Chapter 349 Lucky or unlucky?
The referee obviously did not intend to blow the home whistle today. The Knicks have already taken the lead 3:1. Letting them win one game will have a great impact on the league's broadcast plan. With the huge global influence of the two teams, as long as they cannot play seven games, the league will suffer a considerable loss in revenue. Therefore, today the referee will not blow the away whistle at home and today is considered to be a righteous man.
James' incoherent "crab step" this time was naturally ignored by the referee, and the Heat players' judgment standards for this game were instantly counted. Wade then used the increasingly rare steps to pass Iguodala and scored a goal.
Wu Huang liked to use European steps in the first few games. In fact, Wade's mysterious step was European steps, but he only made some changes based on his own physical conditions.
Wade's advantage lies in his excellent starting speed, which is the strongest first-step starting speed in the past few years by fans, so his success rate of overtaking the first person is quite high. Generally, when the first defensive teammate is broken by him, Wade will face a forward or inside line who is taller but has slower footsteps. At this time, he can use his flexible footsteps and super change ability to make the second and even the third defensive players "can't find North", and complete wonderful scores like a butterfly through a flower. When he finally makes a layup, he throws himself as an explosive bag and turns the top into a gyro.
It is not surprising that James made continuous breakthroughs on the offensive end. He is now at the peak and can charge to the basket continuously, but Wade also plays like this, so he is really desperate. The Flash has become more and more interested in letting James attract on the strong side, and he is waiting for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack or 1v1 on the weak side, which can reduce the loss of his knees.
In addition to the player's playing style, some of the factors lie in luck. They rely on breakthroughs to score sooner or later. Ross is somewhat similar to Wade when he was young, but the Flash is not bad, so he can maintain a relatively healthy body state until he is 30 years old. However, if Ross is not lucky, a serious injury may make him fade into an ordinary player.
"Are you ready to complete the last game of your career?" Wu Huang still had a very ungrateful look after the words he said. James and Wade played very proactively in the first five minutes of the game, and the referee also took good care of them. This made the Knicks' defense a little unbearable, and he was accidentally lagging behind by as much as 7 points.
In the first quarter, 7 minutes and 26 seconds, the score was 13:6. Wade had just completed a change of direction and dodged Iguodala and committed a foul at the basket. This was the latter's second foul, and D'Antoni had to replace him.
Monroe was quite a bit self-blame. O'Neal had already temporarily rested because of two fouls a minute ago. He was beaten into two fouls less than a minute after he came back, which made the Knicks' inside line start to fall into a tense situation of using people.
O'Neal and Monroe were both depressed on the defensive end today. The former was because of their average condition and only got one rebound in more than four minutes. Monroe got two fouls in less than one minute. And not only were their average condition, Garlinari missed three shots in less than five minutes, two of which were almost open three-point shots.
If you observe carefully, you can easily find that the Italian seems to have encountered some problems with his physical strength. The three balls he missed were all hit at the front of the basket, which is a reflection of insufficient shooting strength, and his movements on the defensive end were not active enough, and his defense was always slow.
The Heat's defense today was not good, and it was even worse than the previous games. They obviously focused on offense, and the assisted defense speed slowed down. They missed many shooting opportunities for the Knicks players in just five minutes, but the Knicks players did not seize the opportunity to hit the ball, so they could only blame themselves for not shooting well.
The commentators think this is normal. No matter how the Knicks adjust, they rely on shooting. The shooting percentage of their three games they won in a row is still high. This is a bit abnormal in itself. Even according to the law of "conservation of character", the Knicks should have a bad touch in one game, otherwise how can you let other teams play?
The Knicks had called a timeout before, and there would be no official timeout in this quarter. Emperor Wu knew that unless the Heat made an attack wave, D'Anthony would not call a timeout again in a short period of time. This is the time when his commander on the field needs to play a role.
Today, the Knicks players' outside shooting felt bad, and the Heat's defense began to shrink inward, and at the same time, they transferred more troops to Wu Huang. This is a bad signal for him. The top priority now is to allow his teammates to score goals, otherwise the defensive pressure he faces will become greater and greater.
The Heat have been playing in the second and third defensive positions these days, and the 212 positions used in the first two games have been no longer seen. Spoelstra hopes to take off the line, that is, to place more people in the two low-post areas to help Bosh guard the penalty area. Although the defense in the middle and high positions seems weak, Wade and James will actually assist in this area in time. With their super athletic ability, the Heat's defense in the middle will not be as weak as they imagined.
The Knicks also played a 2-3 high-post tactic on the offensive end. After O'Neal got out, they no longer had tall and low-post players on the court. The five on the court became: Wu Huang, Tony Allen, Iguodala, Reggie Evans, and S.
