When pride still matters

Chapter 235 If you don’t change, you will die.
  Chapter [-]: If you don’t change, you will die.

A good defense will make the offensive team not know how to choose, and a top defensive team will force the offensive team to choose.

The Pistons are the kind of masters who force their opponents to do things they don't like to do.

This triggered Yu Fei's thinking.

He wanted to know how many options he had as a ball-handling core facing the fully defensive Pistons.

It turns out that he has many options, depending on his technical reserves. Although he is not good at attacking in the low post, he still relies on his body to beat Prince with his hands. When he comes to the front of the high post, his face-to-basket offense gives the Pistons a headache.

Once Yu Fei detects the Pistons' trap-based encirclement in advance, it will be a devastating blow to their existing defensive system.

This is becoming more and more apparent as the game goes on.

Yu Fei came to the high post and called for a pick-and-roll at position [-], and Big Ben followed. Mutombo went down and lobbed the ball.

Mutombo didn't score but caused a defensive foul on Rasheed Wallace and made one of two free throws.

In turn, the Pistons responded with a pull-up jumper from Richard Hamilton.

Yu Fei called for a pick-and-roll at position [-] again. This time, he did not pass the ball to Mutombo and quickly broke inside, causing a blocking foul on Ben.

There are less than 4 minutes left before the end of the first quarter, but the Pistons' foul number has arrived. From now on, every foul they commit will send the Bucks to the free throw line.

Yu Fei made two free throws.

It looked like the game was going to be just as rough as the Pistons wanted.

The Bucks' offense is rife with constipation and infarction, but their coaching staff is not feeling relieved.

Because this is not caused by their defense, this is the Bucks' own choice.

Yu Fei has a better choice. He can obviously play more smoothly, but he insists on breaking the Pistons' defensive system and making his offense extremely unsmooth.

A choppy offense doesn't mean it's bad.

The Pistons themselves are a representative of poor offensive performance. Now, the Bucks seem to have learned their style of play.

Two consecutive rounds were scored using free throws.

Then, the defensive end was set up again, and the Pistons faced the most familiar strangers. They always used this kind of defense to disgust their opponents, but they never thought that one day a boomerang would pierce themselves.

What Larry Brown is most proud of about the Iron Barrel Formation is that even if the Pistons were to play in person, they could not find a solution to the Iron Barrel Formation.

Until Yu Fei crushed them to pieces in the regular season, they thought the Iron Barrel Formation had no blind spots.

After being beaten by Yu Fei, Brown chose to introduce Rasheed Wallace to fill the gap inside, but even so, they were still restrained by Yu Fei.

Brown knows this is a basketball issue.

Yu Fei represents the future warrior in the field of basketball, that is, a combination of the styles of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. On the one hand, he has unsolvable personal offense, and on the other hand, he can also serve as the core of the ball to drive the team.

Brown knew how special Yu Fei was, so he did not expect the iron barrel array to work. Instead, he designed it in detail on some small details.

Unexpectedly, Yu Fei had already figured it out in just three games.

Yu Fei dribbled the ball to the frontcourt. Due to a communication error, the Pistons actually asked Billups to counter.

This isn't the worst news.

Because in theory the worst matchup is for Hamilton to fly.

Billups is naturally out of position against Yu Fei just because of his size, and his own defense is not bad.

When Yu Fei met Billups, he didn't even call it a pick-and-roll. He crossed his body in front and turned back, gradually squeezing his position into the three-point line. Suddenly, he collected the ball and pulled it up.

"Shh!"

This is the reason why the Pistons no longer let Billups fly against the opponent.

This guy really dares to hit and can hit if there is a mismatch.

17 is better than 13
  The Bucks lead by 4 points at home.

Larry Brown yelled at Prince.

This was Prince's mistake. He should not have allowed Billups to fly against him.

But this kind of mistake was insignificant to the game. While Brown was blaming the players, he was also thinking about what countermeasures they had.

The Pistons struggled to get their offense going through Rasheed Wallace.

Rasheed tried to turn over and shoot after relying on the play, but the Bucks double-teamed him early, forcing him to pass the ball.

Fortunately, Billups' hands were hot tonight, and his teammates passed the ball and he took the shot directly at the buzzer.

17 is better than 16
  Billups glanced at Yu Fei provocatively.

Yu Fei sighed in his heart, these people are really rocks in the mud, smelly and hard, and very difficult to beat.

Subsequently, Yu Fei closed a round, and the Bucks ball came to Ray Allen's hands.

Allen didn't have a good shooting touch tonight, but he still had a break through, feinting and then dribbling to the basket.

This shows how different Ray Allen and Yu Fei are as ball handlers.

There was also an encirclement at the trap. Yu Fei seemed to have the ability to predict and react instantly, but Ray Allen was a headless fly. He couldn't shoot or pass. He only hesitated for a second and was completely trapped.

Ray Allen has a three-second violation.

"Rey-ray, I'm right behind you."

What Yu Fei means is, why are you wandering around if you don't pass the ball? Ray Allen is in trouble. Does Da Fei think that everyone can find teammates as quickly as he does?

