Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

Chapter 167 The Bulls’ dilemma, Carlisle’s calculation
"The game is about to start, and now as the boss of the team, I would like to say a few words to you.

Don't pay too much attention to tonight's game. The playoffs are no different from the regular season. As long as we stay focused, we can win!

We are the second-best team in the Eastern Conference, and we will never stop in the first round of the playoffs.

Next, the biggest challenge we are about to face is not to be bored with victory. We must devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the subsequent battle.

Okay, don’t think so much, I’m the boss!

If you feel that the opponent's defense is very strong and it makes you feel troublesome, you can choose to give the ball to me.

As for the rest, I need your help, we are a team!We are the Chicago Bulls!

Shout with me - Come on, come on, come on, the Chicago Bulls will win! "

Before the official start of G1, Du En boosted morale as the Bulls boss.

Before this, Ben Gordon and others were really worried, but Duen stepped forward and said that he could provide everyone with the answer, so there was nothing to worry about.

I can’t do the scoring stuff, can’t I do the dirty work?

After all, they are also NBA players, after all they have millions of dollars, and they are among the hundreds of people in the world who are the best at playing basketball!
"The Chicago Bulls must win!"

"The Chicago Bulls must win!"

……

Bulls head coach Scott Skiles was also quite happy to see Duan boosting the morale of the Bulls youth team.

In order to show respect for Duane, Scott Skiles revealed in advance: "Duane, I will not have any arrangements for you tonight.

If you want to rest, you can always tell me and I will take care of everything for you.

Next, the battlefield is left to you!I believe you will be able to return triumphantly! "

Hearing what Scott Scales said, Du En couldn't help but laugh: "Haha, let me lend you some good words. I also believe that we can win!"

Scott Scales' behavior, to put it mildly, is the same respect for a Dream Team star as Chuck Daly.

To put it harshly, it means that I have no money, I don't know how to beat the Pacers, and I can only rely on Duan's personal strength to lead the team in this round of playoffs.

However, instead of hating such a head coach, Du En actually liked him.

Duen has more game experience than most NBA head coaches. Duen has an all-around style of play and doesn't like the head coach to interfere too much.

The head coach doesn't call timeouts very often, and the fans can help Du En blame the head coach after the game, accusing the head coach of lacking on-the-spot planning ability and exhausting the whole army due to the incompetence of one general.

The game hasn't even started yet, but the head coach has already taken the blame. How could Du En not go all out and give it a try?

The other members of the Bulls Youth Army, inspired by Du En, are now also in high morale.

When the game officially started, Tyson Chandler helped the Bulls win the ball.

Dunn got the ball in the backcourt, but chose to hand it to Ben Gordon first, and signaled that Ben Gordon could attack on his own to find the feeling of the playoffs.

The Pacers' starting point guard tonight is Anthony Johnson, a second-round pick in 97. Although he is taller than Ben Gordon, his athletic ability is far inferior to that of Ben Gordon.

Although Ben Gordon is good at shooting, it doesn't mean he can't break through.

As long as Ben Gordon can open up the situation first, the game situation will definitely be in favor of the Bulls.

Ben Gordon felt less nervous now that he had Duane's support.

First, he tested Anthony Johnson for a few seconds outside the three-point line. Maybe it was because it was his first time playing in the playoffs, so he hesitated a little.

However, Ben Gordon did not give up this offensive opportunity, but took the initiative to ask Duan for a cross cover.

Artest is suspended. The only person the Pacers can use to defend Duan tonight is Warriors Jackson.

As for Wu Sheng Jackson, in order to limit Duan's scoring, it is impossible to switch defenses with Anthony Johnson.

If Ben Gordon uses a cross screen to pass the ball hand-to-hand to Duane.

When Duane hits Anthony Johnson, it will be a huge mismatch advantage!The Pacers' defense failed.

Because of this, no one was available to defend Anthony Johnson, so Ben Gordon took advantage of Duan's cover and instantly got rid of Anthony Johnson's entanglement, and then broke into the three-point line.

Watching Duen run to the top of the arc and catch and shoot a three-pointer.

At the same time, Ben Gordon suddenly stopped and took off from the mid-range. O'Neal Jr. under the basket could only come out of the penalty area and step forward to cover the defense.

