Anthony the Reborn

Chapter 29 Coach Anthony

In the second half, the Nuggets still continued the lineup of the second quarter, but the Spurs adjusted the starting lineup. They removed Nesterovic, replaced Turkoglu, and moved Duncan to the center position. In front of the team's lineup, the Spurs finally put down the arrogance of the championship.

Turkoglu's body is much stronger than White's, and his movement speed is not inferior to the latter's. The biggest threat comes from his passing support. Generally speaking, this is a stronger player than Rodney White. A level player.

Small lineup against small lineup is not good news for the Nuggets, but fortunately, Anthony is on the court.

Anthony saw Bowen and Turkoglu on the Spurs' front line. He found White and Miller before going on the court, and gave a few words of advice before he went into battle.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Nuggets still attacked first.

After Anthony arrived in the frontcourt, he did not settle to the free throw line as quickly as before, but stood with White on the left and right outside the three-point line.

The two forwards both went to the three-point line. The strange tactics not only surprised the Spurs players, but even Bzdelik on the sidelines was a little puzzled, which seemed to be outside the scope of his tactical arrangement.

Because the Nuggets do not have good three-point shooting ability on the two perimeters on the field at this time, the Spurs are defending a 3-2 zone defense. This defensive formation can limit the opponent's breakthrough to the greatest extent.

After Anthony stood up, he gestured to Miller with his eyes, and Miller quickly dribbled to that side and approached.

The reason why the zone defense can limit breakthroughs is not only because of the position, but also because it pays attention to the formation that moves with the movement of the ball. It is like a cage, and the opening is always aimed at the person holding the ball. If the ball player breaks through, he will fall into hand-to-hand combat, which can easily become a mistake.

After Miller moved to Anthony's left wing at this time, the Spurs' defensive formation quickly moved to the left.

Miller moved from the top of the circle to a 45-degree angle outside the left three-point line, but did not stop, still moving to the left sideline. In this way, there were 5 players on both sides of the left wing, which suddenly became a bit crowded.

Just when Miller was about to reach the bottom, Anthony, who had been squatting over there, suddenly moved. He moved from Miller's side along the three-point line to the top of the circle.

Sensing Anthony's movement, the Spurs immediately changed their defensive formation from a 3-2 zone defense to a 2-3 zone defense. Turkoglu, who was originally on the right wing, also began to move outside the 45-degree three-point line on the left.

However, what surprised the Spurs was that Anthony did not stop after running to the top of the circle, but continued to move to the right.

Because the ball was still in Miller's hands at this time, the Spurs did not change their defense, and Anthony was too far away from the ball holder. Unless the ball was transferred to Anthony's hands in a large range, such a move would be meaningless.

The offensive time of the game flowed away with this series of seemingly meaningless moves, and most of the time passed without knowing it.

At this moment, Anthony has gone directly from the foot of the left wing to the foot of the right wing in a large circle around the three-point line.

Just then, White ran to the free throw line.

Miller saw the timing, a high throw, and passed the ball to White at the free throw line.

White got a mid-range shot right off the bat.

Is this what the Nuggets offense is for?

The Spurs players were even more clouded, but White was standing at the free throw line at this time, and the latter had a certain scoring ability. Duncan, who was defending in the center, had to save.

Duncan, the defensive gate of the Spurs, may not be able to guarantee complete defense against Anthony, but against White, he can definitely guarantee that White will not score.

But at this moment, an accident happened. White, who had a chance to shoot, did not choose to shoot. He didn't even raise his hand. When he took the ball, he hit the ground to the right and the ball hit Anthony's hand directly.

At this time, the defender in front of Anthony was Turkoglu.

Generally speaking, the best way to break the zone defense is the three-pointer, because the focus of the zone defense is to defend against breakthroughs, and the Nuggets' three-pointer can only be shot by Leonard, but now Leonard is still on the court Next, this is why the Spurs dare to use the zone defense so recklessly.

But at this time, Anthony's idea was not a three-pointer, but to match up with the man in front of him.

Turkoglu, a Turk, is a striker who can play small forward and power forward. He has not been reused in the NBA before, and he is also a new member of the Spurs this season.

Anthony still has a certain understanding of Turkoglu. He started his career with the Spurs and made brilliant achievements in the Magic. He is known as the "secret agent". device.

However, Anthony also knows that Turkoglu has a big weakness. Defense, especially Turkoglu, who is still a little immature at this time, has a super slow lateral movement speed. It can be said that his defense can barely reach the league defense level Average.

