No.1 in basketball scoring
Chapter 668 - 283. ’Bobcat system’ embryonic form

Chapter 668: 283. ’Bobcat system’ embryonic form

Carlisle made player rotations and tactical adjustments, with Millsap and Mike Miller replacing Hill and Muhammad on the court, while Felton, Zhang Yang, and Okafor continued to play.

Seeing his close friend Carlisle’s confident demeanor, assistant coach Vincent approached him and said, "Rick, don’t worry. Haven’t you always wanted to face a strong defensive team early to test our tactics? Well, although the defense of this opponent is a bit too strong, second in the league, they’ve already been toughened up in the Wild West for a month, while we’ve only played against bottom teams..."

"Sam, are you trying to comfort me?" Carlisle said with a roll of his eyes, much more casual when talking with a good friend.

Vincent laughed, "Of course I’m not just trying to comfort you, I’m just stating the facts. This is the challenge we face. Other strong teams have normal schedules, we’ve had it too easy, now the strength of the teams we face has suddenly increased, it is going to be tough ... but we have a good record, 13 wins and 1 loss, there’s plenty of cushion, so the chance of a collapse is very low, no need to worry too much."

Carlisle: "I’m not worried about our record collapsing. What I’m worried about is whether my adjustments are too aggressive? Although the league rules are increasingly favoring offense, leaning so much towards offense, am I stepping too big of a stride?"

Vincent: "Oh, Rick, that’s not like you. You used to be so confident, once you made a decision, you wouldn’t regret it. When I tried to advise you, you’d point at my nose and curse, ’With that attitude, you’ll never become a head coach in your life.’

Carlisle: "...And then in less than 7 years, we’re already coaching our third team."

Vincent: "Haha, think of it as experiencing life in different cities. Don’t worry, I’ll always support you! In the past, the owners, the general managers, the franchise players, they all had doubts about you, and you dared to follow your own ideas. Now, Michael, Bernie, and Jack are all so supportive of you, stop worrying and do as you please!"

Carlisle: "Speaking of which, Michael and Bernie have both lived through the offensive era of the ’80s. I’m not surprised they accept my ideas. But I am surprised with Jack’s acceptance of my focus on offense, considering he saw the NBA in the most ferocious years of his student days."

Vincent: "I heard he didn’t start playing basketball until he was 15 years old. Maybe he hadn’t watched the NBA before that, so he has no preference for offense or defense? Or maybe he just simply likes to shoot... It doesn’t matter. The important thing is that they support you. Right now, you should worry about Paul. Can he handle the role of center?"

Carlisle: "There’s no other choice. Emeka doesn’t fit that, he’s better as a scorer. Grant has more experience in passing but he’s needed to help Rajon lead the second unit... Michael and Bernie have been wanting to bring in a strong forward with good ability to attack the basket and defend. I actually would prefer a center with good coordination skills like Divac, preferably a veteran who can guide Paul and teach him the real way of inside coordination...

But for now, that’s not too big of a concern. I haven’t given Paul too many tasks. When he partners with Raymond, Jack, Emeka, and Mike, he doesn’t need to do much of the offensive organization. He just needs to handle the transition plays well..."

The ’center’ mentioned by the two is not a player’s position but a tactical role.

For interior players, initiating the offense, coordinating, tactically speaking, belongs to the center’s playstyle; cutting to the basket, fast-break follows, fighting for offensive rebounds, from a tactical role perspective, is the power forward’s playstyle... Nowitzki’s style of play, tactically speaking, has little to do with a power forward. His ball-handling offense fits the center’s play style, while his off-ball positioning for jump shots is more like a shooting guard’s style.

Most coaches definitely arrange what players can do during tactical planning and in-game adjustments. However, building tactics and coaching are two different things. You need to divide roles more finely to better fit suitable players into the tactics.

As the two were discussing, the timeout ended, and the players from both teams returned to the court. The Rockets made no personnel adjustments, having defended so well at the start, Thibodeau naturally let the starting lineup continue to play.

The game continued, with the Bobcats on offense.

Mike Miller passed the ball to Felton, then moved to the right corner.

Okafor moved to a mid-distance spot at the right 45-degree angle, Zhang Yang moved to a mid-distance along the right baseline, leaving Millsap alone on the left side of the paint.

After receiving the ball, Felton carefully protected it against David Wesley’s close defense, slowly moved to the top arc, passed it to Millsap who moved to the left side of the free-throw line, then took a detour around the free-throw line and ran towards the left corner.

Meanwhile, two other Bobcats players were also moving—Zhang Yang cut from the right baseline towards the basket, standing at the middle of the right sideline of the three-second area, Diop quickly retreated to under the basket; as Diop moved in, Okafor rushed from the right 45-degree mid-range to the inside lane, with McGrady in time to close up and block Okafor at the elbow area.

Millsap dealt the cards, right sideline!

But just as Mike Miller caught the ball, Battier was already in position!

After Diop retreated to the semicircle of the restricted area, Battier immediately let go of Zhang Yang and covered the right sideline, with Diop’s large frame covering the entire basket area.

After McGrady delayed Okafor at the right elbow for a moment, he quickly moved to the left elbow. As Zhang Yang ran out from the left side of the paint, past Diop, McGrady caught up with him right in time.