At the end of the third quarter, 96-80, the Bobcats trailed even more.

No matter how strong the team is, there will always be downturns every season, and the running and bombing offense mainly depends on the feel of the outside players. Today the Bobcat's shooters have cold hands. The Bobcats' shooters were not as good as last season's Rockets, his teammates were sluggish, and Hayes was tightly packed by opponents and shot a lot of iron.

Yao Ming has Joe Johnson, who is in harmony with yin and yang, Hayes does not have such a partner, and several of the Bobcats' interior players are all taking the tough line, including Gerald Wallace, and outside shooting is not what he is good at.

The Hawks led by 16 points, and the Bobcats weren't so easy to catch up with in the final quarter.

"I'm sorry, I didn't guard Johnson...... Azubuike whispered next to Hayes.

"You apologized too early, just choke Johnson in the fourth quarter." Hayes clapped a few times vigorously and said, "Cheer up, we haven't lost yet, 16 points are easy to recover." We only scored 80 points in the third quarter, which is not our style! ”

Hayes' encouragement didn't do much, and Gerard Wallace had a particularly poor hand in the game, scoring only 11 points on 3-of-13 shooting, plus free throws, which was the main reason why the Bobcats are trailing so far. Calderon was also in terrible form, scoring just 3 points on 1-of-7 shooting and delivering 7 assists.

Aside from Joe Johnson and Yao Ming, the Bobcats' biggest defensive hole is the point guard position, with neither Felton nor Calderon being able to block the onslaught of Hawks youngster Starkey. In addition to the breakthrough in this game, Starkey relied on his height advantage and maintained a high shooting percentage, scoring 19 points, which is not far from a career-high 22 points. It's not that Starkey was better than the two of them in his first season, it's just that this one happened to be too good. Alstom also beat Kidd, can it be said that the street ball king is better than Kidd?

"Now the key is to grab points, let's fight." D'Antoni drew a diagram with a tactical board and said: "Let's talk about offense first, Karl (Landry) plays center and pulls to cover in the high position; Gerrard (Wallace) power forward, also pulled to the high post to cover; The two of you should be able to withdraw the inside line, and if they don't follow, the two of you will be bold when the opportunity arises. Corunna came on the court, moving from the outside, looking for three-point shots. Van (Weaver) still uses the cover to break through or jump shots to play to your speed strengths. Chuck, I want you to play point guard. You just have to dribble the ball through the half court to complete the task, and then you can play how you want, and when the inside line is empty, you can switch positions and play. Will it work? ”

"No problem!" Hayes said. He's not a pure playmaker, but it's not a problem to dribble through the half with Starkey, and there's an advantage. This set of tactics is quite innovative, and it can really strengthen the offense when both point guards are in poor form.

"Mike, what tactic are yours? How do we defend against Yao Ming? Van Gundy asked.

"Since the existing tactics are no longer effective, we have to create our own tactics! It's called a five-striker tactic! D'Antoni is a very thoughtful guy and added: "Change positions when you go back to defense. Chuck defends against Yao Ming, and Fan assists in defense at any time. The Hawks' point guards lack long-range shooting and wait for him to burst in and then fill in the defense. Coronna continued to stare at Joe Johnson, keeping up as closely as he could, and not letting him get comfortable receiving the ball. Gerrard defends Marvin Williams, Landry defends Smith. ”

With the situation behind, D'Antoni made a desperate gamble and arranged a five-forward tactic that set a precedent in the NBA. How effective it will be, no one dares to say.

The Hawks also continued to field a starting lineup in the fourth quarter. Yao Ming was already a little tired, but he was still put on the field. The Eagles didn't dare to relax, and the 16-point gap was not a safe score for the Bobcats, who could be chased back in a few rounds if they played well. So they don't want to continue to attack, and keep the score bigger until the opponent gives up the chase.

The Eagles' home commentator looked at the Bobcats' players and said, "The Bobcats had a strange formation in the fourth quarter. Their tallest player is Landry, who is only 201cm tall! The other four players are Gerard Wallace, as well as Weaver, Azubuuk, Hayes. No point guard! Hayes and Johnson have been learning for two months, does he want to control the ball? ”

The Bobcats attacked first and immediately gave the answer, which was Hayes possession of the ball. The Eagles immediately let Starkey retreat, and Josh Smith stepped up. Hayes' dribbling skills have improved a little bit from last season, otherwise it would not be easy to get through the half court under Smith's defense. The Eagles' defensive formation is still 122 defense. The only change was that Smith went to the outermost level against Hayes.

With the Hawks leading by 16 points, Smith couldn't help but want to spur Hayes on a few words.

"You're going to lose today. No matter how many points you get, it's ...... in vain."

Before Smith's word "fee" was uttered, it was tragic. Hayes suddenly strengthened the force of the impact, and there was a small movement on his elbow, which directly hit him.

Hayes stepped to the side and turned to shoot a three-pointer, and Smith clutched his ribs and watched as Hayes threw the ball in.

"That's a good point." Hayes laughed. 96 to 83.

Hayes himself wasn't much interested in trash-talking, which prevented him from fully concentrating, but he enjoyed trash talking because of the unique skills Barkley had taught him. "When you meet a fool who likes to talk nonsense, you wait for him to say half of it, and then push him hard. Give him a leg with the hand that dribbles and make sure he looks good the whole time. This is a trick, and I don't tell him about it. ”

The veteran players who have experienced the NBA in the 80s and 90s have this experience, and they must talk trash before leaning into the opponent and after the offense, otherwise they will die miserably. Now that the NBA league is getting more and more "clean", the players obviously lack such awareness.

