"Together: Good at counterbalancing the contradictions between superstars, using the available resources and the current situation to unite superstars, so that they can play their strongest strength and fight together."

This damn chicken soup coach!

Sloan, Pat Riley, Liu Mang has only seen these two head coaches have coaching abilities that can be visualized by the system as skills, that is, they themselves have specialties in a certain aspect, so that the system can judge them as skills.

Sloan is his connection to the twins, and Pat Riley is the deterrent of his hard-nosed head coach who played in the 90s, and both of them are undoubtedly very good coaches, one that has made the pick-and-roll go from a tactical supporting role to a focus in the tactics of each team, ending the pre-80s situation where the game was always singles.

Pat Riley created several eras.

And the Zen master's side is going to the end of the world with a bowl of chicken soup......

Liu Mang was already ready to wait to go up and try to open up a little bit more, and his mentality became a little easier, at least the first half was safe, but he didn't expect such a thing to come suddenly.

Glancing at the opponent's bench and finding that the little blacksmith and the chicken soup man were not there, Liu Mang cursed secretly and ran to Mike Woodson, who was arranging the defense.

"Mike, Kobe Bryant, maybe won't be on his own for a while, you'll have to rearrange your tactics." After Liu Mang finished speaking, he subconsciously looked at the other party, and the other party actually called a long timeout, and then called the Lakers players together.

Mike Woodson followed Liu Mang's line of sight, saw this scene, and then saw the Lakers call another long timeout, and immediately understood.

"How did Phil convince Kobe, it's a real headache." Mike Woodson said helplessly.

"Oh? Mike: Do you know anything about this? Coach Kruger next to him didn't understand what happened to Liu Mang's words, but when he heard Kobe Bryant being persuaded, he knew that the defensive and verbal attacks that Liu Mang and Mike Woodson used to target Kobe Bryant before seemed to have been defused by the opposing head coach.

"Yes, at this time three years ago, I was still in the 76ers, I helped the 76ers win the first game, Kobe Bryant was already made by us to want to do it alone in the second game, but was persuaded by Phil's words." Mike Woodson was obviously a headache for Phil Jackson, "Don't talk about that, Lang, let's adjust our tactics, they called a timeout over there......"

……

The official timeout was followed by another long timeout, this timeout was long enough, the referee was going to vomit blood, and when he didn't call a timeout, he didn't call for half a day, and he called a timeout and called it continuously!

At the end of the timeout, on the Hawks' side, it happened to be the last four minutes of the half, and all the starters were replaced, Liu Mang, Prince, Raheem, Rashid Wallace, and Ratliff came on.

On the Lakers' side, they also changed the starting lineup, Fisher, Kobe, Devin George, Malone, and O'Neal.

51-39, Kobe Bryant looked at the score on the big screen, gritted his teeth, picked up his jersey and ran to the court.

Seeing Kobe's appearance, Liu Mang, who was guarding outside the three-point line, did not dare to relax a little.

Seeing Fisher advancing over, Liu Mang went directly to the middle line.

Fisher saw Liu Mang coming, immediately passed the ball to Kobe, and then ran to the bottom corner of the right side, Liu Mang did not chase to death, but together with Raheem, together with Prince who defended Kobe Bryant on the strong side, he defended a joint defense against Fisher and Devin George on the strong side.

Rasheed Wallace on the left side of the basket followed Malone who was preparing to respond on the weak side, the Lakers' mid-to-long range shooting today is quite stable, except for Kobe, it is Malone, but Kobe didn't pass the ball to him before, it's hard to say now, Mike Woodson, who has seen Kobe Bryant who was ignored by Iverson in 01, was poured chicken soup by the Zen master, and he didn't dare to let go of Malone, who was most likely to have defensive holes.

Kobe Bryant thought that the other party would definitely leak Malone out, but he didn't expect the other party to target Malone at all, although there was space for O'Neal on the inside, but O'Neal couldn't play for a while, he and O'Neal scored in the first half, and the others barely got the score, O'Neal was already tired.

No way, Kobe Bryant still wants to show a wave of passes, but he can only play alone!

"Ding...... Talent Skill: Black Mamba's Devouring trigger level 4, comprehensive ability evaluation +4, from Kobe Bryant. ”

Not again! This blacksmith!

