NBA: James wants to team up with me

Even though the Heat have played against the Bulls countless times, they have still not been able to solve the two problems mentioned before, and they remain the same until now.

But this time around in the playoffs, the Heat and James finally had other ideas.

Since you can't deal with the Bulls' offense no matter what, it's better to just ignore it and concentrate on having an offensive battle with the Bulls!
As soon as the game started, the Heat's offense was immediately full, focusing on James as the offensive arrow, constantly attacking the Bulls' defense.

The effect of this move is outstanding.

This season's Heat itself is a typical small-ball tactic. They press the whole court to force the opponent to make mistakes, and then use the opponent's mistakes to counterattack quickly. The offensive rhythm is quite fast.

Although the mobility of the Bulls' current lineup is not low, the pace of Gasol at the center position is obviously inferior to that of Bosh.

The Heat seized on this point and played the offensive rhythm very fast. For a while, Gasol could only run back and forth on the court. He was so exhausted that he was unable to use his tonnage and strength advantages to bully Gasol as before. Varied.

What's worse is that under the fast-paced offensive and defensive transition, the Heat also received mysterious off-court assistance. In less than 5 minutes of the game, Gasol received two fouls, and Wang Chong, who was responsible for assisting defense, also had one. foul.

Wang Chong, who knew James well, knew exactly why this was happening, so he didn't even bother to argue with the referee.

After all, James, even if it is 7 on 5, he may not be able to win, and he has been swept.

After Gasol received two fouls, he was not immediately taken off the court for protection. This was the judgment of head coach Thibodeau on the sidelines.

The Heat's offensive at this time is very fierce. It is difficult for Wang Chong alone to withstand the opponent's indiscriminate bombardment. After all, Gasol is also a top rim-protecting insider selected for the All-Defensive Team, even if he is standing in the penalty area. Even if they don't do it, it will put a lot of pressure on James and Wade.

Thibodeau had a good idea, but it backfired.

Defensive pressure? James just wants Gasol to stay on the court.

Standing with the ball at the top of the arc, facing Butler's defense, James didn't have any fancy dribbling moves. He simply bulldozed through for a layup, knocked Butler away, and headed straight for Gasol. .

Gasol, who had already been charged with two defensive fouls, looked at the oncoming James and did not dare to make any move at all. He could only watch as James jumped up from the dry land and scored with a signature tomahawk dunk. .

When the first quarter ended, the Heat's lead had been extended to more than double digits.

The fans at the Bulls' home court were a little overwhelmed at this time. They were already prepared for a hearty victory, but they didn't expect the Heat, who were manipulated by the Bulls at will during the regular season, to turn around.

The situation is already extremely unfavorable for the Bulls.

Wang Chong sat on the bench wiping his sweat, but he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Sure enough, the Heat in the 12-13 season are indeed strong. Although the weaknesses are very obvious, in terms of the strength of the championship team alone, excluding his chaotic Bulls team, it should be second only to the Lakers during the three consecutive championships. The combination and the future Durant will join the five-star Warriors during the two consecutive championships.

Even next year's Spurs will actually be slightly inferior to the Heat. The reason why the Spurs can defeat the Heat so easily in the 13-14 season has a lot to do with the Heat's decline in strength.

In fact, we really can't blame James. The Heat's strength has declined. The problem mainly lies with Wade. His condition has indeed declined very quickly. In the 12-13 season finals, he averaged 19.6 points per game, which is the score of the two teams. The second-highest player after James.

But in the 13-14 season finals, Wade only averaged 15.2 points per game, which was lower than the Spurs' Parker, Leonard and Duncan.

But can you blame Wade? It's not that he doesn't want to play well, but he has already been scarred after making great contributions to the Heat. The accumulation of injuries and the growth of age have greatly reduced the explosive power and speed that he relies on for survival. Coupled with the arrival of James, it has also made Wade had to change his style of play and give the ball to James.

Wade didn't perform well, at least the Heat and James, who took possession of his ball, couldn't complain.

