Chapter Ninety-Four: The Struggle Between Fast and Slow

The opening game was played into a fast attack, Horford served in the backcourt, the White Devil Mike Bibby received the ball and quickly advanced to the front court, without slowing down into the Cavaliers penalty area, Gibson pounced on the defense, Mike Bibby's dribbling suddenly slowed down, and then accelerated violently, and the sudden change in rhythm made Gibson freeze for a while and couldn't react.

Mike Bibby immediately brushed Gibson's body and burst inside, attracted the defense and gave the ball to Joe Johnson, who hit a high-post jumper from inside the three-point line.

With his hands clenched into fists, Joe Johnson blew and he felt like he had a good hand just after the start of the fight.

Lost the ball, the Cavaliers no longer cared, Ilgoskas served from the bottom line, Gibson steadily advanced to the front court with the ball, and waited for all his teammates to complete the position before handing over the basketball to the James organization. James didn't stick to the ball either, and went straight to Ilgoskas inside, who hit an under-the-basket shot over Horford's head.

Horford jumped as hard as he could, but the height difference between the two was too great. Horford is 208 centimeters tall, a height that is not even enough to play power forward on some teams. And Ilgoskas is 221 centimeters tall, which is a full 13 centimeters taller than Horford. The height difference allowed Ilgoskas to shoot with ease in defiance of Horford's defense.

But apparently, the Hawks didn't mind that Ilgoskas hit a few shots with his height advantage, and as soon as the ball went into the frame, Horford pounced on the baseline and served to Mike Bibby, who was already ready, and Mike Bibby immediately advanced quickly with the ball. Ilgoskas was too slow to defend in time, and after two passes in the front court, the defensive lineup formed by the four was still full of holes after all, and Mike Bibby shook Gibson and put the basketball into the basket in a slow three steps before Larry Hughes rushed up to make up the defense.

Zhang Kong was attracted by Horford's movement and failed to completely defend the basket.

On the Hawks' bench, Woodson couldn't help but smile as he looked at the form on the court.

Don't look at Ilgoskas's defensive statistics, but his 221cm height pestle is naturally a threat in the penalty area, and many of the blocks that Zhang Kong made were help defensive blocks after Ilgoskas blocked the impact head-on. His height is also good for backcourt rebounding.

Ilgoskas is one of the slowest in the league.

Fast, as long as the speed is raised, the Cavaliers are equivalent to four people on the field on defense!

The Hawks may not have much of an advantage over the Cavaliers elsewhere, but the Hawks are a team of talented young men. The tallest man on the team is 208cm Al Horford, who also plays in the center position. In addition to that, Josh Smith is 206 cm, Marvin Williams is 206 cm, plus Joe Johnson. Athleticism is the absolute first rate in the league.

Add to that the experienced Mike Bibby, and they can play very fast!

Faster, faster.

An attack in seven seconds completely lifted the speed of the Cavaliers, exhausting them and consuming their physical strength. That's how Mike Woodson played against the Cavaliers.

Mike Woodson can be sure that if he slows down and plays positional battles with the Cavaliers. That's definitely an act of looking for death, not to mention anything else, the opponent's two big inside lines squeezed under the basket, and the difference in height made the Hawks sigh. Not to mention LeBron James, his power in positional breakthroughs is terrifying, but once you get faster, it's different.

Once you get fast, being too tall can become a liability, especially for a veteran like Ilgauskas. Ilgoskas is a European insider, his physical strength is not very sufficient, he was born in 1975 and is 32 years old this year, plus several major injuries, the physical test is very severe for him.

Mike Woodson believes that as long as he runs so fast for the first quarter, Ilgoskas will never be able to continue on the court. In this way, the tactical arrangement of the Cavaliers can be disrupted.

Mike Woodson didn't think that he could beat the Cavaliers by beating one Ilgoskas, but as long as he disrupted the Cavaliers' tactical setup and caused the Cavaliers' tactical chaos, he could peek into the opportunity, maybe ...... In the chaos of the Cavaliers, there will be a chance for the Eagles to win!

It's Mike Woodson's gamble!

Because the quick attack tactic consumes the opponent's physical strength at the same time, your own physical strength will also be challenged.

The transition between offense and defense on the court was extremely fast, and when the eighth minute of the first quarter was played, James motioned for a 100-second timeout from the technical desk.

The atmosphere on the bench was slightly subdued, and Ilgoskas gasped for air. For him, who is 2.21m and has had surgery for an injury, the eight-minute switchback run is a big burden. The expressions of the others are not very good-looking, just because of the score on the field now.

