The Whip of the God of Basketball

Leon is actually still very nervous because this defensive tactic has been in a state of experimentation and adjustment.

The few days spent at the coaching camp in the summer gave Leon a lot of inspiration. After it was confirmed that Carlisle would join the team as the Celtics' chief offensive assistant, Leon decided to transfer part of his energy to defense. , to fill the vacancy caused by the departure of Hart Sr.

As he mentioned on the first day of training camp, he was interested in how he would combine amoeba defense with one-on-one defense, and he did a lot of theoretical work and math to do so. He tried to use membership functions to summarize changes in defensive formations, and classified the 19 defensive categories he had previously imagined. Recognizing that players might not accept so many categories, he further omitted, made mistakes, and theoretically classified defensive postures into five.

The so-called five postures do not determine one's own formation based on the opponent's offensive system, but require players to comprehensively judge the current defensive posture of the team based on their position, ball path and the abilities of the opponent's players on the court, and Based on the defensive situation, decide the defense you will use and how you will cooperate with your teammates.

When Leon first proposed this idea, he first discussed it with Carlisle, Cowens, and Siegfried. They all said that this model was too complicated. Even if various rules were recorded for players to remember, it would be difficult for the ever-changing basketball world. It’s still too difficult for the field. They believe that players still rely on habit, tacit understanding and talent on the defensive end. This kind of segmented and modular defense will plunge the team into chaos.

Later, Leon communicated his ideas with Dick Hart, but unexpectedly received high praise from Hart, and believed that Leon's idea may change the entire defensive history of the NBA, and may truly have a profound impact on the NBA. rules have an impact.

Perhaps Hart's evaluation was a bit overrated, but there is no doubt that Hart saw new ideas for future defense from Leon's ideas - in basketball games, defense is inherently passive, which is a challenge for a player who competes to score more points. Movement cannot be changed. Leon's idea is to infinitely reduce this passiveness and make it infinitely close to activeness.

In the NBA, even the best defensive players cannot lock down a super scorer. Even if you watch his offensive moves 10,000 times on video, when he makes fake moves during the game, when he shakes, turns, and changes direction, the defensive players still can't make the right choice most of the time.

The same is true for a team. Most of the time when the opponent cooperates, even if they remind each other 10,000 times in the video and pre-match preparations, it is still difficult for one or two players to understand the opponent's intentions, and they can only block the water with soldiers. If you come to the ground to cover up, you may be led by the nose, and ultimately let the opponent complete the tactical coordination to achieve the goal.

This is the difference between passivity and initiative, as well as the power of inertia and subconsciousness. After all, the attacking side has a natural advantage.

Leon believes that the way to crack this natural advantage is to judge the opponent's possible offensive intentions in advance as much as possible, and then make the choice with the highest success rate to hinder the opponent.

In fact, in one-on-one defense and small-scale defense, many players and coaches have begun to apply this idea since the 1980s. They continuously study the offensive player's choices through video, and come up with his habitual choices, and then Just defend against his habit. For example, if a player is used to breaking through with his right hand, then focus on his right side and give up the left side appropriately, so that he will not be confused by judging his left and right on the spot. In football, the same goes for goalkeepers betting on one side.

But for the whole team's defense, it is too difficult to find the opponent's offensive habits. Each team's offense does have its own routines, but there are too many routines and too many changes. Even if you can summarize the rules, there is nothing you can do. Determine which rules will apply to that offense.

Therefore, Leon simply used an exhaustive method to list all the offensive routines he could think of, and then analyzed the situation faced by the defender at this time, and then continued to simplify, and finally got five situations. Combined with these situations, the players are told how to adjust the defensive formation and local defensive cooperation. As for some loopholes that will inevitably occur, the players' experience and tacit understanding are needed to make up for it.

If this kind of defense is used to the extreme, then any so-called NBA tactics will be invisible, and all tactics based on running out of open spaces and dislocations will be ineffective because their purpose will be seen through. Effective tactics will only include one-on-one singles and fast break counterattacks, but fierce double-teaming and rotation will also greatly reduce the efficiency of singles tactics, and fast breaks alone cannot win a game.

It can be said that this kind of defense will be the "ultimate defense" that Gouldridge dreams of, which will change the mismatch between offense and defense to the greatest extent. However, if this level of defense is really achieved, then this team must have reached an unparalleled tacit understanding, and every player will become a master of tactics and not just a pawn in the hands of the coach.

Leon knows that such ultimate defense will never appear, but this does not prevent him from working towards this goal and leading the team to the ultimate goal.

Now, in just three minutes on the court, the Celtics used defense to make it difficult for the Timberwolves, who had been smooth sailing before. This is not just a sudden discomfort caused by defensive changes, but because the Celtics' several defenses have caught the opponent's weaknesses, and the ever-changing defensive patterns have made it difficult for the wolves to start.

"Smart, these guys are really smart." During the timeout, this was Leon's evaluation of the five defensive players on the field, Bell, Posey, Reid, Garnett, and Brown. The last three Leon could predict. The performance of the first two guys was beyond Leon's expectations.

Leon originally thought that Anji signed Posey just to serve as a substitute for Pierce, but now he discovered that this is an excellent small forward who can stand alone, is fierce and smart in defense, and knows how to use his body. As for another defender, Bell, Leon has been thinking about how to use him before. The rotation of Reid, Arenas, and Alston in the backcourt is actually enough. Bell's offensive power often makes him not qualified as a substitute shooting guard.

Tonight, Bell's defense made Leon's eyes shine. In fact, during training, he found that this young guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes was decisive and annoying in defense. His judgment on footwork was very good, and he was not that kind of ****** This is very important for the core defender who defends the opponent. Of course, a mad dog-like biting can work wonders for a while, but truly restricting the opponent on the ball in all directions is the best defense.

Later, Leon resumed the regular lineup during the timeout, replacing Bell with Pierce and Arenas replacing Reed. This is a situation where the forward height is used to fight for offensive rebounds.

The new defensive model is still being tested, and the effect has reached his satisfaction. Then he will switch to a traditional point-chasing lineup and use offense to recover lost points.

One defender and four forwards, chasing points like the wind.

………………

Sanders felt like his head was spinning. Now he was thinking about what defensive strategy the Celtics were using. Man-to-man is not like man-to-man, and zone defense is not like zone defense. It is a bit like an amoeba, but the positions of the forward players are obviously different, as if they are two disconnected parts. But once the ball was passed to the inside, the inside and outside were immediately combined, and it seemed that the tactical movements of the Timberwolves players were anticipated step by step.

Sanders was explaining tactics to his teammates during the timeout and was confused for a time. His pen was fixed on the tactical board and he didn't know what to say. The Timberwolves players were also a little confused and wanted to listen carefully to the coach's analysis and solutions. It turned out that the coach was also confused about the problem that just happened on the field.

"Anyway... we have to play our characteristics. We are still in the lead. The next goal will be very important..." Sanders is really not good at encouraging, and he was discouraged when he said this.

When the game restarted, the Celtics' mesmerizing defense in the previous few minutes suddenly disappeared. They were replaced by a point-chasing lineup of one guard and four forwards, chasing and chasing the Timberwolves. By the end of the third quarter, the Celtics The score has already been overtaken. The situation suddenly turned around.