NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

Fortunately, although there were exceptions, and although the Cavaliers' Pavlovic and Zydrunas Ilgauskas found West several times when they were double-teamed and successfully assisted him to score, these were still low-probability events.

When Lin Tian helps defend, he also pays attention to the angle and timing, and won't really give West that much space and angle to receive the ball.

不然的话，韦斯特这会儿绝对不是3投3中，而是得7-8投中个6-7个了。

Lin Tian's help defense played a crucial role in cutting off and blocking the Cavaliers' offense!

Otherwise, the Cavaliers wouldn't have had all the players except Wade and West acting as undercover agents.

But of course, even with West's explosive performance and Wade maintaining an extremely high level of play, they still fell behind by a considerable margin in the first quarter.

There's no way around it; when the Knicks start playing defense and the whole team is on fire offensively, there's really no one who can withstand their firepower.

Even if there were, it would definitely not be enough to score 26 points in a single quarter!

In this quarter, the Knicks' top scorer was Stoudemire, who was relentlessly dominating Gasol. Tonight, he even threw away his mid-range shooting skills, just driving and shoving his way in, completely dominating Gasol!

I'm just bullying you today, so what?
小斯第一节比赛是出手8次，命中6球，同时在罚球线上还5罚4中，单节就拿下了18分4篮板的漂亮数据！
Meanwhile, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Pau Gasol, and substitute Gooden each committed a foul on him. Tonight, Stoudemire was truly unstoppable!
While Stoudemire was on a scoring spree, Lin Tian and Anthony both reduced their shot attempts and fed him the ball, trying to make Stoudemire more comfortable.

这一节，林天是5投3中拿下7分，安东尼2投1中只拿到2分，奥库面对防不出来的大Z也是命中一个3分一个中距离拿到5分。

With contributions from Wallace and others, the Knicks scored 39 points in the first quarter!
They entered the second quarter with a 13-point lead over the Cavaliers.

It looks like this match is about to be decided outright.

But at the start of the second quarter, the Cavaliers launched a counterattack!
First up is Wade, the guy who played the entire first quarter and continued to play in the second. Clearly, the entire Cavaliers team knew that if they were down by 13 points against the Knicks and still let their starters rest, they would not be getting any breathing room.

Instead, they were trailing by more than 20 points!

The Knicks' firepower is truly terrifying.

Therefore, after considering the players' poor performance and the team's deficit, Cavaliers head coach Brown dared not let Wade rest.

West also didn't rest. These two guys, who were in the best form in the first quarter, continued to play in the second quarter!
Joining them on stage were Guden, Valejo, and Szczebiyak.

This season, Szczerbiak was essentially traded away by the Timberwolves as a liability. He had been plagued by injuries since last season, and while he was unable to fully recover, his physical condition and shooting accuracy had declined significantly.

In addition to his annual salary of over $1400 million, the Timberwolves traded him to Cleveland for almost nothing before this year's trade deadline, all in order to get rid of his exorbitant salary.

After joining the Cavaliers, Szczerbiak spent nearly half his time recovering from injury, only returning to play just before the playoffs. However, his performance had plummeted. Initially, Brown wanted to start him, but after two games, he decisively abandoned the idea.

Let him stay on the bench!
If the shot is accurate, it's a huge win; if it's inaccurate, he can just sit out and rest, so it's not a loss. After all, the team didn't pay any price to bring him in, right?
As for the Knicks, they maintained their rotation habits from the playoffs, with Lin Tian and Okur resting after playing the entire first quarter, while Wallace, Stoudemire, Anthony, Smith, and Nate played.

At the start of the second quarter, both sides basically played in the same rhythm as the first quarter. The only difference was that the Knicks' main offensive focus was changed from Stoudemire to Anthony.

After all, Gasol was not available, and the Cavaliers had Szczerbiak, who was seriously injured and was white, guarding Anthony.

