At this time, assistant coach Musk opened the door and said: "The result of another game has come out. The SuperSonics defeated Mosaic at home, 90:99. The SuperSonics' offense is really strong, six people scored 10+, two of them 20+."
The assassin said: "I think the four teams in the Western Conference are all about the same strength. They should be in a tough battle, and maybe there will be a tiebreaker in the second round."
Joe Dumas smiled bitterly and said: "We in the east are about the same."
No one in the locker room is talking about the Eastern Conference Finals and the Finals, because the opponents in the second round are too strong. If they don't defeat the powerful defending champion Bulls, they are not qualified to talk about the subsequent series.
The G3 game between the Bulls and Pistons will be held on the 14th. The next day, at noon on the 12th, the Pistons returned to Detroit.
That night, the Suns defeated the Spurs for the second time at home, and the Knicks also lost the Cavaliers for the second time at home.
Barkley averaged 43.2 minutes per game in the first round series, 27.6 points, 14.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.8 steals, 1.6 blocks, 1.2 turnovers and 2 fouls. However, as a superstar, he can only be said to be barely good, because his shooting percentage was only 47.7%. As an inside player, it is a bit lower, lower than the efficiency of the regular season and lower than the efficiency of previous playoffs.
However, he thrived in this game, shooting 66.7% from the field, scoring 35 points and 10 rebounds, and had 7 key steals. He was very strong on both offense and defense.
Facing the media, Barkley, who had won two consecutive victories, was very excited: "We have adapted to the atmosphere of the playoffs. We are ready. We are on the road to the championship."
On the morning of the 13th, the Pistons held a tactical meeting and arranged team training in the afternoon.
At the tactical meeting, Chuck Daly analyzed the situation of the G2 game and said: "The biggest problem we are facing now is the problem of Iron Fist being double-teamed on the outside. They mainly use Pippen to help defend and attack, leaving Ulrich open. However, Ulrich is not a big enough threat from the outside, his long-range shooting ability is not good, and he cannot produce efficient offensive efficiency even if there is a small opening.
They have tasted the sweetness, and they will definitely continue to play like this in the G3 game. They will also use Pippen to attack Iron Fist from the outside, speed up the offensive and defensive rhythm, and force us to be unable to use our own offensive tactics.
Especially with the inside-cutting tactics, we don't have the ability to attack in the low post, so we need the inside-cutting tactics to improve the quality of the offense at the basket. If we can't use the inside-cutting tactics, it will be very difficult for us.
My idea is that from the beginning, before Pippen double-teams, Ulrich goes to the low post and pins Pippen down low, making it harder for him to double-team.
Seikali, you have a good mid-range shot. You move up to the high post, screen and roll for Tekken, and provide support at the same time. If their inside man comes out and double-teams Iron Fist with Jordan, you should be able to handle Iron Fist, right? "
"no problem."
Zhou Quan nodded. As long as it was not a double attack between Jordan and Pippen, a relatively clumsy center would not be enough of a threat to him. With his full panoramic vision, he could even use the opponent's center's obstacles to get rid of Jordan. .
Seikali was a little worried because his coping ability was not very good.
That night, the SuperSonics defeated Mosaic again at home and won two consecutive games.
In the first game, Dameng made only 8 of 22 shots, shooting 36.4% from the field, scoring 26 points, and lost the game. In this battle, they made 13 of 24 shots, a shooting percentage of 54.2%, and scored 28 points, but they still lost the game.
His performance tonight is not bad, but he still lost, so he is very frustrated.
But tonight, the SuperSonics made 9 of 12 three-pointers, with a shooting percentage of 75%, which directly wiped out all his efforts.
Also that night, Roger Philip received a call from Kings general manager Athos Rochell in Los Angeles.
Rochelle went straight to the point and said: "Mr. Philip, we have not tasted the playoffs in 7 seasons. We are very eager to enter the playoffs. We very much hope to see Iron Fist join the Kings and lead us to the playoffs." After the game, you can give everything for this.
