Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 243 Coping
After a brief summary, the players all returned to their residences to rest, and will rush to San Antonio tomorrow morning to prepare for Game [-] of the Western Conference Finals.

But the coaching staff can't get off work so easily. Headed by Phil Jackson, they immediately took the video and technical statistics of the game back to the conference room for study. There are two games left, and they must find a way to lose Malone. case to win.

Regardless of Nene or Eldon Campbell, they can only end up being blown up in front of Duncan. The result of the fifth game has already clearly stated that it is impossible to limit Duncan and still think about killing the Spurs. Other scoring points , There are two ways in front of Zen Master, one is to continue the previous routine, lock other players, and let Duncan get points; the other is to flank Duncan and bet on the feel of other Spurs.

Moreover, all of these must be based on the normal offensive performance. Nene and Campbell did not have Malone's ball handling ability and shooting range on the offensive end. As a result, Duncan was able to recover the basket and help defend a lot, making Kobe and Wade's breakthrough change. It's hard.

Garnett can help defend to the three-point line to pinch the ball-handler one second, and sweep to the basket to protect the basket the next moment. Duncan does not have such a moving speed. In the Spurs system, the player who leads the opponent's ball-handler He will defend the center, use his footsteps to block the offensive player's route, and try to force the opponent to go to the bottom line to break through without missing a three-pointer. At this time, Duncan will appear in time to block the offensive player's route and complete a successful assist defense .At the same time, weak-side forward players, such as Ginobili or Prince, will fall back to pinch the passing lane.

In the previous few games, due to the presence of Malone, the experienced postman would adjust his position when his teammates broke through, making Duncan unable to take care of both. Once he helped defend, his teammates could easily find Malone, and Malone’s mid-range shots, including the second point The ball can hit the Spurs' defense.

In the last game, Kobe and Wade had no choice but to attack heavily because there was no such support point. However, when facing Duncan's defense, the effect was very poor, and the two fought frequently.

The members of the coaching staff are studying the countermeasures in full swing, but due to the lack of the team, they have not discussed a perfect strategy for a while.

"...Kevin switched to power forward? It doesn't make sense, because the Spurs can't match up as we envisioned. They will leave Kevin to Rasheed Wallace..."

"But if you don't do this, rebounding will suffer a lot! After all, there are two All-Star insiders on the opposite side, and now we are short of insiders! Once we can't protect the rebounds, there will be a series of reactions in the follow-up!"

"What we need to solve more urgently is the offensive problem! Once the offense is opened, even if the defensive end suffers a little bit, we can still suppress the opponent. Our backcourt is much stronger than the opponent..."

The coaching staff insisted on their own words, and the Zen master sat in his seat, resting his forehead with one hand, and said nothing.

"Phil, if you don't mind, I have a plan here, which can be used as a reference for you. After studying the data of the fifth game, I have some discoveries..." Jim walked into the meeting room and put a A document was handed to the Zen master.

The lights in the conference room were on all night. Except for the elderly Tex Winter and Bach, the others all wore trendy smoky makeup when they took a chartered flight to San Antonio the next day.

The Western Conference is in full swing, and the Eastern Conference is equally fierce.

The Pacers and Pistons, two traditional teams, met in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Under the leadership of Larry Brown, the Pistons have risen rapidly. The five positions are balanced and there are no obvious shortcomings. There are the best defensive player Ben Wallace and the all-round insider Brad Miller, and there are old fritters and aliens outside. Sam Cassell, scoring masters Michael Reid and Jerry Stackhouse, Larry Brown built the team according to the 76ers' routine, with good defense and rebounds inside, and pure scoring De and the others took turns in a single round, and the attack was extremely constipated, and the scene was extremely ugly.

After the Pacers strengthened Gary Payton and Hawley, the team's perimeter defense and space have improved, but age is a hurdle they can't get around. Reggie Miller is 39 years old and Payton is 36 years old. Hawley is 34 years old, and the average age of the starting lineup has reached 34.8 years old, which is the oldest team among the 29 teams in the league.In response to this situation, Rick Carlisle arranged for the team to reduce the tempo and consume as much as possible in positional battles. He used the configuration of one shark and four shots to maximize the power of O'Neal. The number of rounds of the Pacers was only higher than that of the Rockets. It is the second slowest team in the league.

Such a duel between the two teams can only be said to be intense, but definitely not exciting.

In the first game, the Pacers took the lead. O'Neal scored 26 points and 14 rebounds, and he fought against the Pistons' inside group by himself. If it weren't for Reggie Miller, who made 7 of 1 shots and Bruce Bowen, who made 6 of 1 shots, he was really undercover. , the Pacers won't win by only 6 points.

For the Pistons, Ben Wallace had 10 points and 22 rebounds, half of which was due to Brad Miller. He sacrificed his own data to defend O'Neal, and only scored 7 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.Michael Reid scored 22 points on 6-of-15 shooting, making steel.

The Pacers won 74-68.

In the second game, the Pistons turned away from the guest and pinched O'Neal desperately. The Sharks made 17 of 7 shots and only scored 20 points and 12 rebounds. Robert Hawley missed all 5 three-pointers and did not punish the Pistons' defensive strategy at all.

里德找回手感，14投8中得到21分，卡塞尔13投5中得到16分，活塞72比67扳回一局。

In the third game, the Pacers were a guest at the Palace Arena in Auburn Hills. O'Neal recovered, but the Pistons had no choice but to score 58 points with three shots from the outside. The 8 points turned into empty cuts.The Pistons defeated the Pacers at home 7 to 15, leading the score.

Losing home court advantage, the Pacers stood on the edge of the cliff in a last stand. Hawley played the best game of the series with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Reggie Miller scored 7 points on 6 of 15 shots. Payton scored 13 points and 8 assists With 4 steals and the collective explosion of his teammates, O'Neal, who was crazily double-teamed by the Pistons and only scored 17 points on 5 of 14 shots, won a rare game.

For the Pistons, Ben Wallace made 5 of 0 shots, 6 of 1 free throws, and scored 1 point and 19 rebounds. However, in the end, the basketball was still scored. 83 to 66, the Pacers won and regained the home court advantage .

In the battle of Tianwangshan, the Pacers came out on the bench. Fred Jones, the new dunk king, scored 3 consecutive three-pointers in the second quarter and successfully continued the poor performance of Reggie Miller. In terms of firepower and Pistons, Stackhouse played the best game of the series and scored 33 points, but other teammates felt cold. Reed only scored 8 points, and no one except Cassell scored in double figures. 81 wins and takes the lead.

(End of this chapter)