Chapter 125: Premonition of Black Eight

"Hello, everyone watching TV, the game we are bringing to you now is the Mavericks away game against the Knicks in the 06-07 regular season of the MLS.

This is the second and last time the two teams have met this season. In the previous game, the Knicks defeated the Mavericks by 32 points and won the season opener.

However, after that game, the Mavericks' performance has been getting better and better. They currently have 59 wins and 11 losses, ranking first in the league. They have shown unprecedented control.

What kind of story will happen in today's game? Stay tuned!
Okay, now players from both teams have come to the court, and Dampier and Eddy Curry are going to jump the ball.

Eddy Curry was quick to pass the ball and the Knicks got their first chance to attack!"

In the CCTV studio, it is our old friend Yu Jia who is still bringing us the commentary of this game.

At this moment on the court, after the Knicks got the ball, Quentin Richardson dribbled the ball across half court and immediately began to direct the opponents to move.

The one defending Zheng Yang is still Da Chou. Da Chou has made rapid progress this season. He even made it to the All-Stars and became a new All-Star substitute.

This is also the only time he made the All-Star team in his career!

This season he averaged 18.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, the second highest score in his career, but it was mainly his defense that helped him be selected to the All-Star Game.

As the Mavericks' best perimeter defender, Big Chou is often sent to defend the opponent's key figures. He will use his confrontation and speed to limit his opponents as much as possible. With the continuous improvement of his experience, his defense is really good now.

Even Zheng Yang felt a little bit of difficulty when facing him.

Seeing that the others had no chance to run out and the attack time was almost up, Zheng Yang positioned himself well, trapped the opponent behind him, and then reached out for the ball.

When others have opportunities, Zheng Yang is willing to give scoring opportunities to his teammates, because only when his teammates perform well and attract more defensive attention for him, his offense will be easier.

But when the opponent has no chance, Zheng Yang will step up to take the lead, and he will use his personal ability to help the team out of trouble.

Like now, when others have no chance, Zheng Yang will choose to hold the ball and play one-on-one.

Quentin Richardson was used to this situation, so he passed the ball to him, who then started to back down after receiving the ball.

Zheng Yang has a wide range of back-to-the-basket skills, and he will choose his offensive options based on the physical talents and defensive characteristics of the defensive players.

For example, when the defensive player is strong, he will look for opportunities to turn around and layup or turn over and fade away. When the defensive player is tall and has a long armspan, he will choose to attack the basket and use his speed to pass him. When the defensive player is thin, he will choose to force his way into the inside.

The comprehensiveness of his skills allows him to handle any situation with ease.

Facing a defensive player like Dachou who is both strong and fast, Zheng Yang used his own strength to make two hard shots, then suddenly turned over and leaned back, and deliberately moved the ball a little to the side when he kicked the ball. It was precisely because of this small detail that he was able to avoid Dachou's cut ball.

Da Chou's height and wingspan were already different from Zheng Yang's, not to mention that Zheng Yang's two hard hits caused his center of gravity to shift, making it difficult for him to jump in time.

When he failed to cut the ball into the opponent, his defense could no longer interfere with Zheng Yang in this round.

Sure enough, Zheng Yang's fadeaway shot was very easy, just like his usual shooting training. The basketball drew a perfect arc in the air and fell into the basket.

Relying on his personal ability, Zheng Yang successfully scored the first point of the day.

As mentioned before, even Zheng Yang would find it difficult to deal with the current Da Chou, but there is another sentence he didn't say later. For Zheng Yang, it was just a difficulty.

Although Da Chou is strong, his strength is limited. He can certainly cause trouble to ordinary ball handlers, but when facing Zheng Yang, it just makes it a little more difficult for him to score goals. It is impossible to limit him to the point where he cannot score.

Zheng Yang's perfect singles with the ball aroused cheers from the fans at the scene. With Zheng Yang this season, the fans saw hope for the team's future.

Although their record is not as impressive as the Mavericks, it is no exaggeration to say that with Zheng Yang's presence, the Knicks can fight against any team in the league.

They are currently leading the Eastern Conference and they have every chance to chase the championship this season.

After many years, they have once again entered the ranks of championship contenders.

Don’t blame the picky fans at Madison Square Garden for being so “favorite” for Zheng Yang. If your arrival can bring such a big transformation to the team, you will receive the same treatment.

Next it was the Mavericks' turn to initiate the attack. Marbury on the outside held the ball and watched the situation on the court, ready to pass the ball to Nowitzki at any time.

After coming to the Mavericks, Marbury is no longer the most important person on the team, but has become the second-in-command of the team.

But this may not be a bad thing for him. With less ball possession, Marbury's efficiency has improved. His score remains at around 17 points, which is higher than last season.

For this prodigy who was selected fourth in the 96 golden generation, when he reached the 11th year of his career, he was no longer suitable for the role of taking on all responsibilities and leading the team forward.

For him, becoming the second or even third in command and assisting the young people in the team may be a better choice.

Obviously, Marbury did a good job.

When Marbury had the ball, Nowitzki came up and gave him a screen-and-roll. Actually, the quality of Nowitzki's screen-and-roll was not very good, but at least he managed to block Crawford for a while.

Ben had no choice but to defend Marbury, and the latter took advantage of this opportunity to throw an aerial relay to Nowitzki, who made a slam dunk.

In fact, Nowitzki is a very independent offensive player. He can break through and shoot, but his ability to catch the ball is not that impressive.

But as a scoring machine with a career total of 31560 points, his scoring ability is very comprehensive.

Although I am not good at it, I can still do it well, as evidenced by the last round.