However, Ben Gordon played extremely cautiously tonight.

If it were the regular season, Ben Gordon would have definitely taken action from the mid-range.

But just because it is the playoffs, every point is very important, and every shot needs to be considered twice.

Therefore, Ben Gordon chose to pass the ball to his teammates more safely.

When Josh Smith saw O'Neal save, he also tried to cut to the basket.

Unexpectedly, Ben Gordon pretended to be a true passer and deliberately fed him cake.

"It's so fragrant!"

Josh Smith was so excited that his first score in the playoffs would come so early.

I saw Ben Gordon throwing the ball into the sky, Josh Smith took off for an alley-oop, and with Dale Davis taking off to defend, he dunked the ball into the basket.

In fact, the two collided quite a bit in the air, but the whistle did not sound in this round.

But the score was real. The Bulls took the lead thanks to Josh Smith's dunk, leading the Pacers by two points.

Next it was the Pacers' turn to attack. The Pacers did not choose to play fast break, but played positional warfare and played steadily.

After Anthony Johnson dribbled the ball across half court, Reggie Miller immediately ran without the ball.

However, the Bulls' player guarding Reggie Miller tonight was not Duane.

In order for Duen to perform better on the offensive end, the Bulls chose to let Duen do less physical work on the defensive end.

Running a marathon without the ball all the time is also very tiring. Even someone as strong as Kobe Bryant would be vomited by Hamilton.

As the team leader, Duane naturally does not need to chase Reggie Miller, who averages ten points per game and is at the end of his career.

I saw Luol Deng take the initiative to pester Reggie Miller, and Du En switched defense to Wu Sheng Jackson.

Anthony Johnson did not choose to pass the ball to Warrior Jackson or O'Neal Jr., but asked Dale Davis to come out from the inside and provide him with a screen.

Tyson Chandler could only be forced to come out from the inside, causing a big delay for Anthony Johnson who broke through through the screen.

Ben Gordon did not choose to switch to Dale Davis, but continued to cooperate with his teammates to attack Anthony Johnson.

Although Anthony Johnson's athletic ability is average, his control and passing are okay. He made no mistakes and steadily passed the ball to Dale Davis with the help of a ground pass.

Normally, the Bulls only have Josh Smith under the basket, one versus two, and one of them is O'Neal, so there is no way to defend him.

However, Dale Davis is not fast on the downswing.

When Dale Davis took off like crazy and attacked the basket, Duan suddenly appeared under the basket.

"Why did Du En appear here?"

Dale Davis was quite shocked. At this time, Duen, who had already completed the jump, reached out with a big pot and slapped Dale Davis until he screamed.

Duan fanned the ball out of bounds in the air, and Dale Davis also lost a confrontation in the air. He failed to stand firm when he fell and fell directly to the floor.

Before his teammates could pull him up, Dale Davis got up from the floor, and then he held out his hands toward the bottom line interview in grievance: "Farke, Duan committed a foul, why didn't you call him?"

The ground referee saw clearly that although Duan had physical contact with Dale Davis, he touched the ball first and then the person. This was a good block.

"Duane hit me with his leg!" Dale Davis continued to argue.

The referee wanted to ask "Are you a pussy?", but he just picked up the whistle and put it in his mouth as a means of threatening Dale Davis.

Upon seeing this, Dale Davis could only twist the ball to one side and stop entangled.

The referee on the sidelines had already picked up the ball and was about to hand it to Reggie Miller.

In this round, there are 7 seconds left in the Pacers' attack time.

Reggie Miller came to serve because he wanted to use a serving strategy.

However, the Bulls adopted a man-to-man defense strategy, and O'Neal Jr. on the inside was bypassed by Josh Smith and assisted by Tyson Chandler.

At the same time, Wu Sheng Jackson pulled to the bottom corner in an attempt to take away Duan, but in this way, the Pacers also lacked the ability to catch the ball and make strong shots.

Because of the five-second serve violation, Reggie Miller could only let Dale Davis come out from the inside to catch the ball.

Then he reaches out for the ball, catches the ball at the top of the arc and jumps for a three-pointer.

