Coach, I don't want to retire yet

Chapter 642 Growth and departure!
Rose's three-pointer felt like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.

Not only Du Kang noticed this feeling, but Popovich also felt it.

After this shot went in, Rose's entire temperament changed. Even some sharp-eyed fans noticed this change.

Faced with such a new situation, Popovich naturally could not wait for the official timeout of the dead ball, so he could only call a timeout himself.

At this moment, every round is very precious, because one round may very likely result in a difference of four, five or six points. Who can bear this?
If the Lakers used various tactics and means to score points before, Popovich could accept it, because his goal was to strangle Thabeet, Beasley, Duncan, Rose and Jordan, so that they could play well.

Because their performance and damage are controllable. Let's put it this way. It's not that I look down on Rose and Jordan. If the current Rose and Jordan were to fight against Kobe and McGrady, there might be no winner after a few rounds. But in such a game, at such a moment, how could the current Rose and Jordan possibly beat Kobe and McGrady?

Therefore, try to reduce the shooting opportunities of Thabeet, Beasley and Duncan, try to limit these three people, and then focus all your offense on Kobe and McGrady. In the end, the Lakers will have a lot of chances to win.

As long as the trend does not change, he actually doesn't mind the game going on like this and there is no need to call a timeout.

But, obviously, the trend has changed now.

Ross's level has changed!
Rose's current personal offensive power is still no match for Kobe and McGrady.

But Ross faces less pressure!

For a player with James' scoring ability, because the league protected him and Popovich invented the defensive strategy of giving him two steps to shoot, James was able to beat a group of people and win the scoring title by shooting open shots from the outside and breaking through with traveling.

The Lakers put almost all their defensive strength on Thabeet, Beasley and Duncan. With Rose's current offensive level, that would be crazy!

No matter how confident you are in Kobe, you can't say that Kobe can beat Rose.

The defensive levels that the two faced were too different.

The Bobcats put their defensive focus on Kobe and McGrady.

Therefore, before entering the final five minutes of the decisive battle, he had to change his previous defensive strategy.

With Rose's advancement, the current defensive strategy is outdated.

Now the Lakers players on the court may also be confused about how to defend Rose, or should they send Thabeet, Beasley or Duncan to the defense?

No matter what, he needs to pause now and immediately find a way to have the best of both worlds.

This is a very difficult thing.

After all, there can only be five players on the court. If he could play six players, he wouldn't have such a dilemma.

Even if no solution can be found and a choice must be made, the team needs a unified idea and consistency without any hesitation.

Now is the most crucial and exciting moment of the game. Any slight flaw may cause huge problems.

So, at this moment, in front of the Lakers' bench, the Lakers players who understood the current situation were all thinking about it. Assistant coach Bowen was talking and drawing, while Popovich and the players were frowning and thinking.

Bowen could only introduce the bad situation that the Lakers are about to face on the court. They have to come up with a solution on their own.

But at this moment, no one can give an accurate answer.

Because the individual scoring talents of the players on both sides are too different.

At this moment, the most important thing is actually personal scoring ability.

At this time, it is extremely difficult to really implement the tactics and create opportunities.

"In the next game, I will defend Tim."

McGrady defending Duncan is a last resort option for the Lakers. Having McGrady and Duncan facing off on both offense and defense is an unconventional and very risky choice.

Although Duncan is still in a disadvantageous position when facing McGrady, it is obvious that Duncan is a player with extremely high basketball IQ and he knows how to deal with such a situation.

Just like Duncan chose to pass the ball to Rose just now, Duncan is now getting more and more comfortable when attacking McGrady. At the same time, when defending McGrady, McGrady's physical strength was seriously reduced in the fourth quarter, so he did not have so many offensive options against Duncan.

That difficult fadeaway was actually unstable, and pulling out to shoot a three-pointer against Duncan was also unstable. For the amazing 2+1 just now, McGrady used his dream footwork, but it was almost 24 seconds.

