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Chapter 643 - 277. True Colors of a Killer!

Chapter 643: 277. True Colors of a Killer!

The Mavericks were continuously catching up and even surpassing the score, but the Suns players did not feel pressured because no matter how much the Mavericks caught up, every time an official timeout, halftime break, or crucial end-of-quarter moment came, the Suns lead prevailed. They not only held the initiative on the court but also had control of the score throughout.

The Suns players’ thought at that time was, "Our team’s offense is stronger than theirs, and they can only rely on individual skills that lack team technical content. Since we can’t break them down all at once, we’ll use wave after wave of fierce attacks to gradually dismantle them."

In the regular season, playing against young teams, this strategy had never failed.

But tonight, they hit a snag!

The Mavericks didn’t react like other young teams, getting frustrated or hasty due to their continuous lag; they played steadily and calmly, continuously focusing on their strengths, and they were far more tenacious than the Suns had anticipated!

Heading into halftime, Nash suddenly remembered—the Bad Boys Legion from the other side, who during last season’s Eastern Conference and the Finals, played under pressure and ultimately pulled off a reversal.

Their strategy for this game, from the start, was wrong!

These Mavericks geniuses should not be judged by conventional wisdom.

After going through the baptism of last season’s Eastern Conference and Finals, these already tough geniuses gained significantly more resilience and pressure resistance, likely ranking amongst the highest in the entire NBA!

By halftime, instead of disintegrating the Mavericks through successive waves of offense, the Suns had used up more energy than usual.

Because the Mavericks kept frantically chasing the score without stopping, the Suns had to continuously maintain their offensive firepower, without even a moment to catch their breath.

The biggest impact was that Son of the Wind and the Little Emperor played significantly more in the first half than usual.

Stoudemire, who usually played 14 minutes in the first half during the first seven games of the season, played over 20 minutes tonight, as did Nash.

However, with the situation remaining unclear earlier, Nash felt increasing pressure as the game went on.

Now that he had a clear understanding of the situation, that pressure quickly faded away.

With regular season games occurring frequently and opponents constantly changing, it’s common for the coaching staff to overlook some details. The strategic preparation mistake led to excessive energy consumption in the first half, and that was now an established fact that no longer needed to be dwelled upon.

Like a hurricane, unstoppable, destroying all obstacles that stood in the way of their victory—that was Nash’s vision of run-and-gun!

...

The halftime break was nearly over, and Zhang Yang and his teammates returned to the courtside.

Tonight, they faced their first real tough opponent of the new season, and it was incredibly difficult.

Just because Nash felt great pressure, didn’t mean Zhang Yang felt any less.

From Zhang Yang’s perspective, his Mavericks team was nearly overwhelmed in the first quarter, and it was only thanks to Mike Miller hitting an important open three following his back-to-back baskets, as well as Carlisle’s bold move at the start of the second quarter using a dual point guard lineup to suppress the Suns for a few minutes.

Tonight, Carlisle’s on-the-spot adjustments reminded Zhang Yang of the old coach Sloan’s remarks about Carlisle after the Mavericks won the championship in 2011—a coach who was adept at learning and assimilating various basketball philosophies.

That adaptation made Zhang Yang think of Bickerstaff coaching, but with a difference. If it were Bickerstaff, seeing Jarett Jack playing well, he likely wouldn’t have substituted him out but would continue using him. Carlisle was more rational and somewhat ruthless.

As the "Upsetter King," when Bickerstaff was a head coach, there often were underdog players who made surprising comebacks under him.

Under Carlisle’s coaching style, such scenarios were rare, unless a player clearly displayed a talent worth developing, like Millsap who possessed the rare combination of muscle type, short stature, and unusual playmaking and shooting skills, which Carlisle was eager and desperately wanted to cultivate.

Otherwise, in Carlisle’s mind, a role player remained a role player; he wouldn’t impulsively give them more opportunities based on a short-term burst.

From a basketball standpoint, Zhang Yang felt that Carlisle was a real basketball coach, while Bickerstaff was... playing basketball.

Zhang Yang thought both coaches had their strengths: Carlisle was more professional and steady, while Bickerstaff was more likely to "create miracles."

Zhang Yang and Rondo, Mike Miller, Millsap, and Okafor entered the game together.

Felton played a long time in the second quarter; thus, at the beginning of the third quarter, Zhang Yang and Okafor led the team.

Zhang Yang looked towards the other side—Nash, Barbosa, Diaw, Marion, Stoudemire.

Are they giving up on defense?

Zhang Yang guessed correctly. After D’Antoni and Nash went back to the locker room, they discussed and decided to abandon the ineffective defense from the first half.

During the off-season, the management conducted a trade that infuriated D’Antoni and his assistant Gentry—sending away the defensive core Kurt Thomas with a $21 million, five-year sign-and-trade deal for the 13th pick of the 2003 draft, point guard Marcus Banks.

Gentry had ideas after acquiring Kurt Thomas in the 05-06 season, which D’Antoni approved. With Stoudemire’s return last season, both coaches started concocting a defensive formation, spending an entire season to finally craft a defense that managed to surprise the Spurs in the playoffs... to be fundamentally destroyed by their general manager with one trade.

Both of them were almost driven mad at that time—did their general manager know how difficult it was to create a defensible formation based on a run-and-gun strategy?