Y13 [EN]: Chapter 217

2011-2012 Regular Season

Balance is never constant, and this game was no exception. The seesaw battle, which looked like it would continue throughout the 4th quarter, gradually shifted in the latter part of the 1st, resulting in a score of 24 to 18. The Dallas Mavericks, playing at home, finished the quarter with a 6-point lead.

“Good. We showed a strong performance in the first quarter. Offense can be unpredictable, so never lose focus on defense.”

Coach Rick Carlisle praised the players, who were energized after the first quarter.

“But our opponent is the San Antonio Spurs, our biggest rival. We can’t afford to be careless. Terry, you performed your role at 200%.”

In that short time, Jason Terry scored 5 points, including a 3-pointer, with a 2/3 field goal success rate. This helped Dallas widen the point gap at the end of the first quarter.

“Nowitzki, don’t overdo it today. Focus on penetrating the paint or running pick-and-pops, and prioritize finding your shooting rhythm first.”

Nowitzki nodded, looking slightly concerned. Dirk Nowitzki had only 2 points and 3 rebounds, with a 25% shooting success rate (1/4 field goal percentage). His shooting touch was wavering, and he couldn’t seem to find his groove.

In recent years, Nowitzki had struggled more against strong, physical players who contested his post-ups and prevented him from establishing his desired position, rather than taller opponents. DeJuan Blair was exactly that type of player, which was why Coach Popovich chose him as Nowitzki’s matchup.

“But, shoot when you have an open look, even if it doesn’t go in. That’s your role, and it’s something our whole team needs to do.”

Dirk Nowitzki’s struggles were a challenge he had to overcome. He simply nodded in response.

“Beaubois, your defense in 2-2 pick plays is still not working. You can’t just chase after the opponent blindly. You need to learn how to cleverly avoid the screener. We’re still working on it in practice, but try to implement it in real games as much as possible. Remember, the best practice is a real game. Also, after breaking through on offense, you’re shooting jumpers from awkward positions. Try floaters or layups instead. Jumpers from those spots are very inefficient.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Beaubois answered stiffly. His stats weren’t terrible, but Coach Carlisle found his play frustrating. He would penetrate to within 3-4 feet and then attempt a jumper, giving the opponent time to defend instead of quickly going up for a floater or layup.

“Yoon, you’ll likely be matched up against Kawhi Leonard, but since Kidd isn’t here today, you’ll have to fill the point guard position for a while. That means you’ll be matched up with Tony Parker, Gary Neal, or even Cory Joseph and Danny Green at different times. The opponent’s matchup will keep changing, so some confusion is inevitable. You need to adapt well to these changing matchups.”

Barea and Beaubois had clear weaknesses, and they couldn’t play all 48 minutes. Youngjae would have to fill in the gaps. For the shooting guard position, Terry could play more minutes, or Corey Brewer could be used.

Before Coach Carlisle finished his explanation, the buzzer signaling the start of the 2nd quarter sounded. The Dallas fans cheered as the players took the court to face their rivals, their faces showing a mix of tension and excitement.

[The San Antonio Spurs have brought in Gary Neal, Danny Green, James Anderson, Matt Bonner, and Tiago Splitter. Coach Popovich is substituting the entire starting lineup. Usually, he mixes starters and bench players, but it’s rare to see a pure bench lineup at any time other than garbage time (the final minutes of a game when the outcome is already decided).]

[That’s right. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is a master at managing player stamina. This is possible because their system is well-established, minimizing the gap between starters and bench players. The starters played for 12 minutes, and the bench players are divided into 7 and 5 minutes, with more time allocated to Tiago Splitter and Danny Green than to Kawhi Leonard and DeJuan Blair.]

The core of the San Antonio Spurs is their well-structured basketball system. Their rotation, reflecting this philosophy, was like a perfectly synchronized dance.

[On the other hand, Coach Rick Carlisle prefers veterans and uses various lineups. He relies more on the starters than Coach Popovich, but not as much as other coaches in the league. He uses more than 30 lineups a year.]

