The rest is just noise

June 7, 1992

Portland, Memorial Coliseum

The Trail Blazers returned home and were determined to defend the city's glory. Barkley could not stop talking, and even said, "We want to win every home game so that we can celebrate the championship with our fans at home."

.”

Saying this kind of thing, first of all, it shows that you are brainless, and secondly, you don't give yourself a way out.

Counting their wins on the road, if they win three games at home, they will have to give the Knicks four consecutive losses.

Is this possible?

No one with normal thinking ability would believe that this would happen.

Barkley's bold words reached Louis' ears, and he smiled and let Ewing answer.

"I'm pretty sure the donuts Charles ate yesterday had a carcinogen in them." Ewing said seriously, "I'm not kidding."

Louis was afraid of being taken advantage of and had to smooth things over for him: "Actually, Patrick was joking. He said he was not joking. He wanted to express how sensational Charles' words were, right, Patrick?"

Louis has spoken to this point, Ewing's emotional intelligence should be improved appropriately.

He nodded along with Louis' words and said, "Coach Lu is right."

That night, NBA Sports produced a short film with narration for the core player of the Trail Blazers, Michael Jordan.

The person responsible for the narration is NBA’s golden voice Bob Costas.

Costas said emotionally in it: "Every American teenager who grew up in the 1990s wanted to be Michael. They went to buy AJs and aspired to fly like Michael, but they didn't know that Michael didn't want to be Michael because he had never

To truly win in the NBA. This time, Michael is ready."

There is no doubt that Wilson and Jordan influenced a generation.

Compared to Wilson, Jordan was more successful commercially.

Because Wilson's personality is not as distinctive as Jordan's, nor did he win multiple scoring titles like Jordan and lead Portland from desolation to prosperity.

He won the championship in the second grade and gave people the impression that he was a rich second generation who grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Memory is so unfair.

Everyone has forgotten how passive the second-year Wilson was when facing Bird in 1988, and how he responded when Boston tried to knock him out.

Maybe he needs to say "Fly like Michael" or have a talented director like Spike Lee shoot him a classic commercial. It may be a problem in other aspects. In short, at the youth level, he does not have the influence of Jordan.

and topicality.

Even his nickname sounds like a villain rather than a conqueror, and everyone would rather be a trapeze artist.

In that night's game, Wilson made it clear that not only does his nickname sound like a villain, but the way he leads the team to victory is exactly the same as a villain.

Riley repeated his old trick and once again tried to use a low-quality lineup to fight against the Knicks' high-quality lineup. Louis did what he wanted and used Wilson, Ainge, Rodman, Alex Stevens, and Shaw.

En Camp brought unparalleled intensity to the game.

After seeing the lineups of both teams, NBA commentators discussed the possibility of the Knicks starting the game with a full-court press against the Trail Blazers.

"The Knicks' full-court press is called the 'murder press' internally. As one of the biggest victims, I think this term is appropriate. They really play with a ferocity that murders their opponents."

The tragedy maker has seen through the Knicks' intentions, "Although they rarely use this strategy, whenever necessary, Coach Lu will surprise his opponents."

Doug Collins seemed to have a different opinion: "But John Salley is not on the court, and he is the soul of murdering presses."

"But the other four players are regulars who kill the press." Costas agreed with the tragic man. "And the point guard is neither John Stockton nor Chris Jackson. The Knicks are very good.

Might use a full-court press early on."

From the moment Selly became a vegetarian, Louie planned to remove him from the murderous tight end lineup.

Because no one knows when his competitive status will decline significantly.

Louis was originally worried about Salley's replacement, and once considered letting Ewing make a cameo, just like Wilson.

If Ewing is unwilling, use Wilson to stimulate him, and he will definitely be more active than anyone else.

But Camp's Georgetownization made things simpler.

Kemp spent the past two summers in Georgetown. Although he often followed Ewing in hunting for women, and he must have left behind many bastards, Ewing was a man who clearly distinguished between training and pleasure.

people.

As long as Kemp follows him, he will definitely be training and enjoying himself.

The biggest improvement in Kemp's time at Georgetown is his temperament on the court, or in other words, his style of play.

Louis didn’t know if John Thompson had done anything secretly, but Kemp had indeed awakened the endless anger unique to black Americans.

Kemp became violent and ruthless on the court, liking physical contact and making small moves. Whenever he dunked on his opponent, Louis was worried that he would make some obscene gestures and be criticized.

The Georgetownization brought about by John Thompson activated the performative personality hidden within him.

He has become a popular player for the Knicks, with no less than Ewing as a supporter. He was selected as this year's second defense due to his unique influence in Apple City and his genuine on-field performance.

