Chapter 903 Dirk, You Guys Are in Danger in the Playoffs!

In fact, the reason is very simple. In the current period of expansion of the football market, it is very popular for a team to lose on purpose despite its strength, so no one dares to do that. The team owner and management will not allow it first. The league won't allow it either.

Even if the main players of each team take a break, that is, each player will take one or two games a month, and then control the playing time, and will not take a long break for multiple games.

The Suns had a difficult start to the season. They encountered strong teams and were very loose in the middle. But towards the end, the schedule became tight again.

After playing the Mavericks tonight, we have to fly to Memphis overnight to play the Grizzlies in back-to-back games tomorrow.

The Grizzlies are only the first game of this road trip. After the next two away games, they will have to fly to Los Angeles to challenge the Lakers.

After playing against the Lakers, I will return to my home court and face the Lakers again. I will play against the Lakers in a row within three days.

No matter whether they are playing the Mavericks, the Grizzlies, or the last two games against the Lakers, the Suns dare not lose, because even if they are ranked first, the winning rate is too close. If they lose one game and others win one, the ranking may be reversed. .

After the Mavericks arrived, Li Ba invited Nowitzki and Da Zhi to dinner.

"You guys are in danger in the playoffs!" Li Ba said.

Nowitzki's face was serious and helpless, and he was not interested in talking.

He is indeed in a bad mood. Now he is entering his peak period, but the team's record has never been able to achieve a breakthrough. It was swept by the Suns continuously, and this year's playoffs are also quite difficult.

The starting lineup is announced before the game.

Mavericks: Dampier, Stoudemire, Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Terry.

Suns: Li Ba, Marion, Battier, Ginobili, Rondo.

Both teams went all out to win this game.

Jump ball, Suns offense.

After a season of practice, the Suns' basic tactics on the offensive end have been confirmed. The outside line is widened, allowing Li Ba to play singles under the basket.

But it's not complete, because Rondo can't stretch, and none of the three Marion players are real shooters, so the ability to stretch doesn't really meet the tactical requirements.

But this tactic allows Li Ba to control the offensive basketball, increase the opportunity for second offense, and also help improve the Suns' offensive efficiency, so the team has been firmly implementing this not-so-perfect tactic.

Li Ba ran towards the basket, and Dampier and Stoudemire immediately double-teamed him without any hesitation.

As for the other three members of the Mavericks, Nowitzki faced Battier on the left three-point line, the athletic Josh Howard defended Marion, and point guard Terry followed Ginobili.

Rondo is embarrassed, he was completely let go and is now in a state of free movement.

"This time the Mavericks' defensive tactics have changed again. They simply let Rondo go. If you want to shoot or pass, I won't care about you. I will guard against others who can score. I will double-team the Hammers in advance."

Zhang Lili shouted immediately.

Rondo reached the edge of the paint with the ball and missed an open jump shot.

Dampier tried his best to contain Li Ba, and Stoudemire took the opportunity to get the rebound.

"Rondo's shooting percentage in the last two points is only 30%. It's not surprising that he missed the shot." Yu Jia complained.

The Mavericks attack and Terry advances.

While Li Ba was in position, he shouted to Marion: "Sean, double-team the ball holder."

Marion immediately lost Stoudemire and pounced on Terry.

Rondo also began to get closer to create opportunities for double teams.

After half a season of training in the main point position, the rookie's defensive strength has improved well, he has more experience, and his personal defense against Terry is also better.

Marion pounced from the left, and Rondo mainly blocked the front and right sides. While blocking the front and right passing lines, he drove Terry towards Marion.

On the right-wing three-point line, Nowitzki suddenly pulled out, shook off Battier and asked Terry for the ball.

In the paint area, Li Ba suddenly rushed towards Nowitzki.

He started at this time because Terry could only pass the ball to the right wing at this moment, and Terry's attention would not be on him. This was his best opportunity to assist defense on the outside.

Sure enough, all Terry's attention was on dealing with Rondo and passing the ball to the right wing, and did not pay attention to Li Ba's actions. He passed the ball to Nowitzki before Marion came up.

Nowitzki was held up by Battier as soon as he received the ball, and then he noticed that Li Ba was not far away from him.

It was too far away from the basket. He wanted to pass back to the center, but Rondo had cut off the passing line and couldn't pass it for a while.

So, he took a risk and passed the ball to the basket, over Li Ba's head.

At this moment, Li Ba, who was only two steps away from Nowitzki, reacted quickly, saved the last step in an instant, then jumped up, stretched out his arm, and grabbed the ball with one hand.

After landing, Li Ba rushed past Nowitzki, passed the center line with the ball, and rushed to the frontcourt.

"This ball can't be defended!"

Zhang Lili shouted excitedly.

Li Ba took two steps and then dribbled the ball. There was no one in front of him. He hit the ball directly three steps away. After he took four steps and entered the top of the front arc to the left, he grabbed the ball back with one hand. After two more steps, he soared into the sky, raised one arm high, accelerated and smashed the ball into the basket amidst the cheers of the audience.

"Beautiful! The entire court dunked with only one dribble. Such a fast break is so powerful!" Yu Jia roared excitedly.

Dallas offense.

"Pay attention to receiving the ball from the outside! You must control the hammer under the basket and don't relax for a moment." Junior General Johnson shouted loudly from the sidelines.

On the last ball, he was very disappointed with Dampier and Stoudemire. He actually let Li Ba leave the paint area so easily. What were you doing?

Next, Dampier and Stoudemire strengthened their control over Li Ba in the paint area, making it impossible for Li Ba to successfully help defend the outside line.

But the Suns also did a good job of continuously double-teaming the Mavericks' ball handlers on the perimeter.

Overall, the Suns have some edge on the glass.

Especially on the offensive end, Rondo did not attack by himself, but chose a pick-and-roll tactic and let others take action. After scoring two three-pointers from the outside, Terry was forced to return to defense, allowing Li Ba to get a single under the basket. Opportunity.

Li Ba controlled the offensive rebounds, and the Suns had more secondary attacks and higher offensive efficiency. In the middle of the quarter, at 12:19, the Suns led by 7 points.

If the game continues like this, the Mavericks, whose offensive efficiency is lower, will inevitably lose.

At this time, the young general Johnson called a timeout. He wanted to add some inside attacks to see if the two-on-one inside and a dunker and basket master like Stoudemire could compress the Suns' defense and force Marion to return to defense. Basket.

The timeout ends and the Mavericks attack.

Terry took the ball to the frontcourt. At this time, Stoudemire, who was moving under the basket, suddenly retreated to the left, while Dampier still stayed under the basket.

Dampier didn't control Li Ba because he didn't need to. If Li Ba wanted to guard Stoudemire, he couldn't guard him at the basket. If he wanted to guard him, he couldn't guard Stoudemire.

In this way, Stoudemire can attack facing the basket outside the paint area, and he can attack under the basket, putting Li Ba's defense in a dilemma.

In a one-on-two low post, young general Johnson wanted to compress the Suns' defense through inside attacks and let Marion return to defend the paint, thus releasing the Mavericks' outside pressure.