The rest is just noise

"Fans, welcome to New York City, there is an important game tonight at Madison Square Garden——"

Both nbt and nbt broadcast this game live across the United States.

Over at NBC, the commentator is Bob Costas and the analyst is Hubie Brown.

For TNT, the commentator is Tim Brando and the analyst is Doug Collins.

"New York and Portland have been the most important game in the NBA since last year," Costas said. "They are the Lakers and Celtics of this generation. If you're tired of Los Angeles and Boston,

Human competition, then this matchup will not disappoint you. The stars they have in their team are rare in history."

"Michael Jordan, Benjamin Wilson, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Isiah Thomas, John Stockton... The game between the Knicks and the Trail Blazers is like two All-Star teams.

Formal competition.”

Hubie Brown compared it: "It's like the intra-squad game played by the Dream Team in Monte Carlo."

Many people miss the seven-game battle between the Knicks and Trail Blazers in last season's Finals.

For them, today is not a Christmas fight.

It's game8 in the finals.

The Trail Blazers' starting lineup is amazing: Thomas, Jordan, Barkley, Nance, Sabonis.

Compared to last year, when their first position was upgraded from All-Star Porter to superstar Thomas, Nance can finally return to his most familiar fourth position and use his athleticism to clear obstacles for Sabonis.

"Coach Lu, long time no see."

In Louis' impression, Thomas rarely took the initiative to say hello to him.

Therefore, he did not take Thomas' visit as a sign of goodwill.

"Isiah, your choices always surprise me." Louis habitually adopts an opponent's mentality. "After I left Boston, you did not continue to have that rebellious spirit, but chose to stand behind Larry and Ralph.

As a conscientious person, if you ended up in Boston, I would at least look at you higher than before, but you gave up your loyalty; went to Charlotte, if you can lead those young people out of trouble, maybe

You will also create your own legend; I really didn’t expect that your final choice would be to find another pair of Larry and Ralph... Between loyalty and legend, you chose the third party - help. You

As if to tell everyone that you were born to be a champion, and you will die without a championship. Well done, Isiah, I am proud of you."

Thomas kept an unintelligible smile: "No matter what you say, it will not change my determination."

"What's your determination?" Louis really wants to know what resolutions the Smiling Assassin still has to make now that his career has reached this point.

"Yes, my determination." Thomas slowly put away his smile, "Kill you and New York, this is my determination."

When Thomas said that, Louis had no words to refute in his mind.

On the contrary, he was worried about Stockton.

There is no doubt that Thomas hates him. That kind of hatred is very complicated and is composed of many emotions. But Louis is not a player, so Thomas' hatred for him can only be vented on other Knicks players.

Who bears the brunt of it?

Of course it was John Stockton who was playing against him.

To say that Stockton is a star identifier may be a bit much, because he is often beaten by non-star No. 1 positions.

However, he can also guard some star guards who lack athletic talent.

So, Stockton should be the offensive star guard detector.

All the offensive star guards who have never defeated him must either be "offensive" or "star". In short, one must be replaced, otherwise they will be killed by the cover of others.

So before the game started, Louis stood on the sidelines and patted the players on the shoulders as usual.

Only when Stockton passed by, he slapped the other person's butt.

He knew Stockton would turn and look at him, confused.

"I just hope you are mentally prepared for what you will face next." Louis said.

Stockton replied calmly: "No matter what it is, I can face it calmly - after losing the Dream Team, there is nothing I can't accept."

"You can't get over this hurdle, right?"

Tomjanovich joked: "If I'm not mistaken, John is blaming you for not being selected for the Dream Team?"

"Rudy, you must have gotten full marks in reading comprehension when you were a kid, right?"

Tomjanovich saw that Louis was unhappy, so he wisely shut his mouth.

Louis found that few things he encountered recently were satisfactory.

Could this be the seven-year itch?

Although this is his eighth year in New York, it still means that.

Pat Riley told him when they met just now that the Knicks should be mentally prepared.

Perhaps he meant to prepare the Knicks for an unprecedented opponent.

Louis attaches the greatest importance to this team, which has only lost one game so far.

However, how strong they are really needs a game to determine.

Players from both sides come on the stage and stand in their designated positions.

