Chapter 471 Leading by 10 Points!

Unable to defend? A match made in heaven?

Lin Dong smiled slightly. The Cavaliers' strength on paper was indeed above that of the Sonics, but they had three major flaws that had not yet been solved. Before these problems were solved, they were not enough to cause enough trouble to the Sonics.

There was no need to drag this battle to the second half.

Solve them all at once!

The Sonics have the ball.

The Sonics used the same tactics, with Lin Dong still playing against LeBron, as if the main goal was to be simple and unpretentious...

The two faced off again.

LeBron was still a big step away from defense, while Lin Dong still had that calm expression and eyes.

Without any signs on his expression, he suddenly lowered his center of gravity and broke through with a very low body!

With absolute concentration and confidence, Lin Dong's first breakthrough could no longer be an obstacle for LeBron.

But with the lesson learned from the last ball, LeBron has added some psychology to his concentration this time.

It is impossible to defend against him with full defense, so we can only rely on guessing. Fortunately, he only has two options: change direction and change direction step back. In the last ball, Lin Dong chose the latter, but this ball...

LeBron remembered what Lao K said during the Olympics.

'Study Lin Dong, understand Lin Dong, become Lin Dong, and then deal with Lin Dong', not only including understanding his skills, but also understanding his thinking.

LeBron is very glad that he is the only one in the Olympic team who listened to and implemented Lao K's idea. Since the Olympics, in addition to daily training, he has spent more time watching Lin Dong's video tapes, from the Japanese high school game to the American high school, and then to the NBA three consecutive championships and even the Olympics.

The conclusion is that Lin Dong is a very proud person.

But at the same time, he is also a person who is very good at and likes to deal with opponents from a human perspective.

If from the perspective of pride, Lin Dong just stepped back and hit him, then the opponent will defend his step back in the next ball, then he will still choose to step back, and the main point is that you know how I want to play, but you just can't defend it.

This was a very obvious characteristic of Lin Dong. So the conclusion is that if Lin Dong is caught up in the first step this time, he will choose to change direction and step back.

But if we combine it with his later "like to deal with opponents from the perspective of human nature", then from the perspective of "making opponents unpredictable", it is impossible to use the same trick as last time.

So... he will change direction this time!

Huh!

When LeBron came to this conclusion, Lin Dong had already taken his first step of changing direction without slowing down.

With a sharp rotation of the body, LeBron also made a predicted defense in the first time.

Right!

But just as the center of gravity was pulled away, LeBron's face turned pale.

I saw that Lin Dong did not change direction to the right.

Did I guess wrong?

No, Lin Dong did not choose to change direction and step back. My judgment of this guy's character of "liking to make people unpredictable" was not wrong.

But he still has a third choice!

The high-speed rotation actually turned a big circle of 360 degrees, and the inertia of the body rotation turned into a boost to continue to break through to the left at the last moment.

Quick! Too fast!

Let alone LeBron's misjudgment, even if he didn't, when the rotational inertia of the change of direction was added to the breakthrough speed, Lin Dong's breakthrough at this moment seemed to have surpassed the limit.

Swish!

Last time when he stepped back, LeBron could barely jump up, but this time, LeBron was even in a state of directly leaving the opponent's defense empty.

In an instant, he was passed cleanly, without any suspense!

Lin Dong rushed into the basket and jumped high to meet O'Neal.

O'Neal's eyebrows suddenly raised, is he trying to dunk over him?

In this league, no one has ever dared to talk about dunking in front of him so presumptuously, not even the other two centers!

Boom!

O'Neal kicked his foot and suddenly jumped up from the basket to meet Lin Dong. With a super heavyweight body of 147 kg, he can actually have a vertical jump of 60-70 cm. It should be undisputed that O'Neal's physical talent is the best in history. In addition to the advantages of height and wingspan, his standing reach of 287 cm and his standing jump reach of 350 cm are enough. Looking at the entire NBA, there are not many people who can surpass him, but Lin Dong obviously jumps higher than him.

