The good news for the Bobcats is that they don't need to face the Pistons, the championship team of the past three seasons, in the first round of the playoffs, but as seventh in the East, their opponents are definitely not good. The Cavaliers, led by James and O'Neal, are the strongest team in the East besides the Pistons, and they are still firmly in second place this season, and the Bobcats will face them in the first round. In order to complete Kurochi in front of these two top players, the difficulty is not ordinarily high.

For the Bobcats, making the playoffs was far more than expected, but that didn't mean they were going to give up the first-round series, and it would be a shame for anyone to run away without a fight. However, a strong opponent cannot win with a single blood, and if you want to steal one or two victories in the hands of your opponent, you need to prepare your arms well to have a glimmer of hope.

Jackson felt a lot of headaches, even if the Bobcats had to face the Pistons, the No. 1 player in the East, he believed he could figure out a way, but the advantage of a combination like James and O'Neal against the Bobcats was simply overwhelming, and there was no player in the roster who could compete with them in the same position, and naturally it was difficult to cause problems for these two guys on the defensive end.

The lack of hard power made Jackson quickly blister, and seeing that there were only five days before the start of the playoffs, he was already in a hurry. While being swept out of the tournament by the Cavaliers in the first round won't take a dampening of the Bobcats' performance this season, it is undoubtedly humiliating for Jackson, and even if he loses, he has to drag his opponent into the quagmire.

Looking at the look of a good friend who doesn't think about his eyes for tea and dinner every day, Chang Wei is angry and funny, it seems that Jackson is still too young, and if he is replaced by a coach with a little coaching experience, he will not be nervous like this before the big war. However, it also proves the strength of the Cavaliers from another angle, and the combination of James and O'Neal is a threat to any team.

Chang Wei is very confident in the group of players he selected, but if he wants to say that any of them can compete with the "Shark Emperor" combination, he has no bottom in his heart. If Milicic, Rahim, Markhill and Lee can barely pick two of their interior rotation to hold off O'Neal, then there really is no one on the Bobcats' wing who can stop the pervert of James.

At small forward, James' physicality can be said to be epic, and although the Bobcats have two future defensive giants, Chang Wei doesn't expect them to be able to defend James now. However, a dead horse is regarded as a live horse doctor, and he will eventually send players to entangle with James, relatively speaking, Chang Wei trusts Allen more, after all, Ariza is still too thin and suffers a lot from James.

Chang Wei doesn't make decisions in advance, he only tells Jackson his opinion, and also gives him another choice. Jackson wasn't surprised by Chang's idea of going off the beaten path, he just needed time to weigh the pros and cons of starting Allen.

Of course, the shortcomings are obvious, Allen's ability on the offensive end is much worse than Ariza's, he basically only has the move of cutting to the basket, and Ariza can not only hold the ball, but also has a good three-point shooting. But Chang Wei's reason is also very good, Ariza's strength is not strong, and this is Aaron's advantage, which makes up for his height disadvantage to a certain extent.

The key question is, as a manager, will he have to defend well or play against each other in this series?

This is undoubtedly a difficult choice, Jackson is afraid that the defense will not be able to defend, and the offense will lose again, in case he is swept by the Cavaliers, he will lose face. Seeing that he hesitated for a long time, Chang Wei patted him on the shoulder and said, "Let's choose one of the paths first, anyway, the series is a best-of-seven series, even if you lose the first game, you still have a chance to change it, don't hesitate." ”

"And what do you think we should do with the knights?" Jackson scratched his head and asked confusedly.

Please, you're the manager, okay? Do you want to ask me such a question? Chang Wei rolled his eyes angrily and snorted: "It depends on your thoughts, you can use whichever one you think is more confident, I will try my best to help you." ”

Jackson frowned and thought for a while before he planned to fight the knights first. In fact, his choice was also expected by Chang Wei, this guy previously worked for the University of Michigan, and Izzo's team is relatively good at offense, which also makes his coaching style more offensive than defensive. If it were Chang Wei, he would definitely choose to try defense first, which is also determined by his previous experience with the Brown coaching staff, and Jackson's decision is actually not wrong.

Now that you've decided, it's time to start preparing for the first round of the playoffs. Fortunately, the Bobcats have played fast offense most of the time this season, and since they are going to play against the Cavaliers, they have to take advantage of O'Neal's slow movement on the inside. It is true that although the big shark was big when he was young, he also moved quickly, but this year he is 35 years old, and his athleticism is not as good as before, although he still has a lot of deterrent power under the basket, but it is still very difficult to make him run.

Over the next few days, the Bobcats continued to practice their passing and cutting under Jackson's urging, and Jackson gave them the advice not to make mistakes, even if they were alone with the ball. Chang Wei knew why Jackson gave such instructions, James's fast-break dunk was difficult for anyone to block, and neither could the Bobcats, so it was best not to give him a chance to break fast.

However, in order to block O'Neal with all his might, Jackson still made changes to the starting lineup, he put Marc Hill in the starting lineup and Raheem on the bench. At first, everyone was puzzled by this adjustment, but Chang Wei explained to them: "O'Neal is the league's top power interior after all, and Darko can't use skill to fight him like he did against Howard, so the choice of the fourth position must be cautious." Sharif's blocking ability is really good, but strength is not his strength, it is better to let Jason partner with Darko, he is also a power-based play, maybe he can compete with the big sharks. ”

Originally, Rahim also felt a little unhappy, but after listening to Chang Wei's words, he understood, and he felt a little ashamed. But strength is really not what he is good at, let's let the more suitable Mark Hill fight against the big sharks, the only thing he can do is to seize the opportunity to contribute to the team after his debut, and being demoted to a substitute is probably temporary.

Jackson didn't have time to care about the mood of his players, and he was anxiously waiting for the first playoff game.