NBA: Start the water cooler and reach the Hall of Fame

When the Wizards came up with the triangle offensive tactic specially designed by Sanders for the five-out lineup, the Wizards' offense immediately opened up, because the space of this tactic was too big. Li Kaiming received the ball from the waist position on the edge of the penalty area. When the player is singled out, except for Hinrich who is passing the ball and receiving from the outside on the same side, the remaining three players on the Wizards are all on the other side.

Lewis, who plays the small forward position in the five-out lineup, can also take Hibbert out of the Pacers' interior, clearing up a very broad space for Li Kaiming to duel.

Of course, in addition to creating simple one-on-one or one-on-zero situations for the core of your team, the triangle offensive tactic also plays a very important role in reducing the core of the team's ball rights and using shot rights to make up for it. , giving the ball to other teammates who can control the pass. This is much easier than the traditional ball-holding and large-core play, and the team cooperation is also smoother.

To put it bluntly, in the triangle offense, the core of the team does not require the ball, and does not need to work so hard to hold the ball to launch an attack from the outside. Instead, as long as he runs to the position according to the tactics, there will be teammates who can pass the ball. When the ball is passed to him, the core of the team only needs to digest the final shot. Once he is double-teamed, he can quickly find other open shooters.

In short, in the Wizards' triangle offensive tactics, Li Kaiming needs to play a role like Jordan Kobe before. After running the tactics, he can catch the ball at the waist inside the three-point line, take decisive shots or attract double-team passes. To his teammates, the team's point guard Hinrich has become the person with the second-most tactical status in the Wizards team after Li Kaiming, because in this tactic, Hinrich is the core of the team's operation.

At the beginning, the Pacers were still following their previous defensive strategy, constantly double-teaming and assisting in harassing Li Kaiming. However, Li Kaiming found an outside shooter for two consecutive rounds and suddenly opened the point difference to nearly 10 points. Vogel immediately called a timeout.

After the timeout, the Pacers attacked. George received the ball and used the screen to reach the inside. Then he faced Brac's defense and switched hands to score. This ball was indeed very beautiful. It can score among the top five goals. This kind of ball It is a reflection of Paul George's star nature. The Wizards players did not feel any guilt for this. No matter how powerful the defense is, it is impossible to prevent the opponent from scoring a point.

The Wizards served to the frontcourt and still used the running triangle offensive tactic. Li Kaiming started from the other side of the court, and then used the screen to circle the three-point line and cut inside from the top of the arc. At this time, the Pacers also discovered during the timeout. As long as Li Kaiming is not allowed to receive the ball at the waist, the triangle offense cannot be played.

So DJ Augustine on the outside and David West, who was opposite Li Kaiming, involuntarily moved towards Li Kaiming's position, but Vogel still underestimated Sanders' triangle offensive tactics. If the triangle offense was so easy, If it can be defended, then the Bulls dynasty can still win two consecutive championships?

Hinrich passed the ball to Li Kaiming who was cutting inside, but this time he did not pass the ball and wait for the response on the outside like before, because Li Kaiming was being defended by Augustin and West at this time, which shows that This time the goal of creating one-on-one for Li Kaiming was no longer achievable.

The scariest thing about the triangle offense is that it is not a rigid tactic, nor is it a very complex tactic. Compared with specific tactics, the triangle offense is more like the starting point of an offensive tactic, based on the triangle offense. Countless tactics can be developed and changed on this basis.

For example, this time after Li Kaiming received the ball at the waist and was double-teamed, Hinrich on the outside quickly cut inside, and Li Kaiming who received the ball acted like he was playing volleyball. The ball touched his hand and left. The target was Hinrich who cut in from the top of the arc.

This simple two-person cooperation made the Pacers' defense instantly confused.

DJ Augustin didn't have time to defend in front of Hinrich, and Hibbert, who was supposed to be protecting the frame under the basket, was standing in the bottom corner anxious.

He didn't dare to return to defense at all. Because Lewis hit a three-pointer, he was pulled out directly to the bottom corner. If he let Lewis go to defend the basket now, it would not be surprising if Lewis was left in the bottom corner. A big opening!

In the end, Hinrich faced an empty basket and scored an easy layup, 46 to 38. This is the role of the triangle offensive tactic. It can create an easy one-on-zero opportunity. It is better than letting Li Kaiming dribble the ball on his own. It’s so much easier!

The Pacers served to attack. After reaching the frontcourt, DJ Augustin found a cover inside, and then broke through in one step. He was assisted by Li Kaiming in the penalty area, and then passed the ball to Stephenson on the outside. The latter took a dribble and shot directly, but the iron was hit.

Hibbert under the basket is still trying to grab offensive rebounds, but the center of the Wizards at this time is Li Kaiming. Although he is only 2 meters tall, he is the league's rebounding leader this season. Height is not the most important thing when grabbing rebounds. He is excellent. His rebounding awareness can make up for his lack of height.

