Chapter 435 Thibodeau's way of using soldiers, Maddie's worries!
There are two games in total today.
The game between the Bulls and the Eagles started first.
In the first game two days ago, the Bulls easily won 102:89.
Fighting again in this campaign, the Bulls players naturally hope to win another victory at the United Center!
At the same time, all the Rockets players in Houston gathered together to watch the game.
"Today we are mainly watching the second game between the Heat and the Celtics. But to be on the safe side, we also need to know about the Bulls and Hawks."
Mark Jackson said while turning on the TV.
The Heat are undoubtedly the favorites to win the Eastern Conference championship, but the Bulls should not be underestimated, and you still need to know about them in advance.
"Rose's style of play is similar to Westbrook's on some levels! We can also take a look at what strategy the Eagles used to defend Rose today. There may be something worth learning from."
Ben Wallace added.
The Rockets generals nodded after hearing this.
As one of the few veterans in the team with championship experience, everyone is very convinced by Ben's words.
"You think...in the next few years, will Rose become Curry's biggest competitor on the road to MVP?"
Lori asked with a smile.
Curry was stunned when he heard this, not knowing why the topic suddenly fell on him.
He waved his hands quickly, indicating that he was still far away.
But the Rockets generals only felt that Curry was being modest.
After all, after observing him closely for more than half a season, everyone was impressed by his skills.
Even Tracy McGrady once said privately that Curry's achievements in the future will most likely exceed his!
And this was said after t-mac won the mvp.
In other words, McGrady feels that Curry's potential is not just as simple as winning an MVP.
Rose is ranked second on this year's MVP list, and his strength is beyond doubt!
In addition, he is similar in age to Curry, so it is not difficult to understand when they are compared together.
"You were both born in 1988, and Ross is half a year younger than you. You may really have to compete for many years in the future!"
Yao Ming said while checking information on his mobile phone.
When Griffin and George heard this, their eyes flashed with fighting intent.
Both of them are players with both talent and ambition.
Maybe Curry is the better one now, but that doesn't mean they are second to none.
Griffin and George have even agreed to train together when the season ends, determined to have a fulfilling and rewarding offseason!
............
"Okay, let's stop chatting now, the game will start soon; ESPN's famous commentator——A-Smith."
"I just got the starters on both sides and read them to you."
"The Bulls side is: Rose, Bogans, Luol Deng, Boozer, and Noah."
"For the Hawks, Jeff Teague, Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Al Horford and Pachulia."
Mark Jackson introduced.
"If you just look at the lineup on paper, the Eagles seem to be more balanced."
"But when it comes to Rose, no one on their team can restrict him."
"After all, the playoffs are still a stage for stars. Rose alone is enough to crush the Hawks to death!"
Tony Allen analyzed.
"It depends on whether iso.joe (singles Joe) can stand up and fight with Rose."
Griffin said.
"The strongest point of the Bulls team is actually defense."
"Under Thibodeau, the Bulls' overall defensive ability is one of the best in the league."
"If the Hawks want to break the game, someone must step up and defeat the Bulls' defense point by point! And the only one on their team who has this ability is Joe Johnson."
Maddie talked eloquently.
Everyone nodded after hearing this.
Just as he said that, as the referee threw the ball high, the game began!
Pachulia and Noah took off at the same time.
Noah is young and strong, and his jumping ability is even better.
He jumped up high, waved his hand, and swatted the ball back to his own half.
The bull strikes first!
Rose advanced with the ball and came to a 45-degree angle on the left.
In the first round, he did not rush to attack, but passed the ball to Boozer inside.
Carlos Boozer - a former All-Star who averaged close to 2010 per game!
The Jazz inside line he formed with Okur back then left an indelible memory for many Rockets fans.
The way he sets up a machine gun with a crooked handle and shoots with that weird posture is the "childhood shadow" of many Rockets fans!
A simple summary is... Boozer's shooting is ugly, it's just his shooting!
In the offseason last year, he transferred from the Jazz to the Bulls.
With a super teammate like Rose, Boozer plays less of an offensive role this season, but his efficiency has improved!
After receiving the ball, Boozer faced Horford's defense, assumed a triple threat posture, and then took two short and powerful test steps in succession.
Horford was unmoved.
Seeing this, Boozer decisively pulled up on the spot and took a mid-range shot...
"Shua~"
Basketball goes hollow into the net.
2:0.
The bull takes the lead!
