noveldrama
Chapter 929 929 557 Hope it lasts forever_2
Chapter 929 929 557 Hope it lasts forever_2
?Chapter 929: Chapter 557: Hope it lasts forever_2 Chapter 929: Chapter 557: Hope it lasts forever_2 Curry faced glue-like defense, which although exceptional in his off-ball movement, caused his shooting touch to plummet.
To deal with him, the Supersonics had Patrick Beverley start in place of Grant Hill.
The result was remarkably effective.
Beverley intensely eroded Curry’s shooting touch on off-ball plays, making it imperative for Curry to handle the ball and attack the basket, combining inside and outside play to stabilize the offense.
However, with Wade’s offense breaking through, Curry was forced to focus on off-ball play.
If Wade could play like Fei, dominating as a one-man core with four supporting him, this approach would have worked.
But he wasn’t the main core.
Thus, after the battle, Wade scored a luxurious tally of 38 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists, but the Supersonics won 112 to 101.
Opposite Wade, Fei secured 30 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists, Durant scored 24 points, and the Supersonics had four other players in double digits.
This looked like a victory for the team.
Yet, ESPN’s data analyst John Hollinger postgame released a statistic, “Frye’s assist count is not merely the 12 times on paper. He also had up to 10 indirect assists. This number fully reflects his exceptional vision.”
An indirect assist is when a player passes the ball one or more times that lead to a score.
That evening, Wade only had 4 indirect assists, indicating he mostly passed for direct scoring opportunities and rarely succeeded in reading the defense to make tactical leading passes.
The Miami Heat realized this problem and increased Curry’s ball-handling in the second game.
Wade’s role as a wingman grew.
This change immediately revitalized Miami’s situation.
In the third game, the pick-and-roll offense between Curry, Yao Ming, and Love displayed devastating power.
Coach Lu responded a beat too late, only tightening the trap on Curry after Fei suggested it, by which time Miami’s perimeter shooting had already warmed up.
Relying on a strategy of ball handler calls for screens, then splits and charges to the basket or kicks out for three-pointers, Miami wildly shot 50 three-pointers throughout the game.
This scene completely devastated the traditionalist basketball viewers in front of their TV sets.
Some long-time observers stated, “I’m fed up with the ‘layup or three-pointer’ game mode.”
However, no matter how they understood such games, Miami’s style of play wouldn’t change.
Because Miami was precisely puncturing the Supersonics’ defense with unapologetic three-point shooting.
124 to 111
This was the first time a team had scored over 120 points against the Supersonics since the playoffs began.
This shows the disruptive power of three-point shooting on defense.
But this type of game dominated by three-pointers couldn’t last.
Even in extreme cases like the 2018 Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, two small-ball teams that transcended the main timeline, neither could rely on three-point shooting for a significant scoring advantage in their decisive Game 7.
No matter how much time passes, defense always remains the theme of the playoffs.
As a coach, Coach Lu was less experienced than Miami’s Spo, but he had one strength: he learned from his mistakes.
The mistakes he made during the games or those he didn’t correct in time, he would rectify them after the game and come up with one or two correct strategies for the next game.
Fei suggested a relentless trap on Curry, using their athletic ability and physical talents to quasi-ignore Miami’s inside, thus blocking Curry’s ball-dominant attack.
Lu liked this idea.
He remembered they had used a similar scheme against Curry during the game, which worked fairly well, although it was pointless then as Miami’s three-point shooting had already taken off, making limiting Curry meaningless.
But what didn’t make sense in the previous game might be significant in the next.
The flow of the games is always so diverse and unpredictable.
Returning home, the Miami Heat tried to replicate their previous victory using the same tactics.
The Supersonics trapped Curry with crazy frequency and intensity. Whenever someone trapped Curry, the Supersonics’ “Spider-Man” would utilize his physical gifts to guard his own man while using his wingspan to disrupt another unguarded player. Curry could pass the ball off, but Yao Ming and Love, facing semi-open shots, lost their usual accuracy just like the sharpshooters who had faltered before them against the Supersonics.
Curry’s magic was decoded, and in turn, the Supersonics would explosively target his defense. Fei in the low post, Durant on the weak side, Roy at the top; wherever Curry defended, that player would call for the ball to isolate him. Curry fell into the hell created for him by the Supersonics.
The Heat did not collapse entirely, Wade promptly called back for the ball, and Yao Ming also moved to the low post to exploit favorable matchups. At least superficially, the Heat still held offensive advantages. However, their advantages were not greater than those of Fei and Durant, the most potent offensive duo in the NBA, who unfortunately played on the same team. When Durant set screens for Fei, Miami found no solution.
This was a cruel irony for Miami. While they possessed talent comparable to the Brooklyn Nets’ Big Three, they were overwhelmed in the finals by an even more formidable talent. Yao Ming felt like he was playing in a national team match, where despite dominating his direct matchup, his team leaked extensively elsewhere, even seeing him become a target on defense.
Fei and Durant were indeed a royal flush combo. Particularly when they were focused and united, these two “Spider-Men” who could endlessly play one-on-one, two long-range “Spider-Men,” two consistent yet complementary “Spider-Men” entirely shifted the balance of the game.