The longest river

Chapter 141 Riley really regretted it!
Riley stood up from the bench.

He turned to look at the other half of the court.

The last time he was so surprised by the Pacers was when Larry Brown suddenly started playing offensive tactics.

Now, he thought he had won the game with Bird, but he didn't expect Bird to have a trick up his sleeve.

Is this the true value of being the best coach?

Bird: I'm on the same level as Brown, I really don't.

This was not his arrangement, but rather Yang Shuai's request before the match.

Previously, Bird wouldn't have agreed, since a 1'8" Best would have been exploited by the Heat in mismatches against any opponent.

But now that he has Mark Jackson, he no longer has that worry.

When he played against the Knicks before, Jackson could even hold his own against Larry Johnson.

Bird then stood up and made a new tactical gesture to Jackson.

The Pacers moved into the frontcourt and continued to play a half-court game, but this time they switched from the strong side to the weak side, with Schmitz posting up.

Schmitz opted for a turnaround fadeaway jumper, but Mourning made a desperate tackle to contest it.

"when!"

Mourning's long arms make him quite effective defensively in the penalty area.

However, Davis grabbed the offensive rebound and scored on the putback!
The Heat's "one big man and four small men" lineup is indeed better able to deal with the Pacers' spacing tactics on the defensive end, but having only one big man on the court inevitably results in a lack of rebounding ability.

Hardaway continued to advance the ball into the attacking third, and when he saw Yang Shuai's precarious, hunter-like stance, he immediately abandoned his personal attack.

Bird said that the most important thing when facing Jordan is to have confidence, and Hardaway's choice at this moment says something.

Hardaway signaled to Mourning to get into position in the low post, and then fed him the ball.

This choice is still fine; the Heat's "one big and four small" lineup provides ample space on the court.

However, just as Mourning received the ball and prepared to go one-on-one, Yang Shuai was already double-teaming him.

Mourning reacted quickly, passing the ball back to Hardaway immediately after seeing the situation.

Hardaway also seized the opportunity and took a three-pointer.

But just as he made his move, he saw Yang Shuai rushing towards him again.

This guy's support speed is too fast!
"when!"

Hardaway's three-point attempt wasn't blocked, but the ball hit the backboard and bounced off the rim.

Davis secured the rebound.

If a lineup of "one big man and four small men" can't even protect defensive rebounds, then offensive rebounds are out of the question.

The scene was in an uproar.

Yang Shuai thwarted all three of the Heat's opening offensive plays!
This situation left not only Riley but also the fans dumbfounded.

It's important to know that Yang Shuai not only demonstrated top-tier individual defensive ability, but also equally excellent help defense ability.

It's no exaggeration to say that he now has his own built-in defensive system.

In the Pacers' frontcourt, Schmitz continued his low-post isolation play, this time opting for a spin drive towards the free-throw line.

Mashburn opted to help defend, and Davis, lacking shooting ability, would have had time to get back on defense if Schmitz had chosen to pass.

However, Schmitz opted to take a close-range floater over Mashburn's help defense.

Mashburn reached out to try and stop him, but the height difference prevented him from succeeding.

"Shh!"

Schmitz displayed his soft touch, steadily sending the ball into the basket.

0:6.

Unlike Game 1 against the Knicks in the first round, the Pacers had a perfect start this time!

The camera pans to Riley on the sidelines.

Riley had lost the composure he had at the beginning.

The Heat's "one big man and four small men" lineup is not showing any advantage at all; it's all disadvantage.

The Heat finally executed a good play in the frontcourt, with Hardaway driving to the basket and making a floater.

But the ball bounced off the edge of the rim.

Hardaway's performance in Game 5 of the first round was a microcosm of his playoff performance this year; his scoring efficiency has dropped a whole level compared to last year's playoffs.

Then, Yang Shuai came again.

His fast break is like that of a peerless hero riding on a colorful cloud to save his beloved.

"Oh!"

After Yang Shuai dodged Hardaway's steal and slammed the ball into the basket with a tomahawk dunk, Riley called a timeout.

There was an uproar at the scene.

Miami fans belatedly realized that Yang Shuai's aggressiveness on both offense and defense was directly related to the DPOY result.

This is the league indirectly giving Yang Shuai a shot in the arm.

Damn media! What's wrong with voting for him as the DPOY?
After the timeout, the Heat made a substitution, with PJ Brown replacing Mallley.

This substitution also signifies that his initial battle with Bird ultimately ended in failure.

The Heat made a subtle adjustment on offense at this point, with Mourning moving directly to the weak side to establish position.

Riley is clearly afraid of Yang Shuai; he can't afford to offend him, so he has no choice but to avoid him.

After receiving the ball, Mourning opened the scoring for the Heat with a mid-range jumper following a triple-threat maneuver. This brought a touch of warmth to the frozen Miami Arena.

Once they returned to the defensive end, the fans began chanting for a defensive play.

Riley stood on the sidelines with a serious expression, while the Heat's defense was highly aggressive.

