NBA Building Cardinals

Chapter 260 261. Who do you want to face in the playoffs? (49)

sigh~
Just back from the second half, facing this opportunity, Prince chose a turnaround jumper.

Taking advantage of his excellent wingspan, even though Martin has taken off with all his strength on the defensive end, it is impossible to block Prince's shot.

They could only interfere as much as possible, but this goal was still steadily scored by Prince.

Seeing the ball on the field, Bickerstaff on the coach's bench covered his face and shook his head, not knowing what he was thinking.

Liu Rui, on the other hand, was expressionless, biting his finger off the court, and also didn't know what he was thinking.

For this scene on the field, Liu Rui obviously had mentally prepared after dispatching this lineup.

You can't have your cake and eat it at the same time, Liu Rui naturally understands this truth.

Under normal circumstances, even if you let go and play, unless the entire Bobcats team feels very good, the chances of winning the Pistons are too slim.

There has never been hope, so there is no way to talk about disappointment.

On the offensive end, sure enough, the presence of three guards at the same time made the Bobcats' offensive methods more diverse.

Faced with a small pick-and-roll, the Bobcats can make a variety of offensive options.

Coupled with the excellent passing ability of both Okafor and Wallace, the Bobcats' fluency on the offensive end has been greatly improved according to the first half.

However, in this game, the Bobcats did meet Da Ben, a center forward with a very fast defense speed.

Otherwise, this lineup of three defenders will definitely be able to exert strength beyond imagination.

At the end of the third quarter, the Pistons played on the road with:
72:65
Leading the Bobcats by 7 points, ended the first three quarters of the contest.

Perhaps for other teams, with a 7-point advantage, the Bobcats may only need a few offensive rounds to catch up.

But facing the Pistons, it is very difficult to score every time. Although there are only 7 points, in Liu Rui's view, the disadvantage of 7 points is probably more difficult than facing other teams with 10 points.

Although the Bobcats were still behind at the end of the third quarter, Liu Rui still felt a little excited when he saw the fluency of the three-back lineup on the court.

Because this means that the Bobcats may have another hole card in the future.

For this team, which is mostly composed of young players, this is obviously good news.

In the fourth quarter, Liu Rui gradually used lineup rotation to see if he had a chance to catch up with the score.

But as the game continued, it was difficult for Liu Ruijue's Bobcats to come back.

In order to avoid some unnecessary injuries, Liu Rui replaced all the main lineup in advance and started training time.

There are still more than six minutes on the court. Seeing Liu Rui give up the game so early, it obviously surprised Larry Brown on the sidelines.

Even the fans at home felt some dissatisfaction.

Although the fans can also feel that the Bobcats are not the opponents of the Pistons, if they continue to play, the chances of winning will not be great.

But in the eyes of the fans, even if the team loses, it should be helpless after doing their best.

Instead of choosing to disarm and surrender so early.

And Liu Rui, who was sitting on the sidelines, ignored the chaotic voices of the home fans.

Liu Rui naturally has his own ideas. For this game, Liu Rui didn't plan for the team to win before the game.

The reason why he keeps changing the lineup to try is that Liu Rui just wants to know how big the gap between the Bobcats and the Pistons is.

Obviously, up to now, Liu Rui already has the answer in his heart.

Then in the future, there is no need to plant too many hidden dangers for the players for this game.

As time ticked down, the Bobcats ended the game at home with:
86:95
Lost to the defending champion Pistons by 9 points.

In this game, Jefferson played the worst battle since joining the Bobcats.

面对着大本，全场8投仅2中，罚球2中2，只拿到了6分4篮板的数据。

Even after returning in the third quarter, Liu Rui was once abandoned.

Compared with Jefferson, another insider of the team, Okafor, although his performance on the offensive end is not outstanding, he still has a great contribution on the court.

全场比赛奥卡福9投4中，虽然只拿到了8分9篮板，但确有着高达8次的助攻。

While scoring a quasi-triple-double, he had 8 assists in a single game, which also created a new high for Okafor's personal career.

As for Wallace, this game can only be regarded as remarkable, scoring 15 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

Although the data has also reached the average level of this season, but the trend of the whole game has not changed much.

In the post-match press conference:
Reporter: "Coach Liu Rui, in the second half of the game, you once sent three defenders on the field. What was your thinking at that time?"

"I don't think there's a big fuss about it, every position for players is artificially defined now. I think it's very general for positions."

"I don't feel that there is anything wrong with three guards playing. I even think that the Bobcats are very satisfied with the game. However, there is indeed some gap between us and the Pistons."

"In any case, in the future, the players and I will try our best to win more games for the Bobcats."

As Liu Rui said, in this era, the position of players is very clear.

But in later generations, the position of the players will become very blurred.

Point guards don't necessarily have to handle the ball and run the offense.

The center does not necessarily have to be very good at protecting the frame.

Reporter: "So even if the Bobcats lose this game, they still maintain the seventh place in the Eastern Conference. According to the current probability, the Bobcats are very likely to meet the Pistons in the first round. What do you think about this?!"

Liu Rui: "Oh, sorry, I haven't thought that far yet. What I want to do now is to lead the team to win every game as much as possible."

"Also, if the Bobcats make the playoffs, I don't care too much about who the opponent is in the first round."

"Because no matter who the opponent is, the Bobcats will go all out, and winning the game is the team's common goal."

After dealing with a few more questions from the reporter, Liu Rui also got up and led the players back to the locker room.

After losing to the Pistons in this game, it also brought the Bobcats' record to 38 wins and 32 losses.

At present, it still ranks seventh in the Eastern Conference with a slight lead.

As for who he wants to face in the first round if he can enter the playoffs, Liu Rui certainly has his own ideas.

To be precise, apart from the Pistons in the Eastern Conference, Liu Rui has the confidence to lead the team to a battle...

(End of this chapter)