God's hand behind the scenes

Chapter 452 Contradictions
Brown leading the team against his old club is just one of the highlights of this round of the series, and the other highlight is the so-called conflict.This season, the 76ers still haven't improved the true nature of the offensive team. Although they are only the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, they can score 104.7 points per game and rank second in the league. Sub-par defense.

The Pistons are just the opposite. The team averaged only 93.1 points per game and ranked 14th in the league, and they averaged 84.5 points per game but ranked first in the league.Although the Pistons are not particularly eye-catching in terms of conventional defensive data such as steals and blocks, they are undoubtedly the best defensive team in the league, not even one of them, and their style is completely different from the 76ers.

Strictly speaking, if Chang Wei hadn't relied on his advanced vision to help the Pistons create a strong offensive bench lineup, perhaps their scoring average would not be ranked in the middle of the league.In their previous life, their scoring average this season could only rank at the bottom of the league. Fortunately, this time the bench lineup led by Wade and Crawford saved them.

For a long time, whether offense is important or defense is important has been an enduring topic in the NBA, and each head coach's understanding is also different.Therefore, in the history of the league, there are not only top defensive teams such as the old Celtics and the "Bad Boys", but also top offensive teams such as the Lakers "ShowTime" and Doug Mo's version of the Nuggets.At present, there are not a few strong offensive teams in the league, and several strong defensive teams have made it to the table, but in the playoffs, the Pistons VS76ers are undoubtedly the most concerned.

In fact, when Brown coached the 76ers, he broke his long-standing thinking about team building and formed such a team with super firepower, but his teamwork is still in his bones.And now the Pistons' starting lineup can be said to be really kneaded together according to his ideas. Even if it is a substitute with a strong scoring ability, it is unambiguous to play defense.

So this time Brown decided to prove himself. He would not choose to attack the 76ers until the most critical moment. Most of the time, he hoped that his players would suppress their opponents with an airtight defense.If he can kill the 76ers purely by defense, it will undoubtedly prove the correctness of his coaching philosophy, and at the same time give an explanation to his past self.

For Brown's request, the Pistons players had no objection at all, and even the three scoring madmen on the bench acquiesced to the defensive-oriented tactics of this round of the series.Brown was very keen to see that Wade and the others were not very happy, so he promised that if it was time to fight against the 76ers, he would definitely let them play, and these rookies were happy again.

Chang Wei is very optimistic about Brown's idea, because he did this in his previous life. Except for replacing Rasheed Wallace with Thomas, the starting lineup of this Pistons is no different from that of the grassroots team in his previous life.If Thomas’s defensive ability was far from Rasheed’s before he came to the Pistons, then after two seasons his defensive ability is not better than Rasheed’s, at least he is half the same, whether it is assisting in blocking shots or protecting the basket. Basket, Thomas is already familiar with it.

The Pistons are gearing up, and the 76ers are not idle. They only rested for one day after being promoted, and flew to Detroit under the leadership of O'Brien.Facing the Pistons, O'Brien actually had no confidence in his heart. The overall strength of the players on both sides may not be much different, but Brown's understanding of these 76ers players is too deep, and the management has not brought in many new players in recent years. With more players, the main lineup is still the same team that won the championship at the beginning. Brown knows this well.

But O'Brien still has some thoughts in his heart. In fact, any head coach who takes over an already successful team will more or less have the idea of ​​surpassing his predecessor. Although Brown is already the predecessor, O'Brien also hopes Can prove himself in the fight with him.Of course, he didn't expect to directly eliminate the Pistons and advance to the Eastern Conference finals. He could just drag the series into the tiebreaker. This is still far from the goal set by the team management, but O'Brien is not a fool.

Perhaps because of Brown, when the 76ers came to the Palace of Auburn Hills, the boos they heard were not particularly loud, which made them a little relieved.In fact, another reason why Pistons fans don't boo them very much is that they are full of confidence in the team they support and think that they can easily solve their opponents. As the stronger side, it is natural to be a little reserved.

Pistons fans were friendly, but Pistons players were not.In this game, O'Brien's starting lineup still follows Brown's arrangement, but he is not interested in shooting power forwards. Instead, he uses Tyron Hill and Dalembert to partner inside, backcourt and wings. It is still Iverson, Reed and Bell, which is also the 76ers' championship lineup.

At the beginning of the game, Dalembert was deflated on himself, who was a head shorter than himself, and was forced to win the ball on his head by the opponent.If the 76ers got the ball, then with Iverson's speed, they would definitely try to attack quickly, but the Pistons got the ball in the first wave of offense, but they stabilized the rhythm and started playing positional warfare.

When Billups dribbled the ball to the top of the arc, Iverson habitually stepped forward and tried to steal it. This was a behavior that Brown had criticized countless times before, but after Brown left, Iverson reverted to his old ways.Of course, this kind of gambled steals has also allowed him to rank among the top steals in the league for several consecutive seasons, but it will also allow him to be directly passed by alert opponents.

Just like what Billups is doing now... He dribbled the ball under the crotch to avoid Iverson's claws, and then used his strong body to squeeze Iverson aside and rushed directly to the basket.At this time, Hill had been pulled out by Thomas, and Dalembert had to step forward to cover Billups, but when he was just in position, Billups smiled slightly, and hit the ball from his The crotch passed to a deeper place inside. Dalembert looked back and saw that Big Ben had picked up the ball and smashed it into the basket.This is a typical piston basketball, not fancy or anything, but definitely efficient and practical.

Brown on the sidelines watched and nodded again and again. Now Billups has grown into a first-class point guard. He is very experienced in passing the ball and can control his mistakes. He is the perfect commander.But this is just an offense. Next, the Pistons will be tested on the defensive end. Whether they can win the game depends on whether they can limit the 76ers' offense.

(End of this chapter)