Harden scored 42 points + 8 rebounds + 9 assists + 4 steals + 1 block in the whole game, only 1 turnover, scored 6 three-pointers, and made small shots and throws again without solution. Charge two games, Brother Denge can do it again.
If Dengo goes, the 76ers win. This rule is not accidental:
The 76ers are known to theoretically not be able to protect against the Celtics. In fact, the 76ers proved the theory with 4 consecutive unguarded games. Then the 76ers must play better offensively for the 76ers to win;
Although Embiid is theoretically the 76ers' most powerful firepower, he can play a guaranteed output, but he can't consistently play at the level of the regular season, and the Celtics have a way to limit his output to an acceptable range. The 76ers took advantage of Embiid's pinched shot to get an open three-point opportunity, under the relatively high response crosshair, that is, hedging against the Green Army's fixed-point three-pointer. The 76ers couldn't beat each other in the chaotic stealing field, and the opponent also had multiple secondary attackers scattered to score. The 76ers must count on contributions from major attackers other than Embiid to fill the holes;
Maxi and Harris face a Green Army-caliber defense and have difficulty playing one of them. The 76ers' most developed player outside of Embiid is Harden, and the Green Army's desire to pinch him is significantly lower than against Embiid, and he is the one most promising to fill the scoring gap.
It's a simple arithmetic problem that intuitively explains why Harden had to play for the 76ers to win against the Green Army.
At a deeper level, the reason is this:
The Celtics are targeting the 76ers, and the two main players are each with their respective ability deficiencies.
The Green Army allows Harden to hit ones and block shots because Harden is now a main attacker who passes the ball better than the main attack;
Conversely, the Green Army will not let Embiid play one in the area below the free throw line, and Embiid's passing ability may not always be able to find the right position teammate under the Green Army's pinch and defense. Although Harden can create a loose singles environment for Embiid as much as possible, there will still be a large number of stagnant rounds that cannot receive the ball and shoot immediately, especially in the fourth quarter and overtime, the reason why Embiid has a very poor perception of the ball is because the Green Army's two wings will not give him loose space to shoot, and Horford can close to interfere with his shooting with less fouls - you can see Embiid at this time as a replica of Durant in last year's playoffs.
Backcourt players naturally have a lower cost of offense than frontcourt players, not to mention the passing threat, and the Green Army will not easily pinch his Harden. If Harden is in good shape, the 76ers can easily break the game, because the 76ers also have a roster with great space and a lot of secondary attackers, which is very difficult to defend. Compared with the two sides, the advantage of the Green Army is single defense, co-defense, and strong rotation ability, and the advantage of the 76ers is that the development ability of the first two stars is stronger (if Harden transforms), one will inevitably attract pinch shots, and the other will shoot excellently, and the Green Army double scouts do not have this ability. In this case, the two sides are actually close to the balance of power in terms of grand strategy.
Therefore, in terms of grand strategy, the suspense behind is what Harden's state curve looks like:
A. The series played 4 games, Harden pulled two Cs and two pulls, and the crotch pulling rate was 50%, if this is the probability, this round of the series will be followed by a five-five situation;
B. Harden G1 exploded, G2G3 Mariana Trench level crotch pull, G4 exploded, the law is C one slow two games. If that's the rule, the Celtics take the series 4-2.
After talking about the grand strategy, now let's talk about the details of employment.
This series — and most of this year's playoffs — headed for a "missing piece of the shooting threat puzzle that either hurts the team or gets abandoned." After G3, I said, the 76ers should go to extremes, like the Suns, and use more players you can attack. G4 Rivers took Jaylen McDaniels out of the rotation and added another player who was no space threat, but PJ Tucker's time increased from 25 minutes in G3 to 31 minutes, eating DNP Jaylen's gain in half.
Tucker played key shots today, was on the floor for five minutes of overtime, contributed two key frontcourt rebounds, was partially positive, but still very dragging offense, and Smart used Tucker's excellent defense in many rounds in the fourth quarter and overtime - including the offensive foul that made Embiid - but because Harden can make long-range throws and outside jump shots, this problem is somewhat overshadowed.
Rivers may also be helpless with Tucker. He still couldn't trust Niang's defense in key stages, and Melton's offensive presence was limited, and the defense made mistakes in the fourth quarter, and Rivers had to trust Tucker. But as long as the Green Army doesn't get it wrong, Tucker's offensive problems will always exist, and the 76ers will have a hard time making up for offensive losses with Tucker's defensive gains, and this problem will be more obvious when Harden's jumper can't be sustained. In terms of details, this is a key point in the follow-up of the 76ers series.
In turn, the Green Army has encountered greater trouble in the details of employment. The result of Rivers' use of Jaylen is that Lowe on the Green Army's side does not know who is suitable for the match. The Green Army has always had a habit of letting Lowe defend a flank puzzle that is not accurate enough for three points and has few offensive scenes, so that he can go to the middle to participate in the defense. Against the 76ers, there are two characters who are best suited to Rowe's defense — Jaylen McDaniels and Tucker, followed by Reid.
