Chapter 385: Working Together
"Run, run, defend, defend......" Coach Johnson's roar was mixed with the sound of rapid breathing and intense physical confrontation as the Brooklyn Nets hosted the visiting Milwaukee Bucks at Barclays Center.
The Nets had won two in a row prior to this game and finished fourth in the East, which made it look like they could easily win at home, but the game was more difficult than they expected.
The Nets' starting lineup is tall and strong, Jerry Starkhouse, Kyle Korver, Gerald Wallace and Chris Anderson.
The team's starting lineup caused a burst of exclamations from the fans at the scene, and none of the newly traded players appeared in the team's starting lineup, including the team's two "big" trades, Kenneth Faried and Kaulwai Leonard.
Not only the fans, but also the players were amazed, and although Faried and Leonard were still calm, they were certainly not without thoughts in their hearts.
In fact, before the game, Coach Johnson mentioned the starting lineup to Gao Dazhuang, and Gao Dazhuang also questioned that although the starting players are trustworthy teammates, Gao Dazhuang still feels that the current team can send a better lineup.
"We can't always focus on the immediate victory, we need to look at the long term, the right sense of crisis will make the young players grow better, Faried and Leonard are both potential players that the team values very much, and they are currently playing on the bench to make them develop better in the future" A quote from head coach Johnson dispelled the scruples of the tall and strong.
In fact, Coach Johnson still has a sentence that he wants to show the players: "The current Nets team is not only tall and strong. No one is indispensable."
With the referee's whistle, the game officially began.
Despite not fielding the likes of Faried and Leonard, the Nets were still strong and soon took the lead.
Gao Dazhuang continued his good form during the All-Star break, with a "brush" and a backhand layup after a strong head-on, Gao Dazhuang scored for the Nets first, and then assisted Kyle Korver from outside the three-point line to hit a three-pointer.
The Nets started the game 5-0.
At 3:05 into the game, the Bucks' Blanton Jennings hit a three-point shot to score the Bucks' first point of the game.
Next, the Bucks' backcourt "double shots" formed by Monta Ellis and Blanton Jennings began to exert their strength. The two hit back-to-back shots. The Bucks quickly caught up with the score.
The score of the two sides was tight until 6:30 of the quarter, and as the tall and strong beat Monta Ellis on the baseline, the Nets launched an 18-8 attack wave in the next five and a half minutes.
In the end, the Nets led the Bucks by 10 points at 32-22 and entered the second quarter.
The second quarter begins. The Brooklyn Nets began to deploy their troops. Marsin Gortat replaces Chris Anderson. Kenneth Faried replaces Gerald Wallace and Carlos Delfino replaces Jerry Starkhouse.
In the second quarter of the game, the Bucks took the lead in playing a 6:0 offensive wave, and the difference between the two sides was narrowed to 4 points. At 9:40 of the quarter, Dunleavy Jr. hit a three-pointer, and the Bucks even narrowed the deficit to one point.
However, in the middle of the quarter, the Nets also used a wave of 10:2 scoring waves to once again widen the gap between the two sides to 9 points.
Next, under the leadership of tall and strong, the Nets launched a crazy offense and won one after another.
With a minute and a half left in the quarter, Kenneth Faried took a tall and strong breakaway shot and scored his first point with the Nets at 59:44.
At halftime, the Nets led the Bucks by 13 points at 59:46, with the Brooklyn Nets' tall man scoring a game-high 22 points, Kyle Korver hitting three three-pointers and contributing 11 points at halftime, and the Bucks' Ellis and Jennings each scoring 12 points.
The Nets continued to hold the lead at the start of the third quarter, and with 6:22 left in the quarter, the Nets reextended their lead to 15 points with a toss from the tall man.
At this time, the referee blew the whistle, the Nets "asked for a substitution", and Coach Johnson replaced the tall and strong with Lance Stephenson.
"Hey, guys, knock them down" Lance Stephenson looked very excited when he came on the court, first forcing Ellis to make a foul, hitting one of two free throws to score his first point with the Nets, and then forcing Jennings to make a layup on a counterattack.
"Wow" Stephenson, who won the first goal of the sports battle, roared loudly, and kept slapping his chest with his hands, provoking the opponent with very arrogant eyes, and also looked at the tall and strong man sitting on the field intentionally or unintentionally, as if to say "Hey, I played better than you".
"Hehe" The tall man sitting in the audience shook his head with a wry smile, "Maybe I really don't understand the world of comics."
In Gao Dazhuang's view, Stephenson's ability is definitely there, but his personality is a major flaw, and how to polish his character will be an indispensable task for the team in the future.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for Stephenson to taste the bitterness, and the next match proved that Stephenson had laughed too soon.
Stephenson's provocative actions and words succeeded in spurring the Bucks' backcourt "double shots" outburst.
