naaapseattle Chapter 317 The Vital Coaching Change
Chapter 317 The Vital Coaching Change
Chapter 317 The Vital Coaching Change
Orlando, Amway Center.
Two hours before the opening game of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bobcats' bus drove into the old arena that was about to be demolished.
The new Amway Center has already started construction not far away, and it is even almost completed. It can be put into use at the beginning of next season.
The fifth place in history to win the MVP and the spark of Dpoy at the same time, the new arena, coupled with consecutive breaks into the Eastern Conference Finals, and the possibility of consecutive breaks into the Finals, it seems that the future of the Magic is very bright...
"It's time to end their goodness..."
Li Ke clenched his fists and led the Bobcats' large team into the visiting team's locker room.
The strategy of the game has been determined long ago, the defense is man-to-man, the penalty area relies on crowd tactics, and the offense remains unchanged.
Then there is nothing to say, as soon as he entered the locker room, Rivers was very silent.
Li Ke silently changed out of his formal clothes, put on his jersey and sports jacket, and then sat staring at Rivers.
He knew that Rivers would not be so quiet forever.
The time is one minute and one second, and there is still an hour before the start of the game——
Sure enough, Rivers started: "I don't think I am a failed coach, I have a best coach trophy."
As he spoke, he opened his backpack, revealing a brand new best coach trophy.
"That's it. When I picked it up, it happened to be the head coach of the Magic."
"But I coach the Magic, and the playoffs can only go to the first round at most."
"Later coaching the Celtics, relying on the Big Three, I finally broke through the first round..."
Up to this point, the players in the locker room still don't know what Rivers wants to express. Li Ke has already thought of it, the Eastern Conference Finals in 08.
"Then came the second round, also with the Celtics, and then the Eastern Conference Finals... No, there was no Eastern Conference Finals, because of that Eastern Conference Finals, I lost."
lost?The players present were stunned, but the Bobcats' old players had already followed Rivers' train of thought and remembered the Eastern Conference Finals in 08.
"With me sitting on an unprecedented Big Three, lose!"
"The one who gave me that loss, coincidentally, is the Bobcats I am coaching now..."
"At that time, no one could have imagined that the Bobcats would win and the Celtics would lose, but it happened."
"I am a loser in the Eastern Conference Finals, but you are not, Sheldon, Gerrard, you are winners, Stephen, Wesley, you are rookies participating in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time, you are not losers."
"Only me, the only loser..."
"That's why I joined the Bobcats."
"It's the East Finals in front of us. As long as everyone here joins me and fights side by side, we can be branded as winners forever!"
Li Ke stroked his chin and thought: The angle of this chicken soup is really strange.
Does it work, so-so.
But turning around, Li Ke found that Curry and Jordan, who were still a little nervous, showed relaxed smiles.
Immediately, he understood the effect of Rivers' words.
It's not that the chicken soup made people's blood boil, but it made all the young players of the Bobcats relieve their nervousness.
Li Ke knew why these young players were not nervous anymore. To put it bluntly, they were led by someone.
But Li Ke thought at the same time that the group of strong men in the locker room of the home team next door seemed to be winners of the Eastern Conference finals.
This year's Eastern Conference Finals can also be regarded as the 08 Eastern Conference champion, facing the 09 Eastern Conference champion.
The difference is that the 08 Eastern Conference champions entered the finals and defeated the Lakers.
The 09 Eastern Conference champion entered the finals, but gave the Lakers a championship. This is the gap...
……
Amway Center, the real Eastern Conference champions meet the fake Eastern Conference champions.
In TNT's commentary booth, Kenny Smith and Barkley were replaced by Steve Colgamaf Albert.
In the discussion before the game, they insisted on their own opinions——
"In the regular season, the Magic were 3-1 to the Bobcats, or the timeline was stretched. Since the 08-09 season, the Bobcats lost more than they won against the Magic. In last year's playoffs, the Bobcats just lost to the Magic. They still lost with a total score of 1 to 4 and had no power to fight back..."
Steve Kerr's opening remarks have already made it very clear that he is not optimistic about the Bobcats.
The reason is simply and rudely listed the Bobcats' past record against the Magic.
Indeed, as he said, the Bobcats' past record against the Magic could not be worse.
Steve Kerr is still conservative. If he stretches the timeline to the 07-08 season, the Bobcats will still lose more than win against the Magic.
Groom Albert didn't quite agree: "The past record doesn't mean anything, Steve, we have to look at the present. They swept the Bucks 4-0 in the first round, and then swept the Cavaliers 4-0 in the second round. You can't see how good the Bobcats are, can you?"
