Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Rest is Inside Time

On the bench, Adelman yelled at his players with a tactical board and didn't stop until the timeout, hoping the Rockets would replicate the Princeton system he had built with the Kings.

For Yao Ming, he has high hopes. Yao Ming is the most dominant player in the NBA's low post today, and although his slow movement drags down his defense, his tall stature and solid defensive attitude still make him a deterrent in the restricted area.

Adelman wants to transform Yao Ming into the next Chris Webb, or even better than Chris Webb. After all, Weber doesn't have Yao Ming's strong low-post ability.

When the Rockets arrived on the court, they did start playing Princeton tactics, but Yao, who went from the low post to the high post, was obviously a little at a loss, and the Rockets' offensive rotation suddenly stagnated, and Yao Ming, who stood in the high post, was really unfamiliar with this position, even if he got the ball, there was no way to determine what to do next.

If you want to transform Yao Ming into Chris Webb, this is simply impossible.

In fact, Adelman would have had a chance to succeed, if he had met Yao Ming six years ago. Yao Ming, who just entered the NBA six years ago, was still a very young man, with a thin and slender body, looking like a big bamboo pole Bradley, and many people doubted at that time whether his thin body could adapt to the fierce confrontation at the NBA level.

But at that time, Yao Ming was full of vitality and spirituality unique to young people, and in addition to that, he also had a self-confidence and calmness that was different from ordinary young people. His technique is almost perfect and very versatile, not only with his steps under the basket and his turnaround jumper, but also his mid-range and even three-point shots, and his ability to play in the high post is extremely perfect.

At that time, Yao Ming, as long as he met a famous teacher, it was easy to develop him into a long-range projection interior player like Nowitzki, or a high-level playmaker like Chris Webber, or a smart center like Olajuwon.

But luckily and unfortunately, Yao Ming met Van Gundy. Van Gundy's philosophy of play is stiff and stubborn, and he stubbornly believes that centers should stay in the low post, not in the high post or at the three-point line to fight the shooting guards. He restrained Yao Ming to a low position, and even did not allow him to attack with a frame, repeatedly asking him to gain weight and enhance his confrontation ability.

Luckily, Yao Ming's hard work and Van Gundy's guidance have brought his power to full play in the low post, and he has become one of the most dominant players in the low post in the NBA today. Unfortunately, his all-around ability has been lost in the day-to-day game because he has been confined to the low post for many years.

Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing for Yao Ming is probably impossible to say. But what is certain is that no matter how hard Yao Ming tries, he will not be able to adapt to Adelman's Princeton system, and he no longer has the kind of high-level strategy ability that the Princeton system requires.

Instead of turning the tide, the Rockets, who switched to Princeton's offense, were taken advantage of by the Cavaliers to play a 6-0 shock wave because of their inability on the offensive end, and opened the score in one fell swoop.

This situation made the Rockets players on the court a little flustered, so they started doing what they were most used to. Yao Ming got stuck in the low post, and Alstom's basketball was immediately handed over.

There was no need to even test it, the two of them were already too familiar with each other, Yao Ming dribbled backwards three times in a row, and Ilgoskas was unsteady on his feet, and then he jumped and turned to make a layup, and the basketball was firmly put into the basket.

The Rockets, who were not accustomed to Princeton's offense, once again returned to the offensive pattern they were familiar with last season, with Yao Mingmaddy taking turns playing on the offensive end.

In the eighth minute of the first quarter, the Cavaliers took the lead in replacing LeBron James, and after recently consulting with LeBron James, Mike Brown decided to gradually reduce James' playing time. James' average playing time last season was too much, and the Cavaliers' situation forced James to play hard to keep his results going. Although there have been no major injuries with his physical fitness, the elbow injury that cannot be entangled has attracted James's attention.

Then, seeing that Mike Brown replaced James, Adelman immediately followed suit and replaced Maddie. The team's two top scorers went off the court, and the rest of the players immediately did the same thing, handing over the basketball to the inside.

Yao Ming first exerted his might in the penalty area, singled Ilgoskas in the low post, and after a few hits, turned and scored the ball with a jumper.

Then in the Rockets' half, Zhang Kong also stuck in the low post, stuck Scola firmly behind him, and Gibson immediately handed the ball into Zhang Kong's hands with a high hanging pass.

Zhang Kong did it more simply, he turned around and jumped directly, his bounce was good enough, and his height was tall enough, even if Scola had made all the defensive preparations, even if the palm that was trying to stretch out could not interfere with Zhang Kong's shooting even if it grew a little more.

"Huh~~" The basketball hit crisp and neat.

Since the first quarter of the two sides of the core score, the second half of the first quarter began to enter the inside time, both teams resolutely played basketball to the inside. Team Rocket is Yao Ming, and the Cavaliers are Zhang Kong.

