basketball task

Chapter 305 It's Playoffs Again

"Back to the jumper?"

Qian Ning frowned, thinking about it.

The next day, in the training ground of the Wachovia Center Arena in Philadelphia, Sam Cassell, who can play the role of the elves without makeup, started his veteran lectures. Kyle Lowry and Dragic mainly learned about Observation and judgment of the situation on the court, how to do the right thing at the right time, this is the ability of an excellent point guard.

And another special point guard in the Philadelphia 76ers, Sean Livingston, followed Sam Cassell to learn the technique of turning back singles and turning jumpers.

After being signed by Channing at the bottom line, Livingston didn't have much playing time in the Philadelphia team this season. Basically, he only played in garbage time. His personal performance was also quite satisfactory. After the serious injury, Livingston's speed and explosiveness disappeared. He didn't dare to fight fiercely, and could only rely on occasional open shots to get some points, so his scoring average was only 2.1 points per game, not as good as Dragic.

Although he remained healthy throughout the season, Livingston was not reconciled to becoming a drinking fountain administrator, and he has been thinking about how to change his style of play.

The back-up turnaround jumper is Channing's suggestion to Livingston.

With a tall point guard of more than two meters, Livingston faced most of the first positions and even some thin second positions. He had an absolute advantage in height and shape. He lost his speed and explosive power, so he naturally couldn't play a pull-up jumper. With the high-end style of play like the fadeaway jumper, the back shot is the most suitable.

It just so happens that, similar to Gary Payton, Sam Cassell also has the post-up singles skills inherited from the old-fashioned point guards. It is very suitable for him to teach Livingston.

It was a common tactic during the Warriors' period to let Livingston play back to punish small players. Channing copied the Livingston instruction manual written by Steve Kerr, hoping to play a good role.

If Livingston's trick is practiced well enough, the Philadelphia 76ers will develop a third ball-holding strong point besides Yao Ming and Channing, which can well make up for Lowry, Battier, Pietrou Weaknesses such as Adams, Ibaka and others who can’t attack with the ball, Livingston can act as a misplaced punisher on the outside for most of the time when Channing and Yao Ming split up to lead the team, which can be regarded as a very practical trick .

The three hit it off, and with two months left before the playoffs, Livingston began his special training on new technologies.

After the trade deadline, the staffing of NBA teams will basically not change, and each team will step up their running-in around the existing player framework and prepare for the playoffs.

The run-in between Jason Thompson and the Philadelphia team is coming to an end. After 10 [-] minutes of actual combat every night, Thompson has a clear understanding of the Philadelphia team's style of play and the team's requirements for himself. With the pick-and-roll cooperation, Thompson knows exactly when Channing wants to play by himself and when he will pass the ball to himself.

Relying on the skilled pick-and-roll with Channing, Thompson has become a very important substitute player inside Philadelphia. He is a very good pie eater and rebounder, and his feet are more flexible than ordinary centers when changing defenses. Channing gave Thompson a high evaluation.

At the point guard position, the Philadelphia team made a variety of attempts in the last two months of the regular season. Except for starter Kyle Lowry, whose playing time was fixed at about 25 minutes per night, he originally played 10 minutes per night. The minutes of Dragic dropped to about five to 10 minutes, and the more than ten minutes left were shared by Sam Cassell and Livingston.

Dragic's defense and confrontation can't keep up with the team's footsteps. Sometimes he is grabbed and beaten by the opponent as soon as he comes on the court, so Cheeks reduced his playing time and let Sam Cassell and Livings Do a lot of beating to find out the status.

Due to these lineup problems, the Philadelphia team also lost some games that they should not have lost in the last two months. The number of wins was gradually overtaken by the Cavaliers and Lakers, and they lost the number one throne in the Eastern Conference.

On April 2009, 4, the last regular season game of this season ended, and the rankings of all teams were officially settled.

The top eight in the East are:
No. 66 in the East: Cleveland Cavaliers, 16 wins and [-] losses, led by the little emperor to the top of the league;

Second in the East: Philadelphia 76ers, 64 wins and 18 losses, Channing and Yao Ming Chinese double stars shine in the NBA;

Third in the East: Celtics, 62 wins and 20 losses, the Celtics first rose and then fell, Garnett's season reimbursement is worrying;
Fourth in the East: Orlando Magic, 59 wins and 23 losses, Howard's one-star shooting is the deadly rival of Philadelphia;
Fifth in the East: Atlanta Hawks, 47 wins and 35 losses, led by Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, and Mike Bibby, the Hawks are extremely unstable;
Sixth in the East: Miami Heat, 43 wins and 39 losses, Wade's helper is worse than James;
Seventh in the East: Chicago Bulls, 41 wins and 41 losses, No. [-] pick Rose became the biggest favorite;
Eighth in the Eastern Conference: Detroit Pistons, 39 wins and 43 losses. I didn't expect Iguodala to become a master in Detroit.

The top eight in the West are:
No. 65 in the West: Los Angeles Lakers, 17 wins and [-] losses, Kobe's obsession with the championship is extremely strong;

Second in the West: San Antonio Spurs, 54 wins and 28 losses, and it's an odd year again;
Third in the West: Portland Trail Blazers, 54 wins and 28 losses, the healthy Roy deserves the title of Yellow Mamba;
Fourth in the West: Dallas Mavericks, 49 wins and 33 losses, Nowitzki's Western Cowboys cannot be underestimated at any time;

Fifth in the West: New Orleans Hornets, 49 wins and 33 losses, Paul led the team to continue to hit the floor of the Western Conference Finals;

Sixth in the West: Utah Jazz, 48 wins and 34 losses, Deron wants to prove himself;

Seventh in the West: Phoenix Suns, 46 wins and 36 losses, the Sharks and the Suns are not compatible;
Eighth in the Western Conference: Denver Nuggets, 44 wins and 38 losses. Although Iverson failed to make it, the golden guns are already close.

Looking at the members of this year's East and West playoffs, many commentators have commented that the strength of the West has weakened compared to before, while many upstarts have risen in the East.

In addition to the Lakers in the West, only the old Spurs and the new generation of Blazers have achieved 50+ wins. The main reason is that many powerful players have encountered various problems this year. The Nuggets management failed to trade Iverson. Anthony Because of this, the golden double guns became silver-like pewter gun heads; the Suns introduced O'Neill, and the big sharks in the twilight of his career couldn't adapt to the sun's bombardment style, which also led to Steve Nash's average data per game. It dropped to 15.7 points and 9.7 assists, and was surpassed by Paul in all aspects; another former regular player in the playoffs, the Houston Rockets, after Yao Ming left and McGrady was reimbursed, only Billups was left to support him, and in the end he only won. 40 wins, no playoffs.

(End of this chapter)