When pride still matters

Chapter 508: LeBron, Be Like Frye

Chapter 508: LeBron, Be Like Frye

James came on with great momentum, but the Sonics' defense was extremely well-planned.

This is thanks to Tim Gurrich, a veteran assistant coach who has followed George Karl for many years.

Although James has made great progress in shooting compared to the past, his favorite thing to do is still breaking through.

Because even if his pure shooting percentage reaches over 40%, which is the top in the league, it is still not as good as his finishing ability in the restricted area, which is comparable to that of the inside players.

Therefore, Gugulic's defensive suggestion for limiting James is to ensure that there is a tall man guarding the basket at all times, so that the restricted area cannot be completely emptied by the Lakers' shooters.

This is not a difficult task for the Supersonics.

Brown and Bosh, who started the game, both have the ability to protect the rim. There is also Jordan Jr. sitting on the sidelines. In addition, Yu Fei and Durant are also forwards with the ability to protect the rim. It can be said that the Sonics' ability to defend in the restricted area is as full as the Lakers' space.

However, in order to keep someone protecting the basket at all times, one of the Lakers' space points must be given up.

The Supersonics chose to let go of Marc Gasol at the five position.

Although the Spaniard's shooting threat is not as great as the others, he at least has a 36% three-point shooting rate from the top of the arc. It is not safe to just let him go.

However, this is the peak showdown.

In order to limit the opponent's arrows, additional resources must always be used.

Gasol had an open space right in front of him, but James opened his hands and asked someone to move away. This was not a triangle offense.

The ball's movement came to a standstill.

Neither the strong triangle on the strong side nor the weak triangle on the weak side got the ball. Facing Dui Fei, James directly started to challenge him one-on-one.

James dribbled to the left like a tiger. His speed and instantaneous explosive power were beyond human control. Yu Fei was a step slower, and when he caught up, the opponent had already stopped abruptly.

Fortunately, James is not as good at utilizing his physical talents in technical connection as he is in breakthroughs.

In Fei's opinion, his pull-up jump shot has a frame-stuck phenomenon. That kind of unspeakable sense of disharmony rarely appears in super giants of this level. However, his breakthrough style is too rigid, and he did not hone more basic skills in college. He became the boss of the team as soon as he entered the league. Such a smooth life has laid hidden dangers for many of James' techniques.

This hitch basically destroyed the advantage that Yu Fei had just established.

When James shot, Yu Fei's block was already in front of him.

"boom!"

James was forced to raise the arc and then missed the shot.

Bosh grabbed the defensive rebound and passed it to Yu Fei.

James retreated quickly, but Yu Fei had no intention of counterattacking with the ball. Instead, he threw the ball to the front court like a shot put.

In front, Anthony Morrow quickly ran down the court and caught the ball and made a layup like a little devil.

"Oh my god, that pass from Frye!"

The commentators kept exclaiming in amazement, but Yu Fei just high-fived Morrow who ran back, and then it was time for the next round.

James' weakness is his inner sensitivity, which often makes him waver. However, his strength is his absolute rationality.

Once frustrated, he will instinctively calculate the gains and losses.

He had already lost a game with Yu Fei. If he continued like that, he would not gain any benefits and would be labeled as a ball bully by some people with ulterior motives. The Lakers could not panic and he had to keep calm.

James, who looked like he was going to face Yu Fei head-on in the last round, regained his rationality.

Why can the Supersonics always put a tall player under the basket? That's because they ignore Xiaojia's three-pointers.

Then give the ball to Xiaojia, since he is open anyway.

The Lakers used the Spaniard as a breakthrough point. Gasol showed both his unstable side and the qualities that a space-type center should have.

Xiaojia missed his first two shots, but made the third one.

This looks like a sign that Xiaojia is starting to find his touch.

Bosh and others looked at Tyronn Lue, wanting to know whether to change the formation.

But in Coach Lu's eyes, there is only one inside player in the league who cannot be allowed to shoot, and that is the one and only Nowitzki.

The others can’t kill anyone.

Therefore, Lu was determined to let Gasol shoot and further restrict Kobe Bryant's defense.

For James, you can shoot whenever you want, but to break through and show off your power as an emperor? That's wishful thinking.

Lu also has a way to deal with Kobe.

Maybe Lu knows Kobe too well.

