There are many stories in the history of the NBA that will make each other successful, such as Mike D'Antoni and Steve Nash and James Harden.
D'Antoni is not coaching at the 76ers today, but Doug Rivers' offensive system has a lot of D'Antoni's shadow. Harden left Nash's Nets to join the 76ers after the performance returned to normal, into the assist king mode while scoring efficiency soared, Rivers "steal" D'Antoni is a big reason, he transplanted some of the tactics D'Antoni originally formulated for Harden, maximizing Harden's role at the same time, but also stimulated a more efficient Joel Embiid.
Harden played 10 games with the 76ers, 8-2. Playing the Lone Ranger today, Harden scored 24 points and 12 assists, and he scored at least 20 points and 10 assists in three consecutive games, comparable to the 76ers' ever-famous Iverson. Harden's previous hard-fought performance against the Nets was disappointing, but overall, he fit the 76ers, especially embiid, who averaged more than 31 points per game after Harden's arrival. With an MVP-level interior partner and a coach who understands himself, Harden now only lacks the playoff hard battle to prove himself.
Rivers "steals the teacher", there is a successful precedent
Not long ago, the NBA officially announced the 75th anniversary of the 15 famous coaches, Rivers shortlisted. While Rivers has been questioned for having led the team back on many occasions, it is undeniable that Rivers is still the master tactics of the league today, and Tyrone Lue has revealed that he followed Rivers to collect hundreds of sets of tactics when he was an assistant coach.
This is not a secret at all in the NBA, especially in the development of the NBA to this day, the tactical manuals of each team overlap. There are still coaches who are making originals, but each coach is also "copying and pasting" the tactics that suit their team's configuration from the tactical manuals of other teams, and even Popovich, who has the highest number of wins in history, has publicly stated that he has "stolen" coaches such as D'Antoni and Steven Stevens.
Early in his career as Celtics coach, Rivers once sat in a Florida arena watching his son Austin Rivers play on the high school team and noticed that Winter Park High School had a high baselineball tactical scoring rate. "It feels like every time they execute this tactic, either Austin gets a layup or someone else gets a three-point chance." Rivers recalled.
Later, during Celtic training, Rivers introduced the tactic to his disciples, and every time they played this tactic, Paul Pierce always got an easy chance to get a layup, and Rivers named the tactic "High School".
The Cavaliers, who played LeBron James in the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals, had a game in the fourth quarter of the decider moment, when the Celtics crowd would propose to play this tactic next. Rivers himself didn't have confidence in the tactic, but couldn't stand up to the strong recommendation of players including Garnett.
As shown in the image below, the tactic looks simple, with Rondo (Black No. 1) serving the bottom line, Ray Allen (Black No. 2) and Perkins (Black No. 5) standing on either side, Garnett (Black No. 4) standing in the elbow zone of the free throw line, and Black No. 3 Pierce between Garnett and Allen. As the tactic began to execute, Allen and Perkins moved to the sides, creating confusion, and Pierce suddenly cut the ball and made a layup.
"It's crazy, Pierce uses this tactic to score points and we simplify the game, right? Sometimes that's the best way," Rivers said.
This tactic was essentially a sneak attack, and when the Celts used more, the opponent began to be consciously vigilant, and the execution effect of the tactic began to decline, but Rivers improved on this tactic.
"Stealing" De Shuai, Rivers got Harden's instruction manual
Harden made his 76ers debut against the Timberwolves, and the Dendi combination has completed this combination many times. Embiid held the ball at the top of the arc, Harden cut out to the top of the arc with the help of teammate cover on the right side, and then received Embiid's hand to pass the ball through the middle of the road. At this point, Embiid went down, and Harden could choose to throw himself or pass the ball to Embiid according to the situation.
In the games that followed, the 76ers would have a partial round of each game to play this tactic. This set of tactics, from the D'Antoni Rocket Era Tactical Manual, is called "Delay Turn Chicago", and the tactical diagram is shown in the following figure. No. 1 handed the ball to No. 5 at the top of the arc, then No. 1 ran to the right to give No. 2 in the bottom corner a cover, and No. 2 received a pass from No. 5 and attacked in the middle.