In the transition between offense and defense, Teague passed the half court with the ball and came to the top of the arc to organize.
Joe Johnson took advantage of the screen and caught the ball smoothly.
Luol Deng, the "British Jordan" who defended him, followed closely behind and blocked the Eagle King in time.
Seeing that there was no chance to make a shot, Joe Johnson signaled his teammates to pull away.
Then he got into a stance and dribbled the ball continuously from his crotch to Luol Deng.
Luol Deng moved in small steps and always maintained a defensive position.
When Joe Johnson saw this, he immediately changed his tactics!
I saw him blasting the ball with his left hand, causing the ball to bounce high and float in mid-air.
Then, he mobilized all his body's functions and made a huge crossover.
Luol Deng was deceived by this realistic change of direction, and his center of gravity shifted slightly to the right.
But he reacted quickly, pushed hard on the ground with his right foot, and pounced on Joe Johnson again.
At this time, Joe, who is singles, has just collected the ball and is preparing to shoot.
Luol Deng jumped up and sealed it on his fingertips.
"Duang!"
Joe Johnson was interfered with and his shot hit the edge of the basket and bounced out.
Noah jumped high, collected the rebound, and passed the ball to Rose beside him.
The next moment, the rose turned into a red lightning and headed towards the hinterland of the eagle.
Ross is so fast!
When he just started, Teague was about three meters in front of him.
But two seconds later, Rose had surpassed Teague!
Seeing the rose fading away, Teague stopped in despair and watched as the former rushed to the basket and jumped high...
"bang!"
Rose used a powerful two-handed dunk to instantly set the United Center on fire.
"mvp!!!"
"mvp!!!"
"mvp!!!"
The fans at the scene shouted in unison.
It is worth mentioning that the game has only started for one minute.
After only playing for a while, the fans started shouting MVP...
From this small detail, we can see how much Bulls fans prefer Rose!
............
In the next round, the Bulls successfully defended again.
Under Noah's interference, Teague's throw missed.
Boozer grabbed the rebound and handed the ball to Luol Deng.
During the fast break, Jordan of the United Kingdom made an in&out feint while moving and passed the "Eagle King"-Josh Smith.
Luol Deng continued to advance, and after reaching the free throw line, he suddenly threw the ball into the sky...
The next moment, the rose blooms again!
Rose jumped high, caught the basketball with one hand in his right hand, and then slammed the ball into the basket.
Because he jumped so high, his head even hit the backboard!
After landing, Ross touched his crew head painfully.
6:0, the Bulls got a perfect start!
Eagles coach Larry Drew saw that the situation was not good and decisively called a timeout.
During the timeout, the Rockets generals in Houston also discussed the opening situation.
"The Hawks' defense is not good! No one is trying to restrict Rose, making him play too comfortably."
Lori sighed.
"Teague's defense is so bad... Putting aside the difference in physical fitness, his defensive enthusiasm is not good!"
"You can't let an MVP-level player play so easily and calmly! I don't even think Rose is under any defensive threat!"
"He has to at least guard Westbrook like Steph does, right?"
Tony Allen commented.
"Hey, hey, hey! What you said makes it sound like Curry's defense is very poor."
Birdman Anderson, who had always been quiet, now spoke.
He admires young people as humble and capable as Curry very much.
So when Tony Allen talked about Curry's defense, Anderson automatically helped.
"You misunderstood. Chris Steph defended very well. At least his defensive attitude was very positive."
"I just evaluated Teague's defense based on my own standards, and I just mentioned Stephen."
Tony Allen explains.
"By your standards, there are only a handful of people in the league who can defend."
Yao Ming said jokingly.
As soon as he said this, laughter burst into laughter in the conference room.
This is Dayao's role in the locker room.
He can often use humorous speaking methods to adjust the team atmosphere.
"Currently, Derrick is a step above Russell."
"If Russell were replaced by Derrick, the Thunder would be really difficult to deal with."
Lori touched her chin and said.
"But it won't necessarily change in two years."
"Russell's physical fitness is also abnormal, and his upper limit is not necessarily lower than Rose. Of course, the premise here is that Russell can practice shooting."
Griffin talked eloquently.
"Who can say for sure what will happen in the future?"
"Did you notice that after Rose dunked just now, he didn't grab the frame and landed directly on the ground?"
"This way of landing has a great impact on the knees!"
Roy said with worry.
