NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 307 Single-target defense against the running man

The game is about to begin after the opening ceremony at the Cavaliers' home arena.

Carroll sports dreadlocks and looks like a tough guy. In China, he's known as "Shennongjia James," which shows that he's at least physically imposing.

Mozgov and Horford jump the ball near the center circle, and the game is about to begin.

The jump ball began, and Mozgov won it, giving the Cavaliers the first possession.

Delavedova dribbles the ball across half-court.

The Hawks adopted a man-to-man defense, and a significant change from the previous game was that the defender on Running Man changed from Jia Fei to Carroll.

As for why Jia Fei, who is in first place, wasn't allowed to continue defending the Running Man, that's indeed a bit puzzling.

Commentary seat.

"See, I told you not to ask me about these kinds of small questions anymore. Demar is starting, isn't he?" Barkley said with a smug look on his face.

“You really guessed right, Charles. What was the Hawks’ intention in having DeMar guard LeBron instead of continuing to have JaVale guard him?” Kenny Smith asked.

Barkley, with an air of prophecy, said: "The problem is simple: Jia Fei can't defend anymore. He's too weak, afraid to face the opponent's strongest player directly, and can only defend players like Iman. I know he'll say it's the coaching staff's arrangement after the game, and the coaching staff will say it's to let him focus on offense. In our era, stars matched up against each other; they wouldn't hide away and let role players defend them."

When the Hawks' midfielder ran a pick-and-roll, they switched defense, putting Millsley or Horford in front of him. Carroll then switched to the basket to defend Mozgov and Tristan Thompson.

The first pick-and-roll in Running Man was a pick-and-roll with TT, and Milwaukee switched to defend.

The primary function of a pick-and-roll is to create mismatches. For example, a classic pick-and-roll between the point guard and center will result in the opponent switching on defense, meaning the center will be guarding the guard inside, and the guard inside will be guarding the center. Whether it's the guard exploiting the center's mismatch or the center creating a mismatch against the guard, the goal of creating a mismatch is achieved.

However, if you are running pick-and-rolls between the wing and the inside, the mismatch effect is not as good as the pick-and-roll between the point guard and the center once the opponent switches defense, especially if your players are not very good at exploiting weaknesses.

Sure enough, the Running Man passed the ball to TT, who awkwardly dribbled the ball to Carroll, and with a stiff hook shot from his left hand, he missed the target!

Jia Feifei scooped up the ball and brought it over himself.

Facing Shumpert, Jia Fei turned his back to the basket, sat inside to attack, drew double teams, and then passed the ball. After a series of passes, Mills' jump shot also missed!

The Running Man player collected the rebound, pushed the ball forward himself, and passed it to Delavedova, who then drove in and passed it to Mozgov.

But Mozgov made a blunder, the ball went directly out of bounds, a mistake...

Fortunately, the Hawks also had a poor start, missing many shots!

The Cavaliers are on offense. Mozgov is in the low post against Horford, but his hook shot misses!

TT grabbed the offensive rebound, but his strong drive was blocked by Jia Fei who was helping on defense!

Teague and Dellavedova got tangled up and were called for a double foul by the referee!

The match started with a strong sense of tension and intense competition, making it difficult for either side to score.

But if you look closely, you'll notice that the Hawks missed their shots when they had the chance, while the Cavaliers' role players were simply too weak offensively and had too rough shots.

Mozgov has had butterfingers all season; his butterfingers are slightly better than Asik's, but only slightly. When it comes to finishing at the rim, DeAndre Jordan is the expert. It's precisely because of centers like Mozgov who are known for their butterfingers that DeAndre Jordan's value in finishing at the rim is highlighted.

The Hawks' defensive strategy was very clear: except for Dellavedova running pick-and-rolls, everyone else switched on defense. If they targeted Teague, they delayed and went around the screen. The principle was to avoid double-teaming and prevent him from easily finding open teammates.

To put it bluntly, it's telling you to go one-on-one. If you're so capable, then go ahead and crush the defender in front of you one-on-one! Come on, come and take me on! Come and beat me to a pulp!

The Running Man passed the ball to Shumpert.

Shumboldt faced Jia Fei.

Shumpert had a head of Sendoh-like hair that looked exceptionally tall and stylish. He tried to shake off Jia Fei with a change of direction, but found it had no effect whatsoever.

Jia Fei was like a suction cup, always in front of him.

Shumpert dribbled repeatedly, but couldn't shake off the defender and the shot clock was running out, so he had to pull up and shoot a jump shot—which missed!

Horford closed the gap!

Jia Fei suddenly launched a fast attack!

Horford passed the ball forward, and Jia Fei chased after it, scoring a touchdown to the astonishment of the fans in the stadium!

2-0, the Hawks score first!

The Running Man member looked somewhat helpless. He came to the Cavaliers to form a super team, but after playing for so long, he realized that his best player was himself, and he couldn't rely on anyone else. This feeling reminded him of his first season with the team, when he was the only one who made the team.

Having gotten used to playing in groups, he's finding it a bit difficult to lead a team alone now...

Back then, he was only in his twenties and had endless energy. Now he is over thirty, and although his technique is much better than it was then, his athletic ability and physical strength are not as good as before.

After playing for more than three minutes in the first quarter, the Running Man team finally gave up on letting their teammates take on their opponents one-on-one after trying it out. Instead, they decided to focus on taking on the Running Man team or setting screens to take on Horford.

The Running Man cast wanted to single out Teague, but Teague preferred to give them a 3-point chance by going around a screen rather than give them a chance to single him out. Left with no other option, they had to target other players.

The Running Man player went one-on-one with Carroll, and his strong drive drew a foul from the latter.

You can score points this way, but it's too tiring and requires a lot of physical exertion.

The Hawks' strategy was clear: use five players to force the opponent to extend their defense, then immediately set off-ball screens to create opportunities for Jia Fei to receive the ball, allowing him to drive or exploit mismatches against Mozgov and TT.

When the Cavaliers double-team Jia Fei, he passes the ball to an open player. Even with Korver out, the Hawks can still guarantee that all five players on the court have the ability to shoot threes.

While the absence of sharpshooters meant less defensive attention, it also eliminated a defensive liability, making the Hawks' defensive intensity and overall defensive strength stronger and making it more difficult for the Cavaliers to score.

The Cavaliers fans in the arena were constantly cheering for their home team, chanting "Defense! Defense!" in unison whenever the team was on defense. However, they realized the home team's problem wasn't defense, but offense. Sure enough, half a quarter had passed, and the home team had only scored 9 points, 7 of which came from the running game.

You can say Running Man is great, but with this level of offense, beating the Hawks is really too difficult. Everyone is starting to miss Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love again. Watching Dellavedova miss a simple layup, watching Mozgov fumble easy baskets under the basket, this feeling is especially strong.

The Cavaliers had no choice but to make substitutions, bringing in JR Smith and James Jones, and replacing Iman Shumpert and Tristan Thompson.