The rest is just noise

June 12, 1992

Portland, Oregon, Memorial Coliseum

The showdown between the Knicks and Trail Blazers is a basketball feast.

This series not only represents the highest level of basketball, but also a model of extreme commercialization.

Some say Portland's run to the Finals saved the series' ratings.

This is not wrong. The audience is tired of the Lakers reaching the Finals nine times in 10 years, and they are even more helpless that they have lost the Finals eight times in a row.

Even if they win once, everyone will feel more fresh.

Last season, they played six games with the Knicks, breaking the NBA's single-game viewing record. If the Lakers still reach the finals in the new season, the audience may be bored.

Fortunately, the Trail Blazers became the "bride", which revived the audience's curiosity about professional basketball.

In the last game, according to statistics from NBC Sports, approximately 35 million Americans watched the live broadcast, which was a new record.

And tonight, the record is likely to be refreshed again.

Bob Costas said: "There was a cemetery-like mourning atmosphere at Memorial Stadium, and everyone was very serious."

Both sides warmed up in an orderly manner.

After the starting list came out, everyone found that the Knicks started as regular starters and the Trail Blazers continued the strategy from the previous game.

Jordan led four forwards to press the Knicks full court, and Barkley continued to rest in the opening stage.

"Erwin, do you think the same strategy will work in this game?" Costas asked.

The tragedy expert said mysteriously: "I don't know if the Knicks have made any specific arrangements. I only know that so far in the series, neither the Knicks nor the Trail Blazers have used the same strategy to succeed in two consecutive games."

"Yes, the coaching staffs of both sides are very targeted, and it is difficult for the same strategy to work continuously." Doug Collins took over the tragic words, "I believe the Knicks will give the answer tonight."

Trail Blazers starting lineup: Jordan, Cosey, McDaniel, Blue Edwards, Nance.

Knicks starting lineup: Stockton, Ainge, Wilson, Rodman, Ewing.

The injuries to two Reggies forced Louis to make adjustments to the lineup.

Even Brad Rohaus, who bought a house in the DNP position, is on the activation list tonight.

In the last game, Stockton was embarrassed by the Trail Blazers' full-court press. This was bad news for him who wanted to compete for the last spot on the Dream Team.

If you want to change other people's impressions, you have to do something tonight.

Hugh Hollins throws the ball up.

Ewing and Nance made the same prediction and used both hands to attack the ball.

The ball was received by Jordan, and the Flyers immediately launched a quick attack.

He rushed forward like a stray arrow, broke into the penalty area, pushed past Wilson's defense, and scored a layup.

2 to 0

"Don't let them pass!" Jordan roared with alarming momentum.

Louis shouted: "It's the '4411' position!"

His words seemed to send a message to the players, and they suddenly knew how to break the Blazers' full-court press.

In order to crack the Blazers' full-court press, Louis, Zhao Yuanzheng and Van Gundy stayed up for two nights, repeatedly reviewing Game 4, and finally figured out all of the Blazers' pressing positions.

Since the Blazers' murderous press is a temporary formation, they must have a fixed routine so that they can achieve basic coordination and not be leaderless and just ruthless.

In order to facilitate understanding, Louis divided the frontcourt into 12 areas, using numbers 1-12 to represent the areas. The Blazers' "4411" position is one of their most common positions, discovered by Van Gundy.

As long as you can find this regular position, you can break it through passing the ball.

Stockton caught the ball unluckily and went to Ange's position. Ange took a few steps forward, followed Wilson's frontcourt pick-and-roll, and then passed back to Wilson. The latter accelerated his advance and pressed the whole court to break the ball.

"Unless they have a fifth position," Zhao Yuanzheng said with a smile, "otherwise, the Blazers' full-court press is no longer a threat to us."

First of all, it cannot be ruled out that they spent several days researching new positions, but even if there is a new position, it may not be effective within two days. Even if it is effective, the Knicks coaching staff can crack it on the spot.

Therefore, Louis is not as optimistic as Zhao Yuanzheng, but at the same time he is absolutely sure of the new position.

Ewing wanted to make up for his mistake and actively wanted the ball.

When the ball came from his teammate, he directly pushed away Nance's body, broke through to the basket, and drove inside to score a dunk.

2 to 2

In the past few games, Ewing's inside advantage was not obvious enough. Both sides lined up and battled wits with each other. What attracted the most attention was the coaching staff, and the most conspicuous ones were the outside ball handlers. The inside players were all like tool men.

Today, Louis wanted to mobilize Ewing's strength to force the Blazers' defense to shrink inward to help outside players get better offensive opportunities.

Jordan holds the ball from the outside. As the full-time ball handler of this lineup, he needs to do a lot.

But Wilson pressed directly close to the defense, and the defensive intensity was full. The threat to the ball was so great that Jordan had to collect the ball.

