NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

These off-court topics and the teasing and bullying of Jordan are ultimately just the off-court part.

This will only make Jordan's old friends genuinely happy, but it won't change or affect the course of this series.

The outcome of the match will depend on the performance of both teams' players.

The Bobcats once again fielded their usual starting five tonight, while the Knicks also brought out their strongest lineup!
Okur, Stoudemire, Wallace, Ariza, and Felton!

The starting lineups for both sides are exactly the same as when they met in their first game at the beginning of the season. This kind of starting lineup that has remained unchanged throughout the entire season shows that both sides have been quite stable this season, and it also shows that their starting lineups have a very high level of understanding!

However, both sides also know that the opponent's lineup is completely different from that at the beginning of the season!

After all, they have gone through a whole season of honing and competition. If they are still exactly the same as at the beginning of the season, then the head coaches on both sides would be too incompetent.

"Their teamwork is much better than at the beginning of the season! They are completely different from the team at the beginning of the season!" This was the exact same opening line used by Lin Tian and Nelson during their final pre-match pep talk.

"Don Nelson has completely transformed his team. This Knicks team has evolved from a purely offensive team in the past two years into a well-rounded team with both offense and defense. Their defensive chemistry is much better than at the beginning of the season!"

"Their teamwork in helping out and covering, the intensity of their one-on-one defense, and most importantly, the two exceptionally talented and physically gifted forwards, Ariza and Wallace, are their signature and unique defensive skills."

"The Knicks' defense, simply put, is to leave the flanks open and collapse the midfield! They will drive their opponents to the sides, forcing them to take routes away from the basket, thus increasing the distance they have to drive and the difficulty of passing."

"After all, if the ball carrier is in the middle, he can pass the ball in all directions, but if the ball carrier is on the wing, then the directions he can pass in are halved!"

"After pressuring the opponent to the top and forcing them to move to the flanks, they will use the top-class physical attributes of their two forwards to quickly rotate, double-team, and provide support! They will surround the opponent's ball handler in a certain area on the sideline, forcing him to make a mistake or pass a low-quality pass."

"In this way, the opponent's offensive efficiency and rhythm can be easily disrupted. More importantly, because both of their forwards are physically explosive, they can immediately get back to defend even if the ball carrier on the sideline passes the ball out."

"They can get back into position immediately to prevent the opponent from having open space, and they can provide immediate help defense and counterattack even if the opponent's player receives the ball!"

"So, Derek, Jeremy, and Lamar, you're all going to face a big challenge tonight! Watch out for their pressing defense! Tear apart their defense! Utilize your strengths and specialties!"

"You need to be decisive when you break through, but don't hold onto the ball too long. Pass the ball whenever you can. Their defense can be compact or wide, but it can't keep collapsing and spreading out indefinitely. Use your breakthroughs and passes to break down their defense and disrupt their rotations!"

"Carlos, Yao, you two remember this: no matter which of you Amare is matched up against, beat him to a pulp! He's the Knicks' biggest defensive weakness! Including the guards, if we can't execute our plays tonight, then go and beat Amare! Got it?"

"As for their offense, their core strategy remains the pick-and-roll tactic between positions 1-4, initiated by Felton and finished by Stoudemire. This is their primary offensive weapon."

"When defending, be sure to guard Felton, but not to prevent him from shooting, but to prevent him from passing the ball, especially not to let him pass the ball to Stoudemire!"

"We need to disrupt his connection with his teammates, especially Stoudemire. If we can cut off his connection with Stoudemire, we've already won more than half the battle!"

"As for Felton's own offense? Let him do whatever he wants! If he were capable of scoring 50 points in a game and beating his opponent to a pulp, he wouldn't have been given away for nothing by our great boss."

After giving his instructions, Lin Tian clapped his hands vigorously and said, "That's it for today! Let's give it our all and win our team's first playoff victory! Let's go!"

After Lin Tian gave detailed instructions, the Lynx's starting five took to the court.

The match is about to begin!
The fans at the Spectrum Center couldn't contain their excitement. As the team stepped onto the playoff stage for the first time, they were even more eager for a victory than the players!
When they saw their favorite players and heroes stepping onto the field to prepare for the game, their wild cheers and shouts were released to the fullest!
"Is this what a rural team that's never even made the playoffs looks like?" Felton and Rose leaned against each other, Felton picking at his ear with a disdainful look. "Good thing I left!"

Felton harbored deep resentment towards the Bobcats for giving him away for free.

How bad am I that you guys are too lazy to even trade with me and just give me away?

What did I do to deserve this?
I'll beat you to death!

"Yes, it's a good thing you left." Rose still had that poker face, but this season, under Lin Tian's influence, he had become more and more wicked, and his trash talk had become more and more venomous: "Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to taste the playoffs now."

"If I led a team to miss the playoffs for four consecutive years, I would definitely feel embarrassed and resentful that they gave up on me. My grandma stayed with a team for four years and led that team to the playoffs long ago!"

"Instead of leading a team to compete for the number one draft pick for four consecutive years, like some others."

"Kid, you think you're so great?" Felton glared at Rose. "I'll show you the difference between the playoffs and the regular season!"

