Basketball: Starting from the Rodman template

Chapter 144 Continuous defeat
Woody flexed his arms, flexing his biceps.

Under the close-up shot, this action stimulated all the fans at the scene.

A burst of cheers sounded, adding more atmosphere to this home court.

Miami is a passionate place, but these fans need stimulation again and again to give them a feeling so that they can continue to cheer.

They may be among the top five most vulnerable fan groups in the league.

Seeing Okur's particularly clumsy figure against Woody, Ben Wallace glanced at Tomjanovich.

He knew it was time for him to return to the court.

A score of 7 points is almost the same, and a score of 5 points is even less different.

Tomjanovich, the head coach, is famous for following the wishes of his players.

He is a head coach who knows how to delegate authority.

In his view, players' greatest power of action comes from their own choices.

It's not him forcing these guys to be who they want to be.

On the first day he came to the Pistons, he said this: "If you win the championship, then the championship ring will not be my name, but your own name!"

You are fighting for yourself, not for me!

Just a simple sentence made this matter clear to everyone in the Pistons.

The entire subjective initiative of the Pistons was suddenly exhausted.

The entire team quickly gathered a fighting spirit.

Of course, a big reason for this is the seamless transition of Rasheed Wallace.

He really fits this Pistons team so well.

It was like a barrel with an irregular hole, but Rasheed Wallace's irregular target fit the shape of it exactly, without any gap.

When Ben Wallace stood up, Tomjanovich immediately waved his hand and put him in the player waiting area.

This decision is wise.

Because while Ben Wallace was waiting, Woody stepped up from the basket again, causing Okur to foul.

This time Woody seized the opportunity and made both free throws, narrowing the point difference to 3 points!
The gap of a ball!
Thanks to Woody's performance, the fighting spirit of the entire Heat team also showed signs of resurgence at this moment.

But it all came to an abrupt end after Ben Wallace came on the field.

As the most mobile fifth position in the league, Ben Wallace has never been afraid of opposing players who use "eating pie" as their main offensive method. He is even more afraid of players like Shaquille O'Neal and Yao Ming who have baskets. Matchup of singles ability.

Woody happens to be the kind of matchup that Ben Wallace is good at dealing with.

As soon as he came up, Woody no longer felt so comfortable catching the ball under the basket.

Although Woody has better jumping ability and coordination than Ben Wallace, he is still not as good as Ben Wallace in terms of strength.

Coupled with the lack of experience, the Pistons coaching staff also conducted a lot of research on his habits at the basket.

Woody scored 1 points 4 minute before Ben Wallace came on the court, but after he came on the court, he only scored 4 point 1 minutes after he came on the court!
That's not the worst moment.

What was even worse was after Rasheed Wallace came up.

The "Double Wallace"'s inside coordination is terrifying, and they are able to resist and attack, and they have enough experience. When Woody faced them in the first quarter, he was severely restricted. Now they After getting used to it, it becomes even more difficult now...

It doesn't matter that Woody is having a hard time. With further adaptation, the Pistons' entire defensive team will become more comfortable with Heat players in other positions.

The addition of Rasheed Wallace also made Prince on the wing even more ferocious.

The most powerful thing about this guy is his ability to entangle and cover defense. However, because he is not physically strong, he can easily get pushed away during the entanglement. But it is different now, with Rasheed Wallace. With Ben Wallace behind him, there is no fear of missing anyone.

This is sometimes the case on the basketball court. When you are not afraid of missing someone, you will often not miss anyone...

Caron Butler had absolutely no room to take a shot. At the end of the first half, he only hit 5 goal in 1 shots.

Jones's lack of breakthrough ability was also exposed at this moment.

The Pistons' offensive momentum tonight was not very good. Except for Rasheed Wallace, who opened up the situation, everyone else was in a sluggish state, including Billups, who hit a three-pointer in the first quarter. .

But relying on defense, they still established a 10-point advantage at the end of the half.

The second half is almost a repeat of the first half. When Woody is not facing Ben Wallace, he can catch the ball well and complete the offense at the basket. But once he needs to face Ben Wallace, coupled with the pull With Sid Wallace's back-up defense, he has almost no chance to catch the ball, and can only "draw" from the outside with a mid-range shot.

But after high-intensity confrontation, the problem of his shooting instability was also exposed.

Before the third quarter ended, fans had already left the auditorium.

Woody is restricted to this, let alone the rest of the Heat.

When the fourth quarter of the game started, the Heat were completely passive, and the situation on the court was completely dragged down by the Pistons.

At the end of the game, the Pistons won the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals 91-79 at the Heat's home court with a margin of 12 points.

伍迪全场12投5中，罚球6罚4中，拿到了14分，篮板数罕见没有达到10个。

He did contribute 3 blocks.

But there were only 2 assists and 1 steal, and there were 4 turnovers.

His performance was so bad, let alone everyone else's.

奥多姆拿到了15分5篮板5助攻，可命中率只有35%，失误数比伍迪还要多1个。

Wade, who was in the "correct position", played 21 minutes and 34 seconds, but only scored 11 points, and his shooting percentage was as low as 30%!

Other people's data are also quite different from usual.

It can be said that this is the Heat's worst loss since entering the playoffs.

Even the losses to the Nets in the first two games of the second round of the playoffs were never this miserable.

After all, Woody's dazzling performance was still there in those two games. In this game, even this phenomenal newcomer was restricted.

The strength of the Pistons exceeded the expectations of many media people.

Before the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals, many media had similar views to those of the Miami media. They all believed that the Heat had a greater chance of winning.