Liu Mang immediately moved towards the upper line, and when he saw Kobe Bryant rushing to the right, Liu Mang immediately attacked it.

Kobe Bryant had already expected this situation, and in the middle of the move, he slammed the ball behind his right hand and moved it to the left, dribbling the ball behind his back to get rid of Prince, and at the same time using Prince to block Liu Mang's pinch.

Although Kobe Bryant does not have Liu Mang's ability to ignore the difference in his dominant hand, he has also developed some basic skills in dribbling and shooting with his left hand!

However, Prince has defended this breakthrough many times in the past few days, and he is too familiar with it, and Kobe's action of dribbling behind the ball is too obvious, and Kobe Bryant was blocked on the left side of the road by Prince's defense that he predicted in advance! Bryant's change to the left is far less swift than his change to the right.

Kobe Bryant wanted to change direction again, but Liu Mang had already pressed up, and it was not advisable to make a strong shot, and before the continuous pause, he had been defended by the Hawks' pinch several times, and suddenly saw a teammate cut in the air, and Kobe Bryant Ma passed over.

Fisher knew that he couldn't shoot much today, and now his mind was very clear, he didn't do it brutally, but rushed to the inside with the ball, Rahim was immediately ready to go up to block Fisher, at this time, Kobe cut in from the weak side on the left side of the basket, Malone came up to help Kobe block Prince who was chasing the defense, Fisher passed the ball to Kobe, Kobe jumped before Liu Mang pounced, and shot from the middle distance of the bottom line......

Hit!

Catching the ball and shooting directly is too simple for Kobe, especially for Kobe Bryant, who is now working hard and wants to prove his ability, it's too simple!

Is the vacant mid-pitch so accurate? What if you don't have a defense, you can't shoot? Liu Mang felt that he had met a fake little blacksmith! The off-ball running options of this product are also too good! I really don't know what it would be like to give him a point guard who can pass the ball.

The Lakers quickly retreated after scoring, Liu Mang received the serve and advanced to the frontcourt, and Kobe Bryant stayed firmly outside the three-point line and did not expand out to defend.

Liu Mang slowed down his advance after half the court and observed the Lakers' defense, so unexpectedly, the Lakers actually began to defend the joint defense!

Alignment joint defense!

Different from the 3-2 joint defense commonly used by the Hawks and the 2-2-1 joint defense of the Lakers, the joint defense used by the Hawks is called standing joint defense, which is a defense that specializes in blocking the inside or outside line, and is a defensive method aimed at the opponent's offensive weaknesses, 2-3 joint defense mainly defends the inside line, 3-2 joint defense mainly defends the outside line, and the 2-2-1 joint defense is also used by the Hawks to consume O'Neal.

And the joint defense is rare in the current NBA, as far as Liu Mang understands this joint defense, mainly international basketball uses more, NBA, few teams use it now, the king is one, after the NBA rules are changed in the future, there are three teams that have used similar defense more than ten years later, the Rockets in the D'Antoni era, and the Lakers led by Luke Walton with Ball, and the Warriors under Steve Kerr, regard this defense as a common defensive strategy.

To put it bluntly, it's an infinite rotation, aggressively pressing defense!

When Liu Mang didn't reach the three-point line, Kobe Bryant was in it, and as soon as Liu Mang reached the area where he could shoot outside the three-point line, Kobe Bryant immediately posted it.

Sure enough, after Liu Mang and Kobe Bryant came into contact, they immediately took a step back, and Kobe immediately retreated into the three-point line.

Calm, composed, and not in a hurry, is the key to the joint defense, the future Rockets are not expected to be able to play defense unexpectedly by D'Antoni at all, the Lakers are a super defense that breaks the jar and plays with their lives, and the Lakers, more like the Warriors, are confident, strong, and rely on the strength to bring the kind of composure and calmness!

Liu Mang beckoned Rashid Wallace to come out to block and dismantle, brought Malone over, and blocked Kobe Bryant with Rashid Wallace, and sure enough, the Lakers immediately changed their defense, Rashid Wallace cut inside, Kobe Bryant stuck not to give Rashid Wallace a chance to get out of the gap, and would rather be singled out by the Hawks than be torn apart defensively.

