Basketball trainer, I created a super giant

Chapter 167 The final piece of the puzzle, the secret weapon.
Byron Scott stood on the sidelines, arms crossed, pacing irritably, his expression as stern as a president concerned with world affairs.

54:41.

This is the current score.

There was less than a minute and a half left in the first half.

The Magic's starters had already left the court to rest, but the Nets' players were still standing on the court.

Kittles looped the ball out, and Kidd reacted quickly, throwing the ball back to him.

He caught the ball, pulled up, and shot.

Courtney Alexander did not lose his position.

But the ball still went in.

However, in the next possession, Alexander took on Kittles on the wing and responded with a three-pointer.

The point difference remains.

The Magic's bench players are decent at scoring.

With Ewing inside and Alexander and Troy Hudson outside, both of whom have excellent three-point shooting ability.

But none of this matters.

The team was down by more than ten points, and it wasn't entirely the bench players who lost.

Still the main force.

Scott watched half the game, and he knew where the problem lay.

The problem lies in the offense.

This season, thanks to rule changes that allow zone defense, the Nets have a very high defensive efficiency, ranking among the top in the league.

But that was the regular season, so frankly, it's not very relevant.

In the playoffs, star players take center stage.

Absolute hard-solving ability is the key to winning the game.

This is exactly what the Nets need most.

Kidd is great, ranked second in the MVP race, but he's really not good at offense.

And without him, what other stars does the Nets have?

A bunch of role players performed well in the regular season thanks to Kidd's orchestration, but in the playoffs, facing tougher defenses and real competition, their level wasn't up to par.

Look at the other side.

McGrady played absolutely unbelievably in the first half.

Jefferson tried his best, relentlessly chasing McGrady, but he just couldn't stop him.

McGrady was on fire, shooting 7-for-10 in the first half and easily scoring 17 points.

And Brown.

The Nets frequently collapsed their defense, employing multiple players to double-team them.

Brown made various strong low-post plays, drawing fouls even when he couldn't score, and quietly racked up 14 points.

Sometimes, magicians don't even use any tactics; they just mindlessly hand the ball to two people.

This kind of hardware decoding capability is exactly what Scott wants to have.

What's even more frustrating is that he knows where the problem lies, but he can't solve it.

No one can stop these two.

Halftime ended.

The score was 57 to 46, with the difference still at 11 points.

Scott approached the players with a stern face.

Kidd's steps were heavy, and he only took a minute off the court for rest during the entire first half.

The same goes for everyone else.

This is another problem. The Magic have been rested for many days, while the Nets have just spent six games against the Pistons, a defensive powerhouse.

They've reached the Eastern and Western Conference Finals, with one game a day, which is being broadcast live simultaneously by TNT and NBC.

TNT here.

As soon as halftime ended, Barkley was already shouting that the game was no longer in doubt.

"Honestly, the Nets' strength is only at the first round level in the Western Conference."

Bad luck, they ran into a strong team in the first round and couldn't even get past the first round.

Smith on the other side nodded in agreement.

The gap between the east and west is widening.

They were almost certain to win the championship if they made it out of the Western Conference.

For Western Conference teams, the Eastern Conference championship is like dessert after the main course.

During the conversation, Barkley suddenly said, "By the way, how's that secret weapon going? I didn't see it sitting on the sidelines today."

Smith paused, recalling the scene on the bench, and realized he didn't see Sasser.

The so-called secret weapon is Sather.

Sasser was, after all, a first-round pick.

Starting in February, he has not been with the team for a long period of time.

Even at home games, they simply sit on the sidelines dressed in their best, cheering and supporting their teams.

The Magic did not disclose that he suffered a serious injury that would end his season.

So the media quickly discovered that he had been training with Tang Sen.

The media certainly doesn't know what they're actually practicing.

When the playoffs started, the media even asked Rivers about it.

Rivers replied that Sasser was their secret weapon.

Some media outlets have analyzed this claim and consider it credible.

The media has already thoroughly investigated the whole affair between Magic and Tang Sen.

Training a player costs $5 a month.

Now, half of the Magic's staff are training with Tang Sen, which means the Magic are paying Tang Sen $500,000 every month.

The same goes for Sasser.

If they weren't really using Sasser as a secret weapon, would Magic be willing to spend this much money?
After Steven Hunter was traded, he complained to the media that he wanted to train with Townsend but didn't have the opportunity.