After all, a 3-0 sweep in the regular season is terrifying!
Moreover, the wins in those three games were not due to luck. The Pistons did have the problem of not being able to handle Woody's point.Who would have thought of the result!
The arrival of Rasheed Wallace perfectly solved this problem.

Woody was so restrained that he had no temper at all.

But what no one expected was that the Pistons' restrictions on Woody in the first game had not yet reached the ultimate version.

In the first game, they were just making some targeted attempts.

In the second game of the series, when Prince on the wing also joined in the defense against Woody, Woody just felt what "real discomfort" was at this time!
Almost as soon as he got the ball, he was double-teamed in time.

In this pressing situation, Woody's passing was not as smooth as usual.

In the final analysis, some of his skills, such as his shooting and his passing ability, are only at the level of "a bottle is not half full". When faced with this kind of very targeted defensive treatment, it is easy for him to Problems will arise in these aspects!

In the first game, Woody's statistics were already ordinary.

His data in this game can be described as incredible!

After the second game, he only scored a miserable 8 points and 7 rebounds...

The last time he posted such miserable statistics was not long after he entered the league. As he became more and more accustomed to the league, his statistics became better and better, otherwise he would not be called a "phenomenal newcomer." "Yes.

After watching the game, Kenny Smith gave his evaluation: "At this moment, I just thought that he was only 18 years old!"

Many media also have this attitude.

He did not criticize Woody for his downturn, but gave him such a sentiment.

Any newcomer will experience this kind of morale, so in their eyes, Woody's slump doesn't mean anything.

This is already the stage for the Eastern Conference finals.

Who was the last "Rookie of the Year" to reach the Eastern Conference Finals as a core player right out of the gate?
I'm afraid I have to take a good look at the NBA's historical records, right?

It's normal for newcomers to experience slumps.

However, some reporters asked Ben Wallace this question after the second game:

"Do you think you're putting too much pressure on him? Are you worried that you'll destroy Woody's self-confidence?"

Ben Wallace said: "I have known him for a long time. I know what kind of character he is. I also know very well that this is a war..."

It's war, so of course we can't show mercy!

The most important thing is that Ben Wallace is very optimistic about Woody's future.

If you beat him up now, you will have bragging rights in the future~
No matter how awesome Woody is from now on, Ben Wallace will teach him the first lesson of the playoffs.

When he thought about this, Ben Wallace's "honest and honest" smile couldn't help but want to bloom.

The reporter looked at him and said "hehe" sillyly from time to time, looking at him curiously, and he coughed twice awkwardly: "It's nothing, I just thought of happy things!"

Of course, some media also took advantage of this opportunity to belittle Woody, such as the media in Cleveland...

And ESPN!

However, the media forces behind Woody are not a vegetarian. They immediately reported a news about LeBron James going fishing, and then not long after, they reported that Woody was preparing for the third game of the Eastern Conference Finals!
Putting these two pieces of news together, the meaning they want to express is very clear:
Regardless, Woody is still playing in the playoffs, and some are already preparing for next season.

For this reason, the team behind LeBron James cannot stand up!

"Guys, don't pay too much attention to the losses in the first two games. Believe me, none of this is a big deal. We have not experienced these things. Now that we have experienced these, it will make us better!"

Stan Van Gundy tried to comfort his new core.

That's the assignment he got from Pat Riley.

At the same time, they have also made great adjustments to their strategic goals for this series. It is no longer about winning this series, but trying to win another game: "Let's bring the series back to Miami! "

After having already lost two games, and it was a very tragic defeat, to encourage the players to win the series is not "chicken soup", but "poison" that will have the opposite effect. .

It is easier to win one game than to win 4 games.

If winning a game is difficult, then you should consider whether you are not working hard enough...

Stan Van Gundy knows one thing very well, there is a high probability that they will not be able to beat this Pistons team.

But being swept by the opponent is completely different from trying to tear off a piece of "meat", even if you are eliminated 1-4.

The former means that the opponent is invincible in the eyes of this Heat team.

And the latter...

At least it is an opponent that has been defeated, so there will be no fear of the opponent.

In the third game of the series, Woody also changed his style of play.

After the first two games, he knew very well that he would not be able to perform as well as he did in the first two rounds of the series against this Pistons team.

Now if he wants to help the team, he must focus on his greatest strengths...

What is his greatest advantage?

Obviously it’s rebounding!

So at the beginning of the third game of the series, he focused on rebounding.

Although Ben Wallace has also been the "rebound king" for several times, he, like Woody, relies on mobility and physical fitness to grab rebounds under the basket. In these aspects, Woody has greater advantages than him. .

Not to mention anything else, even the bonuses brought by his two badges are not something that Ben Wallace can compare with.

This made him stunned in the third game of the series. He was double-teamed by Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace and grabbed 21 rebounds, although he only scored 9 points. , but these 21 rebounds gave the Heat enough security for their outside shooting.

This sense of security allowed the Heat, who are good at three-point shooting, to score 15 three-pointers from the outside.

Once the entire front line is opened, even the Pistons, whose defense is impregnable, will always fail to support each other in time, not to mention that they still have Hamilton as a defensive breakthrough.

In the third game of the series, the first away game of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat took enough initiative. This initiative allowed them to lead by 8 points until the end of the third quarter of the game.

But this team has traditional performances;

The resilience attribute starts to activate.

As soon as the fourth quarter started, their overall momentum was somewhat suppressed, but they immediately organized a counterattack. In less than 4 minutes, the Heat's 8-point lead was suddenly reduced to 2 points.The whole situation seems to be swaying to the Pistons' side again...

(End of this chapter)