Stern's eyes widened as he watched the players from the two teams fighting wildly and constantly on the court.
He understands the game, better than most NBA owners.
But before this scene appeared, he always thought that the new rules would bring the NBA back to the offensive era.
In his opinion, the rule of 'defending for three seconds' will definitely have a huge impact on defense.
Less than half a month ago, after watching the opening game between the Clippers and the Lakers, he even said to the two vice presidents, "Let's think of some way to limit the offense in advance. I'm worried that the teams' scoring surge is too much."
Now, his face felt swollen.
The Clippers and Trail Blazers showed him the correct way to open the new rules!
Again, he knows football. These two teams have already played like this. Why can't he see that he's shooting himself in the foot?
The weakening brought by 'Defend for three seconds' to the defense is far less than the upper limit increase brought by 'Allow early flanking'!
Offensive Era×
Iron Blood Era plus√
Stern's mentality exploded.
how so? Their CEOs have been discussing with the Rules Committee for so long, and finally they came up with something like this?
…
Gentry was also numb.
The players of their Clippers team and the players of the opposite Trail Blazers have the same confidence tonight - if we don't decide to defend, we will definitely win.
Then the situation became like this.
In the second half of the first quarter, the Trail Blazers scored 9-7 and ended the first quarter with a 15-14 lead over the Clippers.
He found that they weren't as good offensively as they thought they were.
Encountering a truly strong defensive team, he saw many shortcomings in their offensive system.
Then I thought, if we put aside the opening game against the Lakers, how many points did they average in the past 4 games?
He secretly took out his cell phone and did the math. 104.75 points was also very good, sixth in the league, but only very good. Including the opening game, they averaged 110.8 points per game, second in the league, second only to the Mavericks who averaged 111.4 points per game.
Gentry is actually happy to have a more realistic understanding of the actual situation of his team. Encountering strong opponents, discovering problems, and solving problems are the only way for the team to become stronger.
But those are all things that will happen later. What is happening now is this game.
After five consecutive wins at the beginning, he didn't want to fall here!
However, based on the team's current offensive capabilities and tacit understanding, he could not think of a way to overcome the Trail Blazers' defense.
Just as Gentry was falling into anxiety, a confused voice reached his ears.
"Alvin, you're only 1 point behind. Why do you look like you're about to be fired? Did the big boss give you a fatal order? You must win against the Trail Blazers tonight, and if you lose, you will be fired? He really means it. He and Allen If there's a conflict, why don't they go fight in the Octagon? It's going to embarrass us who are part-time workers."
"No one wants to fire me!" Gentry squeezed out this sentence through his teeth.
Just when he was about to look away from Li Ao, he suddenly felt something was wrong and looked back.
How could Spider-Man be so... relaxed when the situation was so unfavorable and Spider-Man was so competitive?
etc! Gentry also discovered something and asked: "Leo, why are you not as tired as you were during the official timeout?"
"Isn't it a good thing that I'm not tired?"
"That's not what I meant. The defense in this half of the quarter was obviously more intense than the first half. Why do you seem to be playing more relaxedly?"
"With Quentin at the top of the arc and Jermaine and Jaylon protecting the frame inside, I only need to move my position to cut off passes and connect internal and external defenses. It is naturally much easier... By the way, since you are not in danger of being laid off, Then why do you look so anxious?"
Gentry looked around. The players who had returned from the field were all drinking water and adjusting their breathing. He said that he could not find a way to deal with the Trail Blazers' team defense.
He wanted to see if Spider-Man, who had such an excellent tactical sense, had any ideas, even if he could just provide an idea. Unexpectedly, Spider-Man laughed after hearing what he said!
Gentry said angrily: "What's so funny about this!"
"You have Michael Jordan, Mike Bibby, Lamar Odom, Earl Boykins, and me. Why are you worrying about this? You might as well think about how to play better defense."
With these words, Gentry could not say that he was enlightened, but at least he could see the light of day.
They reached a critical moment last season. Apart from playing defense and struggling for long-range shooting, they had no other solution and lacked offensive players.
Now, they are completely different!
…
Returning from the break, Gentry sent out a combination of Big Q, Li Ao, Jordan, Odom, and Jaylon Collins.
The Trail Blazers sent out a combination of Derek Anderson, Reuben Patterson, Bunch Wells, Rasheed Wallace, and Kemp.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Trail Blazers attacked first.
As soon as Derek Anderson advanced beyond the three-point line, he encountered a rough and fierce hand-to-hand confrontation from Big Q!
Jordan, who faced Bonzi Wells, and Odom, who faced Tianzun, also began to engage in rough physical confrontations.
Bunch Wells was frightened by Jordan's physical fight, but he focused on looking for opportunities, seized the opportunity when Jaylon Collins left the inside, turned around and wiped Jordan, and cut towards the basket!
Derek Anderson, who was being beaten hand-to-hand by Big Q, quickly kicked the ball out when he saw this.
Bunch Wells successfully received the ball on the left sideline of the three-second zone. Just as he was about to attack the frame directly, Li Ao pulled back from the baseline and covered his head... He decisively passed the ball to the left baseline.
Reuben Patterson received the ball and wanted to break through, but with a bunch of people under the basket, he chose to pull up and take a shot...
Li Ao immediately turned around and blocked Bunch Wells to grab the board.
So far this season, he has a 12.5% mid-range shooting percentage and a 16.7% three-point shooting percentage. If Kobe Bryant's terminator can catch and shoot in the open, Li Ao will admit it and will still choose to let it go in the next round.
"哐"
The ball hit the basket, and Jordan used Li Ao's position to defend the defensive rebound!
The offense and defense transitioned, and the Clippers attacked. Odom received the ball and advanced to the frontcourt. After passing it to Li Ao who was stretched to the top arc, he led Tianzun to the low post on the left side of the three-second zone.
Jordan went to the right side of the free throw line and leaned against Reuben Patterson, Big Q took Derek Anderson to the left corner, and Jaylon Collins went to the right side of the three-second area to maintain a close position to maintain the threat of rushing.
Triangle offense positioning!
This player is familiar to the Trail Blazers. They were eliminated by the triangle offense in the playoffs in the past two seasons.
When his teammates were in position, Jordan didn't ask for the ball for a single, but suddenly turned around and cut in!
Reuben Patterson, who lowered his center of gravity and played from behind, was caught off guard. He turned around to chase after him, but he was already a beat behind.
Li Ao dealt the card from the top of the arc and sent the ball to Jordan at just the right time, but Tianzun made up the defense in time and blocked Jordan.
Jordan passed to Odom who was on the left side of the free throw line. Odom dribbled the ball and passed it. Li Ao cut in from the middle and made a layup!
(End of chapter)