"Status? Are the Magic in a bad state? They also swept in the first round, but in the second round, they just lost an extra game."
"That's right, after losing one more game to the Eagles, the No. [-] player in the East, the Bobcats swept the No. [-] Cavaliers in the East. The regular season record shows that in the East, the Magic, Bobcats, and Cavaliers are in the first echelon. Isn't it enough for the Bobcats to sweep the Cavaliers in the same echelon as them?"
"The Cavaliers are a regular season team. In the past three seasons, they have always been able to achieve excellent regular season records. In the playoffs, they will never reach the conference finals."
"Then let's talk about the final game between the Bobcats and the Magic in the regular season..."
To put it bluntly, before the Eastern Conference Finals series really started, the Bobcats and Magic were too evenly matched.
It is difficult to analyze the substantive things from the past record and the matchup of the players. If the game is not played, no one knows who will win and who will lose.
Even Li Ke on the court doesn't know the future direction of this round of the series...
As a Bobcat man, there is only one thing he can be sure of, that is: the Bobcats can make a lot of changes, but the Magic cannot.
Before the game, he shook hands with referee Dan Crawford, who had been killed by his own eyes several times in the previous series, and Li Ke stood in the middle of the court.
He quickly saw the Magic's starting lineup, and it really didn't change.
"Center Dwight Howard, power forward Brandon Bass, small forward Michael Pietrus, shooting guard Vince Carter, point guard Aaron Brooks..."
The Magic's power forward position is the only uncertainty for the Bobcats, but when he saw Brandon Bass, Li Ke was happy.
Stan Van Gundy seems to have remembered that the Bobcats were fierce on rebounds at the end of the regular season. Therefore, in this game, he did not dare to start the billionaire Rashad Lewis or Ryan Anderson, but let Bass, who can protect rebounds, start.
"Stan Van Gundy probably didn't expect that in this game, we're going to be a pure freshman and junior, right?"
Not only did Stan Van Gundy not expect it, but neither did Steve Kerr and Marv Albert in the commentary.
"Point guard Stephen Curry, shooting guard Wesley Matthews, small forward Shelton, power forward Gerald Wallace, center DeAndre Jordan... This is actually a lineup that is almost one big and four small. Are the Bobcats going to give up their defense against Dwight?"
Throughout the first two rounds of the playoffs, the defenses the Sparks encountered were, without exception, double-teams.
Without double-teaming, the opponent will not be able to hold this scurrying monster.
The bobcats' primary and four juniors don't seem to have the conditions to double-team, which is naturally surprising.
"Dump ball, DeAndre Jordan vs. Dwight Howard!"
Snapped!
As soon as the whistle sounded, Jordan, who was holding back his energy, jumped first and dialed the basketball.
Immediately, he landed and waved his fist excitedly.
The spark of the big boy's mentality will not be angry because of this, but this beam has been settled, and the spark has made up his mind. He will return to the offensive end later, he will score a goal, and then swing this fist back...
Let's not mention what Sparks think.
The Bobcats, who got the right to start the game, quickly attacked the frontcourt, and there was no doubt that Curry was in control of the ball.
For the Magic, the focus of the offensive end is on the perimeter. After all, getting into the penalty area is to face the dominant defense of the peak spark.
So, on the outside line, Li Ke quickly circled from the sideline, rushed to the top of the arc, and gave Curry a single block sideways.
Everyone but the Bobcats agreed that it wasn't a screen, it was supposed to be a hand-to-hand match.
Throughout the games in which the Bobcats need to attack from the outside, Li Ke is the first to attack the frame.
But in this game, the Bobcats are different.
"Outside line, single block, Stephen Curry went out!"
"Magic's perimeter defense misjudged, they completely emptied Stephen Curry..."
"It's deadly!"
Before the groom Albert's words fell, Curry rushed two steps forward, raised his hand and threw the ball in an unmarked state.
Swish-!
"The ball was scored, and the Bobcats opened up their offense at the beginning!"
Although it was only a 2 points, both Steve Kerr and Marv Albert understood that it meant—
Next, the Bobcats' offense and the Magic's defense have to expand infinitely.
And this is precisely the seven inches of magic.
If you want to say whether the Magic's defense is strong or not, it is very strong. In terms of statistics, it is the top two in the league this season.
But the Magic's defense is strong in the penalty area, and everything is based on the single-player dominance of the penalty area.
When the Bobcats pull the offense to the perimeter without breaking into the penalty area, the Magic's defense is far from strong.
