Basketball trainer, I created a super giant

Chapter 477 Basketball: A Sport for Giants

Carter looked utterly helpless at the post-game press conference.

After a long pause, he finally said, "When a 6-foot-10 guy can play like a 6-foot-6 player."

"When we're doing all sorts of complicated crossovers and step-backs, I feel like we're not even playing the same kind of basketball."

"In the summer, I was chatting with Tang, and he told me that after seeing Kevin's training results, he once thought that Kevin would change the sport and our perception of it."

"And I feel that way now too."

Carter's assessment was copied verbatim into the newspaper.

Some fans may not fully understand his feelings, but they can intuitively feel Durant's strength through the data.

He scored 53 points in his debut and 42 points in his second game. No one could believe that an 18-year-old player could put up such numbers.

And Durant's magic continues.

In the third game, the Heat will face the 76ers on the road.

In the first half, Iverson once tried to challenge Durant.

However, when Durant didn't even bother with any extra feints and just shot right over him, Iverson decisively gave up and switched to Iguodala.

But the results were still not good enough.

Durant still has enough skills to put the basketball in the basket.

In the third game, Durant scored 37 points on 14-of-19 shooting, plus free throws.

His name stands out prominently on the scoring leaderboard, as if telling all the players in the league, "I came to the NBA not as a rookie to improve alongside you."

I'm here to rule the alliance.

At the post-game press conference, Iverson, who scored 28 points, didn't say much. At the end, he said something with a hint of self-deprecation.

"For the first time, I felt that basketball is still a sport for giants."

Michael Jordan, standing at 1.98 meters tall, possessed incredible basketball skills.

Under almost identical technical conditions, if Jordan were to grow 10 centimeters taller, just look at Durant to see how terrifying he would be.

In the fourth game, they faced the weaker SuperSonics.

With no one on the backcourt to stop Durant, he racked up 44 points and remained at the top of the scoring list.

At the same time, he also won his first career honor, Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

For Durant, the honor of Eastern Conference Rookie of the Year is an insult.

After defeating the SuperSonics, they will face the Nets on the road.

Another match against Carter.

In this game, the Nets sped up their pace and narrowly defeated the Heat.

O'Neal's bulk slowed down the Heat's pace, allowing Kidd to make numerous long passes and keep the score close in transition offense.

However, Carter won the game, but not the matchup against Durant.

Carter scored 21 points in the game.

Durant, on the other hand, scored a whopping 49 points.

TNT broadcast the game, and Barkley was deeply moved afterward, saying, "Some young fans may not know how Michael played back then. Let me tell you, it was like Kevin."

"When he's on the court, when he gets the ball, you realize one thing: for some people, scoring is really an easy thing."

"And I think Kevin scores even more easily than Michael does now."

The next day, the Heat easily defeated the Rockets, and Durant seemed to maintain his consistent performance, scoring another 38 points.

Against the Nuggets, facing an aging and slow-moving Houston Rockets, Durant played with ease.

His score was 41.

After a two-day break, the Heat finally faced a heavyweight opponent.

Knicks.

A clash between the world's best centers.

A contest between Jordan, who is 10 centimeters taller, and Jordan, who is 5 centimeters shorter.

It can even be seen as a barometer for the championship, showing who can break out of the East and make it to the Finals.

Tang Sen did not attend the game at the Heat's home court; he watched the live stream from home.

In Tang Sen's envisioned scenario, he hopes the Heat can win the championship directly next year, or even this year, just like the Magic did back then.

This year seems particularly difficult.

The Magic's miracle back then is hard to replicate. First, they acquired Kwame Brown, who was incredibly talented, a cornerstone of the team, and the first successful product they personally trained.

He also caught up with McGrady's rise from a defensive specialist to a super scorer.

In addition, there are some high-quality substitute players, such as the arrival of Billups.

Most importantly, at that time, by giving the Magic his all, he essentially raised their strength to a level stronger than other teams.

So they defeated the Lakers and made history by winning the championship.

But it didn't work the following year.

He left on his own.

They also trained Kobe, and Kobe's evolution led the Lakers to another championship.

Then came the Knicks' meteoric rise.

With the addition of a million-dollar training camp, the strength of each team is steadily improving. It seems that it will be difficult for the Heat to replicate the Magic's miracle of winning the championship back then.

However, Tang Sen believes the Heat's roster has a good chance of success.

Shaquille O'Neal can play for another two years, and he has no obvious weaknesses at any position.

The substitutes aren't particularly strong, but they're not bad either.

Add Durant to the mix, and there's real hope.

So if the Heat can put up a good fight with the Knicks today, they'll have a chance to beat the Knicks and contend for the championship in the playoffs. And if they succeed, Durant will take another step closer to becoming the basketball god.

