On the bench of the Trail Blazers, head coach Terry stood there with eyes wide open, as if he was a yaksha monster that had just crawled out of hell, roaring loudly at the players on the court.
"Run, run for me!"
"Quick attack, press them all on me!"
"Shoot, it's such a good opportunity, hurry up and shoot!"
"Didn't you eat? It's so slow to return to defense. Hurry up and defend harder!"
In a basketball game, if the head coach curses or constantly questions the referee's decisions, he may get a T, get a technical foul, or even be ejected by the referee. In addition, the referee can give on-site instructions on the sidelines and can also shout as long as it does not interfere with the progress of the game.
Every coach in the NBA has a different style. Some coaches just like to yell at their players. As long as they are not satisfied with the player's performance, they will roar like wild beasts; some coaches are as quiet as The weak scholar sits on the bench and never shouts loudly. Even if the player's performance is unsatisfactory, at most he only frowns to express his dissatisfaction.
Terrys has never been the kind of "brutal" head coach who likes to yell at players on the court, but when overtime came, he could not restrain his eagerness.
It is said that in the overtime period, the dominant side will have an advantage, the side with a deeper bench will have an advantage, and the home court will have a certain advantage. These three advantages are all occupied by the Trail Blazers, so Tris can’t play at all. There is no need to be in such a hurry. As long as the Blazers perform stably, they can win the overtime game.
But every time Tris thought about the fact that the Blazers he led had to play overtime with a weak team led by an outsider, he felt on pins and needles.
Tris even felt that every look he looked at had a mocking tone, as if he was mocking him, not even a layman coach participating in an NBA game for the first time.
As for the Clippers, assistant coach Cassell kept looking in the direction of Tris. The excitement of Tris today was indeed a bit beyond Cassel's expectations.
"Coach Terry seems a little excited. This is just a regular season game. With the Trail Blazers' current win margin, even if the Trail Blazers lose, it won't affect the team's ranking. As for that! "Cassell muttered to himself and underestimated a few words, and then looked at the score on the field.
In the last two and a half minutes, the score has not changed at all. Neither side has scored a goal, so the situation is still very close.
The Clippers are an underdog team. Facing the Trail Blazers' strong defense, it's understandable that they don't score. However, the Trail Blazers are a strong team and they play at home. It's really unjustifiable that they don't score in two and a half minutes. .
This is still overtime, and not scoring a goal for such a long time in overtime is indeed something that needs serious review for a playoff-level team.
"Today's game seems to have always been like this. When the Trail Blazers feel good, we feel good. When the Trail Blazers feel bad, we feel bad too. Basically, they score, and we also score; they score. If we don’t score, we won’t score either. It’s like the two sides have agreed upon it, what a strange rhythm of the game.”
Cassell looked at the statistics in his hand and scratched his head in confusion. From the data point of view, the Clippers did not play well today. Their shooting percentage, rebounds, assists, and error control could only be regarded as poor. It's quite satisfactory. It is said that such data cannot beat the Trail Blazers, so Cassell can't figure out how the Clippers can play back and forth with the Trail Blazers.
"What's wrong with you?" Dai Li's voice sounded from the side, and he noticed Cassel's confused expression.
"It's nothing, I just didn't expect that we could play overtime with the Trail Blazers. After all, in terms of strength, the Trail Blazers are much stronger than us." Cassel said.
Dai Li nodded: "Yes, we are a weak team, and the lineup is not uniform. The key is that the coach of the team is still a layman like me, so almost everyone thinks that we will lose, or even lose miserably." .No one thought that we and the Trail Blazers would play the first overtime."
"The first overtime?" Cassell blinked and then asked: "Coach, you don't think there will be a second overtime in this game, do you?"
"Maybe there will even be a third overtime." Dai Li replied with a smile.
At this time, Dai Li thought of the first round of the US Open. He had just entered the match between Chen Zhen and the tennis king Basel. With the support of "evenly matched", they played four tiebreakers in a row. The final set was a long set decider.
The gap between Chen Zhen and Basel is much larger than the gap in strength between the Trail Blazers and the Clippers. Therefore, Dai Li feels that it is not surprising that the game between the Trail Blazers and the Clippers will go to two or three overtimes.
Assistant coach Cassell didn't believe Li Dai's judgment at all. The Blazers' starting players were stronger, the bench was deeper, and they were playing at home. These advantages would be particularly magnified in overtime. Cassell I even felt that the Clippers might collapse at any time.
