Chapter 102: The first game of the finals begins

"Good morning, everyone. Today we are bringing you the first game of the 04-05 MLS Finals. The two teams are the Detroit Pistons from the East and the Dallas Mavericks from the West.

The starting lineups of the two teams in this game are still the regular lineups. The Pistons' starting lineups are Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Ben Wallace, and Rasheed Wallace!
The Mavericks have Jason Terry, Josh Howard, Zheng Yang, Nowitzki, and Eric Dampier!
At the referee's signal, the centers of both teams stood on both sides of the court, ready to jump the ball."

In the CCTV studio, Mr. Yu Jia explained the situation on the field to the audience in front of the TV. Although his commentary was still objective and fair, compared with the past, there was more content about Zheng Yang.

There is no way. No matter how objective and fair he is, he is still a human being. He will have certain biases in his heart, and Zheng Yang is the player that Yu Jia prefers.

He can't reach the level of Zheng Chui, but he is also good enough to be called a true fan.

After all, having commented on so many of Zheng Yang's games, it's really hard not to fall in love with him.

At this moment in the NBA scene, Zheng Yang was also scanning his opponents on the court.

This Pistons team is quite famous in NBA history. After all, in 04 they swept the Lakers, the favorite for the championship, and won the championship.

And in 05, they became stepping stones for the Spurs and were stepped on by them.

Although the Pistons' starting five are not particularly famous players, they have more or less left their own stories in the league, so Zheng Yang is no stranger to them.

Billups, last year's FMVP winner and the core figure of this Pistons team, is in stable condition and plays very tough at critical moments!

Prince has outstanding blocking and stealing abilities and a great sense of help defense. Although he is thin, he is not at a disadvantage in confrontations.

With a height of 2.06 meters and a wingspan of 2.18 meters, he is called the "Prince of Long Arms". His long arms are of great help to his defense.

He is one of the best players ever at defending Kobe. In last year's finals, he teamed up with Hamilton to limit Kobe's shooting percentage to 38.1%.

Hamilton, nicknamed the Masked Man, probably gives people the greatest impression of his outstanding physical strength. To what extent is his physical strength?

Once when he was walking his dog, he ran too fast and made the dog vomit.

His excellent physical strength and a stable mid-range jump shot allow him to quickly complete a shot after running without the ball and shaking off his team's hands.

This is why Kobe doesn't want to defend him, because this guy's physical strength is really good. If you want to defend him, you have to run with him.

How can a normal person bear this!

Ben Wallace, a short center who made it from an undrafted player to the Hall of Fame, is obviously not tall, but he is quite good at rebounding and blocking shots.

As a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, his presence is the key factor in the Pistons' iron-clad defense. In last year's finals, the Pistons did not choose the well-known Shark-cutting tactics against the Sharks, but instead let Big Ben and Roaring God take turns defending the Sharks.

In the high-intensity confrontation between the two, the Great Shark's skills were reduced to only 50% and he was ultimately defeated regretfully.

The Roaring Lord is none other than the last of the Pistons' starting five, Rasheed Wallace. We may not know much about this guy, but he has a really bad temper!

He received a total of 317 technical fouls in his career, and his 41 technical fouls in a single season is also the most in NBA history. At the same time, in a game in 2012, he was sent off after receiving two technical fouls just 85 seconds after coming on the court, setting an NBA record for the fastest individual ejection from the game.

But apart from his bad temper, this guy is very good at defense and shooting. He and Big Ben turned the paint area on the court into a restricted area. No matter who it is, no one can score easily here.

"Hey, they all said you had great stamina, I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll be like after meeting me today."

During the jump ball, Hamilton stood next to Zheng Yang and said with a smile, while the latter shrugged indifferently.

"Man, this is a basketball game. Physical strength is important, but it is not the decisive factor. If you want to compete in physical strength, you have to go to the playground."

While the two were talking, Dampier used his height advantage to pass the basketball. After receiving the ball, Zheng Yang did not hesitate and began to rush to the basket with all his speed.

The Pistons are a team that likes to play positional warfare because that is the only way to perfectly demonstrate their defensive advantages.