Perhaps because he didn't have much confidence in this shot, Reggie Miller ignored the ethics of the game and used a Miller kick on the rushing Luol Deng. He took the initiative to touch Luol Deng with his leg in an attempt to draw three fouls. .However, tonight is a playoff game, and this is the home court of the Chicago Bulls. It is obviously not that easy for Reggie Miller to commit a foul.

The referee did not blow the whistle, and Reggie Miller's three-pointer was a little short and he made a three-pointer.

Josh Smith blocked O'Neal's position under the basket. Duan predicted where the rebound would land, rushed forward to grab the rebound, protected the defensive rebound, and then started a transition attack.

The Pacers' defense speed is extremely fast, but Duan's sprint speed with the ball is not slow either.

In just four seconds, Du En rushed from the back basket to the front basket, not to mention that he had already accelerated, so the impact should not be too strong!
O'Neal Jr. and Wu Sheng Jackson, who returned to the basket, could only stretch out their hands to pull Du En to prevent Du En from attacking the basket.

But Duan still raised his big elbow to hit O'Neal, then took off and put the basket to try his luck.

boom--

beep—

The ball didn't go in, but the whistle sounded, and O'Neal was knocked down by Duan.

O'Neal Jr. clutched his chest with an embarrassed and painful expression on his face, while Duan stood on the free throw line with a relaxed expression.

brush - brush -

Two free throws were made and the Bulls led by 4 points.

But soon, the Pacers also opened.

The Pacers were unwilling to fall behind all the time, so they had no choice but to pass the ball to O'Neal to open up the situation.

Josh Smith's body is indeed good and can give O'Neal some confrontation and affect O'Neal's performance, but today's defensive experience really cannot interfere with O'Neal.

After the Pacers scored, the Bulls immediately served from the baseline for a fast break.

The Pacers guessed that the Bulls would play like this, so when Tyson Chandler served, they double-teamed Duane without the ball.

Dunn did not receive the ball, and Ben Gordon advanced with the ball. Because he was leading in scoring, Ben Gordon was not so cautious and directly shot a chasing three-pointer.

The three-point ball hit the front of the basket, but it didn't pop out directly. Instead, it jumped up again, flew in the air, and then fell to the basket when it fell.

After all, Tyson Chandler was the second overall pick. He relied on his talent to get out of the basket and grab precious offensive rebounds.

Then he hugged the ball with his elbow, turned left and right half a circle, and gained a certain amount of offensive space, and then took off and dunked.

However, Dale Davis chose to foul to disrupt Tyson Chandler's second offense.

In the end, Tyson Chandler could only step to the free throw line and hit a two-and-one free throw.

Although he missed the shot, Tyson Chandler was in a very good mood.

"Boss, the playoffs don't seem to be particularly difficult."

After having scoring data, Tyson Chandler's confidence is different.

"Stay focused, the game is on!"

Du En didn't know how the Pacers would move, so he was still cautious at this time.

Du En carefully observed every move of the walkers, hoping to gain insight into the walkers' countermeasures in advance.

After all, playing this way, the Bulls have always had an advantage.

Regarding the current situation of being behind in the score, the Pacers did not show any urgency and continued to adopt the tactics of handing the ball to O'Neal in an orderly manner.

O'Neal Jr. did have an advantage in playing Josh Smith. He hit every hit accurately and helped the Pacers recover 2 points.

Seeing this situation, Du En continued to signal his teammates to play fast break.

Duan is not afraid that O'Neal will perform well, but he is afraid that O'Neal will not exert much effort in the first three quarters and save his energy for critical moments.

The current situation is what Du En is happy to see.

However, Duan's plan to consume O'Neal Jr. has just been launched, and the Bulls also encountered a situation where Duan had to step up to score.

Ben Gordon used the transition attack to break into the three-point line, but because there were too many people under the basket, he was unable to go further to the basket.

His past playing habits also made Ben Gordon prefer to finish with shooting.

This time, Ben Gordon used the transition attack and found that it was difficult to hit the basket, so he chose to chase after the mid-range shot.

Mid-range shots are inherently the most efficient, and transition offenses usually either hit the basket or shoot three-pointers.

When chasing in the mid-range, if the shot is OK but not, then there is a big problem!
In fact, the vast majority of Bulls fans are relatively tolerant, after all, they chose "Jordan".