[J.J. Barea, Corey Brewer, Chandler Parsons, Brandon Wright, and Ian Mahinmi are coming in. Brewer, who hasn’t had much playing time, is playing shooting guard. Danny Green is a typical 3&D player (player who excels at 3-point shooting and defense) with good shooting and size, so they’re putting Corey Brewer on him!]

At 6’8″, Corey Brewer is unusually tall for a shooting guard. However, Brewer, with his lean muscles and light weight, had tremendous defensive ability and mobility to guard even smaller players. Coach Carlisle nodded, satisfied. The opponent’s lineup consisted of four players who could shoot 3-pointers and a big man with good passing. Young, energetic players could contain them. All four players except Mahinmi understood defensive rotations well.

The prediction was correct. Corey Brewer completely shut down Danny Green. Brewer had been practicing outside shots since joining Dallas, but shooting is difficult to master. Last year, he achieved a career-high 30% 3-point shooting percentage in Dallas, but that wasn’t enough to earn him significant playing time. Instead, Brewer used his size and speed to overwhelm Danny Green, effectively “blockading” him.

The other players also held their own. Coach Carlisle, seeing that Brewer’s strategy was working, brought the starting members back onto the court.

[Dallas is making a player change. Youngjae Yoon is coming in as point guard. The lineup is Youngjae Yoon, Jason Terry (who’s shooting well today), Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, and Tyson Chandler! This is Dallas’s closing lineup (the lineup used in the final minutes of close games) this season. Due to Youngjae Yoon’s rapid growth, either Kidd or Terry had to be excluded, and Kidd’s slump and injury resolved the situation.]

[The San Antonio Spurs are putting in Cory Joseph instead of Gary Neal, Kawhi Leonard instead of Danny Green, and the rest are staying the same! The key moments of this game are about to begin!]

From this point on, San Antonio would bring back their starters, leading to a battle between the tired Dallas starters and the fresh San Antonio starters. The remaining 2nd quarter could be a turning point in the game.

Whoosh-

As Matt Bonner passed to Cory Joseph, Jason Terry moved closer. Youngjae was the main ball handler, but on defense, Terry guarded Joseph, and Youngjae guarded Leonard. San Antonio would have Kawhi Leonard guard Youngjae when Dallas was on offense.

[Cory Joseph is approaching the right wing.]

Thump, thump-

Jason Terry lowered his stance and spread his arms in front of Cory Joseph. Joseph, dribbling the ball, noticed Matt Bonner’s screen and immediately drove towards the top, drawing a semicircle to the left. Nowitzki blocked Joseph’s path, while Terry was caught on Matt Bonner. Nowitzki then moved towards Matt Bonner. If it had been Tony Parker instead of Cory Joseph, he might have found a gap and passed to Bonner, but Joseph wasn’t skilled enough.

“Ik!!”

Joseph made a poor decision. Believing that Terry wasn’t a strong defender and confident in his own ability to drive, he penetrated to the basket.

[Ah! Too much! Cory Joseph’s aggression is admirable, but it was too much!]

However, Jason Terry stayed with Cory Joseph and raised his hand, knowing that Tyson Chandler was under the rim.

[Cory Joseph attempts a layup! But the height is too high!!]

Joseph, intimidated by Tyson Chandler, stopped his layup attempt and threw a kick-out pass to the right sideline.

Tak!

[Haha! Cory Joseph! An absurd pass! Jump passes always carry the risk of turnovers!]

[Was that kick-out pass intended for Youngjae Yoon?! Youngjae Yoon catches the ball easily! He’s running as soon as he catches it!]

As Youngjae grabbed the ball and ran, Shawn Marion and Dirk Nowitzki also sprinted towards San Antonio’s court. San Antonio’s ability to quickly reset their defense was impressive, but Youngjae didn’t slow down, charging from the right wing towards the high and low post with incredible momentum.

[Youngjae Yoon’s aggressive drive!]

[He stole the timing! Kawhi Leonard can’t properly control Youngjae Yoon except for the beginning of the first quarter!]