Moreover, even if Wade plays poorly, he is still the second-highest scoring player in the Heat. If even he can be considered a terrible player, then Bosh, who averaged 14+5 per game during the Finals, counts. What, what about the other players who didn't score in double figures?
There is another problem, that is, during the regular season, he averaged 12.8 points and 6 rebounds per game, and in the playoffs, he averaged 14 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Only in the finals, he averaged 17.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, and his three-point shooting rate reached an outrageous 57.9%. Who guarded Leonard?
Later, there was a saying that Leonard's FMVP in the 13-14 season was a mix-up, and his performance at the time was not worthy of winning the FMVP.

If you only look at the data, Leonard's 17.8 points and 6.4 rebounds are the only FMVP since the NBA has its own FMVP award in the finals that averages less than 20 points per game in the finals. It does look a bit disappointing, at least in one year. Before Iguodala won the FMVP with 16 points, he was the FMVP with the best performance.

But the problem is that this kind of thing requires comparison.

When the Spurs won the championship in the 13-14 season, the team's scoring leader during the Finals was Tony Parker with 18 points and 4.6 assists. His scoring was only 0.2 points higher than Leonard, but in terms of field goal percentage, Parker only had 47.9%. Leonard's shooting rate is as high as 61.2%. Coupled with his 57.9% three-point shooting percentage and his contribution to containing James on the court, he deserves to win the FMVP.

This is really different from Iguodala. Although the latter also played very well during the finals and can be called a career masterpiece, the problem is that Curry, the team's leading scoring point, had 26 points, 5 rebounds and 6 rebounds during the finals. In terms of assists, it is true that Curry was overwhelmed by the Cavaliers' unknown player Dellavedova's candy-like defense in the finals, but is this kind of data performance considered bad?

He scored nearly 10 points more than Iguoda, and the total number of assists and rebounds was slightly higher.

The reason given by the media reporters who voted was that Iguodala's performance saved the Warriors. This reason is even more ridiculous. Does it mean that Curry's performance is not important? Without his 26 points per game, can the Warriors win with Iguodala alone?

The topic has gone a bit far, so let’s get back to the topic.

Facing the Heat's onslaught, Thibodeau was at a loss for a while and didn't know how to deal with it.

But Wang Chong was always calm, because when the Heat played like this, he had already thought of how to play, but he just stayed put in the first quarter to see what was going on.

Now we probably have a pretty good understanding of the situation, and it's time to take action. "Coach...the next step is to adjust the lineup."
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After a short break, the second quarter began.

But as soon as the players from both sides came on the stage, the Heat were a little stunned, because the Bulls' lineup made adjustments and replaced Gasol, but what he replaced was someone that no one expected - —Draymond Green.
One thing to say is that Green is basically a transparent person with the Bulls this season and has no sense of presence at all. Although a closer look shows that his playing time is not very low. During the regular season, he averaged more than 20 minutes per game. As a player, For a low-draft player, it's really not bad.

But he really has no sense of presence on the court, and there's nothing that can be done about it. The Bulls don't have the future Warriors' tactical style of allowing sexy Green to deal cards from the top of the arc. Green, who basically has no offensive scoring ability, is positioned on the court as a Blue collar players.

But the problem is that Green, who is only 2 meters tall and weighs just over 01 kilograms, has a relatively poor confrontation ability when he first entered the league, and his playing skills are not as dirty as he will be in the future. It is indeed difficult to survive in the league.

The mediocre performance during the regular season has made head coach Tom Thibodeau lose expectations for Green. He only thought that Wang Chong was mistaken this time. After all, you can't always count on Wang Chong to pick potential among low-ranking rookies. Not a bad player, right?

But Wang Chong insisted on giving Green playing time. Even if he couldn't touch the ball at all on the court and could only keep running back and forth, it didn't matter. Anyway, Green came on the bench most of the time and it would not affect the overall situation.

Thibodeau no longer has expectations for Green, but Wang Chong knows what Green's advantages are, and he has been paying attention to Green.

After being selected by the Bulls in June last year, Green began to receive NBA-level training. The long 6 regular season games and fixed playing time allowed Green to quickly absorb experience and grow up.

