Champions Creed

Chapter 294 Chapter 293: Under the glorious victory, the crisis is emerging (asking for monthly tickets)

Jason Kidd's Nets took a beating in the first quarter.

After the first quarter, the Nets allowed the Hawks to score 35 points in a single quarter and fell behind by 10 points in the first quarter!
If this had happened in previous seasons, there would have been only one possibility: Roger would have had a major outburst.

As a superstar, Roger created a feat of 1997 points in a single quarter in the 27 Eastern Conference Finals and made 8 three-pointers in the first half.

If you didn't watch the first quarter and only knew the score and point difference in the first quarter, you would definitely think that Roger had delivered a similar explosive scoring performance.

But in fact, Roger's personal score in the first quarter was only 6 points.

But he made 6 assists!
This is a pretty scary statistic. If a player can score 20 points in a single quarter, it doesn't mean that his team's offense is smooth. It's even possible that it's precisely because his team is helpless and can only rely on singles, so they have to let one person score so many points.

But if a player gets 6 assists in a single quarter, it is enough to show how smooth their offense is and how undefendable this team is in the first quarter.

Moreover, the Hawks' smooth offense never stopped for even a second in the first quarter, even in the transition period. Even when Dream came on as a substitute and Roger, the main point guard, temporarily took a rest, the Hawks did not slow down at all.

After getting the ball, Tyronn Lue will speed up, speed up, and speed up again, without waiting for Dream to get into position.

Even if there are only four people who can participate in the attack, we must do everything we can to gain the rounds.

People 20 years later will comment on this Hawks team like this: Their offensive speed is second only to the great LeBron!
Although it is very subversive, this move is effective. The Eagles' offense can maintain extremely high efficiency regardless of the starting lineup or the transition lineup.

Losing 35 points in the first quarter, this change left everyone dumbfounded.

Not only was the result surprising, the Hawks' offensive appeal also gave Atlanta fans an unprecedented thrill.

The smooth counterattacks, wonderful passes and extremely frequent slam dunks turned the Philips Arena from a serious championship hall into a crazy rock and roll scene.

Although the Hawks had a small lineup last season, they were a relatively conventional positional team, playing a slow half-court offense and defense. With the decline of Scott Pippen's pressure on the defensive end, it was difficult for the Hawks to play the "pressure-make mistakes-counterattack" game last season, and they could only solve the problem by grinding the position.

This year, when Ben left and the team brought in the aging Dream, when everyone thought the Hawks would become slower, they did the opposite.

NBC commentator Matt Lauer was as excited as the fans: "This was an unexpected turn of events. The Atlanta Hawks did not miss any opportunity to advance quickly. Of course, this is very physically demanding, but the Hawks have an extremely good bench depth this season. We can expect the Hawks to continue this brilliant offense for four quarters, and we can continue to enjoy this visual feast!"

Matt Lauer has been a commentator for NCAA games before. Compared with the NBA, he is more interested in the NCAA.

Because NCAA tactics are more diverse and the game is not as dependent on stars, it seems to have more variables.

If you pay enough attention to the NCAA, you will know that most of the high-ranking players have not actually achieved outstanding results in March Madness, and some of the MOPs in the March Madness tournaments are not necessarily highly ranked.

This fully demonstrates that the NCAA is playing in a more team-oriented and star-less manner.

And those tactics that shine in the NBA, such as Princeton, the triangle offense, and the UCLA pick-and-roll, were first developed in college and then adopted by NBA coaches.

The NCAA is simply a valuable training base for the entire American basketball ecosystem.

As for the NBA, of course, the tactics are also rich, but they are not fresh enough, and they are basically what are left over from the NCAA.

And because the stars are so strong, the tactics become simpler at critical moments, allowing the stars to solve problems.

Matt Lauer doesn't like this style of basketball. It has too few variables, no innovation, and is a one-man show.

But tonight, he completely changed his view of the NBA when he called a nationally televised game for the first time.

Even in the NCAA, it is rare to see such a crazy fast break strategy!
"The most incredible thing is that most of the Eagles' offense is completed within seven seconds!" Matt Lauer continued to add.

Mike D'Antoni's seven seconds or less concept has been completely absorbed by the Hawks. This is the most wonderful night and the most fulfilling moment of his life.

He proved that his seemingly crazy theory could indeed make a team's offense invincible.

And Lenny Wilkens was impressed by Roger's endless possibilities.

Some players are only suitable for playing in one system and can only succeed in one system.

But some players have their own system. The so-called "having their own system" does not mean that they are born to play in a certain system, but that they can adapt to every system and perform well.

Roger, who was a pure scorer when he first entered the league, has transformed himself into a point guard capable of handling a high-speed team through a summer of hard work, and successfully made the Hawks play a completely different game from last season.