The Lakers' defensive execution suddenly became very strong, and Liu Mang secretly sighed that it was worthy of being a three-time champion team.

Liu Mang looked at the muscular Ma Long with a murderous expression in front of him, knowing that this old man's ferocity was not pretending to be scary, he was really so cruel!

However, Liu Mang was even more excited, the previous elbow of hatred has not been returned!

It is Liu Mang's personality!

him!

Liu Mang raised his foot backwards, Ma Long thought that Liu Mang was going to throw far away from the space, and immediately went up, Liu Mang's backward foot kicked on the ground, accelerating towards the right front!

Ma Long came up and grabbed the jersey on Liu Mang's stomach, trying to use the pull to block Liu Mang's breakthrough.

However, why is Kobe Bryant not good at preventing Liu Mang's breakthrough? It's not because he can't prevent breakthroughs, but he was selected as a defense, relying on the breakthrough of pressing the other party, but when he defended Liu Mang, he didn't dare to reach out to Liu Mang.

Seeing Ma Long's outstretched arm, Liu Mang grabbed the ball with his left hand and made a left-handed running action and hit Ma Long's arm!

"Beep......

As soon as Liu Mang's arm collided with Ma Long, the referee's whistle sounded immediately!

"Ding...... Porcelain Touching Master triggers at level 5, and the ambiguous blow penalty is beneficial to the host. ”

Who would run at the three-point line, or use a non-dominant hand!

However, the referee can't help it, the rules are like this, and Liu Mang does attack with his left hand, and he has scored 51 points in the playoffs and 60 points in the regular season, which even the referees are very surprised in private.

Liu Mang just heard the whistle, and his heart was overjoyed, and suddenly, a huge force came from the arm that was being pressed!

Liu Mang was still in the process of making a shooting posture and shaking up, but he was directly pressed down by the force from his arm, lost his center of gravity, and fell to the ground.

It's Carl Malone's elbow again!

Liu Mang raised his head angrily, saw the smile on the corner of Ma Long's mouth, the effect of the cold-blooded characteristic came, and Liu Mang immediately calmed down.

This guy wants to have a horse race and exchange himself for a pair!

Liu Mang stood up on the ground, exerted his elbows and abdomen, jumped up from the ground and said, "Old fellow, your little trick is useless to me, although today is not the weekend, but the postman should also retire." ”

Intending to provoke Liu Mang, he was ready to be beaten by Liu Mang a few times and then scuffled with Liu Mang and was ready to be sent out of the game, seeing Liu Mang's unusually calm appearance, he felt regretful and relieved, but when he heard what Liu Mang said, especially the last sentence, Lao Ma Long felt that he had been stabbed in the heart......

Ma Long saw that he couldn't disobey it, turned his head and prepared to grab a rebound, and he was going to be angry when he talked to this kid.

Malone is no longer a young and vigorous Malone, he joined the Lakers and has put down his dignity or something.

Liu Mang walked to the free throw line, a little regretful, only three free throws and two hits, and the second free throw did not score.

However, it also offset Kobe's mid-range shot just now.

It's the Lakers offense again, the Lakers are more active except for O'Neal, because they can receive the ball, this time it was Malone who got the opportunity to catch the ball when he faced the basket head-on at the free throw line, and it was Kobe Bryant who gave him the ball!

Kobe Bryant broke through directly to the left side this time, didn't want to play anything, avoided being pinched, and broke through directly from the non-habitual direction of the weak side, Malone came over to block Liu Mang who wanted to follow up and pursue, Rasheed Wallace was forced to stay on the bottom line to block Kobe, and Ratliff was turned around and stuck under the basket by O'Neal, and had no chance to help defend.

After Ma Long received the ball, he slapped Liu Mang's head and face like a slap, and shot from the free throw line firmly.

Also in it!

The Lakers' offense, after Kobe Bryant started passing, became fluid! Truly integrate the abilities of the third giant into the offense!

And the Eagles' offense is in some trouble.

The Lakers' current standing joint defense, the biggest feature is to block the opponent outside the three-point line, enter the inside, shrink the defense will come, pass out the opponent's defense will expand immediately, the ball is in the three-point line, cut off the pass and pinch the ball, do not cut off the pass, then expand out, active movement, is the key to this defense.