Sakuragi Hanamichi's prototype Rodman is a typical example. He is less than 18 meters tall and averaged rebounds per game at his peak. According to him, he will specialize in studying the rotation and landing of the ball, so as to Get a seat in advance.

Although the current Li Kaiming's rebounding attributes are definitely not as good as those of peak Rodman, he is still much better than Gao Yuanyuan Hibbert. Hibbert has only averaged 8 rebounds per game this season. How good.

Li Kaiming estimated the ball's landing point after Stephenson took the shot, and then got stuck there in advance. By the time Hibbert reacted and wanted to use his height to grab the ball, Li Kaiming had already jumped high to win the rebound.

The ball was given to Hinrich with a dribble past half-court. The Wizards still started with a triangle offensive tactic. This time the Pacers also made progress defensively, preventing Li Kaiming from creating opportunities at the waist and Hinrich's incompetence. The ball was cut inside, but it also came at a cost.

After the Wizards' local two-on-two tactics took advantage of the pick-and-roll between Li Kaiming and Hinrich, the Pacers had to send someone from the other side of the court to help defend Hinrich's inward cut. Of course, Vogel was also prepared. , the small forward Paul George was sent, which means that the Pacers wanted to repeat the tactic of leaving Leonard open from the outside in the previous game.

But the Wizards' triangle offensive tactics also take this into consideration. After Leonard was released, he did not stand on the outside, but decisively cut inside. Li Kaiming gave the ball to Leonard who cut into the penalty area.

But this time Hibbert actually came directly to the basket, because in Vogel's perception, Leonard was completely unable to find Lewis in the corner in such a small space, and even if he saw an open space, he couldn't pass it out. ball!

But Vogel still takes it for granted. Leonard is not capable of passing it to Lewis, but who stipulates that this kind of ball can only be passed to Lewis?

After receiving the ball, Leonard neither distributed the ball to the outside nor chose to layup himself. Instead, he remained patient and dribbled in a circle and then to another corner.

Only then did Vogel realize that this was actually the follow-up tactic of the triangle offense. The previous times were another triangle formation, but this time when Leonard dribbled to the same side of Li Kaiming, it became Li Kaiming - Leonard Hinrich's triangle, Leonard passed the ball directly to Li Kaiming, who was backing up. The latter turned towards the top line, took one step to the position facing the basket, and then pulled up and hit a mid-range shot!

48 to 38! The game was almost half-time, and the Wizards finally expanded the point difference to double digits.

Because Vogel had just called a timeout not long ago, he chose to take another look this time while standing on the side of the court directing the Pacers' players to run or defend.

In addition to just calling a timeout, there is actually a more important reason. Vogel currently has no idea how to break the Wizards' triangle offense. He thought he had seen through Sanders' tactics before, but the Wizards just failed to follow up. It was just a change of tactics. When he called a timeout to adjust the defense, the Wizards' triangle offense also changed...

If this continues, the Pacers will always be led by the opponent, and the initiative in the game will be taken by the Wizards. Then this series will basically come to an end. If they lose this game, they will go to the game. Clicked!

So Vogel is going to observe again to see if there are any subsequent changes in the Wizards' triangle offense. Vogel is really patient, and he just endured the entire first half...

The game came to halftime, and the Wizards led the Pacers by 54 points 42 to 12 at halftime.

Vogel thought he had a pretty good understanding of the Wizards' triangle offense, but as soon as the second half started, he discovered that he was wrong, and he was so wrong!

The Wizards were able to win a record-breaking 82 games in 69 regular season games. In addition to Li Kaiming's strong strength, what is equally important is a stable team and system.

In other words, the foundation of the Wizards is very solid. Even if Sanders does not stand on the side of the court and personally direct, this group of players and the tactical system he established can defeat 60 to 70% of the league's players. team.

In other words, the Wizards' lower limit is too high. In the Eastern Conference, where the average strength is relatively weak, it can even be said that they can enter the playoffs with just a dozen games.

In this case, Sanders will certainly not focus on how to win more games in the regular season. Although the Wizards eventually broke the team record, this is a matter of course. Yes, no one in the team regards this as a goal.

Therefore, during the long regular season, Sanders can freely study the playoff opponents and, more importantly, hone the new team system and tactics.

The triangle offense was carried forward by Phil Jackson, who established two Bulls dynasties with three consecutive championships and a Lakers dynasty with three consecutive championships and two consecutive championships. Such tactics naturally have their own merits.

Of course, there is another important reason for Sanders to decisively choose the triangle offense, and that is that the triangle offense requires a team core with strong one-on-one ability and off-the-ball ability.

Sanders will never forget that afternoon, how excited he was when he took the triangle offense and used the Wizards lineup to deduce it, and found that it turned out to be so seamless...