God of NBA point guards

Chapter 612 Going through the back door

On the morning of the 11th, the Lakers held a press conference to announce Jerry West's resignation and Kupchak's appointment as general manager.

This news did not shock the outside world, because there were signs of it two years ago.

But within two hours, the news that the Postman and the Jazz had reached a buyout of their contract was announced, triggering speculation in the media.

After big-mouthed Charles Barkley saw the news, he immediately expressed his personal views through his blog with a powerful title, "The Postman, the Gravedigger of the Iron Fist Era."

"The Postman has the last year of his contract left. He has just been eliminated by the SuperSonics in the first round, and he bought out his contract with the Jazz. Why? There is only one reason. The Postman Karl Malone hopes to pursue the dream of a championship late in his career.

So let's analyze, which team will he go to?The contract is not a problem. In order to join with a minimum salary for the championship, any team can provide him with a minimum salary contract.

Joining the SuperSonics has the best chance of winning the championship, but I know the Postman won't. He is an ambitious person who will not surrender to the enemy for the championship.

Then the second place is the Lakers. The Lakers are the most powerful team in the league except the SuperSonics, so it is most likely that the Postman will join the Lakers.

If the Lakers have the Mailman, then the Sonics will encounter their most powerful opponent, and the Lakers will become the gravediggers of the Iron Fist era. "

As soon as Buckley's article came out, it aroused great attention. Even Zhou Quan couldn't help but read it because the title was too attractive.

"This bastard is going against me. It's a dead end. He's a gravedigger. How many days can he fight at the postman's age? How much better than David Robinson?"

That is to say, I browsed the article to see what Barkley said, and then stopped paying attention to this matter.

In the next few days, he rested as much as he could and took his family out on a yacht to swim in the Pacific Ocean.

A few months ago, he had ordered a new boat. It is more than 70 meters long, more than 20 meters wide, and has four decks. It is currently the most luxurious and advanced yacht. It can carry out deep-sea voyages and sail directly back to China. It takes a little money. [-] million US dollars, and construction has already begun.

On the 15th, the second round is all over.

The Kings defeated the Spurs 18-[-] and will face the SuperSonics in the Western Conference Finals. The Western Conference Finals will start on the [-]th, with a best-of-seven game system, [-] home and away system.

The Nets eliminated the Raptors 19-[-] and the Celtics eliminated the Magic [-]-[-]. The Eastern Conference Finals will begin on the [-]th.

For the Western Conference Finals, although the Kings are very strong, the media also overwhelmingly believes that the Sonics will win the series and may even have a sweep.

As for the Eastern Conference Finals, some media support the Nets and some support the Green Team.

On the 17th, the King arrived in Seattle and held a press conference at the hotel at [-] p.m. Chris Webber and Mike Bibby attended the press conference.

"Coach Adelman, many media believe that the Kings will inevitably be swept by the SuperSonics in the Western Conference Finals. What do you think of this?" a reporter from the Seattle Times asked.

Rick Adelman shrugged his shoulders and smiled politely: "The SuperSonics are indeed strong, and the Lakers were swept again, which is very touching.

But our team is not the Lakers. We also beat the Sonics in the regular season. We maintain a strong fighting will and self-confidence, and we look forward to creating miracles. "

"By miracle, do you mean eliminating the Sonics and reaching the finals?" the reporter asked in surprise.

Adelman smiled and said: "You can think of it that way, although the Supersonics are very powerful and the Iron Fist King is terrifying, we always have hope, right?"

The reporter asked again: "Peja was injured in the second round. How much impact will it have on the Western Conference Finals? Will he miss the game?"

Speaking of this, Adelman said helplessly: "We are not very lucky. Yes, Peja cannot come back at the moment. The team doctor said that he will have to rest for at least ten days."

The next question was from a New York Times reporter, who asked Weber: "Chris, there has been a lot of news these days about Postman joining the Lakers. If Postman really joins the Lakers, do you think the Lakers will become the gravediggers of the Iron Fist era?"

Chris Webber spread his hands and said: "Everyone wants to be the person who ends an era. I don't know if the Lakers will have a chance to end the Iron Fist era, but if they get the Postman, the Lakers will be much stronger than the current Lakers. They There is a good chance to challenge the supersonic speed of King of Iron Fist.”

"Michael, you are about to face off against the Iron Fist King. Do you have the confidence to challenge him?" the next reporter asked.

Michael Bibby said: "Well, that's a super difficult thing, I will try it."