201 cm is 15 cm shorter than O'Neal, but his wingspan of 222 cm is 2 cm more than O'Neal. Although the maximum standing reach is only 274 cm, the bounce is amazing... The vertical jump of 101 cm is enough for Lin Dong to easily surpass the highest point that O'Neal can reach in the air.

However, if the height is not enough, the strength will make up for it.

At this moment, the huge body is like a mountain in front of Lin Dong, and with a subconscious forward angle, he is still afraid of being dunked, so he has to intercept Lin Dong farther away from the basket.

He knew that Lin Dong could choose to pass the ball to Sakuragi Hanamichi who had already missed the basket, but LeBron, who followed closely behind, should have enough time to stop the guy who was not particularly good at scoring, and he...

Lin Dong may have many tricks in the air. He even completed four pull-ups in one jump last season.

But as long as he is not allowed to get close to the basket, what's the use of pull-ups? If he jumps on the spot, even if he moves his body, he will not be fouled. Instead, he can pretend to run into someone with the ball...

But before this thought came to O'Neal's mind, he saw Lin Dong's big hand reaching diagonally upwards and the basketball was thrown up.

O’Neal was stunned. No dunk? No pull-up? No…

All his plans were instantly shattered. It was like you were facing an opponent with a knife. You had painstakingly learned the Dugu Nine Swords and were confident that you could break his millions of knife techniques. Then you confidently faced the opponent, but when the duel came, the opponent suddenly threw away the knife and took out an AK47…

Tsk tsk, so aggrieved!

O’Neal was unwilling to grab a handful of his hands. It was just a subconscious action to express his unwillingness, but he ‘coincidentally’ grabbed Lin Dong’s arm.

Swish!

Beep!

“The goal is valid. Cavaliers No. 34 fouled. One penalty!”

“Shaq, be careful not to foul!” Mike Brown on the sidelines reminded him involuntarily.

O’Neal looked depressed. He was actually very careful not to foul when facing Lin Dong, but for some reason, as long as he saw that kid’s face, he always wanted to reach out his hand…

Hold it! This must be endured!

Free throws are obviously a free point for Lin Dong. With a steady hit, the score came to 8:5, and the Cavaliers had the ball.

Lin Dong made a tactical gesture to the whole team, and everyone understood instantly.

The Sonics' offense has never been the main content of training. Will the Sonics lack offense?

With Sakuragi and Chandler in the interior, there is basically no need to practice, and the three-pointers of Iguodala, Chandler and others on the outside are self-study courses.

The only thing the other players on the team have to practice is the ability to run without the ball, so that when Lin Dong is double-teamed, there is always an open position on the outside.

Although Payton is the team's point guard, in fact, more assists are given by Lin Dong. The main tactic is to attract the opponent's double-team by himself and create open opportunities on the outside. It is as simple as it can be, but it is also as practical as it can be. It can be said that as long as Lin Dong is there and as long as the outside line is stable, the Sonics will never have trouble with offense.

For the Supersonics, the real trouble in facing the Lakers and the Cavaliers is defense!

Both teams are superstars and extremely strong inside. If you really want to fight each other, unless Lin Dong scores 150 points by himself, as long as you can't defend the opponent, you will always lose points on the outside. Even if Lin Dong has returned to his original nature, he will always miss when facing double-teaming. On the other hand, the opponent can rely on the dominance of the inside rebounds and the multiple offensive capabilities of the superstars to ensure the continuation of scoring.

So if the Supersonics defense can't keep up, there is almost no chance of winning.

And to defend this Cavaliers...

Just as Kidd dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, Payton and Iguodala blocked him at the same time.

Single defense is definitely not enough to prevent Kidd from passing the ball. Only by putting pressure on this guy can the Cavaliers' operation become less smooth.

And the next second, Wade, who was missed by Iguodala, seemed to have become a loophole in the Supersonics' defense.

Such a loophole, how could Kidd miss it?

There was no need to think at all. When Iguodala just came up to assist in defense, Kidd's ball had already flown towards Wade.

