pertwk Chapter 262 Strategic Abandonment! An Unexpected Muddy Battle!
Chapter 262 Strategic Abandonment! An Unexpected Muddy Battle!
Chapter 262 Strategic Abandonment! An Unexpected Muddy Battle!
Game 3 of the series took place at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.
In this game, the Pacers only had 8 players available to play, including three players—Berhannon, Lewis, and Pope—who were almost completely unable to play and lacked the ability to do so.
So ultimately, the Pacers only had five players available to play in this game!
At the start of the game, the Pacers continued to show their fighting spirit and never give up. They were leading the Heat by 5 points at the end of the first quarter!
But in the second quarter, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse!
In the first quarter, Bird only let Bohannon play for 3 minutes. In the second quarter, Bird knew that he had to give the starters more rest, so he put Bohannon and Lewis on the court at the same time!
If only one player is on the court, in this era where mismatches and screen-and-shoot isolation plays are not emphasized, it's not too bad. But when two players who cannot match the intensity are on the court, the Pacers' problems on both ends of the court become immediately undeniable.
The Heat began to use every method to attack these two players, and with great success!
Mashburn and substitute Mali dominated this phase, combining for 11 points in less than 3 minutes! Leading the Heat to a dramatic comeback and take the lead!
Bird quickly called a timeout and made substitutions, taking both the "Sleeping Dragon" and "Young Phoenix" players off the court at the same time.
But the Pacers' momentum seemed to be interrupted by the Heat's surge. For the rest of the second quarter, they were in the chase position. Although the difference was only a few points, they could not catch up and could not reverse the momentum.
The deficit persisted until the final three minutes of the second quarter, when Lin Tian erupted once again! In those three minutes, he scored 14 points in a row, driving to the basket, shooting from the outside, and making free throws! He led his team on a 14-5 run!
After this surge, not only did the Pacers regain the lead, but Lin Tian also drew four fouls from Hardaway once again!
Poor Hardaway, he went 0-for-4 and scored no points in the first half!
From the very beginning of the match, they showed no intention of putting up any resistance!
Of the three players who played the full 48 minutes, Lewis scored 14 points and grabbed 3 rebounds, Pope scored 7 points and grabbed 7 rebounds, and Bohannon scored 9 points and dished out 2 assists.
For the remaining players, Lin Tian scored 20 points and 9 assists, Christie 10 points, Hoiberg 4 points, and Davis and Perkins 3 points each!
For the Heat, Mourning only played the first three quarters, but still displayed dominance: 30 points, 17 rebounds, and 5 blocks! Mashburn and Leonard combined for 26 points!
What delights Heat fans the most is Hardaway's resurgence!
In this game, he finally regained his top-level guard form, making 11 of 17 shots and scoring 25 points and 11 assists for a double-double. This was also the first time in the series that he outscored Lin Tian in terms of statistics!
Although he scored over 80% of his points against Böhran, the important thing is not how many points he can score against Lin Tian, but how many points he can actually score!
His three consecutive goalless games have caused great concern among the entire Miami community about his form!
But now, the Miami Heat can breathe a sigh of relief; Hardaway's form has returned.
Heat fans are sincerely hoping that Hardaway can carry over this form into the upcoming pivotal Game 5!
After the game, the Pacers did not stay in Miami. Bird led the team to take a plane overnight and send the players back to Indiana.
Because there is only one day of rest between the fourth and fifth games, Bird would rather the players stay up all night than let them experience the fatigue of travel again the next day.
Furthermore, after the team landed at the airport in Indiana, Bird told everyone on the team to rest well the next day, not to worry about anything, and not to gather. All training was canceled. They could just go to the arena to gather the day after tomorrow afternoon!
Bird's move effectively gave the players over 40 hours of continuous rest. If we add the day of rest after the third game and the fact that the team didn't expend much energy in tonight's game, that's enough time for the key players to recover their physical condition!
From the strategic concesion of Game 4 to returning to Indiana immediately to give the players time to rest, Bird has truly become a master of time management this time. Bird has done everything a coach can and should do. Now, it depends on whether the players can recover their form and physical condition to defeat the Heat!
After a day of rest, the Pacers' starting five took to the court together again at City Square Arena after a game apart!
Although it's a nerfed version of the original five, these five players are definitely the Pacers' last hope for the season!
In the last game, Lewis and two others demonstrated throughout the entire match that, at least at this stage, they are indeed not up to the task!
