The Golden Age of Basketball

() Bobby Bellman was a player with little talent when he was young. After graduating from high school, he did not receive any basketball scholarships from colleges. Of course, this is also in his expectation.

But when he applied for college, he still chose the Sports Department of the University of San Francisco and studied basketball theory during his undergraduate studies.

After graduation, he worked as a coach for the community basketball team, as a physical education teacher in elementary school, and as a women's basketball coach in middle school.

Later, because of an opportunity, he became the coach of the Palo Alto High School basketball team-the original coach was hospitalized due to illness, and he became a replacement temporary worker.

Here he has achieved pretty good results, because his guiding ideology is very clear, since we have no talent, then use tactics to make up for it.

In this regard, his thinking is exactly the same as that of Coach Carell of Princeton University, except that Coach Carell designed an offensive system, while Behrman was obsessed with the construction of a defensive system.

If the original historical process is followed, Bellman will eventually be fired because he cannot lead the Vikings to a breakthrough, and in the end he will be just an ordinary little man, a basketball lover who is lost in everyone.

In this extremely talented sport, there are countless such enthusiasts.

However, God gave him a chance and brought him a person, a person who traveled from the future, although no one knew about it except this person himself.

This person is Gan Guoyang, and his arrival will change many things, and the first thing he will change is Bellman's fate as a coach.

Gan Guoyang's talent is so high that all Bellman has to do in the high school league is to let other players defend well, and Gan Guoyang can handle the rest.

For Bellman, who is not good at directing offense, this can be regarded as making up for one of his biggest flaws.

Therefore, the Vikings were able to reach the finals of the California Championship all the way, but in such a game, there are too many variables, and Bellman and Gan Guoyang are still inexperienced after all.

Even so, Behrman, who missed the championship, got a chance to change his destiny, came to Gonzaga University, and got Gan Guoyang again by chance.

In order to make up for the regrets and shortcomings of high school, Bellman worked hard to learn and digest various offensive tactics and apply them in the game.

At the same time, he also focused on cultivating Gan Guoyang's skills in all aspects, so that he could truly grow into an independent insider Optimus Prime.

Finally, they achieved success and entered the NCAA National Championship for the first time. They came to Salt Lake City to face the coach Carell whom Bellman admired and his Princeton Tigers.

However, the young and inexperienced Bellman fell into a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding that made the Bulldogs mess up.

In the past three years, the two teams led by Bellman have been known as "average talents". Even if he has Gan Guoyang, he can't improve the overall talent of the team.

Therefore, Bellman has always adhered to the idea he has identified since he was a player-if there is no talent, then use tactics to make up for it.

But what he didn't expect was that the Princeton Tigers they were facing today was a team with less talent and a team that relied more on tactics.

Bellman always wants to use defensive tactical adjustments to deal with the Tigers' offensive tactical changes. In fact, this is using his own shortcomings to attack the enemy's strengths.

Fighting tactical changes with the Tigers, isn't this courting death?

Carell was able to lead this group of third-class cripples in the college basketball world to the NCAA National Championships, relying on the ever-changing tactics. Princeton's tactics are also a kind of basketball thinking that changes a lot and adapts to the situation. It is by no means just learning a few routines. You can play around.

When Bellman figured it out at halftime, Gonzaga was still four points ahead, and it wasn't too late for him to figure it out.

Sure enough, in the second half, based on the situation in the first half and the foul problems of the starting players, Bellman rearranged the starting lineup.

Gan Guoyang and Stockton were naturally unable to move, and in the two positions of power forward and small forward, Behrman sent two substitute players, and his only confession to these two substitutes was "follow you as hard as you want the person who is wearing it."

No matter how poor the talents of the Bulldogs players are, they are all basketball scholarship holders. They are all star players in high school, and their running and jumping skills are quite good.

So as soon as the second half started, the bulldogs showed their fierceness and began to implement a full-court pressing defense!

The whole court was pressed, there were no bells and whistles, no tactical changes, it relied on the hard work and physical strength of the players.

The two players who replaced the starting lineup did not get many chances to play in the usual games, and they only had about 10 minutes of performance opportunities in a game, and sometimes they were fouled.

And now, in the NCAA National Championships, they have the opportunity to start in the second half, how could they not try their best.

In contrast, the Princeton University player who took the lead to serve obviously felt uncomfortable.

It can be said that they played very comfortably in the first half. The opponent always wanted to rely on tactical changes to strangle their offense, but in the usual repeated training, they had already figured out the loopholes in various defensive routines.No matter what the defensive strategy is, they can find the "back door" in it, and then use incomparably tacit passing to help teammates complete the fatal blow.

But as soon as the second half started, it became difficult for them to even dribble across the half, let alone transfer the ball and run tactics.

Once the center couldn't comfortably catch the ball, the most common routine of Princeton's tactics was greatly affected, and they had to execute other tactical moves.

The high post offense was stymied, and they naturally turned low and began to use their No. 19 small forward Kevin Mullin to pry open the Bulldogs' back door.

In the first half, whenever the Tigers' offense had problems -- because cuts weren't always available -- they would hand the ball to leading scorer Kevin Mullin and let him handle it.

Kevin Mullin is arguably the most talented player in the Princeton Tigers. Although he is white and only 6-foot-6, he is the team's leading scorer and rebounder.

His free throw percentage is also the highest on the team, and his ability to draw fouls is even better.

It is precisely because of his existence that the Tigers' offensive options have been greatly enriched, so that they will not rely too much on teamwork, and they can also have a star player who can solve problems at critical moments.

But now Kevin Mullin's life is not easy, because it is none other than John Stockton, the most sticky and annoying outside defense of the Bulldogs.

In the game against UCLA, Stockton successfully brought a lot of trouble to Reggie Miller.

