the fact that the Bobcats had established a firm defense. Even towards Myles Turner, who was sticking very closely to him, defending him very carefully, and even defending him very well, Jokic didn't seem to have much change in expression and was very calm.

The indifference on Jokic's face made Turner very nervous.

Turner felt that his defense this time was very good under the command of Rose and the cooperation of his teammates. He gave the best defense of his career to Jokic.

If Jokic wants to attack, then just take a big fadeaway shot!

A big fadeaway three-pointer from the three-point line!
It depends on whether you, Jokic, dare to do it!
If you don't dare, just pass the ball honestly, don't act like Yao and pretend to be cool!

In fact, many fans and experts who support the Lakers at the scene also hope that Jokic will not show off his skills at the three-point line and play against Turner. Turner is tall, fast, has good jumping ability, and his defense is also good. Now he is full of fighting spirit and concentration. It is difficult to play from the outside, so he should go to the inside. No one from the Bobcats on the court can stop Jokic's strong defense.

then!

Jokic on the court attacked!
Turner pushed Jokic, who was already stuck on the offensive end, to his limit, but Jokic still chose to take a big backward shot under Turner's extreme defense!

"crazy!!!"

A big center, like this?

It would be fine if you were of Yao's height.

No, even if it was Yao, he wouldn't dare to do that facing Duncan's defense, right?

then!

A swipe!
Three point hit!

Myles Turner turned around suddenly and was completely stunned.

Not only Myles Turner, but other spectators and fan experts were also dumbfounded.

"He is not a smaller version of Yao, his touch is even better than Yao's!!!"

Yes, Jokic's shooting touch and ability to grasp three-pointers from outside are indeed better than Yao Ming's.

Moreover, they are more daring on the offensive end!
Aren’t you strong in perimeter defense?

I am using my inside offense to attack your outside defense, which is definitely bullying you.

Then I will use my outside offense, which I am not that good at, to defeat your strongest outside defense!
"This is not a random offensive choice by Jokic, this is a murderous and well-thought-out choice!!!"

Jokic was indeed thoughtful.

He observed the Bobcats' defense. The coach was indeed very good. The Bobcats' defensive players were tall and could circle the court with their arms outstretched. Although this was an exaggeration, it was indeed very difficult for the Bobcats players to stand there with their arms outstretched.

It is not easy for him to attack under the basket. How can he break through the hole without showing his outside threat first?
As the strongest hole-punching machine, Jokic likes the feeling of slow cooking over low heat the most.

If you start cooking with high heat and fail to collect the juice under the basket, something bad will happen.

On the contrary, even if he misses the shot from the outside, it doesn't matter, that's what should be done. It's impossible to succeed in attacking like this, even Yao Ming doesn't dare to say that he succeeded.

But as long as it is successful.

Then there are so many benefits!
Look at the players on the Bobcats, they look at Jokic as if they have seen a ghost.

Yao's performance in the first half was incredible.

If the Lakers make another mistake in the second half, will the Bobcats still have any chance of winning?

"The legacy that Coach D left to the Lakers is so terrifying!!!"

At this moment, I don’t know how many people are shocked by Jokic’s terrifying self-confidence and strength.

The Bobcats players on the court all felt the murderous aura brought by Jokic's calmness.

"It's too stressful! Mike, we are under a lot of pressure right now!"

Ross finished.

Beasley looked at Jokic who was slowly returning to defense and took a deep breath.

The coach’s reminder is correct, Jokic is really strong!
Although he is not as good as Yao Ming, there is no problem in treating him as another Yao Ming during the Bobcats' interior defense vacancy.

In the first half, he sat on the sidelines and watched Thabeet, O'Neal, Duncan, and Grant Hill fight against Yao Ming, but he was so excited!
"Derrick, the stronger the opponent, the more interesting it is, isn't it? The coach is right, now it's our turn to show it!!!"

(End of this chapter)