This is understandable, after all, Bernardon and Pope were originally extras among extras. If they had followed their original trajectory, they probably wouldn't have played more than 48 minutes in their entire careers. Lewis, on the other hand, has a bright future and the potential to become one of the league's top shooters.
But Lewis has only just graduated from high school, and he will need at least two more years to adapt to the level of NBA games!
Therefore, after the failed evaluation in the last game, if the Pacers want to win this game, they will basically need at least 3 starters to play the entire game!
"Get off to a strong start! From the very first minute, play our style and rhythm! Dominate the Heat from the very beginning! Smash them relentlessly! Keep them underwater, don't let them peek out, don't give them any chance!"
Before the game, Bird gave his players a very strict and passionate speech, which was extremely rare for him. His battle plan was actually very simple: seize the opening, play transition, and take advantage of the fact that the Heat had plenty of energy and could run to widen the score gap and not give them any chance!
The game unfolded exactly as Bird predicted!
From the start of the match, Lin Tian displayed full aggression and killing intent. He launched a three-round offensive against Hardaway and succeeded in all three rounds!
One time he drove straight to the basket, faked out Hardaway, and then scored a 2+1 play based on the timing. Another time he pulled up from beyond the three-point line and hit a three-pointer over Hardaway's defense. Yet another time he faked out Hardaway in the mid-range, then stuck to him and drew a foul, earning two free throws!
Less than two minutes into the game, Hardaway was fouled twice by Lin Tian and forced out of the game!
Sitting on the bench, Hadaway stared blankly, his face pale. He didn't even understand what he had just done or how he had been knocked down like that.
He couldn't accept that he had been so thoroughly defeated by Lin Tian! The little confidence he had gained in the last match vanished once again!
Riley was also unable to accept it.
Riley didn't understand either. Even if Hardaway wasn't as good as Lin Tian and wasn't an MVP-level top star, he was still a first-class guard in the league. How could he be so badly beaten, scoring zero points in three games and being knocked out in less than two minutes in one game?
This Lin Tian is ridiculously strong!
No one can defend against him!
Riley pulled Marley aside as he prepared to go on the field and quickly whispered the next tactics in his ear.
Then he patted Marley on the shoulder, signaling him to go on stage!
Lin Tian easily made both free throws on the court. After taking Hardaway out of the game, the entire Pacers team was in high spirits. Perkins even successfully blocked Mourning's one-on-one play. The Pacers immediately launched a full-scale counterattack!
But the moment Lin Tian got the ball, he suddenly realized that there were two people standing right in front of him!
Mareley and Mashburn!
It wasn't the hesitant, half-hearted double-team encirclement from before; it was a genuine, high-intensity double-team encirclement!
Moreover, it started from the backcourt!
Faced with this double-team defense, Lin Tian didn't rush to force an attack, but quickly passed the ball to Christie to advance the ball.
To Lin Tian's surprise, even after he had passed the ball out, Marley and Mashburn still stuck to him, showing no intention of turning around to defend anyone else. They just stayed right there with Lin Tian!
"My God! It seems Riley is truly driven to despair by Lin Tian!" Barkley exclaimed upon seeing this defense. "He's just having two guys ignore everything else and stick with Lin the entire time?"
"Perhaps this is the only way to limit Lin right now!" Kenny added, "I still remember the Jazz's BOX1 last year! I thought that was the ultimate defense against Lin! I didn't expect it to go even further this year!"
Barkley said, "That's right, an upgraded version of BOX, completely cutting Lin off from his teammates, preferring to let Lin's teammates play 4-on-3 rather than let Lin receive the ball or attack! It's safe to say the Heat and Riley are really going all in! Let's see if Riley's tactics can change the current situation!"
On the court, Lin Tian had been completely separated from his teammates by Riley's tactics!
The two of them were practically clinging to Lin Tian, while the rest of the Pacers team were completely ignored and left to their own devices!
Lin Tian knew very well that the Heat dared to defend like this because the Pacers' offense was currently lacking! Apart from himself and Christie, the rest of the players didn't have any particularly consistent scoring methods or abilities!
If even two of Carter, Schmitz, Miller, and Mullin were on the court, the Heat would absolutely not dare to defend like that!
But now, they're emboldened! They simply don't believe that Davis, Perkins, and Hoiberg can shoot them to death!
Furthermore, with the Heat having a behemoth like Mourning and their best defensive player in the paint, the rest of the Pacers will have little chance of posing a threat to the Heat's paint. Their drives will likely be severely hampered by Mourning's rim protection!
