Y13 [EN]: Chapter 225

00225 2011-2012 Regular Season

A lead isn’t easily overturned. No matter how energetic Denver is, a comeback is difficult if the opponent doesn’t get caught up in their pace. Moreover, if the opponent has a strong defense and reliable three-point shooters, simply increasing the offensive tempo won’t solve the problem.

In contrast, Dallas, under Coach Carlisle’s calm play-calling, had Kidd, Youngjae, and Barea methodically dissecting the offense. And with Chandler and Marion’s leadership, they further solidified their defense.

[Youngjae Yoon fights through Shawn Marion’s screen!]

As he navigated Marion’s powerful screen, veteran point guard Andre Miller skillfully avoided it, but couldn’t stop Youngjae, who accelerated and drove into the lane in an instant.

[Youngjae Yoon penetrates deeply from the left wing to the high post! Kostas Koufos, guarding the rim, is forced to step out!]

Swish-

[Ah! But he kicks the ball back out with a pass! As expected, the combination of a slasher with excellent court vision and a shooter with good off-ball movement is a nightmare for the opponent!]

Dribbling casually and roaming around as if he owns the place, then suddenly dishing it out, only makes Denver more anxious. The score isn’t closing, and the opponent is using the full 24 seconds on their possessions, and they can’t stop them. It wouldn’t be so bad if they just played a slow, deliberate game, but when they unexpectedly launch a quick attack with smart plays, it’s infuriating.

[Brewer, who received the ball on the right side, holds it for a moment and then passes it back to Youngjae Yoon, who is drifting out to the right wing?]

At that moment, Brewer starts cutting along the baseline. Youngjae, looking towards the right wing, receives the ball with his left hand and immediately fires a no-look pass behind his back. The pass finds Brewer perfectly, who had already penetrated to the basket.

콰아앙!!

[OH, OH MY GOODNESS!!!]

[An incredible play that’s making Denver want to curse has just happened!!! The perfect teamwork of Youngjae Yoon and Corey Brewer! How is Denver supposed to stop them when they pull off such crazy plays! Brewer receives the ball on the outside on the right side, passes to Youngjae Yoon, who is moving past the basket to the right wing, and then immediately cuts baseline! At the same time, Youngjae Yoon receives the ball and immediately delivers a no-look behind-the-back pass to Brewer! Who can stop this?!]

“Nice!”

Youngjae and Brewer exchanged a cheerful high-five, and Dick Stockton couldn’t contain his excitement as he continued his commentary.

[With that, the score is 65 to 49! The Dallas Mavericks are slowly pulling away! And the Denver Nuggets can’t catch up! There are still only about 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, but at this rate, the score is likely to widen further!]

As the point differential steadily increased, Coach Carlisle began managing the stamina of his starters. Dallas had plenty of experienced players on the bench, and as a team with bench productivity in the top 3 in the league, the lead didn’t shrink easily even when the reserves came in. One of the reasons Dallas was at the top of the league this season, despite the sluggishness and injuries of the starting players, was thanks to the high productivity of the bench.

[As expected of Coach Carlisle, he’s already thinking about the upcoming schedule. In a game where the lead is steadily growing like this, there’s no need to overuse the starters. He can experiment with different lineups, and he needs to give significant minutes to players who haven’t had much playing time so far, allowing them to develop.]

[Dallas is competing with today’s opponent, Denver (41.5 points), and San Antonio (40.7 points), which is known for its thorough rotation, for the top 3 in bench productivity with 40.5 points. They are one of only three teams that average over 40 points per game from their bench.]

[The characteristic of these three teams is that no single player plays more than 35 minutes per game. Of course, unlike Denver, where the players are more ordinary, San Antonio and Dallas have many veterans and a well-established system, so it’s possible because any player can contribute. Teams that have chosen the opposite approach are Boston, Chicago, Miami, and the LA Lakers, which are representative star-dependent teams. Their bench productivity is among the lowest.]

Coach Carlisle, starting with Youngjae, who had played about 23 minutes, then removing Nowitzki, who hadn’t fully regained his form, Tyson Chandler, who played tough defense in the paint, and Jason Kidd, who was playing his comeback game, inserted J.J. Barea, Rodrigo Beaubois, Brandon Wright, and Brendan Haywood. He planned to finish the game primarily with players other than the starting five and sixth man Terry, as long as the double-digit lead didn’t disappear.

[The Dallas Mavericks are substituting everyone except Shawn Marion. Coach Carlisle is known for experimenting with various lineups, and it seems he believes he can maintain the game’s rhythm sufficiently with a lineup that mixes in one or two starters. In addition, he seems to be sending in Beaubois, who has looked a bit hesitant since his injury, as a shooting guard to work on spot-up shooting and scoring.]