But the next second...

A figure as swift as the wind cut out from the side like a ghost, and stretched out his big hand.

Snap!

Steal!

Wade was surprised, and then he saw that the figure had rushed to the front court frantically, leaving him with only a huge jersey background number - No. 23, Lin Dong!

Wasn't Lin Dong defending LeBron? How...

Lin Dong started first, and it was completely meaningless to chase back at this time. Wade even gave up the defense and turned to look at LeBron in surprise, only to see Sakuragi Hanamichi running from LeBron's direction.

Sakuragi defended LeBron? What about O'Neal?

Wade turned his head and saw Chandler running out from O'Neal's side in the interior, and the two were still chattering about something.

Wade's heart suddenly trembled.

This is...

- Rotation defense! Rotation defense! Rotation defense!

Wade didn't even need to think about it himself. The fans who had watched the Supersonics for three seasons on the court were already shouting out loud.

But it shouldn't be like that!

The current Cavaliers are not those bottom-feeding teams. For the Cavaliers with Kidd and four offensive points, everyone has top-notch finishing ability. Judging from the defense of the Supersonics last season, they shouldn't even have the idea of ​​rotation defense. After all, rotation defense is a lineup that requires extremely high defense. When the opponent is strong enough, the rotation defense can also be strong enough, but except for Lin Dong and Sakuragi, the Supersonics, even Payton, can't keep up with the requirements of high-level rotation defense.

To put it bluntly, this formation has no upper limit in theory, but the executor has an upper limit. Facing the Cavaliers with the four kings, the Supersonics have at least two and a half positions exposed. What else can they use to rotate?

The strongest season for the Supersonics' defense was actually the first season when they faced Jordan and the Wizards.

At his peak, Payton could not only connect the entire team on the defensive end, but also work with Sakuragi to take on the role of the team's defensive core, to check for gaps and to make up for other teammates' defensive loopholes.

But with Payton's decline in the past two seasons, the Sonics' rotation defense has actually been on the decline.

The defensive strength of Sakuragi, Iguodala, Chandler and others is constantly improving, but without Payton, the overall performance of the team in the previous season was not as good as the first season. Last season, even Payton began to occasionally become a loophole for the team, and most of the time he was reduced to the same defensive level as Iguodala and Chandler. This gap began to widen further. Sakuragi Hanamichi could not make up for the loopholes of three people. This made the rotation defense of the Supersonics only able to scare weak teams. When facing strong teams, they could no longer achieve the truly strong and effective full-court blockade of the first season. They simply relied on Lin Dong's personal ability to pull the overall rhythm on the offensive end to cover up the weakness on the defensive end.

But just now...

Swish!

Lin Dong scored an empty blue, and the score was 10:5 in an instant.

With the cheers of the whole court, the ball returned to the Cavaliers again.

Wade's thoughts just now are also Kidd's thoughts now. Payton is now at most in the self-protection stage, and the duration of maintenance is still very short. The Sonics with only one Sakuragi to check for leaks and fill in the gaps are impossible to rotate.

The ball just now was just a coincidence, just because Wade was indeed too close to Lin Dong, and this time he was prepared. If the opponent dares to play rotation defense, let him see the real offensive power of the Four Heavenly Kings!

Just thinking about this, Payton and Iguodala surrounded him again.

Kidd was stunned, and Wade was amused when he saw it. Is this really treating himself as a "loophole" and a "trap pit"?

Just now, I was just careless. I am not one of those idiots who can only stand and catch the ball. Run!

Wade immediately responded to Kidd, but before he ran to a position where he could easily catch the ball, Lin Dong had already switched to him in front of him.

Wade immediately woke up to his 120,000 spirits. Lin Dong's defense is different from Iguodala. It is not so easy to get rid of him.

At this time, he didn't need the ball anymore. He took Lin Dong and ran past Kidd, giving up the passing route of LeBron that Lin Dong had 'missed'.

Then pass to LeBron? But just as this thought came to Kidd's mind, he saw a guy with fiery red hair rushing towards LeBron.