Harden executed this tactic heavily with Clint Capela in the Rockets, taking advantage of hardened throws and Capela's threat to eat pie. Last season, Rivers also used this tactic, but basically to create an outside shooting opportunity for Danny Green or Harris, and could not play the linkage effect of the Dendi combination. Other teams, such as the Heat, have also used this tactic, which fully illustrates the impact of D'Antoni's tactical manual on other coaches.
The same set of tactics, the Dendi combination played a routine, far more than Harden and Capela can play the routine, because Embiid is a far more comprehensive interior line than Capela. For example, in the picture below, the 76ers started with this set of tactics, but when Harden cut out the ball, Embiid made a fake hand-handed pass, and chose to hold the ball in the middle of the road to attack, which is what Capela does not have.
Looking at this round again, people who don't pay attention to details may think, isn't this Harden's singles sudden score, what is complicated? But in fact, the complexity of the tactics lies here, you can't just look at how to form a shot in the end, how to get rid of the ball in front is also part of the tactics, and it is very critical.
This tactic is called the "Middle ISO" tactic in D'Antoni's tactical manual, where Harden initially stands in the box and uses crossover cover with his teammates to finally cut out of the middle and receive the ball near the free throw line. At this point, Harden can take a personal single or single pass according to the situation, and in this round, Harden attracts defensive assists embiid's three-point shot.
This season, Harden has made 35.4 percent of the 76ers block and 32.5 percent of his singles. In the MVP season, Harden's two statistics are 35.7% and 35%, respectively. If you count the ball assists, the 76ers version of Harden, like Harden in the MVP season, relies more on blocking offense, supplemented by singles, rather than relying more on singles attacks like in the 2018-19 season and beyond.
When Harden was sent to the 76ers, there were rumors that D'Antoni might replace Rivers as the 76ers manager, and this rumor was immediately refuted by the 76ers. No wonder Rivers did a good job, and the 76ers had no reason to let him off class. And now that Rivers has copied some of D'Antoni's tactics, Harden has shown far more power than in the Nets era, and the 76ers have no reason to change the coach.
Everywhere "stealing", Rivers set a masterpiece
As the manager of the team, it is inevitable to find a way to maximize the use of the characteristics of the disciples, and it is not shameful to learn from the tactics of other coaches. In terms of borrowing from other coaches, Rivers is also a master.
This season, Embiid scored 1.092 points per game in low singles, more than 86% efficient. How to make embiid more easily catch the ball in the low post and attack? Rivers borrowed from Mike Malone's use of Jokic.
For example, in this round, first of all, the 76ers attacked on the strong side, Harden covered for Embiid, and Embiid fell low. If there is an opportunity to directly receive the ball and attack, Embiid will attack on the side. In this round, the strong side did not form a passing opportunity.
At this time, the 76ers immediately moved to the weak side, Harden blocked and dribbled to the other side, Embiid used his teammates to cover the side of Harden in the penalty area, this time directly forming a chance to catch the ball. In the end, Embiid forced a mid-range shot.
Before Harden joined, Maxi was the 76ers' top blocker on the outside. Originally thought that after Harden joined, Maxi will be the most affected one, but did not expect that Maxi's data did not decline, but improved. In the use of Maxi, Rivers borrowed from D'Antoni's previous use of Eric Gordon, transforming him into a second catch point on the weak side.
Since the "Ma Daha combination" has been so strong, averaging 70 or 80 points per game, Rivers's four "stealing divisions" is a big reason, and he has found the most suitable tactical play for the "Ma Daha" combination. Now this 76ers can be called an upgraded version of the peak rocket, Harden to find the MVP season status and playing style, Embiid is an upgraded version of Capela in attack and defense, and Maxi is no less than Gordon as the second possession point. Coupled with the defensive ability of Sable, danny Green, Niang and others who are excellent at shooting, the 76ers have a chance to go further than the Rockets that year.
The 76ers theoretically have a very high ceiling, but in the end, whether the 76ers can lift the championship trophy depends on Embiid's health and Harden's playoffs. Harden's tough playoff performances over the years have been disappointing. The current version of the assist king (Harden averaged 10.7 assists per game for the 76ers, and Paul, who is at the top of the assists list this season, also averaged 10.7 assists per game) version of Harden did make the 76ers play a super high win rate, but the 76ers want to win the championship, not only need to assist the king version of Harden, but also need hardened Harden.
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