The Lakers have Kobe, Fisher, Devin George, three outside lines with strong defensive enthusiasm, although Malone is 41, his defensive efficiency this season is 4.3, and he won the MVP in the 97-98 season, the defensive efficiency is also 4.3, can force Garnett to the outside long shot, the defense can be seen, the 41-year-old is really exaggerated.

Under such defense, the Eagles' offense has become a little overwhelming!

It's really good to have a single opportunity, but it's not good to be forced to stay outside the three-point line to play alone, Liu Mang was caught when he broke through, passed the ball into the inside line to Rahim, Rahim was caught and could only pass out, and then the Lakers immediately expanded again.

That is to say, Liu Mang can only choose to play alone outside the three-point line, and it is not easy to break through when blocking and dismantling, and it is not as good as Kobe Bryant on the outside......

Under the current rules, when there is a team that can defend like this, this kind of defense is more powerful, because the confrontation is stronger and the pressure on the three points is greater!

In the face of such a defense, the best solution in the future is Kevin Durant, his height and arm span, almost ignoring this kind of defense, waiting for Klay Thompson to shoot in the open position and shoot high, is also a good way to deal with this kind of defense, and James Harden and Stephen Curry, who are not tall enough and have an offensive style with the ball, always play very average when they encounter this kind of defense, and at most play one or two good shots when the hand breaks out in a series.

Moreover, this kind of defense brings a lot of pressure, it's good that the outside line can be shot, but if you can't, the sense of oppression is too strong! Because, if you don't dare to play one-on-one singles, as a core, it will inevitably affect the morale of the team.

Therefore, Liu Mang doesn't care so much, just start throwing at Kobe, anyway, the Hawks are used to this style of play.

There is nothing too good to deal with this kind of defensive strategy, the Lakers have Kobe Bryant, a first-defense player, O'Neal, a monster who can block the entire three-second zone under the basket, and Malone, a veteran who is at the level of the best defensive team even if he is 41 years old, Fisher and Devin George are also active in defense, with unlimited rotation, to curb the offensive on the Hawks' side.

And the Lakers' offense, after Kobe Bryant played reasonably, became smooth, although the mid-to-long-range shooting rate was not high, but there were better opportunities, and the Lakers players were more motivated when they could participate in the offense instead of being a pure pitcher.

At the end of the half, the Lakers managed to narrow the gap to within 10 points, 57-49, the Hawks only scored 6 points in the last four minutes, while the Lakers scored 10 points!

……

At halftime, the Hawks didn't come up with a good solution, Liu Mang, Mike Woodson, Stockton, Coach Kruger, Ratliff, Raheem and other defensive players or defensive assistant coaches and head coaches discussed together and discovered a conspiracy on the Lakers' side.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Hawks tried the lineup of Stockton, Liu Mang, Prince, Boozer, Rasheed Wallace, tried the lineup of Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Raheem, Muhammad, Kwame Brown, and also tried to replace all the starters with a lineup, and found that if they changed to a lineup that cracked the Lakers' opposing defense, that is, a lineup that shot well, could block and dismantle, and could pass the ball, the defensive end could not be prevented at all, and the Lakers' O'Neal had the physical strength to chisel hard, When he was tired, he jogged and squatted under the basket on the court, and he didn't move much near the three-second zone, purely scary, scary at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and had to have a big man to defend, and the outside line flew up when the Hawks sent out a not very strong defensive lineup.

When the Hawks changed to a defensive lineup, the Lakers also defended the joint defense steadily, forcing Liu Mang or Jason Terry to replace Liu Mang to play alone, using Kobe's defense to suppress the scoring efficiency of the two as much as possible, and then suppressing the offensive efficiency of the Hawks.

The scoring time of the two in the third quarter, mainly Jason Terry's scoring time, resisted the Lakers' offense, and when it came to the official timeout in the third quarter, they still had a 5-point lead, 70-65 leading by 5 points, but when the Hawks scored 13 points, the Lakers scored 16 points! This quarter played six and a half minutes, and was chased by the Lakers for three points!

The Lakers' posture of following the footsteps of the Hawks and being ready to take a bite at any time gives Liu Mang a terrible feeling!

