The Golden Age of Basketball

Ramsey looked at the statistical table in his hand, which was recorded by the team's statistician in the first half of the data of both sides, providing a reference for the coach's decision-making.

What Ramsey cares about is not shooting percentage, rebounds, assists and other data, but what he cares about most is turnovers.

In the "turnover" column, the Denver Nuggets had as many as 12 turnovers in the first half, nine of which came in the second quarter.

In comparison, the Blazers had only six turnovers, three in the first quarter and three in the second.

Under such a comparison of mistakes, the Nuggets are only 1 point behind the Blazers. The main reason is that the Nuggets' shooting rate is really very high. Their strongest scoring point, English, made 15 of 9 shots in the first half. Among them, he made 4 of 4 free throws and scored 22 points.

The Nuggets' field goal percentage was as high as 51%, which was 4 percentage points higher than that of the Blazers. Therefore, although the Nuggets made many mistakes, they were able to rely on high shooting to maintain the score gap.

However, the high number of turnovers highlights a problem of the Nuggets. You must know that the Nuggets are a team with high scores and many offensive rounds, but their average turnovers per game are lower than the league average. This shows that the Nuggets are a team. The cooperation is very tacit, and the offense is running quite well.

Tonight, facing the Trail Blazers, who are not very defensive, the rhythm of the game is also the rhythm of fast offensive and defensive transitions they are familiar with. There can only be one reason for so many mistakes-their physical strength has problems.

Before the game on the 30th, on the 28th, the Nuggets had just finished their fifth life-and-death match against the Spurs. They only rested for one day before starting the semifinal against the Trail Blazers. It is impossible not to have physical problems . [

If the Nuggets' shooting rate is still very strong, then their turnovers will be controlled to about 7, and their scoring will definitely soar to more than 70 points.

Ramsey seized the possible loophole of the Nuggets and launched a confrontation with the Nuggets in the first half. You must know that such continuous rapid offensive and defensive transitions require a high level of physical strength for the players, which is no better than a positional battle. It's easier to slow down and fight against.

At the same time, Ramsey asked Gan Guoyang to play only at the beginning and end of each quarter, because the beginning is often the acceleration period, and the end is the closing period, and the rhythm will be slower. Gan Guoyang can play more roles on the court, while the middle period is generally When both sides are running away, it is a bit wasteful to let Gan Guoyang run back and forth on both sides.

However, the third quarter was different. Ramsey decided to beat the Nuggets in the third quarter.

"The intermission is over, the two players are back on the court, the score in the first half is 67:66, a high-scoring game, let's see how the performance of both sides in the second half, Nuggets Serve first."

The point guard of the Nuggets is an old player of the Trail Blazers, a long-term underestimated player-Fate Leaf.

This small 6-foot-3 player has always been a substitute for Valentine when he was in the Trail Blazers. His performance on the court is also quite satisfactory. There is no problem with averaging 10 points and 5 assists per game. It can be said that he is a very qualified rotation players.

But after coming to the Denver Nuggets, in a system that advocates offense and unrestrained freedom, some of his buried talents began to be discovered.

This season, as the starting point guard for the Nuggets, he played 82 games in the regular season, and the data increase is inevitable. He averaged 128 points and 75 assists per game, and what is even more amazing is that he averaged 5 assists per game. Rebound!This figure was 27 last season.

In the 80s, the era of rebounding for all has not yet been fully entered. The rebounds of small players are not so much called grabbing as picking them up, and Liv can "get" five rebounds per game, which has to be said to be very remarkable.

His performance also made people pay attention to his versatility, and Liv naturally began to gradually build up the confidence of a starter and even a star player.

At this time, he faced the Blazers' starting point guard, Daniel Valentine, who had been pressing on his head for the past two years.

"Leeve handles the ball, the former Trail Blazers point guard is doing very well with the Nuggets, and his former 'boss' Valentine is guarding him, I think they must have done this several times in the past practice. Passed...Leeve passed Valentine and broke through from the middle!"

Liv was taller than Valentine in height and had an advantage in weight, so Liv dribbled the ball sideways at Valentine, then squeezed with his body, then turned around and rolled Valentine inward, throwing Valentine in the After getting behind, Valentine's defense is obviously out of position.

If it was the Blazers' defense in the first half, and no one stepped forward to defend, Liv could directly make an emergency stop jump shot. With his mid-range shooting percentage, there is a [-]% chance that the ball will easily go into the net. [

But the Blazers' defense in the second half was different from the first half!

"Gan stepped forward to defend, he surrounded Liv, and Valentine followed from behind, and he took Liv's ball!"

Gan Guoyang's supplementary defense led to Leaf's mistake.