The Pistons then used Hamilton to attack with the ball in the high post, causing Mutombo to foul.

In this way, the Bucks' foul count has also arrived.

With only 2 minutes and 50 seconds left in the first quarter, Hamilton made two free throws, 17 to 18, and the Pistons took the lead.

The Pistons double-teamed in advance and forced a pass to the open Ray Allen.

Rasheed Wallace quickly rotated over.

Ray Allen then passed the ball to Sprewell in the bottom corner.

Sprewell missed a layup after a strong breakout.

The Pistons counterattacked, but Yu Fei caught up with the nail board.

The two sides continued to attack and defend, showing their own characteristics.

The Pistons are rigorous and orderly, and the Bucks are full of energy.

But a scoreless stalemate is about to form again. For the Bucks, they need to score more. If the Pistons are allowed to take the lead at home, it will make their opponents more confident in the next three quarters.

Yu Fei broke the situation in the shortest time.

After receiving the ball from the backcourt, he quickly dribbled to the scene and without wasting time, directly called Mutombo to come up for a pick-and-roll.

In the previous pick-and-roll attacks, Yu Fei broke through, passed, and shot. Under multiple threats, the Pistons no longer knew how to defend against his pick-and-roll attacks.

Mutombo went down step by step, Yu Fei stopped suddenly, threw the ball into the air, and assisted the African mountain for an alley-oop dunk.

19 is better than 18
  The team's confusion on the defensive end stung Larry Brown. He allowed the defense to be broken down, but did not allow players to not know how to defend.

But, how to prevent it?
  If you don't think clearly about this problem, no matter how much Brown curses his players, they can't find the right way to defend.

The first quarter is coming to an end, and the Pistons' passing passes are still ineffective.

Billups tried a three-pointer from the outside and missed.

Yu Fei was not in a hurry, and slowly dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, waiting for his teammates to pull away. Just when the Pistons thought he was going to call a pick-and-roll, he suddenly accelerated to the right, like a lion that suddenly burst out to kill its prey in the grassland, throwing away the ball in one breath. Kai Prince rushed to the basket and dunked hard through Big Ben's block.

"BOOM!!!!!"

"Listen to me, there is no solution to Frye's problem!" Doc Rivers shouted after the dunk. "There is no solution to Frye's problem! This young man is so outstanding!"

After that, the Pistons' position battle continued.

Sprewell counterattacked and scored.

23 is better than 18
  The Bucks suddenly led by 5 points, but the Pistons had some bad luck. The position battle was obviously ruined, but a few seconds before the end of the first quarter, Rasheed Wallace casually threw a long shot. Three points, but he hit the ball by mistake and hit the board.

At the end of the first quarter, 23 to 21.

This one goal won't change anything.

The most fundamental problem of the Pistons has not been solved - they have always been good at blocking the opponent's stars, and they can't do anything about the "Frye problem" tonight.

The iron barrel array cannot lock Yu Fei, the trap cannot trap Yu Fei, and the double-team cannot trap Yu Fei.

Larry Brown knew that they had reached the point where they had to change. Otherwise, if they continued to play at this pace, the momentum would be entirely in the hands of Fei.

For the Pistons, it's slow death.

Even though the Bucks' advantage seems small, Yu Fei's energy alone is too great.

They don't need to beat the Pistons by 10 or 20 points, they just need to stay ahead before the end of the game.

Even if it's 1 point, it's still a win.

Larry Brown can confirm that the Bucks are their biggest opponent in the league, and the so-called Lakers F4 is just a typical Western Conference bubble.

Once you get over the Milwaukee mountain, the championship is within your reach.

That was the only important thing missing from Brown's 32-year coaching career.

However, for a long time, he was always known as a "passer-by" rather than a "winner". He would not stay in a place for more than five years before taking office in Philadelphia, which significantly affected his reputation. Even if he made the playoffs in 21 of his 15 NBA seasons, even if his coaching winning rate in the NBA was close to 60%, and his coaching winning rate in college was close to 80% - these are the two equals he entered into the Hall of Fame in 2002. Good reason.

Now, with the championship experience in front of him, what stands in his way is a team led by a young man under 22 years old?
  Brown gave it his all as far as defending that young man.

But the other party solved the problem easily.

This brings the Pistons to a crossroads.

Going down along the inertia will lead to a dead end.

Brown's older brother, Hert Brown, said to his always opinionated brother: "Larry, I know this is hard for you, but maybe we should seriously consider a zone defense."

Before zone defense was legalized, the list of coaches who opposed it could list hundreds of people, and the most resolute and toughest among them was Larry Brown.

Although his iron barrel formation emerged due to the rule changes brought about by the legalization of zone defense, he still does not accept zone defense.

Now his brother gave him this advice, the only thing they hadn't tried yet.

The price was to make him eat his words and turn from an opponent of zone defense to an advocate.

"Beep!"

The referee blew the whistle to signal that the second quarter was about to begin.

(End of this chapter)