NBA: I have 3, no D, and I can't dribble

Chapter 185【185】 Are technical flaws seen through?Complete crushing of the back line!
Amid the cheers of the Heat fans, O'Neal and Dampier stepped into the center circle and jumped the ball, and the game officially began.

"Snapped!"

O'Neal easily picked up the basketball over Dampier's head. Wade took the ball and gave it directly to Lin Fei, allowing Lin Fei to advance with the ball.

There were thunderous cheers at the scene, and the Heat took the lead in the opening attack.

"Lin was asked to dribble the ball at the beginning. It seems that tonight Stan Van Gundy's Heat coaching staff has continued the main tactics used in the Eastern Conference Finals and has let Lin replace Dwayne as the Heat's organizer!"

"In the three games Lin played in the Eastern Conference Finals, he averaged 3 assists per game, ranking first in the entire series. Even in all single-round series in this year's playoffs, Lin averaged 12.3 assists per game. Also second only to Steve Nash of the Suns!”

In front of the commentary desk on the sidelines, Mike Breen and Reggie Miller were obviously very interested in and looking forward to Lin Fei's organizational performance tonight.

"Lin's sudden display of outstanding talent in assists really shocked the entire league. However, the three games in the Eastern Conference Finals were still accidental. This round of the finals is the touchstone to test Lin's organizational ability!"

"If Lin can still display the offensive organizational skills of the Eastern Conference Finals in this round of the Finals, then he will truly become the league's leading assist master, and the Heat's chances of winning will obviously become greater!"

On the court, the Mavericks' defensive formation was very clear, allowing Josh Howard to move up to defend Lin Fei alone, while the rest of the players were huddled within the three-point line.

This defensive formation is basically similar to one-to-four. In today's Mavericks, Josh Howard's role is equivalent to that of Bruce Bowen of the Spurs.

Lin Fei dribbled the ball two meters outside the three-point line at the top of the arc. Facing Josh Howard, who had a horse face and a big mouth, there was a sharp contrast in appearance between the two.

Josh Howard, who has been severely bow-legged since he was a child, is also a draft player of the 03 generation like Lin Fei Wade.

Josh Howard was the 29th pick in the first round, but due to his stable performance in replacing Michael Finley in the starting lineup in the second half of his rookie season, he was selected to the second team of the 03-04 All-Rookie Team.

Being selected into the second team of the rookies in the 03 golden generation that is full of talents, compared with his lower picks, Josh Howard can be said to be a model of counterattack.

Now entering the third season of his career, Josh has firmly established himself as a starter under the guidance of Avery Johnson.
In the Mavericks, who are obviously strong in offense and weak in defense, Josh Howard's defense has become even more indispensable.

On the offensive end, Howard has also secured the fourth spot on the team this season, averaging 16 points per game, second only to Nowitzki, Ginobili and Terry.

The team's No. 16 player is averaging [-] points per game. It's not surprising that the Mavericks can reach the finals this season.

Howard's three-point shooting percentage this season has reached 42.9%, ranking first in the team, and higher than the three-point shooting percentage of Nowitzki and Terry.

Coupled with his increasingly mature post-up skills and breakthrough throws, as well as his tenacious ability to grab rebounds for secondary offense,

These all make Josh Howard a blue-collar ace in the hands of head coach Avery Johnson.

Lin Fei's success also made the Mavericks coach more interested in the tactical status of Josh Howard, a standard 3D and forward defender.

Seeing that the Mavericks had no intention of double-teaming him, Lin Fei did not call for a rough pick-and-roll, but made a gesture to go one-on-one.

The Heat's remaining four starters quickly opened up the floor.

Facing Lin Fei, who was dribbling the ball calmly, Josh Howard's nerves were all tense, and the defensive pressure instantly increased.

"Whoosh!"

A sudden change of direction started. Lin Fei lowered his body weight and pushed Howard to break through.
While quickly moving Howard's defensive focus to the left, he dribbled the ball from behind to the right.

Although Howard is 2.01 meters tall, his speed is not inferior to that of Lin Fei. He also reacts quickly and slides swiftly. The black talent is undoubtedly on display.

But Lin Fei reached the top level of dribbling, and after consecutive double changes of direction, Josh Howard's defensive steps were obviously messed up.

"Whoosh!"

