At halftime, there was a relaxed and unfocused atmosphere in the Cavaliers' locker room.
Although the lead at the end of the half was only 7 points, the first half of the game was far more relaxed than the score indicated.
Therefore, Mike Brown was not satisfied with the score in the first half. He knew very well why the Cavaliers failed to take a big lead in the first half.
"Michael Reed has already been shot 4 of 11 by Lin's defense. As a result, our lead is only 7 points. This is obviously not normal!"
Brendan Malone nodded and continued: "We underestimated the impact of Andrew Bogut. This second-year center failed to hinder our offense, but it caused a great impact on our defense.
threaten."
"The center supports the offense. This is a typical European offensive system. Terry Stotts has something. I have to say, he surprised me."
"But in the second half, when Michael Reed was close to being out of action, all we had to do was strangle their center to support the offense."
Mike Brown quickly made adjustments. He named LeBron James: "LeBron, in the second half of defense, your task is to help defend. You can let go of Ruben Patterson depending on the situation.
The key is for the center on the Bucks' strong side to support the offense."
The young LeBron James is still very willing to devote his energy to the defensive end. During the Cavaliers 1.0 period and the Heat period, LeBron James's team had the top defense in the league, and James' super personal defense was indispensable.
Even at a certain period of time, he not only had his own system for offense, but also had his own system for defense.
But in the Cavaliers 2.0 era and the Lakers era, James' defense completely collapsed from the inside out, and his dominance also declined visibly.
At the beginning of the third quarter, there were still a large section of the stands at Bradley Center empty. Charles Barkley couldn't help but sigh: "Milwaukee's attendance is so bad. They urgently need a superstar who can increase attendance, such as the opposite team."
LeBron James."
Or a player named Giannis Antetokounmpo...
On the sidelines of the court, Lin Yu, who could not feel the "enthusiasm" of the away fans at all, had the same feeling. Unlike Barkley, he was thinking of a player named Giannis Antetokounmpo.
However, for a team in a small market, stars like James or Giannis are hard to come by.
LeBron James retreated to the outside of the baseline, and inside the baseline were Lin Yu and Daniel Gibson.
At the beginning of the third quarter, the Cavaliers had the ball. The lineup on the court was point guard Daniel Gibson, shooting guard Lin Yu, small forward LeBron James, and interior linemen Donyel Marshall and Anderson Varejao.
This is a very flexible lineup with extremely long range and a lot of space on the field.
For the Bucks, Andrew Bogut continued to start, and the power forward was replaced by Charlie Villanueva, small forward Charlie Bell, shooting guard Michael Reid, and point guard Mo Williams.
With the old Miller away, it was Lin Yu who caught the ball in the backcourt and controlled it in the frontcourt.
He controlled the ball in the frontcourt and did not rush to pass the ball. With Varejao's active cover, he took a small step laterally and forced the opponent to switch defense.
Andrew Bogut barely thought about it and pounced directly.
Then a large space was vacated in the penalty area. LeBron James spread his wings and received Lin Yu's pass in the air.
boom!
"Another classic Zhan Lin connection. At the beginning of the third quarter, the Cavaliers played a perfect coordination!"
The score difference widened to 9 points. Terry Stotts stood on the sidelines with his arms folded, unable to prevent the cooperation between Lin Yu and James, which was already within his expectations.
Now, his focus is on the center forward who performed well in the first half to support the offense, and it can still be effective in the second half.
As the Bucks advance, Mo Williams holds the ball.
Michael Reed continued to run without the ball, and Lin Yu still focused all his attention on Reed, pursuing him closely.
On the strong side, Xiao Mo, who controlled the ball in the frontcourt, used Bogut's cover to break through and directly throw a ball from mid-range.
Bang!
The basketball hit the frame and came out, and Terry Stotts on the sidelines shook his head helplessly.
He also wanted to see how effective the center was in coordinating the attack. As a result, Xiao Mo took charge and started a chaotic battle. He took action directly after covering the screen. Only Xiao Mo in this Bucks team could play like this.
Terry Stotts also indulged Mo Mo a little bit. He always believed that an offensive team without superstars needed a player like Mo Mo. When someone needed to step up and score, Xiao Mo was so excited.
Mo can stand up like a superstar and keep scoring.
But there are also many times when Xiao Mo, who is caught in a chaotic fight, will use his unreasonable singles to hurt the team.
On the court, LeBron James grabbed a rebound, and the Cavaliers launched a counterattack, relying on James' counterattack to dunk and score two points.
With an 11-point deficit, Terry Stotts continued to stand on the sidelines and began to direct the Bucks' offense.
"Be patient and use constant top-of-the-arb screens to tear apart their defense!"
Xiao Mo, who was in control of the ball, finally got a little patient and passed the screen. He made a breakthrough and James covered it.
Facing the defense, Xiao Mo didn't pass the ball and made a mid-range shot.
With a bang, the iron struck again.
Lin Yu followed Michael Reed to the bottom corner. From a distance, he felt a little emotional: The reputation is well-deserved...
Varejao grabbed the rebound inside, and just like Brendan Malone summarized at halftime, the second-year Bogut's addition to the Bucks has not yet been reflected on the defensive end.
After grabbing the rebound, the Cavaliers counterattacked again. LeBron James assisted Daniel Gibson and hit a three-pointer.
At the beginning, the Cavaliers went on a 7-0 run, instantly extending their lead to 14 points.
Terry Stotts quickly made adjustments. After a timeout, he replaced Mo Williams, who had been playing alone without passing the ball, and replaced him with Steve Blake, who worked well with Bogut in the first half.
After Steve Blake reappeared, the Bucks played a center supporting offense in the first half.
But LeBron James, who put more energy into assisting and covering one end, directly locked up the mid-range area by himself.
After several rounds of offense and defense, the Cavaliers quickly extended their lead to over 20 points.
Terry Stotts was forced to call the second timeout of the second half and replaced Mo Williams.
In the next game, the Bucks could only rely on the singles of Michael Reed and Mo Williams, and the game completely entered garbage time before the end of the third quarter.
Lin Yu was very satisfied with this unsuspecting victory, which meant that he not only completely defeated Reid in the personal matchup, but also completely defeated the opponent in the team duel.