Since Tucker's playing time was somewhat staggered with Lowe's, and Reid only scored 6 minutes in the game, Lowe who played 14 minutes sometimes didn't know who to defend against. He can't prevent Embiid, he doesn't have enough resistance to the position, he is not suitable for the main attacker on the outside, and he is easy to punish Niang to assist in defense. If Mazura isn't going to adjust his rotation timing, then Rowe has to cut back on his time and try to make sure he bullies Reid. But if Harden is in good shape, Lowe may not be able to defend Harden and Reid from the front. Later in the series, the Green Army will have fewer and fewer rotations to use.
In addition, the Green Army should avoid misalignment. When Smart and Horford played against Tucker, the assistant defense was far better than Jaylen and Brogdon played this role, and in some periods of G4, the Green Army did not do a good job in this regard.
What would happen if, Harden's state continued to be online, and the 76ers really went to the opposition, or the tower responded violently in 2~3 three-point games behind him?
The possibility of this happening seems unlikely, but it really cannot be ruled out, after all, after G3 played, we all thought that Harden's nostalgic show tickets were only 1 game, and we couldn't imagine that there would be an encore gift. Even if Harden only explodes 1 game later, this series will become interesting.
I have a vague hunch that this summer will definitely not be peaceful.
There is something today, and the other one will casually say some key points, don't read it as an article:
The Suns continued the strategy of G3, the speed was not inked, Durant and Booker immediately started to catch the ball, and many rounds of Nuggets were too late;
The Suns' current offensive position is too tumultuous, not only Booker and Durant are standing at the top of the arc, but even standing on the strong side, one is clipped and immediately passes back to the other, reducing the risk of mistakes in the middle or bottom corner. The Nuggets can't keep 4 players on the line, which is equal to the moment when the big brother catches the ball at the top of the arc must be 1-on-1 - that's enough, both of them have extremely strong emergency stop jump shooting skills, three-point, breakthrough, emergency stop mid-range shooting processing is more than enough for one fixed point;
Attract each other to each other, and catch each other's pots. Dub's position and playing style are equivalent to not using any tactical starting style, no need to run without the ball, no need to set up complex cover, no need for a particularly high-level dealing, but also to create a 1-on-1 environment, truly playing the effect of 1+1 greater than 2;
The Suns no longer care about Shamet's restrictive punishment of being tied up and whipped by Murray, anyway, if you can't prevent it, then you can't prevent it. The two goalscorers, Shamet and Ross, got more time than Okogie, Craig dropped it, and Warren, who proved he could score in the last game, continued to get time. Shamet finally made an empty three-point shot, and after the demons were overcome, it was not clear whether there would be a wave of pullbacks later;
Booker's passing this time is too awesome, find a weak side bottom corner of the cross pass to pay tribute to 77, to the center of a few hits, straight plug feeding also has the style of a cannon. Durant continued to use Gordon's drag space to do some assist, but only framed the battered defense with a few wallpapers;
Jokic didn't have a solution, he just couldn't take a normal Murray to turn things around when the opposite two were in the late stages of development.
Since neither side could defend against the other, this series gradually became like this:
Both sides have reached the point that the contribution of the defensive longboard is not as good as the income of pulling up the offensive shortboard, and the ability to lead the defense gradually becomes nothing, and it is the last word to be able to get the ball in the hands of the leading big brother;
Only Jokic, Booker, Durant, Murray 4 people match the main attack. Although both defenses are crotch-pulling, a main attacker with average ability, in this Olympic God vs. Titan Giant scene, it is best to pull over and avoid. The competition between the two sides is no longer who can score, but who does not concede;
Although it is difficult for both sides to prevent each other, it is still important to try to prevent - this is probably why Randale is so good this round - can have 1~2 more smart tackles or successful interference, and the situation is immediately different;
The Nuggets still don't want to pinch Durant's low post, or Booker's face basket. In addition to being able to pinch the opponent's named Jokic's block, other rounds stick to a single defense - after the Suns find the trick to shoot to another big brother at the top of the arc, the point of pinching a hit is gone, but it will give the other big brother a better starting environment. Moreover, it is not easy to make mistakes in this process, because the difficulty of returning the ball to the big brother of the strong side arc is too low;
You can say that the Nuggets and Suns defense are not very good, but this is partly because the opponent's offensive level is too high. The offensive level of this group is unmatched by other groups, and the 4 technical flow gods are matching, smooth, and good-looking. Xiao Hua wants to encourage attack, then encourage such an attack, really compete with the attack of scoring ability.
In the end, the two sides competed who fell from the sky first. They are all floating in the clouds, they are all immortals, but if there is a big brother on either side to "be a man" first, the game will not be able to continue.