Chapter 119: The Christmas War (3)

PS: There is no update on Saturday and Sunday, I apologize! ――

Ray Allen, Battier with James, Wade and Bosh, often staged this season, the main control of this lineup is not Wade, but Ray Allen, of course, the halftime is responsible for organizing James, Wade is responsible for strong cuts, Ray Allen is actively running, attracting defense, and Battier and Bosh are pseudo-inside, responsible for pulling the opponent's interior players out of the three-second zone, and more importantly, this lineup has three-point ability, but due to Wade's absence due to injury, the breadth of the lineup is affected.

Kerr, Ray Allen, James, Battier and Bosh, the real beneficiaries of this lineup are actually Ray Allen and Bosh, and James is just the initiator of the tactics.

Offensively, Bosh spends a lot of time in the 18-foot high post, and he'll play against a lot of centers. You know, the center mostly stays under the basket, but Bosh is an outside extension on offense. When Bosh's defenders go to the breakaway player, he gets a lot of open shots, and the breakaway player will distribute the ball to the best attacking position of the player in time.

Whether it's Wade or Ray Allen, they actually play the role of cut-in, but Ray Allen has one of the catch-and-jump shots or 3-point batteries that he is best at. Wade's jump shot was never top-notch, and he was once the league's top "offensive guard" or "power guard." Last season, he ranked first among all guards in scoring efficiency, with 65 percent of his shots coming near the basket.

Wade's efficiency on the interior also benefits from the shooting opportunities and space created by the Heat's half-court offense. Like any other highly effective offensive system, the Heat force opponents to defend every corner and space in the offensive zone, weakening their defense and hitting the middle of the box with frequent pick-and-rolls. When Wade or LeBron is in possession of the ball, the Heat's shooters generally hide at the bottom of their feet, and the defenders crowd into the restricted area to contain Janway, which also opens up space for shooters. And the presence of Ray Allen has raised the Heat's key corner firepower to a new level, and the Heat's bottom corner shooting rate this season is the best in the league.

Restricted by the depth of the lineup, Thibodeau can only be fast, and the removal of the slow Noah is undoubtedly a dangerous move, Noa's protection of the basket is better than Gibson's, but Gibson's mobility is stronger than Noah's, and the two sets of lineups are more accurate than whose crosshairs are to put it bluntly.

Pause back.

When James held the ball, Battier and Ray Allen stood in the two corners, Kerr stood on the weak side and waited for the opportunity, and Bosh stepped forward to block for James.

Battier and Ray Allen crossed the ground line to run, Sun Xiaotian followed Ray Allen to death, Belineri followed Battier, when the four crossed together, Ray Allen's excellent ability to get rid of it, so that Sun Xiaotian was still a step late, Bosh's top block, so that James successfully broke into the inside, and then passed the ball to Ray Allen in the bottom corner, Ray Allen shot very fast.

Sun Xiaotian couldn't stop it.

"Huh!" Hollow into the net.

Of course, the Bulls' lineup is also difficult to defend against the other side.

Sun Xiaotian held the ball on the top, Gibson stepped forward to cover, and used his body to lean on James, Sun Xiaotian took the opportunity to burst into the paint area, and Battier, who stepped forward to block, stretched out his hands to interfere with Sun Xiaotian's sight, and the bottom line Bailey Neiri ran backwards on the bottom line, and Sun Xiaotian's cannonballs were delivered in place, and he also scored two points.

……

Both teams have high tactical literacy and first-class tactical execution. As the game progressed, the difference between the two sides did not widen, and with 30 seconds left in the first half, the two sides were tied at 46-43, and the Bulls trailed the Heat by three points.

Thibodeau called a timeout, laid out a tactic, and tried to get one.

Hinrich kept the ball calmly and knew all he had to do at the moment was slow down and try to get the game time to pass. Sun Xiaotian ran out from the diagonal side to catch the ball, and at this time it was James who ran out with him, and throughout the first half, James was consuming Sun Xiaotian. This kind of care of the Heat team is enough to prove how good Sun Xiaotian is today. Looking at James in front of him, Sun Xiaotian's eyes were resolute, and he had no intention of retreating. He looked at the timer, and there were 10 seconds left in the attack time, so ...... He's going it alone! Sun Xiaotian took two steps back, ready for the impact.

I saw Sun Xiaotian lower the height of the dribble and shake his shoulders, he tried to shake James away. James guessed Sun Xiaotian's intentions and did not lose his position, everyone thought that Sun Xiaotian was going to choose to make a move. However, Sun Xiaotian disappointed everyone again. I saw that he suddenly dribbled under his crotch, followed by a very fast start, and he passed James at once. James hurriedly followed and clinged to Sun Xiaotian with his strong body, trying to make his body unbalanced.

However, Sun Xiaotian's ultra-high basketball IQ once again shocked everyone on the scene. At the moment when James used his body to carry him, Sun Xiaotian suddenly stopped and jumped up to shoot, his body leaned in the opposite direction of James, and at the same time, he also threw the ball.

The ball bounced around the neck of the basket a few times and fell into the net reluctantly.

"Toot!"

"Foul 6!"

“2+1!!!!”

Sun Xiaotian hit the penalty steadily, and the two teams were tied!! ――

The two teams were tied at 46 in the first half, and James hit 4 of 7 shots in the half, scoring 13 points, while grabbing 5 rebounds and dishing out 6 assists. Sun Xiaotian was a bit inefficient under James' strict defense, hitting 5 of 12 shots and scoring 12 points, but he also handed out 6 assists.

At half-time, TNT's treasures commented on the game. Barkley praised Sun's performance, and he believed that as a rookie, when facing James, he was not nervous and timid, but played extremely relaxed and free. Hitting 5 of 12 shots in the half shows that he still needs to improve when timing his shots, but that doesn't stop him from being good.

O'Neal agrees with Barkley, but he believes the Bulls can't win with Sun Xiaotian alone, and someone else must step up and share the pressure on Sun. It can be seen from the second half of the second quarter that when Sun Xiaotian breaks into the interior of the Heat, the Heat will not hesitate to wrap him, and then the Bulls' outside line needs to find firepower and throw Sun Xiaotian's ball in, only in this way can the Heat's defensive space be expanded. Obviously, the Bulls' outside shooting percentage was not ideal in the first half, and the team only made 4 of 14 three-pointers.

Of course, the Heat's defensive strategy worked, and the Bulls' defensive strategy did a good job of limiting the Heat.