I'm good at basketball too

Chapter 146
Just a year ago, Tracy McGrady, who was still able to pick stars in the sky, seemed to have been swept away in the garbage dump of history. This super swingman who was once one of the four major divisions seemed to have become a thing of the past overnight. .

The current Mosaic is already the team of Yao Ming and Artest.

The arrival of Artest this season has greatly relieved the pressure on Yao Ming. He averaged 17.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game in the regular season. He dropped in the first round of the playoffs against the Trail Blazers, but Also have a score of 15+.

The other scoring points that Mosaic relies on are the little black bean Brooks and the diamond Luis Scola.

It's just that, in the upcoming semifinals, almost everyone is not optimistic about the Rockets.

The Nuggets have been really strong this season.

Anthony averaged 27.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in the first round, much higher than the regular season. This was obtained when Li Ran gave up his shots and concentrated on defending Paul.

In the first two games, Anthony's scoring average was as high as 32 points per game, but in the last three games when Li Ran resumed his offense, his scoring average dropped to 24.2 points per game.

This means that Anthony, a super scorer, did not try his best, and the Nuggets swept the Hornets in a gentlemanly manner.

The Nuggets think so too.

How can you struggle with a mere mosaic?

But what everyone didn't expect was that the Nuggets overturned in the first game of the second round.

Still at home.

The saying that a proud soldier must be defeated is not unreasonable.

Contrary to the previous round, Artest and Battier locked up Li Ran and Anthony completely in this game.

Yao Ming is one of the few players in the league who is not afraid of O'Neal's intimidating power in the low post. Even Yao Ming, who is currently at his peak, can suppress O'Neal one-on-one.

Caught off guard, the Nuggets unexpectedly lost 100-92 at home.

After the loss, all the Nuggets players were sullen, including George Karl.

Yao Ming originally wanted to catch up with Li Ran, but when he saw Li Ran's expression turned pale, he stopped in his tracks.

After all, they are rivals now.

Li Ran was struggling in this game. He played 36 minutes and only scored 14 points and 6 rebounds. Under Artest's blockade, he had very few chances to get inside, and there was Yao Ming in the inside So, even if you go in, the breakthrough effect is very poor.

Yao Ming scored 24 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocks in this game. Most of the five blocks went to O'Neal and Li Ran, completely turning the inside into a no-fly zone.

After entering the league in 02, this is the first time that Yao Ming has entered the second round of the playoffs. Now Yao is full of motivation, and he is determined to perform well.

After the game, there was no laughter in the Nuggets locker room in the past. The players either left in a hurry after taking a shower, or sat on the chairs in a daze.

George Karl walked in with his hands behind his back, looked around, and found that all five starters except O'Neill were there, and nodded.

"Why did you lose this game?"

His voice caught the attention of the players, who looked up.

Losing is not terrible, what is terrible is not knowing why you lost.

The Nuggets now have a neat lineup, and the players have no physical or injury problems. Losing to Mosaic without McGrady must be something wrong.

Li Ran thought for a while: "Melo and Melo's game is too simple, and Shaq's performance in the paint is not good."

George Karl nodded.

Anthony didn't speak, and Billups took over Li Ran's words.

"Aaron was so fast, he and Scola were so effective in the pick-and-roll, it was hard for me to defend."

Ah Lian scratched his head, hesitant to speak.

He was so shaken by Scola's footsteps in this game that he couldn't even find Beidou. He watched Scola score 18 points above his head.

After George Karl waited for the players to review themselves, they sat down and picked up a tactical board.

"Unable to attack and attack, unable to defend, this is the biggest problem exposed by our game."

He took the tactical board and drew the tactics on it. This is not the tactics of the Nuggets, but the tactics of Mosaic.

After the magnet representing Yao Ming moved near the free throw line, George Karl picked up a marker pen and drew a line heavily on the baseline.

"When Yao Ming mentioned the high position, the bottom line was too empty. Artest and Battier scored a full 14 points today by slipping the bottom line."

Billups and Li Ran nodded thoughtfully.

"Another problem is, Melo, you are too obsessed with shooting. You are used to playing like this in the regular season, and it is very easy for your opponent to target you in the playoffs."

Anthony played smoothly in the regular season this season. His mid-range shot rate is getting higher and higher, and he is very uncomfortable facing Battier's eye-blocking defense.

"Li, besides breaking through, don't you know other offensive methods?"

George Karl glanced at Li Ran again, and said harsh words to him rarely.

Li Ran scratched his head and glanced at George Karl.

He naively thought that he and Anthony could sweep the league with a sudden shot combination, but he didn't expect to hit a wall on Mosaic's side.

"In the next game, we need to change our formation, and your style of play also needs to change."

In the training session the next morning, George Karl really changed.

The Nuggets changed their impetuousness before the first game and began to seriously prepare for the game against Mosaic.

When Mosaic came to the Pepsi Center again on the third day, looking at the Nuggets' starting lineup, Adelman glanced at George Karl in disbelief.

"He's crazy?"

The Nuggets suddenly put O'Neal, the only Nuggets who can compete with Yao Ming, off the court, and sent a starting combination of Yi Jianlian, Li Ran, Anthony, JR and Billups.

And in yesterday's training match, George Karl was testing this lineup, and their opponents were O'Neill, Nene, Mason, Szczerbiak and White Chocolate.

The substitute lineup is trying to imitate the style of play of Mosaic's main lineup, and both sides are constantly summarizing and solving problems.

Fans and commentators are also questioning the Nuggets' lineup.

In their view, the Nuggets' lineup completely gave up their own not-so-weak insiders and let Ah Lian fight against Yao Ming. Isn't this courting death?

Pat Riley, the general manager of the Heat, was watching the game broadcast at home. After seeing the Nuggets lineup, he frowned subconsciously, and then his eyes flashed.

"interesting!"

And he sighed the same, and the Spurs coach Popovich who was eliminated in the first round.

Yao Ming competed for the ball, and Brooks dribbled the ball to the frontcourt and prepared to throw the ball to Yao Ming.

But he stopped.

Because now Yi Jianlian is in front of Yao Ming, trying to compete with Yao Ming for the position.

Go around and defend?

(End of this chapter)