Chapter 226 Carnival Basketball
After returning from Los Angeles, the Bucks had two days to rest.
George Karl originally just wanted to analyze who would be the most difficult to play in the final stretch. Then, an assistant coach named Jim Todd reported a situation to him: "George, this situation may go against your intuition, but It’s true.”
Karl nodded: "You say."
"The more we take three-pointers, the better our performance is." Todd exaggeratedly said, "I counted the data of every game so far last season, and found that every time we made three-pointers in a single game, If we take 25 shots, we will win the game.”
This is "customized" data.
Because if you shoot accurately, you will shoot more.
In the era of big ball, accurate three-pointers can naturally defeat the game, and winning is a matter of course.
If you limit that number to 20 three-point attempts per game, it would be about the same number of three-point attempts per game the Bucks currently average (18).
But even so, the conclusion is still correct.
Even if the sample is expanded to a sample of 20 three-pointers per game, the Bucks' winning rate is still impressive.
"Jim, what do you want to say?"
Karl looked at his assistant seriously.
Todd said: "What if we increase the number of three-point attempts to 30?"
"You're crazy!"
Even Crazy Karl feels that taking 30 three-pointers per game is too crazy.
But there was an evil thought whispering in his heart: "Why don't you try? Coward! Why don't you try? So what if you fail, it's just one or two regular seasons!"
To Carl, this is really crazy.
Because when the NBA introduced the three-point line, he was working as an assistant coach under his senior brother Larry Brown. He clearly remembers that countless well-known experts in the professional basketball world believed that three-pointers would not bring any changes to the game.
Jerry Colangelo, then general manager of the Phoenix Suns, told the Associated Press in October 1979: "As a purist, I'd like to see the game stay the same. But in this case , we need to take a year to see it, but the basic structure of the game will not change, and that is the most important thing.”
One year turned into two, then three, and now it’s been 25 years and counting. For a long time, Colangelo was right. The basic structure of the game has not changed as dramatically as opponents feared. Nothing changed in 1979, 1989, or 1999.
What are the obvious changes?
This change is really easy to capture.
Just like if you watch the black and white videos of the 1960s, you can clearly distinguish the game videos of the 1980s from the players' technical use and physical fitness.
But if you put the 1979 game video and the 2003 game video together, apart from the picture quality, there won't be much difference.
This is a problem.
Since the NBA introduced the three-pointer in 1979, the game has not evolved as quickly as it did in the previous 20 years.
If Jim Todd's so-called average of 30 three-pointers per game is feasible, it will be terrible.
For Karl, this is the destruction and reshaping of the three views of basketball. Not only him, but also many coaches who have coached basketball for many years will have their views of basketball shattered.
"Just try it, it's no big deal." Carl muttered.
The Bucks' next game is at home against the Kings.
Before the game started, the players received an unusual game plan from the coaching staff: "We will continue everything as usual tonight, but we have to do one thing."
Everyone looked at Karl.
"Take 30 shots from outside the three-point line."
"!#!￥"
Hearing this request, the locker room was naturally full of howls, because this is usually only done during the All-Star Game.
For shooters, this news is exciting.
This means that their tactical status has improved tonight.
After all, if you want to shoot a three-pointer, you have to let someone with higher confidence shoot it.
The only one whose eyes lit up at this request was Yu Fei.
Although I don’t know who gave Karl the idea, and I don’t know whether increasing three-point production is effective in an era when defensive players are still allowed to take action, but this is proof of the progress of the concept.
An average of 30 three-pointers per game should be enough to touch the edge of the small ball era 20 years from now.
Yu Fei's feeling was correct.
An average of 30 three-pointers per game would be almost the second-to-last level in the NBA in 2023, but the impact on the game and the change in rhythm can be said to be earth-shaking.
Since the opponent was a team like the Kings that is not good at defense, the Bucks successfully increased their production of three-pointers even as their shooting percentage dropped. This night, the Bucks made 13 of 31 shots from the outside. Although they did not create the classic small ball scene of scoring consecutive three-pointers and taking away the ball in a wave, they made the Kings exhausted on the defensive end. Coupled with Yu Fei and others' precise control of long rebounds, the Bucks The deer finally defeated the king by relying on offensive rebounds.
Moreover, their strange style of play won "likes" from their opponents.
