Since beating the Celtics, the Wizards have been trailing by double digits in the first quarter of almost every game. Even head coach Saunders has been a little helpless.
The starting strength is good, but you can't let the starting lineup play on the court all the time. Li Kaiming is okay, and the others are not as good as this kid. It is not enough if he is full of energy in every game.
It seems that if you want to win the game, you still have to focus on offense. If the Wizards give up their good offense and defend the opponent, they will be fooled.
So in the second quarter, Sanders replaced the big center, allowing Li Kaiming to swing directly to the 5th position. Rashard Lewis came on to play the 4th position he was most familiar with. This lineup was actually the previous five-out lineup, except that Yi Jianlian was replaced. Replaced by Lewis, who has a stronger three-pointer.
In the first attack of the second quarter, the Hawks took the ball first. Mike Bibby dribbled to the frontcourt and gave the ball to Joe Johnson, who was backing up in a key position. After receiving the ball, the latter hit Nick Young alone and shot under Nick Young's defense. , Li Kaiming blocked Horford to get the rebound and handed the ball to Hinrich.
After arriving in the frontcourt, Hinrich dribbled the ball and used the screen to break through. The remaining four people were covering each other and then running outside the three-point line.
Li Kaiming helped Lewis block Marvin Williams, who took the opportunity to move to the bottom corner. At the same time, Hinrich's pass was in place. Lewis caught the ball and shot. This is his favorite rhythm and shooting point. Three-pointer. Flying into the basket!
21 to 28!
Marvin Williams smiled helplessly, and Li Kaiming came to pick and roll. The two Eagles' pick-and-roll defenders almost all focused on Li Kaiming. Now that the Wizards have Lewis joining the team, this tactic seems a bit difficult to crack.
When the Eagles attacked, Josh Smith came out of the paint, got rid of his defender, and then went outside the three-point line to catch the ball and throw it, but unfortunately he didn't hit.
The commentator on the scene said that the Hawks seemed to want to compete with the Wizards in three-point shooting, but he predicted that the Hawks might lose ugly.
The Wizards' defense, which is last in the league, can reach the top three positions in the Eastern Conference with strong defensive teams. It shows how ferocious their firepower is. The Hawks seem to be asking for trouble.
What happened next should also be based on the commentator's prediction. After the Wizards got the backcourt rebound, Hinrich dribbled the ball to the frontcourt. Li Kaiming stepped forward to cover. Horford chose to bypass the defense without switching, so Hinrich directly Just threw a three-pointer from outside the three-point line!
24 to 28!
The score difference instantly returned to within 5 points. Larry Drew was so frightened that he quickly called a timeout, and then told his players on the bench that they must not be careless about the Wizards' three-pointer and do not let them go. three-pointers.
Of course, it doesn't mean that you can prevent certain things if you want to. In addition to asking players not to relax on the defensive end of three-point defense, Larry Drew came up with his second magic weapon in this game.
After the timeout, the Hawks served in the frontcourt and gave the ball to Joe Johnson. The latter tried to single out Nick Young and forced a breakthrough to the inside but missed the layup.
At this moment, the Hawks' two insiders, Al Horford and Marvin Williams, suddenly burst out and got stuck under the basket. Horford used his rebounding awareness to get stuck in the best position to grab the rebound. , and then grabbed an offensive rebound with the help of Marvin Williams.
This is Larry Drew’s trick!
In the current lineup, both Li Kaiming and Lewis in the interior are not good at defense. Li Kaiming's interior defense is not bad, and his ability to protect rebounds is barely up to the league average, or even worse. Lewis is even worse in this regard. He is a softie who likes to stand on the outside when attacking and does not like physical confrontation, so it is even less likely that he can be expected to get stuck under the basket on the defensive end.
So Larry Drew directly asked Al Horford and Marvin Williams to rush for offensive rebounds. If Horford was alone to grab the offensive rebounds with Li Kaiming, it might be more dangerous, but adding Williams is enough.
After the Hawks grabbed an offensive rebound, Horford threw the ball away again. Josh Smith from the outside received the ball and rushed inside, broke through to the edge of the penalty area and passed the ball to Joe Johnson, who caught the ball and hit it from mid-range!
24 to 30!
The Eagles relied on this tactic to stabilize the situation. The two teams went back and forth in the next half quarter. With Sanders as a veterinarian, the Wizards players began to collectively shrink inward on the defensive end. Help the two inside players grab rebounds.
This did improve the Wizards' backcourt rebounding situation, but it also left a relatively large space for the Hawks' perimeter.
After the second quarter, the Wizards trailed the Hawks by 4 points, 54 to 58. Although the Wizards had very strong offensive firepower in the second quarter, the opposite Hawks also scored 30 points in a single quarter and were firmly in control. The trend of the game.
This situation makes Sanders difficult. If you don't play a big center, rebounds can indeed be guaranteed, but then the offense will be a bit insufficient. Although Lewis is destructive on the defensive end, the Wizards' defense is rubbish. Lewis 's defense just made the Wizards worse.
However, the significance of Lewis playing in the offensive team is very great. Not only can he open up space for Li Kaiming, but he can also directly pick and roll with Li Kaiming. The effect is more than a little bit better than that of Yi Jianlian before.
