After playing against the Spurs, there are 13 games left in the whole season, Su Yang decided to start a special training mode.

On the 24th game day, he arrived at the training base early and had a meeting with the scouts and the training team.

"Next until the playoffs start, our main goal is to let the players feel the playoff status in advance and reduce the frequency of their mistakes..." In the conference room, Su Yang explained his ideas in detail, hoping that the three departments would work together to formulate plans.

The so-called playoff experience is a bit metaphysical, not as clear and specific as the running tactics, and no one or institution has ever defined what it is. It’s just that every time a young team enters the playoffs, there are always media and fans who will mention it.

The Thunder are typical young teams, with the main rotation players in the team. Except for Chandler and Seifrosa, all others are playoff virgins. If they face the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, then the team's playoff experience is not as good as Kobe.

In Su Yang's view, the playoff experience generally includes three aspects: fighting against strong teams, adaptability and psychological state.

Especially in mental state, let alone players, even many coaches will be fooled by the setbacks in the playoffs.

Like the young coach Brad Stevens, who led the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Final at a young age, once led the Cavaliers where LeBron was in a big score. It was a highlight of his career, but LeBron was not impatient and gradually led the team to complete the reversal, Stevens also worriedly said: No matter what method you use, you must defend this ball for me!

As the head coach said, the players naturally collapsed on the spot, and the game situation was defeated.

Of course, there are also geniuses like Jokic who bluntly say that the playoffs are no different from the regular season, and they can still do what they say.

While thinking, Su Yang continued: "Let me give an example first, for example, let KD play for up to 46 minutes, so that he can experience overload combat, because the opponent may strictly defend other players and intend to let KD shoot more."

The Thunder's exquisite and appropriate tactics ensure regular season record, strong rotation lineup, and playoff bottom line. However, if the Thunder wants to win the championship, the key is to see whether Durant can play the upper limit, and the average playing time will inevitably increase significantly.

Durant's physical fitness itself is one of his weaknesses. He practices early and adapts early to strive for seamless connection in the playoffs.

"I suggest that the players make more fouls in the game and then experience high-intensity confrontation..." Assistant coach Snyder followed Su Yang's pace and spoke, "especially the game we played against the Lakers the day after tomorrow, which was the Western Conference Finals preview."

Su Yang nodded in agreement, and assistant coach Brooks and others then spoke up and talked about unconventional rotation and other directions.

The scouting department also made suggestions, and the supervisor Blachi suggested changing offensive and defensive strategies frequently to simulate the matchmaking of different opponents.

Some things were also done in 69 games before, but after the goal was clear, the execution became even stronger.

After confirming the plan, the training camp was announced to the Thunder players in the morning. The players expressed their fun and were willing to try it.

Especially the strategy of creating fouls, Harden emphasized: "Coach, I'm not bragging, I'm the second in the league."

Durant put his hips on his hips and gestured a big round move, laughing and said, "You finally admit that it's my number one?"

Su Yang also laughed: "James is right. You two are not as capable as Danilo Gallinari for fouls."

Durant was stunned on the spot, Harden said in confusion: "When it comes to fouls, I think I only lose to Corey? Mageti, but I didn't notice Garlinari. It seems that I have to find some time to study his foul skills. Coach, you didn't lie to me, are you?"

Su Yang spread his hands: "You will know if you go and watch the video..."

Gallinari is a real foul. Whether he breaks through the ball on the outside or catches the ball at a low post, he can rank among the top in the data statistics. He has clever methods and hidden movements. Because of his low reputation, he is often ignored by fans and the media.

However, some people have pointed out that Gallinari was once said angrily after a game: It is difficult to face Gallinari because of his superb ability to fake falls and create fouls. He has successfully deceived these referees for many years...

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the Thunder and Rockets game started, which is related to whether the Rockets can retain their hopes for the playoffs.

The Rockets made a big deal in the middle of the season, first sending McGrady to New York, and then getting Kevin Martin from the Kings.

A brief look at the Rockets' lineup is OK. I found a media outlet to whisper, and it is expected to win the championship again.

Su Yang was not polite at all and directly let the team attack with all their might around Durant, bullying Ariza in poor condition.

Since joining the Rockets, Ariza has been regarded as the boss, and often fell into a ten-game slump, and then in two or three strong strange cycles, most of the others hit the rookie wall, while Ariza has hit the boss wall, making it difficult to reasonably allocate the physical strength used for offense and defense.

After the first quarter, Durant made 5 of 6 shots, made 3 free throws and 3 assists, and made 0 turnovers and 0 fouls to score 13 points.

In addition to Durant, Ibaka also frequently bullies Hayes as he is too short, while Sefrosa bullies Martin as he is too weak. Anyway, the whole team imitates the playoff confrontation mode, catches the opponent's weakness and fights to the death, and beats the opponent to take the initiative to seek change.

After the first quarter, the Thunder team scored 39 points and entered the substitute stage. Harden and Matthews scored frequently again.

At the end of the half, the Thunder led the Rockets by 17 points, and Harden also allowed senior Kaimartin, who committed a foul, to get two fouls.

After returning from the break, the Rockets could clearly strengthen their defense against Durant. Ariza completely gave up the offense and devoted himself to intercepting and chasing Durant. He even did not hesitate to use fouls and repeatedly fought against Durant, which was extremely arrogant.

Perhaps the referees were interested in controlling the situation, and they rarely called for Ariza's actions.

Su Yang also intends to train Durant's self-regulation ability, but does not put pressure on the referee, and deliberately ignores the request for help.

After making mistakes, Durant gave up on the theory of seeking referees and also canceled seeking help from Su Yang. He began to actively call his teammates to respond every time he encountered double-teams, and tried some more dangerous passes to gradually open up the situation.

Soon, because the Rockets neglected defense against players other than Durant, the Thunder players scored one after another.

After the third quarter, the Thunder had already led the Rockets by as much as 21 points, basically setting the victory.

The Rockets insisted on playing until the middle of the fourth quarter. Seeing that there was no hope of chasing the score, Adelman took the main force early and announced his concession.

Su Yang then replaced the substitute, and the Thunder finally defeated the Rockets 123-104, completely ruining the Rockets' playoff possibility.

After the game, he attended a press conference. A reporter mentioned that the Thunder had too little experience in the playoffs and whether he was preparing.

Su Yang smiled and said, "In my understanding, the regular season is like trying to date girls. Some are easy to make appointments, while some are difficult to make appointments. However, the playoffs are dedicated to dates to specific girls, and those girls have high requirements and even deliberately make things difficult for you. The key is to make appointments with four girls at once. The difficulty is very great, and it is generally difficult for young people to handle them.
Chapter completed!