Chapter 128: He can't pass

?
As one of the few tactical legacy of Rick Pitino in the Celtics, the three-pointer has been strongly promoted by Leon this season. In the summer training camp, he opened up a special three-pointer training course for the players. Through video playback, data comparison and statistics, posture correction, empty-handed running, and three-point tactical exercises, he continuously strengthened the team's overall three-pointer. ability.
However, Leon still has quite strict requirements on the choice of three-point shots, and has formulated many rules about three-point shots, such as "not to force a three-point shot without adjusting the conduction ball, except for a quick counterattack." This is Walker often had problems in the first two seasons.
There is also "In the three-pointer area you are not familiar with, please choose a breakthrough or two-pointer." This is the result of the division of the hit rate area. Leon has delineated a "high hit area" for each three-pointer through data analysis, such as Ali Nas’s good point is at the top of the arc in the 30-degree area on both sides, Pierce’s area is at 45 degrees on the left and the bottom corner on the right. Michael Reid is good at firing at 45 degrees on the right, and Joe Johnson’s favorite The place is the bottom left corner-not just three points.
Of course, the team’s four-pointer Antoine Walker is shooting in all directions without dead ends. He dares to fire in every area. Leon’s advice to him is,
You’d better shoot when there is no one in front of you. "
Therefore, in this case, the Celtics not only shot the league's most three-pointers in the previous few games, but also got a very high shooting rate, which greatly improved the Celtics' offensive efficiency.
In this game, Leon always asked the players to refrain from three-pointers in the first half, just to keep the Lakers shrinking, and a three-pointer broke out in the third quarter, causing the Lakers' defense to collapse quickly.
Without O'Neal's efficient and continuous scoring in the paint, the Lakers would not be able to bite the score when the Celtics' three-point rain broke out. Phil Jackson had anticipated this situation before the game, but he was perplexed by Dalem Porter's starting and constantly grabbing offensive rebounds and underestimated Fox Leon's preparations. Did not promptly remind the players to prepare for the three-point defense.
Seeing that the difference between the two sides reached more than 10 points in the critical third quarter, the Lakers wanted to retreat on this parquet floor full of grievances. All you can rely on is persistence, a bit of luck and the superstars in the team.
……………………
"What else can we do? Watching you get shot through by their three-pointers? Do something guys, put your hard work, no Lakers player wants to lose here, no matter what the opposite is. Junk stuff, this is all Boston, it's all Celtics' turf. Wake up, the season has just begun. This game too!" Jackson yelled at the players during the third quarter timeout. Last season, the Lakers suffered a double kill by the Celtics. The last time they won here was in April 2001. After enduring the players' bad performance several times, he finally couldn't help but get angry.
Jackson is not a coach who likes to shout at players. Many times his kung fu is not on the court but off the court. On the court, he is accustomed to let the players solve problems by themselves and use what they have learned on the training ground.
But tonight doesn't look very good, with constant injuries and consecutive failures since the start of the season, and the lack of motivation for the team after winning three consecutive championships. All make the players lose the tenacity and courageous temperament that they have had in the game in the past three years. The last game was a big defeat to the Cavaliers, and this one had to face the Celtics, the old enemy in history, and the opponent's state was amazing. Phil Jackson could feel it. A disappointed and confused mood spread across the Lakers bench.
In this case, Jackson knows that there is only one person who will continue to pursue victory firmly and firmly believe that he can save the team on his own, and that is Kobe Bryant.
After the timeout, Jackson could see Kobe’s firm eyes. This competitive young man grew up so quickly. When he won the championship in 2000, he was just a good assistant to O’Neal, an excellent offensive and better defensive end. Shooting guard. now. Two years later, he is already a super scorer with a faint Jordan temperament. On the road to winning last year, Kobe's role began to become more prominent. His performance in clearing the Spurs and Kings in the West is even more important than O'Neal.
In the first half of the game, Kobe has already taken 18 shots. Without O'Neal and his teammates lacked precision, Kobe began to help the team by constantly scoring shots even though he only hit one of them. With 8 goals, more than 40% of his shots are still passable. But in the third quarter, when the Celtics kept hitting three-pointers, Kobe also tried to use three-pointers to continue the Lakers' lives. Unexpectedly, the consecutive misses caused the Lakers to fall into the pit.