Thinking about the future, Sanders decided to give it a try and play Lewis in the second half. Anyway, the Wizards' defense was like this. They simply broke the pot and went pure attack, showing the momentum of breaking the cauldron.
Back in the third quarter, the first offense was the Eagles' serve. Mike Bibby was lucky enough to direct traffic in the frontcourt. Others moved to create opportunities. Mike Bibby dribbled the ball and Horford picked and rolled, and then suddenly passed the ball to Joe Johnson in the bottom corner. The player feinted with the ball and broke through inside. Li Kaiming returned to defend the basket in time. Johnson missed a layup. Elsoton came back in time to protect the rebound.
Hinrich dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, and Li Kaiming stepped forward to cover. Hinrich shook off Mike Bibby, broke through to the inside, and faced Horford's defensive throw.
56 to 58!
When the Eagles attacked, Joe Johnson asked for the ball and hit Nick Young alone. After a beautiful triple threat, the latter was shaken, and then the ball broke through to the edge of the penalty area and scored!
56 to 60!
Joe Johnson plays very aggressively today. If he is blocked, or the Wizards get the score closer, he will step up and ask for the ball in isolation, and then hit hard.
The Wizards served from the baseline. Li Kaiming received the ball outside the three-point line. He made two dribbles against Horford's defense. After finding the rhythm, he directly made a pull-up jumper from outside the three-point line. The basketball flew out of his fingertips and drew an arc. It fell into the basket with a swoosh!
59 to 60!
Since Joe Johnson wants to show how tough he is, then I, Li Kaiming, will not succumb to others!
The Eagles served, and Joe Johnson originally wanted to respond with another ball, but Nick Young saw that he was going to play alone and directly called Thornton to double-team. Johnson passed the ball to Josh Smith, who received the ball and pushed Thornton hard to the basket. , the top went in, but he didn't control his strength well, so he went for a layup and threw it across the bridge.
Li Kaiming collected the rebound and launched a fast break. The Eagles always wanted to grab offensive rebounds, so the two insiders were in the penalty area of the frontcourt. This was the best time to push for a transition!
Horford also discovered this and immediately chased Li Kaiming, preparing to directly use a foul to prevent Li Kaiming's fast break.
But how could Li Kaiming let him get his wish?
He sidestepped Josh Smith who was reaching out to cut the ball, and then pushed the ball forward hard. Without the restraint of the ball, his speed instantly increased to the maximum. Driven by his well-developed muscles, he took three steps forward. In two steps, he directly shook off Horford's hand that was about to foul, and then caught up with the ball that was pushed out by him.
The Eagles did not expect that Li Kaiming would play to such an extreme. Before the two defenders on the outside had time to close the door, Li Kaiming directly and forcefully broke up the formation. Then he held the ball with one arm and raised it to the sky, slamming the ball into the basket. .
This tactic is also Sanders' response to Larry Drew. Since you want to grab offensive rebounds, then I will get the backcourt rebounds to push the fast break. If your inside line is not in the penalty area to protect the basket, then wait for Li Kaiming to go crazy. Indiscriminate bombing!
At this time, Larry Drew also encountered difficulties. This multiple-choice question was too difficult to answer, but he finally chose to give up the offensive rebounding tactic, because if the Wizards were allowed to push the transition fast break, plus that With a tsunami of outside firepower, I'm afraid the Eagles will be drowned in this surging offensive wave in the third quarter!
In professional games, defensive fast break is always the first priority, because the fast break points are so fierce. Maybe while smoking a cigarette, two teams could have gone back and forth, and one of them was eliminated. The other one was defeated with aggro.
After the Hawks gave up grabbing offensive rebounds, the Wizards' defensive pressure was instantly reduced a lot, especially for Li Kaiming. Now he only needs to stay in the paint to protect the basket, and does not have to switch to the outside to guard the opposing defender.
Mike Bibby is older, and the Eagles will never let him be the main attacker, so Li Kaiming avoids the embarrassment of being trained by a guard.
As for Joe Johnson, he hits anyone the same, he will take action when he has the opportunity, and he doesn't care who is in front of him. Coupled with Li Kaiming's height and long arms, the former will not go out of his way to challenge him.
So for the rest of the third quarter, the two sides returned to the same state as in the second quarter. The Hawks were balanced inside and outside, and everyone could score two points, while most of the Wizards' scores were concentrated on the outside and could break through. Li Kaiming was the only one who scored inside, and Nick Young counted half of them, because this guy couldn't see his other teammates when he broke through with the ball, and he didn't have the ability to break in and attract double-teams and pass out to score.
At the end of the three quarters, the Wizards and Hawks were tied at 86. The commentator on the scene said that the game seemed to be heading towards the Wizards, because except for the first quarter, the Wizards were both tied in the second and third quarters. Win points.
Li Kaiming played 30 minutes in the third quarter, shooting 11 of 16, 2 of 3 three-pointers, 3 of 3 free throws, and scored 27 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Because the Eagles rushed for offensive rebounds, Li Kaiming’s rebound count tonight There are also more.
Among the rest of the Wizards, Nick Young, Hinrich and Lewis performed very well, scoring 15 points, 12 points and 11 points respectively.
Joe Johnson of the Eagles performed well tonight, scoring 24 points in three quarters. He is very likely to score 30 points tonight. After all, the closer the critical moment is, the more stable this man is.