We can even promise to provide Iron Fist with a large contract worth 100 million yuan, which will definitely not be worse than Larry Johnson's contract. We can negotiate other conditions. We are very sincere.
Iron Fist will be the core and only core of the team. We will trade away the original core Richmond, and he will become a bargaining chip. "
Philip feels a toothache. You are so loud. How many games have you guys won this season? It will definitely not exceed 30 games. If Richmond is traded away, what lineup will be left? Iron Fist will join you. It will be very difficult. You may have to fall into a deep pit.
He asked tentatively: "Mr. Rochell, what is your regular season record this season?"
Rochelle said awkwardly over there: "25 wins and 57 losses."
He was embarrassed to say anything and had no confidence at all, because the Kings had not won more than 30 games for 7 consecutive seasons, and five of them had less than 25 games. Everyone knew that the Kings were a bad team.
This season they are 11th in the Western Conference and third from the bottom. They are about to participate in the league lottery ceremony. If such a bad team wants to recruit Iron Fist, it really lacks confidence.
Iron Fist can definitely stay with the Pistons. With the Pistons' current lineup, as long as Joe Dumars and Rodman can maintain their condition, they will have the strength to hit the Eastern Conference Finals.
Philip did not refuse directly because he did not have the right to refuse. Iron Fist's contract has not ended yet. Which team the Pistons want to trade with is a matter for the management. With Iron Fist's current status, he is not qualified to interfere in his own transaction.
The reason why the general managers of Rochelle and other teams contacted him was mainly to communicate with Iron Fist to prevent other problems from arising after the transaction.
As a native of California, he knew very well about Sacramento. The capital of California, a former gold rush land, had a small population of only four to five million people, which was not as large as the population of Detroit.
Nearly half of the people are white, and there are nearly 100,000 Asians, including 20,000 to 30,000 Chinese. This is relatively beneficial to Zhou Quan. The city's economy is not bad and its spending power is good.
In addition, the city only has the NBA Kings and no other sports teams. The fans are very unified and there is no second option.
However, due to the poor record of the Kings and poor attendance, the Warriors, who are 130 kilometers away from Sacramento, have made the playoffs four times in the past seven seasons and reached the second round three times. Therefore, fans would rather drive to watch the Warriors games. Not watching Kings games.
As far as he knows, the Warriors failed to make the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons before the 1986/87 season. Then Chris Mullin grew up and got better in these years. They used to be a bad team.
On May 14th, the second round will continue. There will be two G3 games that night, the Bulls and Pistons, and the Suns and Spurs.
At eight o'clock, the substitutes came on to warm up, and both sides announced the starting lineup.
Bulls: Scott Williams, Horace Grant, Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, John Paxson
Pistons: Ronny Seikaly, Dennis Rodman, Orlando Ulrich, Joe Dumars, Zhou Quan
In the ABC commentary box, Bill Walton said: "I don't know how the two teams will play in this game. In the first two games, they played better in one of them. The Pistons took the tactical initiative in the G1 game, and then the counterattack in the G2 game. Come here."
Lewis Williams said: "The reason why the Pistons lost last game was that Iron Fist was flanked by Pippen on the outside. It was also an important reason. Ulrich's poor performance was also an important reason. He did not seize his open opportunity. , a lot of opportunities wasted.
Of course, this is also the reason why the Bulls' defensive system is so strong. Their defensive rotations are very fast, leaving Ulrich with only a small opening each time. In addition, his mid-range and long-range shooting ability is average, and he cannot use inward tactics. , so the efficiency is very low. "
Bill Walton nodded and said: "Ulrich is only threatening when he attacks the basket. When he is far away from the basket, he loses his containment power. That's why Pippen boldly double-teams Iron Fist.
When Ulrich was with the Bulls, he was traded precisely because his style of play was not complementary to Jordan's. "
"Shh!"