Therefore, McGrady facing off against Duncan is an option for Popovich and the Lakers, but the sooner the option is chosen, the better it will be for McGrady. The more physical strength McGrady has, the better it will be for him.

However, the game was now down to just six minutes.

In other words, if McGrady wants to go against Duncan, then as McGrady himself said, he can only defend Duncan, and offense may not be that helpful.

This is a huge crisis for the Lakers.

Because there are only two offensive players of that level in the entire Lakers: McGrady and Kobe.

If McGrady focuses on defense, then Kobe will be the only one left on offense.

What a huge pressure this is for Kobe.

Such pressure is unimaginable.

But it seems that this is really the only choice.

So, almost instantly, everyone looked at Kobe.

"TMC's confidence is my confidence. If TMC can do it, I can do it too!"

This is Kobe's stubbornness. He never considers whether he can do it or not. He only considers whether he can do it. As long as he can do it and as long as he does it to the extreme, then he will have no regrets!
"it is good!"

Popovich looked at Jokic.

Jokic has a very special position in the Lakers. After Kobe and McGrady retire, his position in the Lakers will expand rapidly. He will be the boss in the future, so Popovich still has to respect Jokic's ideas.

Although Jokic’s thoughts are not important at this moment, he still needs to be given the face and the step that should be given.

Jokic did nothing wrong. His performance in this game was very team-oriented, hard-working and outstanding. However, the current situation of the Bobcats has changed, and the Lakers need to make their own changes based on such changes.

The relationship between Jokic and Popovich is very bad. At the beginning, Popovich looked down on Jokic and did not allow Jokic to play in the game.

But now, surely everything is gone.

"I have no problem."

It’s really not a good feeling to sit on the sidelines and watch teammates play on the court at a critical moment.

However, in this finals, Duncan had a natural nemesis against him, just like he had a natural nemesis against skinny and short centers like Anthony Davis.

In front of Duncan, he was the short and bulky one. Duncan's experience and technical basics were so good that any of his shortcomings would be infinitely magnified, not to mention that he had so many shortcomings in front of Duncan.

The team's need for him is limited offensively, and he is a loophole in defense. He is really not suitable for the court, especially with McGrady playing center.

Since Jokic agreed, the only thing Popovich needs to consider now is who to replace Jokic.

Because the player who is causing this big trouble for the Lakers now is Rose.

If the choice is based on the matchup, it would definitely be best to use McCaw. In this case, McCaw may not be able to defend Rose, but McCaw is definitely one of the best players to limit Rose.

So, putting McCaw on the roster is a decision that seems to be a no-brainer.

McCaw himself thinks so.

but……

In the next moment, McCaw was completely shocked. Not only McCaw, but all the players of the Lakers were shocked.

On the other hand, this timeout is also important for the Bobcats.

Popovich certainly didn't want to play around when he called a timeout early at this moment.

"Popovich must be using this timeout to plan a new strategy to defend Derrick!" Nash guessed it, not to mention Du Kang and the team's extremely experienced veterans.

At this time, Popovich called a timeout, which was almost a clear signal.

The Bobcats' offense was so good before, but they didn't call a timeout. They didn't call a timeout even when they were leading by so much. But when Rose suddenly broke out, they called a timeout. If it wasn't for Rose, who else could it be for?

Therefore, Duncan felt that he should add something at this time, which was McGrady's special attack on him.

"I think when Pop calls a timeout, he should let TMC play center, let TMC face me, replace Jokic, and replace him with McCaw to defend Derrick."

Duncan rarely competes with coaches for technical and tactical work. Duncan respects the judgment and professionalism of the coaches in the team.

This time, it is rare to be so clear.

Moreover, what he said was very insightful.

After Duncan finished speaking, the other players felt the same way and nodded, including assistant coaches like Nash.

Du Kang neither nodded nor shook his head, but just frowned.

Popovich now has very few options, and Du Kang naturally knows it.

However, he knows the Lakers better than the Lakers players, and naturally knows the Lakers players better than the Bobcats players.

McCaw is a good choice.

