() Playoff-level defense is completely different from regular season defense!
This can be judged from the softness of the referee's whistle.
After being entangled by Adrian, Carmelo Anthony's performance inevitably declined. In two consecutive attacks, Carmelo Anthony was unable to participate in the offense under Adrian's defense.
Even though he went there, he failed to provide any help to the Nuggets' offense.
At this time, his shortcomings of hesitation in handling the ball were once again exposed.
Obviously, he has not completely solved this problem in himself. At the beginning of the game, perhaps it was George Karl's numerous instructions that made him choose the initial handling method. But as the pressure of holding the ball increases now,
, when he had the ball, he showed signs of hesitation in choosing how to handle the ball.
When under tremendous pressure, he becomes a little helpless and unable to choose the best way to handle the ball. This may be because, before entering the NBA, Carmelo Anthony, the 'strongest college student ever', had never
What great pressure have you endured?
After entering the NBA, because the Denver Nuggets had decided to rebuild with Carmelo Anthony as the core from the beginning, even in Anthony's rookie season, the ball stayed in his hands for many times.
, allowing him to choose to attack or pass the ball, this excessive freedom makes it difficult for him to judge the correct way to deal with it.
George Karl obviously realized this and made demands on Carmelo Anthony. But obviously, it is not easy for his demands to be implemented!
Adrian's entangled defense prevented Anthony from finding a comfortable shooting opportunity. At the same time, it was not easy for him to break through Adrian. Even if he successfully broke through, he still had to face the attack from the Lakers' two big muscles inside.
The Lakers' inside line can't open up space for the outside line, and this is the same for the Nuggets.
At this time, Nene has not developed the ability to shoot jump shots near the three-second zone. Now he is still a rim-breaker who is good at dunks. Marcus Camby is also an inside player who is strong in defense and weak in offense. His scoring basically relies on
Assisted dunks under the basket and second offense after grabbing offensive rebounds. He does have the ability to shoot in the open, but after the injury, his physical fitness declined so much that even the mid-range shot became
It's a bit inaccurate, obviously he hasn't gotten over the injury yet.
Just like Nene and Camby can safely guard the inside, the Lakers also don't need to defend the inside. They can stay in the inside and wait for the breakthroughrs to come and give gifts. In this regard, the two teams can be said to be evenly matched.
Adrian was not too involved on the offensive end. In the first quarter, Kobe's desire to score was very strong. Almost all the shots were concentrated in Kobe's hands. The efficiency was also pretty good. So far, he has made three out of seven shots, three-pointers.
He made 1 of 3 field goals and 3 of 3 free throws, already scoring in double figures.
On the contrary, the Denver Nuggets performed well at the beginning of the game. Because Anthony was restricted at this point, they fell into a scoring drought. They were surpassed by 3 points by the Lakers at 17:14. Allen Iverson stood up at the critical moment.
came out and hit two consecutive three-pointers to tie the score at 20:20. At this time, George Karl stood up and called a timeout.
After a 100-second long timeout, neither side chose to make substitutions. George Karl made some adjustments on the offensive end, using pick-and-rolls to help Carmelo Anthony reduce the pressure on him. This adjustment did have an effect.
Derian's strength and speed are only enough to suppress Carmelo Anthony. Once encountering a pick-and-roll, even if it is only delayed for a short while, it will inevitably not be able to stop Carmelo Anthony's advance. And the rotation
In terms of defense, others are not as effective at defending Anthony as Adrian.
After adjustments, Carmelo Anthony regained some vitality on the offensive end. However, on the Lakers' offensive end, after Kobe's personal singles at the beginning, Phil Jackson also made adjustments. When the offense and defense transitioned again
, the basketball was handed into Adrian's hands, controlling the basketball, turning his body sideways, and cruising on the three-point line. The Lakers players all started running actively at the request of Phil Jackson.
Carmelo Anthony, on the other hand, chose to take a big step forward, standing half a step above the free throw line, assuming a standard defensive posture, and calmly followed Adrian's movements.
The playoffs are different from the regular season. This game started four days ago. Just like Phil Jackson will focus on studying the Nuggets' players and lineup tactics before the game starts, before today's game starts
, George Karl, a coach who worked harder than Phil Jackson, also did not miss this great free time to study the Lakers' tactics.