At this time, the visiting team came out, and the boos from the Palace of Auburn Hills soared like a tornado. Jordan and the other five players finished their appearance despite the terrifying boos.
"Nothing can stop us from dominating here, dominating the Palace of Auburn Hills. This is our destiny." Jordan yelled at his teammates amid boos.
"Oh ho!"
The home team came out, and there were loud cheers, shouts, and applause.
It is 9 o'clock in the morning in China. After breakfast, countless sports fans turn on the TV at home.
The first two games of the second round did not fall on a weekend. Today happened to be Saturday. There were a lot of people watching the game. They were not necessarily basketball fans, but they were willing to watch Zhou Quan's game.
At Zhou Quan's house, Zhou Jianguo invited a group of close friends to watch the game. There were also a lot of melon seeds, peanuts, stewed vegetables, beer and the like prepared on the coffee table.
When Zhou Quan was studying abroad, in order to raise tuition fees, none of these friends ran away and shamelessly visited one by one. Otherwise, he would not have been able to send Zhou Quan to the United States. It would have been impossible with the little money earned by his work unit.
Now the car at home is not in his possession for most of the time. This friend borrows it to drive it for a few days, that classmate borrows it to drive it for a few days, and even the leaders at his workplace ask him to borrow the car to drive it.
…
At 8:30, the game starts at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
"Snapped!"
Seikali jumped up hard and got the ball away first.
Joe Dumars received the ball and handed it to Zhou Quan who came over. Zhou Quan pushed against Jordan without moving to the left or right wing, and pushed directly to the top of the key.
In the last game, he was at the top of the arc, and Pippen was waiting for an opportunity to attack him. He went to the right wing, and Pippen was in the high post, waiting for an opportunity to attack him. In the end, he made 5 turnovers in the game.
“It’s still the same defensive tactics that we played on the court.”
Now, when approaching the top of the arc, Pippen on the left wing was guarding the inside of Ulrich, two meters away from Ulrich and only two steps away from him, cutting off the pass between him and Ulrich. The wiring lines also maintain the possibility of attack at any time.
In the last game, Ulrich would cut inside at this time, and Pippen would follow, but always between him and Ulrich. At this time, Jordan would interfere with his concentration and lock his downward pass. If the angle of the ball is different, Pippen will immediately come over to attack, but he cannot pass the ball to Ulrich in time, the inside tactic cannot be used, and the open space cannot be used.
At this moment, Ulrich followed the tactical requirements and moved low to the left wing, directly sticking to the baseline.
When Pippen saw it, he could only move to the low post and guard the left midfielder, or cut off Zhou Quan and Ulrich's passing and receiving angle.
But he knew he was in trouble. It was impossible to double-team Zhou Quan from this position, because Ulrich was too close to the basket. After receiving the ball, he could take one step in and dunk. Grant was on the right side of the basket. , it was too late to make up for the defense, how could he dare to let it go?
At the same time, Seikaly lifted up and brought Williams up.
At this time, when the Pistons players were running, Jordan tried his best to lock Zhou Quan's downward passing angle. Ulrich could not catch the ball when he cut inside at this time. Zhou Quan could only pass the ball to the right wing, allowing Joe Dumas singled on John Paxson.
The next moment, Seikali stood on Jordan's right side.
Zhou Quan quickly started, bypassing Sekali's back, then bypassed Williams who was following from the outside, and headed towards the left elbow area.
Jordan turned around and wanted to catch up with Zhou Quan after bypassing Sekali, but as soon as he got around, he was blocked by Williams. However, Zhou Quan broke through from the outside, with Williams in the middle, and he was thrown away. .
Zhou Quan reached the left end of the free throw line in two steps. Pippen had no second choice but to come up and defend.
Just as Pippen moved upward, Zhou Quan suddenly jumped forward and threw the ball forward. The basketball flew over Pippen's head and flew to the left side of the basket.
As Pippen worked his way up, Ulrich started, cutting in from the low post on the left wing, then saw the ball coming and jumped.
