The rest is just noise

Stockton, Miller, Wilson, McHale, Ewing

When 2K releases a classic Knicks team from the 1980s in the future, this lineup will definitely be a highlight.

It represents the strongest lineup in the early days of the Knicks dynasty.

Now, as Hornacek grows and McHale deteriorates, Louis rotates at the first and fourth positions more and more frequently.

This season, McHale only played 40 games, and was a substitute in 2/3 of the games in the playoffs. Because of Rodman's rapid momentum, Bowie often served as a twin tower.

There will be Sean Kemp in the future, and McHale's degradation will invisibly "help" Louis.

If nothing else goes wrong, the replacement of the old and new positions at the fourth position will go smoothly. What he is more worried about now is whether Hornacek will have any ideas. With his ability, he can play well in teams other than the Knicks, Trail Blazers and Jazz.

You can hit it inside...

But now is not the time to think about this. Louis took a look at the Lakers.

Winning the last game at MSG gave them a lot of confidence, otherwise Louis really doesn't know why Pat Riley sent out: Kevin Johnson, Scottie Pippen, Derek McKay, Tragedy Master

, David Robinson’s lineup.

This lineup has three ball-holding points, and KJ needs to hold the ball a lot. Pippen needs to deal cards at the top of the arc to maintain his condition. Only the Tragedy Master can do things with or without the ball.

It's understandable that the Lakers use this lineup. These five people were in the best shape in the last game.

Their shooting performance was not better than that of the Knicks. They were able to win the first game entirely because their impact on the penalty area was high enough. The first game seemed to prove that concentrating firepower in the penalty area was the right approach, so in the second game they sent

Five players who can hit the penalty area.

The question is, what is the basis for attacking the penalty area?

Space! Space! Space!

In order to increase the threat to the penalty area, the Lakers recruited five attackers in the penalty area. However, these five people's attacks on the penalty area were ferocious, and their ability to stretch space was more clumsy than the last.

Except for Tragedy, the other four players averaged 1.3 three-pointers per game. Among them, Pippen took the lead with a 29% field goal percentage and averaged 1.1 goals per game. McKay and KJ took the lead with an eye-catching data of 0.1 field goals per game.

That little head is left.

This kind of projected threat, if Louis didn't use the pocket array to disgust them to death, it would be a waste of time.

Others may not have noticed it yet, but David Robinson noticed from the very beginning that the aura of the Knicks players was different from that in Game 1.

At that time, the Knicks were a bit frivolous, as if victory was already in their hands and they could win by just playing casually.

The Knicks like that are not scary. What is really scary is that this group of bandits smelled the smell of blood. Except for the head coach, everyone else's expressions tightened, and there was clear murderous intention in their eyes.

That's the team that scares the entire league.

It was probably this mentality that led to a slight problem with the opening jump ball between the two sides.

Referee Darrell Garretson tossed the ball up, but neither Ewing nor Robinson took off.

As a result, the first jump ball failed, and Garretson needed to throw the ball again.

"Patrick, why are you being reserved? Hit the ball down for me!" Louis shouted dissatisfied.

On the second jump ball, Ewing decisively gave the ball to Stockton.

Game start.

On the first goal of the game, Ewing and McHale double screened in the high post.

Ewing cut inside, and McHale stretched a distance to receive Stockton's pass and score.

Typical N.UCLA system's interior "2High" offense.

2 to 0

"Come on, give them some color!"

Wilson took command on the spot and clapped his hands to ask Stockton to join him in the frontcourt to apply pressure.

"That's Kevin Johnson!"

Louis doesn't think it's a good idea to pressure KJ in the frontcourt.

Just like in the future, not many teams will choose to press the Thunder with Westbrook. Once he rushes, it will be impossible to guard against him.

Louis missed a few points. Compared to KJ, Westbrook is stronger and has significantly better acceleration and absolute explosive power. The most important thing is that he played in the era when "Hand-heking" was illegal. Since the league resumed Hand-heking in the 1970s,

After the rules were implemented, senior officials found that this rule really restricted those players who played in a flashy manner.

So they restricted this rule bit by bit like slicing sausages. They first prohibited the use of hand-heking on the opponent's baseline, and then expanded it to the opponent's three-point line. But after that, when the league wanted to further restrict it, it was met with failure.

to the unanimous opposition of other teams.

