The Road to Stardom: Start as a Slam Dunk Master

Washington, D.C., Wizards' practice facility.

Doug Collins was sitting relaxedly in front of the video recorder, leading the whole team to watch the SuperSonics game.

The overall atmosphere of the team is relatively relaxed. The three-round series in the Eastern Conference was almost swept all the way. This not only accumulated great confidence for the Wizards, but also allowed everyone to get sufficient rest.

Just like now, when the G5 game between the SuperSonics and the Spurs begins, they have already relaxed and rested for two or three days, and have also studied the SuperSonics for two or three days.

In fact, after this Sonics experienced an amazing season, there are no longer many secrets in the eyes of the league's coaches and players.

There are two absolute cores, Lin Dong and Payton. One is the offensive core of the team, and the other is the defensive core. As for the other Sakuragi Hanamichi who only suddenly appeared when playing against the Lakers, he can barely be regarded as a Supersonic player now. The inside core.

The word "reluctantly" is used because his personal strengths and weaknesses are too obvious. When playing against the Lakers, he successfully restricted the arrogant Sharks in G5, and also created a seemingly weird but strange way of bypassing defense. Practical tricks, and his understanding and instinct of inside, defense, and rebounding are indeed absolutely talented.

But first, the offensive ability is seriously insufficient. Although there is a certain ability to eat cakes, the effect is often achieved by cooperating with Lin Dong who penetrates into the inside, or by fixing the mid-range position with one hand. Both of these are actually very good. Easy to defend.

Secondly, this guy's forward defense was only amazing in the Lakers G5 game. In the subsequent game against the Spurs, the addition of the Twin Towers lineup made Sakuragi Hanamichi's defense against Duncan look much inferior. O'Neal? It's not that O'Neal is weaker than Duncan, it can only be said that he is too unlucky. The first time he faced this tactic, the Lakers did not have a second strong inside player, so they did not think of a counterbalance strategy.

But these two points do not exist for the Wizards.

Harrington himself is an all-around forward who can play at the 3rd and 4th positions. His strength and flexibility are not inferior to Sakuragi Hanamichi, and his height and weight are even worse. On the offensive end, he can form a twin tower with Yao Ming. Breaking Sakuragi Hanamichi's forward defense, and Yao Ming's height of 226 cm is much higher than Sakuragi Hanamichi's. This in itself is a natural advantage to restrain Sakuragi Hanamichi's forward defense.

They are all tactical experts. After watching a few games of this type of forward defense, you can see how it works. The twin towers are the key to breaking through the forward defense, and more importantly, the height of the opponent cannot be too different. , otherwise others will just hang in high, and they will put one hand on the defender who is going around you, making you unable to jump up or unable to jump high, and then just catch the ball steadily. What can you do? Relying on teammates to help defend against flanking attacks? They are the inner twin towers...

After cracking the Sonics' internal loop, the Sonics basically have no means to limit the Wizards.

Insider Yao Ming's scoring ability has been fully proven this season, and there is no one in the Sonics who can limit him.

On the outside, Tyronn Lue is good at three-pointers. What's even more terrible is that even Harrington at the 3rd and 4th positions also has very accurate mid-range and 3-pointers. This season, his 3-point shooting rate is as high as 48%, which is the Wizards' outside line. The main source of firepower.

As for the other one…

“Will the basketball god’s scoring ability be limited?”

As Collins spoke, he smiled and looked at Jordan, who was sitting comfortably smoking a cigar.

Speaking of the relationship between the two, Collins was Jordan's original 'teacher'. He took Jordan with him for several seasons when he was a rookie with the Bulls, developing his offensive abilities and allowing Jordan to lead the scoring team every year. Later, Phil Jackson also It's just a matter of picking the cheap fruits he cultivated. There are few people in the world who know Jordan's scoring ability better than him.

No one can limit the God of Basketball! That Lin Dong can't do it, and Payton, who was injured just now, is destined to not do it either.

The scoring ability of this Wizards is truly the strongest in history!

On the defensive end, Yao Ming's intimidation at the basket is no less than that of O'Neal. He averaged 2.6 blocks per game this season, which has already cast a psychological shadow on the entire league.

And Jordan, who has defended the first team 9 times, is the absolute core of the team's defense. Even if he can't completely lock down the super rookie, he has saved up a season's fuel tank and Jordan is now in a moment of great desire to break out. He can definitely pull it off. Lower the opponent's shooting percentage to a certain extent. At the same time, Harrington's misaligned defense of the 3rd and 4th positions is a unique skill in the league. He uses his flexibility to deal with the 4th position and his physical strength to deal with it. Position 3 is unsolvable on both offense and defense.

What's even worse is that they also have Artest!

This rookie, who has only played for two seasons and whose statistics are not impressive, already has the potential to become a superstar in Collins' eyes, and his ability focuses on fierce defense!