…
"Beep..." The on-site electronic timer sounded, the game time also returned to zero, and the second overtime ended.
Cassel looked at the score of 118-118 and didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Coach Li really hit the mark. The third overtime is going to be played." Cassell secretly glanced at Dai Li. Now he felt more and more that there was a layer of mystery about Dai Li that no one could see through. feel.
"Coach Li just said that there will be a third overtime. I thought he was joking, but it turned out that there was actually a third overtime. Is this just a coincidence? But three overtimes are not common in the NBA. , if it’s a coincidence, it’s too much of a coincidence, so coincidental that I can’t even believe it!”
"Also in the third quarter, he didn't call a timeout and said that the players could get the score back. In the end, the players really did get the score back. Is it another coincidence? How could everything be the same? Is it a coincidence?"
"Is this the professional judgment of Coach Li? But he doesn't understand basketball? How can he make such an accurate judgment? At least I, who has been a basketball coach for more than ten years, cannot see that this game will be played In three overtimes, I don’t see how the players can catch up when they are 15 points behind.”
"In other words, Coach Li knows basketball at all. He has been pretending to know nothing. He is deliberately pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger! He wants everyone to think that he is an amateur and let his opponents relax their vigilance. And then he's delivering the killing blow."
Cassel thought of this possibility and looked at Dai Li involuntarily.
Dai Li also noticed that Cassel was looking at him, so he smiled at Cassel.
However, in Cassel's opinion, this smile really looked like a smile hiding a knife.
…
On the Trail Blazers' bench, head coach Terry's mentality was a bit broken.
What he wanted was a big victory without any suspense, what he wanted was to easily crush his opponent, but the result was that the game went into the third overtime, and the game still had no winner.
More importantly, the Trail Blazers are now two points behind.
Although it was only two points behind, Tris felt very helpless.
"Is it possible that we are going to lose to the Clippers?"
Tris's self-confidence was shaken at this time.
On the field, the Blazers' players also became impatient. A game that should have been won easily has now reached the third overtime and is still two points behind. To say that the players are still very calm, it is not at all. It's impossible not to be in a hurry.
As for the home audience, their voices became quieter and quieter, and some fans even began to leave early. The atmosphere at home has dropped significantly.
The 48-minute regular time of an NBA game, including halftime and timeouts, takes almost two hours, and then two overtimes, which also include breaks and timeouts, are also very energy-consuming for fans. The thing is, those people who kept cheering for the home team had already shouted at the top of their lungs by this time. In the third overtime, they really couldn't stop shouting.
Moreover, Portland's geographical location is relatively to the west, so the start time of the game will be later than other places. Although everyone uses Western United States time, fans cannot all live near the Moda Center. Many fans They drove dozens of kilometers to watch the game. They had to work the next day and couldn't stay at the stadium until late. If it's just one overtime, you can still hold on, but when it comes to three overtimes, some fans really can't hold on anymore and have no choice but to leave.
What's more, this game was not very good. Although it went to three overtimes, the opponent was a weak team like the Clippers. The Trail Blazers also played a little slack and did not perform at their best. In the eyes of the fans, , there is really no point in spending time watching a boring game.
In fact, many fans are also a little disappointed with the Blazers' performance. The Trail Blazers are currently ranked third in the Western Conference, and fans have high expectations for them. Many fans are looking forward to the Trail Blazers reaching the Western Conference Finals, or even the Finals, and winning the NBA championship. However, against a weak team like the Clippers, they were unable to attack for a long time. Naturally, the fans did not buy it. Some fans even began to accuse the Blazers of playing poorly.
Both the players' mentality and the atmosphere at the scene were beginning to go against the Blazers. The previous evenly matched situation seemed to have changed slightly.
…
"Bang!"
The basketball hit the frame and bounced out. Three Clippers players rushed over and protected the rebound.
At this time, the Clippers still have a two-point lead, and the game time is less than 10 seconds, which means that even if the Clippers do not attack, they will win the game.
The Blazers players on the opposite side hesitated and did not commit a foul immediately. It was obvious that their attention was no longer so focused.
"Go and foul!" Trail Blazers coach Terry Rice yelled at the players.
The Trail Blazers players rushed forward, but the basketball had already been passed from the inside players to the defender's hands.
According to NBA rules, a foul in the last two minutes, if the object of the foul is not the ball holder, will be a two-free throw and one-throw technical foul. This is also a rule introduced to limit the "shark-killing tactic".