"Will you hold the ball in front of him?" the reporter asked.

Bibby said: "Of course, I am a point guard and must hold the ball. But our tactics are different from the Sonics' big-core play. What we pay most attention to is the distribution of ball rights and the transfer of the ball. The Iron Fist King's magical stealing ability, We’re not very scared.”

On the 18th, the Western Conference Finals G1 match day.

At eight o'clock, the two sides announced the starting list.

Kings: Divac, Chris Webber, Hedo Turkoglu, Doug Christie, Mike Bibby
SuperSonics: Ben Wallace, Lewis, Bowen, Corey Maggette, Zhou Quan
NBC commentators were James Worthy and John Moore, with the former saying at this time: "Peja is injured, and second-year Hedo Turkoglu takes over the starting small forward position.

The Turk is as tall as a power forward, two centimeters taller than Weber, but he is a small forward with organizational ability. He is good at the outside and can shoot three-pointers.

This season, he is the gangster on the Kings bench, the commander of the bench, and can also assume the power forward position when necessary. He plays with great agility. "

John Moore said: "Bruce Bowen is at a disadvantage in terms of his height when defending the Turks. He is only 201 centimeters, and with his wingspan, there is at least a ten centimeter height difference.

The Turk has organizational skills. Together with Michael Bibby, he can get the ball well and is not afraid of the Iron Fist King's steals.

Back then, the Bulls were not afraid of the Iron Fist King's steals because Jordan did not hold the ball and Pippen was responsible for organizing. I think the Kings also planned to do the same, reducing Bibby's ball-holding time and allowing the Turks to hold the ball more to organize attacks. "

At 08:30, the game begins.

After the jump ball, the Kings attack.

Michael Bibby took the ball to the frontcourt, looked at Divac's situation, then handed the ball to Hido Turkoglu in the left elbow area, and went to run.

Others were running the same way, constantly moving, crossing, counter-running, and picking and rolling. The entire frontcourt immediately became chaotic.

But this chaos only belongs to the Sonics, not the King, because every run of the King is a tactical act, not a random run.

Ben Wallace follows Divac closely. The center is very important in the Princeton system, requiring him to assume organizational functions. But now that Divac is being targeted by Ben and unable to catch the ball and organize the offense, the Princeton system immediately starts another Tactically, Hidu Turkoglu organized the offense with the ball in the left elbow area, creating a backdoor for his teammates, so Michael Bibby passed the ball to Hidu Turkoglu.

After receiving the ball, Turk turned his back to Bowen and the basket and looked to the right wing.

At this time, Kings shooting guard Doug Christie ran to the right elbow area, preparing to catch the ball. Corey Maggette immediately moved forward to defend, cutting off the passing route of the two.But at this time, because Corey Maggette was staring at Turk at the left elbow and not looking at Doug Christie behind him, his back door opened.

Doug Christie quickly started cutting inside and ran toward the basket. By the time Corey Maggette discovered it, he was already slow. At this time, the Turk passed the ball with one hand.

This tactic requires the person holding the ball to have the ability to pass with one hand, because passing with one hand is more convenient, sudden and fast. If the pass is slow, the back door will be closed immediately, Corey Maggette Will get back on Christie, or someone else in Seattle will cover Christie.

Doug Christi cut into the penalty area from the right elbow area and received the ball in one step. Without dribbling, he went directly to the layup in two steps. Ben and Lewis were already a beat late in returning to the basket.

"boom!"

With a one-handed dunk, the SuperSonics basket was exploded.

Zhang Lili said: "In the regular season, the SuperSonics won three games and lost one against the Kings. In the game they lost, the Kings played very well. Two people scored 20+ points and six people scored in double figures.

The Kings' tactics worked smoothly, the players' touch was revealed, and the offensive firepower was even stronger than that of the SuperSonics. No one could stop the true mercury-like offense.

More importantly, their tactics can circumvent Zhou Quan's defense to a large extent, making it impossible for him to use his stealing and blocking abilities.

However, there is another reason why the Kings can win one game in the regular season. Zhou Quan did not exert his full strength on the offensive end, and it is impossible to stay in the series now.

In addition, Peja's absence is also a considerable loss of strength for the Kings, and his shooting is quite accurate. "

At this time, Zhou Quan hit a three-pointer over Michael Bibby's head. It was quite easy. He made a fake shot and knocked away the defender, and then hit the open shot at the top of the key.

It's the King's attack again, still the same tactic, but this time another back door is opened.