"Brush", "brush", the Bucks first Ellis also made a defensive foul on Stephenson near the free throw line, hitting both free throws, then Jennings hit a three-pointer outside the three-point line, and finally Ellis singled Stephenson near the free throw line, and after attracting the Nets defense, Ilyasova hit a three-point shot again on the outside.
"Brush" With Ilyasova's three-point shot, the Bucks instantly launched an 8:0 attack wave to narrow the difference.
At this point, the Nets made another personnel change, and Kawhai Leonard came on to replace Kyle Korver, and Coach Johnson's substitution was aimed at improving the team's perimeter defense.
Kawhai Leonard has really improved the team's defensive quality since he came on the court, and his individual defense and help defense are excellent. And he and Faried did a good job of protecting their rebounds, and the two sides were once again in a state of anxiety.
However, at this time, with a "snap", Stephenson made a mistake, and one of his inexplicable passes was stealed by Jennings, who made an easy layup on the counterattack.
Next, Jennings was even hotter, hitting two mid-range jumpers in a row.
The fans at the scene were in an uproar, and in just three minutes, the Bucks scored 14 points in a row. Successfully chased the score to only 1 point.
Then the two sides took the lead. In the end, at the end of the third quarter, the Bucks led the Nets by one point at 81:80.
In the fourth quarter, the tall and strong returned to the game, but he was replaced by the team's point guard Carlos Delfino. At this time, in addition to being tall and strong. Kenneth Faried, Kaulvay Leonard, Marcin Gortat and Lance Stephenson are all recent players to join the Nets.
Although it is very strong on paper. But at this time, the problem of lack of understanding between the players on the court of the Brooklyn Nets gradually became apparent.
The tall and strong deliberately suppressed the offensive rhythm, but the movement of the ball was still not smooth due to the lack of tacit understanding.
"When" misses a strong offensive shot under Faried's basket, Stephenson misses another mid-range jumper. After the start of the fourth quarter, the Nets missed two shots.
At this time, the Bucks unexpectedly felt hot in the fourth quarter of the game, and Ilyasova and Larry Sanders hit jumpers successively.
At 85:80, the Nets, who were playing at home, fell behind.
Of course, this score could not be received by the Nets fans at the scene, and at this time the fans began to shout in an organized manner: "Tall and strong, tall and strong, tall and ......strong", and it was clear that the fans hoped that Gao Da Zhuang would stand up and save the team.
The shouts of the fans also embarrassed the rest of the Nets players on the court, and after Leonard hoisted the ball to Faried, who didn't attack it, but passed the ball out again.
"It's okay, it's okay, we still have a lot of time" Tall and strong controlled the ball from outside the three-point line, he stretched out a hand and said slowly and motioned for his teammates to run.
"Pap", "Pap", "Pap" balls kept shuttling under the tall and strong crotch.
Just as the tall dribble slowly approached Ellis, Faried abruptly pulled out of the post and crossed Ellis's left side with a standard pick-and-roll move.
A tall and strong man with a heavy shoulder changed direction, and with the help of Faried's cover, he broke through Ellis's flank.
Ellis also immediately retreated and chased back, but when Ellis bypassed Faried, he suddenly found that there was no tall and strong figure in his field of vision.
"Not good" Ellis said secretly, it turned out that the tall and strong was just a false shot, and at this moment, he unexpectedly chose to break through from Ellis's right side.
Tall and strong got rid of Ellis's defense with a deft duffle, he accelerated to the basket, and faced the defense of opposing center Larry Sanders, tall and strong in the air with a reflexive pull-up layup.
With a "brush", the basketball hit the rebound and bounced into the basket.
At 85:83, Gao Dazhuang recovered a ball for the Nets.
"Oh" There was a huge cheer in the stadium, which was the familiar Gao Da Zhuang of the fans, and Gao Da Zhuang was still extremely sharp on the offensive end.
Although the fans want Gao Da Zhuang to attack non-stop, Gao Da Zhuang has his own considerations, a good team is what Gao Da Zhuang needs, and victory is more important than personal data in Gao Da Zhuang's eyes.
In the following round, the Bucks' Ellis significantly tightened his defense against the tall and strong, and in the physical confrontation between the two, Ellis even began to pull the tall and strong clothes with his hands.
But Tall and Strong didn't care about any of this, he played extremely strongly.
"Peng" and "Peng" leaned back twice in a row, and under the strong impact of the tall and strong, Ellis was forced to take two steps back.
"Cluster" then doubled his back and combined with a "turn back" feint, the tall and strong man made a 90-degree spin after deceiving Ellis's defensive center of gravity, and instantly broke through Ellis's flank.
This time, the tall man who hit the basket did not choose to attack, but after a strong jump, facing the opposing center Larry Sanders, he made a back-to-back pass and passed the ball to Gortat, who was in the open space under the basket.
"Good shot" Gortat yelled, received the ball and jumped high to face the unguarded basket. With a "clang", Gortat slammed the ball into the basket.