At 33:21, according to international practice, the home team is behind.

No one expected the Hawks to take a lead on the Cavaliers' home court, and they led by more than 10 points before the end of the first quarter.

Mike Woodson's tactics worked. Because of Ilgoskas, the Cavaliers were in chaos both offensively and defensively, and Joe Johnson was really hot at the start of the game.

However, the hot hand cannot last forever, and when the ball hits too much, there will always be a time when the iron will be struck. Not to mention a player like Joe Johnson who is offensively biased to the perimeter.

The only trouble is the Eagles' quick offense and defense.

This has a lot to do with the Cavaliers' overall lack of attention to this game before the game. Before the game, no one thought that the Eagles would put out such an offensive system. Even Mike Brown, after thinking about it a few times, thinks that with the strength of the Cavaliers, there is no need for too many changes at all, and it is enough to crush the Hawks directly with strength.

In the pre-game media predictions, the Cavaliers were also bullish, believing that the Cavaliers only needed five games at most to get the Hawks players home fishing. Except for the local media in Atlanta, no media is optimistic that the Eagles will be able to stage the Black Eight Miracle again.

As everyone knows, the Eagles and the current champion Celtics fought all the way to seven games before falling short in the end!

But it's too late to say that now, and Mike Brown has made adjustments for xìng.

replaced Ilgoskas, who was a little lacking in physical strength, but did not choose to replace Brazilian actor Vallejo, but replaced Stephen Jackson. Let Stephen Jackson go to the power forward position and partner Zhang Kong inside, and let Zhang Kong move to the center position.

Since Ilgoskas lacks athleticism, replace Ilgoskas and bring on the more athletic Stephen Jackson to play power forward to make up for the lack of athleticism.

After coming back on the court, James decided to slow down the pace of the game.

received Gibson's pass at the top of the three-point line, James did not choose to break through immediately, but held the ball at the top of the three-point line to observe the situation on the court.

The Cavaliers aren't a fast-break team, and James knows that. If you blindly follow the Hawks quickly, you can only suffer from the Cavaliers themselves.

Now, it's time to play to the strong point of the Cavaliers' positional battles.

After a few observations, James hoisted the ball to Zhang Kong, who was stuck in the low post.

Picking up the basketball with both hands, Zhang Kong held the ball firmly on his chest with both hands, and probed it backwards to feel the power of Horford behind him. Horford gritted his teeth and stubbornly pressed against Zhang Kong, hoping to push Zhang Kong out of the restricted area, pushing the two arms of Zhang Kong's back to expose the green tendons. But even so, Zhang Kong's body still didn't move, and it took root like a mountain.

Zhang Kong took a deep breath, and then his broad back slammed into his back, slamming into his back like a hammer!

Burst!

**The sound of impact is clearly audible. Horford, clenching his teeth, suddenly bulged out of his eyes, and for a moment he only felt a burst of breathing, as if his body had lost the ability to breathe.

Crashed into Horford all of a sudden, Zhang Kong didn't expect it to be so easy, but since there was a vacancy, Zhang Kong no longer hesitated, half-turned around and cut directly into the restricted area along Horford's side, jumped up and prepared to dunk.

"Be careful!"

Behind him, there was an exclamation of unknown people.

Zhang Kong felt a burst of pressure and a strong wind from behind him, and he was able to collect the ball and cross a semicircle in the air!

"Smack!"

Instinctive action avoided the cover coming from behind, a thick black arm hit Zhang Kong's arm, in the air, Zhang Kong stiffened his waist suddenly, his strong physical fitness allowed him to stay in the air for a short time, and then grabbed the basketball with his other hand steadily, and smashed towards the basket!

Bang dang!

After landing on the ground, Zhang Kong couldn't help but rub his right arm, which was hurt by the beating, and behind him, Josh Smith stood there with the same unkind face.

The referee has already blown the whistle and the gesture is clear.

The score is valid, plus a free throw.

Josh Smith's foul was quite ferocious, and when it came time to make free throws, the empty arm still felt the pain. Affected by this pain, Zhang Kong's free throw rarely missed the basket.

So far this season, Zhang Kong's free throw shooting rate has remained at a terrifying 93%, and it is extremely rare to miss a big free throw. So much so that James and Jackson, who were on either side of the basket, were not ready to grab rebounds.

The basketball fell into the hands of Josh Smith.

Source: Forrest Gump