This change is correct. The Hawks' defense has indeed deteriorated. Kenyon Martin scored 8 points in the first quarter, all of which were beastly dunks after cutting in. This is the consequence of losing DPOY.

In this case, if the Hawks still play the same way as last season, they certainly won't be able to lead by 10 points now. But they made up for the decline in defense and the lack of DPOY with a higher ceiling offense.

That's why Roger needed to make changes to the team, and it turned out that he did the right thing again.

During the intermission, Nets coach Byron Scott excitedly tapped the tactical board: "Don't fight for offensive rebounds. After the shot, the whole team should retreat quickly! Jason, hold on to Roger immediately and don't let him pass the ball easily again!"

Byron Scott will not surrender easily, he does not think the game is over.

Although the Nets were trailing by 10 points, there was still time in the game.

As long as they can force the Eagles to slow down, their offense won't be so scary anymore.

Kidd nodded, agreeing with Byron Scott.

The Eagles' counterattack was not like Nelson's emphasis on everyone controlling the ball, free shots, and impromptu one-on-ones. Their ball control point was very clear, and it all relied on Roger's advancement and passing.

Roger is the engine of this high-speed sports car.

Even the most beautiful sports car will be paralyzed if the engine is damaged.

On the other side, Stephen Jackson looked at Lenny Wilkens with anticipation.

Throughout the first quarter, except for Jeff Hornacek, who was dressed in a suit and served as a half-assistant coach, and Andre Patterson, who was not here to play at all, the only player from the Hawks who did not play was Stephen Jackson.

Now that the team was ahead by 10 points, he was looking forward to Lenny Wilkens calling his name.

But he was disappointed. At the beginning of the second quarter, Lanny did make a substitution, but this substitution had nothing to do with Stephen Jackson.

He replaced Kurt Thomas with Hakeem Olajuwon in the starting lineup in the second quarter.

As a championship coach, Lenny Wilkens naturally has a certain predictive ability.

Next, the Nets will definitely find a way to drag the game into a tight spot.

In this case, the Eagles will need Dream.

After adjusting the substitution strategy, Lenny Wilkens looked at Roger and said, "Jason will definitely start pressing. You know what to do."

He knew very well that the dagger Roger stabbed had not yet touched the heart of the Nets.

If you want to kill the Nets, you have to stab the dagger deeper.

Roger nodded and said nothing more.

He knew exactly what to do.

As the second quarter began, Atlanta fans were cheering.

In the luxurious private room, Bo Turner was watching the game with Bruce Levinson.

Bruce Levinson didn't want to show up tonight. He really had no interest in a game where ten men were fighting for a ball.

If possible, he would rather play the game of ten women and one man.

But there was no choice, the championship rings were to be presented today, and as the team's largest shareholder, he had to be present.

Bruce Levinson felt no wave of emotion as he presented the championship rings and watched the championship banner rise.

He even felt a little embarrassed because no player smiled at him.

Levinson was in the private room, looking at the packed Philips Arena and the cheering crowd. He smiled and shook his head, "Fools' memories are indeed short. They were still clamoring to boycott me a few months ago, but look at tonight, there are still more than 20,000 people watching this game."

"They are here to see Roger, not to support you," Beau Turner responded bluntly.

"Of course, of course." Bruce Levinson was not angry. He knew that Beau Turner was not on the same side as him, but what could a small shareholder do?

"Of course, they all came to see Roger. What a wonderful player he is, and with him on the court, I didn't feel any harm from losing Ben Wallace. If we can continue to win and save a maximum salary, everyone will get a higher profit. So, what did I do wrong?"

"God, you can't conclude that Ben's departure has no impact on the team just because of this! Our defense has indeed become weaker. If Ben is still here, the Hawks can win faster and more steadily!"

"Victory? The definition of victory has been distorted. If winning does not bring any profit, or even a loss, then have you really won? We will not take huge financial risks and a little bit of insignificant profit in pursuit of so-called victory."

Bo Turner stopped talking. He felt that if he continued talking, he would inevitably throw Bruce Levinson out of the glass of the luxury room.

It has always been like this. The real sports faction in the shareholder team and the capital faction represented by Levinson are always talking at cross purposes.

What both parties are pursuing are completely different.

But there is no way now, the sports faction has lost their representative Belkin.

Bo Turner just hopes that Bruce Levinson's business philosophy won't lead to the worst consequences.

The second quarter began with the Eagles sending the ball from the baseline.

Jason Kidd's defense on Roger was very tight, which forced Roger to slow down his advance.

Seeing Roger slow down, Byron Scott's eyes suddenly lit up.

Very good, as long as they are forced into the position, the Nets can strangle them with their excellent defensive ability!

He didn't notice that Olajuwon's eyes were also shining.

