Versatile Point Forward

Chapter 328 Altitude sickness
After winning the series' two-game winning streak, the Blazers will head to Denver for Games [-] and [-] of the series.But McMillan is a little worried, because no matter how strong the Nuggets are, Denver is not a good place. This is one of the league's most famous devil's home courts.

Denver is the capital of Colorado, and the largest city in the state.Denver's nickname is The Mile-High City, because the height measured at the 15th step on the west side of the State Capitol is 1 mile (5280 feet, or 1609 meters) above sea level, and the height measured at Denver International Airport is 5431 feet (1655 meters).In other words, Denver is a veritable plateau city, and the Nuggets' home stadium, Pepsi Center, is located in downtown Denver.

Different from other home games of the Devils in the league, the Pepsi Center Arena is the home of the Devils because of the harsh environment where it is located. Players of the visiting team are always somewhat uncomfortable with high altitude areas, and even suffer from altitude sickness in severe cases.However, many players choose to come to Denver for training during the offseason every year. The main reason is to use Denver's high altitude to exercise their cardiopulmonary function.Looking at the history of the Nuggets, we can see that almost every period of this team has used fast-playing whirlwind as its basic tactical style, which is likely to have a lot to do with their long-term stay on the plateau.

It’s okay to say that in the regular season, everyone didn’t work so hard, but the intensity of the playoffs is completely different from the regular season. In addition, the Nuggets have long been the most extreme track and field team in the league. The whole team is constantly running at all times during the game , opponents will fall into their rhythm if they are not careful, and it is undoubtedly a stupid thing to run back and forth with the Nuggets in Denver.Even if the Blazers continue to play mainly on the inside, they have to keep up with the Nuggets when defending.

Although the straight-line distance between the two places is nearly 1600 kilometers, McMillan still decided to set off for Denver as soon as possible, so that the players could get used to it earlier.Fortunately, the schedule for the first round of the playoffs is relatively less intense. The second game is on April 4 local time, and the third game is on April 20. After the Blazers came to Denver in advance, they have enough time to adapt to the local environment. environment of.Although it is not the first time for them to play away games, they have not yet tried the intensity of the playoffs.

In the training session before the game, the Blazers players behaved fairly normally, that is, a few rookies in the first and second grades seemed a bit overwhelmed, but this is also normal. The NBA has always been not so friendly to rookies. Let them experience it for the first time.In the starting lineup, Matthews' performance was not very good. His dark face showed a sickly paleness, giving people a sick feeling.However, he gritted his teeth and survived. When McMillan asked him if he could play, Matthews panted and shook his head, and did not speak. This was also expected by McMillan. Matthews was definitely not would pass up such an opportunity.

McMillan followed the starting lineup of the previous game, but before the game he said to his players very solemnly: "You all know what Denver is. I don't want you to spend more energy on the court than usual. So you have to play smarter. Try to play positional warfare when attacking. Of course, you should use fast breaks if you have a chance to break fast. Try to use zone defense as much as possible in defense. One-on-one will consume a lot of energy. This is what I don’t want to see ,do you understand?"

Everyone promised loudly, but the progress of the game did not follow their script.On the defensive end, they did adopt a zone defense. Everyone occupied their own area and did not give the opponent any opportunity to take advantage of it. However, perhaps because of the cheers from the home fans, if the Nuggets' outside three-pointers were helpful in this game, A series of three-point rains made the Blazers run away with their heads in their hands.At the same time, Lawson also showed his breakthrough skills. Because of his short stature, his movement frequency was very fast. The old Miller couldn't keep up with his footsteps at all, so he could only let him rush to the inside.

It is generally accepted that there are two ways to break the zone defense, one is a breakthrough, and the other is a three-pointer. Both of these things for the Nuggets played at a normal level during the game. The Blazers' seemingly solid zone defense suddenly became full of loopholes.In the absence of clear instructions from the head coach, the Blazers' players automatically turned into a one-on-one defense. This happens to be the rhythm that the Nuggets like very much, because they can use the pass to mobilize the defense.

It has to be said that under Carl's coaching, this Nuggets has faintly had the demeanor of the old Nuggets headed by Vandeweghe and English under Doug Mo.The basketball in their hands is like a bomb that will explode at any time. Almost everyone passes the ball as soon as they touch their hands, as if they don't want the ball to stay in their hands for even a second longer.But their passing was not without purpose. Every flight of the orange basketball was accompanied by changes in the Blazers' defensive system, and at the end of all flight paths, there was an unguarded open space.

The Blazers players are like a group of sharks smelling blood, but the smell of blood is unpredictable. They want to catch up with the speed of the ball by manpower, which is almost impossible.The result of this is that with 4 minutes left in the first quarter, McMillan had to replace the starting lineup in advance, and the short walk to the bench made everyone panting.Obviously, they didn't take the head coach's words to heart, and there was already a problem with their physical fitness.

McMillan sighed, and did not criticize them. After all, when the zone defense has failed, there is no way to switch to one-on-one marking.He went forward and hugged these players one by one, completely ignoring whether the sweat on their bodies would turn his suit into a rag. He knew that the players were in a bad mood now, and they also needed comfort, not Chi Chi Wai Wai casually accused.

Seeing the substitute players playing the ball in a precise manner on the field, but the score was slowly drawn away, Ye Feng sat in his seat with a look of resignation. He really didn't expect that the altitude of Denver would have such a big impact on him during the game. It's not that you don't want to score, but physical strength has become a big problem. When you can't even guarantee the strength of your shot, who can believe that you can use scoring to help the team win?
(End of this chapter)