However, if he was the head coach of the Lakers, he would know that at this time and in this situation, putting McCaw on the field is definitely not the best choice.

At this moment, the best choice for the Lakers is to play with Li Kaier!

Li Keer can defend Beasley, Ebanks can defend Thabeet, and let Antetokounmpo play as a point guard to defend Rose.

In this way, the Lakers' height will not drop drastically due to Jokic's departure. Similarly, on offense, they can also support McGrady in the interior and Kobe who is about to enter the Mamba mode.

Whether in personal offense, organization, or basketball IQ, Li Kaier is better than McCaw.

Ricky Lee is a better choice than McCaw!

At this moment, both offense and defense are better with Ricky LeBron than with McCaw.

This is the decision he would make if he were the head coach of the Lakers.

But, that's also where the problem lies.

Now, it’s not him who makes the decisions for the Lakers, it’s Popovich.

His understanding of the Lakers has reached the extreme, but how much does Popovich know about the Lakers?

I'm not sure about this Du Kang.

But soon, a smile appeared on Du Kang's face.

"Steve, we snatched Rick from Popovich back then, right?"

Nash didn't know why Du Kang suddenly asked this.

I just nodded subconsciously.

"That's right?"

Popovich took a fancy to Ricky Lee back then, but he was snatched away by the Lakers.

After that, Popovich and the Spurs were just like the Bucks' obsession with Antetokounmpo. Basically, whenever they had the chance, they would ask for Ricky Lee's price.

In the end, the Spurs definitely did not get Rickey and will never get Rickey.

But Popovich got it.

"Steve, Popovich and the Spurs always wanted to trade McCaw, right?"

"Yes?"

Nash nodded again in confusion.

This is also true.

McCaw is the player that Popovich and the Spurs have always wanted, but not at the beginning. Instead, they wanted him like crazy after he performed well with the Lakers.

and so……

Ricky Lee and McCaw are both Popovich's favorites!
Du Kang still believes in Popovich's vision for players.

Maybe Popovich's understanding of other Lakers players is not as good as his, and not as good as the system, but Du Kang can be sure that Popovich knows McCaw and Rickey better than all the Lakers players.

Because when Popovich was in the Spurs, he studied the videos of Ricky Leake and McCaw every day. He had always watched their growth and changes.

In addition, with more than a season of real understanding, Popovich's understanding of Rickey and McCaw, even if not as good as his and the system, is probably not far behind.

In this case, with Popovich's talent, at this moment, the comparison between McCaw and Rickey is actually very clear.

"I think Popovich and the Spurs will play Rickey instead of McCaw."

All the Bobcats players around opened their mouths wide.

Among them, Beasley and Rose frowned.

Li Kaier is not the player Beasley wants to match up against. Putting Li Kaier on the field at this time is to deal with him.

Rose also frowned. Since it wasn't McCaw, then Antetokounmpo must be here to deal with him.

Thabeet didn't frown because Antetokounmpo's defense intensity against him was 10, but when it came to Ebanks, it became 9.5, so he might have had an advantage.

Duncan didn't frown, because he knew that he would face the biggest challenge from McGrady next.

Jordan didn't frown, but looked at Du Kang in shock.

Because, after a brief shock, he found that Rickey was a better choice than McCaw.

Except for him and Thabeet, the defensive intensity they faced basically did not change. The defensive intensity of the other three players was all maxed out!!!
"This is the simplest choice. To make this choice, what is needed is not ability, but the ability to see through the fog and get out of the inherent thinking!"

Popovich looked at the man not far away.

Choosing Rickey over McCaw at this time is not a test for Coach D.

But this game is a test for Coach D himself!

"Right, Coach D?"

Du Kang looked at Li Kaier on the court, noticed a gaze, turned his head, and saw that it was indeed Popovich who was looking at him with stubborn eyes.

Du Kang smiled.

Yes, this is the best answer.

Bobo, congratulations, you are finally ready to graduate.

Now, you will definitely not make the decision to replace Duncan.

(End of this chapter)