Then O'Neal!

But when Kidd had this thought, he found that O'Neal was not only blocked by Chandler in the passing route, but even more terrible was that the two people in front of him raised their hands high, focusing on preventing him from passing to O'Neal, and there was no passing route at all.

Kidd tried to control the ball and break through, but when facing a somewhat passionate Payton, it was already a bit difficult for him to deal with, plus Iguodala's double-teaming... It was really impossible to break through.

Kidd could see that the Supersonics were a 'variant' rotation defense. They relied on double-teaming to block the Cavaliers' Big Four, and then left Varejao open, betting that the guy couldn't make a shot from the outside, and also betting that the guy didn't have Kidd's passing awareness.

But now, except for Varejao's position, passing to anyone else would be at risk of being intercepted.

Taking advantage of the fact that his turn and breakthrough were blocked, Kidd forced himself to the left, and at the same time, he turned his back to further open up Payton's defensive space, and passed the ball steadily to Varejao.

"To the inside!" Kidd shouted loudly.

Varejao's outside line is indeed sometimes good and sometimes bad, which has been seen during the offseason training. This kind of key ball to break the Sonics' double defense cannot be given to him to execute, and through Varejao's position and angle, passing to O'Neal in the inside without any obstacles, that is the best passing route.

Varejao understood, and immediately chose to pass directly to the inside line when receiving the ball.

But the next second...

Snap!

Another ghostly figure, another big hand, and No. 23 again, Lin Dong!

Following Wade's running position is not to defend Wade, but to leave a passing route for Varejao, while also giving Kidd psychological passing pressure, so that he can only pass to Varejao.

Without a safe enough passing route, a master like Kidd would not throw the ball easily, but it would take at least one or two seconds for the ball to fly from Kidd to Varejao. This one or two seconds was enough for Lin Dong to give up Wade and challenge Varejao. When a first-year rookie like Varejao faced the basketball god who was currently at the peak of his career...

Is there any need to think about this result?

Dare to block if you dare to shoot! Dare to steal if you dare to pass! Dare to steal if you dare to break through! Dare... Lin Dong felt that if he dared to let this guy look at the basket, he would lose!

Steal completed!

This time, Lin Dong didn't even need to lead the attack. Iguodala and Payton, who had just defended Kidd, had already rushed into the front court in two directions. Only Kidd, who was "close by", could barely keep up, but he was unable to do anything.

Payton rushed to the basket, which was obviously more threatening. Kidd chose to follow, but the next second the ball was in the hands of Iguodala who stopped at the three-point line.

Lin Dong had just scored 10 points in four consecutive shots. Iguodala, who was playing as an outside player, was already in the right state and was waiting anxiously.

At this time, he pulled up and made a move!

Swish, 3 points were scored, 13:5!

"Give it to Wade!" Kidd was so angry that he roared at Varejao: "Lin Dong is so big and he is filling your position. Can't you see? Wade is open!"

Varejao's face suddenly turned red like an apple, and he could only nod his head timidly.

Although it was mainly because Lin Dong's movements were too fast, the ball was lost in his hands, and he really didn't pay attention just now.

The Cavaliers have the ball.

The same defense as before, the same evolution as before, the Sonics obviously decided to rotate the defense on the Cavaliers, just to take advantage of Varejao's weak point, seemingly five against five, but actually five against four.

O'Neal, LeBron and Wade were followed by the Sonics.

Wade raised his eyebrows slightly and chose to run back in the direction of LeBron, and the formation of both sides changed immediately.

Except for Kidd, Payton and Iguodala at the top of the three-point arc.

At this time, everyone else, with O'Neal and Sakuragi Hanamichi as the axis under the basket, all concentrated in the right half of the court. Chandler followed LeBron at the right baseline, and Lin Dong followed Wade who ran to the top of the three-point arc on the right.

Only Varejao was alone in the left half of the court, with no one in front and behind him within two meters.

