Chapter 1158 1157. The Most Stable Team to Bully Weak Players
"Coach, what are we going to do in Miami? Can't we watch the live broadcast on TV?" Liu Mang asked curiously.
"The night before yesterday we played the Cavaliers, and Riley also came to our gym." Coach Kruger replied.
"Is that so? That's fine. Anyway, it's close and we can come back at night."
On the afternoon of April 5, Liu Mang and the coaching staff, as well as teammates such as McGrady, Calderon, and Iguodala, went to Miami to watch the Cavaliers' away game against the Heat.
The Heat performed strongly. James performed averagely when facing big centers like Yao Ming and O'Neal. He is better at dealing with opponents who move better and jump more, such as Rasheed Wallace and Kwame Brown. He performed poorly against centers who occupy a large area in the interior, such as Yao Ming and O'Neal, or inside players who don't like to jump, such as Duncan.
James scored 37 points against Kwame Brown the day before yesterday. Today, he played against the Heat with O'Neal, but only made 4 of 15 shots. He got 20 points, 3 rebounds and 9 assists with his god-like whistle. The Cavaliers lost by nearly 30 points 73 to 101.
James has played against Yao Ming 6 times so far, with a hit rate of only 35%, and played against O'Neal 7 times, with a hit rate of only 39%.
In the original time and space in Liu Mang's memory, James played against Yao Ming for six years in his career, from James' rookie season to the 08-09 season when James won his first MVP. The last time James played against Yao Ming, his hit rate was only more than 30%. James rarely faced Yao Ming with a hit rate of more than 40%, and he played badly every time.
Liu Mang watched this game and recalled that when James played against Howard and Garnett, who were good at mobility and loved to jump, when these two were at their peak, James had a 50-50 winning rate. However, when playing against Yao Ming, James only won 3 times in his career and lost 8 times; when playing against Duncan and O'Neal, he lost more than he won, 7 wins and 12 losses against O'Neal, and a decent winning rate against Duncan in the regular season, and 5 wins and 11 losses in the playoffs.
In the past, James was still weak, and Liu Mang did not consider these things. Now James is getting stronger and stronger. According to the original history, even if James did not have good teammates to join, and only had one All-Star teammate Larry Hughes, and Big Z was past his peak, James' VP level could lead the team to the finals. If it were not for the Celtics' Big Three and Howard entering his peak, James would have dominated the East since the fourth grade.
Liu Mang began to be wary of James, who had to improve and polish his skills earlier in history. It is necessary to stock up on big centers!
But there is no need to rush for now. This season has not yet ended. Liu Mang has kept this in mind. When the summer draft comes, the Hawks still have two second-round picks, and a lottery protection for the Jazz.
Liu Mang now hopes that the Jazz can make the playoffs, so that his team can have a first-round pick in the summer. The Jazz are currently ranked ninth in the West, with the same record as the eighth-placed Hornets.
…
After watching the game between the Cavaliers and the Heat, the Hawks returned to Atlanta in the evening. The next day, the Hawks began to prepare for the game against the 76ers.
Playing against the 76ers is much more serious than playing against the Cavaliers. This is a team with a real MVP.
The Hawks held a team tactical meeting at nine in the morning, followed by two tactical training sessions to train against the 76ers.
The focus is on the one-big-four-small lineup of Iverson and Webber, Childress, Samuels, and Matt Barnes, as well as the 76ers' sixth man, former Hawks player Willie Green.
Iverson averaged 28.4 points, 4 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game this season, and played 43 minutes per game, ranking first in the league. He doesn't look like a 31-year-old short guard at all. His hit rate is 46.2%, a career high. In addition to his height, his physical talent is really good.
Webber averaged 20 points, 9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game this season. Webber's performance this season is amazing. For the first time in his career, he played all games without missing a single game. He looks healthier than when he was in the Kings. However, his defense has obviously declined. As the rebounding champion in the shortened season, he only averaged 9 rebounds per game this season. Except for his season-ending junior year, his rebounds are currently the lowest in his career. His assists are also the lowest in his career. It is obvious that he has declined.
But having such an inside teammate who can shoot, pass and play one-on-one is already the best offensive inside teammate Iverson has ever met in his career.
The 76ers' foundation is the core offensive combination of Iverson and Webber. Iverson's ability rating is 95, and Webber's ability rating is 85. A superstar leads a first-class star-level inside player. In the East, it is no problem to enter the playoffs. Moreover, having a superstar will always give opponents a headache. The biggest difference between superstars and top stars is that they can really shake a championship-level team on their own.
In the last seven games, the Hawks must win at least five games to break the Bulls' historical record.