Simply put, the Heat have given the Pacers open looks. Whether they can make the shots and capitalize on them depends on how tough they are!
The Heat's extremely aggressive defensive strategy left Bird frowning, because it had indeed hit the Pacers' weak point!
Insufficient personnel, insufficient offensive firepower, and insufficient defensive capabilities.
Well, apart from Lin Tian, the Pacers are actually not good in every aspect right now!
But facing the Heat's "open scheme" of directly exposing weaknesses right in front of you, Bird really didn't have many good options.
What can he do?
He really had no other option but to pray that the other three Pacers players would make their open shots.
If you can't even make an open shot, then you're truly out of options.
then……
I just can't make the shot!
Apart from Christie, who has some ability to initiate attacks with the ball, the other three players on the Pacers are purely rim-running players. Davis and Perkins in the paint are even more lacking in offensive ability!
They posed virtually no threat or offensive threat to the Heat's interior defense!
So, although it's called a 4-on-3, with Mourning guarding the paint and almost never leaving the three-second zone, Heat power forward Brown can sweep around and help defend, targeting Hoiberg and Christie.
Meanwhile, Mourning, in the paint, was no match for Perkins and Davis! An All-NBA First Team center had absolutely no problem facing a 38-year-old veteran and a pure role player!
For the next three minutes, the Pacers went into an incredibly awkward scoring drought.
Every shot they take is an open or semi-open shot. Their shot selections are generally fine, and these are the kind of shot opportunities that coaches in the league dream of!
But they just couldn't make the shot!
Whether it's Christie, Hoiberg, Perkins, or Davis, they just can't put the ball in the basket!
After missing several shots in a row at the beginning, the Pacers players got a little flustered and lost confidence in their shooting, so they started making even worse choices!
Drive to the basket!
Hoiberg and Christie both drove towards the basket, attempting to challenge Mourning's defense.
Given their impact and ability, going head-to-head with Mourning like this is no different from an egg hitting a rock!
Mourning didn't hold back either, delivering two spectacular blocks to help the Heat launch a fast break!
Halfway through the first quarter, the Pacers had only scored 8 points! Meanwhile, the Heat were scoring with a combination of inside drives and outside shots, plus fast breaks after two blocks, bringing their total to 14 points!
Bird wanted to seize the initiative from the start, but he was caught off guard by Riley's sudden lineup change, and the Heat went on a run and took control!
Although Bird quickly called a timeout, he really didn't have much to arrange or adjust, after all, the team only had so many players!
If Mullin, Carter, or Miller were here...
Bird shook his head and let out a long sigh.
If they were there, the Heat wouldn't dare to defend like that!
With no room for adjustment, Bird had no choice but to keep his players confident, aggressive, and to encourage them to take open shots and avoid blindly attacking the basket.
If I absolutely had to suggest a solution...
Bird glanced at Lin Tian. The only solution was to have this guy force a two-on-one fight.
This is not a solution at all.
Bird sighed again, suppressing the obviously unreliable idea from his mind.
Instead of letting players take open shots, making star players take on two or even three opponents at once is a wrong choice no matter how you look at it. Even though Bird himself was a top star in the league, he thought that making players take on two or three opponents at once the whole game was just too ridiculous!
Take a look! Take another look!
The timeout ended, and both teams returned to the court. Although the Heat were missing Hardaway, their confidence was noticeably stronger! Riley's strategy had worked wonders, and the Heat players were naturally in high spirits, continuing to execute the tactics he had devised.
After the timeout, the Pacers' first possession still failed to score! Christie got a lot of space beyond the three-point line, but his shot still missed! He's clearly fallen back into that terrible form from last year's playoffs, where he didn't make a single three-pointer throughout the entire series!
Mourning was a dominant force under the basket. He spread his elbows to push Perkins and Davis aside, then grabbed the rebound and immediately made a long pass to Mashburn who was cutting down the court.
After receiving the ball, Mashburn launched a series of attacks, then gathered the ball and started his run, ready to unleash a brutal dunk to boost the team's morale!
But just as he jumped up, he felt a tremendous force suddenly come through his hand, and then the basketball in his hand vanished!
Although the basketball was gone, the momentum from the jump still propelled Mashburn upwards for a distance, making him look particularly comical.
However, Lin Tian had no interest in watching Mashburn's comical show. After intercepting the ball, he quickly started running and rushed towards the front!
