basketball never sleeps

Chapter 333 Small Ball Tactics

At the start of the new year, the SuperSonics continued their winning streak, easily securing three consecutive victories against three weak teams: the Thunder, Clippers, and Rockets.

Given that the SuperSonics had only lost 5 games before, Seattle media outlets have started speculating about the team reaching 70 wins, and some sensationalist media outlets have even begun to study their opponents in this year's Finals.

Unsurprisingly, this act of opening champagne at halftime brought divine retribution, and Grant Hill was hospitalized yet again.

Fortunately, this time Hill was admitted to the emergency room, not surgery or orthopedics.

The reason was that Hill changed his post-meal walks to jumping around, and his appendix had something to say: it was inflamed. Grant Hill had no choice but to have his appendix removed with tears in his eyes, and then enjoy more than a week of liquid diet and a vacation of more than half a month.

The day after Hill left the team, the team's backup center Francisco was unfortunately involved in a car accident. He was hit by a drunk while driving. Fortunately, the car did not overturn, but he suffered a fracture and will have to rest for at least a month and a half. He will not be able to return to play until the end of February at the earliest.

That wasn't the end of it. Assistant coach Boults, who was in charge of the team's video analysis, also ended up in the hospital after the two. The reason was even more outrageous: he was hugging his neighbor's wife in a bar when his neighbor hugged his wife. What could have been a happy occasion turned into a brawl, and the unlucky Boults was also poked in the eye.

Fortunately, the exorbitant medical bills depleted his family's meager cash savings, leaving him with no money to divide and allowing him to save his marriage.

As he and his teammates left the hospital, Mo Wen made a point of checking the amulet on his person.

Sending out three fruit baskets in less than a week is really a bit strange. He has seen teams suffer a lot of injuries and almost can't field a full team, but he has never seen a team like his own that is sent to the hospital by various off-court factors.

Fortunately, their bad luck did not spread. However, the injuries to Hill and Francisco were a significant blow to the SuperSonics' bench, as both players averaged 20-25 minutes of playing time per game.

Hill is alright; he's more of a bonus. Damian can do what Hill can do. It's just that things become very difficult for him once Francisco gets injured.

Besides Tyson, the only other center on the team who is over 2.1 meters tall is Joe Hanpetro.

But Johan Pedro is an even simpler foul maniac than Francisco. Not to mention his outside shooting, he can easily beat a skilled inside player like Scola in 5 minutes.

Moreover, his height is somewhat inflated. The scale shows his height as 213 cm, but his actual shoulder height is not high. If Bosh's neck is 5 cm longer than others, then his forehead is 5 cm higher than others.

It's alright if they encounter a weak team, because the Supersonics' main lineup can completely overwhelm the opponent in one fell swoop, and they can't find any weaknesses in the Supersonics.

When facing a strong team, the situation becomes very awkward.

On January 9, the SuperSonics faced the Mavericks again. The Mavericks, who are usually known for their shooting, turned into driving monsters and drew four fouls from Tyson in the first half. By the middle of the third quarter, the two SuperSonics centers had a combined total of nine fouls.

The chain reaction of fouls in the paint led to a loss of rebounds, which dashed Mo Wen's hopes of taking over the game.

最终莫闻27投17中，三分9中5，罚球8中8，空砍47分。

This time, the young general was smarter and managed to keep Cuban in check, preventing him from showing off at the press conference. However, the Dallas media didn't let the opportunity pass.

They seem to have forgotten the pain that Morve had caused them, and instead used those scars as a basis for their own achievements to summarize the Morve-Dallas Law, which states that if Morve cannot score 50 points against the Mavericks, he will most likely lose the game.

To be honest, this rule sounds really intimidating. If you didn't know better, you might think Dallas is some kind of super team and the Mavericks are Mo Wen's nemesis. But those who know the history between Mo Wen and the Mavericks will find it hard not to laugh.

"If the only way for an active player to break Wilt Chamberlain's single-game scoring record is to have Mo Wen play a season with the 76ers, then the only way for an active player to break Chamberlain's season average points per game record is to have Mo Wen play a season with the Mavericks."

Barkley made the above comments about the "Moda Rule" on a TNT program.

Mo Wen didn't feel any particular emotion about the loss, but he took the opportunity to suggest to the coaching staff that they further experiment with the small ball.

The Supersonics can assemble a small-ball lineup, but...

"The problem isn't on offense. The biggest pressure comes from our defense when we field a small-ball lineup. Paul (Millsap) is barely adapted to defending the power forward position. Asking him to play center is too much of a stretch." Hill can accept the SuperSonics' existing fast break and shooting system, but he simply can't accept the defensive problems that come with a small-ball lineup.

Mo Wen completely understands, because the future Warriors' Kerr can continue to play small ball without thinking, not only because of Curry's extremely high offensive threat, but also because Green can indeed withstand most centers in the league except for a few heavyweight centers.