Compared with the wonderful action on the outside, the inside singles are boring and boring. But there were two people in the Rockets' grandstand box who watched it with relish, and couldn't help but applaud.

These two people are Li Changwu and Younas.

After reaching a preliminary agreement with Zhang Kong, Li Changwu immediately called China to report the situation, and at the same time, he did not return to China immediately, but stayed in Houston with Younas to prepare to watch the Cavaliers vs Rockets game before leaving. To be precise, it is to leave after watching Zhang Kong and Yao Ming's performances.

In the first half of the first quarter, although the game was exciting, they didn't see what they wanted to see, Younas could still focus on the tactical changes of the two teams, while Li Changwu was not interested in watching. He doesn't like basketball, to be honest he is not a fan, although he is an i-tube basketball, but in his heart he doesn't like basketball, he prefers Go to basketball, but preferences are preferences, and work is work.

It wasn't until James and Maddie both got off the court that Li Changwu became energetic and watched the game with great interest.

Although he doesn't like basketball, he has been working in basketball for so many years, and although he has never eaten pork, he has seen a lot of pigs, so he also understands ball. This look suddenly consciously saw some problems,

"Coach Younas, look ......" Li Changwu didn't get a response from Younas, and turned his head to find that Younas was staring at the court intently, and his eyes didn't move for a moment: "Coach Younas?" ”

"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm in a trance." Reacting, Younas said a little apologetically, after working in China for a few years, he gradually learned some truths and understood many rules in this part of China.

"Haha, it's okay, it's a good thing to work hard." Li Changwu smiled and said: "Coach Younas, for Zhang Kong, do you think he is too similar to Yao Ming?" I don't think it's a good thing to have two players who are almost the same on the inside. ”

"No, no, no, it's not." Younas smiled, he knew that the person next to him only saw the surface of the situation, but not the real inside. However, Younas did not directly say that Li Changwu was wrong, but said: "Indeed, Zhang Kong's fight is very similar to Yao Ming now." But he is different from Yao Ming, Yao Ming's style is like this, no matter where he goes, he plays like this in the NBA or in the national team, his skills have been set. And Zhang Kong, it's not that he can only play like this, but now the Cavaliers have no stable offensive finisher on the court besides him, so he has to play like this. Actually, I don't think he's best suited for a low post but a high post, you see this ......."

Younas suddenly pointed to the court, Li Changwu immediately followed, only to see that after Zhang Kong, who was in the low position, turned past Scola, facing Yao Ming, who came up from the defense, a ground pass handed the basketball to Ilgoskas, who followed from behind, and Ilgoskas scored the ball with a layup.

"What's going on?" Li Changwu didn't understand it.

"Keep watching."

In the next shot, Zhang Kong moved to the high post after the block, feigned a jumper to attract the attention of the defense, and then suddenly shifted the ball to the weak side, where Ella Newbe, who had just been substituted, was completely empty and threw a solid three-pointer.

"This is, high-level blocking, high-level strategy?" Although Li Changwu is not playing, as mentioned earlier, after all, he has been working in basketball for many years, and he knows some basketball knowledge to some extent, and he immediately saw the truth.

"That's right, he's very fast, which gives him a lot of deterrence after high pick-and-rolls, no one dares to let him go, and he's shooting accurately, and it's almost unguarded to take him in the middle range, so that he can grab a lot of defensive attention by himself and then get the ball into the open space." Looking at Zhang Kong's performance, Younas is more and more satisfied: "More importantly, he also has a strong power in the low post, and the continuous high and low switching makes the opponent unable to defend him at all, even if he is prevented, he can still pass the ball through when there is a gap in other places." He's an offensive finisher, but also a playmaker in both the high and low positions. And his defense is just too good......"

On the court, as if to verify Younas's words, he opened a big hat to cover the sky and covered Landry, the god bird who tried to dunk with the ball, out of the court, and the referee did not blow the whistle, because the block was too clean, although it looked ferocious, but it really couldn't find the foul horse's feet.

So in the face of the boos in the Toyota Center, the referee did not blow.

"Then do you think Yao Ming and Zhang Kong can coexist?" This is the question that Li Changwu is most concerned about: "If the two of them play together, how much power can they exert?" ”

"There's certainly no problem with coexistence." Younas said firmly: "I can see that Zhang is a very smart player, and the way he plays on the court is not tactical, which means that the head coach of the Cavaliers may not have designed offensive tactics for him at all, and all his offense is decided by himself." He's smart and I'm sure he can adapt to any situation. However, I may need to change the tactics of the Chinese team. ”

"The Princeton System!" Younas said firmly: "With a player like this, we have to play the Princeton system, otherwise it will be a waste of his playmaking talent." ”