Along the way, Lin Tian did not stop or slow down at all, but instead pushed his speed to the maximum and charged straight towards the Heat's basket!
"Come on, Lin! Let's do it again! Let's see who the loser is!" Mourning spread his arms and roared under the basket! Ever since he was dunked on by Lin Tian in the first two games, this guy has been holding back a lot of energy, wanting to block Lin Tian and get revenge for himself.
It's clear that getting a hat like Lin Tian won't be that easy!
"Bang!"
In mid-air, the two collided violently. Although Lin Tian failed to completely push away Mo Ning, he created a space for himself to shoot. He pulled the ball to the far left with his left hand, pulled it up and down, just dodging Mo Ning's block. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he skillfully sent the ball into the basket!
"Stay focused! Don't let your guard down!" After scoring, Lin Tian stumbled on the floor but quickly regained his balance. While rapidly returning to defense, he directed his teammates, "Stay confident! Shoot when you should! Don't be afraid!"
"It's okay if you miss! But defense! Now, everyone on defense! Raise the intensity of your defense!"
Lin Tian's shouts finally roused the Pacers players, and they increased their defensive intensity once again, successfully stopping the Heat's attack!
Lin Tian started calling for the ball from the backcourt with great decisiveness and force! The moment he got the ball, Mashburn and Marley rushed towards him!
Facing a double-team, Lin Tian constantly changed the rhythm and method of his dribbling, continuously pushing forward quickly!
Despite being double-teamed, Lin Tian showed no signs of tension or embarrassment. He calmly advanced, constantly looking for opportunities. Because of their fear of his speed and ability, Mashburn and Marley did nothing but retreat and never attempted to press him.
Riley, sitting on the sidelines, was furious. He spread his hands and shouted, "Press them! Press them! What are you doing! There are two of you! Why are you afraid! Pressure! Pressure! Press them down!"
Riley's shouts did have an effect. Mashburn and Marley exchanged a glance, then quickly moved forward, trying to increase the intensity on Lin Tian!
But Lin Tian's speed was really too fast. Just as the two were about to close in, Lin Tian suddenly changed direction and dribbled the ball. In the blink of an eye, he turned into a yellow lightning bolt. First, he moved to the left to create an opening between the two. Then, Lin Tian dribbled to the right and passed between the two!
Lin Tian broke through the Heat's double-team almost in the blink of an eye!
Then he charged forward at full speed once again, heading straight for Mo Ning!
However, this time, facing Mourning's even fiercer help defense than before, Lin Tian did not try to challenge him. Instead, he suddenly stopped outside the three-second zone, then raised his hand and made a floater. The basketball flew through Mourning's fingers, drew a super high arc, and then fell into the basket!
"Whoosh!"
That crisp sound resonated in the hearts of almost every Pacers fan!
Is there a better leader and hero than this?
Is there a player greater than Lin Tian?
Unparalleled pride and confidence ignited in the hearts of every Pacers fan!
Our team leader is just that strong!
So what if we double-team the whole game? So what if it's 2-on-1 or even 3-on-1?
Wasn't it all blasted through by our Lin?
Our Lin is the strongest in the league!
"Defense! Everyone, defense! We can win the game!" After scoring, Lin Tian sprinted back to defense, clapping his hands loudly and roaring, "The shots you can't make, I'll take! The attacks you can't score, I'll execute!"
"The rebounds you guys miss, I'll catch! But defense requires a team effort!"
Lin Tian's roar once again boosted the morale of the entire team, and the Pacers' defense hardened once more!
Their defensive intensity has also noticeably increased!
Yes! Lin is right! If we can't handle the offense, then we'll leave it to Lin!
What we need to do is help him withstand the opponent's attack on the offensive end!
Let's do it!
This is the one!
In the following game, the Pacers players displayed unparalleled defensive passion. They gave their all to defend the Heat's offense, block their drives, and shut down their shots.
As for Lin Tian, on the offensive end, he repeatedly took on two or three opponents at once, and then tried every means to put the basketball into the hoop!
Thanks to the efforts of Lin Tian and the entire Pacers team, the Heat's offensive efficiency has clearly declined! Whether it's Mourning and Brown, who dominate the paint, or Mashburn and Leonard on the perimeter, they are finding it difficult to get easy shooting opportunities and to score!
Every time they shoot, they have to shoot against the fearless Pacers players, and their movements are always distorted by the pressure!