Some fans often feel strange in the regular season. Why are there not many teams as useful as Evans, who don’t have to give him a high salary, and such players have to change teams almost a year? The reason is that these players don’t play much tactical role in the offensive end, and their functions are too single.
Just like now, no matter what tactics Wu Huang wants to play, Evans can only be used as a cover point, and the other functions are gone, which makes the Knicks passive no matter what tactics he plays. After all, if one tactical point is missing, it will lose more than one or two changes. They cannot fight the subsequent routines of many tactics. This is what makes the coach and the initiator of Wu Huang the most unhappy.
The 2-3 high-position tactic is that when the team does not have a big low-post player, or a low-post player is a good pitcher, this position can provide space for empty cuts at the bottom line and wing-holding cutting. In other words, Wu Huang hopes that Allen and Iguodala, including Xiao Si, can hit the basket, and then choose to pass or attack by himself when the opportunity is to choose whether to attack. At this time, if Evans has a certain ability to shoot mid-range shots or cut off the ball, the Knicks will have more changes on the offensive end. But now the Heat players can completely let Evans go to double-team him, which makes Wu Huang feel very uncomfortable, and his offensive space will be greatly compressed.
Monroe was a little guilty on the court. If he hadn't fouled too quickly, the Knicks would not have been so passive on the offensive end.
Wu Huang faced Chamos and Wade's double-team, and after a moment of entanglement, he could only choose to give the ball to his teammates. Tony Allen received the ball and rushed straight to the basket, but his final layup missed due to interference from Haslem.
Bosh immediately passed the ball and launched a fast break when he got the rebound. Today, the Heat paid special attention to the rapid attack after the offense and defense conversion. James rushed to the frontcourt with one dragon and forced Iguodala to advance the ball. This was another perfect reflection of his personal ability.
The referee's whistle rang immediately, and Iguodala made a defensive foul, which was a 2+1.
After landing, James immediately raised his chest and yelled. After scoring this goal, he had already scored 7 points, and the free throws were 8 points. Although most of the scores today were close shots, there was no doubt that James was in good condition.
The Big Three gathered together to celebrate, and the Knicks players were embarrassed because Iguodala also committed two fouls. They did have too many fouls in this quarter. Although this was related to the referee's whistle being blown relatively tightly, most fouls were still fine. The Heat's way of playing with their bodies to open the way finally gave themselves a glimmer of hope.
"It doesn't matter, I have a way!" Emperor Wu immediately cheered up beside his teammates. Although his words were pure nonsense, because he had no choice at all, he had to let go of the big talk first, and then he was ready to throw a few tricks. This is his way.
After Iguodala left the court, the Knicks' tactical execution ability would be reduced by another level, and it would not have a good effect when playing and cooperating. Wu Huang was already planning to launch his own personal offense. He could score a goal later. He could pretend to be the only one who didn't work. If he didn't work, it would be better than doing nothing.
James made a free throw, and the score gap reached double digits.
The booed New York fans in Madison Garden, and countless slogans with orangutan images and insulting words were raised, which meant that New York fans were beginning to be nervous, so they chose to attack the opponents who played their best.
I have to say that this is the first time the Heat has had such a good start except for the first game. Some commentators have joked that the Heat's combat effectiveness in the away game is actually higher than that of the home game. This is not good news for the Knicks, because they have more home games!
The Knicks' offensive formation then became a 1-4 low post, which is obviously the tactical move of the star's singles.
The Heat immediately noticed Wu Huang's idea and immediately arranged a lot of defense in the middle lane. Wade and Chamos rushed to the high position to double-team, which was a tit-for-tat tactic for high position regional joint defense.
The Heat's transformation of the formation was extremely fast, which was obvious that they were prepared for Wu Huang's personal attack. They took the risk of letting go of the four offensive players who were off the line, and chose to grab the ball as soon as possible to intercept Wu Huang's passing route, and at the same time, they took double-teams against him personally.
Emperor Wu could see that the biggest loophole in the Heat's defense was at the bottom line. Four people were released in an instant. As long as he could pass the ball, the Heat could only watch the opponent shoot at close range, but the premise was that he could pass the ball over.
"I'm going to shoot in a flash, no matter how you defend!" The Heat were prepared. Wu Huang knew that as long as the two men completed the double-team and the other three were pressed up, he would have no chance. It was unreliable to choose a pass at this moment. It was too difficult for his pass to break through the three people in the middle. Once the pass was 80% a mistake, the opponent turned his head and launched a fast attack, and the situation was to play less. At that time, the score difference was continued to widen. The blow to his morale would be devastating.
So shooting immediately is obviously a better choice. At this moment, all the teammates at the basket mean that the Knicks are more convenient for rebounding. Wu Huang didn't have any burden on the shot. He rushed to take the double-team and shot back and forth...
With a "bang", Emperor Wu guessed that his shot would miss, but he didn't expect that his teammates would not be able to grab the rebound!?
