The rest is just noise

The sixth game between the Knicks and the Trail Blazers was a season-ending game for one side, but a life-or-death battle for the other side.

The Blazers can't lose, and the Knicks really want to win.

Both sides have the same idea of ​​winning, but Louis' idea of ​​not wanting to lose will be stronger.

The Trail Blazers have two unsolvable players in Jordan and Barkley. Once it gets to the seventh game, how big the risk will it be?

The Trail Blazers are back to square one.

This time it's "normal".

Porter, Jordan, Barkley, Clifford Robinson, Nance.

In theory, the five strongest and most adaptable players should be the five players, which is what the Trail Blazers did tonight, but in previous games, Riley and Louis tested the upper limit of their respective lineups.

This year's Finals is one of the rare series where the Knicks don't have a depth advantage.

The injuries to the two Reggies made Louis discover that combo guards like Ainge and Maxwell, who seemed to be able to play two positions, were not very useful in life-and-death battles.

At least not as useful as Hornacek, the Knicks' best combo guard in the Louie era.

Of course, it may be that Louis's requirements are too high, or it may be that the Blazers' wings are too strong. Due to the sudden drop in wing depth, Louis had to uncharacteristically shorten the rotation. He used to rotate with twelve players at the beginning, but suddenly he became better.

The "hard days" of ten people's rotation.

At the beginning of today's game, the Blazers' intensity was at full strength.

As the theoretically strongest lineup of the Blazers, these five people are full of aggression when they come up.

Barkley stared at Rodman and bombarded him wildly, and his physical advantage was fully reflected in the duel between the two.

Louis had seen some of Barkley's remarks in his previous life. He did not value Rodman's rebounding ability as much as fans. He believed that if he concentrated on rebounding, he could easily do what Rodman did.

thing.

This sounds nonsense. Louis doesn't believe that Barkley can achieve that kind of effect by focusing on rebounding.

But there is indeed a gap in talent between the two.

In the first half of the quarter, Barkley embarrassed dpoy.

Rodman, with his green hair on his head, looks like a victim who witnessed a Minotaur cuckolding him but could do nothing about it. He has the strongest defense in theory, but his actual defensive effect is very average.

Ainge was guarded inaccurately by Jordan and failed to make a shot when he had several opportunities. This made the Blazers double-team Ewing more decisively.

In the past few years, Ewing has never averaged less than 4 assists per game in the Finals. This year, the Trail Blazers limited him to one more turnover than assist.

In the first half of the first quarter of game 6, Jordan was more dpoy than Rodman.

During this period, because Barkley hit whoever he could on the offensive end and almost single-handedly destroyed the Knicks' defensive system, Jordan's focus was more on the defensive end.

When he got the DPOY, Louis was unconvinced.

But Louis was unconvinced because Ewing was more deserving of DPOY that year, not because Jordan's defense was not good. In fact, as a No. 2 or 3 position, he has entered the DPOY discussion every year since the third year of his career, and even successfully

Winning a dpoy from Sampson, Ewing, Olajuwon and other players speaks for itself.

Defense is divided into categories like examination subjects. There are differences in arts and sciences, and they are not the same. For the inside line, defense should give priority to subjects, including top defense, rebound protection, sweeping and flanking, frame protection and switching defense;

Generally speaking, the key defensive subjects are leading the pick-and-roll, individual defense, off-ball defense and double-team defense.

Good top defense requires a thick and steady body, which makes switching defenses unsustainable; those who are good at pressing and sweeping will suffer in rebound protection. Most outside players who are good at one-on-one defense without losing position are not proficient in stealing and copying the ball; they can block smaller players.

If his weight is good enough to block heavy forwards, he will be inferior in off-ball pursuit and pick-and-roll defense.

The impression Jordan gave Louis was his pressure and threat to the ball.

He is extremely good at marking the ball holder one-on-one, and has the best ball path prediction and steal ability in history. He has averaged 2.8 steals per game so far this season. In the past few games, Louis noticed how strong his help defense ability is.

The help defense is the reason why Ewing did not have an inside advantage in the series. Of course, Ewing's inaccurate rabbit jump shot is also an important factor.

Tonight, Jordan showed his versatility on the defensive end. There is no type that he cannot guard, and as long as he is guarded, he can guard with excellent results. He is the strongest guard against swingmen of similar size. Nick

Sri Lanka's No. 2 position is Ainge and Maxwell. Neither of them has a speed advantage, but their sudden shooting ability and mental attributes are full. They are good when playing as a substitute, but they are obviously worse when facing Jordan.

As the core of the Blazers' defense, he was like Benj in the murderous press formation, leading Robinson and Nance to perform impeccable defense against the Knicks. Cooperating with Barkley's offense, he led the Knicks 24-16 at the beginning.