Four days may not be enough to fully understand the tactics. But it is enough to understand and memorize the strengths and weaknesses of some important players.
What's more, Adrian's shortcomings are so obvious!
It is already public knowledge in the league that Adrian's shooting is not good. After careful study, George Karl obtained more detailed information. Adrian's shooting is not very volatile, but his shooting percentage is not high.
.The rebound shot from a 45-degree angle on the right side near the free throw line is very accurate, with a hit rate of up to 47%. The left side is slightly lower, but it also reaches 45%.
Compared with these two places, Adrian's shooting percentage in other places is relatively poor. The shooting percentage at the top arc of the free throw line is only 37%, and the shooting percentage at the bottom corners on both sides is only 33%.
%.
Therefore, the strategy George Karl developed for Anthony to defend Adrian was to force Adrian to the corners on both sides as much as possible, and resolutely not allow him to shoot easily from the 45-corner positions on both sides near the free throw line.
For this reason, Anthony needs to be able to keep up with Adrian's footsteps and not be easily fooled by Adrian's fake moves, so he needs to let go of the defense.
If Adrian shoots a three-pointer, then let Adrian shoot it, because if Adrian is forced to shoot a three-pointer, it means that he has nothing to do with Anthony's defense.
Compared with mid-range shots, Adrian's three-point shooting accuracy is seriously insufficient. Even open shots can only reach the level of 1-in-3. If there is defensive interference, the shooting rate will drop even further. Therefore, Adrian's shooting
The situation of three-pointers is basically a forced choice when time is running out. Occasionally, there will be times when the hand bursts out and hits several three-pointers in a row. But this is just a nerve knife. No one can predict it. Really
If it happens, there's nothing you can do about it.
Judging from the previous situation, the defensive effect seems to be pretty good. So far, Adrian has not performed well. It seems that there is nothing he can do under Anthony's extremely targeted defense.
However, this is not the first time Adrian has faced this situation.
Many people in the league know that Adrian's shooting is not good. If George Karl is given more time to study it in detail, he will find that it is not that no one has defended Adrian in a similar way, but the effect
...Although Adrian has been working hard on his shooting, especially three-pointers, so far, he has not made any progress in three-pointers, but Adrian has never hit the rookie wall because of this!
There are no perfect players in this world, and tactics can make up for any lack of ability. The purpose of tactics is to give full play to the players' strengths and make up for the players' shortcomings, so as to maximize the potential of the players and win.
At this moment, Adrian, who had been silent all this time, showed his fangs.
Facing Carmelo Anthony's defense, Adrian directly chose to break through. He took a big step forward with his right foot, crossing the distance between himself and Carmelo. After judging that Adrian
When this was not a fake move but a real breakthrough, Anthony immediately stepped forward.
At this time, the benefit of leaving a large step space is reflected. Although Adrian is the breakthrough and takes the initiative, such a large buffer space allows Anthony enough time to make judgments and make decisions.
Reaction. Adrian's strength and strength allow him to crush some forward players with average physical fitness, but this is obviously not useful against Anthony. In terms of physical fitness, Anthony is not up to the heaven-shattering standards.
, is also superb. Adrian's strength and footsteps do not have an advantage in front of him. Under Anthony's pressure, Adrian gradually moves away from the basket and toward the baseline.
Just when Anthony thought his defense was about to succeed, Adrian suddenly made a sharp turn.
This action did not bypass Anthony, but Adrian took the opportunity to pass the basketball. Turiaf, who just ran around the baseline, caught the basketball steadily. Turiaf who received the basketball did not
Choosing to take action, Kobe handed it over to Kobe, who threw away Iverson and went straight inside, and then used a solid pick-and-roll to block Iverson who was chasing after him.
Camby's line of sight was blocked by Turiaf's body. By the time he noticed Kobe rushing into the penalty area with the ball, it was too late to move to the best defensive position. He could only take off and stretch his hands as much as possible.
Kobe, who was jumping high, held back in the air, ducked out of the way of Camby's block, and gently pushed the basketball in his hand to gain some momentum. The basketball floated forward for a while and hit the front of the basket.
, the rebound entered the basket.
"Well, very good." Phil Jackson couldn't help but nodded. This is the offensive method that satisfies him. (To be continued.)