The Nuggets players, even Bzdelik, haven't paid much attention to this player, so they haven't thought about it, but Anthony is different. He has long expected that the Spurs will use a small lineup, and Turko Gru is their only option.

This is called foresight.

The series of moves in front of him were not running around, but for the moment in front of him, facing up to Turkoglu, and then blowing him up, so that Popovich dared not use a small lineup.

After Anthony held the ball, there were still about 8 seconds left. He did not break through to the inside, because he knew that once he broke through, the Spurs' zone defense would shrink. Even if he passed Turkoglu, he would face other Spurs players. Interference, so he took two steps forward to the middle distance, followed by a cross step.

The cross step pays attention to the change of the center of gravity. If the defender's center of gravity is deceived, there will be shooting opportunities, and this is Turkoglu's weakness.

With a cross step, Anthony almost shook Turkoglu to the ground, and he immediately pulled out his hand.

"Shh!"

With a crisp sound, Anthony scored two points easily.

Popovich frowned on the sidelines. He knew Turkoglu's weaknesses and strengths well, but he never expected Anthony to know so well, and would mobilize his teammates to match his tactics. This rookie It's really not easy!

"Coach Bzdelik seems to have found the weakness of the Spurs' lineup. Melo's running position just now was awesome, completely confusing the Spurs' defense." Brown couldn't help but praise.

"I don't think this seems to be the arrangement of Coach Bzdelik. His expression was also very surprised when the Nuggets attacked just now. I boldly guess that this may be Melo's idea." Johnson analyzed with his chin in his hand.

"No way, Melo has talent in this area. He didn't seem to have a similar performance in the NCAA." Brown said suspiciously.

"Didn't Melo not be good at passing the ball when he was in the NCAA? Look at his current performance, I bet he must have trained very hard this summer." Johnson said noncommittally.

"Maybe! But let us wait and see Melo's next performance!" Brown finally said.

Bzdelik didn't feel anything wrong with Anthony's behavior. From a technical point of view, he is not a good coach, but he is still a good coach on a spiritual level.

After the coach acquiesced, the Nuggets played according to Anthony's tactics. After a few rounds, Turkoglu, a future agent, was blown out by Anthony, and his frustration was palpable.

Popovich couldn't stay calm on the sidelines. He first called a timeout and changed his defensive strategy to man-to-man defense. However, the Nuggets can always use the pick-and-roll to make Anthony displace Turkoglu in singles, and the Spurs As soon as the double-team goes up, Anthony will pass the ball quickly again.

Anthony, in this game, has become a curse for the Spurs.

However, the Nuggets' defense is really bad. They obviously rely on Anthony to occupy the situation on the court, but they just can't draw the score. Just like this, the two sides have played to the last minute of the game without knowing it.

At 97:98, the Nuggets trailed by one point.

Ammunition and food are running out, and it's time to fight for bayonets.

The Spurs attacked, using smooth offense and coordination to hit Duncan. Duncan pretended to be singles to attract double-teams and then distributed it to Ginobili on the outside. Barry quickly threw it out, but Ginobili made a very weird pass to the end. With Turkoglu on his feet, White's defense was a step slower. Turkoglu withstood the pressure and hit a key three-pointer.

After hitting this three-pointer, the Spurs led by 4 points, and Turkoglu vented his depression with a roar of excitement.

Soon, Bzdelik called a timeout and arranged an Anthony singles tactic.

The player re-entered the court, Anthony received the ball at the free throw line, and faced Bowen's defense and forced a shot.

After these two rounds, with 30 seconds left, the Nuggets are still two points behind.

The Spurs' timeout.

Anthony was sitting on the bench panting heavily. He hardly had a rest in the second half, and he was already sweating profusely.

Bzdelik kept beating the players and emphasizing man-marking. Anthony didn't listen much, but at this time he found that this scene was somewhat familiar with the scene in the Challenger League. The similar time, the same behind by two points.

In the last tens of seconds, the fans shouted loudly, and the two commentators on the commentary stage were also very excited.
"The Nuggets still have a chance, and Melo still has a chance!" Johnson has now completely become a small fan of Anthony.

"It's a bit difficult. It's the Spurs' ball right now. Unless the Nuggets successfully defend against the Spurs' wave, they won't be able to recover. And judging from the Nuggets' defense in front, it's a bit difficult!" Brown said matter-of-factly.

"Look, Melo will do it." Johnson vowed.

"beep!"

When the timeout expires, all players from both sides will appear on the field. When the game enters the most exciting time, the next step will be to see the tactical arrangements of the coaches of both sides and the on-the-spot performance of the players.

(End of this chapter)