In the first quarter, after four minutes of play, D'Antoni was the first to call a timeout.

Although just looking at the score, the score between the 76ers and the Hornets was 10-12 in the first four minutes of the first quarter.

But through the content of the game on the field, D'Antoni's heart became more and more anxious.

Because in D'Antoni's view, tonight's 76ers' scoring in the opening stage was not achieved in the way they usually do best.

Rather, it is the on-the-spot response that is completed by the players on the court through the reading of the game under the high-intensity defense of the Hornets.

In the NBA, leaving the game to the players to decide is certainly a way of coaching.

But D'Antoni, who once served as Wang Shuo's deputy, knows better than anyone......

In this game, the 76ers have fallen into the trap carefully woven for them by the Hornets.

However, after applying for a timeout in front of the technical desk......

In a trance, D'Antoni discovered......

Although he was aware of the problems with the 76ers in this game, he couldn't find any way to deal with it for a while.

On the sidelines, when the 76ers asked for a timeout, Coach Lu looked at Wang Shuo curiously and asked, "If the referee's penalty scale in this game is different from what we imagined......

Should we bring on Chris sooner rather than then to bolster the offense? ”

Wang Shuo shrugged his shoulders and smiled, "That's right. ”

As we all know, it is impossible for every basketball game to be judged the same scale.

Therefore, when making pre-match calculations, the penalty scale is also a factor that every manager must take into account.

For example, in this one, since the referee's penalty scale is relatively loose compared to both sides of the game......

If the Hornets don't give Harden a confrontation at this time, will they wait until he returns to Philadelphia to get the "foul buff" bonus before giving him strength?

Before the game, Wang Shuo made a series of off-court arrangements for this game, including inviting Jordan to the Hornets bench, in order to make full use of the Hornets' home court advantage.

As a head coach who has led the team to win 9 championships, Wang Shuo cannot leave his fate to someone else to decide.

So in this game, in addition to what Director Lu said, when the penalty scale is not favorable to the Hornets, Wang Shuo will change the game strategy through personnel adjustments......

Wang Shuo was even prepared to be ejected for protesting the penalty scale, leaving the game in charge of Schneider.

Fortunately, tonight, the referee did not give Wang Shuo a chance to activate the backup plan.

"How do you think Mike will break the game next?" After a pause, Director Lu asked.

Hearing this, after thinking about it in his mind for a while, Wang Shuo touched his chin and said, "In this game, Mike's adjustment to the game is not critical.

Because this kind of 'trench warfare' mainly tests the usual training of a team, as well as the individual ability of the players on the field. ”

In the '90s, there was a famous saying in the NBA: Defend well and give the ball to Michael Jordan to win.

In Wang Shuo's view, this sentence can be said to be a perfect interpretation of why the bull was invincible back then.

Because as the defensive intensity of both sides of the game continues to increase, the game of basketball will return to its most rustic side when most tactics are difficult to open up......

In other words, as long as your star is tough enough and your star is strong enough, then you can often be invincible in the game.

For this Wasp, Wang Shuo has full confidence.

This confidence comes from Leonard, who has been carefully cultivated by him, who is far stronger than the same period in history, Paul, who is always ready to travel off-peak on the bench, and Jefferson, who is still at the top.

And this is the main reason why D'Antoni was so anxious on the sidelines tonight.

Because D'Antoni knows very well that if he plays with the Hornets one by one, then the 76ers will never be the opponent of the Hornets.

After the timeout, the game resumed.

On the court, Harden still didn't play easily.

High post, he borrowed two covers in quick succession before breaking into the heart of the Hornets, and he was forced to finish with a difficult throw.

Coming back, the Hornets have the ball.

Leonard, who is getting more and more of a big man, easily hit a shot after Curry brought Harden in front of him.

Unlike the vast majority of superstars, Curry is also a player who can play a supporting role when you have someone else on the court who can step up.

In this game, Wang Shuo emphasized to Curry before the game, asking him not to obsess over individual offense and scoring in the game.

As long as the 76ers' defensive focus is always on him, he can give the game to his teammates.

And on the sidelines, on the bench of the 76ers, watching Curry's heavy punch that the Hornets have not fired tonight, D'Antoni also fell into a deep thought again.

Despite his entire coaching career, D'Antoni was not known for his defensive skills.

But during the Wizards period, he saw how the Wizards Joe played, but at this moment, he felt an inexplicable pressure.

D'Antoni knew that Wang Shuo couldn't keep throwing Curry's punch tonight.

He's just waiting.

Wait for a time when you can take away the 76ers in one wave.

In the first quarter of the game, with 5 minutes left, Wang Shuo replaced Curry in advance.

He then replaced Leonard and Klay with Butler and Middleton, respectively, at the end of the first quarter.

Of course, in the playoffs......