Kobe, like Jordan, is also the low-post core of the triangle offense as the No. 2 position. Compared with Jordan, Kobe's post-up position is far less strong than Jordan. Jordan can always get a position in the three-second zone like an inside player, while Kobe often has to get a position outside the three-second zone. From an offensive perspective, this is an extension of the attack distance, and the farther away from the basket has a significant impact on the offensive efficiency.

However, the Sonics' starting No. 2 player, Morrow, was just a chicken who could be bullied by Kobe. Therefore, Lu did not expect Morrow to squeeze Kobe out of the three-second zone. His main task was to put pressure on him, and the key was to double-team him.

This task fell on Yu Fei and Durant.

Both of them are tall wings with good size, wingspan and speed. They can double-team Kobe and block passing routes with their long arms.

Their task is to double-team Kobe as soon as he gets into position and receives the ball.

To achieve this goal, both James and Hamilton can be let go.

In this case, since Kobe does not have the vision of a point guard, does not have the so-called overall view, and his height is also limited, he will be more inclined to pass the ball to the inside at close range, rather than transferring the ball to the outside to break the game like Yu Fei and James.

However, the Lakers' personnel allocation is destined to pull their inside line outward, so it is not easy to find teammates in close range.

At this time, Kobe will try to pass the ball over a long distance.

As a standard No. 2 player, it is difficult for him to judge whether the passing route is risky under the influence of Yu and Du.

There are multiple layers of game involved here. Coach Lu didn’t think too much about it when he arranged it, but the players are creative.

After attacking for a while, the Lakers found that if they didn't force the big men under the basket out, they would have to let Kobe and James play one-on-one. If they didn't play one-on-one, the way to break the deadlock was to let Gasol continue to hit the damn three-pointers.

This is something the Lakers don't want to try, because Gasol is a player with a respectable shooting percentage but a low three-point production.

Is his low production because he doesn't want to shoot? That's because he can only guarantee his hit rate at this production.

This is the statistical deception.

Without looking at output, everything is meaningless.

However, once the output increases, the defensive pressure, targeting, and personal workload on the shooter will increase, and it will be impossible to maintain the same efficiency.

This is the key to the success of the one-star-four-shooter model. The same sharpshooter may lose his divinity in a different environment or under a different pressure. Once the shooter cannot create space to feed back the big core, the resulting space blockage will backfire on the big core itself.

Phil Jackson saw the deeper meaning behind the Sonics' superficial tactical targeting. Although he didn't know how Lu designed this, he had to admit it was very insidious.

So Jackson requested a timeout before the situation worsened.

Supersonic

Coach Lu had no idea that his casual arrangement won high praise from Jackson.

"Just play like this, their offense is out of touch!" As long as the current tactics work, Lu will not make any changes. "Frye, work together with KD, Kobe and LeBron can't do anything to you!"

Yu Fei responded softly.

Durant looked like he was in a good mood. In the first few minutes, he didn't have much ball possession, but he was not in a hurry at all.

Yu Fei thought, if Adu sleepwalked tonight and caused them to lose the game due to lack of firepower, should they blame Scarlett?

At this moment, the Lakers made an unexpected change in their lineup.

They replaced Gasol with Big Z, and then replaced Jamison with Artest.

In this way, the nominal five outside players have disappeared, and Big Z's shooting range is at most around the free throw line.

Yu Fei guessed that they would focus on the middle distance.

Coach Lu was a beat slow to react as he was still trying to figure out Jackson's intention.

Each arrangement targets a different system. Once the opponent changes, you must also keep up with the changes.

Coach Lu is still in the rookie camp. He has made it through the regular season with some bumps in the road. However, thanks to the team's strong overall strength, he has not been under any pressure in the playoffs so far.

Popovich's failure to order food gave him the illusion that "I have the talent to become a Hall of Fame coach", but this illusion was soon broken by Jackson, who was not good at making quick adjustments. When Gasol was on the court, the Lakers' triangle offense was orthodox, and fans of the Bulls and OK Lakers who had seen Jordan could find shadows of the past in it, but once Gasol left the court, they would no longer play the orthodox triangle offense.

The kind of offensive basketball in which the center of the inside is the axis, strong men open up the low post, the offense is spread out in a triangle, there are endless changes, and everyone has equal opportunities has disappeared.

This was the compromise Phil Jackson made to James.

Without Gasol, James becomes the axis. He can't dominate the high post like the inside, nor can he work in the low post like Kobe. Nothing will change about him. His playing style is just like this, or in other words, his style as a ball-holding core will never change.