James and Evans collided with each other. The two were similar in size, but in terms of core strength, James must be stronger. Evans was knocked and turned to the side, and the basketball naturally fell into the hands of the gorilla.
Wade was already rushing towards the frontcourt, and the Heat made a counterattack again, and James directly assisted Wade to complete the layup.
The score was 19:6. The Knicks had been unable to score for several minutes, and they were about to be hit and counterattacked as soon as they missed the shot. They were 13 points behind in a blink of an eye.
D'Antoni asked for a timeout again. If this continues, the score will be defeated soon. The Knicks' performance proves to people that how good their defense is is, it is calculated based on the offense. When their offense is smooth, their defense can also benefit from it and be above the passing line. On the contrary, even the most basic defensive requirements are difficult to meet, and it is basically the ending of a full-scale collapse.
"We must first re-crush the offense!" Xiao Wangzi's words revealed that he knew the weaknesses of his team best. He knew better than anyone else that they would not solve the offensive problems first, so the Knicks must first find their offensive rhythm. Their offense and defense actually rely heavily on "rhythm".
"Protect the rebounds and make sure to increase the speed, pass quickly, and don't hesitate to have a chance to shoot. Get back our offensive rhythm first." D'Antoni's timeout is to relax and breathe. As long as they calm down, they should know how to play.
The Knicks' lineup became: Wu Huang, Tony Allen, Danny Green, Radmanovich, and Stoudemire.
The ski man rarely gets a chance to play in the Knicks this season. I don’t know if he was hit by the Lakers’ huge fine of $500,000. Since then, the Serbian master pitcher has taken a very high slope downhill and is basically in a semi-retired state after coming to the Knicks.
This Serbian sharpshooter still has good shooting accuracy, but his athletic ability has declined significantly, and he has basically only the offensive method of three-pointers. The defensive end is even softer, making even the beard who doesn't care much about defense and is even more unwilling to use him.
It was a last resort to Radmanovic today. Monroe and O'Neal both had two fouls. Evans and Collins, an inside line with an offensive ability that was basically zero, was useless when the team needed to score, so this white big man with accurate three-pointers was thrown up like a sham.
But don't look down on Radmanovic. After all, he was a level of being able to scare the defender and his teammates when dunking. Some Lakers fans even added him to the list of the top three athletic talents of the Lakers back then. Although this sounds a bit incredible, it is enough to prove that this softie was not that soft back then.
The Heat regarded Radmanovic as Gallinari to defend, but ignored that the old guy had rich experience and was better in positioning than the Italians. So after Wu Huang picked and rolled with Xiao Si, he found out from the corner of his eyes that Radmanovic had actually run out of the weak side. He immediately shook his wrist and subconsciously threw the ball over.
Although Radmanovic's training attitude is average, he knows the Knicks' system. He moved to the weak side of the ball, but the Heat players chose to retract the inside double-team. So the Serbian got a shooting opportunity after his first attack after he came on the court. The basketball drew a high arc and fell into the net with hollows!
"Awesome!" When Wu Huang saw this soft-boy teammate coming up, he threw a three-pointer, and immediately stepped forward and slapped hard with Radmanovic. The Knicks needed such a score now.
The live broadcast quickly split a camera and found several Serbia flags floating alone in Madison Garden. In fact, this is difficult for the camera crew. Since Radmanovic only appeared in a few garbage time in the playoffs, there were not many Serbian fans watching the game at the scene, and there were even fewer fans holding the national flag.
Radmanovic also thinks he is quite awesome. Most confident people think they are no worse than others. Although Garinari is a few streets better than him now, the Serbians just think that their running position is better than him and their three-pointers are also stable than him. These two points are the only ones he can compare with Garinari now.
However, Wu Huang now needs such a teammate. He originally planned to attack by himself, but after Radmanovic came on the court, he could always see this guy having a shot on the weak side. As a point guard, he certainly had to give priority to passing the ball at this time.
Spoelstra hurriedly requested a timeout after the man made the second three-pointer in the ski man. The Knicks had also made many three-point shooting opportunities before, but the player's shooting percentage was extremely poor, only 0 of 5 shots. Now Radmanovic's feel is very good at first glance, and he can no longer easily miss the chance to shoot three-pointers for the Knicks.
D'Antoni knew why Garlinari, Iguodala and Xiaos were in poor form today, and 80% of them had physical problems, including Wu Huang because he made fewer shots today, otherwise he would not have a good shooting feel.
After the 3-1 lead in the series, the tense string of the Knicks players relaxed a little, and physical fatigue would appear. It is normal for the Heat to have a brief slip of their state. Although the Heat didn't seem to have any impact today, it was because they were forced to a dead end. This game showed a stubborn attitude. If the Knicks could lead in the first half, the Heat's condition in the second half would be much worse than the current Knicks.
