God's hand behind the scenes

Chapter 79
Seeing Villanova's starting lineup, Carter was stunned. A blind man could see that McGrady was playing small forward in this game, and he instantly felt fooled.Why did I happily swing to the second position to compete with you, but you ran to the third position?Can this still be fun to play?You coward!coward!

But Carter can't do anything about it. Villanova is obviously prepared, which means that McGrady's starting small forward is at least the lineup they have tested in training sessions.Of course, like his head coach, he didn't watch the Western Conference finals. McGrady's playing the third position was not a whim of Villanova. It was a mature tactic and Villanova's secret weapon.

Rappers originally planned to hide the small ball lineup until the finals, but Chang Wei persuaded him.He stood on the sidelines, echoing what Chang Wei said in his heart: "Now the physical fitness of the players is fully enough to support them to play another game based on a small ball lineup, and the remaining two teams in the final four are relatively strong. It’s too weak, and Villanova’s regular lineup has a high probability of defeating them. Of course, good steel must be used wisely, and now against North Carolina, you can use the small ball lineup.”

As the team's trainer, Chang Wei knows the state of each player in the team well. Since he said that the players' physical fitness is still sufficient, Rappers chose to believe him, and then directly sent a small ball lineup and North Korea. Card fight to the death.

After the game started, Haywood helped North Carolina get the ball. This is also one of the shortcomings of the small ball lineup. It is really difficult for them to take advantage of the jump ball.But Villanova's players are used to it. When Haywood gave the ball to Shamond, they receded as quickly as the tide and quickly stood in their positions.

Rappers did not resort to zone defense this time, but used one-on-one marking.Every head coach knows that to crack the zone defense, two weapons are needed, one is a sharp breakthrough, and the other is a precise three-pointer.Leaving aside whether the North Carolina players' three-pointers are accurate, their breakthroughs are definitely sharp enough. Shamond, Carter and Jamison are all great assaulters.

But in this way, Celestand became the one defending Carter. He was completely unable to compare with Carter in terms of height, strength and agility. It meant that Rappers completely gave up his point and let Carter get what he wanted.Compared with defense, Rappers believes in the team's offense more, and letting Carter score in singles is no big deal to him.

But Chang Wei knows how terrifying Carter's scoring ability is. Even though he is only a college player now, he was indeed a top scorer in the league in his previous life. In the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2001, many fans talked about his confrontation with Iverson. Although the Raptors led by Carter were eventually eliminated by the 76ers, the latter also became the Eastern Conference champion of the season, but he was in that series. He averaged 30.4 points per game, and his scoring ability did not lose to Iverson at all.

The fact that Rappers doesn't care doesn't mean that Chang Wei doesn't care either. After persuading the head coach to send out a small-ball lineup, he quietly taught Celestand face-to-face.In fact, Chang Wei's method is also very common. Any player will choose this defensive method when facing an opponent who is taller and stronger than himself, that is, go forward.

Celestand has always been used as a scorer, but he has seen him defending around the front. He has seen pigs run before eating pork!Although Chang Wei was not sure what kind of lineup North Carolina would send out at the time, he believed that Smith would never send out a regular starting five. After all, North Carolina's regular lineup in the regular season has proved unable to beat Villa. Nova's, why do you need to humiliate yourself and suffer another defeat in the same way?

Obviously this time Chang Wei's prediction became a reality. When Celestand saw that he was going to face Carter, not only was he not afraid, but he felt a little bit excited.Although his status in the team is not low, it is a world of difference compared to Carter, whose reputation in the entire NCAA is also unmatched by him.But now there is only one thought in Celestand's mind: If I guard this guy, will I also become the focus of media coverage?

This kind of brain hole makes him very active on the defensive end. As long as Carter stands ready to catch the ball, Celestand will immediately block between him and the ball holder, and use his not-so-broad back to fight hard. Stuck in place.Of course Shamond can hang the ball to Carter, but he is cautious by nature. When the pass is in danger of being intercepted, his first choice is always to change the receiving point, rather than risk being intercepted and counterattacked. Continue to pass the ball as originally planned.

In fact, Celestand and Carter have formed a dislocation. From the perspective of body size, Celestand is undoubtedly at a disadvantage. At this time, choosing to defend around the front made Rappers' eyes shine.He originally thought that Celestand would endure humiliation and be blown up by his opponent in this game, but now he gave himself a big surprise on the defensive end.

Carter is also very irritable, he has not received the ball for more than a minute.Obviously, the guy I was facing was just a nobody, but his defense around the front made me feel uncomfortable.Carter has always believed that the defense around the front will only appear in the interior, but he did not expect to enjoy such "treatment" now, which made him a little at a loss for a while.

On the contrary, Celestand became more confident as he played, and he became more proficient in judging the opponent's passing route.Of course, he can't completely freeze Carter, but once the latter catches the ball, he rushes up and bites like a mad dog, forcing Carter to pass the ball again, depressingly becoming an off-ball shooter.

In Chang Wei's memory, Carter didn't develop a fairly good ability to run without the ball, catch and shoot until he was old and no longer considered the main force of the team. It will always be his first choice, even if he once had a historical point guard like Kidd by his side.

When seeing Celestand turn Carter into an off-ball shooter abruptly, Chang Wei smiled sinisterly. Starting to play off the ball means that Carter has been crippled for more than half of his skills, unless Smith is in a short period of time. Otherwise, it will be difficult for Carter to make too much contribution to the team in this game.You must know that just 3 minutes into the game, Celestand has hit two three-pointers and scored 6 points, 1 rebound, and 1 steal. He overfulfilled the task. Compared with the two, Carter is more like an insignificant player. Minor role, not North Carolina's rising star.

(End of this chapter)