God's hand behind the scenes

Chapter 517 The New Terminator

During training in the afternoon, Jackson revealed the starting lineup for the second game in advance. To the surprise of the players, Allen replaced Ariza as the team's starting small forward, and he will take on the heavy responsibility of defending James one-on-one.

Ariza felt a little helpless about this arrangement, but he did not have a good effect defending James in the last game. Just look at the latter scoring 44 points in the game.Moreover, the Bobcats actually don't have many outside defenders. Ariza usually communicates with Allen many times in private. Since the coach puts his hope on Allen, maybe he can really bring surprises!So Ariza quickly calmed down and said that he would obey the head coach's arrangement to play as a substitute.

From the perspective of player positioning, Allen is a more pure defensive player than Ariza.Ariza still has the ability to break through with the ball, and the three-pointers from the two bottom corners are also accurate, but Allen only has an air cut layup. Needless to say, he is not bad if he scores two or three out of 10 goals in training.

But now the Bobcats need such a pure defensive player to mark James. The lack of offensive end allows others to take a few more shots. Chang Wei and Jackson believe that the players under their command will not care.The most critical question now is, can Allen really guard against James?In fact, no one dares to guarantee it, let's see the effect in the competition!
The Bobcats' sudden change of formation surprised the outside world, but Mike Brown didn't take it seriously. In his opinion, the overall strength of the Cavaliers far exceeds that of the Bobcats. It is helpless for the opponent to choose a change of formation at such a critical moment.Besides, he doesn't think it's useful to replace Ariza with Tony Allen. The overall height has dropped. Isn't that asking for trouble?
However, Brown frowned at the beginning of the game. Although Allen is only the height of a shooting guard, his strength is unexpected. He can actually make James unable to turn around after taking the ball. do it.Originally, James wanted to score through post-up singles, but Allen refused to give an inch behind him, forcing him to pass the ball.

Although O'Neal scored the ball under the basket for the Cavaliers' first attack, many people noticed that James was forced to pass the ball.Of course, they won't praise Allen in just one round, but at least this guy with a simple face and no outstanding features has begun to enter the field of vision of basketball experts and on-site commentators.

After Roy responded with a three-pointer, the Cavaliers started to organize the offense again, the basketball came to James's hands again, and Allen naturally followed him closely.Although Allen is young, he has a lot of small movements in his hands, which makes James feel very uncomfortable.To make matters worse, Allen's top defense made it impossible for him to get close to the basket, and the passing route was basically locked. James could only use his less skilled turnaround jumper to shoot the ball, and the basketball hit the basket directly. cutting edge.

Milicic struggled to grab the rebound, and threw a long pass to Allen who had already run across the half.Although the latter has no breakthrough ability, he is quite proficient in switching offenses. After receiving the ball, he made a slow three-step layup and scored the ball.

Jackson was greatly surprised by Allen's defense and attack. He couldn't help but turned his head and glanced at Chang Wei. Chang Wei shrugged at him, smiled slightly, and said nothing.In fact, he himself did not expect Allen to be able to play at such a level. It seems that what he said in the hotel restaurant yesterday was not false. He really wanted to prove his defensive ability to James.

Under Allen's interference, James completely lost the style of the previous game. All the first four shots were made with iron. It was more than half of the first quarter before he made a free throw. But this is not a sports game goal.James didn't open, and the Cavaliers' offense fell into a stalemate. With 3 minutes and 21 seconds left in the first quarter, they were already 11 points behind the Bobcats.

But at this time, Mike Brown showed his courage. He replaced James with Pavlovich and asked him to take the time to rest. Allen's entanglement with him greatly consumed his energy.When he was off the court, James's data was only 4 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, and he also made 2 turnovers. His downturn is also the main factor behind the Cavaliers.

Jackson then replaced Allen.Although James was a little out of breath when he was off the court, Allen was not much better. After all, defense is always more passive than offense on the basketball court.Moreover, James' physical fitness is far superior to Allen's, which makes him have to put in [-]% of his efforts to achieve the desired effect, and naturally he is more tired than before.

Even so, Allen's defense played an obvious role. Even in the regular season, James rarely experienced such embarrassment. Even if he did, the top wing defenders in the league like Artest were responsible for marking him. .However, Allen is an unknown person. Before that, basically no one knew who he was, but he guarded James!

This result also boosted the morale of the Bobcats. In the last few minutes of the first quarter, their substitute players showed a strong scoring ability on the court.Especially Ariza, who was put on the bench in this game, hit consecutive three-pointers from the perimeter. At the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats had already led 41 to 32 by 9 points.

In fact, the Bobcats did not use defense to drive offense in this section. In the final analysis, they still relied on restricting James to improve the morale of the team.Ariza also admires Allen's defense very much. Since he can no longer contribute on the defensive end when he is on the court, he should just make a few baskets on the offensive end. climax.

During the intermission, Jackson praised Allen fiercely. The latter was also very excited. After all, he was restrained by James. Allen could already imagine how the media would treat him badly after the game. Special book.

However, Chang Wei seized the time to pour cold water on him. After Jackson explained the tactics, he walked over to Allen and said, "Tony, you have to remember that this is just the beginning. You thought the Cavaliers' coach and James would both Stupid enough not to make any adjustments? I admit that your debut in the first quarter was very successful, but the challenges you face next are definitely not that simple. If you can limit James in the next three quarters, then You are about to become famous!"

(End of this chapter)