Versatile Point Forward

Chapter 356 Countermeasures
The Trail Blazers' first and fourth juniors gave Brooks a great shock. He didn't expect that he could use this method to solve Durant.In fact, if you want to crack the opponent's tactical system, the best way is to strengthen the team in a targeted manner, but this is the work of the offseason, and the most important thing now is to come up with an effective countermeasure.

One day is not enough for the team to practice new tactics, so they can only find a way from the formation of troops.However, Brooks only has so many available soldiers on hand, and there is no room for him to play. The only thing he can do is to tap the potential internally to see how these cards can be played.

Through the first game, Brooks knew that the team's inside line was a big hidden danger. To be precise, it was the position of center forward. Outside the second zone, the inside line is abnormally empty.For Ibaka, this is also a dilemma. Regardless of whether the defense is supplemented or not, the Blazers players have a way to send the ball into the basket. The difference is only to see which one is the end point.

It is obvious that Perkins cannot continue to reuse the inside line, so who should be replaced to withstand the Blazers?

Collison?The big man who has played for the team so far in his career has a desperate energy, but this may be a bad habit in front of the Blazers' assaulters, because it is easy to be fouled by opponents; as for Muhammad, he joined in 1998 The old guy in the NBA is 34 years old this year. He is fine for a few minutes in garbage time. If he wants to start directly, there are too many problems, and he is probably even more unreliable than Perkins.

Suddenly Brooks’s eyes lit up. The team’s nominal insiders are only Perkins, Collison and Muhammad. That’s right. Durant, who is 2 meters, is even taller than Ibaka, who is 11 meters.

The more Brooks thought about it, the more he felt that this was feasible. Durant was too thin. Although he was taller than Ibaka, he could only play as the team's fourth position. Try to open up space, and Ibaka can guard the basket. Gong Li is probably one of the best guys in the Thunder.Durant's ultra-long offensive distance will undoubtedly make Aldridge feel at a loss. If he defends, he will be broken through, and if he does not go out, he will be shot to death. In any case, the Thunder have a clear advantage.

But in this way, the third position of the Thunder seems a bit small. Brooks can only let Harden serve as the team's small forward. To be precise, it should be a lineup of three guards + two forwards. Westbrook, Sefolosha and Harden is on the outside, Durant and Ibaka are on the inside.This is a lineup that Brooks has never used, but it looks fierce and has good maneuverability. Maybe it can compete with the Blazers.

When Brooks directly clarified his starting lineup for the second game with his players, he unexpectedly received no objection, and even Perkins, who was removed from the starting lineup, remained silent.He knew that it was because of his own existence in the last game that the Blazers found the team's loopholes. Now that the head coach has put up a new starting lineup, he can only fully support it.

Durant was a little dissatisfied with this arrangement, but he also knew that the victory of the game must be the most important thing now, and it was unrealistic to think of a one-on-one fight with his opponent, and he was not sure that he would be able to survive the pincer attack of Ye Feng and Cunningham. benefit from it.And after thinking about it, he found that such an arrangement was very beneficial to him. He completely avoided the Blazers' flank defense and should be able to play a greater role in the second game.

McMillan, who got the Thunder's starting lineup, could only shake his head and smile wryly. He didn't expect that his proud primary and secondary players would find a way to break it in just one game.But the Thunder's tactical arrangement is not something he can stop. Besides, Durant's existence itself is a huge threat. It is normal for Brooks to try his best to keep his firepower. He just feels that the opponent can quickly find a way to open the situation.

However, as soon as McMillan gritted his teeth, he still planned to continue to send out the lineup with Aldridge as the center in the last game, which was also his best choice.If the previous starting lineup is restored and Aldridge is allowed to play the fourth position, there is no doubt that he is not Durant's opponent on the defensive end, and he can only let the opponent shoot him to death from the outside.And if he continues to serve as the center, Ibaka can still be contained, but the burden of defending Durant is all on Cunningham.

Although Cunningham has made great progress, it is obviously impossible to wrestle with the league's top small forwards on the wing, and letting him defend alone is just better than nothing.McMillan's real idea is to hope that Ye Feng can use his height advantage to beat Harden at the third position, complete the exchange with Durant, limit Harden and use his own scoring to help the team, so that there is a chance Win the game.

For his decision, the Blazers players naturally have no objection.After they knew the Thunder's starting lineup for the second game, they felt very tricky, especially Aldridge. After seeing Durant's powerful scoring ability, he was a little afraid of this guy as the team's fourth position, but The coach's formation saved him.Camby, who was relegated to the bench, didn't care. He knew that if he played, the team would be like the Thunder in the first game.

In fact, what McMillan is most worried about is Cunningham. After all, this is only the second season of his career, and he has to take on the heavy responsibility of defending Durant alone.But unexpectedly, Cunningham himself, as if he had beaten chicken blood, vowed to complete the task.This is also the psychology of most NBA role players. They always hope to get a chance to give full play to themselves. If they perform well, they may be able to soar into the sky. This is also Cunningham's idea.

Ye Feng knew how difficult Durant was to guard, but he didn't tell Cunningham because he didn't want to hurt his teammates' confidence.Maybe Cunningham, with his enthusiasm, can cause Durant a lot of trouble, so the opportunity for the Blazers will appear.Ye Feng also admires the Thunder's change of formation. This is indeed a chance to restrain the Blazers' lineup, but the most critical question is whether Durant can take on the heavy responsibility of scoring. Otherwise, his outburst would be meaningless.

(End of this chapter)