God's hand behind the scenes

Chapter 480
For both teams, this game is quite critical, and the two experienced coaches still chose the previous regular starting lineup.Zen Master seemed to sense something. Malone's name was on the Lakers' starting roster. It was obvious that they planned to play an advantage from the beginning. Otherwise, the good idea of ​​making Malone a substitute could not be shelved.

In fact, Zen Master is still very helpless. Ever since he put Ma Long on the bench, it was like a bomb had been installed in the locker room. Who knows when he will explode completely.As one of the most villainous guys in NBA history, Malone's madness is not something ordinary people can bear, even if the Lakers have O'Neal, a prehistoric behemoth.

Ma Long didn't say anything about the head coach's arrangement. His seniority prevented him from taking the initiative to shake hands with the Zen master. Besides, in his opinion, it was natural for him to start the game. He was just taking back what belonged to him. That's all.

The Lakers' starting lineup made Brown almost think that he was presbyopic. After watching it several times, he was sure that the opponent really let Malone start the game.Brown doesn't care about this. Letting Malone start for the Lakers means that their bench lineup will drop by more than one grade. Although they are likely to try to control the situation at the beginning of the game, it is hard to say who will take advantage of it.

After all the preparations are in place, the game will officially start.What cheered the Pistons players was that Big Ben defeated O'Neal, who was obviously not concentrating, in the jump ball, helping the Pistons get the first wave of possession in this game.

Billups, who got the ball, was not in a hurry to attack. He pressed Payton to the frontcourt unhurriedly, guarding against the opponent's sneak attack, while directing his teammates to move.Hamilton hung up two screens in a row before getting a fleeting opportunity near the free throw line, and Billups seized the moment and tucked the ball to him.However, Hamilton was not the end of the round. After attracting the defense, he passed the ball directly to Thomas, who had just screened for himself, and the latter hit a three-pointer.

The Pistons' offense does often confuse the defense. They have too many ends, and everyone has a lot of confidence.If others had not surrounded Hamilton but followed Thomas just now, the former might have hit a mid-range jumper that he is best at.Of course, the consequences of encirclement are not very good, or even worse.

However, this goal was not taken seriously by the Lakers players. It is not that the Pistons have not tried to get the first point of the game in the previous game, but they have to play how the game should be played.But soon they discovered that this time the Pistons players came with the idea of ​​a quick fight, because they did not retreat quickly after scoring a goal, but put on a tight posture for the whole court , ready to cause a turnover by one of the Lakers players on the court, and then play another fast attack.

Some things are really fearful. With both Payton and Kobe being harassed, O'Neal had to forcefully throw the ball to Szczerbiak near the center line, but his intentions were seen through in advance. up.Big Ben suddenly appeared on his passing route, and he directly intercepted the basketball before half court, and handed it to Hamilton, who had already left Kobe behind, and the latter made another three-pointer with a knife in his hand. It became 6 to 0, but this also aroused the anger of the Lakers players.

When facing the full-court press again, they did not hesitate to rely on the personal ability of the players to bring the ball across the half.Originally they also planned to sneak attack, but the Pistons retreated very fast. As soon as Kobe dribbled the ball for half court, the Pistons' players were all in place, and they also put on a 2-3 defensive formation. The Lakers played inside first.

What is most needed to crack the 2-3 zone defense are breakthroughs and three-pointers, both of which the Lakers lack, but whether they can be effective is still debatable.Kobe did his part to break through with the ball, but when he went in, Billups and Hamilton blocked his return pass, and it was Thomas standing in front of him ready to block.After Chang Wei's two seasons of targeted training, Thomas' one-on-one defense has made great progress. With his own movement speed and flexibility, he has an advantage in defending outside players.It was difficult for Kobe to find a chance to make a shot when he was covered, and in the end he had no choice but to strike the iron and return.

The basket was chaotic, and finally Big Ben grabbed the rebound with the help of his teammates, but the Pistons did not launch a counterattack. They still prefer to play the positional warfare they are good at.Billups still controlled the ball, but this time he decided to do it himself, and it was an unreasonable three-pointer. This calm commander was obviously aroused by his teammates.

Indeed, Billups is not a qualified three-point shooter. His average number of three-pointers per game is not as good as that of Crawford who came off the bench, but his three-pointers are very accurate, with a 43.1% hit rate. Ranked first in the league, even if you look at the entire league, there are few players with a higher shooting percentage than him.Shooting threes with the ball isn't his style, but that doesn't mean he can't hit them.

Three consecutive three-pointers directly stunned the Lakers. They had no idea that the Pistons showed extraordinary strength on both ends of the offense and defense from the beginning, and the so-called slow heat did not appear.Zen master had to call a timeout. In fact, he rarely called a timeout when the first quarter was less than 3 minutes old, but the current situation on the court made him have to make this decision.

Of course, Zen Master's timeout is a timeout. He has no intention of substituting. The Lakers players did not make too many mistakes on the court. They are now more behind by 9 points because their opponents are too strong.This timeout is actually used to interrupt the Pistons' offensive. If they are allowed to be so unscrupulous, the morale of the Lakers team will suffer a devastating blow in the first half of the first quarter.

Brown didn't care either, he could just let the players under his command take a breather.Although the physical fitness of the Pistons players is well-known in the league, Brown does not intend to use them hard. If he can rest, it is better to take a rest.As for the interruption of the offensive, Brown didn't take it to heart at all. With the strength of the Pistons, do you need to be afraid of this?

Sure enough, after the game restarted, the Pistons' firepower did not weaken at all. The only difference was that the Lakers also started to score.After all, the Zijin Army now has four superstars on the court, and they can send the ball to the basket relying on their personal ability, but their offense is not as smooth as the Pistons, and their offensive efficiency is far from comparable. Stars are not omnipotent.

(End of this chapter)