However, it is inevitable that there will still be some fans at the scene who have relatively high demands on Ben Gordon.

My impression from watching the game tonight is that Ben Gordon played too relaxedly and shot too wildly!You know, this is the playoffs!
In order to express their dissatisfaction, some fans subconsciously criticized Ben Gordon and even cursed a few times.

Hearing the reaction of the home fans, Ben Gordon, who had never found the feeling of playing in the playoffs, became even more confused.

Next, before Duan asked Ben Gordon for the ball, Ben Gordon did what Duan said before the game. He felt that he was not sure, so he passed the ball to Duan.

Sensing that Ben Gordon was being influenced by the fans, he felt remorseful and transformed into a dribbling defender.

When this happens, Duen can only step forward and take over the game.

As a result, Duen's common high-position cover tactics appeared frequently on the court.

Considering the physical situation, Duen did not choose to play a small guard in a misplaced position. Instead, he rushed inside to mobilize the enthusiasm of his teammates on the wings and inside.

The Pacers really couldn't guard against Duen's pick-and-roll or Duen's pass.

This can only rely on O'Neal's personal strength to continue to hold the score with Du En.

After more than 6 minutes of the first quarter, the Pacers replaced Jeff Foster to share O'Neal's offensive firepower.

Doon continued to connect the team, but Carlisle clearly found a way to deal with it.

That's sending Tyson Chandler to the free throw line!
Tonight is also Tyson Chandler's first playoff game.

Originally, before Duan joined the Bulls, Tyson Chandler had mental problems.

The mentality was finally adjusted with the help of Du En. Now they are facing the playoffs, and they have only played more than half of the first quarter, and they have encountered the shark-cutting tactics. The pressure of this game is great.

Watch Tyson Chandler make one of two free throws, then miss two more free throws.

As the head coach of the Bulls, Scott Scales had to replace Tyson Chandler in advance and replace him with veteran Antonio Davis.

But in this way, Jeff Foster can use his height advantage to pull out and shoot in the mid-range!

Fortunately, Du En has rich experience in the game. Before the first quarter was over, Du En probably guessed what Carlisle was planning!
Basically, Carlisle didn't run away. He just bullied the Bulls' rookies who had no playoff experience. At the same time, he didn't have enough confidence in himself, so he started with the Bulls' rookies in the starting lineup.

Destroy the bull step by step from the psychological and spiritual level.

Ben Gordon may have happened by chance, but Tyson Chandler must have been prepared.

As the saying goes, defense wins championships.

The Bulls' overall defense is only at the middle level of the league. The Bulls' defense is relatively good, except for Duane and Tyson Chandler.

The defense of Luol Deng and Josh Smith is good, but it will not affect whether the Pacers can win for the time being.

All I can say is that I have a dirty mind when it comes to tactics.

Carlisle actually found another way to defeat the Bulls.

In this regard, Duen also had to change his strategy and took the initiative to hold the ball and go to the basket to find trouble for O'Neal Jr.

In the first quarter, O'Neal Jr. played for more than 9 minutes before committing a foul. This obviously did not help Duen's team to defeat the Pacers.

If Duan wants to win, he also needs to defeat the Pacers.

The offense consumes O'Neal and uses the number of fouls to limit O'Neal's playing time. This is Duan's strategy to win!

However, I don't know if Carlisle saw it. Duan just called out O'Neal and hit him. Before a foul was committed, O'Neal was replaced by Carlisle.

Although it's almost time for O'Neal's rotation, Carlisle's substitution is somewhat strange.

This also made Du En realize that tonight's game was not as the current score showed.

24 to 27, under the leadership of Du En, the Bulls still took a 3-point lead in the first quarter and kept the face of second place in the Eastern Conference.

But the problem is that the problems within the Bulls are also obvious, and there is no way for Ben Gordon and Tyson Chandler to get rid of their inner demons in a short time.

Josh Smith can't guard O'Neal again, and he may be psychologically affected by O'Neal next.

Luol Deng is also a bit immature and is likely to become the next victim of the Pacers' selection.

If this continues, once Duan is unable to score points and get rid of O'Neal, I'm afraid the next game will still be difficult to win...

(End of this chapter)