stonecrandall Chapter 503 Are you ready to challenge me?
Chapter 503 Are you ready to challenge me?
Sakuragi Hanamichi performed his best performance since his debut.
41 points and 26 rebounds in the game. Although most of the points were based on eating cakes, eating cakes can score 41 points and 26 rebounds. This is considered a top insider anyway. show.
Doris was dumbfounded, and Buckley was almost grinning.
Many people had previously predicted that the Lakers and Cavaliers would have a great chance of winning against the Sonics, and listed countless comparisons of the pros and cons of the two sides. The most frequently mentioned one is that the Sonics are not as good as the Lakers and Cavaliers on the inside.
Although the Sonics' outside offense has been greater than their inside offense in the past few seasons, the strength of the inside line can ensure outside rebounds and give outside players more confidence in shooting. This in itself is one of the reasons why the Sonics are strong on the outside.
More importantly, when only the outside line can support Lin Dong on the offensive end, then as long as the defensive space is opened to a certain extent and the SuperSonics outside line is blocked, the offensive connection between Lin Dong and the team can be well cut off. , and finally turned into a siege by the whole team against Lin Dong alone.
But if the Sonics also have strong offensive capabilities inside, then the difficulty of defense will not be as simple as just marking one more person.
To put it bluntly, the Sonics are inherently strong on the outside, which cannot be blocked casually. You can only deal with it through regional defense, clearing up inside space, etc. You have to spread out the defensive formation.
But if you want to deal with the Sonics' inside line now, it would be fine if Lin Dong didn't exist. Yao Ming or O'Neal undoubtedly have the ability to defend Sakuragi Hanamichi alone, but if these two people try their best to defend Sakuragi, Lin Dong What if you rush in?
It's impossible to defend against Lin Dong alone. You can only rely on O'Neal or Yao to attack from a flank.
But as soon as you flank him, he will pass the ball to Sakuragi Hanamichi.
Did outside players come in for defense at this time?
It's simply too late, so you can only shrink the defensive circle from the beginning and strengthen your control on the inside.
But if the defensive circle is narrowed from the beginning, the outside line is missed again...
Lin Dong alone is enough to break the team's original matchup balance. The Lakers and Cavaliers originally relied on their advantages in other positions to squeeze out a little space each to deal with it, but now...
Fans and commentators across the United States fell silent.
The SuperSonics, which has both internal and external support, is almost an unsolvable problem under the leadership of Lin Dong. Even Zen Master can't find the answer for a while.
Everyone is turning their attention to the Grizzlies, trying to see who won the NBA's best coach in the 1986 season. He has coached the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers, and also worked as a commentator for TNT for several years. Finally, Can Mike Fratello, the old guy who was rehired by the Memphis Grizzlies with a huge sum of money, give a standard answer?
As a veteran NBA coach who has been through the fire for a long time, he has been active at the forefront of NBA commentary even after retiring in 1998. His understanding of the technical and tactical changes in the NBA can be said to be first-class. Fratello’s coaching level and adaptability There is no need to question your ability.
Of course, even Fratello, no one expected the Grizzlies to beat the Sonics or cause too much trouble to the Sonics. After all, the score in the first half of the first game was too heart-wrenching. Most of the main players clocked out at halftime, otherwise G1 would have set a record for the largest point difference in the NBA playoffs.
However, people still expect to see some changes and attempts, especially for the SuperSonics inside line. This can provide a good reference for the Cavaliers and Lakers, and help them defeat the SuperSonics and the Asian devil, the ultimate goal of the entire league. And make an effort.
These people were silent and waiting anxiously, because they could see the strength of the SuperSonics and the strength gap between the two teams.
However, many laymen on the Internet found a new point of excitement after a night of silence-that Sakuragi Hanamichi was just a moment of good luck. Which All-Star player has not performed brilliantly in the NBA? He is indeed young and promising, but to say that he now has the ability to balance the Lakers and Cavaliers inside is too exaggerated. Just watch, he will show his prototype in the second game!
This argument made many Sonics trolls grasp at a life-saving straw. They praised and praised it one after another, and it actually attracted a burst of alternative attention.
This is the first time that fans across the United States are paying attention to the Sonics other than Lin Dong.
So everyone is looking forward to the G2 battle between the Sonics and the Grizzlies. After the failure in the last game, the Grizzlies will definitely learn a lesson and at least give the arrogant red-haired monkey a good look.
Phil Jackson and Mike Brown, the head coaches of the Lakers and Cavaliers, quietly flew to Seattle overnight and sat in the SuperSonics home arena wearing sunglasses.
Of course they didn't come to see Hanamichi Sakuragi 'show his prototype'. From their perspective, the Sonics are deliberately feeding the ball to the outside this season. This has long been recognized, and they have even seen it through some details. Looking at Sakuragi Hanamichi's improvement on the offensive end this season, I just didn't expect such a big improvement.
Will G2 show its prototype? Zen Master and Mike Brown would not have such naive ideas.
They just want to see it clearly and find out the answer on the court - to see how Mike Fratello balances defending the Sonics' inside and outside lines.
On April 27, the G2 game between the SuperSonics and the Grizzlies kicked off with much attention.
The ratings of more than 60 million people really amazed the league and the media. I thought that the whole country was paying attention to the SuperSonics' game against the Lakers and the game against the Cavaliers, but I really didn't expect that the Grizzlies' game that was used to 'pave the way' actually turned out. can have such high ratings.
It’s just the game process and results...