"Have you ever played in an All-Star game?" Rose didn't answer Felton's question at all. He used the trash-talking tricks that Lin Tian taught him to exchange fierce insults with Felton: "You'll never play in an All-Star game in your life, and you'll never know the difference between an All-Star game and a regular season or playoff game."

"Pitiful!"

As for Lin Tian's trash talk techniques?
That means don't answer questions, and don't get caught in a self-justification trap.

Attack relentlessly, force your opponent to answer questions, and trap them in a quagmire of self-justification.

If you can do that, you've already won 7% of the battle!

Felton fell into a trap this time. He opened his mouth several times but couldn't find any angle to refute it. Fortunately, the game started at this time, so he no longer had to keep opening his mouth wide at Rose but not being able to make a sound.

"Snapped!"

Facing another veteran shooter, Okur, Yao Ming successfully secured the team's first offensive possession of the night.

After getting the basketball, Rose immediately slammed it to the floor, then raised both hands to the sky, and quickly spread them to the sides.

This gesture is basically universal throughout the NBA.

Step aside, I'm going to fight you one-on-one!

Rose made this gesture in the very first second of the game; his meaning couldn't be clearer.

"Go, Derrick! Let this Charlotte outcast know the difference between him and Charlotte's chosen ones!" Before the fans could even get excited, Lin Tian, ​​sitting on the sidelines, covered his mouth with his hand and went to cheer for Rose.

"That little bastard." Lin Tian's voice was extremely loud, so old Nelson on the other side could vaguely hear what he was saying. The old man curled his lips, and could only say that Lin Tian's actions were entirely within his expectations.

Both the master and apprentice are madmen.

Which head coach would encourage their star player to go one-on-one with the opposing guard in the very first second of a playoff game?
This stuff is unorthodox enough just to hear about.

Rose also received Lin Tian's message; his one-on-one attack was incredibly fierce.

He looked at Felton, suddenly grinned, then accelerated sharply, stopped, accelerated again, stopped again, and accelerated again!
As he repeated this motion, his knees and ankles seemed to feel no pressure or gravity at all, perfectly supporting Rose as he completed these continuous start-stop movements.

While Felton is also a top-five talent in the draft, he is now giving it his all to barely keep up with Rose, but that's not the worst of it.

The worst part is that he knows very well that the reason he hasn't been left behind is not because he's giving it his all, but because Rose hasn't exerted any effort at all!

After reaching the three-point line, Rose gave Felton a slightly mocking look. Although he didn't say anything, that look must have been incredibly hurtful to Felton.

Then Ross suddenly accelerated again, and in the blink of an eye, he sped past Felton.

Felton felt his legs trembling. Chase?

He'll probably be shaken down by Rose in no time!
Faced with the choice between being blown past and potentially more humiliating, Felton decisively chose the former. As a point guard, he certainly has that much court vision! Being easily beaten isn't shameful; being faked out and toyed with is!
After Rose made a lightning-fast drive into the paint, he was almost immediately blocked by Ariza. But Rose suddenly used a one-handed in-and-out dribble to quickly create space for himself and then accelerated forward again.

This time, Okur had no choice but to retreat to the basket to prevent Rose from scoring directly.

Faced with a triple-team and double-team defense from the Knicks, Rose didn't pass the ball this time, but instead made a rather reckless decision.

He pulled up and, with one hand, launched a high-arc throw, sending the ball through the gap between the three players.

The arc drawn by the basketball is not a circle at all, but two straight lines that are almost vertical.

The basketball came almost directly above the rim before falling vertically!

"Shh!"

With a crisp sound, Rose used a floater that was quite similar to the signature move of Spanish guard "Bomb" Navarro, demonstrating his determination tonight!
"Whether it's one or three of you, I'm not afraid!" After scoring, Rose glared fiercely at Felton as he tracked back on defense, saying, "Do you understand? You loser abandoned by Charlotte!"

"By the way, you don't know what the first thing they did after drafting me was, right? Michael called me into his office and said he would get rid of everyone who stood in my way, and that he would make me the starting point guard and the absolute core player!"

“I bet you never received this kind of assurance during your four years in Charlotte, did you? I bet you never even went into Michael’s office alone, did you?”

"Shut up!" Felton said with a stern face, taking the ball from the backcourt and starting to dribble forward. Of course, he wouldn't let a few trash words completely break his defense and make him lose his temper. After all, he was once a man who was considered one of the three greats alongside Deron Williams and Chris Paul.

He still has the resilience and mindset to withstand pressure.

But obviously, Rose wouldn't let him off so easily. Rose was clearly there with a mission tonight: to provoke Felton and get him into a one-on-one situation, or at least make him pass the ball less!
After all, no matter how Rose provoked Felton or how dirty his words were, Felton has been playing really well this year.

He's just one step away from the All-Star Game.

He had the best year of his career this year, averaging 19 points and 9 assists per game. He was the team's second-leading scorer and assist leader. His pick-and-roll with Stoudemire was also the core reason why the Knicks were ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference.

The combination of these two is truly enough to guarantee the Knicks' floor!

