basketball scientist

Chapter 395 Who can stop the Knicks?

Author: Fan Xian Xiao Xianxian

Chapter 395 Who can stop the Knicks?

In the middle of the second quarter, the main lineups of both sides returned and continued the "hand-to-hand" battle.

Since joining last season, the running-in between Garnett and the young people of the Thunder has not been smooth. The Wolf King, who holds "2 MVP, 2 FMVP", is regarded as a blue-collar worker in Oklahoma City, and he is even forced to take over.

He has never been willing to play the center position in his career.

However, whenever they encounter tough battles, the Wolf King can still play a mainstay role. For example, in this game, after coming on in the second quarter, Garnett began to play in the paint. First, he used the opportunities after the pick-and-roll or succeeded in mid-range jumpers.

, or go to the basket to score in singles. On the defensive end, he was able to use his experience and position to balance the work of protecting the frame and switching defenses to the greatest extent, and successively interfered with the shots of James and Curry.

The Thunder took the opportunity to launch a counterattack, and the point difference was quickly narrowed. Ke Yan stood up, pressed his hands down, and shouted to the players: "Steady the rhythm and take your time!"

After Curry heard this, he slowed down and controlled the ball at the top of the arc to kill the attack time.

There were 10 seconds left in the attack time. Curry dribbled the ball continuously from his hips to the left. West pulled out from the low post and ran to the middle to attract the defense. Horford was still at 70 degrees on the right, and the other two were on the baseline. There were many players on the court.

There was a mismatch, and Durant, who was closest, did not dare to let go of James to double-team.

Curry brought it up to 45 degrees, and made a beautiful change of direction in front of his body to shake Westbrook, trying to attract the bottom line Ibaka to double-team, but "Medicare Card" did not double-team, and only relied on his height and wingspan to cover the penalty area.

Curry moved towards the center, blocking Westbrook behind him and not giving the opponent a chance to defend. He leaned back, shot with a strange posture, and hit the target accurately. (55:52)

Looking back, Durant pulled to the center and played a pick-and-roll with Westbrook. Westbrook broke through from the right, James switched defenses, and Westbrook split the ball in the center. Curry defended Durant closely, desperately fighting Durant's bottom line.

Durant shuffled, connected with the ball with both hands, then stood up from the ground, raised his hand and threw a mid-range shot.

"Whoa!"

"@#￥%" On the way back to defense, Durant faced Curry and taunted him with a trash talk, to the effect that he was mocking a short guy like Curry for trying to defend him and overestimating his capabilities.

The two have just worked together in the Dream Team, and they can be regarded as somewhat of a comrade-in-arms. However, Durant has never had a high emotional intelligence and makes some shocking remarks from time to time, which fans call "true temperament."

The Knicks attacked, James broke through with the ball, was double-teamed near the penalty area, and spread the ball to the outside.

Curry caught the ball from the left baseline. Ibaka let go of West to cover, but was hit by Curry with a "return ball." Curry took advantage of the situation and handed the ball to West, who scored in the mid-range shot. (

57:54)

After completing the assist, Curry looked at Durant and shook his head back and forth in response.

In the next round of defense, the Knicks suddenly changed their defensive tactics. After Durant received the ball, James and Curry chose to flank, leaving Holiday alone to defend one on the weak side.

Upon seeing this, Durant did not hesitate at all, took the ball one step sideways, broke through James' defense from the right, and passed the ball to Harden, who was left open.

Holiday barely kept up with the first pass, but after Harden passed the ball directly across to Westbrook, the Thunder created a completely wide open space. Facing the wide open space, Westbrook took a decisive shot and the basketball hit the ground.

The front of the basket bounced to the side, and there was a sigh of disappointment in the arena.

Horford overwhelmed Garnett, protected the rebound, and passed the ball to James without stopping. The Knicks team immediately switched from defense to offense, rushing forward like a tide!

Facing the Knicks' surging offensive, the Thunder's defense was in chaos. James drove all the way to the basket, attracting many defenders to pass the ball. Curry, who followed up in the back row, caught the ball and shot, and hit a three-pointer with open hands. (

54:60)

Back and forth, 6 points inside and outside, this is the strength gap between the two leading point guards.

Before the Knicks players could celebrate, Garnett quickly sent a baseline ball. Westbrook received the ball and advanced quickly. With his amazing impact, he led the audience and completed an exaggerated one-on-nine. He rushed directly to the basket and sent the ball into the basket.

basket!

Although Ke Yan looks down on Westbrook and believes that his muscles have armed his brain, it has to be said that no PG can match this physical talent in NBA history.

Fortunately, the Thunder are stronger on the offensive end, and there is nothing they can do against the Knicks on the defensive end. After repelling a counterattack by the Thunder, the Knicks maintained their lead until the end of midfield. (60:66)

During the halftime break, Ke Yan made tactical adjustments. He replaced Holiday with Korver as the starter, and formed a "bankrupt version" of the Splash Brothers with Curry, taking advantage of Westbrook's weak defensive ability without the ball.

James, as the core organizer and dealer, was used by Ke Yan as the "Dream Chaser Green".