In the backcourt, Sparks drove the ball to Xiaobu from outside the sideline.
Xiao Bu controlled all the way to the frontcourt. At this moment, Stan Van Gundy was in a hurry.
When the defense is facing collapse, all they can rely on is offense.
If this game turns into an offensive game, the Magic still have hope of beating the Bobcats.
"The Magic's offense, the quick change of positions on the outside, emptied the left side."
"Aaron Brooks drives fast, Steph Curry defends tenaciously."
"There was no chance from outside, but Xiao Heidou successfully sent the ball to the basket."
"It's Dwight with the ball now..."
The sparks got the ball, whether the Bobcats double-teamed, the suspense is at this time.
"Teaming? Yes!"
Li Ke quickly threw Pietrus aside, and cooperated with Jordan Jr., pinching the sparks to death in this area on the left.
"It was Sheldon who came out to attack Dwight. I really didn't expect it."
The groom Albert shook his head, and what made him even more unexpected was that it was not Little Jordan, but Li Ke who got stuck behind Huo Hua and resisted Huo Hua.
Huge power began to exert force, Huo Hua wanted to turn around, but he was stuck to death by Li Ke and couldn't turn at all.
Tried to take a half step back, Huo Hua wanted to half turn around and hook his hand, but Jordan's long arms completely covered him again.
Such a double-team lineup directly turned the beasts in the penalty area into trapped beasts.
Very helpless, can only pass the ball...
"Dwight, turn around and want to hit, but you can't hit, so you can only pass..."
"Outside, the one who catches the ball is not Michael Pietrus in the open state, but the little black bean who is closely watched by Stephen Curry."
It is too difficult to pass the ball directly to find an open teammate. It is as strong as Lebron, and there is no guarantee that this can be done every round, let alone sparks.
Xiao Heidou received the ball again, and the Magic had no choice but to reorganize their offense.
Seeing Li Ke, who had already switched to the fourth position and stood extremely close to the sparks, Xiao Heidou gave up the idea of sending the ball to the basket.
Turning his head, he made another forced breakthrough, making a mid-range shot against Curry's follow-up defense.
Bang-dang-!
hit the iron...
Under the basket, in the rebound competition, the spark was caught by Jordan Jr., Li Ke jumped up, won the confrontation with Brandon Bass, and took off the rebound.
"Sheldon's rebound, the Bobcats are about to counterattack, this is a wave of counterattack!"
The attempt to counterattack can only be attempted in the face of the magic that retreats as fast as the tide.
In the frontcourt, Li Ke stopped the ball, waited until Curry, leaned over, and made another pick and roll.
"Sheldon, he actually asked Curry to hit a pick-and-roll?"
No one thought that Li Ke would ask Curry to play a pick-and-roll. Everyone thought that this was a hand-to-hand cooperation.
As a result, it's a pick-and-roll.
"Block it, take it apart!"
"Sheldon shook off Little Black Bean and raised his hand to throw!"
Swish-!
"It's 4 to 0. Although it's only 4 to 0, why do I feel that this game is over?"
Groom Albert "uttered wild words", and Steve Kerr, who was originally not optimistic about the Bobcats, fell silent.
It has to be said that in this game, the first three rounds alone are enough to see the state gap between the two teams.
In the backcourt, the Magic kicked off from the sideline again, and it was still Little Black Bean, who controlled the ball to the frontcourt.
Immediately after, Carter stepped forward and took over the ball.
He made a sudden one, and against the interference of Wesley Matthews, he also threw an iron.
After watching this wave of offense, Steve Kerr also began to shake his head: "The gap is too big. The Bobcats obviously came prepared. They pulled out a set of some...emmm, some novel pick-and-roll play, Sheldon and Curry's pick-and-roll..."
"It's a bit like the Schett pick-and-roll in the NCAA back then, but the difference is that the pick-and-roll with Li Ke was changed from Kevin Durant to the shorter and thinner Stephen Curry."
"As a result, the pick-and-roll had a miraculous effect at the beginning, and the Magic, which was unprepared for it, immediately messed up..."
When Steve Kerr was talking about this, Groom Albert interrupted him: "No, it's not that the Magic are in a mess. The Magic's defense is not strong on the outside. The Bobcats' offense is just grabbing the Magic's seven inches and hitting hard. It has achieved the desired effect."
"To sum it up, that's the pre-game gap. Doc Rivers beat Stan Van Gundy."
"The mid-term coaching change of the Bobcats is very important..."
(End of this chapter)