"Josh, you're good defensively, but it's not enough."

Josh Howard's defensive awareness is very good, arm span, movement speed, etc. are all first-class, it is not an exaggeration to say that the gap between his strength on the defensive end and Tyshawn Prince is not big, but Tyshawn Prince has a weakness Josh Howard also has, that is, the strength is not good enough, if you want to defend Meng Xu one-on-one, it is not only the arm span, excellent speed, and good defensive awareness are enough, but also have enough strength to avoid being easily squeezed away by Meng Xu, and Josh Howard suffered a loss of insufficient strength in this defense, Josh Howard, who had already predicted Meng Xu's breakthrough route and blocked it in advance, was knocked away by Meng Xu when he almost occupied the defensive position.

"Avery or not, should we wrap him up, it looks like Josh alone can't restrain him at all."

After Meng Xu bumped into Josh Howard and hit a shot, assistant coach Popayer Jones, who was standing next to Avery Johnson, began to remind Avery Johnson whether to wrap up Meng Xu, and the one-on-one defense didn't seem to work at all.

And Avery Johnson, who heard Popeye Jones' suggestion, did not respond to Popeye Jones, but clasped his hands to his chest and quietly watched the scene on the court, Avery Johnson has been teammates with Meng Xu, and since coaching the Mavericks for two seasons, Avery Johnson has studied Tim Duncan and Meng Xu, two former teammates, so Avery Johnson is very clear about Meng Xu's ability, as for how to deal with Meng Xu, he has studied Meng Xu for so long, Avery Johnson can come up with some solutions, but how come the Mavericks don't have the conditions to implement this kind of defense, with Meng Xu's physical fitness, it's best to wrap Meng Xu with a top and a winding, and the person who goes around the Mavericks has it, Josh Howard, but can withstand Meng Xu's outside players, so where can Avery Johnson go to find it? So today Avery Johnson made a very bold decision not to wrap Meng Xu, anyway, the bag can't be wrapped, so don't wrap it at all.

And after seeing that his suggestion was dismissed by Avery Johnson, Popeye Jones did not continue to speak, but stood next to Avery Johnson and quietly watched what happened on the court.

Originally, when formulating the tactics of this game before the game, Popayer Jones suggested that Meng Xu be wrapped and put the Pacers' No. 42 guard Tony Allen, but this suggestion was rejected by Avery Johnson, and Avery Johnson's reason is also very reasonable, calling Jason Terry and Devin Harris, who have average defensive awareness, to cooperate with Josh Howard to wrap Meng Xu, which is purely futile, but the Mavericks only have one Josh Howard, which is the situation that Avery Johnson is facing now, it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice.

The finals are different from other series in the playoffs, after a month of fighting, the two teams that entered the finals basically have no secrets and hole cards to speak of, and as long as it is not the kind of young team that is extremely lacking in playoff experience, the teams that enter the finals will adjust their respective game conditions to the best before entering the finals, so even if it is the first game of the finals, the two sides will not test each other as they did at the beginning of the playoffs, but will be at the beginning of the game, Just show all your strength.

For Avery Johnson, he knows very well what the Finals win and lose are, for the Mavericks, if they want to win, then they must first play their own offense, try to drag the Pacers into their own rhythm of the game, just like the Western Conference semifinals victory over the Spurs in the series, use their sharp spears to destroy the Pacers' shield, fight defense, the Mavericks will never be the opponent of teams like the Spurs and the Pacers.

So on the issue of whether to include Meng Xu, Avery Johnson has an indifferent mentality, and countless series have proved that Meng Xu can't be guarded, even the Pistons, the top two teams in the league, can't get Meng Xu, let alone the Mavericks, a team that is the bottom in defense.

"Beautiful, Meng Xu got rid of Josh Howard's defense and hit a mid-range pull-up jump ball."

"The Mavericks' defense is a big problem, their rotation speed on the defensive end is too slow, after Meng Xu got rid of Josh Howard's defense, there was no one to make up for it, if the Mavericks were this defensive intensity throughout the game, I think Meng Xu could score at least 50 points today."