Finally, I don’t have to do those boring things anymore!
Roger saw that he couldn't play the seven-second offense, so he immediately passed the ball to Dream who was already leaning against Todd McCulloch after he got outside the three-point line. Dream prepared to play a singles game in the low post, and the cheers from the audience continued to rise.

Just as people will expect Carter to dunk even 20 years from now, people are now looking forward to Olajuwon's gorgeous dance moves.

Hawks center McColloch is a complete waste. He is the starting center in the Nets, which is roughly equivalent to Smush Parker being the starting point guard in the Lakers. Both of them are players who can't even play in the main rotation, let alone the starting lineup, if they leave this team.

The Nets are really short of candidates at the center position. McCulloch only played 9.4 minutes with the Suns last season, but after taking a look at the Nets, he found that he was the most difficult center position.

In the words of Barkley in the opening game preview yesterday: "The Canadian center is the Nets' biggest weakness. Any player in the league over 210 cm tall can easily beat Todd in the low post."

But the Nets can only make do with it. On the bright side, Todd McCulloch is at least 213 cm tall.

Therefore, even though Olajuwon, who is almost 40 years old, is preparing to post up against McCollum, the Nets are still worried.

Keith Van Horn double-teamed him. During this period, Dream could handle weaker opponents in the low post, but he did not have the ability to fight against many opponents at once when facing a double-team.

Keith Van Horn quickly surrounded Olajuwon and gave him no chance to dance.

At the moment when he was about to be completely trapped, Dameng jumped up and turned around to make a jump shot.

Keith Van Horn immediately interfered, but in the air, Dream changed his shot into a pass, put his hand behind Keith Van Horn's head, flicked his wrist hard, and passed the ball to Shawn Marion who was far outside the 45-degree three-point line on the weak side! The whole audience exclaimed, people didn't know why a center could do such an incredible thing!

The big dream's pass was as beautiful as his dance steps. Because of Van Horn's double-team, Marion was temporarily unguarded. He decisively shot a three-pointer, and the ugly posture looked particularly handsome at the moment of scoring.

This season, Marion's three-point shooting level in training has seen a qualitative leap. Lenny Wilkens predicts that his three-point shooting percentage this year will be at least above 36%.

It is not known whether this prediction is accurate, but Marion was indeed quite accurate today.

"brush."

As expected, the basketball went into the net.

The New Jersey Nets finally forced the Hawks into a position, but the Hawks' positional offense was still strong!

Byron Scott's eyes went from shining to dull, and his high-hopeful slowdown strategy failed in the first round of the second quarter!
The Eagles were indeed forced to slow down, but their positional offense would not be easily locked down either.

After scoring the goal, Olajuwon pointed at Marion happily and then actively retreated.

Dream is really happy. The reason he left the Rockets was that he didn't want to just wait in Houston for dust to gather around him and be forgotten.

He wanted to go crazy one last time and experience the feeling of winning the championship again.

The Rockets were in the process of rebuilding so they had almost no complete system, and it was basically Steve Francis playing one-on-one. In that style of play, Dream couldn't even feel the joy of basketball.

Just now, after attracting a double-team in the low post and completing an assist, Dream was extremely happy.

He is old, but at least he is still playing in the game of Victory Basketball!
He is old, but he can still create value!
When Matt Lauer saw that the Hawks easily broke through the Nets' defense, he sentenced Kidd to death in his heart.

He doesn't see any hope for the Nets to win.

The game continued, and Kidd assisted Keith Van Horn to make a mid-range shot in this round.

But the Nets' offense was completely unsatisfactory.

Because in the next round, Roger received a back-to-the-basket assist from Dream Team and scored a dunk.

O'Neal's high-post assists can distance the opponent's center, and Marion's long-range shooting, which has improved greatly this season, can distance the power forward.

what does this mean?
This means that the zone defense has been dismembered by the Eagles to the point of being in name only.

The league does allow zone defense, but you wouldn't dare use it against the Hawks' offense.

Olajuwon's value was fully demonstrated. From the start of the game to now, he has not had a successful low-post singles, but he still made his presence felt.

Of course, Kidd's defense on Roger was excellent. Dream's pass almost brushed Kidd's fingertips and reached Roger. If a more ordinary center had passed the ball, Kidd would have definitely grabbed the ball.

But there is no such thing as "almost" in basketball games, there are only successes and failures.

The Nets were unable to effectively lower the Hawks' offensive efficiency, so their own offense also played poorly.

The Nets' offense also relies on counterattacks, and the counterattacks rely on their strong defense.

When the Nets get stuck in a positional battle, you'll know what a truly constipated offense is.

From the star players to the role players, you can't find a single player who is a threat with the ball on the Nets.

Throughout the entire positional battle, the Nets had no tactical routines that could solve the problem.

Kidd is a strong passer and Kenyon Martin has explosive athleticism, so they can play pick-and-roll?