For the first half of the Pacers' 24-second shot clock, the Heat's defense kept their men in place.

However, in the second half, as Brown lost track of Miller, the Heat's defense began to focus on patching up the gaps.

Fortunately, Schmitz's shot from the high post didn't go in, and the Heat managed to hold onto the ball.

During the transition between offense and defense, Mourning continued to receive the ball in the low post and engage in one-on-one play.

He flicked Schmitz with a mid-range shot, then drove to the basket, drawing a foul from Davis and going to the free-throw line.

Mourning made both free throws, scoring 4 points in a row.

The Heat have temporarily stabilized the situation on the court.

In the first round, Tim Hardaway was in poor form, but Glen Rice of the Hornets was in superb form.

The latter averaged 28 points in 5 games, especially scoring 39 points in Game 4, which dragged the game into a do-or-die situation.

It's fair to say that if it weren't for Mourning's outstanding performance in the paint, the Heat would already be fishing on the Miami beach right now, labeled as having been upset in the seventh round.

"Defend! Defend!"

The fans' unified chants of "Defense!" rang out once more.

The Heat's defensive intensity continued to rise with the support of their fans.

Moreover, Mourning's footwork is much faster than Ewing's now, so he won't get shot over by Miller after a screen.

The ball eventually ended up in Yang Shuai's hands.

With little time remaining on the shot clock, Yang Shuai faked a three-point shot to get past Mashburn, then raced against time to drive into the paint.

Seeing this, Brown raised his hands to interfere with Yang Shuai's attack.

But to his surprise, Yang Shuai jumped up right in front of him.

"Oh!"

Yang Shuai completed a buzzer-beating dunk over a defender, the immense impact even knocking the unsuspecting Brown directly into the crowd of photographers.

After landing, Yang Shuai gave Brown a death stare.

The fans at the scene were stunned.

When there's not much time left on the shot clock, most players are thinking about getting a shot off as quickly as possible.

But Yang Shuai went from faking a shot to driving to the basket and then slamming the ball over someone. This was not only confident and composed, but it was also obvious that he was using them as punching bags!
Speaking of Yang Shuai, although his breakthrough ability on the system panel hasn't changed this season, he has gained weight and even wears low-top shoes, making his breakthrough threat much greater than last season.

Including his improved but not yet fully developed explosiveness, it's foreseeable that next season he will not only be a great shooter, but his drives will also be a major headache for opponents.

Turning around, Yang Shuai also moved to the weak side to help defend, not giving Mourning any more opportunities to post up.

Seeing this, Mashburn immediately positioned himself against Yang Shuai to initiate a one-on-one attack.

Among the Dallas "3Js", Marsh was the one that Yang was least familiar with, but once the opponent started playing one-on-one, he could feel that the opponent was stronger than Jim Jackson.

Especially his strength, Yang Shuai felt was even stronger than Jordan's.

Mashburn's back-to-the-basket technique is also very skillful. After using his strength to force Yang Shuai to lower his center of gravity, he quickly turns around and shoots a mid-range shot towards the free-throw line.

"Snapped!"

But just as he turned and jumped, he suddenly felt his hand become lighter.

Yang Shuai stole the ball from his hand!

Yang Shuai's stealing ability has also improved this season along with his individual and help defense, and has now reached a superstar level of 93.

The Heat could only stop Yang Shuai's fast break by fouling him again.

While this method is indeed effective, the number of fouls is also accumulating rapidly towards 5 per quarter.

More importantly, with Yang Shuai's offensive and defensive maneuvers, the emotions that Mo Ning had managed to lift were instantly brought back to square one.

With Miller hitting a three-pointer, the score quickly reached 13-4.

The Miami Arena was now completely silent.

Before the game, they thought the Knicks were trash, which is why they were beaten so badly by the Pacers.

But now, looking at the Pacers' full roster, it's clear that, just as Ernie Johnson said, they are stronger than most people imagined!

However, this was still not the most desperate moment.

When Yang Shuai, who had been resting for a while and was substituted back into the game after 10 minutes of the first quarter, started to "stagger his outings," the Miami fans in the arena could finally understand the feelings of the New York fans.

Riley also specifically paired Mashburn with Yang Shuai for this matchup.

However, Mashburn couldn't contain Yang Shuai on either offense or defense, and the Heat's point difference continued to widen little by little.

Riley's gaze lingered on Yang Shuai for a long time.

The reason he answered reporters' questions before was not only to maintain his "mastermind" image, but also because he felt he had done the best, transforming the Heat from a team on the verge of the playoffs into a championship contender in just two seasons.

Having Yang Shuai might be better, but not having Yang Shuai? That's perfectly fine too.

But even at this moment, an idea had uncontrollably risen in his mind: if the Heat had used the 10th pick to select Yang Shuai, the team would definitely be better than it is now.

Even the pressure Yang Shuai exerted on the defensive end tonight reminded him of that man.

He always believed that Phil Jackson was just luckier than him to have the opportunity to coach Jordan.

But now, he feels he may have given up another opportunity with his own hands.

(End of this chapter)