Given the Magic's ambition to reach the NBA Finals, some media outlets have speculated that Rivers' training session with Sasser was aimed at Kobe Bryant.

Ernie Johnson pushed up his glasses and asked, "Do you really think an ordinary player, after a few months of special training, can defend against a top star like Kobe?"

Rivers did not explain the role of the secret weapon.

But the media can speculate.

In just a few months, Rivers certainly wouldn't expect Sasser to become an offensive mastermind like Kobe and have a high-scoring shootout with Kobe in the finals.

If the goal is to improve offense, Courtney Alexander, the former number one shooting guard in the nation, would be a more suitable choice.

Then we can only practice defense.

McGrady has defensive skills, but Rivers would never let him guard Kobe and waste his offensive energy.

Therefore, the Magic lack a player on the perimeter who can match up against and limit Kobe.

That is, Sather, who was used as a secret weapon.

“I think it’s unlikely, after all, that’s Kobe,” Smith said.

If Kobe were so easy to defend, he wouldn't be a top scorer.

Barkley said, "It didn't say we had to completely stop it."

It's simply unrealistic to expect Kobe to score zero points.

"If we can reduce Kobe's potential 30 points to only 10 points in the Finals, that would be a great success."

"If 20 points is too much, then even 10 points, four months, and a mere $200,000, can reduce Kobe's score by 10 points in the Finals. That would be worth it, even if you added a zero to the end of the $200,000."

In the Finals, if a key player like Kobe scores 10 fewer points, it has a huge impact on the game.

"Most importantly, he trains with Tang, and you have to trust Tang's abilities."

At this point, Barkley seemed to remember something and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"It's already the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Magic haven't even used their secret weapon yet. Aren't they underestimating the Nets a bit too much?"

The Nets were only down by 11 points at halftime today, partly because Kittles had an explosive shooting night, sinking three three-pointers.

Miller, with his standard small forward physique, was struggling to defend against the lean and agile Kittles.

In this situation, Rivers didn't even use Sasser, which only shows he didn't take the Nets seriously. In the second half, the Nets still didn't cause any trouble.

Last season's Magic also had instances of performing well in the first three quarters but collapsing in the final quarter.

This situation has almost never occurred this season.

It's not just the upgraded roster that's contributing; it's also inseparable from Billups' control of the tempo.

The reason Billups was able to reduce the point difference from 10 to about 5 when playing with that group of elementary school students was largely due to his better management of the team's resources.

For example, he won't let his two core players, McGrady and Brown, play too aggressively from the start, expending too much energy.

He will make the arrangements.

For example, Brown was on fire in the first quarter, scoring no matter what he did, but Billups would still adjust his strategy based on the situation on the court, passing Brown a couple less balls.

Let him conserve his energy, so that he won't be too exhausted to continue in the final quarter.

They also had Brown and McGrady take turns contributing, giving role players more opportunities to play, so that when they really needed to rely on their strength to break through defenses, the two of them wouldn't be out of energy.

With this kind of coordination, whenever the Nets gained the slightest momentum, the Magic could immediately come back and suppress it.

This situation, where they gained momentum but couldn't catch up, was a huge psychological blow to the Nets players.

In the end, the Magic easily defeated the Nets 102-91, a difference of 11 points.

with no doubt.

Aside from a brief moment of concern at the beginning due to the Nets' lineup change, Rivers spent most of the game sitting on the bench, watching like a spectator without any fanfare.

Brown scored 27 points, and McGrady scored 29 points.

The Magic won without any pressure.

In the second game, just one day later, Scott made adjustments, bringing back Marc Loch and opting to double-team Brown.

The result was the same; the Magic won the second game easily, 97-90.

The score is now 2-0.

Before heading to the away game, Rivers met with Townsend.

"Don, how far has Jeryl progressed in his training? Do you think he's ready?"

Rivers suggested that he want Sasser to play in the next two games.

If they don't play soon, it'll really be straight to the finals.

At least play a couple of games to get back into form.

"Okay."

Tang Sen thought for a moment and nodded.

They said they had prepared everything for Sasse, but we'll have to see how he performs on the field to know for sure.

As Rivers said, if we don't try now, we'll never have another chance.

Rivers got the answer he wanted, but as he left, he couldn't help but ask with some concern, "Don, everything should be alright, right?"

