Chapter 538
Chapter 538
In the last two seasons, the Mavericks, which can be described as fleetingly unfavorable, were able to secure the seventh place in the Western Conference in the second half of the season. This has to be said to be a miracle.
However, as the team's top scorer Adrian Dantley suffered the second serious injury in his career, that is, the right fibula injury, not only Dantley was unable to play this season, but even his entire career also ended.
At the same time, the team lost the chance to go very far in the playoffs.
And Dantley, whose contract has expired, suffered such an injury that the Mavericks were no longer prepared to renew his contract. This also caused him to sell himself to other teams before the playoffs were over.
Without Dantley, there are still several good players in the Mavericks, including Rolando Blackman, Sam Perkins, Derek Harper, Roy Tapley, etc., who can reach the playoffs, It has already proved their strength.
It's just that these players are qualified as starters, but to defeat a strong team like the Warriors, obviously they still lack a player who can stand alone, and Blackman is obviously not.
Therefore, in order to defeat the Warriors, the Mavericks must use unconventional methods. In the opening game, when they faced Li Weisi, they actually adopted a double-team method.
It has to be said that this is not a good defensive choice. Li Weisi's teammates at this time are much better than those in his rookie season.
Although these people are not well-known, they are much better than most players in the league in seizing opportunities.
The Mavericks wanted to target Li Weisi in the game because they were afraid of Li Weisi's reputation as the leading scorer this season, and Li Weisi had suffered a lot this season. Full of loopholes.
Facing the double attack from Harper and Perkins again, Li Weisi turned his head to one side, looking as if he was looking at Lewis, but passed the ball through Perkins' crotch with a hit pass. Came to the hands of Rodman behind Perkins.
Facing the unguarded situation, of course Rodman would not miss this opportunity. With both legs, he flew for a dunk and smashed the ball hard into the basket.
The head coach of the Mavericks, Rich Adubato, quickly called a timeout. Therefore, within a few minutes of the game, the Warriors had already beaten the Mavericks 14:4. If the fight continues like this, there will be no suspense in the game by the end of the first quarter.
As a catcher, Adubato was also suffering. Shortly after the start of this season, the head coach McLeod was fired, and his assistant coach temporarily replaced the head coach.
In other words, from an assistant coach to the head coach of an NBA team in one fell swoop, it should have been a joyful thing, especially as a rookie coach, in the first year of coaching, he led the team that missed the playoffs last season. The starting point for the team to return to the playoffs is already very high.
But Adubato was very depressed. His family knew about his own affairs. In his eyes, Mavericks today is just a broken house that has been in disrepair for a long time. Try to prolong the life of the team, but treat the symptoms rather than the root cause.
Regarding Li Weisi's defensive strategy, Adubato also knew that there was a problem, but playing normally, the Mavericks also had no chance of winning. This was the most troublesome thing for him.
Now that a timeout is called, but he can't make any adjustments to restore the team's state, this head coach is really too difficult to be!
Back from the timeout, the Mavericks finally found some form on the offensive end. Blackman faced Richmond and scored in singles, finally breaking the team's scoring drought.
But on the defensive end, there is still no good way to defend the Warriors.
The same is true for the starting lineup, and the same is true for the bench. The Warriors' bench does not have an offensive strength, but you can also say that they have offensive strengths everywhere.
Whether it is Hornacek, Curry, Petrovic, or Schramf, they all have a certain ability to attack independently, and because the skill points of these people are added to offense, the Warriors' substitutes, although Not as strong a single player as the starter, but the offensive firepower is not low.
All five substitutes can shoot three-pointers, and center Divac has his own system, so that even if the Mavericks use the starting matchup, they still can't take advantage of it.
As Divac handed the ball to his good brother Petrovic at the top of the arc, Petrovic broke through to attract the defense and then passed the ball to Schramf in the bottom corner.
Facing no defense in front of him, Schramf pulled up and shot. Schramff lived up to Petrovic's pass and hit the buzzer three-pointer steadily.
With this three-pointer, the first quarter ended and the Warriors temporarily led 32:16.
The way the first quarter was played like this is indeed somewhat beyond everyone's expectations. The Mavericks did not expect the single-core Warriors to be so strong, and the Warriors did not expect the Mavericks to be so weak!
As for the audience at the scene, as Warriors fans, they certainly hope that the home team can win as much as possible. As for garbage time, the game is not exciting or something, this is definitely not something that a qualified Warriors player should consider.
"Brilliant job! Detref, do it!" Matt yelled from the sidelines, regardless of whether the other party could hear him or not.
As for Bill and Adam beside him, they didn't think there was anything wrong with Matt's behavior. Their condition was not much better than Matt's.
It's no wonder, compared to the usual depressing life of a few people, only here can I release my pressure and be my true self.
The first quarter of the game seemed to set the tone for the entire game. In the following games, although the Warriors' offense was not as violent as the first quarter, and the Mavericks' offense was not as violent as the first quarter, the overall situation of the game was not intense. , The Warriors have been leading the Mavericks by more than ten points for a long time.
In this state, although the Mavericks wanted to get closer to the score, they still couldn't get past the 10-point hurdle. As the game progressed, they gradually felt numb, and in the end, they completely lost their fighting spirit.
Entering the fourth quarter, the Warriors led by as many as 23 points.
In the end, with more than 6 minutes left at the end of the game, the Mavericks replaced all the main players and announced their surrender. In the end, the game was fixed at 119:102, and the brave soldiers won their first victory in the playoffs without bloodshed.
Facing the Warriors who swept their own Warriors 4:0 in the regular season, the Mavericks obviously failed to create a miracle in the first game of the playoffs.
Not only that, as the first round of the 5-match 3-win system, it has become more difficult for the Mavericks to win this round of the series after losing the first game.
After all, the next game is still home to the Warriors!
(End of this chapter)