Even so, Jackson still has to rely on Kobe, I believe Kobe, after the timeout, the two sides returned to the court, the Lakers' offense, Kobe directly organized the offense with the ball. Samaki Walker made a pick-and-roll for Kobe on the right, but the quality of the pick-and-roll was extremely poor, and it did not block people. After the disassembly, the two Celtics defenders quickly switched defenses. Walker also tried to cut inside. Kobe ignored him at all because Reid got stuck in the position after changing defense. So Kobe chose to dribble to the left.
After changing defense, Chris Anderson faced Kobe. At this time, Reid got rid of Walker’s Reid and stepped forward to signal Anderson to retreat. Tony Batty on the inside line has filled in. Anderson can let Kobe go and find his defender. Reid faced Kobe again. In this game, Reid put most of his energy into the consumption of Kobe. Obviously he is not Kobe's opponent, but the ability to reduce Kobe's shooting rate to a certain extent is already the limit that Reed can do.
Kobe continued to dribble the ball under his hips, which seemed useless. Then he suddenly started to break from the right, and after shaking Reid's center of gravity, he stopped and shot the jumper. The ball drew a smooth curve and passed through. The basket made a two-pointer. A typical Kobe-style goal can be regarded as stopping the blood for the Lakers, and he finally stopped trying outside three-pointers.
Looking back, Pierce tried to use a similar one-on-one attack to counter his opponent. He faced Kobe on the right and dribbled the ball with his left hand. After a sway of the shoulder, he wanted to pass by Kobe's right hand, but Kobe reached out and stabbed the ball. The ball was dropped and the ball was intercepted. This time Kobe didn't attack by himself. He passed the ball to Fisher, who was about to go. Fisher made another high toss to Samaki Walker, who had already reached the three-second zone. Walker made an empty layup. Kobe played one offense and one defense, helping the Lakers chase four points.
"What the are you thinking? Do you want to return me? How could you have such naive ideas? The Celtics play team basketball, you have to learn to share, share!" Kobe, who has the upper hand, never forgets to face Pierce spit out trash, yelling "share" constantly. Because in that three-point attack wave in the third quarter, Pierce shouted "You should learn to share the ball" towards Kobe, who missed three consecutive three-pointers. How could Kobe, who is very vindictive, miss such a good opportunity to counterattack.
Leon on the sidelines could not hear the dialogue between the two, but as a coach he knew that in this case, Pierce should be given a chance to prove himself in front of Kobe.
Leon is not the kind of head coach who likes to exercise authority over the players. Everything needs to be listened to. Everything has to serve the team and obliterate the player’s personality. He allows players to have their own "show-" on the court under appropriate circumstances. "time" time, provided that you can get the ball in.
Sure enough, Pierce once again received a pass from his teammate. This time he no longer faced Kobe head-on, but used his broad back and pressed against Kobe a little bit. When Shaquille O’Neal was not on the court but sitting on the bench in a denim shirt, no one on the court had a bigger than Pierce, and he didn’t have to worry about encountering a huge shark after he got inside. .
Pierce used his back to squeeze all the way to the inside, then turned inward, and after swaying Kobe slightly, he squeezed Kobe up and down with one step, and then picked up the basket with his right hand~EbookFREE.me~. After scoring, Pierce stood in front of Kobe and glared at him for two seconds and then ran away. Obviously, the two people were facing each other.
But at this time Leon called a timeout. He called for a short timeout of 20 seconds by taking advantage of Arenas' dead ball for a foul when defending Fisher. It seemed that he was going to set up a defense to prevent the third quarter. Kobe's continuous counterattack.
"Paul, you come to Kobe one by one, remember, block him. Michael, you go to deal with Holly, and remember to help defend Kobe by the way. Chris, help Paul pinch Kobe." Leon said briefly. After finishing the arrangement, the players seemed to have some doubts, especially Reid and Pierce. Reid defended Kobe for most of the time, and the effect was good. He always felt that he could lock Kobe.
And Pierce thinks he can face Kobe one-on-one, whether it is offensive or defensive, he can surrender him, without Anderson's flanking and Reid's help. Arenas looked on the sidelines, because Arenas hadn't got any chance to play this game, he was thinking about whether to have a one-on-one duel with Kobe.
But they didn't speak. After all, countless times have proved that trying to question the consequences of Leon's decision was just being beaten. Leon looked at the players who had some questions but didn't dare to say, and when the time-out buzzer sounded, he added: "He can't pass the ball." (To be continued.)