Bulldozer of the NBA’s Restricted Area

The game finally begins.

When the referee signaled that the starting lineup of both teams could play, the atmosphere at the scene was completely out of control, and Li Shengli just stood calmly in the center circle and glanced at the Nets' starting lineup...

Kidd goes without saying.

In addition to this, the other four positions are...center Todd Maclodge, who is playing in his third season; power forward Kenyon Martin, the No. 1 pick in 2000; junior No. 2, who was second overall in 1997, only behind Duncan. Forward Keith Van Horn; and shooting guard Corey Kidders, the 8th overall pick in the 1996 draft.

Among the entire Nets starting lineup, there is one No. 1 pick, and including Kidd, there are two No. 2 picks.

To be honest, this lineup is still okay. Although players' achievements on the field do not depend on their draft picks, in fact, draft picks can still reflect part of their potential. Of course, the most important thing is... this starting lineup is relatively young, and there are 94 Kidd, the super big brother, leads the team, and his game experience is not too bad. It is the time when the competition is at its best.

But, all the rookies he led in the Mavericks became the big brothers of the team?

Li Shengli felt that time passed too fast, and maybe Kidd was not the only one. In the blink of an eye, a group of guys...the old ones were about to retire, and the young ones had become superstars. When he turned around to look at Kidd and his teammates, he sighed. It's good to be young, because the five members of the Nets, including Kidd, were all wide-eyed and seemed quite passionate.

…

Having passion is definitely a good thing!

But being young...how can you be called young if you don’t suffer some losses?

Li Shengli didn't think too much. The moment the referee's whistle blew and the ball was thrown into the sky, he took off and pushed the ball to the back. The bounce, speed, wingspan, and timing were all at their limit. He hit Nets center Mark Lodge completely. The ability to resist, but Kidd just glanced helplessly and immediately went back to defend in advance.

The Lakers' offense is too simple.

Fisher ran and ran with the ball, passed it to Kobe beyond the three-point line, and went down to the right bottom. Kobe chose to directly force Kidd, but as soon as the move was made, Van Horn next to him immediately rushed over. came to support, so the ball was given to Artest who was waiting for the ball at a 45-degree angle.

In two consecutive transfers, the ball was in the left triangle.

There was no need to deliberately move to find the weak side of the defense. Just one breakthrough by Kobe freed Artest's position, and Artest took the ball and rushed inside. He took a step inside from the free throw line and encountered Mark Lodge. The tip-in is a floater.

Although the floater didn't go in, to be honest, the Lakers' strongest triangle affected the Nets' defense beyond sight, and Mark Lodge, as the center, was out... Li Shengli didn't even know what Mark Lodge was thinking. He pushed the ball back as soon as he made a back-up dunk.

…

Can this let Li Shengli go?

Damn it, even if you don't care about Artest, you can't let Li Shengli go!

The Nets' home court is very exciting this time, because this kind of defensive choice is so good that you don't even have to think about it. Maybe 20,000 people here know what to do, but Mark Lodge on the court doesn't. Knowing that, he easily gave Li Shengli 2 points and 1 rebound.

There was no time to say more, Kidd led the team to fight back.

Compared with the Lakers' systematic offense, the Nets are obviously a little worse, because it is difficult to find a player who can play in isolation and tear apart the Lakers' defense, but with Kidd, the situation is much better...

It was Kidd who was Kobe's one-on-one breakthrough just now.

However, Kidd has a stable character and does not engage in fancy counterattacks. He directly finds his teammates to cover him and reaches the free throw line. From this position, he can take shots when entering and distribute the ball when retreating. The threat he poses to his opponents is not small. , but this time... there was a small problem. The expected quick defense didn't appear?

As soon as this happened, Kidd couldn't help but curse.

Because the Lakers did not quickly cover up defense, the defensive formation would not be chaotic, and all his teammates were included in the Lakers' defense, and they could not find a good opportunity to score the ball.

What's more important is that the Lakers' defense was not absent, it was just not fast.

From the corner of his eye, Kidd saw the slow-moving Artest turning around, but the problem was that this guy was obviously looking for his main defender, Nets small forward Van Horn, and his thoughts were not on him.

"Damn, are you looking down on me?" Kidd was very angry. He exploded, took action with hatred, and then hit the iron hard. Li Shengli grabbed another rebound. Seeing Kidd's deflated look, he shook his head. He really wanted to comfort him. Kidd.

…

In fact, the Lakers had already discussed before the game that Kidd would take more shots and not be too tough on defense.

Because everyone knows that no matter how strong the defense is, it is impossible for the opponent to not even take a shot. The best defensive state should be to reduce the number and at the same time reduce the opponent's hits for each shot, and specifically the defense of the Nets... ...If the number of hits per shot is reduced, it would obviously be more appropriate for Kidd to take the shot.

Kidd's overall shooting is only 40%.

If we really want to let Kidd shoot, it's not that there is no possibility of overturning. Therefore, the defensive strategy formulated by Phil Jackson is not to let Kidd go all out, but to fix Kidd...at close range in the penalty area, plus about one step outside the penalty area. The mid-range shot is Kidd's release area.

25.4% at close range and 32.6% at mid-range?

Hits like Kidd's are no threat at all.

Even though the relaxation of Kidd's defense has led to a sharp increase in these two hits, but if you are bolder... the two items combined are mentioned at 40%, which is enough, but the problem is that 40% is not a killer hit. .

The most important thing is that if you let Kidd go a little bit, the defense in other positions will improve. In addition, the Nets have no one who is better in singles, and the offense other than Kidd will not be too exaggerated.

Therefore, the real focus of the strategy is to convert Kidd, the Nets' strongest core, into offensive performance. According to Phil Jackson, that is to give the Nets the opportunity they want, but not to the Nets. desired result.

As long as the defensive strategy is executed properly?

Offense...well, you can play whatever you want. After all, the Lakers averaged 101.3 per game in the regular season and the Nets averaged 96 in the regular season. Phil Jackson feels that the Nets probably can't do anything to limit the Lakers' dual-core.

…

This comparison is really embarrassing to the Nets, including Nets fans.

At the 6-minute mark of the half-quarter... Kidd was about to vomit. He took 6 shots in the half-quarter. He didn't want to take any shots, so the opponent forced him to take them. The result was that he hit 1 of these 6 shots and scored two points. He missed and hit a three-pointer instead.

The good news for him is that Kenyon Martin is doing well.

Although his skills are usually a little rough and he needs to eat his own passes, this time because the Lakers' always weak power forward had a small problem. Samaki, who was slightly injured, withdrew after 2 points, and Mad Dog Mark Madsen stepped up. , a little bit unable to bear the No. 1 pick Martin, let Martin hit 3 of 4, plus 2 of 2 free throws.

This efficiency is really explosive.

But Kidd still wanted to vomit, because his inside teammate was simply stepped on and beaten in the face by Li Shengli, and in just 6 minutes... Li Shengli already had 10 points and 4 rebounds.

10+4 in half a quarter?

Maybe the first half of the quarter is not the most desperate time for Kidd, but the end of the first quarter.

Because Li Shengli almost doubled, reaching 18+7, and this kind of data... I don't want to say it is too exaggerated, but behind the data, Kidd and a lot of superstars sitting in the audience cried.