So what is Anthony still hesitating about?
If Anthony doesn't quickly replicate Stoudemire's ferocity from the first quarter and bully this kid properly, how will he ever be able to hold his own?
So in the second quarter, the victim changed from Gasol to Szczerbiak. Anthony could really do whatever he wanted with him, it was so easy.

Of course, there was also good news for the Cavaliers: Gasol was truly helpless in the first quarter, but Szczerbiak dared to fight back.

This guy, who has played in the NBA Finals and was even the Timberwolves' number one offensive weapon for the past two years, has seen a lot and his skills are really tough!
He's just been sidelined by injuries and can't beat Anthony anymore, but he's not afraid at all!
At the same time, Szczerbiak knew what his task was when he came on the court: if he couldn't defend, he had to make up for it on the offensive end by hitting more shots.

Otherwise, if he really can't defend and can't make the shots, then Szczerbiak should really consider retiring.

In particular, Szczerbiak knew that his chances were limited and that Brown didn't have much patience for him. He had to demonstrate his value within a limited time, or he might be completely abandoned by Brown and directly eliminated.

Therefore, Szczerbiak, who is well aware of his current situation, will try to shoot as soon as the ball comes into his hands. He will only pass the ball out if he really can't shoot.

At the same time, he didn't even think about dribbling; he knew all too well the condition of his knees.

Breakthrough? His current breakthrough speed might not even be as fast as Big Z! It's best for him to just catch the ball and shoot.

Thus, a ruthless, tough, and ball-repellent striker was born.

As for the effect?

Both the Cavaliers and Szczerbiak had good luck tonight.

In the first minute of the second quarter, Szczerbiak made both of his two three-point attempts! Then, noticing that his teammate was in good form, Wade started feeding Szczerbiak the ball repeatedly.

Although Wallace's defense against him was significantly upgraded, preventing him from getting more comfortable shooting opportunities, it was Wallace's threat on the perimeter that changed the Knicks' defense, making Wade's drives to the basket much easier.

Then, three minutes into the second quarter, Szczerbiak finally made a decisive three-pointer over Wallace, hitting his third three-pointer of the night!
Even though Anthony was playing very well for a period of time, the Cavaliers quickly caught up with the score despite him scoring 9 consecutive points and Wade making several breakthroughs.

40: 47!

In just 3 minutes, the Cavaliers had a hot streak and outscored the Knicks 14-8!

The gap between the two sides has narrowed to 7 points.

Just after Szczerbiak hit his third three-pointer, Don Nelson quickly made substitutions, bringing Lin Tian and Okur onto the court.

He wouldn't be arrogant in this kind of match, and he wouldn't just watch his opponent get into a scoring frenzy while Lin Tian sat on the sidelines to rest.

The playoffs are definitely different!

The Cavaliers are clearly quite satisfied with their players' current performance, so they haven't made any changes.

As a result, the situation between the two sides changed once again after Lin Tian entered the game!

However, it's a change that's more beneficial to the Cavaliers.

The change came from Stoudemire.

Lin Tian did not rush to make a move in the first round after entering the arena.

Lin Tian immediately found Stoudemire through a pick-and-roll, wanting him to try another shot, since attacking the basket is always the most efficient way to finish.

But Stoudemire was clearly too excited. This time, after getting the ball, he went straight up for a strong drive, but he forgot that the person guarding him was not Gasol, but Varejao!
Varejao timed his charge perfectly, planted his feet firmly in time, and the instant the two collided, Varejao was struck like a rocket. Without even a scream, he fell backward and crashed heavily onto the floor.

"Offensive foul! Offensive foul!" The referee blew his whistle quickly and gave the verdict.

Stoudemire stared at the referee with wide eyes, but he knew the referee couldn't change the call. To avoid a technical foul, he quickly threw the ball to the floor and turned to join the defense.

"Calm down, Amare," Lin Tian warned. "That guy can even perform with his body hair. He could collapse on the floor at any moment. Be careful when fighting him!"

"Don't worry, boss! I'm calm. I'll save my impulsive side for Gasol!" Stoudemire was calm and composed at this moment, not in a hurry at all. It was just an offensive foul, nothing serious.

