Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 410 Tyronn Lue's Ultimate Strategy
As we all know, Hansen never talks useless trash.

If the opponent is Kobe, this kind of trash talk will only anger him and make him bloodthirsty, but James' words are likely to cause the opponent's mentality to collapse directly.

that's the truth.

Or to be more accurate, from James' speech after losing the decisive game, we can tell that James' mentality at that time was on the verge of collapse.

James' collapse is specifically reflected in his desire to attack.

The most he did on the offensive end was to put his hands on his hips, and he had no fighting spirit at all.

That state also had a big impact on the rest of the Pelicans.

One will be incompetent, exhausting the three armies.

James didn't play well before, but the Pelicans had an overall advantage in strength, and the two sides were still able to reach the decisive stage.

But when your main players lose their fighting spirit, the entire team will be defeated.

Amid the increasingly loud cheers from the Kings fans, the score on the field became increasingly larger.

In the end, the Kings defeated the Pelicans 113-91, defeating their opponents 4-2 and advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

This is also the first time they have reached the Western Conference Finals since 2002.

This is also the 2009th consecutive year that Hansen has reached the conference finals since entering the league in 10.

This is an unprecedented achievement, especially considering that he came to a team like the Kings.

In the guaranteed divisional finals, Hansen also became the player with the highest floor in NBA history, and the one with the gap between him and the second place.

Their opponent in the Western Conference Finals is the Warriors.

The Warriors swept the Jazz 4-0 in the first round and beat the Rockets 4-1 in the second round, showing a very strong performance.

Especially when facing the Rockets who forced them into a Game 7 two years ago, they almost easily defeated the opponent.

In addition to George's presence, Curry's performance was very eye-catching.

Compared with the season when he was elected MVP, Curry is less flamboyant but more calm.

It is worth mentioning that Curry's average of 11.7 three-point shots per game in the regular season this season also set a career high, and he also maintained a 43.7% three-point shooting percentage. His average of 27.6 points per game was second only to his MVP season.

This also makes the Warriors the only team in the regular season whose offensive and defensive efficiency are among the top three in the league.

There is no doubt that the Pelicans excel in defense, while the Warriors are balanced in offense and defense.

In Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, the Warriors showed this characteristic.

With the cooperation of George and Green, they can keep Hansen's performance within an acceptable range, and Thompson is not inferior to Tatum.

On the offensive end, Mitchell is the only rookie who has a positional advantage, and Curry has a hard time defending him.

But on the other hand, it is also difficult for Mitchell to defend Curry.

In the first game, although Hansen scored 46 points, the Kings still lost 108-120.

In the second game, Lu made an adjustment and asked Hansen to defend Curry.

This change of tactics had a good effect. After his height and wingspan increased, Hansen's shooting pressure on Curry was greater than before.

However, the Warriors' offensive firepower was still fierce. Tatum could not stop George's performance, and the latter continued his offensive state in the regular season into the playoffs.

Moreover, after Hansen invested too much on the defensive end, his performance declined in the final quarter due to excessive physical exhaustion.

The Kings eventually lost 106-112, and were already trailing 0-2 in the overall score.

After two games, everyone can see that the Warriors are the better team than the Kings in terms of both strength and experience.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Warriors are likely to sweep the Kings directly.

But at this moment, what happened in the Eastern Conference playoffs attracted the attention of everyone outside.

This year's Eastern Conference playoffs will be more intense than the Western Conference.

Especially after entering the second round, the Celtics and 76ers played until a decisive seventh game, where the winner was decided by Durant's buzzer-beater.

It’s not that the Celtics underperformed in the playoffs, but that the regular season record does not fully reflect the strength of this 76ers team.

Especially Butler, who is to some extent the same type of player as Hansen: he performs better in the playoffs than in the regular season and plays with courage in critical moments.

His leadership ability is seriously underestimated.