After Felton arrived in the frontcourt, he immediately raised his hand and called for Stoudemire's screen. The first offensive play of the game should naturally be to play what he does best.

After a screen at the top of the key, Stoudemire and Felton used their strength to quickly compress the Bobcats' defense towards the paint, while Stoudemire, with considerable experience, spread out laterally to the other side.

He made space for Felton while also being ready to catch and shoot at any time.

He knew that Yao Ming was in the Bobcats' frontcourt, so he had no intention of just driving in and going head-to-head with Yao.

It's not time for that yet!

Let's try a few shots first to see how it goes. If it goes well, bring out Yao Ming to play; that's Stoudemire's strong style of play.

After setting a pick and roll, Felton quickly created space and was about to pass the ball to Stoudemire with a lateral pass, which is one of the Knicks' most common plays. But now Felton found himself with another figure between him and Stoudemire.

Hayward!
If he dares to pass the ball to Hayward, there's a very high chance he'll steal it!
Fortunately, Felton reacted incredibly quickly, switching from a one-handed pass to an in-and-out dribble in an instant, thus avoiding a turnover. At the same time, he rapidly assessed the situation on the court, and with another flick of his wrist, the basketball flew directly towards Ariza, who was currently left open on the other side.

After Ariza received the ball, although Hayward rushed forward to meet him, Ariza was also incredibly decisive, pulling up for a three-pointer!
This is also a requirement that Nelson will never change for his players.

Regardless of whether his team plays offensively or defensively, decisiveness and no hesitation are always his first requirements!

In Don Nelson's team, you could have other problems, and Don Nelson could tolerate or ignore them depending on the circumstances.

But if you hesitate, lack confidence, and are afraid to shoot when you're playing, then you shouldn't stay with Don Nelson's team; it's better to switch teams as soon as possible.

There will be no place for you on his team!
Ariza's three-point shooting has improved rapidly this season, reaching 36%, making him one of the better shooters in the league.

"Boom!"

However, he missed this clear-cut chance, and the basketball bounced off the rim before Yao Ming caught it.

After receiving the ball, Yao Ming immediately raised it high with both hands, while glaring menacingly at the Knicks players around him, as if to say, "If you dare come any closer, I'll give you a good elbow."

Only after the Knicks players had tactfully left did Yao Ming pass the ball to Rose, allowing him to orchestrate the team's offense.

This time, the Bobcats' offense was exactly the same as the last one. Rose waved for everyone to spread out for him, then dribbled and accelerated, easily accelerating once again, and once again drawing a double-team defense.

This time, Rose still didn't pass the ball. He once again faced Okur and Wallace behind him, pulled up in mid-air, and forced his way to the basket for a layup, scoring two points again!

Rose played with unwavering determination tonight!
After scoring two goals in a row, he stopped trash-talking Felton and instead gave him a mocking and contemptuous look.

"Derek is improving so fast!" Lin Tian looked at Ross's sarcastic expression, which was practically saying on a little note that he was wearing, and felt extremely gratified.

"He has entered a completely new realm! He has begun to understand the meaning of 'silence speaks louder than words'! Sometimes, you don't have to speak to provoke your opponent."

"Staying silent works even better!"

Felton called for Stoudemire to set a screen for him again, but this time the Bobcats' defense changed first. Rose seized the opportunity and stepped forward to block out Stoudemire, forcing his way past him and causing the screen to fail again.

At the same time, Yao Ming, who was defending Stoudemire, quickly reached out to block Felton and Stoudemire's path.

Don't let Felton pass the ball to Stoudemire!

This is what the Bobcats are doing right now, and it's their number one strategic objective tonight.

Cut off the connection between these two players and the Knicks' offense will be put to a standstill!

Felton failed to execute the pick-and-roll again, but he didn't rush to attack himself. Instead, he dribbled back and lobbed the ball to Wallace, who was boxing out on the same side.

Wallace leaned back against DeRozan, then suddenly pushed hard backward, making two contact with DeRozan before turning around and throwing up a shot. This time, the basketball went straight into the net!

"This kid's improved a lot," Lin Tian said, stroking his chin. "When I was in the team, this kid didn't know how to do this."

“You’ve been away from the team for three years. It’s normal for him to have learned something, isn’t it?” Stevens didn’t think much of it and continued to talk along with Lin Tian’s words.

"Oh, so you mean I'm old, out of touch with the times, and can't keep up with the progress of young people these days, right?" Lin Tian pressed Stevens' head down with one hand and said quietly, "Brad, you'd better watch your mouth!"

“Middle-aged men like us who are experiencing a midlife crisis are in a very dangerous situation.”

You're having a midlife crisis? If you're having a midlife crisis, then there's no such thing as a middle-aged person who isn't.

Stevens held back the spittle that was about to spill from his mouth, and instead of directly refuting Lin Tian's nonsense, he fully demonstrated what it means for circumstances to dictate actions.

"That's not what I meant, Coach! What I meant was, it took him three years to master this move. If you were still here, he would have evolved into a top-tier all-around forward by now! Yeah, that's the gist of it!"

"Not bad." Lin Tian nodded, releasing his grip on Stevens. "Getting more and more shameless!" (End of Chapter)