God's hand behind the scenes

Chapter 540 Strong enough
After defeating the Celtics, the remaining few games were simply in the hands of the Bobcats, and they did not give the Celtics a chance to overtake, and finally ended the 2007-08 season with the third place in the Eastern Conference regular season.

Such a result surprised many experts. Before the start of the season, they predicted that the Bobcats could make the playoffs, and maybe they could improve a little bit on the basis of seventh place last season.But in fact the Bobcats improved more than a little, the huge gap from seventh to third means that they have completed a leap, and this is still the case without much trade.

It can be said that the Bobcats team is a BUG. The team entered the playoffs in the first year and climbed to the top four in the second year. No matter how big the brains are, the screenwriter may not be able to write such a script.But everyone attributed the credit to Chrissis and Jackson. Few people knew that the key to building such a young guard was the low-key Chinese on the sidelines.Of course, this is what Chang Wei requested from Chrissy, he doesn't want to be chased around by the reporters every day!

The strength of the Bobcats made their opponents in the first round of the playoffs feel a lot of pressure. The Eagles ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference this season.After Joe Johnson left the Suns, he quickly grew into the league's first-class small forward. Coupled with the amazing physical talent of Josh Smith and the young big man Horford, their frontcourt is also ranked first in the league.

Originally, the Hawks' backcourt was not good, but in the middle of the season, they got the Kings' old point guard Bibby through a trade, and then picked up a veteran Anthony Johnson who is good at shooting three-pointers. At least the backcourt will not give the frontcourt three points. Individuals are lagging behind.The Eagles actually have no idea of ​​advancing to the second round. They just want to give the Bobcats a little color in the first round of the playoffs.

But the Eagles players soon found themselves thinking too much, especially their leading scorer Joe Johnson, who encountered the Bobcats outside the number one defensive gate Ariza.This season Ariza has made a lot of progress compared to last year. Although the number of steals per game has only increased from 1.4 to 1.7, he only lost 101 points per [-] rounds, which is the best performance since entering the league.

His presence made it impossible for Joe Johnson to catch and shoot the ball in a comfortable position. He could only rely on his height and weight to grind to the basket little by little, and then a simple turnaround jumper.What makes Joe Johnson even more uncomfortable is that every time he makes a shot, Ariza always jumps high, stretches his arms to try to block the shot, and even if it doesn't work, he also interferes with the shot.Joe Johnson's personal ability ensures that he can send the ball to the basket most of the time, but this also drags down the team's rhythm.

The eagle's offensive and defensive rhythm is very slow, which makes them completely unable to parry the Bobcats' wave after wave of offensive.The Bobcats have an absolute advantage in the interior. Although Smith's physical fitness is very strong and Horford's skills are also very comprehensive, but facing the taller Milicic and Gasol Jr., they can't take any advantage in the interior. Also always let the opponent grab the offensive rebound.In the first quarter, the Bobcats had 5 offensive rebounds, and the total rebounds were also ahead of the Eagles.

More offensive rebounds means more shots. The Bobcats led by double digits at the end of the first quarter. With the defense of the players, only Joe Johnson scored in double figures. .

The Hawks tried to regain the initiative from the Bobcats, but Johnson was unable to get rid of the opponent's defense. In addition to Ariza, Jackson prepared another defensive player for him, Allen, which made Johnson always in high-intensity defense. .Of course, Bibby can not pass the ball to him, but the Hawks will lose their leading scorer, which is not worth the candle.

Without Johnson's fire support, the Eagles' scoring burden could only be placed on the shoulders of the team's second scorer, Smith. He shot ridiculous mid-range shots outside, and most of his shots turned into defensive rebounds for the Bobcats, further widening the gap between the two sides.

In fact, there was no suspense in this game. After the Bobcats strangled the opponent's main scoring point, they easily won 104 to 90 at home and got a good start in this round of the series.The Bobcats' win did not surprise everyone, but their performance in the game was light, which is the most terrible thing for other teams, especially the Eagles.

Woodson had to try to change the lineup, let Johnson play shooting guard, mention Marvin Williams to start at small forward, and let Pachulia and Smith partner inside.This new lineup did cause a lot of trouble for the Bobcats after the start of the second game. Both Johnson and Marvin had a physical advantage when facing Roy, and Ariza obviously couldn't defend two people alone. Bibby was smart enough to pass the ball to the guy facing Roy every time.

However, the Bobcats quickly adapted to their style of play. Since they couldn't defend, they should strengthen their offense.On the defensive end, Roy simply only undertakes the harassment task, preventing the Eagles players who are facing him from shooting from the outside, and when they get to the inside, Gasol Jr. and Milicic will greet them.Roy just needs to make up points on offense, and that's exactly what he's doing.

Roy, who didn't consume too much on the defensive end, put most of his energy into the offense. In the first quarter, he scored 8 points on 6-of-14 shots and sent 3 assists.Although the Hawks seemed to find a way to break the Bobcats' defense, they only led 35-33 at the end of the first quarter, and that was because Johnson hit a three-pointer at the last minute.

The Bobcats were not irritated, but they quickly responded to their opponents. At the beginning of the second quarter, Royry scored consecutive points from outside shots, leading the team to an 8-0 spurt and successfully overtaking the score.After that, the Bobcats didn't give the Eagles any chance, and the two sides fought against each other. Unfortunately, the Hawks' firepower was far inferior to the Bobcats, and there was also a gap in the substitute.The final score between the two sides was 110 to 101. The Bobcats defended the second home court without any risk, rewriting the big score to 2 to 0.

In these two games, the Bobcats have shown far beyond the strength of their opponents, their performance on the field is dominant.This situation makes the Eagles very frustrated. It seems that they can't even win a game in the first round, which is obviously a shame.Of course, there is a certain gap between the rankings of the two sides, but the Eagles have no way to fight back after losing, so they can only pin their hopes on the home court.

(End of this chapter)