In Ramsey's eyes, Gan Guoyang's supplementary defense is the best in the whole nb, because Gan Guoyang's supplementary defense has never been "remedial after a dead sheep" but "preparation for a rainy day". React, instead of waiting until the opponent has rushed in from the loophole and went straight to the basket. At that time, going up to make up the defense often fails to defend, and instead draws a foul.

However, it is not a good thing to make up defense too actively. At the beginning of the season, Ramsey even asked Gan Guoyang not to be so active in making up defense, because nb is not n, and there is no zone defense. The result of Gan Guoyang's making up defense is often the basket. clean up.

Now, after a season of tempering, Gan Guoyang's supplementary defense has achieved "fast, ruthless, and accurate". Know when to make up and when not to.

For Leaf's ball, the Nuggets' insiders are still on the line. Gan Guoyang is not too worried that Wayne Cooper can directly catch the ball and dunk from outside the three-second zone.

So he didn't hesitate to use fierce supplementary defense to press down, which led to Leaf's mistake, and the Blazers launched a fast break.

"Glider, go to the hoop! Layup! Fouled by English! Have a chance to make a three!" Drexler's fast break was as stoppable as ever, and the Blazers opened the second half. With one defense, the atmosphere of the Memorial Gymnasium exploded in an instant.

"Additional penalty hit! 70:66, the Blazers showed a different defensive attitude in the second half, maybe they were scolded by Ramsey during the intermission." Of course Seanley didn't know, the Blazers went up The change in the second half was actually arranged by Ramsey.

One attack and defense doesn't seem to explain anything. The Nuggets still continue their shooting tactics, constantly shifting the ball on the strong and weak side to pull the Blazers' defensive formation. English, Knight, Issel and Leaf are also looking for Seeing the loopholes in the Blazers' defense, he is ready to shoot and give a heart-piercing arrow at any time.

The scary thing about the Nuggets is that each of their players has a very good autobiographical offensive ability. Although Wayne Cooper is a little weaker, his coping ability is not bad, just providing cover for the other four.

Therefore, when the Nuggets' pitchers find that the opponent's defense is loose after they get the ball, they will shoot decisively. Unusual headache.

But in the second half, the Nuggets felt that the Blazers' defensive loopholes seemed to be much smaller all of a sudden. Everyone's posting was in place, and the defense was very active.

Gan Guoyang was like a spider with a big web, and began to sweep around the three-second zone.

This is Gan Guoyang's most common defensive responsibility in college - the penalty zone sweeper. Now Ramsey has also begun to discover Gan Guoyang's ability in this area. Coupled with the Nuggets' weak inside, Gan Guoyang began to attack recklessly. .

"Nate broke through with the ball! He broke into the three-second zone, he was surrounded, he couldn't move! Turned around and passed the ball to Wayne Cooper on the other side, Cooper made a layup... the ball was slapped Knocked out, then controlled by Karl, the Nuggets make another mistake."

Knight wanted to rely on his own speed to hit the inside line directly, but Gan Guoyang's timely supplementary defense prevented Knight from getting up in the three-second zone. He could only choose to pass the ball to Cooper.

If Cooper is an inside player with strong scoring ability, then Gan Guoyang would not dare to make up defenses everywhere like this, but Ramsey knows that this former player is just an inside blue-collar with less than 10 points per game. .

In the interior, he can't make any waves. It's amazing to let him make two open shots. This is a completely acceptable loss compared to blocking the Nuggets' outside passing routes and offensive points.

But now, Gan Guoyang didn't even give Cooper a chance to score an open layup. He turned around and cut off the ball in Cooper's hand with a knife, cleanly and without any foul moves.

Now that the Blazers are working hard on the defensive end and it has worked, they can get more easy scoring opportunities on the offensive end.

After Karl took the ball, he handed the ball to Valentine. Valentine went all the way from the left side, observing the running position of the Blazers players.

After Drexler replaced Paxson as the starter, the Blazers' fast break has undergone certain changes.

In addition to Drexler often single-handedly, the old Paxon-Vandeweghe spread out on both wings and quickly followed up the fast break inside because of Drexler's poor shooting level.

Instead, it is a more open-ended fast-break mode. Vandeweghe will freely choose his flank route, while Drexler is steadfast in the middle, and the two insiders can also choose their own fast-break route.

At this time, Vandeweghe, like Valentine, was in a relatively more inside position on the left side. Valentine decisively passed the ball to Vandeweghe, and Vandeweghe jumped up to receive the ball with his back to the basket, and then he made another The ball hit the ground and passed to the middle. At this time, Gan Guoyang had already run into the three-second zone of the middle!

"Gan received a pass from Vandeweghe, caught the ball and layup! Beautiful fast break cooperation!"

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Blazers used tough defense to beat the Nuggets a little bit, and the game was developing in a direction that favored the Blazers.

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