There are many benefits to this adjustment. In addition to maximizing Curry's firepower, James can properly conserve his energy, exert force in the transition period, and continue the team's output! The playing time of Holiday and Curry is appropriately staggered, which is also beneficial to the ball.

The offensive and defensive intensity of the point guard position in the team's transition period.

Brooks breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the Knicks did not have Holiday in the starting lineup in the second half. Although Westbrook scored 11 points and 3 assists in the first half, which was not bad data, his shooting percentage was only 4 of 12 from the field.

In the middle, it was quite average. Holiday's defense obviously made Westbrook very uncomfortable.

Although Korver is the league's top shooter, his defense can only be said to be average, and his breakthrough against Westbrook is useless!

Even after the opening, Korver found an open space by running without the ball, and after attracting defense, he assisted Horford to score at the basket, but Brooks still didn't take it to heart.

The Thunder's strength lies not in defense, but in offense.

Looking back, Curry faced Westbrook and took a step back from the free throw line, giving Westbrook a step and a half of space.

"..." This distance was a bit of a slap in the face. Westbrook himself wanted to use his own confrontation to "bully" Curry, but he didn't expect Curry to "defend" directly!

After adjusting the rhythm, Westbrook was about to take a shot, but saw Korver coming to defend and then passed the ball to Sefolosha. The Swiss Army Knife didn't expect that the ball would fall into his hands, so he took a hasty shot after catching the ball.

Didn't hit.

"Westbrook should shoot this shot!" Yoga, who was in charge of the CCTV commentary, was anxious for him. "Garnett even walked towards his little brother and reminded him that he must respond when the opponent adopts such a defense!

"

Curry held the ball across half court, handed the ball to James at the top of the key, and then ran towards him. James gave the ball to Curry's running route, then took a step across to block Westbrook, who was chasing after him slowly, and was directly hit.

Flip to the ground.

"Beep!"

Move the pick and roll!

This time, it was Ke Yan and James' turn to be dissatisfied! The two of them spread their hands almost at the same time to express their dissatisfaction to the referee.

However, the two men's move to put pressure on the referee caught Westbrook's eyes and aroused Westbrook's "anger." Westbrook faced James and spat out trash talk in a provocative manner. James turned his head to look at the opponent and began to fight back. The two

Two seemingly tough muscular men butted heads and talked trash at each other. Each received a technical foul and was pulled away by his teammates.

"Westbrook is starting to get aggressive! Continue to make a fuss about him and draw out his fire." During the timeout, Ke Yan directed the players.

After returning from the timeout, Korver and Durant made technical foul free throws one after another, giving the Thunder the ball.

Garnett passed the ball to Westbrook. Curry and James immediately launched a flanking attack, using their size advantage to block Westbrook's angle of the ball to the strong side. Westbrook, who was a little out of breath, did not hand the ball to Yi who came over to respond.

Instead, Baka forced the dribble, pushed Curry away with his left hand, opened up space, and passed the ball to Durant.

Such a "simple and crude" way of breaking double teams is eye-opening! Durant hit a pull-up from the outside, and Curry dropped his braces. He complained loudly like the referee, but Korver quickly stopped him.

"Beep!" Although there was an obvious missed call in the penalty just now, the authority of the referee cannot be doubted. Curry's action of throwing his braces earned him a technical foul, and Durant executed the second technical foul and made an extra free throw to help

The team scored 4 points in a row.(64:68)

After encountering an unfair penalty, in the next round of offense, Curry took the initiative to take the ball from James and attack with the ball. James cooperated to help with the pick-and-roll, then cut to the basket, received Curry's pass and stared at it.

Garnett's defense forced a layup, causing the opponent to foul.

Again, Westbrook did not get stuck in position when guarding the pick-and-roll, allowing James to catch the ball so easily under the basket. Fans on the sidelines may not see this, but Westbrook's various bad habits in playing are not harmful to the team.

The data can reflect it.

The referee's well-timed "black whistle" disrupted Ke Yan's plot to "tease" Westbrook, but the overall better tactical literacy and execution of the Knicks players ensured that the team's offense was still quite secure; as for the Thunder,

, you still rely on your personal ability to play. Durant is really strong, Westbrook is really fierce, Ibaka and Garnett can also play their roles respectively. The only "weakness" is that Harden has not grown into the later "

"Super Sixth Man".

Halfway through the third quarter, Ke Yan replaced Korver with Holiday, and replaced West and Horford with Matthews and Mozgov, pushing James to the power forward position.

Compared with the starting lineup, this lineup on the field is more mobile and has a wider offensive space, but there is obviously a problem with interior defense. Mozgov is the top defense, and his ability to assist in defense can only be considered acceptable. James assists in defense.

On the inside, Durant can take on Casspi at will. James will play against Durant, and inside against Ibaka, they can't keep up at all in terms of hardness.

But back in the game, it was the Knicks who gave full play to their own characteristics. The super shooting abilities of Curry and Casspi helped James "evacuate" the Knicks' penalty area, and the team's offense flourished;

On the other hand, for the Thunder, Ibaka received basketball training relatively late, and his single technical weakness was exposed. Except for an open jump shot, Ibaka has no stable scoring method, even if he can steadily suppress Casspi in confrontation.

