Philadelphia was hit by the Eagles in the last game, and then chased the score, two reasons.
One was to let Young block the throw as he pleased in the first half, with 25 points in the half; the second was that Coach Rivers had a full bench lineup in the first quarter: no Harris on the court, no Embiid. At one point, the Eagles led to 27 points.
Today Philadelphia has clearly learned its lesson.
After the 76ers opened the jump, Green dunked ahead: murderous. As aside, this is Green's 15th career playoff dunk.
Ben Simmons, 211 cm tall, went against 185 cm Young. Young broke through, embiid would delay, not giving him the opportunity to throw comfortably.
Not only that, after Yang's first long-range shot was not, the 76ers immediately counterattacked rapidly: the bull's horn attack is easy for the defender to fall on the line and fall alone, and it is impossible to retreat. After Harris changed the defense of Yang, he took the opportunity to counterattack, bully Yang, and directly top it.
So Philadelphia led 10-2.
Positional warfare, Embiid gave and demanded, and Harris and Curry also went their separate ways. Young also tried to solve the dilemma, pushing to 28 feet to shoot a long-range three-pointer — still covered by Simmons.
Embiid hit a quarter with 1.5 points left before going off the field, and as soon as he went down, Harris immediately took over the breakout layup. Always keep an ace attacker present and don't let the eagle take advantage of the momentum.
Coach McMillan's adjustment is also timely, after all, their main bench team can play their set of defenders blocking and dismantling, weak side shooters receiving the ball for the second break.
Philadelphia's delay, of course, comes at a cost: it's leaking behind you.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Collins and Capela continued to eat hanging passes and assists to attack the basket, slowly twisting back. At the end of the first half, the Eagles once again released an all-small ball: Gallinari switched to Capela, using the Italian's position to rub Embiid's offensive fouls, and the attack was fully open.
It was indeed effective, and even the eagles insisted on overtaking it to 80 to 79 in the third quarter. But Philadelphia's defense went into play:
Defensive Springs Sibel, seasoned George Hill and Milton came up, plus Embiid and Simmons, and Philadelphia put a sharp pressure. From then until the fourth quarter, the Hawks found nothing but stealing rebounds and free throws. It had to be a 32-foot long-range shot from Young to score the ball: the Hawks were already 16 points behind. The die is cast.
Capela was comfortable with the air connection, but he couldn't deal with Embiid when he was on the floor — and of course, the Hawks couldn't defend Embiid.
Young had 11 assists but the blocking was greatly limited, and the Eagles in the first half basically relied on the execution of the substitute team to recover the point difference, and then tied in the second half of the second half, and then directly suffocated by Philadelphia's defense.
Coach Rivers didn't make the mistake of the first game again, Harris and Embiid put at least one on the floor so that the second team would not be paralyzed; Embiid exaggerated Milton after the game, also because Milton shot a few morale-boosting shots when the second team ran out of fire — otherwise the second team would either rely on counterattacks and rebounds in the front court, or Harris.
Of course, the second team also has wonderful, for example, Dwight's pass, I think the best in the whole game...
Philadelphia's defense has more delays and pressures, and Simmons's offense is still that virtuous, but the defensive end of the game against Young's rounds can also be considered to be in place.
And: Embiid's career playoff-high 40 points today.
The following is just my imagination.
"Joel, get ready to play."
"Okay."
"By the way, Joel, the MVP just announced."
"Not me, right?"
"No, it's not. It's Jokic. ”
"Hmm."
"He's been out of the playoffs five times and 34 this year."
"He's got a top 38 points."
"Hmm, isn't it 38 points?"
Think of it from one point of view: After the Clippers won seven games against the Lone Rangers, they rushed to Salt Lake City without stopping, and there was a chance to equalize in the last minute, losing the first game with 3 points - it seems acceptable?
Think of it from another angle: if the Jazz didn't have Conley, and the Clippers didn't take advantage of this to win the first game...
Hot: We were also killed by the Bucks in the first game, and then the second game was...
Bucks: After Harden was injured, we didn't win the net in the first game, and then we didn't win the net in the second game...
Coach Lu did not change sides, the small ball swung against the Jazz to open, and the Frenchman Batum guarded the Frenchman Gobert, contracting the weak side to protect the inside line. After being scored three three-pointers in the 3 minute by the Jazz, he was a bit stunned after making it 2-10.
Later the Clippers discovered the Jazz Academy Dallas Station Joint Defense, and understood: Reggie Jackson and Morris opened fire.
After the Jazz came on the bench, Coach Lu itched and replaced the old Aizubac and Beverley:
"I know tomato bell pepper arugula olive oil honey salad current dish you look uncomfortable feel greasy ... Is dessert acceptable when it comes to dinner? ”
Beverly was fine, but Zubac was not bad: after all, the Jazz did not have Luca, and the name was singled out to play him.