As a player who has had two menisci removed, he knows the horror of injuries!
No matter how talented you are, a serious injury can be enough to "destroy" your entire career.
"Actually, I noticed it too."
"Derek is very young now and his body is still very healthy. But I am a little worried about whether his knee can withstand such an impact for a long time."
McGrady has also been seriously injured, so he naturally sympathizes with Roy's concerns.
"Sometimes, patience is also a kind of talent..."
"All we can do is wish him good health."
Yao Ming said.
"Okay, don't think so much."
"The game is about to start. Let's see if the Eagles can reverse the situation first."
Mark Jackson said with a smile.
Everyone nodded and turned their attention back to the TV screen.
............
The timeout ends and the game restarts.
As soon as the Eagles came up, they played their best team offense.
Horford mentioned supporting the arc and dealing cards online.
Joe Johnson used Pachulia's screen at the bottom line to get rid of Luol Deng's defense.
Horford's pass goes from man to ball.
Joe Johnson decisively catches and shoots after receiving the ball.
The basketball left his fingertips and spun at high speed, drawing a beautiful arc in the air...
"Shua~"
Hollow into the net!
6:3, the Eagles finally broke the deadlock!
Easy side to fight again.
Rose and Noah played a pick-and-roll tactic in the high post.
With the help of the screen, Bulls No. 1 successfully rushed to the free throw line.
After attracting help from the defense, Rose flicked his wrist and distributed the ball to the outside.
Luol Deng raised his knife and hit a three-pointer.
answerball!
9:3, the Bulls continue to lead.
Eagles attack.
Eagle king Josh Smith broke into the paint and forced Noah to foul.
He stepped to the free throw line and made one of two free throws.
9:4!
In the transition between offense and defense, Rose once again sent out an assist.
This time, it was Boozer who received the pass.
He immediately went down after picking up Rose.
When the latter was double-teamed, he used a ground pass to send the ball to Boozer.
Boozer used a machine gun and made a solid mid-range shot.
11:4.
A minute later, Rose made a comeback and continued to play pick-and-roll tactics at the top of the key.
This time, he pretended to bypass the pick-and-roll, but suddenly changed direction and passed between the two defensive players.
In an instant, Rose tore a hole in the Hawks' seemingly airtight defense!
Rose went straight in, took off with both feet after a step, and delivered another gorgeous dunk!
13:4.
The Bulls further expanded their lead.
In the following games, the Eagles were always the ones chasing points.
But every time they narrowed the point difference to about 5 points, Rose would stand up and use his unsolvable breakthroughs to help the Bulls stabilize the situation. (Why can he stand up in time every time? Because Rose has always stayed on the court.)
Until the end of the third quarter, the Bulls still led the Eagles by 10 points, 80:70.
In the last quarter of the game, Bulls coach Thibodeau continued to let Rose, Luol Deng, and Noah play together.
With three generals on the field, the Bulls' advantage is as solid as a mountain.
It wasn't until the last three minutes of the fourth quarter that the Eagles finally gave up resistance and replaced the main players.
Thibodeau then removed the three Roses.
At the end of the game, all three of them looked exhausted.
Fortunately, the fruits of victory still put smiles on their faces.
In this game, Luol Deng didn't rest for a minute and played a full 44 minutes.
Rose took a two-minute rest and played a total of 42 minutes.
Noah was slightly better, playing "only" 38 minutes.
In the end, the Bulls defeated the Hawks 105:91 at home and won the second game of the series.
The total score of the two teams also became 2:0!
............
After watching the game, the Rockets players were full of confidence.
No disrespect to the Bulls and Hawks, it's just that the shortcomings of these two teams are too obvious.
In the words of Ben Wallace - "The Hawks don't have a super giant. They seem to be strong, but they are actually defeated in one blow. The Bulls have a tough style and Rose's personal ability is very strong, but the bench is too thin and the head coach's employment method is not suitable for them."
The consumption of core players is too great."
All in all, neither the Bulls nor the Hawks will be able to pose a substantial threat to the Rockets in a best-of-seven game.
In other words, it will be difficult for these two teams to break through the Heat and become the Rockets' opponents.
"Okay, since everyone's attitude is so unified, let's focus on studying the Heat's game."
Mark Jackson saw that the soldiers had no enthusiasm to continue the discussion, nor did he force it. He smiled and guided the players to focus on the next game.
Soon, the second battle between the Heat and the Celtics began!