There was a gap under the basket just now, so Ben's position shrank a bit this time. Divac had an opportunity. Michael Bibby passed the ball in, and then started running down.

After Divac received the ball in the low post on the left wing, shooting guard Doug Christie began running along the three-point line toward the right corner on the weak side, while power forward Chris Webber moved toward the top of the key and Michael Bibby ran to the right low post. , filling Gangze Weber's position.

When Webber moved to the top of the arc, Rashard Lewis, who was following the defense, guarded between Webber and Divac, and stayed close to Webber, staring at Divac to prevent him from passing the ball to Webber.

As a result, Lewis's back door opened, and his eyes were not on Webber. Webber, who had just run to the high post, suddenly reversed and cut quickly towards the basket.

But Lewis' eyes were fixed on Divac, and he was caught off guard and failed to follow Webber's reverse cut. Webber appeared open in the penalty area, and Divac immediately passed the ball with one hand.

"Oops!"

Seeing Divac passing the ball, John Moore immediately shouted.

Zhou Quan, who had just followed Bibby to the right midfielder, reacted immediately when Weber ran back and cut inside. He immediately made up the defense and rushed towards the basket with all his strength.

He moved even before Webber, passed the basket before Webber, and pounced on Divac.

Divac, who was passing the ball, threw it with one hand. When he saw the Iron Fist King's movement, he hurriedly stopped his hand and almost made a mistake. Fortunately, he had big hands.

"Snapped!"

With his quick eyes, he slapped the basketball Divac was about to take back and knocked it away. Zhou Quan rushed in front of him and grabbed the rebounding basketball with both hands.

"Beautiful! King of Iron Fist stole the ball, no, it was Ben Wallace who stole the ball. But if it weren't for King of Iron Fist's defensive action, the result would have been Webber catching the ball and making a layup." James Worthy said excitedly.

"The biggest flaw in the Kings' backdoor tactic is Michael Bibby's movement. His defender is the Iron Fist King, so this is a tactical design error. His movement brought the Iron Fist King to the position closest to the basket. ” John Moore said with a smile.

James Worthy nodded and said: "I suspect that even if Webb had caught the ball just now, he would have been blocked from the wing by the Iron Fist King. The Iron Fist King definitely has that ability."

When Zhou Quan was near the top of the arc, he saw Divac leaving the paint area due to the three-second defensive rule, so he suddenly accelerated and stepped past Michael Bibby from the right. He crossed the right end of the free throw line in two steps and hit the ball with one head. Hit the penalty area.

Lewis has pulled to the left corner, and Chris Webber is guarding the left block, unable to return to the basket.

And Divac had just left the paint area because he was defending for three seconds. At this time, he re-entered and was already half a beat too late to return to the basket.

"boom!"

Zhou Quan exploded the King's basket with a one-handed dunk.

"Zhou Quan's breakthrough score is very easy, and the Kings' internal defense is relatively average." Zhang Li said with a smile.

"Any defender facing the Iron Fist King's ball-handling attack will first be weak by three points. If he has a ten-point defensive ability and can score seven points, it is very good." Yu Jiadao.

Zhang Liji nodded and said: "Similarly, when any ball holder faces Zhou Quan's defense, it is very good if he can play [-]% of his strength.

For example, Kobe Bryant is now considered the league's top shooting guard, even close to the top level, but how much strength can he show in front of Zhou Quan? "

2:5, the King attacks.

Chisitkoglu was in a pick-and-roll with Chris Webber on the run. Webber got a small opening, received a pass from Divac, and hit a mid-range shot.

"Lewis is embarrassed again. This is the second time that Webb has run out of space." Yu Jia said.

Zhang Li thought for a while and said: "I think the Princeton system that defends the Kings is better to switch to zone defense and defend the ball instead of people.

But the Princeton system also pays attention to the transfer of the ball. It is unknown how effective this tactic of zone defense is. "

Yu Jia said: "There are not many teams in the league that actually play zone defense. The main thing is man-to-man defense, which tests personal ability more."

Zhang Liji said with a smile: "NBA stars need to perform, and one-on-one can allow them to perform more excitingly, so ordinary stars don't like zone defense, which will limit their offense.

The Sonics have also practiced zone defense tactics in team training, but they are still not familiar with them and the team is a bit unfamiliar with using them.

If you use an unfamiliar zone defense against a team like the Kings with very good passing ability, you may be able to break the Sonics' defense with one pass. "

(End of this chapter)