The Princeton Offense emphasizes "Off-Ball Movement," "High-Post Playmaking," and "Quick Passing."
Although Peja, Link's defensive matchup, isn't fast, his V-Cut and Back Cut, along with his ability to shoot over defenders after catching the ball, are on par with peak Klay Thompson.
"Damn it!" Link, chasing Peja's Off-Ball Movement, was caught by Divac's screen. By the time he broke free, Peja, 26cm taller, raised his hand and hit a Three-Point Shot over the slightly late Link.
2 to 6!
After the game started, Peja, under Link's defense, made 2 of 3 Three-Point Shots.
"Difficult... The Sacramento Kings' offense is currently unstoppable for the Washington Wizards," said Kenny Smith in the TNT Broadcast Booth.
Charles Barkley's spirits immediately lifted upon hearing this. Ever since kissing a donkey's behind last time, he seemed to have a revelation and an inexplicable trust in Link. He now spoke, "Mr. Kenny, the ball is round, and I think the Washington Wizards have a good chance of winning tonight."
"My dear Sir Charles, do you have any theoretical basis for that?" Kenny Smith asked.
Barkley paused. Well, his belief that the Washington Wizards could win was entirely a "man's sixth sense." However, as a retired NBA legend, Barkley couldn't very well tell the national audience, "Putting aside the facts, I believe Washington will definitely win tonight."
Barkley quickly changed the subject, telling Kenny Smith that he wanted to continue their bet. If the Washington Wizards lost tonight's Christmas Day Games, he would kiss a donkey's behind; otherwise, Kenny Smith would.
Kenny Smith looked more and more convinced that the Washington Wizards had no chance of winning tonight, and readily agreed.
Link held the ball at the top of the arc. Haywood's high screen held up Peja, who was guarding him. Facing Divac, who didn't come up in time for a hard hedge, Link didn't choose to shoot. Instead, he lowered his center of gravity, pushed off the ground, and accelerated towards the basket. Divac, at 216cm tall, was truly slow, but his positioning was decent, not letting Link get past him completely.
However, this was exactly what the Wizards wanted to see...
Link cleverly used a change of pace to pause. After Divac leaned in, he suddenly exerted force, gathered the ball, took a step, and shot a layup. "Beep!" The referee's whistle blew, calling a defensive foul on Divac.
Although Link didn't score this time, he drew Divac's first foul in less than 3 minutes of the game.
At this point, the Sacramento Kings hadn't yet noticed the Washington Wizards' offensive intention...
Soon after, in a Washington Wizards' possession, Michael Jordan on the weak side of the offense, facing Doug Christie's one-on-one defense, shook him off balance, then gave up the shooting opportunity. Instead, he drove to the basket again, met Divac's help defense, and, after a strong mid-air collision, made a layup. The ball went in, but it didn't cause a defensive foul on Divac.
Michael Jordan spread his hands, expressing dissatisfaction, but immediately transitioned back to defense.
6 to 8, the Washington Wizards were still trailing by 2 points.
Adelman, the offensive tactical genius, suddenly understood the Washington Wizards' offensive intention.
"WTF!"
"These guys... they're trying to disrupt my Princeton Offense. Vlade Divac is a crucial part of it."
"If he gets fouled out early... the tactical fulcrum of the system will be gone."
Realizing this, Adelman quickly sprang from the coach's bench, ran to the sideline, and shouted to the players on the court, "Vlade, avoid fouls, try to avoid fouls!"
Divac nodded and made an OK gesture.
The Sacramento Kings' fluid offense: Webber, 208cm tall, cut in like a small forward; Divac, holding the ball at the free-throw line, made a precise Passing. Their coordination was seamless.
"Help defense!"
"Brandon, go help!"
Link shouted loudly on the court.
After Webber received the ball outside the restricted area, Haywood and Laettner appeared in front of him. He didn't force a shot but quickly passed the ball to Divac. Link rotated to cover him, creating a mismatch, and Jordan rotated to guard Peja...
The active defensive rotation didn't allow for a major mismatch for the Sacramento Kings. The only player with a "semi-open shot" was Doug Christie, whose Three-Point Shot was also good, with a season accuracy of 38.4%...
But Divac didn't pass. Instead, he signaled his teammates to clear out; he wanted to post up Link one-on-one. In his opinion, the success rate of a big man against a smaller player was the better option.
This idea was perfectly correct, but Divac overlooked one thing: Link wasn't a small point guard.
At 25cm tall, weighing 104kg, with a wingspan of 222cm, defending Divac (216cm tall, 118kg) at the free-throw line still had a high probability of success.
"No need to come for help defense," Link said.
But as soon as he said it, Link regretted it a little. Damn it, looking at his teammates' defensive positions, they hadn't intended to help at all. Of course, this wasn't because Link had a bad character or poor relationship with his teammates; on the contrary, it was because his teammates trusted Link.
In 5v5 team training, Link often defended big men in mismatches. Link defended high-post offenses from big men very well. But if it was in the low post, especially the "deep low post," Link was almost defenseless. Even against non-dominant low-post bigs like Haywood, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Laettner, once they got to that position, Link had no way to stop them. In fact, let alone Link, if you let Tim Duncan defend Link in the deep low post, at least 3 out of 10 shots would go in.
Link was capable of defending big men in the high post and mid-low post.
Divac chose to back down hard. Link then spoke up, reminding the referee, "Referee, you need to watch carefully, backdown can't exceed 5 seconds..."
These words made the nearby referees chuckle.
"Thump!" Divac's first powerful post-up shook Link back a step. "Thump!" The second post-up, Link barely held his ground, retreating only half a step. At this point, Divac was about 1 foot from the basket, entering the mid-low post area.
This wasn't a suitable distance for a hook shot, but Divac hadn't expected Link's strength to be so exaggerated, completely comparable to a forward, no, no... even stronger than many forwards in terms of physical confrontation.
Divac stomped his right foot hard, intending to use a drop step to break through the defense. Looking at the arm about to swing, Link directly fell backward, letting out a scream...
"Ouch!"
Hmm!
That's right.
Link was faking a foul.
"Beep," the referee's whistle also sounded.