The rest is just noise

In the first 5 minutes of Game 4, Jordan did not score.

For his first point, he relied on an air cut to get a chance and was about to dunk, but was fouled by Ewing and brought down.

"Patrick, are you serious?" Jordan believed that tactical fouls were normal, but Ewing just hurt him by running towards him.

Ewing raised his hand to admit the foul and said indifferently: "I have no friends on the court."

He made Jordan so angry that he made one of two free throws.

Then, with a wave of his hand, Louis replaced Ewing and McHale and replaced them with Oakley and John Salley.

Louis enjoys seeing Oakley and Jordan play together every time.

What he enjoys is the process of changing the destiny of his players.

Although in the timeline that Louis is familiar with, Oakley was also traded to the Knicks to fight against the Bulls, but in the beginning, he was Jordan's bodyguard.

But in this timeline, Oakley has never been Jordan's bodyguard, so naturally he can't be Jordan's buddy.

Oakley is simply Oakley in New York.

Before the game against the Celtics, Oakley was the only Knicks player with an offensive bent.

Even after getting past the Celtics, Oakley still looks like the most vicious player on the Knicks.

Oakley had only been on the court for one minute when something happened.

Selly failed to grasp the rebound firmly and let it slip from his hands.

Then, Nance reached out and tried to take the backboard off.

He and Oakley got together.

But Oakley was not a person willing to share. He pulled the ball in his direction, but Nance didn't give in. The two were in a stalemate. Oakley jumped in and raised his hand and pushed Nance down: "You

How dare you grab a rebound with me! You weakling!"

There have always been boos at the Memorial Stadium, and this time it was fierce.

But what disappoints the fans is that Nance and his teammates did not choose to fight against this violent act.

They acted as if they had tacitly agreed to keep their heads down.

This made Jordan very angry. He said angrily: "We can't just be beaten, we have to take the initiative! They think we are weak, but we are not!"

This conflict ended with a jump ball from both sides by the referee.

As for the jump ball, Oakley is certainly no match for Nance.

But in this conflict, the Blazers were too weak from beginning to end.

Hubie Brown said sharply: "The real problem with the Trail Blazers may not be a problem of strength. They remind me of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1977. That team had the strongest talent on paper, but after a fight

, they collapsed because no one was willing to stand up and fight for their teammates."

This is where the criticism of the pioneers began.

But a big trouble the Trail Blazers encountered was their inability to pass the ball to Jordan.

Rodman's off-ball defense was very good. Wilson, Oakley, Selley and others actively switched defenses, rotated, and passed around the front defense to catch the ball. This was the main reason why it was difficult for teammates to pass the ball to Jordan.

Even if Jordan catches the ball, he can't do much.

Nicks was vicious, vulgar, and had frequent physical contact, trying to bring him down whenever he had the chance. He was never able to mobilize all the muscles in his body to compete.

It's like this isn't a basketball game, but a wrestling match.

The number of times Jordan fought hand-to-hand with his opponents was far more than the number of times he attacked with the ball.

If the Blazers couldn't give the ball to Jordan, they would have to rely on others to do it.

Drexler catches the ball in the low post. He doesn't have as many fancy skills as Jordan. Every time he gets the ball, all he does is simply shake left and right, and turn over.

His shot wasn't soft enough and he hit the ball hard.

Stockton counterattacked with a defensive rebound. After passing the Celtics' hurdle, he also recovered.

The key reason why the Knicks were able to defeat everyone in the Finals was Stockton's awakening.

Stockton's performance was the reason why Rick Adelman was eventually fired.

He can't even copy homework.

The Celtics' method of restricting Stockton was textbook. They gave him a chance, allowed him to shoot from the outside, and forced him to break through.

But the Blazers didn't have a rim-protecting maniac inside, so they didn't dare to give Stockton a chance to break through. They wanted to defend against both shots and breakthroughs, but of course they failed on both sides.

Stockton drove to the basket, and after Jordan caught up, he wanted to give a big foul.

He took action!

What shocked him was that what he thought was a large foul did not prevent Stockton's layup.

Jordan was called for a foul, but Stockton's layup was not affected.

"Mike, are you tickling him?" Louis said sarcastically.

Stockton's expression remained unchanged. He may not have intended to hurt Jordan's mentality, but his words did sound hurtful: "A hitter with such strength cannot be considered a foul in the Eastern Conference."

Another situation occurred that made Louis feel like he was dreaming.

Stockton, who was about to win his first championship, publicly taught Jordan.

Only Louis would feel this way, it's incredible.

Jordan, who rarely got the ball, could not get rid of Rodman's defense.

He shook hard, Rodman's purpose was very clear.

Jordan could go to the left or right. The defense in the paint area was already set up and it was impossible to shoot.