Collins feels that he can see some shadows of Rodman in Artest. He may not be as smart or as experienced as Rodman, but he feels more "vicious" than Rodman. To put it bluntly, he is very He is very violent and courageous, making him the perfect choice to do the dirty work in a team.

With Jordan dealing with Lin Dong and Yao Ming guarding the inside, Artest is absolutely capable of blocking any other SuperSonics player who comes forward, including Glove Payton!

The only player who is slightly inferior in terms of personal ability is point guard Tyronn Lue, but first, Tyronn Lue has a good three-pointer, is energetic, and has a good defensive attitude. He has no problem dealing with ordinary main players like Brent. . The second and more important point is that Tyronn Lue knows how to 'share' the ball. As a point guard, he never sticks to the ball. He may be the person in the league who knows this best!

For a team with Jordan and Yao Ming, what kind of point guard do they need? It's Tyronn Lue who always remembers to hand over the damn basketball to the strongest one. For other point guards, this is an act of 'losing performance opportunities' and 'sacrifice their own data', because you give the ball to the strongest one. If you throw it to Jordan, you may not even get an assist.

But for Tyronn Lue, this is already a life creed engraved in his bones.

It’s so unpretentious and fits perfectly!

In the eyes of Collins, this Wizards has already surpassed the Bulls at their peak, and can be called the strongest combination in NBA history!

What does it mean to sweep across the East?

Collins feels that even if they go to the Western Conference, this Wizards can still sweep all the way. Neither the Lakers nor the Spurs will be their opponents.

After all, he was the player he brought up as a rookie. Taking Jordan to win his seventh championship ring not only made up for a regret in his heart, but also gave him a perfect answer to his coaching career.

only……

"In the first half, we focused on the inside advantage. In the second half, let Michael solve the problem and find his own opponent..." Collins had just explained the specific tactical arrangements and said with a smile: "SuperSonics is a young team after all. As long as they win the first game, the huge psychological pressure will make their performance worse than the previous one, and it will also evoke the despair that Payton once had, thus completely defeating them from a psychological level."

"Winning the first game is almost equivalent to winning both home games. At our home court, they have no time to adjust." Collins has just explained the specific tactical arrangements: "For the away game, the winning momentum of the first two games It will offset their psychological advantage at home, so we just have to try to win one game. Pauline’s best idea is to return to Washington’s home court to win the championship.”

"Just for a little ticket money, that old guy is really stupid." Jordan sneered: "The SuperSonics are a team that has the ability to threaten us. As long as there is a chance, we will never let them regain their footing. Don't believe it. The lie that you won’t lose at 1:3 has a precedent for everything, and I don’t want to be that backdrop!”

"The Sonics' youth makes it easy for them to fall into a psychological disadvantage, but it is precisely because of their youth that they will recover faster when they seize the opportunity! Go all out, don't give them any chance, 4:0 It’s our only choice! Don’t pay attention to what that old guy Paulin says, just listen to me!”

Everyone else in the room laughed, and Collins glanced at Wizards team consultant Atlin, who was sitting not far away. The guy who was laughing with everyone else in the room and who was usually brothers with Jordan, only Collins understood. , he is the boss Abby Bolin's informant.

Michael is so ignorant of the world.

Collins has actually reminded Jordan many times this season, but that guy has relied on his selfless dedication to the team in the past two years to regard the Wizards as his own team.

But he always forgets that the real boss is Abi Paulin, and does not believe that his good brother Atlin will report some private details to the boss. He even naively thinks that he is incomparable to both Paulin and Atlin. Respect and the Wizards will always need the guidance of him, the God of Basketball...

"Michael, pay attention to your wording." Collins frowned and warned, trying to signal him not to scold the boss so harshly in public.

But Jordan just threw him a cigar nonchalantly. Jordan smiled and said: "Hey, man, don't care about this. That old guy Pauline won't care. He is a big shot who does big things. If we win the president Champion, Pauline would even be willing to wash my feet carefully! Hahaha!"

Facing this guy who thought he knew everything, Collins felt like there was nothing else he could do except laugh.

He understands the players, but he really doesn’t understand the capitalists, let alone the city of Washington, because in addition to the boss Abi Paulin, in Washington, a city full of politicians, Jordan has offended more than one or two big shots. indivual……

He feels that if there is any instability or weakness in this Wizards, it may be the stupidity of the star and the relationship with the Wizards owner and the big guys in Washington.

If everything goes well in the finals, that's okay, but if it doesn't go well, such a contradiction may be a huge hidden danger, and may even affect the team in turn...

I hope everything goes well. If it can go 4:0 or 4:1, fulfill his long-cherished wish to win the championship as a coach, and let Jordan get another championship ring, then all the contradictions will be forcibly covered up by his overwhelming light. .

Until then, Abby Pauline will suppress all dissatisfaction in his heart for the benefit of the team.

Wash Jordan's feet? For a businessman for whom money is everything, that doesn't seem absolutely impossible.