Everything revolves around me.

Therefore, the Lakers' triangle offense turned into an inverted triangle under James' control.

James, as a strategic salient, does not pose much threat on the perimeter, but the presence of Kobe and others is enough to turn the situation around within the three-point line.

Big Z set a pick and roll, Kobe cut out, caught the ball and shot a jump shot.

The Lakers returned to the traditional style of play from an ultimate small ball style of extreme three-pointers + speed, focusing on mid-range shots, and freeing up space at the free throw line to make the previous defensive arrangements of the Supersonics meaningless.

Before Coach Lu could react, the Lakers' other hand appeared.

Artest faced Yu Fei, but as long as Yu Fei dribbled the ball across half court or received the ball in the frontcourt, one of James and Kobe would come forward to double-team him.

Yu Fei is the only ruler of Supersonic and the only reason why the current system of Supersonic can continue to operate. Once he is sealed off without regard to the consequences, the rest of the people will be in vain.

So far in his career, Yu Fei has never suffered from being a coach.

Although his first year with the Wizards was very unpleasant, Doug Collins is a genius at adapting to changes. Although his off-court work was a piece of shit, his on-the-spot command was the best coach Yu Fei had ever seen.

There is no need to mention Carl. Yu Fei, as the core player with the ball, is half a coach. Carl has done everything he should do, and there will be no mistakes in the rest.

Therefore, when Yu Fei was targeted by the Lakers, he would want to try it himself first, and if it didn't work, he would wait for the coaching staff to take a timeout and then make adjustments.

However, all rookie coaches who are not professionally trained will make a mistake, which is overestimating their own abilities.

They believe that coaching is a battle of wits between coaches. If the other side gives a problem and he can't solve it, will calling a timeout be useful? However, calling a timeout to interrupt the opponent's rhythm is an important part of the game. Countless rookie coaches ignore the basket, and Coach Lu, who has zero coaching foundation, is even more so.

Eight minutes into the game, the Supersonics fell into a scoring drought. Although the Lakers, who focused on mid-range shots, were not very efficient, they were at least still able to score. The Supersonics, on the other hand, lost their composure when Yu Fei was under heavy double-teaming.

At this point, they were already 7 points behind.

Yu Fei finally couldn't help but shouted to Lu: "Stop the game!"

Coach Lu reacted and quickly ran over to call a timeout.

19 is better than 12
After eight and a half minutes of fierce battle, the Supersonics trailed the Lakers by 7 points.

Coach Lu held the tactical board and looked at the assistant coach, but they just stared at each other.

Their problem was simple. The Lakers double-teamed Yu Fei madly, but they couldn't catch the open space when the ball was passed because while they were double-teaming Yu Fei, other players would also rotate. In the end, the person who was left open was Kwame Brown, who had no offensive threat outside the three-second zone.

"Let Jermaine replace Kwame."

Adrian Dantley was about to make a suggestion, but Yu Fei said, "No, I'll play the four position and let Sean (Livingston) come up."

Brown still had to leave the court, but Yu Fei moved to the power forward position to face Artest, and then let Livingston take over the responsibilities of the power forward position.

Yu Fei has always been the absolute core. Now Yu Fei is asked to play the fourth position and Livingston is allowed to control the ball. Lu is a little uneasy.

"Is it possible?"

He asked both Yu Fei and other teaching assistants.

"It's doable," Yu Fei said. "As long as I get the ball in the low post, their double-team won't work."

Lu would soon understand what this meant.

"The Sonics take out Kwame Brown and bring in Shaun Livingston. Wait, Frye plays the four?"

ESPN's Mike Breen looked at Jeff Van Gundy and asked, "Jeff, what is the Sonics' intention in doing this?"

"The Lakers had a lot of early double teams tonight, which not only reduced Frye's effective ball possession time, but also used their rotation defense speed to allow the Sonics players who lack offensive threats to get open space. However, if Frye gets the ball at the four position," Van Gundy said mysteriously, "early double teams may not be effective."

Bosh pulled out and gave the inside to Yu Fei.

Yu Fei was aggressive in getting the position, and even a ruthless man like Artest could not stop Yu Fei from getting the position.

In the three-second zone, Yu Fei caught the ball.

Before the Lakers' double-team players arrived, Yu Fei had already turned around, jumped up and shot.

