Chapter 884: 293: Under the glorious victory, the crisis is emerging (seeking monthly tickets)_2
In this situation, if the Hawks continued playing like last season, they definitely couldn’t lead by 10 points now. But they’ve used a higher ceiling offense to offset their defensive regression and the absence of the DPOY.
This is why Roger needed to change the team’s strategy, and it turns out he was right again.
During the break between quarters, Nets head coach Byron Scott was banging on the tactics board excitedly: “Don’t fight for offensive rebounds, retreat quickly after shooting! Jason, clamp down on Roger immediately, don’t let him pass the ball easily!”
Byron Scott is not someone to give up easily, he doesn’t think the game is over yet.
Even though the Nets are trailing by 10 points, there’s still time left in the game.
If they can force the Hawks to slow down, their offense won’t be as threatening.
Kidd nodded in agreement with Byron Scott’s assessment.
The Hawks’ counterattack isn’t like Old Nelson’s emphasis on everyone handling the ball, shooting freely, improvising with one-on-ones; their control point is very clear, all relying on Roger’s advancement and passing.
Roger is the engine of this high-speed car.
If the engine is broken, no matter how beautiful the car is, it will be paralyzed.
On the other side, Stephen Jackson looks at Lenny Wilkens with anticipation.
In the entire first quarter, besides Jeff Hornacek in a suit and tie acting as a half assistant coach, and Andrae Patterson who wasn’t even here to play, Stephen Jackson was the only one on the Hawks who didn’t get on the court.
Now the team is leading by 10 points, he’s hoping Lenny Wilkens would call his name.
But he’s disappointed, at the beginning of the second quarter, Lenny indeed made a substitution, but it had nothing to do with Stephen Jackson.
He replaced Kurt Thomas with Dream as the starter for the second quarter.
As a championship coach, Lenny Wilkens naturally has some predictive ability.
Next, the Nets will definitely try to drag the game into a half-court set.
In this situation, the Hawks will need Dream.
After adjusting the substitution strategy, Lenny Wilkens looked towards Roger: “Jason will definitely start pressing, you know what to do.”
He clearly understands, the dagger Roger thrust hasn’t reached the Nets’ heart yet.
To kill the Nets, the dagger needs to be driven deeper.
Roger nodded without saying much.
He knew exactly what to do.
The second quarter began, and the Atlanta fans were all shouting.
In the luxury box, Bo Turner was watching the game with Bruce Levenson.
Bruce Levenson didn’t want to attend tonight, he’s really not interested in the game of ten men fighting over a ball.
If possible, he’d rather play a game with ten women and one man.
But he had to be here today to award the Championship Ring. As the biggest shareholder of the team, he must be present.
During the awarding of the Championship Ring and watching the championship banner rise, Bruce Levenson felt no emotion.
He even felt a bit awkward because not a single player smiled at him.
Levenson watched the packed Philips Arena from the box, looked at the cheering crowd, and shook his head with a smile: “Fools’ memories are indeed short-lived, they were clamoring to boycott me a few months ago, but look at tonight, there are still over 20,000 people here to watch the game.”
“They’re here to see Roger, not support you,” Bo Turner responded bluntly.
“Of course, of course.” Bruce Levenson wasn’t angry, knowing Bo Turner wasn’t on the same page as him, but what can a small shareholder do?
“Of course, they’re all here to see Roger. He’s such a wonderful player, with him on the court, I don’t feel any loss from Big Ben’s departure. If we can continue to win while saving a max salary, then everyone can earn higher profits. So, what did I do wrong?”
“God, you can’t conclude Big Ben’s departure hasn’t affected the team! Our defense has indeed weakened, if Big Ben were still here, the Hawks could win more quickly and steadily!”
“Victory? The definition of victory has been distorted. If winning doesn’t bring any profit, or even results in a loss, have you really won? We won’t pursue so-called victory at great financial risk for a tiny, insignificant profit.”
Bo Turner stopped speaking, feeling that if he continued, he might not resist throwing Bruce Levenson out of the glass window of the luxury box.
It’s always been , the true sports faction within the shareholders and the capital faction represented by Levenson are always talking past each other.
Both sides are pursuing completely different things.
But now there’s no way, the sports faction lost their representative, Belkin.
Bo Turner just hopes Bruce Levenson’s management philosophy won’t lead to the worst consequence.
The second quarter starts, the Hawks send out the baseline ball.
Jason Kidd’s defense against Roger is quite tight, forcing Roger to slow down his pace.
Seeing Roger slow down, Byron Scott’s eyes lit up instantly.
Good, as long as they force them into a half-court set, the Nets can use their excellent defensive capabilities to crush them!
He didn’t notice, Olajuwon’s eyes also shone.
Finally, finally, he doesn’t have to do those boring things anymore!
Seeing he couldn’t execute a seven-second offense, Roger immediately lobbed the ball to Dream, who was already backed up against Todd MacCulloch, after crossing the three-point line.