On the opening jump ball, Sabonis is no longer the monster that could challenge David Robinson in terms of athletic ability.

Ewing easily won the ball with a bounce.

The Blazers quickly settled in.

Although they have five star players as starters, this starting lineup was not easy to defend against the Knicks.

Sabonis can't be guarded, Thomas has a short stature, and Barkley has to defend against Wilson.

Jordan goes after Miller, Nance goes after Kemp.

As far as the defensive end is concerned, except for Sabonis, who has never shown his true potential, in the other four points, only Jordan has some advantages.

However, most teams will not let their offensive ace chase the opponent's off-ball shooter.

This is one of the defensive difficulties of the Trail Blazers. If Jordan is not allowed to guard Miller, who should he be?

Thomas? No way.

Barkley? Just kidding.

Nance? Is having the power forward chasing an off-ball shooter a matchup that the human brain would have imagined?

So it really depends on Jordan to make this choice, which means that the Blazers have no idea about the defensive ability of the starting lineup.

Their strength is offense, with the starting five and four core players, everyone has an offensive threat when they get the ball.

This combination, at worst, is like "how to play with one ball?", at best, it is the ultimate upgraded version of the 14 Spurs.

Ewing got the ball in the low post first.

Facing Sabonis, he used his shoulder force to push away the roof of the world's defense, collected the ball, turned around, and made a jump shot.

2 to 0

"Patrick Ewing comes up and hits a great shot!"

"It looks like the Knicks are determined to win tonight!"

"Yes, they beat the Trail Blazers, and now they have to prove that even if Portland introduces strong reinforcements, nothing will change."

Thomas dribbled forward, and Stockton's defense may not have caught his eye.

A contemptuous smile appeared on his face.

When training with the Dream Team, Stockton would be mercilessly beaten every time he faced off against Thomas.

The weakest player on the Dream Team is not college student Laettner, but Stockton.

This is a fact that makes Stockton sad. Because of this, he wants to be selected for the final roster to prove himself.

However, an untimely injury not only ruined his plan to be selected for the Dream Team, but also made Louis, who wanted to open a backdoor for him, unable to do so.

Now he actually blames Louis for this matter. Do you think Louis can't be angry?

Thomas did not choose to break through Stockton, but passed the ball to Barkley in the low post.

The Blazers' positioning is weird.

Thomas stood at the top of the arc, and Sabonis opened the corner - allowing the center to open the corner? Louis frowned.

Sabonis is indeed a center who can shoot three-pointers, but his opening point is usually outside the three-point line at the top of the arc.

Corner three?

Ewing was ordered not to shoot three-pointers for Sabonis, but the corner three-pointer is obviously the point where the opponent takes the fewest shots and has the lowest shooting percentage.

Ewing wondered whether to stick with Sabonis.

He was waiting for Louis' order.

Before Ewing got the order, Wilson had already let go of Jordan outside the left three-point line to double-team Barkley.

"The MJ in that position is not happy!" Zhao Yuanzheng muttered.

Barkley reacted quickly, and the ball was already out of his hands before Wilson's double-team arrived.

Jordan caught the ball and shot a three-pointer decisively.

The moment the flying man took action, Louis could feel an unprecedented smoothness.

In the past, watching Jordan shoot three-pointers was just like watching him shoot mid-range shots. There was no difference in rhythm.

Shooting mid-range shots at that pace is comfortable, but shooting three-pointers is not so good.

Now, Jordan has a comfortable three-point shooting rhythm.

"Whoosh!"

3 to 2

Jordan blew the ball with his finger and said, "Try to let me go again?"

"The impact of the Dream Team on Michael is not just adding another Olympic champion to his resume."

"His outside shooting has changed so much compared to the past!"

This is what Louis could foresee after Wilson killed the Trail Blazers with five incredible three-pointers - Jordan found his three-point touch and broke through himself on the original basis.

Now Louis must forget about Jordan, who averaged 40 points in seven games last season.

Because Jordan's three-pointers were extremely unstable.

From now on, they have to face Jordan, who has stabilized his three-point shooting and is likely to continue to evolve as the season progresses.

An extreme Jordan that had never been seen in Louis' previous life.

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

Chapter 2 Arrives late, for the same reason

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