Chapter 45 The fight begins

"Good morning, everyone watching TV!
I am Yu Jia, and today I will explain this game to you with coach Zhang Weiping."

In the CCTV Sports Studio, Yu Jiazheng was giving his opening remarks with a serious face, while Coach Zhang beside him was also greeting everyone with a smile.

“Today’s game is the Dallas Mavericks away against the Sacramento Kings.

Since the Kings ranked fourth in the Western Conference in the regular season, they have home-court advantage in this game!
Let’s take a look at the starting lineups of the two teams!

First up is the Kings, whose players from center to center are Mike Bibby, Doug Christie, Peja Santiago, Chris Webber, and Divac.

The Mavericks have Nash, Josh Howard, Zheng Yang, Antoine Walker, and Dirk Nowitzki.

This game is also the first playoff trip for Chinese young player Zheng Yang, and the outside world has been looking forward to his performance.

Two former NBA superstars, Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen, had many arguments over this.

They each have their own opinions, but the answer will soon be revealed.

At the same time, it is important to note that in this game, both teams on the field were known for their strong offense and weak defense in the regular season.

But now is the playoffs, and there is a long-standing saying in the NBA: "Defense wins championships."

So will the head coaches of both teams consider focusing on their defense, or continue to stick to their previous ideas?

Destroy your opponents with offense!

I think this is also a point worth considering for coaches on both sides.

Without further ado, the game will begin soon, let's see how the players from both sides will perform! ”

……

When standing on the floor of the Kings' Golden One Center, Zheng Yang could clearly feel the difference between the regular season and the playoffs.

I also know why home advantage is so important.

It's not just about resting outside the court (some fans will harass the visiting team outside the hotel the day before the game, affecting their rest), but also the pressure of being on the court.

When tens of thousands of people boo you at the same time, those with low psychological tolerance will involuntarily feel fear.

But Zheng Yang won’t do that, he is a player born for big scenes.

When the MC read out his name and all the fans booed and cursed at him, Zheng Yang smiled instead.

The more excited the Kings fans got, the more excited he became.

Da Chou, who was standing by, saw the smile on his face and secretly moved a little.

Zheng, is he suffering from some kind of mental illness? Why is he smiling so happily when others are scolding him?
As the starting players of both teams entered the court, the game began immediately.

The 2.16-meter Divac easily passed the ball. The former All-Star's form has been declining since last season, but he is still an important member of the Kings.

The 2.06-meter-tall Peja took the ball and passed it to Mike Bibby, who advanced to the frontcourt.

The person defending him was Nash, a player who was not very good at defense. After Mike Bibby made two crotch jumps, he suddenly accelerated. He was not tall, but he was extremely fast and passed Nash in one step.

Facing the inside guarded by Nowitzki, he was not panicked at all. After all, it's okay to let Nowitzki play power forward, but if you let him play center, his ability to protect the rim is really limited.

"These two points are mine!"

After a change of rhythm, Mike Bibby threw the ball into the basket, and he couldn't help but think in his heart.

But an accident happened. Zheng Yang suddenly appeared behind him. Even though he was a step slower than him, he successfully fanned the basketball away before it fell with his excellent jumping speed and arm span.

"Hey, what a joke! Look at Mike, he's still dazed and hasn't reacted yet."

Coach Zhang in the studio laughed, "Hehehe", and Yu Jia beside him nodded.

"This is indeed a good idea! After Mike passed Nash, Zheng Yang's assist defense was very fast and successfully blocked Mike's layup."

The basketball that was fanned away fell into the hands of Big Chou, and he immediately started a fast break with Nash. This kind of fast break of protecting the defensive rebounds and then launching a counterattack is the Mavericks' specialty.

Therefore, these 2 points were also secured.

Zheng Yang glanced at Mike Bibby and didn't say much.

The ball just now was not because of his quick reaction, but because he was always paying attention to the opponent's breakthrough.

Zheng Yang, who often followed the NBA and acted as a cyber troll in his previous life, would often find out about previous games when he had nothing to do.

Zheng Yang also paid attention to the 04 series in which the five-star Mavericks were swept out by the Kings in the first round of the playoffs.

There are many reasons why the Mavericks lost so badly in that round of games.

For example, the lineup's disadvantages were particularly evident in the playoffs. Driver's ability to protect the rim was not good, Walker's position and function overlapped, and the Kings' originally poor defense suddenly improved, catching the Mavericks off guard...

But there was one major problem: Nash was outplayed by Mike Bibby.

In that series, Mike Bibby averaged 23.6 points per game, while Nash only scored 13.6 points, a difference of 10 points. Nash's defense was useless in front of Mike Bibby, and when he rushed into the paint, Nowitzki could not provide enough interference.