"Pretty" Tall and Strong and Gortat's hands hit each other hard, and two consecutive attacks equalized the score and boosted the morale of the Nets.
However, the Bucks also played very well in the fourth quarter, especially when they maintained a very high three-point shooting rate, and even hit four three-pointers in a row at one point, but fortunately, the Nets tightly bit the score under the leadership of the tall and strong.
With 20 seconds left in the game, the tall and strong attack on the inside and made a defensive foul on opposing center Larry Sanders when he scored a goal.
"Brushing" the tall and strong even added free throws, and the Nets led the Bucks by three points at 105-102.
With 20 seconds left before the end of the game, fans were still speculating whether the Bucks would play three-pointers or two-pointers. The Bucks ball is in Jennings' hands. Under Stephenson's frantic pressing, Jennings chose to force a shot from a meter outside the three-point line.
"Brush" is incredible, Jennings's ultra-long-range three-point shot actually hit.
105:105, the two sides are tied. There were 6.7 seconds left before the end of the game.
"Toot" Nets asked for a short timeout. Used to lay out the final attack.
"One thing is beyond question. They're going to be tall and strong," Coach Johnson glanced around at the other players and then pointed to the tactics board and said slowly: "Wait for Gortat to serve, Stephenson and Leonard are waiting on the outside to catch the ball, and Faried and Gortat you two have to cover the tall and strong without the ball." Finally, Stephenson and Leonard, you have to time your passes......"
Despite anticipating the opponent's bag, Coach Johnson still designed an offensive tactic for Gao Dazhuang, and he, like the majority of fans, still believes in Gao Dazhuang at this moment.
"Tut", sure enough, on the last ball, Evans of the Bucks stuck to the tall and strong, and Jennings was also waiting for an opportunity to steal, ready to wrap at any time.
Gortat played the ball to Stephenson according to the tactical arrangement.
"Pon" immediately made another off-ball cover for Tall Strong, who managed to get out of space with excellent sheer speed, despite Evans and Jennings following closely.
The "passer" glanced at Stephenson as he cut inside at high speed, but instead of splitting the ball at the first time, Stephenson plunged headlong into the interior and tangled with the opposing small forward Mike Dunleavy.
"Not good" Gao Dazhuang secretly said no, at this time the time of the game was getting less and less, and Gao Dazhuang was also caught up by Ellis and Jennings.
Seeing that the time was about to end, the tall man couldn't help but yell at Stephenson.
Stephenson himself knew time was running out, and he slammed into Mike Dunleavy before he threw a big step-back jumper.
Everyone in the entire Barclays Center arena watched the ball fly towards the basket, but the basketball slowly fell from the edge of the basket without even touching the basket, and Stephenson's super difficult backward shot shot shot an "Airboll".
"Alas" the Nets fans let out a sigh, and the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game.
At 105:105, the game is over and the two sides are about to go into overtime.
"Hmph" Coach Johnson glanced at Stephenson dissatisfied, and then looked back at Stackhouse and Delfino behind him, it seems that Coach Johnson was very annoyed with Stephenson's unauthorized actions and wanted to replace him.
Stephenson also stared at Coach Johnson with an unconvinced face, and a bad atmosphere spread in the rest area.
But at this time, a hand suddenly put on Coach Johnson's shoulder, and Coach Johnson looked back and saw that he was tall and strong.
Gao Dazhuang shook his head at Coach Johnson, who sighed helplessly, and finally gave up the idea of substitution and began to lay out the strategy for overtime.
"Everyone, come here, the time is almost up" After Coach Johnson laid out the strategy and tactics, the tall man clapped his palms and gathered the players around him, and then said loudly: "This is our city, brothers, fight for our city, fight for Brooklyn, they have been waiting for too long"
"Every night, every training, every game, we have to give it our all because they are playing side by side with us, everything we do is for the city, we owe them, we have to keep our teeth on it, for the city they support us, we have to do what we say, because of their support, we can do this, guys, the whole city is supporting us, it represents everything, it's time to show your hands" The tall man shouted loudly as he pointed at the fans on the sidelines.
"1, 2, 3, say cooperation, 4, 5, 6 say together, OK?" Gao Dazhuang glanced around at his teammates and said firmly.
"1, 2, 3" Tall and strong took the lead in shouting, "Cooperation!" The Nets players shouted together, "4, 5, 6" Tall and Strong continued to roar, "All in one!" The Nets players roared together.
"Let's do it together, 1, 2, 3" The tall man stretched out his fist and pressed close to his teammates, when all the players of the Brooklyn Nets shouted together, "Brooklyn!" ”
……
(The last paragraph is a spoof of James's latest Nike commercial, in fact, I think it's a good shot, but the Cavaliers' record is not good!) Hehe) (To be continued......)
PS: Although the update is late, there are quite a lot of words :) Hehe, joke