The rest is just noise

Chapter 1011 Bloodthirsty Line of Defense

After about eight minutes of fighting, Louis adjusted his strategy.

Mohamed Rauf's defense is really an irreparable hole under the Trail Blazers' amazing offense, especially considering that his shooting touch is not good when the opponent's defense is tight.

If the offensive end cannot produce results, it can only look for opportunities through defense.

Wilson plays the one position, Miller the two, Rodman the three, Kemp the four, and Ewing the five.

If Louis wants the ultimate defensive effect, he will replace Miller with Reggie Williams or Alex Stevens.

Louis told Miller to keep playing.

Although his defense is not up to the average level of the team, it is not completely undesirable, just a bit biased.

Because of his thin body, Miller is basically unable to withstand the opponent's breakthrough when guarding the ball carrier.

This requires teammates to help defend.

Louis prepared four reliable helpers for him.

This kind of four-guarantee-one defensive system is not common. Moreover, Miller is not good at guarding people with the ball, but his off-ball defense is top-notch, especially when it comes to dealing with people without the ball. Whether it is footwork or physical fitness, he has no problem.

Even so, Miller's defense still has problems. The reason why Louis uses a defensive configuration of four guarantees and one is because he hopes to use his three-pointers to create opportunities.

Although the public still doesn't admit it, Miller is actually the league's top scorer.

Since entering the playoffs, he has hit 3.8 three-pointers per game, with a shooting percentage of 41%. In the finals, facing the Trail Blazers, whose defense is second only to the Knicks, he averaged 5.2 hits per game in the first four games.

He scored three points and shot 48% from the field.

This is already an outside output comparable to Dale Ellis' legendary performance in the 1988 Eastern Conference Finals.

The gap between him and Ellis is only one or two legendary battles that will go down in history.

Judging from the Blazers' offensive threat, no matter how strong the Knicks' defensive lineup is, it will be difficult to prevent the opponent's offense.

Therefore, we do not pursue the limit on the defensive end and leave room for the second position, hoping that Miller will enter the state and reverse the situation with an unstoppable three-point rain.

This is the lineup, but even if everything goes as Louis wants, Miller is in great shape, the Blazers' defense can't choke him, and the Knicks' defense can withstand the opponent's offense.

The entire stage is set up, just waiting for Miller to sing. If all the objective circumstances are as good as Louis imagined, the Knicks will have to face a problem.

Is the current Wilson selfless enough to be a top passer and feed Miller to superstardom? Is he good enough?

Only time can tell the answer.

In the remaining minutes of the first quarter, the Trail Blazers' defense against Miller was brutal.

Jordan defends without the ball, and if he encounters a screen, he immediately switches defense from the inside.

In these few minutes, Miller only got one shot.

Moreover, the moment he took action, Jordan's defense was in place and he almost blocked the shot.

Jordan's defense seriously affected his shooting accuracy.

"boom!"

In the past few minutes, Miller's only shot missed.

The cost of the Trail Blazers' strict defense against Miller was that they gave Rodman three unguarded opportunities for dunks and Wilson's pull-up jumpers.

"In general, the Trail Blazers defended the Knicks' three-pointers, but gave both Benj and Dennis better opportunities. In the long run, this may be an exchange that is not worth the gain."

An exchange that pays off? If Riley heard this sentence, he would laugh.

Many people simply don't understand how terrifying the Knicks' perimeter offense is.

It is precisely because Riley has suffered a lot in this regard that he must be careful again and again.

Riley was also very clear about Louis' thoughts on leaving Miller on the court when the Knicks desperately needed defense.

The Trail Blazers entered the second quarter with a 7-point lead.

In the second quarter, Louis rested Ewing and Kemp, asked Rodman to play the fourth position, Yu Tiancan came on as a normal substitute, and then asked Wilson to play against Jordan.

Unlike in the past, in this finals, Wilson rarely had the opportunity to face off against Jordan for a long time, and Louis did not want to take the initiative to create such a matchup that would feast the eyes of the fans.

Because the current Jordan is the best Jordan, and the current Wilson is not the best Wilson.

However, this also brings with it a very real problem.

Only Wilson can put tremendous pressure on Jordan on both offense and defense.

Now Louis has asked Wilson to face Jordan because he is sure that the former is in good condition and can compete with Jordan.

But whether Wilson, who has separated himself from his teammates in terms of playing style, can have the same effect in front of Jordan still needs to be tested in actual combat.

