Legendary star

Chapter 45 The Battle of the Successor (1)

As the opening whistle sounded, Tim Duncan beat Vitaly Potapenko to help the Spurs get the first wave of the ball. After the basketball was allocated to the backcourt, it was grabbed by Antonio Daniels and quickly dribbled After passing the middle circle, he passed the basketball directly to Meng Xu on the right side of the 3-point line.

With the great success of the triangle tactics in the NBA, the point forward has also become a popular concept. In the current league, apart from the old Scottie Pippen, the point forward is Grant Hill Yes, although they have been able to play All-Star-level data, the record of the Detroit Pistons has indeed been tepid.As Grant Hill was unable to lead the Pistons to the championship for a long time, while Hill was constantly questioned, the once hot concept of point forward gradually became cold.

A team with excellent guards does not need point forwards very much. Compared with Grant Hill and Scottie Pippen, there are too many excellent point guards.

In today's pre-match training, Popovich was surprised by Meng Xu's excellent passing touch. He also wanted to try to see if Meng Xu could be shaped into a point forward. After making up his mind After cultivating Meng Xu into the team's future outside core, Popovich is also willing to give Meng Xu more opportunities. Today's game is an attempt.

After Meng Xu held the ball, Anthony Walker quickly greeted him. After watching the video of Meng Xu's recent games, Anthony Walker also had a detailed understanding of Meng Xu's offensive methods. This is a player with a single offensive method. The only threat still comes from long shots.Because of Meng Xu's excellent 3-pointer, Celtics head coach Rick Pitino made a defensive tactic against Meng Xu before the game.

As Anthony Walker, who is facing off against Meng Xu in this game, his basic defensive strategy is to let go of a breakthrough or not to make a shot. For a player who has not had a successful breakthrough in almost 40 games, it doesn't matter if he makes a breakthrough.

Since Anthony Walker is taller than Meng Xu and weighs a bit bigger than Meng Xu, it is also difficult for Meng Xu to defend against Anthony Walker. Fortunately, Meng Xu still has some advantages, and his naked height is 3 times higher than Meng Xu. Anthony Walker's wingspan is significantly shorter than Meng Xu's. According to Meng Xu's visual inspection, Anthony Walker's wingspan should be around 210.

Defense has always been Anthony Walker's weakness. It's not that he has poor physical talent, but that he doesn't have the defensive awareness that he should have. As a master of defense with eyes, Anthony Walker is also doing his best in this game against Meng Xu. Trying to defend Meng Xu.

Meng Xu moved laterally with the ball to the left, Anthony Walker followed behind him unhurriedly, after Jalen Jackson and Meng Xu made a pick-and-roll, they blocked Anthony Walker behind Meng Xu, and when there was an open opportunity , Meng Xu, who originally wanted to shoot directly, saw that Duncan had already got stuck under the basket. Meng Xu also gave up his plan to shoot. He took a step down, dribbled the ball near the free throw line, and directly stuffed the ball under the basket. After catching the ball, Duncan turned around and took off. Celtics center Vitaly Potapenko was knocked to the ground by Duncan.

"This pass is awesome." After scoring 2+1, Duncan ran to the free throw line and rubbed Meng Xu's head, praising him.

"Tim, your dunk is too domineering." Suddenly recalling Anna's warning, Meng Xu tried his best to get rid of Duncan's clutches.

"Vitaly Potapanko is too weak. He should face Duncan hard and keep him from getting close to the penalty area. And Pitino didn't arrange to double-team Duncan. It's incredible." The game started , the Celtics fell into a passive position, and Bob Cousy was also very dissatisfied with the situation on the court, and by the way, he also accused Rick Pitino.

"Duncan is the favorite for the regular season MVP this season, one of the best insiders in the league, Rick Pitino obviously overestimated Vitali Potapanko, probably in his eyes, Vitali Potapanko Tapanko is about the same player as O'Neal." Tom Heinsohn also echoed Bob Cousy's words, and began to mock Rick Pitino on live TV.

A few years ago, a group of veterans and celebrities of the Celtics had a dispute over the future direction of the team, which eventually turned into an infighting. The final outcome of the matter ended with Larry Bird leaving, but the matter was far more than that. In this way, after Larry Bird left, people like Bob Cousy were full of joy and felt that they would definitely be able to control the team now.

Unexpectedly, the Cardinal appointed Rick Pitino to be the head coach of the Celtics, who is also the team's general manager, executive president and team chairman. Noah and the cardinal behind him, Bob Cousy, had no choice but to make some stumbling blocks secretly.Taunting Rick Pitino on national broadcasts is nothing more than a small thing.

When it was the Celtics' turn to attack, Kenny Anderson dribbled the ball for half the court and handed the basketball to team leader Anthony Walker. He sat back for a while, and under the impact of Walker's huge force, Meng Xu lost his position directly.After the team selected another Larry Bird successor Paul Pierce last year, Anthony Walker switched to power forward. In order to increase the aggressiveness of the low post, his weight soared from 102 kg to 112 kg. He was originally good at low singles. Meng Xu couldn't stand him at all when he got on his dick.

"Oh, a beautiful offensive choice, the Spurs kid is out of position." Bob Cousy also expressed his appreciation for Walker's offensive choice.

It's just disappointing that after Meng Xu lost his position, Anthony Walker didn't choose to break through, but turned around and shot. With a bang, the ball hit the iron, and Duncan grabbed the rebound.Bob Cousy, who was still admiring Walker just now, also had black lines on his face.

"Boy, you're lucky this time." Although he didn't make the shot, Anthony Walker was still very satisfied with the attack. After the shot was over, he said viciously to Meng Xu behind him.

"Big Fatty, I heard that you like shooting 3-pointers very much. If you want to compete with me in this game, who scores more 3-pointers." Looking at Anthony Walker, Meng Xu deliberately showed a disdainful expression, trying to provoke him.

Before the start of the game, Popovich specifically explained to Meng Xu some ways to deal with Anthony Walker. Walker, a player with a low IQ, is very prone to overheating.There are various offensive methods, but I just like to shoot 3-pointers, and the shooting rate is still very low, hovering around 30% all the year round. Needless to say, the defense, the movement speed is slow, and the defensive attitude is poor, which is why Popovich is so relieved The reason for Meng Xu to control the ball.

Hearing Meng Xu look down on him like this, coupled with Meng Xu's little expression, Anthony Walker's brain almost became hot.Thinking of the head coach's exhortation to himself before the game, he wanted to respond to Meng Xu's "boy, come on, who is afraid of whom." Anthony Walker swallowed it back.

Anthony Walker has played under Rick Pitino since he was in college. After Rick Pitino came to the Celtics, he helped Anthony Walker become the boss of the team. No, Anthony Walker has always maintained enough respect and awe.Maybe others can't persuade the hot-headed Anthony Walker, but Rick Pitino will definitely be able to.

(End of this chapter)