Chapter 2243 - 47: The Gap Is Too Wide

Chapter 2243: Chapter 47: The Gap Is Too Wide

After the start of the third quarter, the game turned into a complete choke war.

Glory demonstrated great flexibility in their tactics.

In the Western Conference finals, they played head-to-head offensively against the Phoenix Suns.

Relying on scoring over a hundred points each game, they took down the second-seed Suns 4:1, leaving Nash and Stoudemire speechless.

Yet in the finals, they managed to slow down the pace and grind out a positional battle with the Cavaliers.

Throughout the first half, the Cavaliers had only two opportunities for fast breaks, and both were thwarted.

The Cavaliers didn’t have any chance to score on fast breaks, which considerably reduced James’s power.

With a heavyweight center like Yao Ming, Glory managed to suppress the Cavaliers’ fast breaks through their high-speed defense transition, and the active interference and defensive challenges by players like Gerald Wallace and Raja Bell.

Of course, the most critical factor is Gan Guoyang’s timely defensive transitions.

He always could return to the basket at the first moment, forming the first layer of defense.

With him in the Three Second Zone, other Glory players could fully focus on defending the perimeter and could chase the ball for defense.

Rick Carlisle noticed this fatal issue; the Cavaliers’ fast breaks were too few. Grinding like this would lead to their downfall.

However, enhancing counterattacks isn’t something that can be done just by talking about it.

Aside from James, the Cavaliers didn’t have other players with fast break advantages.

Marshall, Fenli, Arenas, and others were more suited to play positional shooting games.

In the Eastern playoffs, the Cavalier’s counterattack was solely reliant on James.

If he wasn’t scoring or wasn’t in rhythm, more than half of the Cavaliers’ counterattacks fell apart.

Carlisle hoped James would awaken in the second half and use his personal ability to disrupt the situation and open the game for the Cavaliers.

On the battlefield of the finals, player ability is the most crucial; without personal ability, all tactical arrangements are meaningless.

However, James’s performance after the start of the third quarter was very disappointing for Carlisle.

Especially after a few successful defensive plays by the Cavaliers, James clearly had the opportunity to carry the ball for a counterattack, yet he chose not to aggressively attack the basket to cause damage.

He decided to stay back and act as support, organizing at the top of the arc to rediscover opportunities.

This caused the Cavaliers’ offense to become highly inefficient.

Although Glory’s offense was also mediocre at the start of the third quarter, the Cavaliers couldn’t score either, and the situation was deadlocked.

"Xie Te, this guy is playing lifelessly; think of some ways, buddy."

Carlisle was feeling anxious on the sidelines; he knew the players’ personal states were everything.

If the players couldn’t make shots and were playing poorly, even a coach with three heads and six arms would be useless.

But facing Glory’s highly targeted defense, James was struggling remarkably.

During one possession, when he got the ball at a 45-degree angle on the left, there was no defender within two meters.

An average shooter would have taken the three-point shot long ago.

But James just held the ball and observed, eventually choosing to pass to the cutting Gooden.

Gooden received the ball and made a successful mid-range jump shot.

Gooden’s state tonight was impressive, repeatedly scoring with mid-range shots.

Gan Guoyang clearly didn’t focus on Gooden as a primary defensive target.

They let him shoot those mid-range shots, as Gooden’s mid-range cannot kill them.

His attention was on collaborating with teammates to weave a defensive pocket for James.

If they let him shoot, and if he dared to charge in, he would surely be obstructed.

The Cavaliers hardly got two points, and coming back, Gan Guoyang received the ball in the low position, drawing the defense.

Double-teamed, Gan Guoyang passed the ball outside, Allen Iverson received it and attempted a three-pointer, but it missed.

But inside, Yao Ming grabbed the Offensive Rebound, passed it back to Gan Guoyang, and Gan Guoyang scored on a layup!

He also caused Gooden’s defensive foul and earned a free throw!

After scoring, Gan Guoyang clenched his fist and swung his arm, then stepped onto the free throw line, and made the extra shot confidently.

He high-fived with Iverson and Yao, his face full of ease.

Honestly, Gan Guoyang hadn’t expected the Cavaliers wouldn’t make any creative adjustments in the second half, which doesn’t fit Rick Carlisle’s style.

Even more unexpected was that Glory, merely relying on the most straightforward inside-out cooperation, could repeatedly penetrate the Cavaliers’ defense.

Honestly, Gan Guoyang had mastered this technique back in 1987.

With the continuous enrichment and evolution of team tactics, this move has become "basic skills."

Indispensable, but relying solely on basic skills would not be enough against powerful teams like the Bulls, Suns, and Lakers.

More variety must be introduced, and advanced tactics must be present; precise control over timing and rhythm must be achieved in detail.

Only then can one achieve victory after victory in the top-tier playoff contests.

Including the last round against the Suns, the score was 4:1, but Glory’s core engine was running at full capacity.

Gan Guoyang did not have a breather in the game, had to stay focused, and cooperate fully with teammates, pushing the pace and speed to the limit, and decisively sealing the game.

But in the finals, things became much more relaxed.

On defense, a mix of zone and man-to-man was used, and on offense, at critical moments, the ball was given to Gan Guoyang or Yao Ming; a low-post collaboration with two or three passes could penetrate the Cavaliers’ defense.

Gan Guoyang was puzzled, perhaps the Cavaliers were too nervous in the first game?

But after the first half, adjustments should be made at halftime to improve in the second half.

Yet, the situation didn’t change much.

James controlled the ball, dribbling repeatedly on the perimeter, while Glory’s defense stayed back.

After a pick-and-roll screen, Yao went out to delay James momentarily and quickly turned back inside without even looking at James.