Now that the ball is in the hands of the defender, the Blazers' foul can only be committed on the Clippers defender, sending the defender to the free throw line.
The defender's free throws were reliable, and he made both free throws, widening the score gap to 4 points. This was a safe score difference, and the Blazers needed at least two rounds to catch up.
The Blazers no longer have timeouts, which means they can only serve from the backcourt, then take the ball to the frontcourt and shoot. Judging from the time left, it was impossible for them to complete two attacks.
"We won! We actually beat the Clippers!" Although the game was not over yet, the Clippers' bench celebrated in advance.
Dai Li also let out a sigh of relief.
"After using the term evenly matched, the outcome of the game is no longer under my control. The last time I used the term evenly matched was Chen Zhen's US Open match against Basel, and Chen Zhen lost in the end. But this time my luck is still there Not bad, the Clippers actually beat the Trail Blazers. I hope the luck will remain the same in the next game."
…
"The Clippers upset the Trail Blazers in three overtimes"
The next day, after people saw this headline on the news, they couldn't help but want to see what the news was about.
The Clippers are an underdog in the league, and they have just experienced the turmoil of changing owners and coaches, while the Trail Blazers are a strong team in the league, and they are also one of the best teams in terms of odds of winning the championship. In the contest between the two, the Clippers actually came back and won. Driven by curiosity, people wanted to know what happened.
Three overtime situations are rare in the NBA and may not occur once in a season. For fans who have watched the game, they may have watched three overtimes of rookies pecking each other, but the same thing is not true. When it comes to the news, it becomes a highlight.
It is not uncommon for a weak team to defeat a strong team in an upset in the NBA. The first place in the league has lost to the last place. Moreover, neither the Trail Blazers nor the Clippers are the kind of focus teams. Except for the fans of the two teams, this game is just a report in the news and does not cause much waves.
Moreover, the NBA has so many games every day. A team has to play 82 games in the regular season alone. This kind of victory or defeat in not very critical games will not be particularly memorable. Most people forget about the results in a blink of an eye after seeing the results of the game, and can't even remember the score.
But for the Clippers, this game is the team's first win after completing the transaction, and for Dai Li, this is also his first win after becoming an NBA head coach.
Ordinarily, after winning their first victory, the team should celebrate, but this is only the first of the Clippers' four away games. They will play three more away games next, so there is no time to celebrate this long-lost victory. Instead, he headed to New Orleans non-stop to prepare for an away game against the Pelicans.
New Orleans is located in Louisiana. If you open a map of the United States, some people will think that Louisiana's location is more toward the east of the United States. In fact, there are three teams in the West, the Pelicans, Grizzlies and Timberwolves. Their geographical locations are relatively east, and they are closer to most Eastern teams.
From Portland to New Orleans, it's almost like flying from the northwest of the United States to the Gulf of Mexico, and it takes a long time to get there by plane. So after the game against the Trail Blazers, the Clippers did not go back to the hotel to rest. Instead, they took a special plane to New Orleans.
The Pelicans are also a playoff-level team. In the fiercely competitive Western Conference, as long as a team can reach the playoffs, there is no underdog.
So in terms of strength, the Pelicans are much stronger than the Clippers.
Facing an opponent who is stronger than himself, Dai Li can only use "evenly matched" again.
As a result, Dai Li's luck was still very good. After three overtimes, the Clippers narrowly won again and won two consecutive games.
The Clippers then flew to Indiana to challenge the Indiana Pacers away.
The Pacers are currently ranked fifth in the Eastern Conference, with a winning rate of nearly 60%, and this Pacers have always been known for their perseverance. Although the current situation in the league is that the West is strong and the East is weak, the Pacers are not afraid to face the strong teams in the West.
In terms of strength, the Pacers are also better than the Clippers, and this time, Dai Li still used "evenly matched"
This time luck was not on Dai Li's side. After four overtimes, they finally lost to the Pacers.
For Li Dai, he achieved two wins and one loss in three games, which is an acceptable result.
Dai Li has also calculated in his mind that if the outcome is 50-50 after using "evenly matched", then the probability of winning two consecutive games is 1 in 4. This is actually a very high probability, which is equivalent to taking an exam. Multiple-choice questions, when you choose one of four, you get it right. This situation has happened to many people.
And if you win three consecutive games, the probability is one in eight, which is much lower.
What Li Dai cares about is the probability of the team winning, but what others see is the problem of overtime.
A total of 10 overtimes have been played in the last three games, and the Clippers have become the king of overtime in the eyes of fans.