The game started on TV.

Both teams played with great restraint and displayed clear tactics.

Carlisle has proven himself to be a tactical mastermind, while Riley is a championship-winning coach, known as a genius strategist.

Especially the Heat.

When playing against weaker teams, the Heat's tactics seemed very casual. They would just mindlessly hand Durant the ball around for isolation plays, hoping that his exceptional scoring ability would draw defenders away, tear apart the defense, and then create opportunities for the rest of the team.

Durant has the ability to teach him tactics and cultivate his awareness of passing the ball during training camp.

Durant also underwent training similar to that of elementary school students.

But in this game against the Knicks, Riley really pulled out some tactics.

On the offensive end, it feels like he incorporates a lot of elements.

They used triangle offense positioning to try and create isolation opportunities for Durant.

There was also the high pick-and-roll combination between Milicic and Durant.

Even O'Neal has it; O'Neal can now perform a pick-and-roll jump shot.

It also emphasizes speed, somewhat reminiscent of Showtime.

The Heat certainly don't have a super-strong playmaker like Magic Johnson, but Harris is fast.

Therefore, they will also play fast transition offense, with Durant and Harris forming the offensive spearhead, while Posey and Milicic guard the wings to receive the ball and shoot.

In Tangsen's view, Riley has incorporated a lot of elements on the offensive end, and the effect is quite good. He can go toe-to-toe with the Knicks on offense.

So if the offense is evenly matched, the key to winning will be the defense.

Riley's strategy should be to target both the Knicks' inside and outside game.

Yao Ming, the center.

He demanded that O'Neal stop mindlessly camping under the basket and instead expand his defensive range, trying to stay below the free-throw line as much as possible.

If Yao Ming moves out to the perimeter again, Milicic should switch to defend him.

Milicic is tall, fast, tough, and a decent defender.

In the previous two seasons, he was temporarily relegated to the center position by Riley.

Keeping O'Neal in the paint is likely a move to defend against the Knicks' drives.

In the Knicks' system, Yao Ming had the ability to facilitate from the high post and then pass the ball to the low post to assist his teammates in driving to the basket.

When O'Neal stands under the basket, he is a formidable threat.

As for Wade's defense on the perimeter, Riley should be very clear that it is a bit of a stretch to ask Durant, given his height, to defend Wade, who is good at driving to the basket and is so short and can fly close to the ground.

Therefore, he chose to use a system to defend Wade.

Tang Sen felt that it resembled the Bulls' first three-peat era.

In other words, Durant takes the lead on defense, leaves a step, blocks Wade's passing lanes, and then tries to push Wade to the side.

Once Wade is driven to the vicinity of the baseline on the sideline, they will immediately come over to double-team him.

Wade is too short; if he passes the ball out in this situation, it's easy for it to be intercepted.

Once the ball is intercepted, pass it immediately to Harris, who can use his speed to launch a counter-attack.

The effect is not bad.

This is Riley's move.

On Carlisle's side, he also had a countermeasure, targeting O'Neal's weakness in defending the three-point line by increasing his three-point shooting.

Because of the Suns, teams across the league are now focusing on developing three-point shooting strategies.

The Knicks originally had a bunch of shooters inside and out, enough to take more three-pointers.

This strategy is effective.

At halftime, the Knicks had attempted 15 three-pointers and made 9.

The Heat only attempted 10 three-pointers, a significantly fewer.

However, Tang Sen noticed that Carlisle was struggling to defend Durant.

Wade is still too short, making it difficult for him to defend Durant.

If we're talking about switching on defense, there aren't any suitable candidates; there's still a gap between Kadrick Brown and Wallace.

Fortunately, Durant wasn't very aggressive offensively today, scoring only 16 points by halftime.

At first, Tang Sen thought it was Durant's cyclical fluctuations in performance, but he didn't realize it was Riley's plan until he saw the fourth quarter.

He probably intentionally conserved Durant's energy.

In the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, Durant took over the game with a barrage of unstoppable jump shots.

Prior to this, he had only scored 26 points.

But in the last five minutes, he went 4-for-5 from the field and scored 11 points including free throws.

This offensive surge completely stunned the Knicks, helping the Heat win the game.

The camera focused on Carlisle, who was clearly surprised and kept turning his head to look at the other side.

Clearly, Carlisle was not as well-prepared as Riley today.

The Heat defeated the Knicks 111-105.

Thanks to his phenomenal performance in the final five minutes, Durant still managed to score a team-high 37 points.

After this game, the calls for the Heat to win the championship were no longer just mindless fantasies among Miami fans.

And all the teams in the league have begun to take this team seriously, one that has the potential to dethrone the Knicks.

(End of this chapter)