Coach George Karl wore a frustrated expression and was furious inside, but even if he were the coach of Dallas, he would have done the same, so he didn’t blame Coach Carlisle. Rather, now that things had turned out this way, the best thing Denver could do was identify the weaknesses of the Dallas bench while using his own bench players and try to close the gap with a lineup that could exploit those weaknesses.

[Denver’s Coach George Karl sticks with his existing rotation. Denver is focusing on the paint as soon as Brandon Haywood enters the game! They are putting Kostas Koufos and Kenneth Faried, who have been scoring well in the paint today, back in. Anyway, Denver has to do its best to chase, and since there isn’t a significant difference between the starters and the bench, it won’t change much even if the opponent puts in their reserves.]

[Denver is a team where the starters score an average of 62.3 points in 29 minutes, and the bench scores 41.5 points in 19 minutes. If you look at it positively, it means the bench is good, but if you look at it negatively, it means the starters’ competitiveness is weak. The starters’ productivity is only 17th in the league.]

Kostas Koufos had been playing for about 18 minutes so far and was playing a key role in Denver’s paint offense, shooting 4 for 4. Blocking Koufos alone would be somewhat possible with Haywood’s man-to-man defense, but if Faried, who stirs up the paint with him, joins in, it wouldn’t be easy for Wright to handle.

[Brandon Haywood! He hastily tries to block Faried, and the paint is left wide open!]

[Instead, it seems that Wright is focusing on rim protection! He is repeating the same mistake that Ian Mahinmi made just before the end of the 2nd quarter!]

With a height of 6-10 (about 208cm), which was small for a center, Koufos thought there was nothing special about Wright and tried to power his way in. As expected, Koufos, seeing Wright, a legitimate 7-footer, gradually being pushed back by his force, thought he had the advantage and slightly jumped up to attempt a hook shot.

파앙!!!

[Brandon Wright’s powerful block!!!]

“큿!”

Brandon Wright, who didn’t get much playing time but was recognized for his blocking ability. The explosive jump from his elastic muscles led to an incredible block that even overcame the 2-inch height difference.

[Kostas Koufos’s first missed field goal today! It seems he played too carelessly because of the height difference with Brandon Wright! Kostas Koufos is bound to be intimidated after being blocked like that!]

If you get a pancake block [a forceful block where the blocker pins the ball against the backboard] from an opponent who is 2 inches shorter, you can’t help but lose confidence when attacking in the paint. Coach George Karl couldn’t help but put his hand on his forehead and shake his head as he watched the block.

“Stay calm!”

And Barea’s leadership was at a level comparable to Ty Lawson. Barea, dancing in front of Ty Lawson with his excellent dribbling skills, went straight over Shawn Marion’s veteran screen and into the high post without any resistance. Ty Lawson, whose ability to navigate screens was almost nonexistent, shook off Shawn Marion and ran after Barea only after he had already penetrated inside, but it was too late.

[In the end, Kostas Koufos, who was guarding the rim, comes out!]

[Wouldn’t it be better for Kenneth Faried, who is guarding Brandon Haywood, to block Barea? Brandon Haywood, who keeps hanging around the perimeter, isn’t a big threat!]

But Koufos had already come out, and Faried didn’t know what to do and just stuck to Haywood. Barea couldn’t help but smile at Denver’s defensive confusion.

퉁-

Barea never considered attacking through Haywood, not even for a second. Haywood wasn’t a player known for good cuts or rolls to the basket, and even if he drew a shooting foul, there was little expectation that Haywood, whose free throw percentage was less than 50%, would make both shots. Haywood’s field goal percentage was much lower this season than last year due to poor shot selection.

[Wow! Barea’s fantastic bounce pass! Brandon Wright, who is standing in the paint that Koufos vacated, receives it!]

콰아앙!!!

“오오!!!”

Brandon Wright’s two-handed slam, which soared so high that the rim he grabbed with both hands swayed greatly before he slammed the ball down. Wright, momentarily overcome with excitement, screamed and came down, facing Barea and shouting loudly.

Brandon Wright’s powerful slam effectively ended any chance of a Denver comeback. Coach Carlisle clapped lightly and praised the two players’ play, and Youngjae, Chandler, Parsons, and Brewer, who were sitting on the bench, cheered and waved towels.

[Brandon Wright!! What a dunk! Like Koufos, he is punishing the opponent’s inside with dunks! 4/5 paint attacks today! Amazing!]