Another butterfly effect brought by Louis, the league's plan to restrict hand-heking was blocked, because the way the Knicks shook up the Celtics dynasty showed people the correct way for bottom teams to deal with super teams, so everyone thought so

Yes, if the league dies the rules, how can other teams survive?

Therefore, in the first year of the 1990s, KJ encountered the brutal confrontation of the early 1980s, which was more targeted.

As a member of the All-Defensive Team, Wilson knows how to put pressure on the opponent's ball-handler when the frontcourt is pressing, even if it is a deadly ball-handler like KJ who can throw people away if given a chance.

Some people become stronger without knowing it, while the people around them are like people who don't know they are getting fat and are unaware of it.

This is what Louis sees as Wilson.

He knows that Wilson has made great progress this season, but how much? This is not obvious on the offensive end, but it is obvious on the defensive end.

Wilson is 203 centimeters tall with bare feet and has a wingspan of 224 centimeters. He has fast lateral movement and strong agility. Although his explosive power is not as good as monsters like Jordan and Wilkins, he is still at the top level of the league. With the blessing of this static and dynamic talent,

It is destined that he can become a top defender if he wants to.

It took Wilson five years to go from a talented defensive monster boy to the defensive powerhouse he is today.

His full-court press on KJ allowed Louis to see traces of Scottie Pippen and Kawhi Leonard.

His arm length and speed are enough to lead all ball handlers in the league, but the secret that allows him to "stick" to these people is his pace.

Wilson has outstanding defensive pace and is willing to lower his center of gravity throughout the game to ensure that he can move laterally and get stuck at any time.

In this case, KJ almost failed to dribble the ball across half court.

The moment KJ passed halftime, Wilson stepped forward and pressed KJ's center of gravity with his body. The sudden physical confrontation made the thunder-quick defender unable to protect the ball and lost control of the ball.

To the Lakers, it looked like Wilson knocked KJ over.

Pat Riley strongly disagreed: "If this is not a foul, basketball games should allow players to wear protective gear to play!"

"Come on!" Garretson looked at Riley with disgust, "He didn't foul!"

Only three seconds later, Wilson, who intercepted the KJ ball, rushed to the frontcourt, took two steps from the free throw line, swung the ball in a windmill and poured it into the basket.

4 to 0

"It's easy to steal. Be careful not to foul." Louis stretched out his hand and Wilson high-fived, "Understood, coach."

KJ accelerated his breakthrough as if he was offended.

His reaction was understandable. As a defender with great confidence in himself, he did not bring the ball to the frontcourt but was intercepted by the opponent one-on-one. No one could bear this.

In the next round, KJ took the risk to accelerate close to the sideline and barely brought the ball to the front court.

"That guy is really hot-tempered." Tomjanovich was even more surprised by Wilson's performance, "Benj can actually keep up with his speed."

"Rudy, you should say, 'Benj is actually willing to follow him.'" Louis corrected.

Tomjanovich didn't ask why. Although there was only one word difference, the meaning was completely different.

Even when he reached the frontcourt, Wilson was in no hurry to switch defenses with Stockton.

He guarded KJ for a few more seconds until Stockton arrived nearby and completed the handover.

Wilson went to Pippen and the Lakers hit the ball into the basket.

David Robinson tried to complete the attack against Ewing's body, but McHale's double-team and Wilson's abandonment of Pippen's intention to attack inside gave the elegant young center the idea of ​​passing the ball.

"If you don't attack, what are you waiting for?" the tragedy master shouted from the outside.

Robinson immediately put aside his illusions and scored a goal.

Didn't score, but the referee called a defensive foul on McHale.

The whistle was blown by young referee Jack Madden.

Louis did not react to this because it was an obvious balance whistle. Although Garretson expressed disgust at Riley's protest, he also knew that if he did not give the Lakers a little sweetness, any subsequent penalty would cause protests.

Blowing it to McHale is an acceptable result for the Knicks.

Because he is the player with the most substitutes among the five.

Unexpectedly, the referee put meat in his mouth, but Robinson did not eat it.

Both free throws missed from the same angle.

Ewing grabbed the rebound and threw it to Wilson next to him.

Wilson immediately made a long throw, but in the blink of an eye, the ball had already flown to the hands of Miller in midfield.

Miller dribbled the ball and positioned himself in the frontcourt. There was no one around him to defend him. He collected the ball directly and shot a three-pointer.

"Whoa!"

7 to 0

"The Knicks announced their return with a wonderful offensive climax!"