Wake up, Kidd's almost 0 threat shooting makes him a guard who basically does not use pick-and-roll to initiate offense. Because it is too easy to defend Kidd's pick-and-roll, you only need to go around behind the pick-and-roll person to solve all problems.

The Nets could only continue to find ways on the defensive end, and because zone defense was allowed, they even began to send two people to chase and defend when Roger did not have the ball.

But this trick still didn't work.

The excessive focus on Roger without the ball has completely benefited the rest of the Eagles.

Paul Pierce took on the scoring singles, and Michael Redd punished the open spots the Nets gave him.

Marion also used three-pointers and long two-pointers to attack the Nets' shrinkage.

When you watch Marion and Reed take turns to torture your nerves with ugly shooting postures, but make up for it with one goal after another, you really will love and hate them.

The Nets tried various methods, but they were unable to lower the Hawks' offensive efficiency.

This team's offensive resources are too good and too abundant.

And he also loves three-point shots.

This leads to a situation where you clearly feel that the Eagles have not scored many goals, but the score difference has become quite scary.

Roger's scoring was indeed limited, and the double team defense made it difficult for one-on-one opportunities to come about.

But the Hawks were not restricted at all. By the fourth quarter, the Hawks were leading by 24 points.

Roger was substituted with half of the fourth quarter left. He only scored 23 points today, but had 14 assists!
If garbage time hadn't come too early, the assist number would have gone up.

This was a beautiful battle of deterrence. The Nets became the first victim of the defending champions, and the Hawks told the entire league in this way: the establishment of a dynasty is unstoppable!
When the game was over, Jason Kidd and Roger hugged each other quickly and then walked away quickly.

He didn't want to stay with Roger for even a second longer, for fear of being humiliated by that sweet-talking guy.

But Roger didn't let Kidd go just because he turned and left.

"Don't be sad, Jason. You just arrived in the East, so you have to get used to this feeling. After all, you have to experience this kind of thing four times a season. If you meet in the playoffs, you will have to experience it even more. Call AI and ask him. He has a lot of experience in this area. He will tell you how to adjust your mentality."

Kidd didn't answer, but walked into the player tunnel by himself.

But Roger believed that Kidd could hear what he said.

He also believed that Kidd would no longer be foolish enough to think that he could make waves in the East.

This is the king's land after all.

No one can plant a new flag.
-
He is a master of defense. No matter how you defend him, he is leading you by the nose. -- Jason Kidd talked about the defense against Roger after the game.

We tried at least three different defensive strategies tonight, but none of them worked! You will know how terrible the Eagles' offense is once you try it yourself, and no one will be able to laugh when the time comes! - Byron Scott helplessly commented on the Eagles' offense.

We can play in many styles. We can use the fast storm brought by Mike to sweep the whole court, or we can slow down and play positional offense and defense with you. Everything depends on how we want to kill the game. - Lenny Wilkens proudly talked about the team's offensive performance.

They have gone from a team full of blood, fire, and steel friction noise to a light, gorgeous, and fast team. When people are worried about the impact of zone defense and the loss of DPOY, the Hawks have already found a solution to the problem. The defending champions always have a half-win. Their offense has become impeccable, and no team in the league can really limit them. -- NBC commentator Matt Lauer's post-match summary.

"Roger, congratulations on defeating the New Jersey Nets led by Jason Kidd. You once again defended Atlanta's championship night. The team is still winning, so do you think Big Ben's departure really had a big impact on the team?"

"Of course, we are still winning, but that is no excuse for the team to let go of key members of the team."

"Will you opt out of your contract next summer?"

"It's not up to me, it's up to the attitude of the shareholder team. Well Andrew, this summer has just passed, and I don't want to answer questions about next summer."

"Of course, you are the king, you have the final say."

——Sports Illustrated.

Two days later, Beau Turner read the news in Sports Illustrated and felt extremely nervous.

You can basically consider what Roger said in Sports Illustrated as his official statement to the outside world.

He wants the Eagles' attitude. What is the Eagles' attitude?
Next, the Hawks will face a huge salary explosion.

Next year it will be Paul Pierce, and the year after it will be Shawn Marion. These two are the kind of people that the entire league will be scrambling to give top salaries, and the Hawks must find a way to keep them and face the threat of luxury tax.

This is something that all dynasty teams have to face, and this is the rule that David Stern set to refuse monopoly.

Can Bruce Levinson, who always puts profit first, handle everything?

Bo Turner is not very confident about this. Look at what Levinson said about Ben's departure on the night of the opening game. He still feels that there is nothing wrong with what he did.

Bo Turner has a bad feeling that the relationship between the Eagles and Roger may have begun to count down. Under the brilliant victory, the crisis is emerging. This is the kind of thing that you know everything is really happening, but you are still unwilling to admit it.

(End of this chapter)