But before he could finish speaking, Varejao was already beside him again, and the two quickly collided.

The collision was extremely minor. Just how minor?

Stoudemire didn't even notice that he had collided with Varejao; he wasn't even prepared to box out for defense.

Then?

"FUXX!" Valeciah screamed, and then, with a force that seemed to come from nowhere, he spun 360 degrees on the spot before crashing to the ground once again!

After falling to the ground, the guy didn't get up; instead, he clutched his chest and screamed in pain.

This time, the referee didn't hesitate, and the whistle blew quickly. "Pushing foul! Cavaliers inbound the ball!"

The referees did not see Stoudemire push Varejao, nor did they see Stoudemire make any move.

But let's analyze it a little: Stoudemire has a fiery temper. He bullied Gasol to death in the first quarter and was very excited. Now that he has just suffered a loss, he is full of anger. He's a guy who is both excited and angry, so it's perfectly normal for him to push and pinch him at this time!
That makes perfect sense!
Even the referees instantly deduced that the impact was definitely not significant; Varejao's fall was 3% genuine and 7% feigned!
Even if it's only 3%, after falling like that, shouldn't it be considered a foul?

The referees have overestimated Varejao as much as possible, thinking he's 30% genuine and 70% acting.

But they never imagined that this guy was 0% genuine and 10% acting.

This time, Stoudemire really didn't touch him.

Just a moment ago, Little S was quite calm, but now he's really in trouble.

Exploded.

That offensive foul just now—at least he actually charged forward and collided head-on with Varejao, it was a genuine offensive foul, so he has nothing to say about it.

But this time, my buddy is really wronged!

It really hasn't been moved!

"I didn't touch him! I fucking didn't even touch a hair on that bastard's body!"

“Look at me! Look at me, you bastards! Are you blind?! You know you misjudged, right?! Look at me and tell me how much money you took, and I'll give you double! I didn't touch him! I didn't!”

The referee completely ignored Stoudemire's frantic yelling and cursing, neither engaging with him nor confronting him, but simply turned and walked away as if nothing had happened.

This is actually giving him face.

In Madison Square Garden, if it were Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Stoudemire would definitely get a technical foul to show him the authority of the referee!
"Enough, Amar'e!" Lin Tian grabbed Stoudemire and said, "The ruling can't be changed, that's a fact. If you keep yelling, you'll get nothing but a technical foul."

"Play well, just hit the ball back next time! He can't keep falling down like that, the referee will notice him, the referee will target him."

“Dragging can’t work forever. As long as you stay calm, he can’t do anything about it.”

"I understand." After taking a deep breath, Xiao Si lowered his head and strode towards the front of the field. "I will avenge myself!"

"What revenge are you talking about?" Lin Qi was so angry he almost kicked him. "Revenge next time, on defense! After you committed a pushing foul, how did you even get possession of the ball?"

"I forgot, I forgot." Stoudemire finally calmed down this time, awkwardly scratched his head, and then slunk back to the basket to guard Varejao.

This time, his actions were much bolder.

He knew that the referee wouldn't call three physical fouls on him in one minute. As long as he wasn't too obvious, even if Varejao lay down on the ground and slid 10 meters away, the referee wouldn't easily blow the whistle.

Varejao's credibility is almost exhausted. The referees will definitely pay close attention to Varejao and his movements to see if he was fouled by Stoudemire. After all, they also need to maintain balance!
You can't just give the Knicks' starters three fouls in a row in their home arena, can you? The New York fans would be furious!

Stoudemire also knew that Varejao himself would definitely not play this trick again, at least not in the short term.

He needs to slow down; he needs to wait until the referee has gradually forgotten about the incident and stopped focusing on him before making this move.

Ultimately, are unorthodox methods useful on the field? Absolutely!
But can you keep relying on unorthodox methods to play basketball? Of course not!

This is not just an art on the field, but also an art of standards and officiating.