After successfully scoring, Nowitzki did not celebrate too much, but quickly returned to defense.

The two teams started to fight back and forth!

But at the end of the first half, the Knicks were not the Mavericks, who had the highest winning rate in the league, but the Knicks, who led by 56 points at 63:7.

Why did the Knicks, who had a worse regular season record, lead at halftime? Was it because the Mavericks didn't have a good touch today?
That is not the case!
The reason why the Mavericks fell behind was that the problem lay in their interior.

They had problems with their inside offense and their inside defense.

Let’s talk about offense first. For the Mavericks this season, Nowitzki is the undisputed first attacker. He alone carries the team’s offensive banner.

Although Marbury, Jason Terry and Big Chou can provide him with firepower support, their offensive firepower is not trustworthy. The only one the team can rely on in offense is Nowitzki.

But as we said before, Nowitzki is a strong scorer, and most of his points come from inside offense.

But the player defending him in this game was Big Ben. We have repeated this countless times, what are the characteristics of Big Ben?
It's power!

Even though he is half a head shorter than Nowitzki, the opponent really can't beat him!

In terms of speed, Big Ben's current lateral movement speed is also very fast, and he can easily keep up with the opponent.

In addition, Nowitzki's one-legged stand had not been completed at this time, so Nowitzki had a hard time playing this game.

No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get through. Even if he was lucky enough to get through, Eddy Curry would be able to make up for it in time and limit his scoring under the basket.

This guy was selected at the fourth pick in the first place, and later the Smiling Assassin was willing to offer him a big contract. It was not because of bragging, but because he really had some skills.

In addition, his weight has dropped a lot and his enthusiasm in the game has also increased a lot, so his ability to protect the rim is still very guaranteed.

On the other hand, the Mavericks' center Dampier, the former "second center in the Western Conference", is now dead in name only.

This guy can only score 7.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 0.6 assists so far, and his shooting percentage is extremely low. It is extremely difficult to get him to score in the no-fly zone where Big Ben and Eddy Curry are working together.

These two players were not good at offense and also had problems on defense.

Nowitzki and Dampier's interior defense can be perfectly summed up in one word.

slow!
It’s extremely slow!
Nowitzki himself is not famous for his defense, and it is well known that Dampier moves slowly, so their inside line is constantly challenged by the Knicks.

Crawford, who had worked hard with Zheng Yang for a season to improve his ability to attack the basket, showed his skills in this game, using his flexible footwork to score in the Mavericks' interior many times.

Big F, who has become a substitute and whose strength has declined drastically, scored 8 points in the first half alone with 6 of 14 shots. He was so excited that he almost said on the spot, "I'm just slower than my past self, not slower than you guys"!
Thanks to the Mavericks for helping Big F. regain his long-lost confidence. Such an important rotation player was able to adjust his mentality in time. This is definitely good news for the Knicks who are about to play in the playoffs.

The game is not over yet, it's only halfway through, and the Mavericks certainly still have a chance to catch up.

But do they really have a chance?

You should know that the gap between the two teams is not caused by the problem of shooting feel. In other words, unless the Mavericks are in great shape and the Knicks are in poor shape, the possibility of them winning this game is very low.

As for what you said about the team being able to make adjustments...

The premise of this question is that your head coach must have strong adaptability!

Is Avery Johnson a resilient coach?

Obviously, he is not. Although he may be a little clever occasionally and seem to be wise, the fact is that this guy is not a adaptable person at all.

His ability to respond cannot be compared with old Nelson's.

So excluding the one in ten thousand possibility, there is no need to consider that the Mavericks can perfectly adjust their lineup to meet the challenge of the Knicks.

This is indeed the case. The Mavericks did not make any major changes in the second half. Head coach Avery Johnson frowned, and there was even a hint of doubt in his eyes!
why?
why?
When he was an assistant coach and Nelson Sr. was the head coach, whenever there was a problem, Nelson Sr. only needed to call Zheng Yang over and tell him, "Zheng, the time has come for you to step up," and then the problem could be solved perfectly.

When Avery Johnson saw this scene, he seemed to have seen the true meaning of being a head coach, so he kept it in mind.

But why doesn’t this sentence work now?
During the timeout just now, he clearly told Nowitzki, "Dirk, it's time for us to step up," but why was the problem not resolved?
Who can tell him why?
Why didn't this spell work?
Avery Johnson was puzzled, but he kept comforting himself, it's okay, it's just an ordinary regular season game, it doesn't matter if you lose.

The other party is just lucky!

Now they are the top team in the league, and he is the best head coach in the league. He will soon become the best championship coach in the league.

It doesn't matter!

Avery Johnson is now taking a chance, even though they have encountered difficulties and discovered the team's shortcomings.

But Avery Johnson will not think about changing. He will just keep comforting himself, it's okay, it's okay, no one else will discover this shortcoming, and no one will use it to beat them in the playoffs.

He doesn't need to worry too much about it. He just needs to continue to follow the rules, and then he will be able to enter the playoffs with the best record in the league, and then win all the way and finally win the championship easily.

This is the bright future that Avery Johnson envisions for himself.

But Avery Johnson forgot that there is a person in the league who knows the Mavericks better than anyone else. He knows the team's strengths and advantages, but also its fatal problems.

If he were a member of the Mavericks, Avery Johnson would not have to worry about this, but the opposite is true. This man is their enemy.

And there is a high probability that he will be the first and last enemy they meet in the playoffs.

He is Nelson Sr., the current head coach of the Warriors!

And it was this Mavericks team that helped the Warriors get into the eighth place and made this probability become 100%!

(End of this chapter)