Lin Fei took advantage of the situation and suddenly made another half-turn to mislead, making a fake move of turning to the left to break through, and then quickly turned around with the ball, and continuously stepped back to the right.
He opened enough distance from Josh Howard, jumped up suddenly, and shot the ball decisively.

Josh Howard was almost stunned by Lin Fei's change of direction dribbling, but his defensive thinking was very clear. He mainly defended shots but not sudden attacks.

When Lin Fei retreated, Howard quickly controlled his steps and quickly rushed forward with his long arms extended to interfere with Lin Fei's shot.

But even with a wingspan of 2.18 meters and top-notch defensive awareness, Josh Howard's defense was still a quarter of a beat slow.

"Whoosh!"

Not only did Lin Fei withdraw the ball from a sufficient distance, he also leaned back slightly after taking off, and at the same time, he deliberately raised the arc of his shot.

Not to mention Josh Howard, even Kobe and Jordan at their peak would have a very difficult time blocking shots.

The basketball suddenly flew through a space less than 5 centimeters from the defender's fingertips, turned into lightning, and flew straight into the net.

"Shh!"

In Lin Fei's first singles shot at the beginning of G1 of the finals, the basketball went hollow into the net and hit the ball steadily.

Heat (3): (0) Mavericks.

After the shot landed, Lin Fei also took two steps back, raised his eyebrows at Josh Howard, stretched out two fingers and shook it gracefully, full of confidence and domineering.

Finger wagging was originally a prohibited action for NBA players, but referee Stephen Jiawei chose to turn a blind eye.

After all, Lin Fei's single three-pointer in the opening game was truly beautiful.

As a veteran who has been blowing whistles in the league for decades, he couldn't help but admire him.

"Josh Howard is undoubtedly the best defender on the Mavericks' front line. He has defended Gasol against the Grizzlies, Nash against the Suns, and even Duncan against the Spurs!"

"Such a blue-collar player is indeed very rare, and going from defense 1 to 4 is no exaggeration!"

"But in the face of Lin's superb ball control and three-point shooting, Josh Howard's defense still seems a bit stretched!"

"It seems that the Mavericks coach's strategy of letting Josh Howard guard Lin alone is not a good arrangement!"

Heat fans in the American Airlines Arena cheered, and the voice of "MVP" was loud and powerful.

Michael Jordan, who also came to watch the game tonight, looked up at the slow replay on the high-definition four-sided screen above his head and murmured in his heart.

If he were at his peak, could he have defended Lin Fei's step-back three-pointer just now?

In fact, Josh Howard's defense this time has exceeded his current level. He even did it to the extreme when he was full of energy at the beginning.
And whether it was defensive obstruction or defensive interference, it successfully affected Lin Fei's shots.

But what can't be done is that Lin Fei's three-point shot is too damn accurate.

On the court, the Mavericks attack.

On the defensive end, Lin Fei is still defensively opposing Marquis Daniels at shooting guard. This guy can be said to be the weakest link among the Mavericks' starting five.

Although the presence of Manu Ginobili and Devin Harris on the bench enhances the Mavericks' rotation flexibility and lineup depth.

But forcing Daniels, who averages less than 10 points per game, to be the starting shooting guard is somewhat deliberate, and it also reflects the lack of tactical literacy of young coach Avery Johnson.

Wade's defensive opponent, Jason Terry, is absolutely crushing in terms of height, weight, wingspan, and even speed.

Battier is guarding Josh Howard, and he is not at a disadvantage. O'Neal and Dampier are entangled. Even though he is 34 years old, he still has an absolute advantage.

The only matchup left is with Dirk Nowitzki, and the Mavericks have too much advantage.

The Mavericks' tactics were also very simple. Jason Terry held the ball at the top of the arc and played a pick-and-roll with Nowitzki.
After a delay, the ball was quickly given to Nowitzki. At this time, Wade and Wade rushed up to attack Nowitzki almost at the same time.

But Nowitzki was still very confident, looking at the basket, and taking advantage of his height advantage, he jumped directly to the frame and shot.

Normally, Nowitzki would not choose difficult shots so easily, but King Nowitzki's desire to attack in tonight's opening game is obviously very strong.

"Whoosh!"

The basketball suddenly flew out under the defense of two long arms, and an arrow pierced the heart.