This was not obvious during the regular season, but in the playoffs, when it comes to the stage where whoever can beat the opponent gets to play, he showed these characteristics to the fullest.

However, talent limits Butler's ceiling, which is also the biggest difference between him and Hansen, so he ultimately failed to lead the team to do what Hansen had done.

The other series between the Bucks and the Raptors was also extremely intense.

The Bucks had a balanced offense and defense, and also took a 2-0 lead after the first two games. However, Raptors head coach Casey then made a lineup change, letting Leonard defend Antetokounmpo.

Leonard did a great job on this seemingly impossible task, and directly led the team to win two games in a row to tie the game 2-2.

However, the Bucks then made a tactical adjustment and put the focus of offense on Lopez. He suppressed Valanciunas and forced the Raptors to double-team him, which caused big problems for the Raptors' defensive formation.

If the Kings had not intercepted the previous deal and the Raptors had Gasol Jr., this situation would not have occurred, but there is no if now.

In the end, the Bucks used this as a breakthrough point to win two games in a row, eventually eliminating the Raptors 4-2 and advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Celtics and the Bucks met in the Eastern Conference Finals, and in the first game, the Celtics slaughtered the Bucks 126-106.

The situation of the Bucks is actually somewhat similar to that of the Pelicans. Their offense is very dependent on Antetokounmpo's performance. Antetokounmpo's explosive data this season is also based on the premise of increased ball possession.

The Raptors relied on changing their lineup and using Leonard to barely limit Antetokounmpo, but the Celtics used a twin-tower lineup, which forced Antetokounmpo to take more shots from the outside.

Although his outside shooting ability has improved compared to the previous few years of his career, if he is allowed to shoot from the outside, the defense is already half successful.

This situation happened again in the second game, and the Bucks faced a greater challenge on the defensive end than on the offensive end.

With Irving, Durant, and the grown-up Towns, the Bucks face tremendous defensive pressure.

At the end of the first half, they were already 15 points behind the Celtics.

Then at the beginning of the second half, something happened that attracted everyone's attention. Antetokounmpo stretched out his left foot when Irving was making a layup.

In the end, Irving was injured and retired because of a trip.

Although in terms of strength, even if Irving is injured, the Celtics are still as strong as the Bucks. But it is obvious that this situation has caused a big change in the mentality of the Celtics, especially Durant.

Durant seemed very anxious to shoot in the subsequent games, which caused the entire Celtics team to play in chaos.

The Bucks finally seized this opportunity and completed the reversal.

Before the end of the game, news came that Irving was confirmed to be out for the season, which cast a huge shadow over the Celtics.

What made the fans even more angry was Antetokounmpo’s statement in the post-match press conference.

"I didn't know he had sprained his ankle, I thought he had a groin strain and I hope he can play in the next game."

This remark caused an uproar, with some fans saying that the game had just ended and Antetokounmpo did not know Irving's specific situation.

But more fans think that Antetokounmpo is simply adding insult to injury.

But no matter which one it is, Irving's season-ending injury has broken the balance of power between the two teams, and the outcome has become uncertain.

Of course, the Kings don't have time to care about these things at this time.

After returning to Sacramento, Lu found Hansen and proposed an unprecedented tactical concept.

Even Han Sen was surprised when he heard this tactic.

In the previous two games, the Kings started with Sabonis. He thought that even if Lu had to make adjustments, he would replace him with Gasol Jr. as the starter.

After all, one thing we can learn from the previous game between the Bucks and the Raptors is that creating an advantage in the interior can force the opponent's defense to change.

If Gasol Jr. starts, it will be difficult for Rooney to limit him, and if Green is forced to help defend, the Kings' entire offensive threat will be completely different.

But the tactics Lu gave was: five-out tactics!
As the name suggests, the so-called five-outside tactics means that all five starters are outside players.

Lu's ideal lineup is: Mitchell, Hield, Hansen, Gay, and Tatum.