But Zheng Yang didn't want to do as they wished. As long as there was an opportunity for a fast break, he would never let it go.

Zheng Yang's sudden acceleration startled the Pistons players a little. They didn't expect Zheng Yang to choose a fast break, but fortunately they retreated in time and Zheng Yang's speed slowed down again.

But the next second, Zheng Yang accelerated again. His previous deceleration was just an illusion to confuse his opponent.

He rushed into the paint area in one step. At the moment, Big Ben was the only one in the paint area. Seeing that Zheng Yang actually wanted to challenge the restricted area he was guarding, Big Ben stared at him with his eyes as bright as torches.

He was waiting to slap the other person away.

Zheng Yang entered the paint area and threw himself into the air. Big Ben also jumped up and pounced on him. The two had a fierce physical confrontation in the air, but thanks to his excellent core ability, Zheng Yang did not lose balance.

Using his ability to stay in the air, Zheng Yang waited until Big Ben fell before throwing the ball. The basketball bounced into the basket and became the first goal of the game.

"Good shot, Zheng Yang played it really well, he used his physical talent to score the goal.

At the same time, based on the physical contact between the two players just now, it can be seen that the referee's penalty scale in this game is still very large. Obviously, this will be a game with a very high intensity of confrontation. "

Teacher Yu Jia explained that if Big Ben's defense just now was in the regular season, he should have been called for a defensive foul, but the referee who just watched all this did not blow the whistle. Obviously, they assumed that this was a physical confrontation within a reasonable range.

Players are very sensitive to the scale of penalties on the court, and they will use different degrees of physical confrontation on their opponents according to the referee's scale.

Just like when Big Ben was not called for a foul just now, in the next round, Zheng Yang also put Billups in a strong physical confrontation when defending him, and the referee also did not blow the whistle.

Billups' offensive ability is still online, but facing Zheng Yang's outstanding physical talent, defensive experience, and physical confrontation on the edge of foul, it will be difficult for him to get rid of him for a while.

In the end, he had no choice but to throw the ball to Hamilton.

The latter took a shot from the free throw line but missed.

After getting the rebound, Da Chou passed the ball to Jason Terry, who received the ball and made a quick pass without even looking at anyone, throwing the ball directly to the frontcourt.

Zheng Yang had already rushed to the front court, but Billups, who was following closely behind him, was left two body lengths behind him and could not even grab the corner of his clothes.

Zheng Yang finally received the ball and scored it easily.

0-4! The Mavericks showed excellent performance right from the start.

"Speed ​​up the retreat! Speed ​​up!"

The Pistons coach on the sidelines was Larry Brown, who was also an old man in his sixties, but at this moment he was still clapping his hands and shouting loudly.

He knew that their strength was positional defense, so they had to drag their opponents into the quagmire of positional warfare. If they kept allowing the opponent's fast breaks to succeed easily, it would be difficult to win the game.

The Pistons' accelerated retreat did reduce Zheng Yang's subsequent fast break opportunities, forcing him to slow down and engage in a positional battle with his opponents.

When playing positional warfare, the Pistons' defensive strategy is their favorite and most commonly used zone defense.

When Zheng Yang receives the ball on the outside, Hamilton or Prince will defend Zheng Yang, and when Nowitzki receives the ball in the inside, Big Ben and Roaring God will quickly follow up and confront him physically.

Although Nowitzki is bigger than Big Ben, he is inferior in strength.

Don’t forget that Big Ben’s power is enough to compete with that of the Great Shark!
Under the fierce confrontation, Nowitzki's performance today was not good. Apart from a mid-range shot in the first quarter, he did not score any more points.

Zheng Yang on the outside was not having a good time either. Prince's long arms and Hamilton's desperate and crazy defense made his shooting percentage lower than the usual level.

However, thanks to the opponent's average offensive firepower, the score was 18:20 at the end of the first quarter, and the Mavericks temporarily led by 2 points.

The low score shows how intense the competition was in this game.

During the break in the first quarter, Zheng Yang touched his ribs and rubbed his chest, frowning in pain.