Fratello has indeed made a lot of adjustments to the team's defensive end in the past two days, but what disappoints Phil Jackson and others is that his adjustment methods are actually the two most talked about by laymen on the Internet. Whichever is less harmful to one's power'.
The Grizzlies do not have the ability to defend the SuperSonics' inside and outside lines at the same time, so they narrowed the defensive circle and focused on attacking the inside line. They not only used the crowd tactics inside to block Lin Dong and Sakuragi Hanamichi's impact on the basket, but also used this Try to get as many rebounds as possible to freeze the SuperSonics' perimeter feel.
In the eyes of a master like Zen Master, this is the most mediocre and stupid move.
This is the NBA, this is the SuperSonics!
Betting on someone else's outside line being inaccurate?
It seems that the few years of leaving the NBA and becoming a commentator have made Fratello, the legendary NBA coach, lose touch with reality to a certain extent and no longer focus on basketball itself as he once did.
Facing such a team, if you choose to put the outcome of the game on luck and gambling, it is actually equivalent to admitting defeat.
Of course... when they thought of this, Zen Master and Mike Brown couldn't help but laugh at themselves while secretly cursing Fratello.
I scolded Fratello for making stupid moves and being out of touch with reality, but the fact is that he didn't think of any good tricks... Maybe Fratello didn't know this? It's just that there is really nothing to do, so the dead horse Quan becomes the living horse doctor.
as expected.
After shrinking the defensive circle, the Grizzlies really froze Sakuragi Hanamichi, and when the Grizzlies had no one to face Lin Dong alone, they also restricted Lin Dong's shots. This is another benefit of shrinking the defensive circle. , after all, one-on-one is not enough, and two defenses are not enough. Then only use one strong player to defend Lin Dong from the outside for 3 points, and use the other 4 people to form a sea of strategy on the inside. No matter how strong Lin Dong is, he can only have two occasionally. It's impossible for him to fly over these four people and score every time.
But as soon as you shrink, the Sonics' perimeter surges.
Iguodala actually made 4 of 4 3-pointers in the first quarter, while Chandler shot 1 of 2. The main thing is that if someone dares to leave me open, I dare to shoot, and if I dare to shoot, I dare to score!
The Grizzlies, who were afraid of being shot, had to separate Jones to defend alone. Jones's defensive ability is still good, and under the tight defense of 3 points, even Iguodala really didn't have many chances to shoot.
One person can be assigned to guard Lin Dong for 3 points, and another person can be assigned to guard Iguodala. After the inside line shrinks, the remaining three-person combination must always pay attention to Chandler's slip out. This big man also has 3 points!
It's said to be shrinking, but most of the time there are only two people inside. Gasol + Mike Miller's inside line is almost out of control against Sakuragi Hanamichi and Lin Dong.
It cannot be restricted at all...
So in the second quarter, the SuperSonics' outside scoring began to decrease, but the inside was frequently successful. After a few 2+1s, Pau Gasol, who was on fire, had already accumulated 4 fouls, and his lethality was actually higher than that of focusing on the outside. Supersonic speed is even scarier.
In turn, the Grizzlies were frequently restricted on the offensive end.
Pau Gasol, who once relied on the inside to gain a foothold, met the defensive Hanamichi Sakuragi. He had to do his best every time he scored a goal, and he didn't take many shots.
Mike Miller was completely suppressed by Chandler. A functional blue-collar player faced a quasi-All-Star center whose height, wingspan, and weight were above him. As you can imagine, the result was that he was completely locked up.
The outside line was blocked by the SuperSonics' defensive rotation. When the Sonics started running, the Grizzlies' outside line really couldn't hold on...
The point difference was quickly widened again. The gap in strength, almost every point was in a state of being exploded, leaving the Grizzlies with no hope of winning at all.
At 122:98, SuperSonics G2 once again defeated the Grizzlies, and this was because Lin Dong clocked out in the fourth quarter and took less than 20 shots in the game, scoring only 31 points.
And this battle also directly destroyed all the remaining pride of the Grizzlies, and also eliminated the remaining fighting spirit and anger in Pau Gasol's eyes.
The gap is too big to fight. Whether it is personal strength or tactical restraint, this is no longer a problem that can be solved by just working hard and improving your personal fighting will.
What's even more terrible is Lin Dong's leisurely manner, the kind of effortless way he seems to be scoring fewer points, but he easily controls the whole court and dominates the outcome of the game. People can't see him at all. Where is the real upper limit, let alone his current level and strength, which gives everyone a sense of despair that even if the Sonics solve the current problem of internal and external defensive balance, they still cannot see even a glimmer of hope.
So when G3 went to the Grizzlies' home court, the crazy cheers from the home fans failed to give the Grizzlies any chance to boost their morale or counterattack...
On May 4th, with a clean 4:0 score, the SuperSonics won the first round of the series and advanced to the Western Conference semifinals.
It was only then that fans across the United States finally realized one thing.
The Sonics' poor record this season is just a matter of training their perimeter and hiding their strength.
The so-called Cavaliers and Lakers can use the SuperSonics as an experience package this season, and even fans of the two teams are still arguing about who will get the experience package... All of these are just wishful thinking of fans.
Everyone involuntarily had a feeling: Supersonic is still the same Supersonic, and the throne is still the same throne.
At the post-game press conference at the end of G4, Lin Dong's words completely pushed this feeling to a climax.
Lin Dong smiled faintly and said the words in the calmest tone in front of the camera that are destined to be passed down in the NBA forever.
——If I were a mountain, then you have just reached the foot of the mountain.
——LeBron, Wade, Kobe, Yao...are you ready to challenge me?