"Shh!"

Maybe he was a little nervous in general, and he was a little impatient to pounce on Nowitzki's ball. He didn't stop and was directly charged with a foul.

"Beep!"

The referee blew the whistle, it was a 3+1.

After landing, Nowitzki waved his fist and high-fived Terry who rushed up, his blond hair fluttering in the wind. "Uh-huh!"

Nowitzki, who stepped to the free throw line, was quite steady and made the free throw easily.

Nowitzki's free throw shooting rate this season reached 90.9%, and he is also the player with the highest free throw shooting rate in the league besides Lin Fei and Nash.

At the same time, Lin Fei, Nash and Nowitzki are also among the few efficient stars in the league to enter the 180 club this season (shooting rate greater than 50%, three-point shooting rate greater than 40%, free throw shooting rate greater than 90%).

Lin Fei hit Josh Howard with a wonderful three-pointer in the opening singles. Nowitzki quickly responded with a 3+1, and he still hit it with great difficulty despite the defense of two people.
Less than a minute into the finals, the intensity quickly increased, and the duel between Lin Fei and Nowitzki became the main theme.

Mark Cuban, who was sitting in the first row on the sidelines with a beer in his hand, also punched and roared at Nowitzki's opening 3+1, and he was very emotional.

"Lin and Nowitzki, this is a battle between the top two regular season MVPs this year. Let's see who can bring greater help to each team tonight!"

The ball changed, and Lin Fei continued to dribble the ball into the frontcourt. This time, Josh Howard was always on defense after halftime, focusing on preventing Lin Fei from shooting.

Like Josh Howard's defense, Lin Fei can easily get rid of his opponent with just a change of direction.

"Whoosh!"

Seeing Lin Fei use a dribble change to throw away the defender, he was about to reach the three-point line.

Josh Howard no longer pursued Lin Fei as closely as he did the first time, but followed Lin Fei and opened his arms, as if to prevent him from leaving the three-point line again.

Feeling the obstruction of Howard behind him, Lin Fei quickly understood. It seemed that the Mavericks had long seen through his technical shortcomings of not being able to break through for layups.

After a moment's pause, Lin Fei quickly reacted and took advantage of the situation to directly enter the penalty area.

Originally, he wanted to attract defense and at the same time, give the ball to O'Neal for a direct dunk.

But what Lin Fei didn't expect was that whether it was Nowitzki who was roughly taken out of the penalty area or Dampier who was entangled with O'Neal under the basket,
He didn't even have the slightest intention to defend, allowing Lin Fei to dribble straight to the basket without any defense.

Josh Howard, who was catching up from behind, recognized that Lin Fei's ability to break through and lay up was poor even after being repeatedly warned by Avery Johnson before the game.

But at this moment, seeing Lin Fei go straight to the basket without defense, how could he not panic?

After all, this guy is the most popular player in the league today, an MVP-level super star. Even if his two-point shooting and layup skills are worse,

In this situation without defense or confrontation, putting the ball into the basket should be a simple matter, right?

In this subconscious thinking, Josh Howard inevitably accelerated the pace of pursuit, trying to pounce on Lin Fei's layup from behind.

Lin Fei saw four teammates being stared at by defenders, but he had an easy layup opportunity.
The panic in his heart was quickly suppressed, and from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Josh Howard, who was chasing up quickly from behind.

After stepping into the basket, he made a very realistic emergency stop for a layup, but then he suddenly flicked his wrist, dribbled and turned over from the left side, and quickly left the penalty area again.

"Whoosh!"

Lin Fei's fake layup just now completely deceived Josh Howard, who was catching up behind him. The latter suddenly jumped up and wanted to make a chasing shot.

But the moment his body was in the air and his palms were shot, he realized that Lin Fei had dribbled out of the penalty area quickly.

This……

Josh Howard was completely confused. What on earth is this guy doing?

Is it true that, as Avery Johnson said, he can't hit the layup?
The Heat fans at the scene, as well as the many star fans sitting on the sidelines, were also completely confused by Lin Fei's operation of pretending to be lucky.

"What's going on? I thought Lin was going to dunk?"

"There is no one to guard, why don't you dunk? Lin's jumping level is enough to dunk easily!"

"Lin actually turned around and dribbled out of the penalty area again. Is this the rhythm of withdrawing from the first three-point line again?"