All of a sudden, the Blazers' offense was shut down.

Jordan's teammates wanted to respond, but Rodman approached like a ghost and suddenly stepped forward, forming a double-team with Wilson, causing the Flyers to make a forced error.

As soon as the Trail Blazers made a mistake, the Knicks' counterattack began immediately.

The Blazers, who had no time to organize a full-court press, fell into chaos.

Their athletic ability is strong enough, but no one can organize well. The tacit understanding of defensive players cannot be developed in a few games.

They only have core targets in their eyes, Ewing and Wilson.

Then, minor characters who are inconspicuous but equally dangerous will be missed.

Veteran Anji was positioned on the outside. After Wilson attracted the defense, he passed the outside line without looking at anyone.

Anji caught the ball and shot a three-pointer.

5 to 2

The problem with the Trail Blazers is obvious. Their lineup is designed to press the whole court. Once they fall into a positional battle, it all depends on Jordan alone.

Others can play support, but support is always support. If there is only one main attacker, the Knicks' Jordan Law is unreasonable.

Jordan's breakthrough was double-teamed by three people, and he struggled to pass the ball to Blue Edwards.

Edwards attempted a three-pointer.

His choice was correct, but what's the use of a correct attack that can't score goals?

"boom!"

Ewing grabbed the defensive rebound and led Wilson to a fast break with a pass.

In the frontcourt, Wilson dunked, 7-2.

The Blazers' game rhythm became sluggish, and they tried to use defense to pressure the Knicks' Riley, trying to solve the offensive problems of this lineup.

He suddenly realized that there was something wrong with this idea. If he wanted to attack well, he would not use this lineup to play.

Why did you put together this lineup? Isn’t it just to press the whole court?

What happened now? The Knicks used defense to cause continuous setbacks to the Blazers' offense. They either made mistakes or failed offensively. People will directly take advantage of your mistakes and missed shots to counterattack. What can you do? The whole audience has high hopes. After the press was cracked once in the opening game, there was no chance to use it again.

This dilemma worried Riley. He called out to Jordan: "Michael, stop thinking about passing the ball!"

"You can take care of them!~" Riley shouted.

Yes, this is the answer.

The Blazers were able to win Game 4 not because of their team's offense, but because of Jordan's unsolvable offense alone.

Now, this lineup that seems to have no answer still depends on Jordan.

Wilson's defense cooperated with Rodman's assisting defense, forcing Jordan into a negative angle.

The flying man made up his mind and jumped out of bounds. His eyes had already reached the back of the basket. He threw the ball to the highest point based on his feeling.

Judging from Jordan's position, he should not be able to see the specific position of the basket.

"Whoosh!"

"If he makes the shot, serve it fast!" Louis shouted to Ewing before Jordan took the shot.

The Knicks were completely unaffected by Jordan's god-possessed shooting. Ewing picked up the ball and immediately threw it to Stockton. The Trail Blazers, who were just about to take advantage of Jordan's amazing attack and defend with iron blood, found that he was carrying the ball. Stockton has broken through two levels.

When Jordan returned to the court from the baseline, he could no longer limit the Knicks' advancement.

After Stockton broke through the defense, he gave the ball to Wilson.

Wilson is faster, and the only one who can have an impact on his offense is McDaniel.

The X-Men pursued at full speed, but he didn't notice Wilson deliberately slowing down.

Louis discovered the details of Wilson's slowdown and could probably guess what the kid was planning to do.

The moment the two came outside the three-point line, Wilson made an emergency stop and McDaniel rushed over. Later, he saw Wilson planning to take a three-pointer, and made another over-excited lunge.

As a result, this is still a fake move.

The X-Men's lunge went out of control and he knocked Wilson's body over.

Wilson, on the other hand, turned the elbow of his shooting hand outward, hit the opponent's cheek, and used his left hand to send the ball into the air at the moment the whistle sounded.

"And One!"

"No, this is..."

"Uh-huh!!!"

"Four points from Benj!"

McDaniel yelled angrily: "You insidious nigger!"

"I would rather be an insidious nigger than be as stupid as you." Wilson sat on the ground and mocked contemptuously, "If I give you another 100 chances, you won't be able to guard against me. You are as stupid as a shit-eater." Stupid dog who can’t get enough warmth.”

You can certainly predict that these two people got into physical contact due to various personal attacks and racist trash talk, and were then warned by the referee.

This is what happens to McDaniel all the time.

But the opponent's response was unusual. McDaniel was a villain, and the people he provoked were either timid role players or stars who couldn't be bothered to compete with him.

Wilson is the rare superstar who is willing to compete with him, preferring to lower his stature and directly respond with vulgar trash talk.

Wilson's four-point play made Riley rethink whether the lineup on the court was appropriate.

The Blazers requested a timeout.