[I think Youngjae Yoon is only playing at this level because Kawhi Leonard is guarding him!]

He had no intention of overpowering Leonard. Youngjae knew that his drive would draw at least one more defender, intentionally targeting San Antonio’s trap defense.

[James Anderson momentarily double-teams Youngjae Yoon! Ah! But!!!]

Double-teaming should only be done when you can control the situation. Otherwise, it leaves a player open. Shawn Marion was on the right side, and Anderson, knowing the trap defense, would come to help. But trap defense only works when it’s sudden. If the opponent anticipates it, it’s a trap for the defenders.

============================ Author’s Afterword ============================

★Thank you to those who gave advance subscriptions, recommendations, comments, and coupons!!

★Thank you for the sponsorship coupon, Blue Flying Fish!! Have a great weekend~

@Sorry. I couldn’t write yesterday because my younger sibling went to the emergency room. It seems like I was overdoing it with school, part-time job, and novel. I think it’ll be okay now that the exam is over. Everyone, take good care of your health^^.

@The match between these two teams is a Texas rivalry and a rivalry between Nowitzki and Duncan, but the tactical battle between the two coaches is also really amazing when you watch the actual game. Coach Popovich has been the undisputed number one coach in the league for several years, and Coach Carlisle is second to none in terms of strategy. In this season, he was also voted second by the general managers of 30 teams for his tactical ability (1st place Popovich). I thought his ability to control the team was very good when he was in Indiana or Detroit, but it’s ambiguous because there’s been discord with one or two players almost every year since he came to Dallas. Odom, Terry, West, Rondo, etc. Of course, it’s ambiguous to say that these players had discord because Carlisle did something wrong. He’s a coach who has coached Stephan Jackson, Meta World Peace, Reggie Miller, etc. well, but strangely, it’s like that since he came to Dallas.

※Closing Lineup: The lineup that is used from the second half of the 4th quarter to the end of the game. In fact, it can be seen as the strongest lineup in the team. The starting lineup also uses non-starting players for strategic reasons, but the closing lineup operates the team’s best 5. Of course, garbage games are excluded.

Dirt Bear 12///ㅋㅋㅋ Kuroko is about making himself invisible to the opponent ㄷㄷㄷ. Lying Down The Way is just a bit of an exaggeration of what Nowitzki actually does, so it’s okay ㅋㅋ. Actual NBA fans call Nowitzki’s fadeaway Lying Down The Way.

Ultra 10/// It was 6 games in 8 days. Back-to-back and one day of rest for 3 consecutive times ㅋㅋㅋ. There’s also a back-to-back-to-back game in 3 consecutive days soon. I don’t know if I’ll describe it. 3 consecutive days is nothing for teenagers or early 20s, but from the 30s, 3 consecutive days is no answer ㄷㄷ. Thank you for your hard work^^.

Lee Dong-seok Dong, ㅎ0ㅎ, -DarkANGEL-, Man is 29er, Vanishing Soul, misscherry, Finencia, Omari On/// Thank you for your comments!! I think I did not bad on the exam.

Blue Flying Fish/// Haha, the Dallas cheerleaders are pretty. The name of the cheerleader team is MAVS. I remember they also visited Korea for a basketball event. And the uniform is also the most… It’s also the most revealing team.

Paraliss/// Robinson is also a great center, but Hakeem is ㄷㄷ. He also led Houston to win two consecutive championships in 94-95, and Shaq O’Neal is the only player who admitted that he was a better center than himself. He was a rare species of center with forward skills ㅋㅋ.

goimosp/// It seems that the key to San Antonio is how to control the inside, and the key to Gold is the step-up of Barnes and Ezili. The Ttam contract is bubble-level for the next two years, but it seems like an overpay from the third year. The salary cap goes up to around 110, so a 17M contract per year is only a 10M contract now. Of course, I don’t think it’s worth 10M.

Harpianne/// Sports are best when there are rivals ㅋㅋㅋ