Riley chose to put up the "Verdun Line of Defense" at the beginning of the second quarter.

Let Jordan partner with Cauchy, Robinson, McDaniel, and Mason to launch the most intense defense against the Knicks' second team.

Wilson often plays the Knicks' one position.

The Knicks have had a problem since Jeff Hornacek left in 1990.

They don't have a suitable backup at the No. 1 position.

Although players like Mohamed Rauf were introduced later, as the No. 1 position, Rauf's style and playing style are different from Stockton's.

So, without a better complement, Louis developed Wilson's organizational skills.

In the past, Wilson often performed amazingly when he played as a guest at the No. 1 position.

But his current style of play is completely different from his past. Whether he can produce satisfactory results still needs to be tested in the game.

The Trail Blazers' Verdun defense showed a defensive power that is feared by Western Conference teams.

Jordan's press on Wilson was both rough and skillful.

There are also ruthless people like Xavier McDaniel to help.

Before halftime, Wilson was forced to pass the ball.

The ball came to Miller.

Miller's dribbling ability was not enough to break through, and he made a mistake and lost the ball under the Blazers' full-court press.

Jerome Cosey, who stole Miller, went to the frontcourt and scored with a dunk.

Then, Wilson dribbled through Jordan's defense alone.

When encountering Kexi's help in defense, he adopted the method of emergency stop and then emergency start to complete consecutive breakthroughs.

At this moment, Louis saw the Trail Blazers leaving Rodman behind and shrinking the penalty area just to block Wilson's path.

As long as Wilson passes the ball, he will break the opponent's defense.

However, Wilson chose to rise to the challenge.

Because in his opinion, although Anthony Mason, who is responsible for assisting defense, is as strong as a heavyweight boxer, as an inside man, neither his height, arm length nor physical fitness are enough to stop him.

Wilson forgot about the Blazers' "no layup rule."

Mason knew that he could not stop Wilson, so he chose a violent collision method and paid a foul, but he also successfully intercepted him.

Wilson's clutch 2-point shot turned into two unpredictable free throws.

The second after Wilson was put to the ground, Rodman angrily rushed forward and pushed Mason away.

In 1988, the Knicks played against the Trail Blazers in the Finals for the first time. At that time, the Knicks had just passed the Celtics and were so impressive that they didn't take the Trail Blazers seriously at all.

The result of that Finals was also one-sided, with the Knicks dominating the Trail Blazers with an intensity that completely surpassed the Western Conference level.

At the time, the Knicks were the most brutal team in the league.

Now, times have changed and the Knicks are still savage, but the Trail Blazers have undoubtedly become a more savage team under Riley's two-year transformation.

Back then, no one in the Trail Blazers dared to take action against the Knicks. Now, Rodman's behavior of standing up for Wilson has caused the entire Trail Blazers team to revolt.

Jordan clamped Rodman's hands between his hands and spewed obscenities in the form of "F---".

McDaniel took action directly to make things worse.

Except for Yu Tiancan, the other four Knicks players on the court are experienced players and are not afraid of conflict.

But as the disadvantaged side, the Knicks need to stabilize their mentality. If something like this happens suddenly, the Blazers will only benefit.

The ability to take this team from a typical Western Conference team to a Wild Eastern Conference team is Pat Riley's ability.

Louis glanced at Riley, and Riley happened to be looking at him too.

Riley wanted to know if Louis, who had tortured his opponents to death time and time again with murderous presses, could feel the same way now.

If Riley could read Louis's thoughts, he might be disappointed.

The Trail Blazers seemed to have cornered the Knicks, but Louis was thinking about the team's chemistry.

The Trail Blazers are getting stronger and stronger, and they have no problems inside or outside the team.

There are still many problems facing the Knicks, the most important of which is Wilson's style of play.

At this juncture, Louis remained unmoved.

He replaced Yu Tiancan, who was not used to the pressing rhythm, and asked McHale to step up to the 5th position. Anyway, Mason also had the body of the 4th position to support the 5th position. There was a big difference. No matter how you look at it, Mason's weight was at least

1.5 times that of McHale, but this guy obviously has muscles in his brain and doesn't have a high IQ. McHale can outwit him.

This is of course Louis' wishful thinking, he just wants Ewing and Kemp to rest for a while.

As for how to survive this period of time, he looked at Wilson and pointed at his head: "Benj, use your brain and don't keep rushing around!"