If you take off Zheng Yang's shirt at this moment, you will find that his skin is either red or purple, and looks quite tragic.

The Pistons' defense against Zheng Yang in this game was absolutely in line with Jordan's standards. Either they didn't foul, or if they did, they would definitely knock him to the ground.

One is to give Zheng Yang a stronger physical confrontation and consume his physical strength and touch, and the other is to intimidate him.

If the price of attacking the basket every time is being knocked down, will this sophomore rookie dare to continue attacking the basket?
That’s what the Pistons are for!
But Zheng Yang, standing on the sidelines and wiping his sweat, had a fighting spirit in his eyes. The Pistons were wrong. Although he was knocked down again and again, this did not scare him.

Instead, it aroused his strong desire to fight.

He just likes this kind of physical confrontation. He just likes to see the opponent try every means to knock him down, but he can still score the ball.

So in the second quarter, Zheng Yang continued to attack the basket to create shooting opportunities for Jason Terry and Finley on the outside.

The game did not turn out to be one-sided as the Pistons fans had imagined. Although the Mavericks' offense was not as effective against the Pistons, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse.

The Mavericks were still stronger than the Pistons in offense, so at the end of the first half, the score was 37:43.

The Mavericks extended the lead to 6 points.

However, the scores of both teams in this game were really low. The Pistons only scored 37 points in half the game. For the Suns, as long as the offensive state is good, it only takes one quarter of the game.

The Mavericks fans at the scene were drowsy. To them, this game was not as exciting as the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs.

Although the Western Conference Finals was a defensive battle, both teams actually played well offensively. It was unlike today's game, where it was purely defense.

"Hey, you said I couldn't score more than that? I've already got 15 points, what about you?
Was that you who scored only four points? Or was there a second player on the Pistons named Richard Hamilton?

Before leaving the court, Zheng Yang mocked Hamilton, who was so angry that his teeth were clenched, but he could do nothing about Zheng Yang.

Zheng Yang grinned and then shouted at Billups again.

"Chauncey, have you decided who to give the FMVP to? I think you can stay on the bench in the third quarter and think about it for a while. When you have figured it out, you can tell me your answer in front of the media, and then I will give him one, hahaha!
Get excited, Detroit Pistons, because it's not going to take a lot of shouting in front of a camera to beat us."

Zheng Yang showed no mercy in his words, his expression was full of disdain and arrogance.

The other party knocked him down time and time again and kept mocking him, so why should he show them mercy?

He is not a great saint!
Hearing his words, Roaring God couldn't help it anymore and he shouted at Zheng Yang.

"Shut up, rookie. The game isn't over yet. I guarantee you'll die miserably in the penalty area in the second half."

"Use your strength to make me shut up. Do you want me to die miserably? Then come and try it, Rashid. I have never taken you seriously."

Zheng Yang made a face at the other person, not caring at all.

Seeing that the situation was getting worse, teammates from both sides pulled them to the bench. Now it was the finals, and no matter who they lost, it would be a huge blow to their team.

Of course, for the Mavericks, losing Zheng Yang will hurt them even more.

“The first half of the game ended and both sides entered the halftime break.

This game was pretty much as we imagined, the intensity of the confrontation between the two teams was at its maximum, and every score came at a heavy price.

But unlike what the major media expected before the game, although the Mavericks' offense was restricted, they were still able to lead their opponents.

If we want to find a reasonable explanation, it is obvious that the key to the problem lies in Zheng Yang. In the first half of the game, Zheng Yang took 13 shots and scored 15 points. Although the hit rate was not high, it was precisely because of Zheng Yang's distraction on the court that the outside players got open opportunities.

The Pistons' double-team defense could not completely stifle Zheng Yang's offense. Once he broke into the restricted area, he would often be double-teamed by two or even three people.

This is the opportunity for the Mavericks' outside players to score.

That's why the Mavericks are currently leading the score.

Of course, I believe that Pistons head coach Larry Brown is also aware of this problem. Let's see if he will make any changes in defense next!

Take a short break, the game will start soon! "

(End of this chapter)