This substitution is very bold and quite confusing. Replacing one of the Twin Towers with the veteran Green?
Because Bird realized that Rick Smits was specifically targeting Sabonis.
Mobilizing Sabonis, forcing Gan Guoyang to take on some center responsibilities, but ultimately passing to avoid Gan Guoyang.
The Pacers came prepared. Adelman and the Pacers’ assistant coaching team are very familiar with the Trail Blazers’ Twin Towers’ playstyle.
So Bird immediately made adjustments, putting Gan Guoyang back in the center position and placing the veteran Green at the power forward position to block the Pacers’ inside-outside connection.
The Trail Blazers’ previous consecutive victories were led by Carl, who practically won lying down.
After Bird returned, some games were won with ease, while some wouldn’t have been won without Bird’s timely adjustments.
Bird’s greatest traits as a head coach are his ability to make on-the-fly adjustments and his forward-thinking approach, as he not only focuses on the current battle but also plans the team’s strategy from an overall perspective.
Many coaches can only possess one or the other; some are strong on the spot but lack planning abilities, taking it one step at a time. The games might go back and forth impressively in the first three quarters, but as the game wraps up, they encounter issues like stamina, tactics, touch, or fouls due to a lack of groundwork, leading to a collapse.
Others have strong planning and preparation skills but are weak on the spot, executing inflexibly and unable to handle sudden changes on the court, getting caught off guard with any unexpected situation, and easily crashing out in critical games.
Bird, as one of the smartest basketball minds on the planet, combines both aspects seamlessly.
With a timeout’s temporary adjustment, he not only sees the current situation but also foresees the third and fourth quarters.
He does not allow the Pacers’ offense to run too smoothly or their collaboration to be too cohesive, hence the need to disrupt their rhythm unexpectedly.
Sure enough, after the timeout ended, the Trail Blazers’ temporary lineup adjustment made the Pacers quite uncomfortable.
Gan Guoyang first received the ball in the low post, turned around, and scored, drawing a foul on Schmitz, and made the free throw.
Then Gan Guoyang returned to the center position, frontally denying Schmitz the ball, and subsequently switched to Dale Davis.
Davis passed out from the inside, got intercepted by AC Green, and the Trail Blazers launched a fast break. Kobe led the charge, received the ball, and attacked the basket for a dunk!
The Pacers, being an older team, found it hard to stop Kobe’s onslaught during the fast break.
Returning to the defensive end, Kobe did not guard Miller but took on Mark Jackson, leaving Miller to Brellock.
Last season, Kobe’s defense against Miller wasn’t very effective, as he often struggled against tactical movement experts.
Kobe likes to defend tenaciously, but Miller’s off-ball movement style inherently makes him fearless of such entanglements.
Moreover, Kobe has a noticeable bad habit of "watching the ball, not the man," which gets amplified against tactical shooting guards.
Even though Gan Guoyang has scolded this habit many times in games and training, Kobe finds it hard to change, as lacking college experience means he’s a bit short on understanding.
Therefore, Bird simply had Kobe guard the ball-handler and let the defensively experienced Brellock mark Miller.
This tactic proved very effective; although Brellock is shorter, speed in defending off-ball movement is more crucial than height.
The Pacers’ offense stalled, and finally, Mario Ely’s forced shot missed, with Gan Guoyang securing the defensive rebound.
It’s another fast break by Kobe, but this time the Pacers’ transition defense was timely, giving Kobe no opportunity for a direct attack on the basket, so he passed the ball to the middle to Gan Guoyang.
Gan Guoyang received the ball like a truck and charged into the basket, with Rick Schmitz hanging on him, finishing the layup and drawing another foul from Schmitz.
The Pacers had committed quite a few fouls early on, and Adelman couldn’t sit still as the momentum was swiftly being taken by the Trail Blazers.
After Gan Guoyang made his free throw, Adelman called a timeout, substituting Antonio Davis for Rick Smits.
Adelman also brought in the bench’s small forward Jalen Rose, patting Rose on the shoulder and said, "You go match up with Kobe, give him some pressure."
Adelman already noticed that with Kobe on the court, the Trail Blazers’ backcourt became very active, with each score having something to do with him.
It was necessary to have a young player confront Kobe, apply some pressure, and control the Trail Blazers’ backcourt.
Jalen Rose nodded, ready to take the court.