The referee called a timeout, and Smith was relieved. But looking at the slow-motion replay, Hayes didn't foul, it was Smith himself who spoke, and it became like this. To be able to give him a break is already to take care of the home team.

The Eagles attacked, played to Yao Ming, and Hayes stepped up. The Bobcats used the defensive style used by Ben Wallace when the Pistons vs Rockets. Two short team members are wrapped in a clip. Yao Ming took the ball, and Weaver immediately rushed up with lightning speed, even if he couldn't break the ball, it scared Yao Ming. Yao Ming took the ball and distributed it to Starkey, who was empty on the outside.

To vote or not to vote, that's the question. Starkey didn't make a three-point shot, and he didn't know how to shoot. If the vacant seat is not a shame. In the end, he still threw and the ball didn't go in.

Hayes stuck Yao Ming and grabbed the backcourt rebound, and the Bobcats immediately launched a fast break. Hayes handed it to Wallace, rushed to the Hawks half court at full speed, and ran against Yao Ming, and he won and did not lose. Wallace handed the ball to Weaver again.

The shortcomings that Weaver has not been able to change have become advantages in the fast break, that is, he is extremely resolute, and when he gets the ball, Hayes often thinks of "Red Sorghum", "Weaver, you boldly go forward, don't look back". Shaking off Marvin Williams on defense, Weaver flew to dunk the basketball. 96 to 85.

When Hayes defended Yao Ming in the back, he could feel that Yao Ming was tired, and he could only ensure his condition within 35 minutes, his strength was small, and his speed was much slower. If Yao Ming is 226cm tall and his physical strength can still be guaranteed to play the whole game like a black player, then he will definitely become a bug-level existence, and the four major centers in the league can only explode with him back then.

Weaver still rushed up from the weak side to wrap the clip. Yao Ming dribbled this time, adjusted slightly, and turned around for a jumper. Hayes jumped up and could only look at Yao Ming's chin, unable to interfere. Yao Ming's hand is still good, and the ball is in. 98 to 85.

Ben Wallace defended Yao Ming and lost in height, Hayes was shorter than Ben Wallace, Bobcat could only let him defend, Landry was not very stable in the lower handicap, and he couldn't put Yao Ming on the outside.

The Bobcats attacked, Hayes controlled the ball past half court, and this time Smith really didn't dare to speak anymore.

This trick is really good, whoever talks trash again in the future, then use this method to shut up you. Hayes chuckled inwardly. His tenet on the pitch has always been: "If you don't offend me, I won't offend anyone." But that doesn't mean he's a good-natured person. He won't be destroyed like Nash and Ray Allen, and he laughed it off. Last season, Bowen was a case in point. After Bowen returned this season, he has not recovered and is ready to retire.

Wallace pulled up to the high post to cover Hayes, who bypassed Smith's defense and then took advantage of Landry's pick-and-roll to flash an open jumper. 98 to 87.

The eagles still passed the ball to Yao Ming first. Yao Ming and Hayes grabbed the position for a long time, and Hayes had an idea, and he suddenly withdrew when Yao Ming received the ball. Yao Ming was squeezing back hard, Hayes didn't care about this take, Yao Ming, whose physical strength had decreased a little, lost his balance, stumbled and fell backwards. Weaver took the opportunity to rush forward, the ball was successful, and the Bobcats launched a fast attack. Hayes didn't make a quick attack, stepped forward and put his hands on Yao Ming, acting as a buffer, and the two sat on the ground together.

Wallace makes a layup. 98 to 89. The Bobcats chased the score to single digits.

"You kid is getting more and more yin." Yao Ming smiled bitterly.

Hayes pulled Yao Ming up and said with a smile: "It's you who have to practice your sense of balance!" ”

Although Yao Ming is not easy to get injured when he "sits down" like this, Hayes still gave up the fast attack to help him, and if Yao Ming was injured because of him, the Chinese fans would hate him to death.

Afterwards, this scene was made into a highlight, which became the most favorable proof of the friendship between the two.

In the next game, the Bobcats entered a stalemate with the Hawks with the five-forward tactics, and had a slight advantage, but unfortunately dug a big hole in the first three quarters. In the end, it was still lost by 7 points, the first defeat of the season.

Despite the loss, Bobcats head coach D'Antoni said at a press conference that he was satisfied with his players' performance. "The Bobcats were back-to-back, the players felt the impact on their physical strength and hands, and in the first three quarters of the game, our defense against Yao Ming was not ideal, it was a tactical mistake. The players played hard. ”

The reporter asked: "The trade between the Bobcats and the Raptors is complete, what do you think of last season's champion Bagnani?" Will the strength of Bobcats improve with him? ”

"Bagnani is a very good player, he and Okafor are not the same type of players, as for whether the team can improve, it depends on his run-in with his teammates, it is difficult to say for the time being." D'Antoni said.

The reason why D'Antoni is optimistic about Bagnani is because of the five-forward tactic, and the first time it was used in this game, it worked. Bagnani is a tall swingman who can play the number 3, 4 and 5 positions, and D'Antoni thinks he must adapt to his attacking system!

The Bobcats are back at home, and the questioned champion is about to report!

(To be continued)