Chapter 90 Changing Strategies
Game 4 was played on the evening of May 5th. When the Suns' team bus stopped at the entrance of the stadium in the evening, it was immediately "warmly welcomed" by Mavericks fans from all directions.

"Send the Suns home!"

"Send the Suns home!"

"Send the Suns home!"

The fans who gathered here early shouted loudly, trying to put huge psychological pressure on the Suns players and affect their game state.

Although this game is not a match point yet, the Mavericks are currently leading 2-1. If they win this game, they will have three match points.

And the next game will be back at the Suns' home court. If everything goes well, they will not see the Suns again at the American Airlines Center this season.

So the fans' "enthusiasm" is understandable.

The Suns players, including the coach and assistant coach, all walked into the stadium with expressionless faces, ignoring the noise outside. They were not rookies and there was no way they would be scared by such a small scene.

The players have finished warming up and the game is about to start. As players from both sides are preparing to go on the court, the head coaches on both sides are doing their final psychological work.

"Hey everyone cheer up, we haven't lost yet, remember the key points we talked about before the game, and then play with all your strength, and tie the score before returning to Phoenix."

D'Antoni shouted loudly, stirring up everyone's emotions.

"Don't make mistakes, don't slack off, don't be dazed on the court! Release all your energy and leave the victory in this arena."

Old Nelson's eyes were sharp as he scanned the faces of every player. What he was most worried about was that some guys would become complacent because they were currently in the lead, and then give you a few "wonderful mistakes".

The opponents were the Suns, the best offensive team in the league during the regular season. Although their offense was indeed hindered after cutting off the systems of Stoudemire and Nash.

But if the Mavericks relax a little, they will immediately launch an attack like mercury.

If they want to win the final game, they cannot let their guard down at all.

After the head coaches of both sides completed their mobilization, the starting members began to take the court. There has been no change in the starting players so far, and they are still the same ten as before.

If D'Antoni makes any changes, then the change should be in the offensive or defensive focus.

The first offensive round belonged to the Suns. After they advanced to the frontcourt, Nowitzki and Dampier still stared at Stoudemire.

This time, after getting the screen, Nash did not hesitate at all and took a mid-range shot.

The first point of D'Antoni's change today was to let Nash play more.

Although this is exactly what the Mavericks are trying to do, in the absence of a good solution, D'Antoni chose to trust Nash. He believed that as long as Nash's offense was good enough today, he would force the Mavericks to change their defensive strategy.

Nash made the shot on his first try, but there was no change in the expression on his face, he remained cold and serious.

This is his MVP season. He doesn't want to fall in the Western Conference semifinals. He wants to advance all the way and eventually make it to the finals.

Today is their chance to equalize the total score, and he will definitely not miss it.

Looking back, the player defending Zheng Yang in front of him changed from Joe Johnson to Shawn Marion.

The player who had previously defended Nowitzki didn't even look at Dirk. All his attention was focused on Zheng Yang.

Nash, Quentin Richardson and Stoudemire on the side were all looking at him from time to time. If Zheng Yang received the ball, he would definitely be double-teamed by two or even three people.

This was the second change the Suns made today. They gave up double-teaming Dirk Nowitzki and instead chose to double-team Zheng Yang.

The choice of double-teaming Nowitzki in the last game did not have a serious impact on the Suns, so now D'Antoni changed his mind after being reminded by Nash.

Choose to double-team Zheng Yang!
Old Nelson on the sidelines noticed the other party's thoughts, but for a moment he didn't know whether to find a way to help Zheng Yang get rid of the double-team.

Because the Mavericks have many offensive points, he doesn't know whether double-teaming Zheng Yang will affect their offense.

Let’s wait and see first!

"We were just discussing whether Coach D'Antoni would make a lineup change today, and the defensive player in front of Zheng Yang was immediately replaced by Shawn Marion.

Shawn Marion is a player who excels in defense. This season he will most likely be selected to the All-Defensive Team. Having him defend Zheng Yang is enough to show how much the Suns value Zheng Yang.

Not only that, judging from the Suns' defensive positioning, they may double-team Zheng Yang at any time.

It seems that in this game, the Suns' defensive focus is no longer on Nowitzki, but on Zheng Yang.

Let's continue to see how the two teams perform next! Let's see how the Mavericks will perform when Zheng Yang is double-teamed, and how coach Don Nelson will arrange tactics to help Zheng Yang break the opponent's double-team. "

In the CCTV studio, teacher Yu Jia explained the situation on the field to everyone.

Because of Zheng Yang's situation, Jason Terry chose to pass the ball to Nowitzki, who easily scored after getting the ball.

Even Shawn Marion, the best defender on the team, couldn't defend him, let alone others.

The Suns ignored Nowitzki's shot and immediately served the ball to the sidelines, trying to make a fast break.

It's just that the Mavericks retreated too quickly and their fast break failed. After getting a screen, Nash continued to choose to play alone and scored again.

……

In the next quarter, the Suns' offensive focus was basically on Nash, and accordingly, their three-point shots were slightly less than in previous games.

The Suns finally woke up from the loss in the last game. They know that three-pointers can be one of their regular scoring methods, but it is wishful thinking to defeat the opponent by relying solely on three-pointers.

On the defensive end, their defensive focus has always been on Zheng Yang. Zheng Yang, who usually has the highest score and the most shots in the team, only took two shots and made one goal after the first quarter.

This is an extremely rare situation throughout the season.

After the first quarter, the score was 29:21, with the Mavericks trailing by 8 points.

Obviously, they got off to a bad start.

Old Nelson frowned and began to think hard. He knew that the reason they fell behind in the first quarter was that there was something wrong with their offense.

Facing a team like the Suns with average defense, they only scored 21 points, which is completely unimaginable.

