A team that is sixth in the West actually looks so threatening!

It's stronger than the Spurs' sense of pressure on the Hawks!

Liu Mang had a feeling, he didn't know if it was an illusion, he felt that the current Sun team was ...... It's not that there is no chance of taking out the Spurs in the playoffs!

"In the third quarter, maybe the opponent will send O'Neal, and we should set it up for that." Liu Mang suggested.

"Yes, I think so too." Stockton chimed in.

It's a nuisance.

Coach Kruger also had a headache.

The Suns are better than expected, and in the West, Coach Kruger only regarded the three teams as strong rivals, after all, these three teams are the most prominent in the West.

But now Coach Kruger has found out that the Suns also have the strength to reach the Finals!

That's different.

Originally, playing the Suns, Coach Kruger was ready to let Liu Mang play more than 30 minutes like before, but if the Suns can be compared with Hu Ma Niu, then Liu Mang's playing time will not be limited.

And in order to keep the third place in the East, this time the Eagles have to work hard to win all of them!

……

After the start of the second half, the Hawks sent Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Maddy, Marion, and Kwame Brown to the strongest lineup.

On the Suns' side, as expected, they sent Calderon and O'Neal's second-team core combination, but with Nash, Josh Smith, and James Jones!

Nash is not without a catch-and-shoot role, in the Mavericks' singles strategy, most of the time it is a one-man single, and the others are ready to catch and shoot, which Nash also does well.

Compared with other core point guards with concentrated possession, Nash's biggest difference is that he is willing to hand over the ball if necessary, which is also the key to his ability to lead the team to the Western Conference finals many times!

Let the MVP in his prime be the pitcher, and besides the Hawks and Spurs, there is now a third team that has done this!

When it comes to the grasp of open shots, superstars who are good at shooting are definitely more sure than role players who are good at shooting.

Although the Suns did a poor job defensively because they had Calderon and Nash, the double-pit guards on the defensive end, their positional offense played very well under Calderon's organization!

In particular, Calderon and Josh Smith's outside blocking and pick-and-roll cooperation is simply a slow version of Liu Mang and a fast version of Kwame Brown's blocking and pick-and-roll cooperation!

Liu Mang's head is big!

Liu Mang seems to have an impression of the Suns' pair of point guards, as if it is the future style of play of Zhu Holiday and Rondo under Gentry, but it has changed from defensive to offensive......

It seems that the offense of Rondo and Jrue Holiday is not bad offensively, and Rondo was already able to shoot almost a three-pointer per game at that time......

In addition, Gentry's dual-point guard tactics were too much of a bonus to the interior, O'Neal played less than 8 minutes in the second quarter, scored 9 points, and in the first half of the third quarter, the Hawks tried to speed up, but were stopped by the card shark combination.

The score difference has been hanging in the mid-fifths.

By the official timeout in the third quarter, the Hawks trailed the Suns by six points, 71-77.

And after Liu Mang burst into the basket to bypass the decline in physical strength and couldn't prevent O'Neal from the basket, the Suns called a timeout.

That is, after the official timeout comes back, it is the Suns' ball possession!

……

Pause back.

O'Neal was tired of playing and may need him to play key moments, so Coach Gentry replaced him and Calderon with a lineup of Nash, Barbossa, Raja Bale, Josh Smith and Dio.

The most bitter part of the Eagles this season is that the substitutes of those strong teams are all players who have already been technically formed to join and hug their thighs, and the Eagles have not received high-quality veterans this season like the previous three championship years, and they almost can't look down on them, so they can only cultivate themselves.

Seeing Calderon, O'Neal, James Jones, Barbosa, and Tim Thomas forming the second lineup group, I can only envy while continuing to send Liu Mang, Maddy, Battier, Granger, and Marion.

Kwame Brown was tired enough today, barely resting except for a four-minute break in the second quarter.

The Suns attacked, Nash received the ball in the front court and met Maddy's defense, and Liu Mang followed Barbossa to the left baseline of the basket.

They are all five-small lineups, there is no center in the true sense, after Nash and Josh Smith blocked, Maddy and Granger switched defenses, Nash did not get good breakthrough opportunities and passing opportunities, so he handed the ball to Dio, who was pulled to the high post.

After Dior received the ball, Barbosa on the left bottom line cut in, and when Liu Mang followed up, he heard the system prompt!