After Meng Xu hit the first goal after the opening, Michaels on the sidelines began to joke about the Mavericks' defense, in the playoffs in recent seasons, the Mavericks are the only team that does not package Meng Xu, and its own defense is poor, and it can't find a player who can limit Meng Xu one-on-one, and he doesn't pack Meng Xu, isn't it waiting for Meng Xu to cut a high score in vain.

"El, the Mavericks can reach the Finals, not relying on defense, but their offense, I think Avery Johnson also made such an arrangement because he knew this, after all, they don't have the Spurs and Pistons' strong overall defense, and they don't have a player like Kevin Garnett who can help defend Meng Xu at any time."

"Attack, only attack is their only hope. After saying it with a smile, Magic Johnson turned his attention to the court, and with Jason Terry's push, the Mavericks' offense had already begun.

"Hey, the Pacers didn't even press the Mavericks all the time?" In the Mavericks' first offense, Jason Terry easily advanced to the front court with the ball, which surprised the melon-eating crowd in the press bench on the sidelines, and the Pacers used full-court pressing tactics to defeat the Heat, so before the start of the Finals, there were many bricks who expected that the Pacers would do the same, apply this almost insoluble defensive tactic to the Mavericks, and establish a huge advantage in the first quarter of the game, thus laying the whole game in one fell swoop, but after the game started, Instead, the Pacers reverted to their usual defensive tactics.

Avery Johnson on the sidelines was somewhat disappointed after seeing the scene on the court, after all, in the Western Conference Finals with the Suns, Avery Moon and his team were already thinking about how to deal with the Pacers' full-court pressing tactics, and also risked being killed by the Suns. The Mavericks have been thinking hard about preparing a new lineup day and night, planning to press the Pacers in the Finals, but the Pacers are now suddenly telling themselves that we don't play like this anymore, isn't this a clear trick.

Originally, Avery Johnson sent Jason Terry and Devin Harris two playmaking guards, hoping to rely on their excellent ball control ability, with Josh Howard, who has excellent mobility ability, in order to break the Pacers' full-court pressing, but after the Pacers returned to their normal style of play, the Mavericks' dual point guard lineup has a big flaw, first of all, the height, Jason Terry is registered with a height of 1.88 meters, but he is actually not even 1.85 meters, and Devin Harris is registered with a height of 1.91 meters, In fact, it is only about 1.87 meters, and the two guards of the Pacers, one is 1.93 meters, and the other is more than two meters, so whether it is on the offensive end or the defensive end, the two guards of the Mavericks are too much of a loss.

And the two point guards of the Mavericks, although they have excellent speed and excellent ball control, but both of them have all kinds of problems, one plays the No. 1 position, but has a heart at the No. 2 position, one plays with passion and is good at breaking through, but they are not very suitable for playing positional battles, and they have no baskets, and the most important thing is that the passing ability of these two organizational guards is very average.

"Tony Allen is so strong, with so much speed and reach, it's so easy to get him to defend the number 1 position."

Jason Terry couldn't move an inch under Tony Allen's defense, so he had no choice but to call Dirk Nowitzki's pick-and-roll cover to disrupt the Pacers' defense through pick-and-roll coordination and take the opportunity to find the right offensive opportunity.

But just when Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki were about to complete the block, Jason Terry found that another Pacers player appeared in front of him, and Tyshawn Prince, who was supposed to defend Devin Harris, actually packed himself, and Jason Terry, who got the package treatment, was also surprised. A little shrimp like himself, who is not even an all-star, was treated as a superstar in the finals.

After encountering the Pacers' local three-and-two, the pick-and-roll coordination between Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki had no chance and space to complete, and Jason Terry had no choice but to take two steps back and then take the opportunity to pass the basketball in his hand to Devin Harris who was outside the three-point line on the right side.

Devin Harris, who was completely vacant, did not shoot after receiving the ball, but was like a hot potato, not knowing what to do, and on the Pacers' side, no one ran over to make up for Devin Harris, who seemed to be ready to let Devin Harris shoot in the vacant position.