The game entered the second quarter, and Louis could only make substitutions.

At this time, the Knicks still have 13 players on their roster, but several of them cannot be used.

For example, McHale, his intensity cannot keep up; for example, Jack Sikma, Ewing can't get a bargain in the paint, let alone him; Brad Rohaus, the reason why he is on the active list is because

It's because two people are injured now, and he just has enough to be on the active list.

Among the remaining ten people, Louis still needs to use Angie and Maxwell carefully.

Suddenly, Louis only had eight reliable players.

This reminded him of the urgency of reinforcements in the offseason, but now that the series is still going on, he can only play the cards in his hand as much as possible.

Wilson, who played the entire first quarter, continued to play in the second quarter. Louis let Ewing rest, John Salley and Kemp partnered in the inside, Rodman and Wilson continued to work together, and Chris, the hero of the Battle of Tianwangshan, took the No. 1 position.

Jackson.

J's performance in Game 5 cannot be overly praised. Moreover, because he made many shots toward Jordan, "The Bad Times" gave him a nickname that scared Louis: "Jordan Terminator".

The nickname "Jordan Terminator", just like Jordan's successor, has almost no good results.

It's just that the former is cooked by the real owner himself, while the latter is shackled as if being followed by a ghost.

As expected, Jordan, who had no rest every day, was sent on to the court by Riley. He saw the "Jordan Terminator" and he, who had been defending just now, finally became murderous.

As soon as he came up, he made an ordinary cut-out jump shot.

Then, the defensive end blocked j.

Under his defense, J missed all three shots, while the Trail Blazers took advantage of the Knicks' three offensive failures to counterattack, all of which were successful.

Within two minutes, 32 to 16, the Trail Blazers led the Knicks by 16 points. This lead was the second time in the series so far.

"Jordan Terminator, go and finish Jordan!"

The tragedy master of the melon-eating masses did not think it was a big deal and sat in the commentary box and shouted.

j attempted a three-pointer for the fourth time.

This time it was Wilson who screened him, and Jordan was caught, but the Blazers switched defense too quickly.

The Trail Blazers wing was stunned by a j-shot in the last game, but today they regard him as a target that must be killed, and the defense comes in an instant.

j's shot missed again.

Rodman grabbed the offensive rebound and passed J.

J shot for the fifth time and still missed.

The amazing Rodman grabbed three in one, grabbed the offensive rebound for the second time, and still passed back J.

When J chose to take action for the sixth time, Louis could clearly see that his confidence was wavering. His fingers trembled.

How could the ball go in if something like this happened before the shot was taken?

Louis exhaled and waved Alex Stevens to get ready.

Ainge was hit by a bomb at the beginning of the game, and since the series started, every time Maxwell encountered Jordan, it was like a father beating his son.

Already 16 points behind, Louis didn't dare to take any chances.

J's sixth shot still missed. This time Rodman squeezed in among four people and restarted the rebound.

But everyone on the inside didn't get it.

Because Wilson ran in from the outside, jumped forward with all his strength, grabbed the out-of-control offensive rebound, and poured the ball into the basket with maximum strength.

At this time, tactics can have very little effect.

Fortunately, the Trail Blazers have the Flying Pigs and the Knicks have Benj.

Wilson's putback dunk sent Madison Garden shaking like a tsunami, and the entire audience stood up and shouted his name.

"benj!!!"

Ewing sat off the court, clenching his fists tightly.

He once believed that he did not need the support of fans, so when he faced the media, he always had an indifferent expression, like a walking dead who has lost his popularity, but does he really not want to be as popular as Wilson?

Who really wants to be hated like a zombie?

The duel between the Flyers and Benj is held for the nth time in the series.

This time, the life and death of the series is decided. Although it is too early, the Knicks are already behind by too many points. They need someone to step up and score unreasonably like Barkley or Jordan.

Barkley, who was unstoppable in the first quarter, was sitting off the court to rest, so the Trail Blazers let Jordan face off against Wilson.

Wilson's tip-back was a highly insulting letter of challenge. He instantly lost interest in the so-called "Jordan Terminator". When he encountered J's defense with the ball, he directly said: "Get Benjamin over here!"

Wilson chose to step forward and double-team Jordan with him.

The double team was just right for Jordan. He first dribbled with his feet to break the encirclement, then dribbled horizontally to the left, suddenly jumped up, and hit a hollow gliding jumper that Wilson could not touch.

"Is this the only level of primary defense?" Jordan said arrogantly, "It really makes me sick, Benj!"

Just when Louis was thinking about calling a timeout and substituting, he saw Wilson couldn't hide the murderous look in his eyes and asked J for instructions with a smile: "Leave a small role like MJ to me, Chris."

Maybe take another look?

Louis hated the feeling of not being in control, but he couldn't help it.