"Josh Smith ......"

Liu Mang immediately changed direction and blocked Josh Smith, who cut in the middle.

Josh Smith just got to the free throw line and received the ball, but he was blocked by Liu Mang!

"Ding...... Characteristics: Rejection trigger, more than 30% chance of successful prediction. ”

Liu Mang switched defenses here, and Granger tacitly accepted the basket, but at this time, Josh Smith passed the ball to the bottom corner!

Barbosa was halfway through and saw Josh Smith cut in and pulled back into the bottom corner, Josh Smith received the ball and passed it to Barbosa, who made an empty three-point shot......

It's so dangerous that I didn't get in! Liu Mang grabbed the defensive rebound.

Big gap, this is!

Three passes from the Suns easily created a three-point opportunity.

The current lineups of the two teams, in terms of individual strength, are undoubtedly stronger for the Eagles.

However, running can wipe out a lot of disadvantages!

Running and shooting is similar to the small ball of the future, the role is fixed, the player does not need to be proficient in too many skills, he can shoot threes and run, and the Suns are more extreme in small ball than the future Warriors, they don't even need to defend......

Dior's pass startled the Eagles, especially Liu Mang, who had predicted Dior's pass, but ...... Dior's high-level strategy is not as simple as a pass!

The feature of rejecting the horse is easy to use, but it still takes time to accumulate experience, the last time the effect of defending Milicic was very good, but from experience, Milicic is still very young, Milicic just turned 21 years old in the summer, and his talent has been developed by the Raptors for three years of patient training, but it has not yet reached its peak, they have just started to win this year, and they are still accumulating winning experience.

Milicic judged a pass, relatively speaking, with the characteristic of rejecting the horse, it will be easier to defend at this stage, just judge his pass, his organization of the attack has not yet reached the time to calculate so many steps.

But the real high-level playmakers, such as Double 21 and Gasol, don't just think about the result after the first pass, they think about the whole team's attack.

Although Dio is not very old, he is better than Milicic in this respect, Milicic is physically gifted, but Dior's skills are a little better, especially his high strategy, if it weren't for his lack of self-discipline, and O'Neal and Barkley's habits of life like eating Hesse, he could have gotten better!

Liu Mang originally thought that if he got the characteristic of rejecting horses, he would be able to deal with these high-level organization masters, but now he found that it was not that simple!

It still needs Liu Mang's own experience accumulation, as well as the accumulation of team defense command experience.

But it's a great trait, and it's true that you can anticipate a pass from the opponent to have a chance to defend more.

When it came to the Eagles' offense, Liu Mang advanced to the frontcourt.

71 to 77......

6 points behind, Liu Mang is used to this situation, just do it!

After Liu Mang advanced to the front court, he directly looked for Maddie to block and dismantle, and Maddie was just about to throw from the left to the right 45 degree angle to open up the space, and immediately came up to block Liu Mang's left.

When Marion saw this, he immediately beckoned Granger to go inside.

Maddie came up to help Liu Mang block Raga Bell, Liu Mang moved to the left sideways around the block, and when Barbossa came up, he jumped!

"Ding...... Air Magician level 5 triggers ......"

Raga Bale and Barbossa saw Liu Mang jumping, and they were sure that Liu Mang was going to wave, so they pounced on Liu Mang, and Liu Mang took the ball back in the air and threw it from behind to the right side of the top arc.

Raja Bale and Barbosa were deceived by Liu Mang, and Maddie immediately rushed to the right 45-degree angle after blocking and dismantling, caught the ball when it was about to go out of bounds, and turned to shoot a three-point shot......

Hit!

74 to 77, the difference narrowed to 3 points!

The Suns' side of the blocking and dismantling encountered Maddie and Granger's defense did not play well, and it took a lot of effort to get an open three-point opportunity with a high post strategy, and the Hawks made a three-pointer in a simple two-man cooperation at the top arc!

The assist is 7-8, and Liu Mang is still one behind Nash! Three-pointers trailed by four by nine to 13.

However, the difference has narrowed to three points!

Successfully narrowed the gap to less than 5 points!

When it came to the Suns' offense, Nash and Josh Smith's blocking and pick-and-roll cooperation was restrained by the Hawks' five-small unlimited change of defense, which was still the Hawks' plan to defend against the Suns' tactics, which was very well defended, but Dio's high-level strategy, Liu Mang was exhausted, and he could only let the Suns pass the ball once or twice.

