Tickets for the Suns' home game have long been sold out, and people have predicted that the Suns will defeat the Mavericks. However, the Mavericks are not without a chance. The Suns' advantage is Lu Yu, while the Mavericks' advantage lies in the depth of the lineup.
On May 10, before the game started, the stadium was almost full. When the players came out, under the instigation of the on-site DJ, the Suns fans were very excited. There was actually a fat man on the sidelines who wrote a line in English on his bare belly:
It probably means that Lu Yu is the most awesome. I wonder if Lu Yu will still see him on the sidelines of the Phoenix court twenty years later.
If it could be seen, this good story about the Wolf King would probably be gone again.
Well, next time I have to ask Snoopy to arrange someone in advance, and if he plays the role again twenty years later, he will steal this plot, so that the last hot search after Garnett retires will not be available.
In Phoenix, basketball is the favorite sport of local fans, and Phoenix is the fourth largest city in the West, which is not comparable to a small city like Sacramento.
In addition, the team owner is a meritorious figure in the league, so even if the Suns have not won a championship, they are still loved by fans.
When talking about the difference between big cities and small cities, let me just mention Sacramento.
The Kings were eliminated from the Western Conference Finals by the league. One big reason was that the city of Sacramento was too small.
Although it is the capital of California, the competitiveness of the market is low. Many reporters will not have enough room to live even if they are playing in the Western Conference Finals, let alone playing in the Finals.
The last place the league wants to see the finals hosted.
So naturally he was beaten to death in the Western Conference Finals.
To be honest, in this league, whether you can win the championship depends on strength, and the city is also part of it. Although the league has some support for small ball markets, it is rare to see teams from small ball markets win the championship.
Cleveland is ridiculed by fans as the "Kun Village". Before James appeared, the Cavaliers had always been the background of the NBA and were definitely a small ball market. Milwaukee is also a small ball market. The last time they won the championship, they were led by super giant Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Big O.
Yes, it was already thirty or forty years ago. Portland is also a small ball market, and the last time they won the championship was thirty or forty years ago.
After looking at the distribution of NBA championships, it is not difficult to find that most of the championships belong to those big ball markets. Among the wealthy teams, the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls and Warriors are all ball markets with outstanding influence and huge wealth-absorbing ability.
Only the Spurs are a counterexample.
The teams that have won multiple championships are also from relatively developed cities in the United States.
In Lu Yu's previous life, the Cavaliers, Trail Blazers and Bucks all belonged to small ball markets. They only won one championship, and they went through a lot of hardships. It can be seen that it is too difficult to win the championship in small ball markets.
The more successful small ball markets are undoubtedly the Cavaliers, Spurs and Thunder. The Cavaliers gained both honors and money because of James' presence, but they fell instantly after James left.
The Spurs became one of the dynasties because of GDP and Popovich.
The Thunder once had Dewey as their second youngster, and they also reached the Finals.
However, small ball markets such as the Pelicans, Grizzlies, Pacers, Hornets, Magic, Kings, Jazz, etc. have very little attraction in the free market. It is difficult to recruit big-name players and even cannot retain the selected superstars. Even if they are rebuilt,
It's very long, so winning becomes even more difficult.
Phoenix is not a small city, but it has never won a championship.
This is a regret in the hearts of Phoenix fans. They hope to win the championship this year, so they all poured into the arena.
The game was broadcast live on cctv5. During the warm-up, Zhang Weiping introduced the lineup and said: "Lu Yu has produced horrific statistics this season and led the team into the second round. I think he has an 80% chance of winning the regular season MVP, whether at home or in the league."
He is very popular in away games, especially at home, where almost half of the fans come to watch the games with him."
Sun Yiping said: "This year, several Chinese players performed well. Yao Ming also reached the second round. Their opponent was the Spurs. The Bulls led by Wang Zhizhi met O'Neal in the second round."
"It's a pity that Yi Jianlian's SuperSonics met Yao Ming's Warriors. As a result, Yi Jianlian was eliminated. I heard that he will return to China in the near future to lead the Chinese men's basketball team to prepare for the Asian Championships with Battelle. In this year's Asian Championships, only he and
There are two NBA-level players in Battelle, but it shouldn’t be a big problem, and we don’t care too much about the Asian Championship record.”
Zhang Weiping said with a smile.