Therefore, for Mike Bibby that year, the Mavericks' inside line was free to come in and go out as he pleased, without even having to pay.

So this time, Zheng Yang was always paying attention to Mike Bibby's movements. Once he was about to break into the inside, he would immediately come to assist in defense. Although he might cause himself to lose his position, there was nothing he could do about it.

At present, Mike Bibby's breakthrough has caused more damage to the Mavericks.

When this small and fast defender meets a striker like Zheng Yang who has strong physical fitness and agile footwork, it is like a mouse meeting a cat and is completely restrained.

After the Mavericks scored 2 points, Mike Bibby dribbled the ball and stood in the frontcourt again. After glancing at Zheng Yang who was ready to make a move, he still did not choose to force a breakthrough.

He always feels that he will be blocked again when he goes in!
After running a tactic on the outside, the ball finally passed to Webber, which was what the Mavericks wanted to see.

The tall and strong Webber started his back-to-the-basket singles, but after a while, he found that the fat monk was still blocking him.

With less than two seconds left to attack, he had to make a hasty shot.

The basketball finally hit the backboard and was protected by Zheng Yang.

The Mavericks hope to see Webber holding the ball more and playing one-on-one more often, because the current Webber is no longer the same Webber as before.

Before he tore his meniscus in the 03 playoffs, he was a jack of all trades at power forward.

Even though his lifestyle was terrible, Webber was called "The King" by fans before James because of his great strength.

But after the meniscus was torn, Webber lost the athletic ability on which he depended for survival. He would often find that after a series of operations, he would find that the defensive player was still in front of him.

Just like that.

Therefore, the Mavericks can fully accept his one-on-one play with the ball.

"Play what you are used to, instead of being led by the opponent."

Kings head coach Rick Adelman shouted a warning from the sidelines. He is also an experienced coach and knows the Mavericks' intentions.

Obviously, in the past two rounds, both sides have been taking advantage of their opponents' weaknesses to win opportunities.

To win a game, you need to make more correct choices in the regular season, and fewer mistakes in the playoffs.

In the playoffs, the competition is about who makes fewer mistakes.

It was the Mavericks' offensive round. After a series of passes from the outside, there were no good offensive opportunities, and the round was finally ended by a three-pointer from Fat Head Tuo.

The Mavericks in the regular season gave people the impression that they had a good offense, but is that really the case in the playoffs?

In fact, their offense was awful in the playoffs.

On the surface, it seems that the starting lineup includes Nowitzki, Nash, Walker, and Zheng Yang who can attack, but in fact, the Mavericks do not have a mature offensive system at all.

Their offense is just one person throwing a few balls first, and then passing them to whoever has a better feel for the ball.

But in the playoffs, these former offensive players all turned into blacksmiths. Historically, their average points per game in the playoffs did not exceed 13.6 points, which means that Nash scored the most points among them.

So if Zheng Yang wants to win this series, he must take on more offensive firepower.

Let’s first look at the Kings’ offense. This time they played what they were familiar with – the Princeton system.

This type of offense is the most unpredictable one, because unlike the triangle offense, it does not have a fixed position. It only requires a tall person to appear at the free throw line, and then pass the basketball when his teammates are making various cuts and running.

Every offensive system can be cracked, so how do you crack the Princeton system?
That is to use a zone defense while increasing the height of the inside line to limit the opponent's breakthrough.

Does this sentence sound familiar?
Because when we talked about the Mavericks' lineup disadvantages earlier, we said that they didn't have a suitable tall player to protect the rim.

So why in the original history did the Mavericks get swept 4-1 by the Gentlemen?

That's because they couldn't defend the opponent at all, and their offense was not good either. How could they possibly win if they failed to do both well?

To crack the Princeton system requires the efforts of the entire team. Zheng Yang alone cannot do it, but he still keeps observing the inside line so that he can make timely defensive backup.

Finally, Webber passed the ball to Mike Bibby who was cutting to the basket, and the latter made a layup.

The reason why the Kings sent White Chocolate away in exchange for Mike Bibby was because the Princeton system did not require high passing skills from guards, but required them to have strong scoring ability.

Obviously, Mike Bibby is more suitable than white chocolate.

"Without a true center to guard the paint, the Mavericks will suffer a big loss against the Kings' Princeton system."

Yu Jia in the studio was analyzing seriously, but Zhang Weiping next to him seemed out of tune with his style.

"Oh, that ball should have been played by Zheng Yang. Look, I just finished talking and Zheng Yang caught the ball.

Let's see how he's going to fight?
Hey, this fadeaway is really good, it feels like Michael Jordan, right? This is the right way to play it."

　There will be only one update tonight, and the rest will be updated during the day.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)