Jordan chose a jump shot from the free throw line, but Rodman interfered with his jump, which obviously affected his shooting arc.

He failed again.

At this stage of the first quarter, Jordan only scored 2 points from free throws.

The Knicks' strategy initially paid off. Jordan was so dizzy from the intense physical confrontation that he was unable to hit a jump shot.

The Trail Blazers also resisted the Knicks' counterattack.

Jordan got the defensive rebound and threw it to Drexler.

The glider's fast break failed, and Selly came out to counter.

Halfway through Drexler's breakthrough, he felt he couldn't hit it and passed it back to Porter.

Porter passed to the left, looking for Jordan.

The pass was obviously high. Rodman jumped forward, knocked Jordan's body away in the air, and pointed the ball forward.

The two landed together. Jordan lost his balance and was unable to pursue the ball immediately. Rodman pursued the ball with all his strength.

Now, Louis can be sure.

Making his debut in the Trail Blazers may have given Jordan a better team configuration and allowed him to lead the team to compete for hegemony earlier, but he also lost the opportunity to compete with the strong teams in the Eastern Conference, so he has not taken the initiative to increase his

muscle.

He gained weight naturally.

He will still gain weight, but not intentionally.

Therefore, when the Knicks dealt with him like Bird, he looked so embarrassed.

He had never encountered such confrontation in the West.

To be honest, I can't blame him.

When the Knicks played the Trail Blazers in the regular season, Louis would deliberately ask the team to hold back, just to make the Trail Blazers unprepared.

Although they can see the intensity of the Eastern Conference finals from the game video, how can they get a first-hand experience of that kind of game without experiencing it in person?

Tonight, what the Trail Blazers faced was the same team that had a devastating battle with the Celtics in the Eastern Conference.

Jordan saw his greatest weakness.

He has too little muscle, his weight is too light, and his confrontation is too poor compared to the beasts of the east.

Since the 1960s, basketball has gone from being skill-first in the early 1970s to confrontation being king in the 1980s. And this era will last for a long time. Unless the rules are artificially changed, confrontational ability will determine a player's success.

Performance stability on the big stage.

The Trail Blazers' pass was intercepted. Rodman moved to the frontcourt and was caught up by Jordan, but as soon as he passed the ball, Jordan had nothing to do.

Following up was Wilson.

He caught Rodman's pass, took off from outside the paint area on the left wing, and made a gliding one-arm dunk, landing right in front of Jordan's eyes.

Wilson looked at Jordan and said provocatively: "You are much easier to deal with than Larry."

"You have no quality, right? You want to kill people and kill your heart?" Louis shouted, "Hurry up and get back to my defense!"

Tomjanovich said happily: "It seems that the situation in Portland is over."

"Not yet." Louis looked at Jordan.

The confrontation is indeed poor, but he is capable of avoiding and attacking.

"Hey, open a pocket for Mr. Joe!" Louis shouted.

When Trail Blazers head coach Adelman heard what Louis said, he thought the Knicks were going to do something again and was very wary.

Then, he saw Jordan successfully get into position in the low post.

Drexler passed the ball.

"Let Michael get the ball in the low post, what are they trying to do?" Adelman felt something was wrong.

The moment Jordan caught the ball, Oakley immediately came over from the top line to double attack.

Jordan's habit of holding the ball to the line was caught. He was forced to turn sideways to the baseline. At this time, Stockton, who was supposed to be guarding Porter, was as sinister as a hyena and suddenly came behind Jordan.

, roughly knocking the ball away from Jordan's crotch.

Squeezed by the force, Jordan was forced to kneel on the ground to pick up the ball, but in front of him, Oakley deliberately bumped forward, knocking away his man and the ball.

"Beep!!!"

Darrell Garretson has been playing games for decades, and this is the first time he has seen such a fierce double attack and such fierce defense.

What is the most terrifying thing about the Knicks? As a referee, from his perspective, the most terrifying thing about this team is not that they dare to fight, but that they can distinguish between fighting and games.

Moreover, they never take the initiative to fight.

But they will force you to fight with him.

If you can't defeat him, he will dominate you physically and mentally.

Jordan was like a lone star in this round. He was completely trapped. The attack was so fast that he was not given time to react. He was forced to stop the ball. The defender sneaked up from behind, and the inside line responsible for applying pressure applied pressure forward.

It takes less than two seconds from stopping the ball to being attacked, dropped, and knocked down.

In less than two seconds, the most legendary defensive system in NBA history, specifically targeting a star, was launched.

Garretson fouled Oakley out of pity for the Blazers.

But a foul couldn't save the Blazers from nearly collapse.

Before the first quarter was over, it felt like the Blazers had lost all hope.

The last team to provide such terrible pressure was the Celtics in 1984.