This is the result of being in a deep enough position. When your body has the advantage, there is no need for any extra movements, just attack directly.

"Shh!"

"How are you defending?" Yu Fei asked Artest with a smile, "Have you been infected by LeBron?"

Artest said angrily: "Just wait and see!"

An angry Artest tried to counterattack, but was blocked by Yu Fei.

Afterwards, the Lakers tried to double-team Yu Fei in the low post as they did before, but the difficulty of double-teaming in the low post is that they cannot get in position in advance. They have to wait until Yu Fei receives the ball, and before that, they have to follow the opponent closely, which means that Yu Fei has to quickly break away from the opponent to double-team after receiving the ball.

However, once Yu Fei received the ball, even if double-teaming came from all sides, there was only one Big Z on the Lakers field who was taller than him, and no one could block his vision.

Yu Fei found Durant in the crowd.

Durant, who had been watching the situation for a long time, broke out at this moment and dunked, relieving the defensive pressure on Yu Fei.

From here on, the game began to get out of the Lakers' control.

They are eager to defeat the SuperSonics.

They have to prove that their players are better than the SuperSonics, and the coaching staff even more so.

Coach Lu is indeed not as good as Jackson, but he is like Yu Fei's hands and feet, and can be driven at will. From this point of view, the players and coaching staff of the Supersonics are of one mind, while the Lakers still have various calculations when facing a powerful enemy.

James remained rational, Kobe was still unwilling to let go, Jackson gave various instructions, and the advantage for most of the quarter was destroyed by the Sonics' seemingly ordinary arrangement of letting Yu Fei play at the power forward position.

Yu Fei, playing at the fourth position, is still the core player with the ball.

After Durant joined the game, his offense had an immediate impact on the game.

After one quarter, the Supersonics tied the score, and entering the second quarter, the Lakers replaced Kobe with a rest, allowing James and four shooters including Gasol to continue playing.

The Supersonics replaced Yu Fei with a rest, and Durant and Bosh led the second team.

Without Yu Fei, the Sonics' second team has no stable system to speak of. They rely on stars to lead the team, while the Lakers can play a genuine one-star-four-shooting game.

The sense of urgency in the first quarter disappeared, and was replaced by temptation.

Both sides want to test the strength of each other's second lineup in the Western Conference Finals.

The results of the test will determine the rotation order and number of players in subsequent games.

What gave the Lakers a headache was that the Supersonics identified Gasol and decided to let him go, while DeAndre Jordan, who partnered with Bosh, was much better at protecting the rim in the interior than Brown. When he stood under the basket and broke into the restricted area, it became a problem for James.

The game returns to the starting point, and James needs to let Gasol hit a three-pointer.

But this is another false proposition. McGee can make three-pointers, but he can't make a large number of three-pointers.

James' second team offense was unfavorable, and his star talent failed to play to his full potential. Instead, the Supersonics led by Durant and Bosh overtook the score.

Jackson called another timeout.

"LeBron, do you want a personal victory or a team victory?" Jackson's deep voice came over him. "If you want a team victory, give the ball to Mark and believe in your teammates. There is more than one way to be great. You can be like Frye!"

The biggest contradiction in James is that he wants to be in charge of the overall situation, but he doesn't want to be seen as a tyrannical monarch. He wants to be omnipotent, but he has a moral burden to be a ball hog. This contradictory psychology stems from his enlightenment coach when he was a caddie. The enlightenment coach taught him to actively pass the ball on the court because everyone likes people who can pass the ball.

The deepest psychological basis of this contradiction is that he does not want to be known as selfish.

Therefore, when Phil Jackson raised the banner of the team and asked him to compromise the current situation, give the ball to Gasol and let the Spaniard take control of the situation, he had already lost.

The Zen Master cannot solve the problem of Gasol's production on the outside, but he can solve the problem of James having too much ball possession.

It's very simple. Give the ball to Gasol and let him be the axis. And you, LeBron James, can't you go to the low post and blow up Bosh or Durant like Frye?
How pleasant does this sound?
At that moment, James seemed to realize the essence of Frye's hell.

No matter how many times he expressed that he didn't want to be Frye, no matter how he proved that he just wanted to be his unique self, no matter what he said, did, or how he justified and excused his behavior, he ultimately could not escape the barrier that Yu Fei had set for all his contemporaries.

LeBron, be like Frye.

PS: I wish all the senior high school students good luck in the college entrance examination.

(End of this chapter)