The most feared thing in zone defense tactics is players with too far outside shooting range, because if you want to limit the opponent's breakthrough with the ball, you must shrink the defense line and be ready to help defend against double teams at any time.
But Wang Feng, who has a golden long-range turret, can stand farther than the three-point line and shoot. If they want to limit Wang Feng's shooting, the Celtics must send an extra defensive player to keep an eye on him throughout the game.
The Celtics only have a total of 5 players on the court. Excluding the black hole Thomas on the defensive end, if one more person is assigned to guard Wang Feng, there will only be 3 players left in the zone defense system. How can they stop this?
James, Irving and other players?
The Celtics could only make a choice: to keep an eye on Wang Feng, or to choose not to disrupt the overall defensive rhythm of the team.
The Celtics ultimately chose the latter.
There is no way. James' performance in the first two rounds of the playoffs was really explosive. He scored 32.8 points in four games in the first round and 36 points in four games in the second round. That can really kill people!
On the other hand, Wang Feng, although his scoring efficiency is very high, his scoring average is only maintained at around 24 points in both the regular season and the playoffs. After all, there are only a few high-scoring games.
What's more, even in a zone defense, if Wang Feng wants to get a completely open opportunity, he has to be one step away from the three-point line. At this distance, even Curry cannot guarantee a high shooting rate.
However, it turns out that they lost the bet.
Wang Feng, who scored 12 points in the first quarter, intensified after entering the second quarter. He took a large number of shots without any scruples. He took 10 outside shots and hit 5 goals. His three-point shooting rate was as high as 50%, which directly defeated the Celtics.
The entire line collapsed.
Wang Feng, who scored 27 points in the first half, continued to play well in the second half and hit another three-pointer early in the third quarter.
The Celtics were finally afraid. Wang Feng's three-pointer could really kill someone alive!
Green Army head coach Stevens began to arrange players to guard Wang Feng personally, and he could not be allowed to continue shooting three-pointers no matter what!
But as a result, the Celtics' defensive system directly showed loopholes. James and Irving frequently broke through and hit the basket with the ball, completely destroying the Celtics' defense.
At the end of the third quarter, the score between the two teams had reached 91:64, with the Cavaliers leading by 27 points at home.
The game loses suspense early.
Wang Feng, who scored 27 points in the first half, still scored 14 points in the second half despite being heavily defended. He scored 41 points and made 12 three-pointers, with a three-point shooting rate of 52%.
The 12 three-pointers in a single game broke the NBA playoff record for three-pointers in a single game. Wang Feng used his own efforts to defeat the Celtics with three-pointers!
After the game, facing the media, Celtics head coach Stevens looked helpless.
"We have done everything, but the Cavaliers performed significantly better. They have the best players in the league and one of the top three-pointers in history."
"Today we witnessed the birth of a new NBA record. I couldn't imagine before that a player could actually hit so many three-pointers from so far away from the three-point line. It doesn't matter, we will be fine. Series
It's just the beginning, what we need to consider next is how to contain our opponents' completely unreasonable three-point shooting style."
Having said that, sometimes, manpower will eventually run out.
The Celtics' performance this season is indeed remarkable, but the upper limit of their strength is limited to this. Even without Wang Feng, the original 2017 Cavaliers team could still eliminate them with a score of 4:1, not to mention now.
The Cavaliers also have Wang Feng, whose overall rating is close to 90?
On May 19, Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals was still at the home court of the Cavaliers.
In this game, the Celtics really changed their defensive tactics and began to defend Wang Feng tightly, but so what?
Wang Feng takes fewer shots from outside the three-point line, but a large number of mid-to-long-range shots still allow him to maintain a relatively stable scoring output.
Due to changes in defensive tactics, the Celtics' ability to assist defense has deteriorated. James, who was originally unable to be restrained by assist defense, jumped into the deep end. He made 12 of 18 shots in the game and shot 66.7%.
Scored 30 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists.
On the other hand, the Celtics were unable to successfully restrict the Cavaliers on the defensive end, allowing the opponent to flourish more, and there was no success on the offensive end.
During the regular season, the Celtics mainly relied on Thomas's super attack ability. Thomas, who averaged 29 points and 5.9 assists per game this season, was the Celtics' main scoring point.
However, entering the playoffs, as the defensive intensity of the game increased, Thomas' shortcomings and shortcomings were fully exposed.
In the first game, Thomas Jr. showed his decline, hitting only 7 goals in 19 shots, shooting only 28.6%, and scoring only 17 points.
In the second game, the situation was even worse.
In the entire first half, Thomas only took 6 shots and missed all of them. He barely scored 2 points by relying on free throws. In the second half, Stevens simply put him on the bench for the entire game.
Thomas, who is already a defensive black hole, cannot even help the team on the offensive end and is already a complete drag on the court.
It's a pity that even if Thomas is replaced, the decline cannot be restored.
130:97, the Celtics continued to lose, and the 33-point point difference was wider than the previous game.
…
The Cavaliers led 2:0 in the Eastern Conference finals, with a margin of victory of 60 points in the two games. While the entire league lamented the strength of the Cavaliers, in the Western Conference finals, the score also reached 2:0, and the Warriors defeated the Spurs in two consecutive games.
History has indeed not changed.
Kawhi Leonard, the Spurs' first core player, was injured in the first game.
Although the process and method are slightly different, it is still Zaza Pachulia, and the Spurs are also in the lead.
Obviously, the other party did it on purpose.
Pachulia, who committed a flagrant foul, was verbally criticized by all walks of life in the league, and even the entire Warriors team fell into abuse, but so what? Without Leonard, the Spurs completely lost the capital to compete with the Warriors. In the second game
The game was lost by 36 points, which was a wider point difference than the Eastern Conference finals team.
"It's 2:0 in both games. It seems that it's a certainty that the Cavaliers and Warriors will meet in the finals. Now we can start to guess who will win the championship."
"Although the competition between the two powers makes the first few rounds of the playoffs seem a bit boring, the anticipation for the finals is really full. Sparks collide with the earth! It is completely foreseeable that this will be an event.
An epic battle that will definitely go down in history!”