Sun Yiping said: "It makes sense for Lu Yu and the others not to play in Asian competitions. If they do, firstly, it doesn't make any sense. Secondly, there is no opportunity for young players to learn. They should really improve themselves in the summer.
Prepare for future global-level basketball competitions."
Zhang Weiping nodded: "Let's talk about today's game. Lu Yu performed well in the last round of the series and easily defeated his opponent to advance to the second round. Whether the Suns can break through the second round depends on Lu Yu's performance in this round.
"
Sun Yiping said: "Lu Yu is already recognized as the number one player in the league, but whether he can secure this position depends on whether the Suns can win the championship this year. When the game starts, we can see that there is no change in the Suns' starting lineup.
, they still sent Haslem at the power forward position to face Nowitzki on the opposite side."
Suns Five: Nash, Richardson, Marion, Haslem and Lu Yu.
The only thing fans are worried about is whether Haslem can guard Nowitzki.
Originally, they thought that Lu Yu would personally defend Nowitzki and strangle him to death. As long as Nowitzki misfired, the Mavericks would be finished.
But obviously, the Sun has no intention of doing this.
D'Antoni believes that Haslem's defense is enough. Who said that Nowitzki must be strangled? Instead of letting Lu Yu spend energy on the defensive end, it is better to let Lu Yu score more points than Nowitzki and play better.
Higher efficiency can still win the game.
Moreover, Haslem's hard-working defense may have miraculous results. Moreover, Haslem can shoot mid-range shots and grab rebounds. Nowitzki may not be able to beat him.
The Mavericks' starting five are still Marbury, Daniels, Finley, Nowitzki and Dampier.
The Mavericks knew that Dampier couldn't guard Lu Yu, so they sent Daniels in the hope of flanking Lu Yu.
This Daniels is not Stormy Daniels, the woman who slept with Old Trapp, and the double attack here is not a double attack with two long legs.
This Daniels is Marquis Daniels.
Marquis Daniels has a sharp breakthrough, with a career shooting percentage of more than 45%. The three-point shot is a weakness in offensive skills, and his passing and control ability is good. He can even serve as a point guard. A strong defender, strong in physique, and quick to move.
, basketball IQ is quite high.
In the first game of his rookie season, he scored 14 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists.
This season's data has improved to 19.7 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists per game.
An undrafted player, playing like this, is already very good, even more good than Haslem.
Yes, Daniels was an undrafted player. It can only be said that the son of Nelson, who was in charge of the Mavericks draft at that time, was very good. Not only did he select a strong player like Josh Howard, but he also selected Daniels from the undrafted draft.
But the Mavericks' head coach is no longer Nelson.
Instead, he was replaced by a young general, Avery Johnson, a month before the start of the playoffs.
In short, this Mavericks team has a head coach like General Xiao, a good starting lineup, and a strong player like Josh Howard on the bench.
They can achieve the third best record in the Western Conference, and they do have two tools.
The only puzzling thing is, how could such a lineup last seven games against the Kings?
Acting, right?
Did you almost screw up the performance?
The referee blew the whistle, Lu Yu relied on his excellent physical fitness to win the jump ball, and the game began.
Nash brought the ball to the outside of the three-point line. The person guarding him was Marbury. This summer, Nash and Marbury exchanged clubs, but Nash's reputation was very good. Marbury kicked Lu Yuna in the summer.
A kick, even in the United States, is called Xiang.
He couldn't understand that he was playing for the American team, but he kicked his opponent, but was scolded by people from his own country.
Where can I go to reason with you?
Nash passed the ball to the running Marion, Finley followed up, and the Mavericks' defensive strategy was man-to-man.
This is a more practical tactic for the Suns at the moment, because the Suns counterattack a lot quickly, and the zone defense is easy to be penetrated by the Suns, but if you don’t defend in a zone, it is easy to be beaten by Lu Yu, so the tactic of most teams is not to take advantage of Lu Yu
The ball is man-to-man, and once Lu Yu holds the ball, he changes to the zone defense.
In short, many teams often mess up their defensive lineups in order to practice this defensive tactic.
But I can only grit my teeth and continue practicing, because only with this set of defensive tactics can there be a slight possibility that I can prevent the Suns' attack. If I can prevent the Suns' attack, I will win...one-third of the game, right?
Lu Yu went to the bottom corner first and got rid of Dampier under the cover of Haslem. Nowitzki wanted to catch up, but was blocked by Richardson again. Lu Yu received the ball from Marquez outside the three-point line at a 45-degree angle on the right.