As the game level increases, the Hornets' second-team advantage will not be as big as in the regular season after entering the rotation lineup.

However, this must be if the 76ers can use their main force to destroy the Hornets' second team in tonight's trench battle.

On the bench of the Hornets, Jordan, who was sitting next to Wang Shuo tonight, hated him at this moment for being born twenty years earlier.

Otherwise, with Curry's teammates, he won't have to win the championship?

As for TNT TV, in the second half of the first quarter of the game, Barkley said in the commentary: "The biggest difference between this year's Hornets and last year is that their defense has improved visibly compared to last season. ”

Tonight, the relatively lenient penalty scale did help the Hornets take the initiative to drag the 76ers into this trench battle in the game.

But after grinding last season......

The defensive potential of the young players on the Hornets guard line, which has been continuously tapped by Wang Shuo, is obviously the main reason why they can make it difficult for the 76ers players in this game.

At the end of the first quarter, the scoreboard was 25-29.

During the break, Harden's excessively rapid physical wear and tear tonight caused D'Antoni to frown.

Most of the 76ers' tactics have to be supported by Harden.

D'Antoni is well aware that once Den goes down......

The 76 people who lost their "climbing tower" will be shrouded in darkness in an instant.

However......

D'Antoni may not believe it when he says it......

Although he is very worried about Harden's physical fitness at the moment, on the bench of the Hornets, Wang Shuo firmly believes that it ......

Harden will definitely be able to hold out until the end.

Because as a person who has come over, Wang Shuo knows very well what Harden will experience in the future.

In Wang Shuo's view, since the future setbacks can't defeat Harden, then what's more, this game that is just tortured by his flesh?

In the second quarter, Wang Shuo adjusted the Hornets' on-court lineup to Spets, Kirilenko, Butler, Middleton and Paul.

And, during the intermission, Wang Shuo also found Curry who was recuperating on the bench and preparing to travel off-peak, "Stephen, if you don't feel good about three-point shooting in this game, I hope you don't get obsessed with three-pointers."

The 76ers lack top-tier rim protectors, and as long as they can consistently attack their baskets, their defense will struggle to limit our ability to score consistently on the court. ”

Hearing this, Curry immediately nodded.

The current and next few years can be arguably the best period for Curry to be in personal physical condition.

In Wang Shuo's view, if you don't let Curry use his ball-handling, off-ball and foul-making ability to play more under the basket at this moment, you can't wait for Curry to get old in the future......

Let Curry, who had a significant decline in physical function at that time, hit the opponent's basket, right?

Wang Shuo is well aware that over time, Curry will have to transform into a support core in the future to ensure that the Hornets continue to compete for championships on the premise of building a team with him as the core.

Because in the NBA, no one can beat time and time.

Unless, you can have a pair of "invisible wings" like a certain player, and even ask the league to find you a "whistle substitute" like Reaves to help you make free throws if you can't make free throws yourself.

Otherwise, you have to accept the fact that in the NBA, talented people come out from generation to generation, and the back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves.

On the court, led by Paul, the Hornets firmly maintained the lead they had built up in the first quarter of the game in the first half of the second quarter.

In the regular season, after being forced to rest for most of the season due to injury, my cannon, who has no leg soreness or pain at the moment, is definitely a quasi-MVP-level star.

Attacking, he can shoot and organize, not only can tear apart the opponent's defense through personal hard work on the field.

Moreover, under Wang Shuo, he completely let go of himself, and he can always use that seamless pass to guide his teammates to score.

Perhaps when he retires in the future, Paul's career mistakes will be hundreds of times more due to style changes.

But he is more adventurous on the court, and he will surely become the god of point guard in the minds of a generation of fans.

In the second half of the second quarter of the game, Wang Shuo finally replaced Curry in the expectation of the fans.

And on the court, in the face of Harden, who has a good relationship with him in private, Curry did not show mercy to his subordinates.

Spectrum Center, as soon as he got on the court, Curry called Harden three times in a row, and scored 6 points in a row for the Hornets through a breakthrough.

In fact, tonight, Harden has used eye defense on the court much less often than usual.

But what can I do......

He has not stopped for a minute this time, and he has already reached the extreme of his physical fitness at this moment?

You see, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, no matter how much Lu Bu can fight, at most he will beat Liu Guanzhang.

But in this game, why does he Harden have to face Liu Guanzhang?

In the first quarter of the game, the players on the Hornets side who bullied him with roll call tactics on the court alone included Leonard, Klay, and Paul.

This brother three, one can ignore his defense and pull it out directly.

One who disagrees will take him all over the field.

The other is to give him a cannon punch in the dark from time to time.

Then, before Harden could catch his breath......

In the second quarter of the game, under the premise that Paul and Butler consumed another half of Dengzi's physical strength, his good brother Curry rushed at him with a rifle.

If you don't understand, just ask, how do you let Harden play this kind of game?