"I don't think their perimeter offense worked." Rick Adelman said even though he lost, "The reason we lost the game was because we couldn't control the rebounds well. This has nothing to do with their three-pointers, no matter who they were against. To put it simply, 31 three-pointers are too many. This is a sign of disrespect for the game. This kind of carnival game is not worth mentioning.”
Karl heard Adelman's feedback, especially when he called tonight's game a "carnival," which reminded him of the good old days when the NBA had just introduced the three-pointer.
He remembers that the first person to call three-pointers carnival basketball was Reed Auerbach, who had already retreated into the background.
NBA pundits are not stupid. They know that three points are more valuable than two points, and they understand in theory that the three-point line can open up the game. But no one seems to have gone as far as Carr to experiment.
The next opponent was the Golden State Warriors, another experimental subject with terrible defense.
Tonight, Ray Allen caused a heavy rain on the outside. He took care of 13 of the team's 32 three-point shots, hit 8 goals, and scored a game-high 42 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
In the rain of three-pointers caused by Ray Allen, the Warriors lost their ability to resist early and allowed themselves to be slaughtered by the Bucks, eventually losing by 34 points.
Later, the experiment fell on the Bulls and Rockets.
In the four experiments conducted by the Bucks, the Kings and Rockets are both playoff-level teams.
Against the Kings, the Bucks couldn't find the touch. Against the Rockets, Yu Fei seemed to be suffering from a disease that would kill him if he didn't have military training inside. When he saw Yao Huang, his eyes were shining, and he ignored the friendship of spiritual compatriots and continued to pick and roll and then make three-pointers from the outside.
This was the Bucks' best performance in the past four experimental games.
Yu Fei scored 35 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists against the Rockets, leading the team to victory again.
Some people began to notice something strange about the buck.
"30 three-pointers in the game?" Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy smiled grimly, "Are you kidding me?"
These four games have allowed Cal to see four different performances of "carnival basketball," but they have yet to try this style of play in front of a truly tough opponent.
Then, the Indiana Pacers came.
Tonight, Carr decided to up the ante: "I know what we've done in the last four games has been crazy, but I think it could be a little crazier!"
The players were already used to seeing Karl go crazy and just stared at him, wondering what he was going to do next.
"We should take 40 three-pointers tonight!"
At this moment, Karl's madness escalated.
40 three-pointers in a single game, in 2023, this is just the Warriors' fixed number of three-pointers per game.
But this is 2004, an era in which NBA teams are averaging less than 15 three-point attempts per game.
The Pacers were well prepared for the Bucks' carnival basketball. Rick Carlisle asked the players to reap the dividends of the era from the first second of the game.
Do you like shooting three-pointers? Then I will use force to increase the strength of your upper body and see if you can still shoot.
As a result, the Bucks not only shot, but their determination to shoot was simply terrifying.
The Pacers looked at the Bucks' three-pointers as if they were desperate, and finally shot a disastrous 11-for-40.
The Bucks were beaten by the Pacers by 27 points in an away game.
"I don't know what they want to do." Ron Artest, the Pacers' defensive gatekeeper on the wing, said, "They just keep shooting, and the results are not accurate."
Yu Fei excused his teammates: "The shots are all good shots. It's just that they didn't go in. We will shoot like this next time."
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was determined not to be arrogant about such a stubborn team. He made severe criticism of the Bucks: "In my opinion, Milwaukee's performance is just an admission that he can't play in the game." Everything we do in front of us is just a lot of mediocre long-range shots. If they're proud of a game like this, that's what I think - you're proud of your own mediocrity."
After tonight, Carl stopped the experiment.
A sample of five games is enough for him to see whether "carnival basketball" works.
Karl's conclusion is that it is effective, but it depends on fate.
They proved the convenience brought by taking a large number of three-pointers, and the explosion against the Warriors proved that the explosive scoring power of three-pointers can kill the game in a short period of time. The failure against the Pacers just proved the limitations of the three-pointer in contemporary rules.
As long as defenders can still get their hands on them, there is no guarantee for a pure shooting team.
Therefore, when facing the top teams in the East such as the Pistons and Pacers, three-pointers are more suitable as an assist for core players such as Yu Fei.
"But, if we use it against the Lakers, I think it will be very useful."
This is what Yu Fei said after Karl stopped the experiment.
A bright light seemed to flash across Karl's hairline. He did not expect that Yu Fei was still thinking about the Lakers in this matter, so he laughed out loud: "You are right, Frye!"
(End of chapter)