Tang Sen thought to himself, "You're someone who spends all day giving others pep talks and encouraging people. Do you really need to give yourself confidence?"
"Don't worry, I think it'll be fine."

It's been four months, not too long, not too short.

Sather was proactive and trained like crazy.

The system bonus is also high.

Look at how well Brown trained in just four months last year.

With Sather focusing on physical training and defense, his improvement will only be greater.

Speaking of this, Tang Sen remembered something else.

Tang Sen had an idea in his mind.

That is, they felt that Rivers' use of Brown and McGrady was a bit too reasonable.

Or rather, the magic trick was executed too logically.

Just like in the first game of the last round against the Celtics, Brown scored 24 points in the first half, he was in explosive form.

He only played for 30 minutes and scored 32 points in the entire game.

This score is considered one of the higher scores since the start of the playoffs.

McGrady was in a similar situation; he occasionally scored 30 points, but more often he scored 20 or more.

Perhaps the Magic are too strong in the East.

Perhaps Rivers wanted to protect McGrady and Brown, and didn't want them to overexert themselves.

But the finals are next.

In Tang Sen's view, you need a hero when facing an opponent of the Lakers' caliber.

We need a hero who can score 40 or 50 points and help the team win, no matter how strong the opponent is, how good their form is, or how bad their teammates are.

The playoffs are a stage for star players, and the Finals are even more so.

Even in team basketball, someone always has to step up and be the hero.

So with only a few games left, we should really take this opportunity to get Brown and McGrady fired up.

If things remain mundane for too long, I fear that when the time comes, I won't be able to get into the zone.

But Tang Sen swallowed the words back.

These are just my thoughts. Rivers and his team are professionals, after all, and should know better than I do what needs to be done.

And then there's Brown and McGrady; during daily training, Tang Sen could sense that they were slowly becoming quieter.

They fell silent, but became even more focused.

Perhaps they are also quietly accumulating strength.

After a three-day break, the Magic and Nets will play their third game on the 27th.

Rivers seemed somewhat unsettled at the pre-game press conference.

Because in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals, which ended last night, the Kings surprisingly won at the Lakers' home court, taking a 2-1 lead over the Lakers.

This was despite Peja being sidelined with a sprained ankle.

Rivers' biggest fear right now is that the Kings will beat the Lakers and advance out of the Western Conference.

Rivers once jokingly told the Spurs, "If you're so capable, try making it out of the West first."

Now he feels the same way.

Don't spend most of the season preparing for the Lakers, only to find out they didn't even make it to the Finals; that would be ridiculous.

Even Rivers didn't know how the King could be so strong.

During the regular season, the Magic swept the Kings twice.

Rivers didn't realize what was going on until a reporter asked him if he was planning to let Sasser play.

It's been almost four months, and Sasser has come to an away game with the team for the first time and has been included in the 12-man roster.

Therefore, compared to the Magic and Nets' series being a foregone conclusion, reporters are more curious about the level of Rivers' secret weapon, which he has been preparing for four months.

Don't end up with a huge mess.

Floridaers have a tradition of doing this kind of thing.

Rivers not only has good relationships with players, but also with reporters.

Once I sat down on the stage, everyone below was a familiar face.

“Louis,” Rivers called out the reporter’s name, smiling broadly, “Just you wait and see, Jeryl will surprise everyone.”

Back in the locker room, Rivers immediately announced that Sasser would start.

"Mike, you don't have any objections, do you?" Rivers asked Mike Miller with a smile.

Miller shook his head.

"Jeryl, how's your training going?" Miller was even more curious than Rivers.

Sather didn't travel with the team for the away game; he stayed in Orlando to train.

They could see that Sather's body was getting stronger and stronger, but since he hadn't even played a single practice match, they really didn't know what level Sather's defense had reached.

Everyone else looked at Sather.

Sather was shirtless, his muscles were clearly visible, and his muscular physique was bulging.

He raised his fist to show off his biceps and said confidently, "Trust me, I'm very strong."

After saying that, as if he felt that it wasn't powerful enough, he said directly, "How about we make a bet? If Kitters can get more than 10 points, I'll consider it a loss."

In the first two games, Kittles scored 23 points in one game and 19 points in the other, both of which were the highest scores for the Nets.

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief; this was no ordinary boast.

(End of this chapter)