In fact, with Stockton's physical fitness, it is impossible to limit the opponent's arrow figure. He is too short and too slow.

But Stockton has always been known for his small moves and his defensive entanglement. He didn't want to defend the opponent to death, but to make the opponent feel sad, and he couldn't play according to his favorite rhythm.

His point is useless against those players with beastly physical fitness, but it is particularly effective against those players who rely on awareness and emphasize the rhythm of shooting.

Kevin Mullin is such a player. The reason why he can draw fouls is because he has a very good grasp of the time difference, and he can always tease the opponent's "defensive passion", and then let the opponent suffer.

But Stockton doesn't like this. All he does is interfere, interfere and interfere again, but even if he doesn't foul, he will never jump around.

So when Kevin Mullin leaned on Stockton and turned around and made two fake moves to trick Stockton, Stockton remained motionless and ignored him at all.

Seeing that the feint was ineffective and he could no longer dribble, Mullin took advantage of his height and pulled up directly 12 feet to the right of the basket to shoot.

Stockton still didn't move, just made some small movements to make Mullin's take-off less comfortable.

Because he knows that he can't cover it even if he jumps up, and someone will block it.

"Boom!" It was Gan Guoyang who came from the upline.

His long arm exceeded Mu Lin's expectations. He thought Gan Guoyang should not be able to cover it, but he didn't expect Gan Guoyang to slap the ball off the side and back.

At the same time, Mu Lin also felt that his take-off was not enough, his lower body seemed to be stuck, and the take-off height was not enough, so he ate a big hot pot.

He knew it was Stockton's fault, but the referee didn't find these little tricks, and he could only suffer from being dumb.

One is in the front and the other is in the back. This is such a simple and crude defensive strategy, but it is more effective than complex defensive formation conversions.

After getting the ball, the Bulldogs took it easy and handed the ball to Stockton. They had no problem in the offense, and it was always right to play steadily.

On offense, the biggest problem for the Bulldogs is how to get the ball into Gan Guoyang's hands. As long as the ball is in his hands, the rest will be easy to handle.

The Princeton Tigers must double-team Gan Guoyang, otherwise his hook cannot be defended at all.

Once double-teamed, the Bulldogs' air cuts are like the impellers of a windmill, wave after wave, constantly impacting the Tigers' inside line.

In the past games, the Bulldogs' inside line always suffered from repeated attacks from other teams, and Gan Guoyang always endured the attack of the opponent's striker like a bulletproof vest.

Now, facing the even less athletic Princeton Tigers, the Bulldogs' front line turned around and sang, and the two newly replaced forwards were domineering over each other's heads, constantly rushing for offensive rebounds.

Gan Guoyang also subconsciously raised his position to be shallower, leaving more space for the inside line, so that his team's striker can overwhelm the river.

When a team has better talent and athletic ability, it will be easier to play. They often use some simple tactics, and they can also overwhelm opponents with excellent tactical literacy. This has already happened in the history of basketball. Repeatedly.

What's more, the Bulldogs are not a chaotic team. In the past, they were also bullied by more talented teams. Today, they just put the pain they have suffered on their opponents.

This time, Princeton was completely messed up. After being destroyed by the bulldog's mad dog defense several times, and the defense could neither restrain Gan Guoyang nor withstand the opponent's striker, their morale began to decline.

When the morale of a team that relies on the team and tactics drops, the consequence is that the movement is not active and it is easy to make mistakes.

In addition, their number one star was made very uncomfortable by Stockton, and they could only score some goals piecemeal, and they had to risk being rewarded by Gan Guoyang.

The Princeton Tigers lost the smooth offense they depended on for survival, and the defense still did not improve. In the 10 minutes of the second half, the Bulldogs suddenly opened the point difference to 16 points.

Although coach Carell called a timeout several times, he hoped that through adjustments, the players could regain their confidence and play like the first half.

It's a pity that it's not them, but their opponents. The bulldogs in the second half are no longer the bulldogs who were unclear in the first half.

In the end, no matter how hard the Tigers tried, they couldn't narrow the point difference to less than 15 points. They also lost the first round of the NCAA National Tournament with a 52:70, 18-point disadvantage and were unfortunately eliminated.

As soon as the whistle sounded for the end of the game, the entire Bulldogs team fell into crazy joy. Although the audience couldn't understand them, they knew what a breakthrough it was and what a victory it was.

In this way, they entered the top 32, one step closer to Los Angeles.

When the two sides shook hands after the game, Coach Carell came to Coach Behrman's side and extended his hand.

"Bobby, you did a good job. You finally found your team's real advantage in the second half." Carell said to the young college coach.

"Thank you, Mr. Carell, you are even more amazing than me. If we switch teams, I will definitely not be able to do what you do."

"No, Bobby, I just fit in with these less talented kids because I don't have much talent and I understand them. But you're different, you're not a star player, but you have what a star coach has. That is the characteristic of you, that is, you can control the star players.” As he spoke, Karel looked at Gan Guoyang, who was chatting happily on the sidelines after shaking hands.

"What do you mean Gan, he is a good boy, very, very good." Behrman said with a smile.

"Haha, good boy, maybe he is a good boy only when he is here with you, it is said that he is not a good boy at UCLA. Moreover, few of those nba superstars are good boys. But an excellent star coach, It is to turn these bad boys into good boys who obey orders." Karel's words are very reasonable.

Like Larry Bird, he had the same experience as Gan Guoyang. He let the overlord Indiana University fail, ran home to play wild ball, and then went to Indiana State University.

Magic Johnson also forced the head coach away because he didn't like the coach's teaching style and replaced him with Pat Riley, who suits him.

"I don't know for sure, but this kid is indeed a gift from God. I think he will become a superstar one day, a real superstar."