In addition, in tonight's trench battle, the weakness of the 76ers' lack of top rim protectors was also infinitely magnified by Wang Shuo through various tactics and personnel rotations.

At halftime, the scoreboard was 51-65.

In the second quarter, the Hornets built a 14-point lead in one fell swoop.

After halftime, in the third quarter of the game, under the leadership of Harden, who refused to give up easily, the 76ers played two or three waves of small climaxes in stages.

As it turns out, without a body hair whistle, Harden is still an MVP-caliber superstar.

In this game, in order to save as much energy as possible, Harden made a big move by dropping back three points knowing that the Hornets had set up a net on the inside to be drilled by himself.

In Wang Shuo's previous life, because Harden was at the peak of his career, the league still had Stephen Curry, a dead pervert......

So in the stereotype of many people, Harden's three-point shooting doesn't seem to be very accurate.

But in fact......

As a star who often solves the opponent's defense by dribbling three-pointers in the game, Harden's three-point shooting ability is also underestimated.

Be.

Harden's three-point shooting percentage is not ideal, but that's only because fans often compare him to Curry.

In addition, many of Harden's three-point shots are bomb defusal and hard to break down with little offensive time left, so when he doesn't feel good, it will give people the illusion that he likes to play iron on the outside.

In the third quarter of the game, Harden, who shot 5-of-8 from beyond the three-point line, scored 21 points for the 76ers in a single quarter, including free throws and two points.

Regrettably......

Even if Harden is like this, he can't turn the tide of the game for the 76ers.

Because as the physical strength declined, the 76ers had to give the Hornets some outside opportunities......

In this quarter, the Hornets shot a total of 10 of 14 shots in a single quarter, with a whopping 71.4% three-point shooting rate.

TNT, Barkley explained: "The Hornets are clearly intent on playing James singles tonight and are putting the main defensive focus on his teammates.

Although James also delivered an excellent answer in the game......

But two fists are no match for four hands after all. ”

In addition, in the third quarter of the game, after committing four fouls, Wang Shuo also took the initiative to replace Barnes and carried out a "shark cutting tactic" on Iguodala on the 76ers' side.

In the regular season, Iguodala shot a whopping 55.1 percent overall from the field and 41.8 percent from three-point range.

What's outrageous is that after entering the playoffs, this guy's free throw shooting percentage is only 40%......

Wang Shuo doesn't know how Iguodala usually trains shooting......

But as he remembers, Iguodala was extremely inconsistent with his free throws during this period.

This time, as one of the few teammates in the 76ers who can support Harden outside the three-point line, Iguodala made a total of 4 three-pointers before the Hornets fouled him, and handed over a shocking report card of missing all 6 free throws at the free throw line.

CCTV, when Iguodala frequently missed free throws, Director Zhang said in surprise: "Is it more difficult to shoot free throws than three points?" ”

Free throws certainly can't be harder than three-pointers.

It's just that in the past two years, in order to gain enough strength, Iguodala's shooting will be very unstable while rapidly gaining muscle.

With a lot of spot-and-shoot drills, Iguodala is certainly able to keep his three-point shooting percentage on the court.

But as the game progresses, Iguodala, who has to play a lot of confrontations on the defensive end, is bound to be unable to be consistent on the free throws.

Wang Shuo waited until the third quarter of the game tonight to use the "shark slashing tactic" against Iguodala, just waiting for Iguodala's physical strength pole to arrive.

At this point, on the bench of the 76ers, an atmosphere of despair began to permeate.

Because this night......

Not only did the Hornets not give the 76ers any chance.

And judging from the content of the game, it also left the 76ers players with the illusion that they couldn't beat this Hornets no matter how they played.

In the final quarter of the game, looking at the exhaustion of the 76ers, it is estimated that Harden, who did not even dare to go to the nightclub after the game, and D'Antoni, who was at a loss for this game, saw Coach Lu turn his head and say to Wang Shuo after taking a deep breath: "I think, this game is not just about to win, right?"

The 76ers' psychological defense......

With this game, we will definitely destroy most of them. ”

Patting Director Lu on the shoulder, Wang Shuo smiled, "That's right, Tylen." ”

In the NBA, especially in a best-of-seven series......

Morale and confidence are often the keys to winning a team in this series.

It doesn't matter if the following is on top, or if the weak defeat the strong......

As long as the 76ers can't show their usual madness in the game, in Wang Shuo's eyes, they are just a piece of fat on the wasp cutting board.

In the center of the spectrum, the finishing score of this G1 battle was finally fixed at 100-122.

After the game, Harden, who scored a total of 42 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists for the 76ers, was not interviewed.

Because after this game is played......

Harden, who was so tired that he couldn't even lift his hands, didn't understand......

How exactly did he have to fight......

He can lead the 76ers to win even one of these games in this series.