Nash received Barbosa's close-range riding archery jumper after receiving the ball, Marion didn't dare to press it when he switched defenses, and pressing it was a foul, and Nash scored two points on a close-range jumper.

It's still a 5-point difference.

The Hawks attacked, the Suns were very jealous of Liu Mang and Maddy's blocking and dismantling just now, Maddie ran to the right side after blocking and dismantling, Raga Bell went to chase Maddy, Barbosa changed defense and it was difficult to prevent Liu Mang's direct shooting, even if Liu Mang was almost finished in the third quarter today, he only got 16 points and 7 assists, and only scored two three-point shots, and they didn't dare to let go of Liu Mang.

So, this time Liu Mang and Maddie blocked and dismantled, and Nash, who defended Battier in the bottom corner, chased after Maddy's receiving line, when Maddie received the ball, Nash had already blocked it, and Maddy's second pass distributed the ball to Battier in the bottom corner, and Battier received the ball for three points......

Also in!

The Eagles players are feeling up!

On the other hand, the Suns also felt good, and when it came time for the Suns to attack, Barbosa did not miss the opportunity this time, and he hit the ball in the bottom corner!

For the Suns, it's a pity that Barbosa stepped on the three-point line with his toes when he caught the ball and jumped from a distance, so it was only a two-point point.

81-77, the Suns still have a 4-point lead!

In the rest of the third quarter, the Hawks played simply and roughly, on the offensive end, Liu Mang and Maddie's outside blocking and dismantling cooperated, Maddie cut in when he had the opportunity, and opened and shot three points when he had the opportunity to shoot three points, the opponent used three outside defense two, Liu Mang and Maddie can pass the ball, if the opponent pulls out the defense with a player who defends Marion, Marion's air cut dunk also flies.

On the defensive end, the Hawks' five-small lineup is very good defensively, giving the Suns a little more restrictions on the outside and under the basket, although it is not too good, but at least it has some effect, forcing the Suns to use more of Nash's and Barbosa's mid-range shooting as the main way to score.

Especially with the rhythm getting faster and faster, no one on either side can prevent anyone, the Hawks only scored 14 points in the first half of the quarter, and the Suns only scored 12 points, but in the second half of the quarter, after O'Neal and Calderon went down, the scores of the two teams skyrocketed!

24-20, the Hawks played a ferocious offensive battle with the Suns in the second half of the third quarter!

In the third quarter, the Hawks and Suns played a terrifying 38-32 single-quarter score!

This score is very common ten years later, but at this time, even if the league rhythm has improved a lot because of Liu Mang, it is still quite exaggerated.

95-97, after three quarters, the Hawks' trailing margin narrowed to two points!

……

Crucial fourth quarter!

The two-point difference can basically be regarded as none, and the two teams are back to the same running point.

At the intermission, the Hawks were discussing how to play in the fourth quarter.

If the Hawks field two of the three hawks, plus Kwame Brown and Marion, Prince or Granger and Battier, the Suns will still have a certain strength advantage even if they send out the strongest lineup.

But it's the physical problem!

Liu Mang is fine, Maddie and Kwame Brown can play long enough, Jason Terry and Marion are okay, they are all under control.

The biggest disadvantage of the Hawks over the Suns is not the number of stars, but the fact that the Suns have two very sharp lineups.

Although the Suns' tactical aspects are not yet at the extreme, there is still room for improvement, such as the rhythm control when switching lineups, and there are still some problems at the beginning, which gives the Hawks a chance to chase points, but it is still very powerful.

The scariest thing is that there is still room for improvement!

When they perfected the tactics of Nash plus Josh Smith plus Dio, Calderon plus O'Neal, this Suns team was terrifying!

Liu Mang remembered that this season was the strongest year of the Suns' playoffs in the original time and space, and he almost killed the champion Spurs that season, and he thought that O'Neal was going to collapse when they went, but who knew that Gentry was actually fighting, and he was stunned to turn the situation back, and he performed so well!

In the big picture, it's good for the Hawks, a strong Suns team that is bound to bring great torment to the Lakers and Spurs......

But Liu Mang's main thing now is to win this game!

Everything else is behind, the Hawks are 17-9, the Heat are 18-12, and if they lose to the Suns, they will be tied by the Heat!