Without Conley on the floor, the Jazz are less rhythmic Paul, the three-point shot is not moderate, and other offenses are basically based on the hand: 21 shots in one breath can't be hit - when the team that relies on the three-point shot has less control, it seems that it is easy to do so? — Zubac's drive, Mann's efforts and Kennard's cleverness, the Clippers led to double digits in one go. Even Cousins could come up and toss for a while.
Cousins:
"Don't be afraid of your jokes, I used to play the first round and the finals, this is my first time playing the Western Conference semifinals!"
There was only one problem: At the end of the second quarter, the Clippers' inside line was revealed, and the Jazz's interlude played out.
In the third quarter, the Clippers' visible physical strength slipped, and at the same time, Mitchell started. Call cover over the top of the arc and go all the way into the Clippers penalty area; by the way, there is nothing to adjust Reggie Jackson: So the Jazz chased the score again.
Digression: Donovan Mitchell is still eating rookie contracts. He averaged 27.5 points per game in the career playoffs, a small sample but the sixth highest in history.
In his rookie year, he beat defending MVP Westbrook and George, who was new to the Thunder, and brushed 50 points with Murray last season.
He has never been an efficient player, his shooting choices are not very good, his sense of defense is not outstanding, and his overall view and sense of rhythm are not as reliable as Conley's. In terms of overall value, Gobert means more to the team than Mitchell.
But taking the ball and brushing points with the opposite ace is the foundation of Michelle's standing: from the rookie year, he brushed George Harden Murray Morant all the way to today. On the fire, few of the younger generation could match him.
And how similar is it to the new little boss Wade?
The Clippers didn't put Leonard in place of Mitchell until the second half of the fourth quarter — at one point, when Kennard singled out Mitchell. In fact, the Jazz also tried to find opportunities to single out Mitchell, so that in the fourth quarter, Bogdanovic arced the ball to find a passing teammate, and when he saw that it was Kenard to himself, he raised his hand and shot a three-pointer. In the final minute and a half of the game, the Jazz led 110-104, and after Mitchell tossed and turned several times, Kennard finally defended him single-handedly, and the court commentator:
"Now he's got Kennard."
——The breath gave me the feeling: "He turned over the noodle soup for half a day, and finally found the fattest piece of stewed ribs in the toppings." ”
—Mitchell burst through Kennard and made an easy layup.
At that moment, I think I can probably understand why Coach Lu didn't like to use Kennard before... In his system, he needs players who can hold the ball singles and change defenses indefinitely. Rondo can organize but doesn't like to singles and needs teammates to run, Kennard can shoot and drill but the single defense is not tough enough. So...
Of course, today Coach Lu finally trusted Kennard and Rondo. As a result, Rondo gave George a three-pointer in front of the rebound, 109-112.
Then came the most interesting final goal: Mitchell had 16 seconds left after the shot, the Jazz led by 3 points, and the Clippers had the ball, no timeout.
I understand Coach Lu's approach this way: (here I use the voice of Coach Sanno Industrial Hall)
"I didn't forget to call a pause... If we pause, let the Jazz adjust their defensive tactics and lineup, it is better to play directly, so that they have no time to communicate with the defense, and there is no time to change the small ball team to put down Gobert to block the three-point shot... As for our offensive ideas, they all rely on the organization of No. 4 Fukatsu Oh No. Rondo. ”
With 10 seconds left on the offense, Leonard crossed with George, the Jazz switched decisively, O'Neal vs. George, and Ingles vs. Leonard. Ingles stood in a position, and accurately judged Leonard's jump shot, which was perfect, so Leonard passed the bottom corner Morris: Morris shot after a swing, was covered by Gobert, and finished.
Gobert is certainly not a top defender on the inside (the new MVP Jokic nodded satisfactorily), but the value of this cover is obvious in the end. A center who can deliver a deadly cover after eating at the last-minute three-point line is enough in this small-ball era.
How to say it? Coach Lu gambled very interestingly and boldly, but the bet lost.
It was really Gobert who stayed on the court and covered a three-pointer.
And: Today is the tenth game of Paul George's career "with at least 15 shots in a single playoff game and shooting below 25 percent."
He just played the second most accurate series of his career in the last round (shooting 46%), but after shooting 23 of 40 in the second and third games, it was 24 of 61 in the last four games.
And, on 13-of-20 shooting in the first game of the 2018 playoffs, he scored 66 points in four or five games, and 5-of-16 in the sixth — the first series Mitchell played with the Jazz.
So in the next game, whether George will explode with 40 points or only 10 points, who can guess? ......