Amid the speculation among fans, the situation on the court has changed rapidly.

The general who quickly came up from the high position on the left obviously had a close connection with Lin Fei and quickly provided him with a cover.

"Whoosh!"

Lin Fei first dribbled away Josh Howard, and then used a rough screen to accelerate outside the top of the arc. After stepping out of the three-point line, he turned over and took off decisively before shooting again.

At this time, Dirk Nowitzki, who was roughly opposite him, suddenly rushed forward, and Josh Howard also quickly reacted and turned over to chase.

Sure enough, this guy really just wants to shoot three-pointers!
But the two of them were one behind the other, and after all, they were still half a step behind.

The basketball flying out of Lin Fei's hand suddenly turned into a bolt of lightning, flew over the heads of Nowitzki and Josh Howard, and pierced the heart again.

"Shh!"

the second.

Heat (6): (4) Mavericks.

Nowitzki and Josh Howard looked at each other, Lin Fei is a real dog!

"Dirk, Josh, three points is one more than two points!"

Lin Fei didn't want his opponent to really prove that he only had the three-point shot as a means of scoring in sports. Then it would only become more difficult to attack in the future.

Basically, he was high-fiving Lin Fei, while Wade on the side was shaking his head and crying. He actually chose to step out and shoot a three-pointer when there was no one to defend him and he could easily lay up or dunk.
Looking at the entire alliance, Lin Fei is the only one who can do this.

However, Wade felt itchy in his heart when he saw Lin Fei's good opportunity to break into the basket just now. If it had been him, he would have rehearsed at least 10 dunk actions in his mind.

"My God, it seems that Lin really has very serious obsessive-compulsive disorder. He only shoots three-pointers in sports games and never two-pointers!"

"Reggie, as the three-point king in league history, can you understand Lin's mood of only shooting three-pointers?"

Facing the question from his partner Mike Breen, Reggie Miller smiled and shook his head:
"Only Lin dares to do this, because his three-point shooting percentage is indeed too high!"

Faced with Josh Howard's mistake in the pursuit of defense just now, Avery Johnson, who was in front of the Mavericks bench in front of the court, also showed dissatisfaction and yelled several times at Howard on the court.

Lin Fei hit two three-pointers in a row, both in very difficult ways.

This brought the atmosphere of the American Airlines Arena to a climax in an instant. Although the three-pointer was beautiful, the fans were still more anxious. Why didn't Lin Fei dunk one?

"It's a pity to see Lin play for the Heat for two seasons and not even get a dunk!"

"Three points is one more point than two points, but we really want to see two points more!"

"I feel that when Lin leads the Heat to a second championship this year, until he leaves the Heat, we will not see him dunk!"

"I finally understand the Mavericks' defensive strategy just now. Why didn't Josh Howard block Lin's breakthrough but blocked it behind? Neither Dirk nor Eric helped defend. Is this because he believed that Lin would not shoot two points? ball?"

"Haha, let the Mavericks continue to defend like this and force Lin to dunk!"

Returning to the defensive end, Wade chased Jason Terry. When he was guarding the pick-and-roll at the top of the arc, he saw the right moment and flew directly to take a shot, directly intercepting Terry's pass to Nowitzki.

"Snapped!"

Facing the thin Terry, Wade's defensive intensity at the beginning obviously made him uncomfortable, and this was the reason why he made a low-level mistake.

The Flash picked up the basketball and sped up to the frontcourt. Lin Fei on the right threw away Daniels and chased after him quickly.

Because it was a counterattack fast break after a steal, Josh Howard was facing Battier in the left corner at this time, and there was no time to change defense and catch up with Lin Fei who was counterattacking.

This time Wade quickly stepped down and faced Terry who was returning to defense. He could easily use his physical advantage to crush the opponent and get to the basket to complete a fast break dunk.

But he still swept across the frontcourt and passed the ball long to Lin Fei on the right who threw away the defender and followed up the frontcourt.

At this time, Wade and Lin Fei almost formed a 2-on-2 situation in the frontcourt. Facing Terry and Daniels on the Mavericks' back line, they had an absolute crushing advantage.

Instead of making a sudden stop and chasing a three-pointer, Lin Fei wanted to play more excitingly...

(End of this chapter)