This tactic can maximize the mobility of the small ball era, maximize spatial capabilities, and maintain a high-quality defensive level through quick assists.

The reason why he dared to do this was because of his opponent, the Warriors.

If it was the Warriors last season, Lu would never have had this idea, because Cousins ​​could eat Tatum alive.

But the current Warriors have Rooney and Green in the interior. These two people have the ability to score, but they do not have the ability to punish in the low post.

Even the Warriors don't have that kind of player among their bench. Kerr's tactical thinking is always towards the outside, and he never pays attention to the inside.

This is the basis on which Lu believes the five-out tactics can be put into play.

But the real key to victory is Han Sen.

Game G2 showed that you can’t beat the Warriors by relying on defense, but you can’t do it offensively against the current Kings either.

So the only way is to slow down the pace.

This sounds a bit unrealistic, because since you use five foreign players, it means a faster offensive tempo.

But Han Sen's presence makes that possible.

This is also the core part of Lu's intermediate tactics, which brings out Hansen's low-post singles ability.

Sending Hansen to the low post, just like the Bucks did with Lopez, forces the Raptors to make a choice.

The Warriors have much better defensive resources than the Raptors, but Hansen's low-post threat is much greater than Lopez's.

As for some other details, the Kings' rookies proved in the first two rounds that they can seize opportunities if there is no targeted defense.

As for the person who can feed the ball to Hansen, whether it is Sabonis or Gasol Jr., of course after the first two games, Lu will prefer Gasol Jr., who can also feed the ball steadily.

After listening to Lu's entire tactical thinking, Han Sen looked at Lu in shock.

He was really shocked, because to be honest, although he didn't want to, he had to admit that after the first two games, the Kings had no chance.

A better option would be to wait for the newcomers to grow for another year and then make a comeback next year.

But Lu's subversive tactics are really feasible.

Although Lu's tactical level is not good most of the time, his ability to come up with inspiration is unparalleled.

Sure enough, Lu is a real tactical genius!

Han Sen couldn't help but give Lu a thumbs up.

Lu obviously knew that Han Sen approved of his tactics, and he was delighted.

"I suddenly feel that inviting you to coach the Kings was the best decision I ever made." Han Sen's words came from the heart.

It's like when you are looking for a wife, you find a vase, and then after getting along with her, you suddenly discover that this vase is extremely considerate, which is simply amazing.

After discussing the tactics, Lu called the players together for training that evening.

From conception to implementation, tactics generally require multiple games per season to explore and fine-tune.

But the Kings don't have that time now, with less than a day left.

But the good news is that this five-out-of-the-box tactic is very similar to the death lineup they used before, so to be more precise, this should not be training a new tactic, but an evolution of the tactic, so the Kings have a chance to master it in a short time.

And the biggest test of this tactic is actually Han Sen, the core.

Because although Hansen has appeared more at the small forward position for the Kings this season, his playing style is still similar to that of his Cavaliers period, mainly facing the basket.

Now he is asked to suddenly change to back-to-the-basket position, which is a huge challenge for ordinary players.

Of course, once the training really started, it was basically no challenge for Han Sen.

Because unlike Tatum who is all-round, Hansen is now truly all-round. The only thing that can really affect him is the decline in his physical functions due to his age.

However, that thing does not exist now. At the age of 30, he is at the peak of his career, and this kind of offensive focus switch is easy for him.

When the game came to G3, after finishing the last training session, Lu gave a final mobilization speech.

He gave an example.

"Eight years ago, the Dallas Mavericks were ranked third in the Western Conference. No one thought they were a favorite to win the championship, but they swept the defending champion Lakers, completed one comeback after another, and defeated the Heat Big Three, who were known as the strongest team in history. They accomplished the impossible. That is the most legendary championship in my heart."

After taking a deep breath, Lu's eyes seemed to be burning with fire.
"Now, let's do our best to become the next legend!"

(End of this chapter)