Logically speaking, when Nowitzki is double-teamed, it would be fine as long as other people take advantage of his shooting opportunities. Similarly, when Zheng Yang is double-teamed, it would be fine as long as other people take advantage of his shooting opportunities.

Why did their offense have no problems in the last game, but had problems in this game?

In fact, it is not that easy to digest Zheng Yang's ball rights. First of all, Zheng Yang usually scores more points, which requires everyone to take on more points.

However, when Nowitzki was double-teamed, Zheng Yang came to help, but when Zheng Yang was double-teamed, the Mavericks did not have another Zheng Yang who could stand up.

Although Nowitzki is also very good at scoring and is often called a scoring machine by fans, his scoring ability is still inferior to Zheng Yang.

After all, one has the level of a scoring champion and the other does not.

Another point is that Jason Terry, Da Chou and others usually score by relying on the open opportunities created for them when Zheng Yang is attacking with the ball.

Now that these opportunities are gone, their offensive capabilities will decline, and their scoring capabilities will naturally decline as well. They may not even be able to maintain their original points, let alone digest Zheng Yang's ball possession.

That’s why the Mavericks’ offense was stymied.

As for why the Suns were able to score so many points today without shooting many three-pointers, it was because Nash had a very good touch today.

In the first quarter, he made 8 of 6 shots and easily scored a game-high 13 points.

Nash's offensive potential is actually very large. Although he is not the player with the highest average points per game for the Suns this season, he is basically the one who wins the game at critical moments.

And today, he came like a savior and took up the team's offensive banner.

At this moment, in bars or restaurants in Phoenix, fans are sitting together watching the live broadcast on TV. Although they cannot go to the scene to support the team's game, they are all silently cheering for the Suns.

We must equalize the score before returning to Phoenix!

During the intermission, Nelson told everyone about the arrangement for the second quarter, which was to free Zheng Yang from the double-team of the Suns as much as possible.

If Zheng Yang's 30 points were missing in this game, it would be difficult to beat the Suns, especially when Nash was still in such a hot form.

“Hey Zheng, we need you to take on an off-ball role in this game.

We need you to run more, to distract the opponent's defense, and then seize the opportunity to make an open cut or complete the shot before the double-team forms.

Others will provide you with extra cover.”

Old Nelson said to Zheng Yang again that the best way to break a double-team is to switch from having the ball to not having the ball, and then use running to complete the attack before the opponent forms a double-team.

However, many players only know how to play with the ball and become confused when playing without the ball, so once they are double-teamed by opponents, they will immediately be defeated.

However, old Nelson knows Zheng Yang well, and he believes that Zheng Yang can perfectly handle this role without the ball.

After returning in the second quarter, Zheng Yang started his off-ball running. In fact, off-ball running is also a technical job, and opportunities cannot be created by just running randomly.

First of all, he must be able to get rid of the defender. In addition to speed, he sometimes also needs to rely on some fake moves to mislead the defender.

Then, while running, you must observe the situation on the field and avoid colliding with your teammates' offensive routes.

And the most important point is that he needs to disrupt the opponent's defensive formation.

Because the opponent will double-team him at any time, as long as he can manipulate the opponent's defensive position, he can create opportunities for his teammates.

When Jordan faced the Jordan Law, he also used off-ball running to solve the problem.

Zheng Yang's off-ball running is certainly not top-notch, but thanks to the cover of his teammates, when he appeared at the forty-five-degree position on the right, he had a brief open opportunity.

Jason Terry is a good point guard. Although his passing creativity is not as strong as Nash, he can also seize the right opportunities.

So when Zheng Yang reached the forty-five degree position on the right, he received the ball from Jason Terry at the top of the arc.

After getting the ball, Zheng Yang took a three-point shot without hesitation.

Zheng Yang's shooting speed was not slow, and the shooting point was very high, so Shawn Marion, who was already a step slower than him, was unable to interfere with him.

The basketball drew a perfect arc in the air and then went into the net. Zheng Yang's shot in the second quarter immediately paid off.

"Follow him, follow him."

D'Antoni on the sidelines shouted loudly that if the Suns lost the game today, their life would really be on the line.

The game in the first quarter has proved that as long as they can strangle Zheng Yang, they can beat the Mavericks, so they must seize this opportunity.

They must keep up with Zheng Yang and disrupt his attacks, no matter what the cost.

Shawn Marion didn't say anything, but in the following rounds, he kept staring at Zheng Yang, which led to a famous scene.

During a certain offensive round, Zheng Yang stood in the corner with his hands on his hips, looking relaxed, as if he was out for a walk.

But Shawn Marion, who was standing in front of him, was as fierce as a foe, his eyes were as big as bells.

The two completely different painting styles were captured by the camera, which is very impressive.

Although Shawn Marion tried very hard to defend Zheng Yang, Zheng Yang still used his ability to cut to the basket and scored 8 points in the second quarter. Compared with his scoring, his influence on the Suns' defensive position was more significant.

Often, his movement would attract all the attention of the Suns, and the rest of the Mavericks players would take this opportunity to launch an attack.

Although the Mavericks performed well in the second quarter, they still failed to tie the score due to Nash's excellent touch, but they still narrowed the score to 5 points at the end of the half.

This game still has huge suspense. Who can win the game today depends on their performance in the second half.

……

In today's game, Nowitzki played very hard and had a strong desire to attack. He took 12 shots in the first half and scored 16 points, which was quite efficient.

As for the reason, we can only say that it was affected by off-field factors.

He hopes to regain the attention of fans and the media through his outstanding performance.

Maybe his idea is a bit naive, but it is understandable.

However, the significant effect of the Suns' double-team on Zheng Yang in the first half made him realize Zheng Yang's importance to the team.

If we want to win the championship this year, we can't do without him.

(End of this chapter)