Although no one says it out loud, every experienced player and coach understands it!
Everyone has studied the concept of scale.

Although Stoudemire was more aggressive and unrestrained in this play, it had little impact on the Cavaliers.

After all, Varejao's scoring methods are limited to direct dunks and rebounds followed by putbacks; he is practically not part of the team's offensive system.

You use tough defense to prevent him from receiving the ball and to stop him from participating in the attack?

It doesn't matter, Varejao doesn't do this kind of thing anyway, it's not within his job scope.

Whether you manage him or not, he only scores 3-5 points per game.

This time, Wade forced his way through, then suddenly stopped and turned around in the mid-range, making a signature bank shot that went in!
This guy is actually not good at mid-range or long-range shooting at all; most of his shots come from under the basket and around the three-second area.

But it's precisely this one move – a sudden stop, turn, and bank shot after a breakthrough – that has made him quite effective in the last two years.

What's even more amazing is that in another world, Wade's move was powerful for only a few years. Then, after the Big Three came together in 11, the move almost disappeared, and his shooting level completely deteriorated to an unremarkable level.

To this, Lin Tian could only say it was amazing.

As Wade continued to lead the team to narrow the gap, Lin Tian dribbled the ball to the frontcourt once again. This time, he chose to attack personally, using two crossovers to shake off West, and then instantly accelerated to the basket, scoring 2 points against Zydrunas Ilgauskas. This relieved the team's scoring drought in the previous few possessions.

Before Lin Tian could even organize his teammates to return to defense and get them to hold the line for two rounds to widen the score gap again, another unexpected event occurred.

It's still Stoudemire and Varejao!

But this time, Varejao wasn't acting!
The referee's whistle blared wildly. He rushed to the scene of the incident, which was the edge of the three-second zone. While separating the heavy-handed players to stabilize the situation, he also urged the team doctor to rush onto the court to check the injuries.

The injured person was Valejo.

This guy was now covered in blood on the field; his jersey, the floor around him, and his own body were all stained with blood.

Judging from where he was covering his hand, it was clear that his brow bone had been cut open.

As for the instigator?
Without a doubt, this is Stoudemire, who is still completely bewildered at this moment, spreading his arms to show his innocence and promising that he will never attack Varejao again.

"what happened?"

Lin Tian quickly walked to Stoudemire's side. Everything happened too fast. He didn't even notice what had happened. At least when he went for the layup, there was no conflict or strong physical contact between Stoudemire and Varejao. But after he landed after the layup, he took two steps back, and Varejao was already lying on the ground.
Little Si, are you Ip Man? You can throw more than 20 punches a second, right?

But it can't be that Varejao deliberately blew his brow bone apart, or that he carried a blood pack with him just waiting to explode, right?
What kind of lunatic would do such a thing?
So Lin Tian was really curious about what exactly happened. How could Varejao have gotten himself lying on the floor without Lin Tian, ​​who had the best vision in the league, even seeing what happened?

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't know?" Xiao Si looked at Lin Tian with a bitter face and said, "Boss, I really didn't get carried away, and I didn't want to do anything to him, I swear."

"I believe you." Lin Tian patted Xiao Si on the shoulder and comforted him with a few words. He believed Xiao Si's words one hundred percent.

Xiao Si has never been the kind of person who dares to do something but not to admit it. If he says he doesn't know, then he definitely doesn't know.

But whether or not you know what happened is obviously not important.

The referee has already given Stoudemire a foul and is currently reviewing the video to see if it's necessary to add a flagrant foul.

Regardless of whether Stoudemire commits another foul, this is his third foul.

According to NBA convention, he can forget about playing in the second quarter and can only sit down and rest.

Varejao took only one minute to take down Stoudemire, who was currently the Knicks' hottest and best player.

Even if he paid the price of his brow bone, the Cavaliers would still have made a huge profit!

As for now?
Everyone looked up at the ceiling, wanting to see what had happened, to see how Valecija had ended up lying on the ground, his face covered in blood, without Stoudemire's knowledge. (End of Chapter)