Perkins played with the ferocity of his prime, while Davis repeatedly headbutted Mourning's elbow, trying to provoke Mourning into elbowing his head so that Mourning would receive a technical foul.
Mashburn, who had dominated Christie in the first four games of the series, suddenly felt Christie's toughness. He found that his reliable back-to-the-basket moves and power play had disappeared! He was finding it difficult to move Christie around!
And among the entire Pacers team, the most aggressive and ruthless defender is undoubtedly Hoiberg, a guy who usually doesn't stand out.
Hoiberg knows he's not good enough, knows he's the worst of the current Pacers roster, and knows he's dragging the team down.
So he put in 120% effort and devoted himself to defense. He moved quickly and appeared in every corner of the court. He not only forced Leonard to have almost no opportunities to attack or receive the ball, but he was also able to quickly fill the gaps left by his teammates when they were out of position.
He actually became the Pacers' most aggressive and solid outside defender!
After successfully lowering the Heat's offensive efficiency and making them struggle on offense, the Pacers still failed to widen the score gap.
Because their offensive efficiency is also not very high!
The Pacers' offensive form and touch were really poor tonight; they just couldn't make those damn shots! Whether it was an open shot or a contested one, whether it was a three-pointer or a mid-range jumper, they just couldn't put the ball in the basket!
Although Lin Tian kept attacking and always managed to score, he was always facing the defense of at least two Heat players!
Every time he starts from the backcourt, he faces harassment and interference from at least two Heat players!
The Heat couldn't score, so they focused a lot of their energy on defense!
This fighting style not only caused Lin Tian to exhaust his stamina very quickly, but also made each of his attacks extremely difficult!
He has to give it his all and exert all his energy every moment in order to maintain his already low scoring efficiency.
In addition, Lin Tian had almost no rest time and had to give his all on both offense and defense, so his shooting percentage was even worse.
In the first quarter, thanks to the efficient scoring of both sides at the beginning, the score was tied at 24-24!
However, in the second quarter, the offensive pace and efficiency of both sides began to decline rapidly, and the two sides combined for less than 30 points in this quarter!
38: 39!
The Pacers led by one point at halftime.
This inefficient and difficult attack, this extremely exhausting and almost torturous match for both sides, this confrontation that is no different from war, will obviously not end with the halftime break.
Halftime is just the calm before the storm!
When the break is over, both sides will go all out and use everything they have to completely defeat and crush their opponent!
"Raise your intensity even higher! We have the stamina advantage! We have the personnel advantage! Our advantage is huge! We can shut them down! They're basically just Lin and four useless players! In the second half, keep intensifying your defense on Lin!"
During halftime, Riley was talking non-stop, shouting and yelling, trying to squeeze out more fighting spirit and energy from the players. He hoped that the players could raise their intensity even further!
"If two people aren't enough, then three; if three aren't enough, then four! How can you let Lin score so relentlessly? Aren't you ashamed? Don't any of you have any sense of shame?"
"Get hard! Everyone get hard! Get completely hard! Give it your all!"
"Second half, shut down Lin! If you can stop him, the rest of the Pacers are just a pile of trash! If you can stop him, we can win! I don't want to go back to Indiana for this series! I want this series to end in Miami! Got it?"
"clear!"
Bird was doing something similar with the Pacers. He was also frantically boosting the team's morale and had the masseuses hurry up and give the Pacers players massages.
He wants to get the players back in shape as much as possible so they have more energy for the second half.
Although the Pacers were temporarily leading by one point, Bird showed no signs of relaxation; in fact, he seemed to be having a major headache.
Because the course of this game is so similar to that of Game 3! Bird felt that if even one person had a problem, or if even one person was running out of energy, they could all repeat the mistakes of Game 3.
They were stunned by the Heat, who had plenty of energy and manpower!
In the first half, the team failed to execute any of Bird's strategies! What he wanted was for the whole team to run, wear down the Heat, and gain as much of a lead as possible in the first half.
In reality, the team didn't get going, nor did they gain much of a lead, and the Heat controlled almost the entire pace of the game.
The two sides were playing the kind of muddy, physical battles that this Pacers team should never have been playing. Every possession was a contest of physical strength and willpower.
But unfortunately, Bird was powerless to do anything about it!
What could he do? He couldn't exactly go on the court and make those damn open shots for his players!
There's space, but I just can't get the ball in. Even if Dr. Naismith came, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it!
(End of this chapter)