Neither Millsap nor Scola currently possess the ability to play center for the SuperSonics, but Mo Wen doesn't intend to transform the team into a completely small-ball team. Gasol, whom the team previously selected, will be able to return next year, and Tyson's contract still has three years remaining. Playing small-ball will be more of a tactical supplement.

Centers are generally more prone to injury than perimeter players. Tyson has had good attendance in recent years, and the team has been trying to control the intensity of his use. But some things are like safety channels; you can choose not to use them, but you can't be without them.

However, old Hill was not a stubborn person, especially since it was Mo Wen who made the suggestion to him.

Since Mo Wen won the Grand Slam of individual honors last season, the SuperSonics have changed from a monarchy to a constitutional monarchy.

It wasn't that owner Bennett didn't want to exercise his rights as owner, but he found that if he were deeply involved in the team's management, he would have to consult Mo Wen on many important matters to show respect, making Mo Wen seem like his supreme ruler. It would be better for him to delegate authority and remain behind the scenes, letting the general manager discuss things while he made the final decisions. At least this way, he could maintain his authority as owner.

So Hill spent the whole night discussing with the coaching staff and Morten the potential problems with the small-ball tactics and how to adjust them based on the team's current roster.

Mo Wen was in charge of speaking, the teaching assistant was in charge of taking notes, and Old Hill was in charge of nodding. Everyone performed their duties and cooperated very well.

“At first I thought the defense would be an unsolvable problem, but looking back, the offense is just too… romantic. We are now shooting 26 three-pointers a game, which is a league-leading number. If we play this small lineup for 10 minutes every game, I feel we will shoot more than 30 three-pointers.” Schrempf simulated the tactics described by Mo Wen in his mind and couldn’t help but marvel.

Influenced by the butterfly effect, the number of three-point shots by various teams has increased significantly. For example, Popovich of the Spurs is criticizing three-pointers while averaging 21 three-pointers per game.

Still affected by Larry Brown's legacy, the 76ers' average of 14 three-point attempts per game is already the lowest in the league.

Three-pointers have shed their reputation as unorthodox methods, but now a team only attempts an average of 85 shots per game. If 30 of those are three-pointers, that's 40% of the total shots. From the perspective of a player from the last century, that's quite an exaggeration.

The other coaching staff members also gasped in surprise, but Mo Wen remained calm, because this was the trend of basketball development.

In the future, an average of 30 three-point attempts per game will be the minimum requirement for an NBA team. Before he traveled through time, this standard was trending towards 40 attempts per game. However, some fans of certain teams were still not satisfied when their teams averaged 45 three-point attempts per game, feeling that their favorite team had no space.

Of course, that's not the most outrageous thing. The most outrageous thing is that a team can make 40 three-pointers and still have 40 free throws... The next day during training, the coaching staff approached Millsap and Damion and began to explain the relevant matters of small ball tactics to the two of them.

After all, tactical issues can be resolved gradually, but players are not machines. You have to consider their mentality, and at the very least, you have to give them some psychological preparation.

"I'm fine!" Millsap patted his chest firmly. The young man's courage was unquestionable. He was the rebounding king of his district in college, and his role model was Ben Wallace.

Although he didn't have an afro, he didn't care too much about his height. He believed in doing things right and getting things done with effort.

Damien nodded, but he still seemed hesitant. He had a clearer understanding of his own role and knew that everyone had their own responsibilities. He could occasionally switch onto the center and hold his own, but he couldn't afford to be matched up against a 2.1-meter tall player for an extended period of time...

He recalled the scene from last season's playoffs when he switched onto Yao Ming's defense against the Warriors, and the shadow cast by the pure modeling data made him swallow hard.

Thinking of that shark, still so powerful, he couldn't help but shudder.

Will it win?

"It's okay. If you don't know how to position yourselves, I can demonstrate for you. It's no big deal." Mo Wen patted his back with his warm hand.

It's just playing a heavy-handed center, what's the big deal?

He's faced off against those behemoths countless times in dungeons and has developed a comprehensive set of counter-strategies.

The pressure of defending a big center in a small-ball lineup isn't really about the player in the matchup. It's about blocking their positioning so they can't get the ball deep inside. Once the center gets the ball, they need to double-team and rotate immediately. This is something the whole team needs to work on together. If, unfortunately, the big center manages to get into position inside and create an environment for one-on-one play, then they still have a way to lose gracefully.

Instead of immediately implementing a small-ball tactic on a whim, the SuperSonics practiced it in internal scrimmages for a week first.

The team's ability to adapt to small-ball tactics is surprisingly good, mainly because the team itself takes a lot of three-pointers, plays fast, and with Mo Wen, the best point guard in the world, they have developed good catch-and-shoot skills.