Lyon's pass, catch the ball and shoot.
The task Daniels received before the game was to help defend Lu Yu, but after two consecutive defense changes, he suddenly found that he had become the main defense against Lu Yu.
By the time he reacted, it was too late to take off. Lu Yu was so sure of this kind of shot. He shot with perfect rhythm and hit the net hollowly, 3-0.
Marbury saw Lu Yu shooting from outside the three-point line, and thought of Lu Yu who dominated both offense and defense in the Olympics. At that time, Lu Yu was still a shooting guard in the Chinese men's basketball team.
Now, although Lu Yu is nominally playing center, his playing style is still that of a shooting guard.
The Mavericks attacked, Marbury took the ball across half court and passed the ball to Nowitzki.
Nowitzki's isolation has always been one of the Mavericks' common tactics, especially now that it seems that Nowitzki is still stronger against Haslem.
Nowitzki is the most offensive power forward in the league. Once he is able to shoot to death, the Suns have to make targeted arrangements. Not only can he shoot from mid- to long-range, he can also face the frame, break through with his back, and create a large number of free throws.
The Mavericks played 8 playoff games last season. Nowitzki averaged 28.4 points, 13.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game, 2 three-pointers per game, and created 9.3 free throw opportunities. This year's first round statistics
Similar, the hit rate is higher.
As soon as Nowitzki caught the ball, Haslem, who was 203cm tall, fought closely and defended from behind.
Nowitzki leaned back and didn't move at all. He turned to the right and was followed. Haslem kept close to him and interfered with one hand. When it reached 45 degrees on the right, Nowitzki retreated and turned around, but he couldn't.
To open up space, the offensive rhythm was disrupted and he chose to pass the ball.
Finley took the ball and was caught by Marion. He failed to break through and handed it to Dampier to try to make a transition. Lu Yu followed up.
Compared with the regular season, the competition in the NBA playoffs is more intense, and each team has no reservations, because if they cannot win, they will be eliminated.
Marbury sped past Dampier. As he passed by, Dampier handed the basketball to Marbury. Lu Yu decisively gave up on Dampier and flanked Marbury with Nash.
The Suns' defensive tactics are rather weird.
You may have heard of the one-to-four combination. The purpose is to defend the opponent's breakthrough arrow. Send the best defensive player to keep an eye on the opponent and prevent the opponent from receiving the ball. Then the other four players are ready to attack in the area at any time.
But the Suns' tactics are a little different. Perhaps it should be called a four-man-a-game.
The tactics used were man-to-man, but Lu Yu did this randomly. When the opponent held the ball at a strong offensive point, Lu Yu would give up Dampier, who had little offensive ability, and selectively attack the strong offensive point.
Whether it's Nowitzki or Marbury, as long as Lu Yu is close, they will attack directly.
Lu Yu is the first team player, and the other four players are still man-to-man.
Of course, all this is based on Dampier not having much offensive ability.
Marbury didn't dare to stop the ball. Stopping the ball at this time would mean death. He simply used his body to protect the basketball and looked for opportunities decisively. Dampier was not stupid and immediately stepped forward to block Nash and free up a path for Marbury.
gap.
Marbury emerged from the heavy siege and prepared for a layup, but suddenly found that the person in front of him was Lu Yu.
He could only twist his body and pass the ball out. He passed the ball blindly, and he didn't know who it was passed to. By chance, it was picked up by Dampier who turned around. Dampier didn't care about anything and went straight to the ball.
Just dunk.
It didn't matter that Marbury was still under the basket at this time.
This move to dunk his teammates simply stunned the fans at the scene.
Even Lu Yu was stunned.
Marbury was dunked directly to the ground by Dampier.
Although he clapped his hands to indicate that it was a good goal, in fact, he had already scolded Dampier's 18th generation ancestor in his heart.
Are you blind, this idiot?
You can't see me standing under the basket?
Damn it, it’s going to be trending this time.
The Suns boss sitting on the sidelines felt a bit pity. If he had been lucky, the ball would have fallen into the hands of a Suns player, and then it would have been a fast break.
Unfortunately, it fell into Dampier's hands, and Nash was still behind Dampier.
Of course, even if Nash is in front of Dampier, he can't guard him and may even become a backdrop.
3 to 2,
Anyway, the game has just begun. This chapter has been completed!