Denver tried hard to rally, but failed to break through the opponent’s sophisticated system, and ultimately failed to even narrow the score against Dallas’s bench players.

삐이익!!

[In the end, the game is over! The Dallas Mavericks defeat the Denver Nuggets at home with a score of 105 to 82, a 23-point victory!]

[Denver showed good performance until the first half, but from the second half, the young players got caught up in Dallas’s veteran game management and lost momentum. The newly reorganized Denver Nuggets showed a decent performance against the defending champion, but there are some areas that need to be refined.]

Most of the starting players had been watching the game from the bench in early retirement mode since the middle of the 3rd quarter, and the bench players, who played significant minutes for the first time in a while, were smiling and high-fiving their teammates with a refreshing expression. With this win, their record improved to 21 wins and 10 losses. The Dallas Mavericks, who had defied the negative public opinion and expert predictions that had plagued them due to the veteran players’ slow start, firmly maintained 2nd place in the Western Conference. Youngjae, happily chatting with his teammates, felt a surge of optimism, imagining that maybe, just maybe, if they maintained this momentum, they could recreate the glory of last year.

February 16, the day after the game between Dallas and Denver, TNT prepared a special segment. It was originally a Pre-game Show that was always held for about an hour before the NBA game broadcast, but today, they had to start with a new segment first.

It was the live BBVA RISING STARS DRAFT. Unlike the All-Star Game, where members are determined by fan and coach votes, the Rising Stars Challenge had undergone a major change this year.

Until now, it was a match between 1st-year rookies and 2nd-year rookies, but from this season, 20 players, a mix of 1st-year and 2nd-year players, would be selected. Then Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal would each draft players to form teams and compete against each other.

The NBA Secretariat had racked their brains to create a new format, given that the game had been too dominated by 2nd-year players in the past. The intention was to increase fan excitement by introducing a showdown between Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley, popular rivals known for their outspokenness and entertainment value.

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

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

＠It’s slowly All-Star season now. In other words, it’s time to turn around the 2011-2012 season.

＠While watching Youngjae, I wondered how much he would have to grow to be called a scam, but well, there’s a kid who’s scamming even more than the game in reality. Watching Curry’s game is like watching a real video game, as the local commentators say. How can he put in 3-pointers so easily? He puts it in even if you block it, and he puts it in even if you don’t block it. As a joke, there’s a saying that Curry should be made to shoot catch and shoot, or shoot closer to the 3-point line. His pull-up has a much higher success rate than catch and shoot, and he’s a pervert who shoots better from far away from the 3-point line.

사라질영혼님///We have few comments, so (?) 1 comment is easy ㅠ.ㅠ

울트라10님/// Amateurs are allowed zone defenses, so most of them are zone defenses. But those zone defenses all have weaknesses on the outside, so those who defend the outside are very tired ㅋㅋ. Amateurs are said to be weaker on the outside than pros, but the 3-point line is short, so if you don’t block it, you can put it in to some extent… Defense is always difficult in many ways. The same goes for soccer and baseball.

흙곰12님///Due to the nature of the job of an actor, they work in bulk at once and rest in bulk. In addition, due to the size of the land in the United States, filming near the house is almost non-existent. And even during breaks in the middle, Youngjae goes on the road so often, so he comes out in a row when he comes out, and he doesn’t come out when he doesn’t come out.

-DarkANGEL-님/// Howard, LeBron, Kobe, Leonard, etc. all know the timing and distance accurately and defend. As you said, defense is not just about being good at athletic ability. I know that the only time a team with defensive efficiency below 10th place has won in the last 15 years was the Lakers in 2001 during the Shaq-Kobe era. It means that at least the defense must be in the top 30% of the league to win. Hmm. Wasn’t Utah the best defensive team in the league in the second half of last year? If you like defense, Utah is the perfect team, but the offense is cancer ㅋㅋ

Luscinia님/// You were a Samsung fan. In the situation where Yoonan-im is missing, the game should be tilted to Doosan. If their problems get bigger, it won’t be a problem this year, but it will be a bigger problem later, but I don’t know how the results will come out.

goimosp님/// Defense basically seems to follow a lot of potential. Surprisingly, many people grow up to be pros in offense, but I’ve hardly seen anyone who didn’t have defensive potential. It may take time to unleash the potential, but I don’t think there’s anyone who didn’t have defensive potential.

misscherry님, 오마리온님, 이동석동님/// Thank you for your comments!!

야베스님/// He seems to be playing 2k16 with rookie difficulty. He is implementing the game in reality;;;

ㅎ0ㅎ님/// ㄷㄷ Is it difficult to see on a laptop?