"Devon, get out of the way!" Avery Johnson on the sidelines saw this scene and began to yell at Devin Harris, a guard does not dare to shoot outside the three-point line, or under the big empty space of no defense, this is simply unreasonable, in Avery Johnson's opinion, even if you can't shoot, you can't lose the courage to shoot.

Not to mention, Devin Harris is really afraid to shoot now, a player who shoots 20% from three-point range in a season and shoots 0-of-9 from three-point range in the playoffs, and you let him shoot a three-point shot in the Finals? But any player with a slightly less psychological quality will be like Devin Harris, no one will defend and dare not shoot.

"Rick, your prediction was very accurate." Seeing Devin Harris on the court barely make a move when he was about to run out of 24 seconds, Lester Connell, who was sitting on the Pacers' bench, quietly complimented head coach Rick Carlisle.

Pick-and-roll tactics are a common tactic of the Mavericks, when Steve Nash was still in the Mavericks, the pick-and-roll cooperation between him and Dirk Nowitzki was even known as a pick-and-roll comparable to Stockton and Karl Malone, although Steve Nash is no longer in the Mavericks, but the Mavericks' tradition of blocking and pick-and-roll has not been left behind, and having a big forward with a range that can cover beyond the three-point line is simply a tyrannical thing if you don't play pick-and-roll.

Therefore, before the Western Conference Finals, Rick Carlisle began to study how to defend the pick-and-roll, because the two teams that reached the Western Conference Finals this year, the Mavericks and the Suns, are the kind of teams that play the pick-and-roll very slippery, and after the final finals opponent was released, Rick Carlisle decided to use a local three-defense to defend the Mavericks' pick-and-roll.

The Mavericks began to experiment with the Pacers' lineup in the Western Conference Finals, and naturally they couldn't escape Rick Carlisle's eyes, so after conducting targeted research on the Mavericks, Rick Carlisle found the shortcomings of Devin Harris, a playmaker without a blue child, as long as he doesn't break through, you can play, especially his "amazing" three-point shooting rate, which allows Rick Carlisle to rest assured and bold to defend the Mavericks' blocking and dismantling with the way of the bag holder, because in Rick Carlisle's viewAs long as the Pacers don't use full-court pressing, then the Mavericks' dual-point guard tactics have no use, maybe the Pacers wait until the Mavericks replace Devin Harris and use a full-court press.

"It seems that in today's game, it will not be so easy for the Mavericks to win."

"In today's game, they can't find the rhythm they are familiar with, and if Avery Johnson can't make adjustments and changes, not only this game, but the Mavericks' entire journey to the finals, I'm afraid they won't be optimistic." Looking at the Mavericks who played messily on both offensive and defensive ends, Michaels and Magic Johnson on the commentary bench began to feel sorry for the Mavericks, although they played the Finals once two seasons ago, but their Finals experience was obviously not as good as the Pacers, and they simply found their own rhythm on the court.

At the end of the first quarter of the game, the Mavericks who fought away were 15-24, trailing the Pacers by 9 points, and the game only played one quarter, and the 9-point difference would not make people despair, what made people desperate was that the Mavericks could not prevent the Pacers' offense, nor could they break the Pacers' defense, after the blocking and dismantling tactics completely failed, the Mavericks could only rely on Dirk Nowitzki's personal ability to play singles tactics, but Dirk Nowitzki also played very uncomfortable under the defense of James Posey, in this case, No one can see any hope of victory for the Mavericks.

The next trend of the game also proved the prediction of Michaels and Magic Johnson, the Mavericks, who fell behind by a large score in the first quarter, soon fell into a quagmire and could not extricate themselves, and Avery Johnson's various adjustments could not help the Mavericks recover the decline, from beginning to end, the Mavericks were led by the nose by the Pacers, and there was no chance of a score leader.

In the end, when the game ended, 103-85, looking at the somewhat bloody score on the scoreboard, Avery Johnson, who was standing on the sidelines, really didn't know what to say.