One Year Left to Play-Chapter 326 - 105: Just Focus on Offense
Grant Hill immediately called for a pick-and-roll with Don Reed.
Zhang Hao’s offensive strength and defensive weaknesses were well-known to their opponents. It was difficult to capitalize on this with outside pick-and-rolls, as Zhang Hao wouldn’t go out to defend them. Campbell would rather handle it himself than let Zhang Hao go, as at least Zhang Hao’s defense in the three-second area was decent.
However, with a forward pick-and-roll, Zhang Hao had to move out. Once the ball-handler accelerated after the screen, Zhang Hao found it hard to stop the drive under the basket.
Forced into a switch by a forward pick-and-roll, Grant Hill didn’t drive to the hoop but took Zhang Hao on in a mid-range face-up one-on-one.
He executed a beautiful burst of speed, sidestepped, and successfully hit a mid-range shot!
His movements were swift, though the offensive tempo wasn’t fast, yet his rhythm was even better than at the start of the season. After Grant Hill took the shot, the Pistons quickly retreated on defense. Hill, after a mid-range one-on-one, and with Ratliff as a substitute, they hadn’t even thought about securing the offensive rebound.
A very effective defensive positioning by the Pistons. Van Exel pushed to the frontcourt but couldn’t find an opportunity, so he passed the ball to Zhang Hao, who was at the left side of the free-throw line. Facing the 113kg Don Reed, Zhang Hao was supposed to play off the ball, but the opponent’s average 204cm frontcourt trio made it hard for Zhang Hao to find opportunities. Unable to post up, he passed the ball to Sibaros.
Facing Grant Hill’s defense, Sibaros’ bold attempt at a floater in the paint missed!
Edith Soper secured the defensive rebound!
A month later, facing the Pistons again, Zhang Hao felt their defense had improved significantly! Just as the scouting report indicated, since the start of the season, the Pistons had consistently kept their average points allowed below 95, and seemed capable of pushing it even lower!
Moreover, Zhang Hao felt the Pistons defended against him particularly well. Unlike other playoff teams, the Pistons didn’t have a star in his position to target him, but their team defense was clearly focused.
After a few rounds, Grant Hill singled out Zhang Hao in one-on-one plays. With Dumas and Alan Houston spreading the floor, the Lakers were wary of their threat, unable to double-team, and Zhang Hao became an easy target again.
Offensively, the Lakers encountered significant obstacles right from the start.
In terms of playmaking ability, Zhang Hao definitely lagged behind Divac, and also in team synergy. As the game went on, Van Exel was forced into difficult shots, reluctantly resorting to isolation because even Sibaros couldn’t get things going.
Against Grant Hill, Sibaros’ aggressive attacks were thwarted, and with the Pistons’ excellent trap and movement, Sibaros found himself completely shut down.
The Lakers opened with a 4-11 deficit, and seeing the potential for the gap to widen to 10 points in a single play, the Lakers called a timeout!
Del Harris was seething, holding his breath. Against the Spurs, the gap in strength between the two teams had grown wider.
Against the Pistons, he was prepared for defensive struggles from the start. It was predictable that the other team would target Zhang Hao, and he had made other arrangements, but perhaps he hadn’t explained them clearly enough...
As Zhang Hao dejectedly returned to the bench, Del Harris couldn’t help but shout, "When you get the ball, shoot it!"
After saying that, he ignored Zhang Hao.
Zhang Hao was stunned by the shout—what did that mean?
Campbell patted Zhang Hao on the shoulder: "You need to be more proactive on offense. You have to show your value in the game. Your defense is what it is, no matter how hard you try. You need to leverage your strengths, and your strength is your shooting. You’re taller than their forwards."
With that, Campbell returned to his cool demeanor and walked away without waiting for Zhang Hao to reply.
"Is this..." Zhang Hao had a strange thought: "Is the coach who doesn’t like me telling me not to row the boat with oars?"
What kind of god-like treatment is this?
"Wait a minute, it seems the recent adjustments to the starting lineup have been oriented toward offense?"
Del Harris had a prejudice against Zhang Hao. Conversely, knowing there was a bias, Zhang Hao had also developed a prejudice against Del Harris.
In his view, it was unlikely that Del Harris would ignore his abilities or target him regardless of winning or losing, but also unlikely to make adjustments for his strengths. Therefore, he thought the tactical adjustments were at most not against him, always thinking they were beneficial to the team. He didn’t expect the initial phase to be about enhancing his personal offense!
And he had been thinking of how to replace Divac as a playmaking point, hence starting up high.
"Turns out I’m the fool!"
...
Never doubt the professional competence of a coach who wants to win. Today, Zhang Hao understood this principle.
Del Harris substituted Van Exel, Anthony Peeler, Sibaros, Jason Williams, and Zhang Hao.
Jason Williams was average on defense, performing consistently against anyone. Against ordinary players, he wasn’t as strong as Zhang Hao. After all, Zhang Hao had athletic ability, height, and wingspan. Although it was somewhat like future Nash or Vujacic being ineffective, his defense against ordinary players was much better than theirs. However, against elite forwards like Grant Hill, he was ineffective, even less effective than Jason Williams.
Del Harris was indeed capable. It was a very effective adjustment, not meddling due to personal feelings.
Zhang Hao was also good at listening and corrected his mistaken views after being reminded. Once back on the court, he immediately increased his aggression, quickly utilizing Jason Williams’ baseline off-ball screen to come out for a mid-range catch-and-shoot...