The Sonics still used the defensive strategy of strangling the Big Four. The only difference was that Sakuragi and Chandler switched defenses. Actually, it was not really a switch, after all, everyone knew that Sakuragi Hanamichi was the main weapon that the Sonics used to deal with O'Neal and Yao Ming this season.

Do you look down on Varejao so much? He is a regular player of the Cavaliers anyway!

In such a wide open space, whether he lets O'Neal lob the ball or shoots an open three-pointer himself, it's all fine!

Kidd did not hesitate this time, using a fake breakthrough to open up space and pass the ball steadily to Varejao.

Varejao did not dare to rush this time. Just now, he was too anxious and hurried, so he was intercepted by others.

At the moment of receiving the ball, he spent half a second to observe whether the defense on the court had changed, but in this half second...

Sure enough, there was a change, and the change was that Sakuragi Hanamichi directly left O'Neal open and went directly to Varejao's face!

Lin Dong's eating of Varejao raw obviously wouldn't surprise anyone, but in fact many people overlooked that if it comes to single defense ability, Sakuragi Hanamichi is the strongest one in the Supersonics right now!

Sakuragi's rush means that O'Neal is empty in the interior.

Varejao realized this and subconsciously wanted to choose a crotch pass. After all, Sakuragi Hanamichi's defensive momentum was so strong that Varejao couldn't even think of fighting against him, let alone throwing the basketball over his head.

But his hand had just been put down, and the ball was just about to go through the crotch.

Snap!

Sakuragi Hanamichi grabbed with his hand at lightning speed, obviously having completely seen through Varejao's passing route, and intercepted the ball in front of his crotch.

"Wow, this road is blocked!" Sakuragi Hanamichi laughed triumphantly. He might have defensive pressure against O'Neal and Yao Ming, and he might not be able to stop Brother Gaoren, but apart from these three, he now has full confidence to face Kobe and LeBron, not to mention Varejao!

Another steal!

Mike Brown on the sidelines stood up suddenly, and Kidd's eyes were instantly stern.

He finally understood this time...

The rotation defense of the Supersonics is back, and it has completely returned to the most amazing level in the first season.

Because Lin Dong participated in the axis position of the defensive rotation!

The job of checking for leaks and filling gaps that was once done by Payton is now done by Lin Dong, and Lin Dong and Sakuragi Hanamichi, the ability of the two to check for leaks and fill gaps, is enough to make the rotation defense of the Supersonics reappear in the NBA arena.

What's more terrifying is that Lin Dong is now stronger on the defensive end than Payton was before, and has a better ability to read the overall situation of the court.

Sakuragi Hanamichi's defensive ability is definitely not comparable to that of the previous two seasons. He has improved a lot.

In addition, Chandler and Iguodala have made great progress in their defensive ability after two seasons of training. Payton... Payton, who used to be the strongest defender, now plays an ordinary rotation role in the rotation defense of the Supersonics. With his personal awareness, it is too easy to play in such a position.

This... This is more than the peak rotation defense of the Supersonics in the first season? This is much better than the rotation defense at that time!

This is the secret weapon that the Supersonics prepared for the Lakers and Cavaliers this season!

At this time, Lin Dong had already shaken off Wade and ran towards the frontcourt. Although Wade followed closely, it was obvious that no one thought he could really stop Lin Dong.

"Brother Gaoren!" Sakuragi Hanamichi shouted, swinging his arm and making a long pass.

The progress in the past two seasons is not only the improvement of the ability to catch the ball and the defense ability. The tacit understanding between Sakuragi and Lin Dong, as well as the passing level and everything else, are already incomparable.

The ball was passed quickly and accurately. When Lin Dong rushed to the front court and jumped directly towards the basket, the basketball just landed in his hands from mid-air.

Although Wade on the side had jumped up desperately to interfere, it was obviously no obstacle to Lin Dong.

Snap!

Boom!

The sound of receiving the ball and the sound of dunking were connected, and an aerial relay dunk!

15:5, 3 minutes into the game, the Supersonics led by 10 points!