Kobe Bryant became the core of the Lakers, just like Kobe's personality, like an idiot behind him...... No, it's a poisonous snake, waiting for the opportunity to take a bite secretly, and slowly inject the toxin into the Eagles' body, depending on whether the venom of the poisonous snake runs out first, or the Eagles can't hold on to being poisoned first.

Both teams want to get their first win in the series, because the schedule of the finals is very interesting now, it is 2-3-2, that is, the team with a good record plays two home games first, then three away games, and then two home games, this is the format of the finals many years ago, it was originally to reduce the flight journey, and now it doesn't seem so reasonable, reducing the role of home field advantage for the team with a good record, and it also reduces the probability of a team with a bad record coming back in a 2-3 situation after five games.

In the past 20 seasons, more than 80% of the teams that won the first Finals have won the championship, whether it is a team with a better record or a worse team, as long as they get the first win, the chances of winning the championship are extremely high! And among these teams, there are many teams with good records who won the first game and then lost the second game, but in the end they still won the championship, because three consecutive away games are not friendly to the team with a good record, so they are meant to fight, and the home advantage is not so important.

Only the Pistons failed to steal seven once, the Jazz once collapsed after being killed by Jordan, and then there was Iverson's shocking performance in the Finals, and in the other 17 seasons, the teams that won the first win in the Finals all won the championship.

So, the first win becomes extremely important.

……

Liu Mang was about to explode on the spot, and I don't know what the flower monk KFC coach said to the little blacksmith, he actually let him play so honestly, although he lacked a sharp spirit, but in the case that the Lakers have O'Neal and Ma Long, especially O'Neal, a sharp star, Kobe Bryant's sharpness was suppressed, which made the Lakers more balanced and had the sense of stability of a three-in-a-row team.

Moreover, the Lakers' tactical choice is also very correct, stabilizing the situation, slowly eating away at the point difference, and playing with the most secure tactics, which makes Liu Mang feel a little.

The head coach of the Zen master has more than chicken soup! This guy's tactical ability under the cover of chicken soup is very strong! It never looked too nervous or positive, but he saw everything through, even when the Lakers were killed by the Spurs in the second round last season, Liu Mang watched the TV picture in the live broadcast of the game to the Zen master, and he was not impatient, because he had already seen it, but he couldn't beat it.

And now, the Lakers are playing so well, which shows that the Zen master believes that this series can be played!

Such strength comes from the OK combination!

OK Combo ......

When he thought of this, Liu Mang saw O'Neal and Kobe, who had already scored 23 points, high-five, and his eyes lit up.

Kobe Bryant's current style of play is like the boss's style of play, scoring by himself and creating opportunities for his teammates, and his teammates are willing to serve Kobe after Kobe can pass the ball, even if it is O'Neal.

However, O'Neill doesn't seem to have the idea of giving way, that is, now, O'Neill is because the Zen master uses his clever tongue to balance the grievances of the stars of this team.

Liu Mang remembered that O'Neill and the Zen master seemed to have a good relationship......

How about a good relationship, if you take advantage of it?

It's fun!

Liu Mang has always wanted to separate O'Neal and Kobe, or Malone and Kobe, but judging from past experience and the judgment of this game, it seems that it is not good.

However, if you put aside Kobe, the source of the contradiction, and put aside Malone, the two most important people on the Lakers are O'Neal and Zen Master......

When such a thought appeared in Liu Mang's mind, he couldn't control it at all......

The official timeout is coming to an end, on the Hawks' side, O'Neal played relatively easily because of the Lakers' style of play, originally he rested more because of the first three rounds of the series Kobe and Malone, and his physical fitness in the finals was very good, playing more than 40 minutes and maintaining a fighting style of play for about 30 minutes, and the remaining minutes of the third quarter continued to play, so on the Hawks' side, big centers are indispensable, Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Prince, Rashid Wallace, Ostertag played.

Seeing the opponent's lineup of Payton, Fisher, Kobe, Wang Zhizhi, and O'Neal, it is also a rotation lineup ready to survive these few minutes and prepare for the decisive battle in the fourth quarter, Liu Mang's eyes flickered......

"System boss, use the advanced discord card, target that fat man and that KFC old man!"