The Eagles in the 2014-2015 season were, in fact, the strongest Eagles in recent years.

Without Wang's butterfly effect, the Hawks would have topped the Eastern Conference with a 60-22 record this season and made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in the playoffs.

But due to the birth of the Super Wizards and the Super Big Four Cavaliers, the Hawks have lost a lot of games this season that they shouldn't have lost, so that their record plummeted and even fell out of the top half of the division.

Wang Xiao didn't dare to have the slightest contempt for this team.

The Hawks are very similar to the Spurs in the West, with no player on the team scoring more than 20 points, and the highest scoring average is Paul Millsap, who averages 16.7 points per game.

Scoring averages mean there are no scoring points to target, and the toughest thing for the Hawks is the offensive-defensive balance that they inherited from the Spurs.

……

Of course, this refers to the Bucks before it.

After the trade deadline, the Bucks got Korver, a three-point sharpshooter who would be a weapon against the Hawks!

In addition, the Bucks have a secret weapon against the Hawks, and that is center Nikola. Jokic.

The most feared thing in the joint defense is an accurate long-range shooter, and the other is a big man who can be inside and out, with a wide field of vision and can respond.

And these two, the current Bucks have, and even the long-range shooter is Kyle, who was traded from the Hawks. Korver.

To be honest, even Wang Xiao didn't expect that Korver, who was traded from the Hawks at the trade deadline, would become the sharpest weapon against the Hawks in the playoffs.

Budenholzer, who studied under Spurs head coach Popovich, has created a perfect offensive and defensive system for the Hawks, greatly raising the team's ceiling.

If you want to find opportunities in the Eagles' more perfect system, you also need to rely on the performance of the players.

……

On April 18, the first round of the playoffs officially began.

Due to record factors, the first game was played at the Bradley Center, home of the Bucks.

The starting five Tigers on the Bucks' side are point guard Victor. Oladipo, point guard Kyle. Korver, small forward Chris. Middleton, power forward Giannis. Antetokounmpo, center Nikola. Jokic.

The starting lineup on the Hawks' side was point guard Jeff Brown. Teague, quarterback Kent. Bazemore, small forward Demaré. Carroll, power forward Paul. Millsap, center Al. Horford.

The two players traded from the Bucks at the trade deadline, Knight and Mayo, were both sitting on the bench.

Wang Xiao knows why the head coach of the Hawks, Budenholzer, arranged it this way, Knight and Mayo are not good defensive players, and they will increase their offensive firepower compared to the starters, arrange them to the bench to steal points, and ensure that the defensive intensity of the starting lineup will be better.

The players on both sides jumped the ball in the midfield, and the 2.13-meter-old Jokic was almost the same as the 2.08-meter-tall Horford in terms of jumping, both of which belonged to a very poor type, and the two were almost evenly matched, but with a slightly taller height, Jokic still preemptively dialed the basketball to his side.

Oladipo received the basketball, steadily controlled the ball through the halfcourt, and looked up at the Hawks' defensive formation.

"Sure enough, it's the same as the coach said."

In front of Oladipo, the Eagles put on a pseudo-defensive position.

The so-called pseudo-joint defense is a joint defense method born in response to the league's defense 3-second rule, after all, NBA centers cannot stand motionless under the basket like in international leagues.

Such a defensive position, the defensive breakthrough is quite good, at any time will form two clamps one or even three clamps one, once the situation is formed, it is difficult for ordinary players to separate the ball from the crowd.

Of course, this refers to ordinary players.

Oladipo raised his hand slightly, and Jokic, who had just entered the interior line, understood it and immediately pulled it out to block and dismantle for Oladipo.

After the pick-and-roll, Oladipo didn't immediately pick up speed and rush inside, instead passing the ball back to Jokic.

After the pick-and-roll, Jokic stepped back two steps inside, and when he received the ball, he was just around the free throw line.

Seeing this scene, Budenholzer's brows couldn't help jumping.

Center-forward ......

In the regular season, Jokic showed good adaptability, and his average of 4.6 assists per game throughout the regular season fully proved his ability to assist his teammates to score.

But......

Jokic, who held the basketball up with both hands in the air and looked like he was going to see where his teammates were, suddenly jumped up on the spot and shot the basket.

The Eagles players standing not far in front of him didn't have time to react at all, and watched as the basketball shot, arcing through the air and falling into the basket.

"A two-point goal works!"

Jokic is not a traditional interior player, in another world, he has never shot below 30% from three-point range since entering the league, and even hit 100+ three-pointers in the regular season with a 39% three-point shooting rate.

And with a free throw shooting rate of 82%, what he is best at is shooting at the free throw line!

"Have you forgotten? The opponent has the ability to shoot from medium to long distance! Focus! ”

Budenholzer shouted two words from the sidelines, but there was a faint uneasiness in his heart.

For this opponent, Budenholzer has already analyzed it.

The opponent's offensive tactics are very simple, that is, small ball tactics and simple blocking and cutting coordination, and the defense is more often dependent on the player's personal ability to defend one-on-one.

It can be said that the reason why the Bucks can win is more dependent on the individual ability of the players than the credit of the tactical system.

The best way to deal with such a team is to curb the rhythm of the opponent's attack, that is, to limit the starting point of the opponent's attack.

Budenholzer has seen a lot of Bucks game footage, and he also knows that the two main points of the Bucks' offense are Oladipo and Antetokounmpo, and both are break-oriented players, so he will let the players use joint defense to limit the opponent's breakthrough from the beginning.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the other party came up, he actually offered the move of the center in the middle.

In the regular season, Jokic rarely played like this, but in daily training, Wang Xiao often let him practice these, which also made Jokic handy as soon as he used it, without any rustiness.

Relying on this hand, the Wizards took the lead at the beginning of the game.

In the face of Jokic's style of play with the ball in the middle, the Hawks seemed at a loss, not staring at him, it was likely to be another jump shot one step away from the free throw line, staring at him, too far from the inside, when Antetokounmpo cut inside, no one had time to return to the defense at the first time, after all, that guy's steps were too big and too fast!

Within 2 minutes of the game, the Bucks made four consecutive offenses and made one free throw, which directly hit the Hawks 10-2, forcing Budenholzer to call a timeout.