Liu Mang can't accept tying the record, and it must be broken! Otherwise, the third stage of the King's Mission will be postponed to next season!
In the next three consecutive home games, the weakest is the 76ers. In order to ensure that the historical record can be broken in case of a loss to the Suns and Lakers, the relatively weak 76ers must win!
Not only Liu Mang thinks so, the coaching staff also thinks the same. In order to prepare for the next game against the Suns and Lakers, the two championship opponents, the Hawks are ready to play with all the main players today!
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At 6:10 pm, Liu Mang and his teammates entered the stadium of their own team. The game with the 76ers was about to start at 6:30.
Before the game, Liu Mang and McGrady went to greet Iverson together. The relationship between the three of them was getting better and better. Liu Mang heard from gossip that a guard who did not want to be named and had the highest player in the league as a teammate was very unhappy about the increasingly good relationship between McGrady and Iverson.
So, Liu Mang deliberately pulled McGrady to hug and take a photo with Iverson before the game, which was not broadcast live by the court TV but was broadcast live by Time Warner nationwide...
Iverson's arrogant personality made him have very few friends in the NBA. Similar to Garnett, Iverson is similar to "arrogant", even more arrogant than Kobe. Garnett... in the eyes of most people, deserved it.
Matt Barnes started to wander after leaving the Hawks. Personality is a big problem. In the Hawks, he was suppressed by a bunch of big guys, so he was not very restless, but in other teams, he often clashed with teammates.
But he is really strong, and with a championship title, he can find a job anywhere. After the third year of his previous three-year contract was rejected, he signed another two-year, $7 million contract with the Knicks last summer and was sent to the 76ers by the Knicks before the All-Star Weekend.
Matt Barnes is one of Liu Mang's first teammates. The old teammates have a good relationship and greeted each other, but it was just a greeting. After all, they have been separated for a long time, and they are not like the first generation of the three eagles who played together every day.
…
At 6:30, with a roar from Rasheed Wallace, Liu Mang sprinkled magnesium powder into the air, and the atmosphere of the Hawks was driven by Rasheed Wallace!
Getting closer and closer to the playoffs, the atmosphere at the Hawks' home court is more intense, and it already feels like the playoffs.
Even strong players like Iverson and Webber felt the pressure from the visiting fans.
The 76ers did not continue with the lineup of one big and four small today, and sent out the starting lineup of Iverson, Samuels, Childress, Webber, and Dalembert.
On the Hawks side, Liu Mang, McGrady, Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Kwame Brown all started.
The 76ers, who are now trying to ensure that they can enter the playoffs as the fourth place in the Eastern Conference, played very hard at the beginning of the game, and were no less than the Cavaliers the day before yesterday.
Iverson played very well this year, very well, with a 44% overall mid-range shooting rate, especially the pull-up jump shot from the free throw line, which was as high as 47%, and the long two-pointer also had a 44% hit rate, but the close-range mid-range shot... 30.9%, and the hit rate at the basket was still bad, 53%...
If the Hawks did not send Rasheed Wallace, or the 76ers insisted on playing one big and four small players and were not afraid of the Hawks' twin towers in the interior, Iverson might have played better with better space.
But the 76ers' head coach Maurice Cheeks didn't have the guts to give up the one-big-four-small lineup that averaged 103 points this season, and instead sent out a double-tower lineup with much lower offensive efficiency, which led to a sharp drop in offensive efficiency.
Although Iverson played well today, shooting 9 of 22, 1 of 6 three-pointers, and 9 of 11 free throws to get 29 points, 3 rebounds, and 10 assists, Webber performed poorly. When he returned to the power forward position, his speed decline affected his performance at the power forward position. Although he is only 2.06 meters tall, Webber's current age and weight make him more suitable for playing center. When Dalembert was on the court, his inside range of activity was reduced, and he could only pass and shoot from mid-range and long distances, with only 4 of 12 shots, scoring 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.
On the Hawks side, Liu Mang easily scored 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 14 assists, McGrady scored 27 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists, Korver scored 22 points, and Jason Terry scored 17 points. The Hawks easily defeated the 76ers with a score difference of 12 points, 109 to 97.
The Hawks defeated the 76ers and won seven consecutive games, with a record of 69 wins and 7 losses, tying the third highest number of wins in history held by the Bulls and Lakers.
This is not terrible, what is terrible is the Hawks' attitude of crushing the playoff teams throughout the whole process!
Too stable!
Although it is not as big as the score difference between the Heat and the Cavaliers when James and Wade faced off yesterday, it looks more stable!
After the Hawks established a 10-point lead, they tried various tactical cooperation between Liu Mang and his teammates. Even so, they still won the 76ers, the fourth team in the Eastern Conference, by 12 points!