Now, he is not the main player. As a substitute, he rushes around like a mad cow in every game. It is just right for him to join the Murder Press team to vent all his energy.

As the center of a pressing lineup, the energy he brings may be far stronger than John Salley.

The first was a jump ball. Kemp predicted it well and passed the ball to Wilson.

Wilson caught the ball, moved forward, and made tactical gestures with his hands.

Brian Shaw, who was responsible for guarding him, only thought the Knicks were the same as before. Unexpectedly, Kemp's pick-and-roll would suddenly fall into place.

Valley food

Wilson dribbled the ball laterally and stopped outside the right three-point line. The defense failed to keep up, so he decisively shot a three-pointer.

"Whoosh!"

"It's so ferocious!" the tragedy engineer was excited. "Benj is obviously very upset about the home defeat. He came to the Memorial Stadium full of anger!"

The next second, Wilson blew his whistle, and all the Knicks players on the court were on alert.

Except for Kemp, everyone else stayed in the frontcourt.

"really!"

"The Knicks have no intention of giving the Trail Blazers a chance to breathe!"

“The Knicks’ signature full-court press is coming!”

The most fearful thing about a full-court press is that the opponent has multiple ball-holding points on the court.

Now, the Trail Blazers have Xiao, Jordan, and Porter on the court who can dribble. It stands to reason that there is no need to fear the Knicks' pressing, but the Knicks' murderous pressing has long been upgraded from the early concept of "extreme physical combat" to "technical".

Type of pressure".

After the opening, Wilson first found Shaw who was in possession of the ball.

As a tall point guard, Xiao's dribbling ability is absolutely passable, otherwise no one would dare to let him play point guard.

However, the Wilson he faced was a lunatic who thought of fouling whenever he kept passing the ball.

In the first round, you must not only prevent the effect, but also the momentum and give your teammates confidence.

Wilson had this idea in mind and sold Xiao a flaw. The other party didn't think much in his hurry. He grabbed the flaw and wanted to rush forward. Unexpectedly, he ran into the trap set by the conqueror.

Wilson deliberately passed half of his body and took the ball away from behind.

In an instant, the Blazers lost the ball.

Wilson held the ball to attract Nance's defense and threw the ball into the air from behind.

Rodman followed up and grabbed the ball and dunked.

"5-0! It's still the same! The Knicks' terrifying full-court press brought Portland's offense to a standstill from the beginning!"

Pat Riley was sullen and fielded a weak lineup, so he was naturally prepared to be beaten.

But his preparation was not to be beaten 5-0 in less than half a minute.

The Flying Pigs lacked offensive power and were overpowered by the Knicks. That was something he could accept. How could he score directly after being intercepted by the opponent without even dribbling the ball past half court?

Unacceptable!

Absolutely unacceptable!

"Give the ball to MJ!" Riley yelled.

Then, Portlanders were delighted to see their hero catch the ball.

All the fans in the Memorial Stadium breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Jordan got the ball, they were relieved.

The defender Jordan met was Ainge, the weakest player in the Knicks' lineup. They were even more relieved. Isn't it just a matter of casual effort to break through this old man?

The fans' contempt comes from their 100% trust in the core players.

There is nothing wrong with this, what is wrong is overestimating the opponent.

Ainge didn't have much chance to perform in the first few games, and he was suppressed by Vernon Maxwell during the regular season, making everyone think he was the mascot.

Suddenly, this mascot was like the puppet in "Dead Silence". It was a toy that could be played with, but it suddenly became terrifying.

Anji decisively stuck to Jordan's body and used various tricks to harass him.

Jordan wanted to pass by in one step, but Rodman's double attack made it difficult for him to find a point of strength.

Ainge wanted to go one step further, trying to force Jordan to make a mistake and launch an insidious attack on the Flyers' ribs.

In the era of three-person referees, it is difficult for such actions to escape sanction.

The referee Mike Mathis decisively called a foul on Anji.

"Does this count as a foul?" Angie expressed dissatisfaction.

Mathis, who has been officiating in the league since 1976, said coldly: "You'd better put away those dirty little tricks!"

"That's right, Danny, listen to the referee." Louis shouted.

Mathis is not only an experienced referee, but also has a bad temper and a tough temper. His temper has not been cultivated through many years of refereeing.

The first game he officiated was the Bulls against the Bucks. In that game, he and his partners called 15 technical fouls and ejected 5 players. The most famous victim was the current Jazz coach Jerry

·Sloan.

It is best not to embarrass someone with such a stubborn temperament, admit when you are wrong, and stand firm after being beaten.

This is why Louis came out to remind Angie not to get entangled with him.