Radmanovic is the new force of the Knicks. This guy has never had a chance to play, so there is naturally no problem with his physical strength. Including Danny Green, after Tony Allen came, there is not much playing time this season. At this moment, these two people are in very good physical condition.
After the game started again, Danny Green indeed hit a three-pointer for the Knicks at the bottom corner three-point line. After the Knicks' three-point firepower became terrifying, making three consecutive three-pointers to hit a 9:2 attack wave, quickly rewriting the score to 15:21, and the score difference was narrowed to 6 points.
"Your luck is so bad. Someone of us stood up again. I was so scared that I thought I was going to lose today!" Wu Huang faced Wade after being misaligned on the defensive end, and threw the trash talk without saying a word.
Wade did not have the time to respond to him. He said in his heart, "You have to lose now, too", and then accelerated to break through to the inside...
Wu Huang was far away from a big step, and saw this and hurriedly moved and blocked. His footsteps were at this time. It was already difficult for Wade to break through him now. Regardless of the first step speed or the subsequent change of direction, Wade was not as sharp as his peak period three years ago. Compared with Ross' change of direction, it was almost half a level worse than that of Ross. Although it was difficult for Wu Huang to defend, at least Wade was no longer an unsolvable player.
In this goal, Wade could only force Wu Huang to forcefully push away the ball with his body, but in order to avoid Xiao Si's block, he adjusted the arc and failed to hit it. Wu Huang got the rebound nearby and launched a quick counterattack. This move is also their best offensive method.
"Damn it, I should have scored a few points!" Wu Huang had no chance to take another shot except for two points at the opening game. He had already felt hungry and wanted to score two more points. But when he finally threw away Chamos and was about to make a layup, an alert sounded in his heart, and a dangerous aura was sensed on the back of his head.
Xiao Si was about to remind James to keep chasing him from behind, but Wu Huang jumped up like a long eye and passed the basketball to the diagonal back. There was Tony Allen, who also kept up with the fast attack. The latter easily dunked with both hands against Kong Lan, and the Knicks scored two more points.
"How did you see this?" Xiao Si and James, who had been running wildly to chase him, had a question in his mind. How did he notice the danger when Wu Huang didn't look back on this ball?
"Of course it's based on induction." After completing the assist, Wu Huang also looked up at the big screen on the scene. He was very glad that he had made the right choice just now, otherwise he would have been chased by the gorillas from behind. Well, this guy often does this kind of thing, but what makes Wu Huang a little embarrassed is that although he has already scored 5 assists in the first quarter, the score is still only two points, which is not his style.
However, Wu Huang seemed to have no chance to score in the first quarter. A minute later, his layup had already hit, but the referee was punished by the opponent for a foul first. The Knicks only got one frontcourt ball. The Heat did a good job in controlling the foul today, and this was just his fourth foul.
When the game came to the last attack in the first quarter, Wu Huang's breakthrough had already escaped the double defense of Bibby and Wade, but his final shot was still lacking a little luck, and he once again missed the score. This time was also the last attack of the two teams in the first half. Wu Huang made a total of 4 shots in the first quarter, but he only scored one goal. However, his assists were too many to surprise him and 7 assists in a single quarter. This data directly broke the previous record of 5 assists in a single quarter. Of course, the record he broke was in the playoffs. Wu Huang also had a career record of 8 and 9 assists in a single quarter in the regular season and the All-Star Game.
The score was 24:29, the Knicks were 5 points behind in the first quarter, but they threw 5 three-pointers in the second half of the first quarter, even Wu Huang found it incredible, because these five three-pointers were actually contributed by Radmanovic and Danny Green, and no one else had a record of hitting three-pointers, including himself. This means that the Knicks were all pointing at these two marginal substitutes and the patron saint of the water dispenser to score. I don’t know if they should say that their main players are too useless today, but they should laugh at the Heat’s luck for being too bad. They can always catch up with the Knicks and someone standing up.
Wu Huang scored 2 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists in the first quarter, with a perfect triple-double rhythm, Radmanovic scored 9 points and 1 rebound, Danny Green scored 6 points and 1 rebound, Sergei scored 4 points and 2 rebounds, and Tony Allen scored 4 points.
But no matter whether it is the main waste or the substitute, the Knicks are still in a state of multi-point scoring today. Wu Huang, the scoring king, only scored 2 points, and Xiao Si only had 4 points. The Knicks were about to laugh if they didn't lose by double digits.
Miami is still responsible for carrying the flag, and the others are responsible for watching the show. James scored the highest 14 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in the first quarter, Wade scored 8 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Bosh scored 4 points and 4 rebounds, and the three giants teamed up to score 26 points, but the others only scored a pitiful 3 points.
Chapter completed!