The rest is just noise

The second quarter between the Knicks and Trail Blazers started with a fierce confrontation.

The referee nervously controls the progress of the game, and both participating parties do not want to take advantage of the sensitive penalty scale to profit.

Clifford Robinson's role may not even have been expected by Pat Riley.

As a tall striker, this person has obvious advantages when defending.

He can run, jump, is tall and has long arms. He can help defend any Knicks player he encounters. When paired with Riley's switching defense system, he can work just fine.

Xavier McDaniel has stronger overall offensive and defensive pressure, and Robinson is more suitable to stitch up the Blazers' defense like a sewing machine during the stalemate stage.

During that time, Wilson was also replaced...

The Knicks don't have Wilson on the court, but they still have Ewing.

Miller seems to need a few more games to adapt to the Blazers' defense.

As Dale Ellis' successor, Louis has higher expectations for Miller, but since he took over, he has never faced a high-level defense like Ellis.

Miller's experience in Louis' previous life led Louis to believe that his upper limit was higher than Ellis. But now, Louis is not sure whether Miller in this timeline can surpass Ellis in the end.

If Miller debuts with the Pacers, his growth trajectory will not change. The so-called children from poor families have become masters early, because the team has no other promising players in the future, so Miller, a marksman with mediocre ball-handling ability, is pushed out.

After moving to the core position, unimaginable potential exploded.

If it were the Knicks, Miller wouldn't have to push himself to that point.

Just like tonight, Miller was not playing well. Louis' approach was not to leave him on the court to find his condition, but to substitute him. And the substitution was effective.

If it's a weak team that's short-handed, Miller will have to find a way to solve the problem on his own.

Therefore, such small details that are easy to overlook will also affect the growth of a player.

In the second quarter, Miller's performance was still unsatisfactory, shooting 1 of 7 from the field since the start.

Louis was no longer in a hurry to replace him. Miller's poor performance was caused by the Trail Blazers' defensive strategy. At this time, the Trail Blazers asked Jordan to face Miller, and Robinson, a Spider-Man with flying legs, was always ready to help defend.

, coupled with the newly replaced Anthony Mason, his defense cannot be underestimated.

If Louis is Riley's teacher, then Riley is definitely a good student who is keen on taking class notes.

Riley learned from Louis that "a tough team can win", "defense is the first priority", "the three-point line can be released", "sharp shooters must die", "it is better to switch defense than to help defense, and to rotate than to switch defense."

In the end, you still have to double-team," "No layup rule," "Selective shorting," and "Key players must be respected."

Miller is the key person in the eyes of the Blazers.

He is one of the few players in the league who can win games with three-pointers.

Although the Knicks have many shooters, Miller is the only one who dare not bet on touch.

So they treated Miller's defense to the highest standards.

This is why Miller didn't perform well after the start.

As a marksman, he is given priority by the league's second defensive team, so it is normal for him to perform poorly.

After Miller misfired, the Georgetown Twins stepped up.

Reggie Williams came on as Wilson's substitute, supporting the ball from the side and sending multiple second passes to Kemp and Ewing.

When the Trail Blazers used double attacks to limit Ewing and left Williams open on the outside, he also punished the Portlanders with stable three-point shooting.

Seeing the extraordinary tacit understanding between the two, Louis launched an attack focused on them in the second quarter.

The Knicks mainly play a second and third offensive formation, with Ewing and Williams mainly standing on the weak side and playing one-on-one with the Trail Blazers.

In the other three positions, Campra is in the high position, Stockton is at the top of the arc, and Miller is in the bottom corner.

Miller didn't dare to let it go, Stockton was accurate from the top of the arc for a three-pointer, and Kemp was the only player who could let it go, but it didn't take many steps for Ewing to hit the Blazers inside.

He had an obvious advantage in size. He smashed the ball to the ground and pushed it forward hard.

Robinson, who was responsible for guarding him, fell in front of Ewing like a felled tree.

Ewing made a sudden dunk.

"Drink!!!"

Ewing's roar is full of male hormones.

He finally knew how great it felt to dominate the entire field when Sampson was playing against them.

It's hard for Ewing to feel this way when facing Sampson or other superstar centers. However, the Trail Blazers' inside line is their biggest shortcoming.

As long as Ewing gets the ball, whoever wins will die.

It was just Robinson, but when Mason defended Ewing, Portland realized what cruelty was.

After years of training by Louis, Ewing's body shape is almost perfect, and his upper and lower limbs have enough strength. When encountering ordinary insiders, the gorilla can crush him with his strength advantage.

When encountering a strong forward like Mason, Ewing would not foolishly choose to go head-to-head. He knew that his biggest advantage was his height.

Therefore, before Ewing catches the ball, he first uses his physical advantage to squeeze under the basket step by step.