, but his finishing skills at the basket are very rough, and some opportunities are difficult to grasp.

Although their own values ​​are different, in Ke Yan's view, Ibaka and Battier have some similarities. If they are defined as "qualified starters" and "outstanding role players", then their advantages are very prominent and very important.

Distinctive; but if they are expected to be the third in charge and need to provide certain offensive capabilities in addition to defense, it will be difficult for this team to achieve great results.

When the Thunder's three young players play in the transition period, it is usually the stage where the Thunder "takes away" the opponent in one wave. However, Durant cannot score as he wants when facing James. Westbrook is still "highly productive and inefficient". The Thunder

The team's offense was greatly hindered. At the end of the third quarter, the Knicks replaced Curry and Casspi with Matthews and Horford to further increase the defensive intensity. The Thunder's offense encountered a tougher attack.

check.

With an equally impressive talent tree + well-organized scheduling + a significantly deeper rotation, the Knicks expanded their lead in the third quarter, widening the point difference to 13 points in one go. After three quarters, the score was 81

:94, when the red light turned on, the Chesapeake Energy Arena was silent!

This point difference puts the Thunder into a great passive situation! If the point difference cannot be reduced to single digits as soon as possible at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the morale of the players will become more and more impatient the further back they go.

Brooks made a decisive change in the fourth quarter, leaving Harden and Durant on the court to launch a counterattack.

Ke Yan also chose the "dead grass" James. He directly sent in a lineup of Curry, Matthews, James, West, and Mozgov, which was both offensive and defensive. It was clear that he wanted to take advantage of this period to directly choke the Thunder to death.

!

Durant is missing the All-Stars Westbrook, KG, and Harden who have not yet completed their training; and the strength of the Knicks' lineup is not much worse than the starting lineup. One encounter lasted 3 minutes for the Knicks.

Within a few seconds, the score difference was widened to more than 20 points and ended.

In desperation, Brooks called a timeout, then got sick from Westbrook and made a last-ditch effort, but still failed!

Finally, at the end of the game, the Knicks defeated the Thunder 124:107 in an away game, extending their winning streak to 7 games.

In the whole game, Curry scored 31 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. James also had a near triple-double performance of 27 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. The two teamed up to contribute just one shot;

For the Thunder, Durant also scored 30 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, and Westbrook scored 28 points. However, he only hit 9 goals in 25 shots in the game. This efficiency is really low. Especially in such a strong game.

In strong dialogue, the error tolerance rate of both parties is very low.

"The New York Knicks have won seven consecutive games. The opponents of this winning streak include two strong teams, the Nets and Thunder! And in these seven games, the team won every game by more than 15 points.

The gold content of this winning streak is really high! At present, it can be said that the Knicks and James have formed a very good chemical reaction, and it is difficult to predict how good their results will be!" Yoga said with emotion.

.

It's not uncommon to have a winning streak at the beginning, but it's rare to see one as domineering as the Knicks.

.......

After back-to-back Western Expeditions, the Knicks returned to New York and had two days of rest. Ke Yan gave the team a day off to let the players take some rest.

On November 14, the Knicks faced the Bobcats, who were last in the league, at home.

Last season, the Bobcats benefited from veteran bonuses and made the playoffs for the first time in team history. However, in the playoffs, they were almost eliminated by the Magic and failed to win the first playoff victory in team history.

.

During the offseason, Mr. Joe thought again and again and gave up the idea of ​​renewing the contract of veterans to ensure the record. The Bobcats fell into chaos again. Augustin and Gerald Henderson were unable to replace Andre Miller and Laga.

With the vacancy left by Bell, the Bobcats' strength has been greatly reduced. Since the start of the new season, they have 1 win and 6 losses. It is very likely that it will be another bad season.

In this game, almost no one is optimistic that the Bobcats will win, including Ke Yan. If this game had not just begun the season, Ke Yan would even consider rotating Curry. After the start of the game, after a brief stalemate, it was basically a

A frustrating situation.

When he was with the Hawks, Ke Yan often used actual combat to practice tactics. Sometimes the "waves" lost the game and were even called "a whole job" by fans. Now that he has James in hand, Ke Yan is just "doing experiments"

", there is nothing to be afraid of, and it can also cater to Knicks fans' pursuit of "thrill".

Throughout the game, the point difference hovered around 15 points. The Bobcats were unable to close the disadvantage to less than 10 points. As long as the point difference reached 20+, the Knicks players "played" and then the point difference was narrowed.

The final score was fixed at 116:101. The Knicks started the game with 8 consecutive victories and got the best start in team history!

Curry was arranged to brush up on statistics in the second half of the game, forcing his personal score to 21 points; James was more conscious and scored 24 points early, without Ke Yan having to worry about it.

"Who can stop the Knicks?" This is the news headline of ESPN's sports edition on November 15. Right now, the Knicks have become the focus of the league.

(End of chapter)