The SuperSonics officially implemented this tactic in their game against the Pacers.

Carlisle also resigned after O'Neal left the team in the summer, and was replaced by Jim O'Brien, the son-in-law of the great Hall of Fame coach Jack Ramsey.

O'Brien coached the 76ers two years ago and led the team to the playoffs. However, the 76ers' general manager wanted to promote team legend Cheeks to the position, and O'Brien was fired without any conditions.

Although O'Brien inherited his father-in-law Ramsey's family tradition, he was not the kind of traditional, academic coach who was obsessed with defense. He belonged to the same school as Don Nelson. At the beginning of the century, when he coached the Celtics, he gave the Celtics' star duo considerable offensive freedom. O'Brien's bad habit of taking wild three-pointers was formed during his coaching.

Bird chose him as the Pacers' new head coach with the intention of having him develop the offensive talent of the team's young players.

However, he is still limited by the traditional mindset that whoever controls the paint controls the game. Even though he has increased the team's outside shooting, he still maintains the bottom line that there must be a big man on the court to protect the rim and grab rebounds.

In the second quarter, the SuperSonics fielded a lineup of Mo Wen, Ray Allen, Gay, Damian, and Millsap. O'Brien didn't think anything was wrong at first, but when they got into position and saw Millsap holding off Jeff Foster, he realized something was amiss.

"Larry, look at the SuperSonics' lineup..." O'Brien looked at the hook-nosed man beside him.

"Riley's Five Gods Edge?" Bird narrowed his eyes.

The NCAA has long had small-ball tactics because college players are too mobile, and most teams have difficulty recruiting enough big men every year. Therefore, many coaches have been working on small-ball tactics.

Coach K, for example, first coached the men's basketball team at West Point Military Academy. The academy's admissions regulations did not allow players taller than 2 meters, so they could only play small-ball lineups.

But Bird didn't think about that; instead, he thought about Pat Riley's idea of ​​building a team with five 2-meter players.

While Millsap is short enough, Mo Wen is far taller at the point guard position. Currently, the only point guard taller than Mo Wen is probably Kobe Bryant – Kobe Bryant wandered to the Timberwolves this year. According to the All-Star selection rules, each team must have at least two candidates. Since the Timberwolves couldn't find any well-known stars, they registered Kobe Bryant for the point guard position.

The other four members of the SuperSonics are either bald or have short, curly black hair. Mo Wen has slightly longer hair and looks taller than the rest of the SuperSonics lineup.

Before two rounds had even begun, the Pacers' two external brains sensed something was wrong.

Jeff Foster is a typical blue-collar center. At 30 years old, he has completely lost the center pride that Hakeem Olajuwon talked about. He is just a pure rim protector and rebounder with no offensive ability.

Millsap, who was initially a little nervous, found his task much easier than he had imagined after the actual game, even easier than when he was originally playing as a power forward.

Even more comfortable was Mo Wen, with all four players spread out. The Pacers players on the court knew their assigned players all had three-point shooting ability, so they didn't dare leave their guards open for double-teaming. This kind of isolation play might not be as efficient as pick-and-roll, but it creates more opportunities under the basket, and more importantly, it's so satisfying to play one-on-one.

The joy of overwhelming your opponent, leaving them drenched in sweat yet unable to breathe too heavily, is something only those who know it can understand.

It's not easy for the Pacers to defend two players at once because the small-ball offense is fast-paced and has many opportunities for cuts. When the ball is in the half-court, the players don't just stand still and watch their teammates make plays. Off-ball players make a few cross-cutting runs and cuts to test the defense, which overloads the defender's brain.

Jeff Foster, who was expected to shine in the second quarter, was forced to leave the game after only 3 minutes against the SuperSonics' small-ball lineup.

Despite being the tallest player on the field, he couldn't find his place at all.

After Millsap hit a corner three-pointer, he was forced to abandon his rim protection duties and move out to the perimeter, rendering him useless on offense. The SuperSonics' rotation speed simply didn't give him any chances to score. Even when moving out to set screens, Millsap's 2-meter frame didn't put him at a disadvantage when switching on defense. Top-tier penetrators like Crawford and Tinsley could still score against him, but his penetration was much less effective than when he played against Tyson.

Coach O'Brien tried to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause by having his players double-team him, but the SuperSonics made 4 of 6 three-point attempts, extending their lead to 23 points before halftime.

The SuperSonics seemed to be addicted, playing small-ball lineups for most of the third quarter. It wasn't until the point difference widened to 30 points and the Pacers players became increasingly aggressive that Hill finally woke up and switched to a normal lineup.

Sitting on the bench, Mo Wen was not basking in the joy of the tactical success; he even noticed a huge problem with the tactic.

"If I shoot smoothly for half the game, it'll be garbage time. How am I supposed to get on the court in the final quarter?" (End of Chapter)