Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

Chapter 259: Targeting defense, naming James
On May 5, the Eastern Conference semifinals G5 between the Bulls and Cavaliers came as scheduled.

The Cavaliers sent out a starting lineup of James, Larry Hughes, Alexander Pavlovich, Drew Gooden, and Big Z. Larry Hughes, the shortest player on the team, is also 1 meters tall.

Fortunately, the Bulls' starting lineup is not short either. With the exception of Baron Davis, the Bulls do not suffer in terms of height and size.

Of course, based on the matchup situation, it is normal for James to cause trouble for Baron Davis with pick-and-rolls again and again after getting the ball. After all, James plays point guard and plays with Baron Davis. Si is just right.

However, the Bulls defense has sufficient resources to hide Baron Davis.

Before the game started, the Bulls coaching staff also studied how to defend James.

Even if Baron Davis does face off against James, he should take a step back to prevent breakthroughs and not shots.

When James reaches the elbow area, Duane, Josh Smith and others will naturally step forward to help defend and attack.

Therefore, during the regular season, James' unfailing breakthrough hit a snag at the beginning of the game.

James didn't get so many whistles in the playoffs. Without free throws, even if James took a few more steps, he couldn't get through the Bulls' wall and score at the basket.

James, who has no shooting ability and cannot play in low singles, is originally afraid of big centers, otherwise he would not have introduced the vertical take-off rule in the future, which promoted the arrival of the small ball era and turned Curry into a new version of the monster.

Today's Bulls not only have a big center with outstanding defensive ability in the interior, but the defensive quality of the front line is enough to give James a drink.

James previously played against the Heat and scored in double figures several times in a single quarter.

Playing the Bulls tonight, I took 6 shots in the first quarter, but only made 1 goal.

But, as a point guard, it doesn't matter if James can't score, as long as he can pass the ball to his teammates and let them score.

Today's Cavaliers may not have the strength to win the championship, but they are actually very suitable for James.

Except for Big Z, everyone else can help James open up space and make some catchers.

Although Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown is still a rookie coach, he still has two skills in training defense and building a defensive system.

During the regular season this season, the Cavaliers' defensive efficiency ranks fourth in the league, comparable to the Pistons and Spurs.

James' teammates can not only shoot, but also defend, which is obviously very good.

However, tonight's game is a playoff game, not a regular season game.

The playoffs are always a stage for superstars!
For most NBA stars, their statistics will shrink in the playoffs.

The stars are not good enough to lead the team further.

Tonight, the Cavaliers face a defending champion like the Bulls. Normally, James should step up and score.

But James chose to play team basketball and pass the ball to his teammates, but his teammates only scored 15 points in the first quarter.

If we continue playing like this, the result will be no surprise, it should be - how can we win the championship by playing with a group of CBA players?

However, when a certain point guard on the court becomes a combination of neither attacking, nor guarding, nor passing, but unable to compete, his fans may not be able to blame his teammates.

As a point guard, James' passing ability is actually very good.But the rest of the movement control and shooting is not flattering.

And James has been playing in the league for several years and is a hot new star in recent years.

It is also because he is so well-known that other teams are basically paying attention to and studying him, especially teams like the Bulls who are also in the Eastern Conference.In order to weaken James' influence in the regular season and playoffs, everyone will naturally study how to defend and limit James' scoring.

If you were to be another star, you would definitely have to further solidify your basic skills and develop more skills to fill in the gaps.

However, James did not show much patience in improving his basic skills. Moreover, in terms of offensive skills, his development was extremely limited.

When a point guard has limited dribbling ability, his dribbling will inevitably be interfered with by the opponent's pressing defense.

When he does not have the ability to shoot, his breakthrough and passing will also be greatly affected.

Even though his forward size has great mismatch advantages when playing small defenders, once he is flanked in an offensive area where he is not good at, the problem will inevitably be exposed.

After he was unable to score and even the passing lines were cut off.

Then if he stays on the court, he will only become a drag on other teammates.

The Bulls also relied on thoroughly studying James' offense and defense, adopted targeted defense, and gained the upper hand at the beginning of the game.

Even though the Cavaliers' overall defense is pretty good, the Bulls' overall offensive efficiency has declined.

However, when no one in the Bulls can score, Duan can definitely step up and help the team break the scoring drought.

In particular, Duen's physical talent and comprehensive offensive skills allow Duen to have the effect of misaligning anyone he hits, whether inside or outside.

After Duan noticed that there was something wrong with James' mentality, he also took the initiative to call James to play in the pick-and-roll.

To put it bluntly, most teams will choose to hide the team's point guard or the team's first scoring point on the defensive end.

Point guards are often used as defensive holes by opponents because of their height, and they need to maintain better touch from the first scoring point, so they need to avoid being affected by physical confrontation and physical decline as much as possible.

Therefore, it is normal for James, who is both a point guard and the team's leading scoring point, to be protected by other Cavaliers players.

But tonight, James couldn't score, but he was still under the protection of his teammates.

When Duen took the initiative to call his name, James was also standing near the free throw line, seemingly still assisting in the defensive position, as if he was afraid that Duen would take the ball and hit the basket.

After all, Duan is not James, and he still has to shoot when it's time to shoot.

Relying on the easy offensive environment and shooting space from the outside, Duan's three-pointer was launched early again.

Seeing this scene, Mike Brown on the sidelines had no choice but to replace Alexander Pavlovic in advance and replace him with backup point guard Daniel Gibson.

Gibson is a first-year rookie and lacks playoff experience, but in any case, he will not stand on defense when called and treat his opponents as if they are nothing.

Not to mention, Gibson still has a basket. During the regular season, his three-point shooting rate exceeded 40%. He did not make a single three-pointer, but accumulated three or four turnovers first.

In other words, thanks to Mike Brown's timely adjustment, the Cavaliers finally have a qualified point guard.

However, after the Cavaliers had the second ball-holding point, the first ball-holding point suddenly disappeared.

No one noticed what he did. In short, the score difference on the field continued to widen.

Until the Bulls' rotation players accounted for the majority on the court, and most of the main players were resting off the court, he finally appeared again.

(End of this chapter)