On the right side of the basket, Grant, who was blocking Dennis Rodman, rushed to cover Ulrich, but there was still no time?
"boom!"
Ulrich caught the ball with both hands in the air and smashed it into the Bulls' basket.
"Oh wow!"
Cheers immediately erupted from the Palace of Auburn Hills.
"Beautiful! Alley-oop dunk, iron fist assist Ulrich!" the bearded John Lowes, the on-site commentator, shouted excitedly.
"High pick-and-roll play."
Phil Jackson, who was sitting on the bench, could clearly see the Pistons' ball, and his mind was spinning rapidly, thinking of countermeasures.
"The Pistons played a high pick-and-roll tactic. The Bulls had no chance to double-team Iron Fist just now, and we can't see their defensive tactics today. Now let's take a look at the Pistons' defensive tactics. They will double-team Iron Fist on the perimeter just like the Bulls did last time. Double-teaming Jordan on the outside?" Bill Walton said.
At this time, John Paxson pushed the ball to the top of the key, and Joe Dumars defended it.
Jordan moved from outside the three-point line on the right wing toward the top of the arc, and Zhou Quan followed closely.
At this time, Paxson gave the ball to Pippen on the left wing. Pippen held the ball past Ulrich, reached the left midfielder, and passed the ball.
As soon as Jordan reached the top of the arc, Paxson used a screen to block Zhou Quan. Jordan immediately bypassed Paxson and then around Joe Dumars at the top of the arc, speeding up and moving to the left. Joe Dumars had no choice but to switch defenses.
At this time, Pippen passed the ball to Jordan. Jordan caught the ball and made a jumper. Joe Dumars was half a beat too slow to catch up.
"brush!"
The water splashed and hit two points.
“It was a very patient shot.”
Bill Walton praised: "Jordan moved from the right wing to the left wing to catch the ball, and both Iron Fist and Joe Dumars were thrown away."
Williams smiled and said: "No defense is as effective as a pick-and-roll. Joe Dumars was half a beat too slow to react and his defense was too slow to change."
"Ulrich didn't have enough awareness to cover up. The place where Jordan caught the ball and shot was right behind him. He lost track of Pippen. When he saw Jordan coming, he should have covered up." Bill Walton said.
Pistons offense.
Zhou Quan was still holding the ball at the top of the arc, and Sekali came up to pick and roll in the high post, but Pippen still had no chance to double-team him.
This time, Scott Williams made his own decision. After following Seikaly up, when Zhou Quan broke through with the ball, before Jordan could bypass Seikaly and follow Zhou Quan, he directly changed defense.
Zhou Quan reacted very quickly. When he saw Williams following him, he immediately pulled to the left.
Jordan had just bypassed Seikali and was about to catch up with Zhou Quan. When he saw Williams changing defense, Zhou Quan went to the left wing and had to stay in front of Seikali, not daring to let go.
As soon as Zhou Quan reached the left wing, he suddenly started to break through with the ball. When Williams retreated, he suddenly pulled him back. Under the instinctive reaction of his body, Williams sat on the floor with his back covered. Landed.
"Ha ha……"
The Palace of Auburn Hills echoed with jeers from Pistons fans.
Except for Williams on the floor, there was no defender within three meters of him. Zhou Quan combined the ball and began to aim at the basket, very calmly.
At this time, both Jordan in the high position and Pippen in the left waist position were in an awkward state. It was too late to come over to defend and could only watch Zhou Quan aim at the basket.
"What are you aiming at? Just shoot!" Jordan snorted in his heart.
"brush!"
The water splashed and he hit a two-pointer.
The Palace of Auburn Hills applauded like thunder. Amidst the huge cheers, Jordan ran to Williams, pulled him up, hooked his teammates' necks and shouted: "Scott, remember, don't do it again." Switch defense, you can’t deal with that guy.”
Williams nodded, not daring to say a word.
(End of chapter)