Mason didn't take the position battle seriously.

He believed that the real winner in this war was how Ewing attacked after receiving the ball, so when he was blocked, in order to save energy, he would not resist desperately. Because no matter how he resisted Ewing, he would eventually receive the ball from his teammates.

Pass the ball. He is too tall and his wingspan is long enough, so there is no point in stopping him from gaining position.

However, he forgot one thing.

If Ewing's catch point is under the basket, or very close to the basket, then there will be no suspense about the result. Gu Zu

When the ball was passed to Ewing, he immediately grabbed the ball, turned around, and rode Mason's body to dunk and score.

Ewing's dunk had the power of O'Neal.

He completely destroyed the Blazers' interior.

It's useless for the Blazers to come to anyone, unless they double-team Ewing.

If they double team, Ewing's ball will go out.

Stockton's three-pointer from the top of the arc, Kemp's high jumper, and even Miller in the corner were all lucky passes from the leader, washing away the bad luck from the opponent and scoring the second goal of the night.

Within a few minutes, Ewing dominated the basket and fed back the team. The Knicks went on a 14-5 offensive.

45 to 32

The Blazers fell behind by 13 points in an instant.

Riley requested a timeout.

"These guys are not that strong." Doug Mo shouted loudly, "If we push harder, I think Portland will be unable to hold on. That kind of defensive intensity cannot last the whole game."

Louis is not optimistic.

Other teams may not have enough physical fitness, but the Trail Blazers, their training intensity is well known around the league, and even Barkley has successfully lost weight. How dare they underestimate their physical strength?

No matter what, this team must be treated with the most dangerous standards.

Louis replaces Stockton.

The Knicks don't need to run a complex offense now.

"Since Patrick has such a big advantage in the paint, what we have to do is to amplify this advantage!" Louis asked Vernon Maxwell to come on as Stockton's substitute. "Patrick, just now you and Ruth (Reggie)

Williams) is on the weak side of the second and third formation. Starting from the next round, the two of you and Hawk (Maxwell) will stand on the strong side. All positional warfare attacks must be launched through Patrick. If they dare to

Just pinch it and pass the ball to the shooter. I want to see what they can do when our three-pointers come in like rain."

This is a real problem.

The Trail Blazers' wing reserve is unparalleled in the world, even the Knicks can't match it.

However, basketball games cannot be won by stacking wings.

They beat all the opponents in the West, but in the East, the Knicks are a transcendent opponent.

The Trail Blazers have strong wings and Porter on the back line, but only Nance is there inside.

Nance is still a power forward, but because there is no center on the team, he is forced to play that position.

Therefore, when the Trail Blazers encounter a team with a super insider, they have to find a cannon fodder in front of them, and then launch flanking groups to harass and double-team.

Against the Rockets, this trick worked, as Olajuwon committed 17 turnovers in two games.

This trick also works against the Lakers, because David Robinson is not tough enough and the Lakers are inaccurate from the outside.

The game against the Celtics failed. Sampson averaged 34 points per game so far this season. He currently has 6 50+ points in a single game, one of which was against the Trail Blazers. But the Trail Blazers won that game because Burmese

German Truce.

Against the Knicks, it stands to reason that the double-team tactic would be effective against Ewing.

But Ewing's starting point is higher than most centers.

After playing for Louis for six or seven years, he has eliminated the bad habits he developed during his Georgetown days, and he has also learned many skills that he did not possess originally.

There are also some habits that he and the entire team have learned a lot from.

Such as the current rapid ball handling.

When Ewing gets the ball, he will make a decision within one second whether to attack or pass.

Even if the Blazers double-team very quickly, his height still allows him to safely deliver the ball to his teammates through high-lift passes.

Due to Ewing's fast passing speed and high quality, the Blazers' wings did not have enough time to complete the defensive rotation.

The receiver is Vernon Maxwell.

When he first came on the court, he was so excited that he just pulled it up and took a shot.

As soon as the ball came out, he roared like crazy: "gnm must have this ball!!!"

"Whoosh!"

Louis rubbed his forehead.

"I hope that guy doesn't use so many bad words when he shoots." As soon as Louis finished speaking, Maxwell ran over like crazy and gave Louis a high-five.

"Coach, you can trust me! You can always do it! I'm fucking super strong!"

Louis really didn't expect that he wouldn't be angry at all when a player said "fuck" in front of him.

Louis attaches great importance to personal authority. Unless he is of low quality like Bird, he will never let players use violence in front of him.

Once the players lose respect for the coach, that is the beginning of losing control of the team.

But with Vernon Maxwell, Louis really had no choice.

This guy also has a nickname, "Mad Max."

Even the nickname is hinting to you that there is something wrong with this person, and you cannot use common sense to guess.