basketball hero

Chapter 330 Dislocation Defense
At 5:18 on May 9th, the first game of the much-watched Western Conference Finals will be held at the American Airlines Center Arena, the home of the Dallas Mavericks. The two sides are the Mavericks and the Thunder.

These two teams were ranked 3rd and 4th in the regular season, and it is indeed surprising that these two teams meet in the Western Conference Finals.Before the start of the playoffs, everyone's expectation for these two teams is to enter the second round, and then as a foil for the defending champion Lakers and the No. 2 Spurs in the Western Conference, they both lost in the semifinals.

But the facts are staggering. The Spurs were "black eight" and the defending champion was swept. According to the situation in previous years, the probability of such a big upset is very low, but it happened this season, and they all appeared in one division. .

The power of the league has begun to change, and new powers are slowly rising. This is also the charm of the NBA and the charm of competitive sports. - There is no eternal overlord.

The Mavericks had a full week more rest than the Thunder that participated in the tiebreaker.Sufficient rest allows the veterans in the team to recover their physical fitness, but too long a rest is not all a good thing. When a person is in that kind of intense competitive state, a long rest will make people feel better when they encounter a game of the same intensity. Some are uncomfortable and even risk injury.Of course, this is all theoretical. The Mavericks have rich experience and will naturally maintain their state in other ways to avoid unfavorable situations.

The American Airlines Center Arena has long been occupied by enthusiastic fans.You know, the last time this Mavericks reached the Western Conference Finals was in 06.That year, they finally broke into the finals, but unfortunately lost to the Miami Heat with a total score of 2:4.

The Mavericks this season, even though the regular season stumbled, but since the start of the playoffs, the momentum has been like a rainbow, the veterans in the team are in good condition, and they are already the most promising team in the Western Conference to enter the finals.Facing the inexperienced Thunder team, they naturally have the confidence to defeat their opponents and make it to the finals again.

Ying Xiong is no stranger to the Thunder. Not only are there games between the two teams in the regular season, he also played against Durant and Westbrook of the Thunder in the World Championships in Turkey.

So both sides are familiar with each other's strength, but in the Mavericks, Ying Xiong played 3D, while in the Chinese men's basketball team, he is the absolute core of the backcourt.

In this game, the starting lineup of the Mavericks at home is: center - Tyson Chandler, power forward - Dirk Nowitzki, small forward - Sean Marion, shooting guard - Ying Xiong, organization Guard - Jason Kidd.

The Thunder's starting lineup for the away game is: Center - Kendrick Perkins, Power Forward - Serge Ibaka, Small Forward - Kevin Durant, Shooting Guard - Sabo Sefolosha, Point guard - Russell Westbrook.

As soon as the starting lineups of the two sides appeared, there was a clear contrast: on the Mavericks side, the starting lineup was over 30 years old. If this is counted as a substitute lineup, the average age is even older; Besides, the other 26 people are all young people in their early 4s, and they haven't reached their peak yet.

——The potential of the Thunder is terrifying!
For the Mavericks, facing this group of people in front of them, they can still use experience to compete with each other this season. If they face these people in another two seasons, they can surrender directly.

The much-anticipated Western Conference finals began after a jump ball near the middle circle.

The Thunder got the first wave of offensive possessions, and Westbrook slowly dribbled over.

To the surprise of the fans at the scene, it was not the old Kidd who defended Westbrook, but Ying Xiong who played the 2nd position.

Coach Brooks of the Thunder immediately understood Coach Carlisle's intention: use the youngest and most energetic player in the starting lineup to defend Westbrook, and let the old Kidd defend the 3D player Sefolosha with mediocre offensive ability.This trick is not cunning. Misplaced defense is actually not uncommon in NBA games, but it also has its drawbacks.First of all, Kidd has no big problem defending Sefolosha, who is not very offensive, but there is still a height gap of about 10cm between the two. Once Sefolosha shoots from the outside, the old Kidd will definitely not interfere with him as well as Ying Xiong In addition, and the most important point, is Ying Xiong, who is 203cm, really able to keep up with Westbrook, who is 191cm?

If Ying Xiong can't defend against Westbrook, then this misplaced defense will be meaningless at all.

Ying Xiong's defense against Westbrook is not like defense against Kobe, where the whole court fights.Westbrook's physical fitness has always been very good.Of course, the most important thing is that Westbrook is not as important to the Thunder as Kobe is to the Lakers.If he really wants to compete with the opponent in physical fitness, he will choose Durant.

Ying Xiong defends against Wei Shao, mainly to prevent breakthroughs, but it is not a big step. After all, although the opponent is not a sharp shooter, he is not a guard who has no shots.

The Thunder's tactics are not complicated, and can even be said to be relatively simple.Perkins and Sefolosha on the field are not very involved in offense, and are mainly responsible for defense.Perkins picks and misses at the basket, occasionally engages in two offenses, does not expand the tactics of post-up singles, and rarely connects with the outside line; Sefolosha is mainly responsible for shooting 2-pointers on the offensive end, defensively He is not tired.

The Thunder's offensive power is mainly concentrated in the hands of Durant and Westbrook. Ibaka has offensive power, but he also focuses on off the ball.This kind of division of labor is relatively clear. The team's offense does not pass many balls, so there are not many turnovers.

Here Westbrook and Perkins pick and roll, Perkins has the same body shape as a door panel, and the quality of the pick and roll is very high.However, although his pick-and-roll quality is good, he has no range, and his speed is not fast, and his attack effect is not good.

We all know that if the offensive big man who helps the ball handler pick and roll has excellent shooting ability and the quality of the pick and roll is good, it is quite difficult for the defense.

Tyson Chandler's defensive awareness is very good, he quickly came out to delay, giving Ying Xiong time to bypass the screen.

Ying Xiong moved very quickly and quickly returned to his position.Although Perkins went smoothly, he was quickly caught up by Tyson Chandler. Even if Westbrook wanted to pass it to him at this time, it would be very risky.

Westbrook's shooting is not his best, so under a solid pick-and-roll like Perkins, he can't single-block and pull up 3 points because the certainty is not high.His strongest ultimate move is still breaking through.

Under Ying Xiong's defense, Westbrook is very uncomfortable when he wants to pull out, because he will always be interfered by the long arm; if he breaks through, he will not take advantage of Ying Xiong's excellent movement.

On Durant's side, facing Marion's defense, he played very well, hit consecutive 3-pointers, and went against Nuo Tianwang.

Wei Shao was entangled by Ying Xiong, which made the starting "Thunder 2 Shao" seem to be limping a leg, unable to form the effect of "two swords combined".

(End of this chapter)