By the playoffs, after the first two rounds of games, Green was no longer technically a rookie when he first entered the league, and his body was getting stronger visibly to the naked eye.

In the Bulls' daily training, Wang Chong often asks Green to defend him, just like Butler before, so he also knows what Green's current level is.

First of all, it is definitely not comparable to Draymond Green, who will win the DPOY of the Best Defensive Player of the Year in the future, but his static talent is pretty good and his defensive tenacity is not inferior to Butler's. In addition, he is gradually starting to become ruthless. Combining several defensive methods, Green's current defensive level is basically on par with Butler, and he is in the first echelon of defense in the league.

It is a little difficult to be selected for the best defensive team at this level, but on the defensive end, it is definitely not something that can be easily used as a breakthrough.

Wang Chong let Draymond Green play at this time, of course not to expect him to turn the tide, but just because Green could take over his job at the power forward position, allowing him to move to the center position. This is the Bulls version. The five small lineups of death are absolutely as mobile as the current Heat team.

In fact, this five-death small lineup has appeared in the regular season, but Green's level at that time could not be compared with now, so the effect could only be considered average, so Wang Chong only tasted it.

But it's different now. As long as Green can not hold back on the court and play a role close to Jimmy Butler, it will be enough for the Bulls and Wang Chong.

The second quarter begins.

The Heat immediately discovered that after Wang Chong switched to center, the Bulls' mobility instantly improved to a higher level. Bosh, who originally had the mobility advantage in the paint, became a slower team that couldn't keep up.

What's even more depressing is that Wang Chong's confrontation in the penalty area is actually slightly stronger than Bosh. Although Bosh won't suffer as much as when he faced Gasol, he can't take any advantage at all.

Wang Chong also began to frequently cooperate with Curry in pick-and-rolls, taking advantage of his speed to unleash full firepower.

Anyone who has watched the Warriors' strongest seasons, especially the 15 wins in the 16-73 regular season, should have some idea of ​​the terrifying offensive capabilities of the Death Five.

That Warriors team, which was mainly composed of the splash brothers of peak Curry and Thompson, blasted the entire league with three-pointers.

As for the current Bulls, Curry has gradually improved with the success of the surgery, and Wang Chong is a super-enhanced version of peak Durant. The combination of the two is the best even in NBA history, let alone in today's league. The duo can definitely rival or even surpass the combination of Jordan Pippen and OK.

The Bulls' instant increase in offensive firepower caught the Heat off guard, and the score advantage they had worked so hard to establish in the first quarter was gone in just a few minutes.

Under the crisis, the Heat naturally want to take action on Draymond Green, who seems to be the most bully in the Bulls' current lineup.

Bosh and Battier used a pick-and-roll to avoid Wang Chong and faced Draymond Green.

Looking at Green with a solemn expression and his eyes fixed on him, Bosh snorted in his heart.

"If you can't beat Wang Chong, Gasol can't beat you?"

Out of contempt for this rookie, Bosh didn't even use any superb skills and directly chose to shoot a pull-up jumper after facing the basket in the mid-range.

But when he took off and raised his hand to shoot, his pupils shrank slightly. Green's reaction speed was a bit beyond his expectation. He pounced on him almost as soon as he made the move, and he was so fierce that it looked like he didn't know what he was doing. Not charging at the basketball, but heading straight for him!

With a height difference of nearly 10cm, it is difficult for Green to block Bosh's shot, so his defensive judgment is to go straight to Bosh. The purpose is to put psychological pressure on Bosh in this way and make his shooting movements deformed. .

Green's momentum really made Bosh a little panicked. He subconsciously speeded up his shot and deliberately avoided it after taking the shot to avoid being slapped in the face by Green.

But as expected, Bosh's shot missed the basket and the rebound was picked off by Wang Chong.

As soon as he got the rebound, Wang Chong ran towards the Heat's frontcourt. In his conscious space, the fast break terminator with the finishing badge was already activated, providing Wang Chong with a speed bonus.

At the same time, all members of the Bulls accelerated to keep up, and the mobility of the small lineup was fully demonstrated at this moment. Even the Heat, who are well versed in this, had to fight back to defend in this situation. (End of chapter)