The rest is just noise

Portland, Memorial Coliseum.

The second conversation between the Knicks and Trail Blazers takes place here.

One side is number one in the West, and the other is temporarily number one in the East.

The Trail Blazers have occupied the top spot since the beginning of the season. Currently, more than half of the schedule is over, and they are firmly in first place with a record of 56 wins and 6 losses.

They beat almost every strong team.

The only strong team that allowed them to lose was the Los Angeles Clippers.

As for other strong teams, such as the Lakers and Suns in the same division, the Heat, Pacers, and Knicks in the Eastern Conference, they have yet to lose a game.

The Blazers are always extremely serious about strong teams, and then they accidentally lose to weak teams.

That kind of careless Jingzhou-style failure is not worthy of attention.

So far, the only one with reference value is the game when the Clippers beat the Trail Blazers.

Louis hopes that before the two sides meet again in the finals, the Trail Blazers can swallow a valuable defeat.

The Trail Blazers just want to kill the Knicks. They have confidence, determination, and strength.

The Knicks hope to find the Blazers' vitality. Even if they are double-killed by the opponent, as long as they can find the opponent's weakness in this game, they can be more prepared for the next meeting.

Although this idea is somewhat disrespectful to other teams in the Eastern Conference, in Louis' view, as long as there are no major changes, it should be a certainty that the Knicks will reach the finals.

Their opponents had the same idea.

But the Blazers' plan is not to kill the Knicks.

Because the Knicks have no vitality and their lineup is balanced enough.

But balance does not mean impeccable. When the intensity of the competition reaches a certain level, only a few people can really determine the outcome.

In Pat Riley's view, the Knicks' lower limit depends on Louis, and the upper limit depends on Wilson and Ewing.

As for the Trail Blazers, Riley also represents the lower limit, while Jordan, Barkley, Thomas, and Sabonis determine the upper limit.

The Knicks are a classic dual-core, while the Trail Blazers are a quad-core driver unprecedented in basketball history.

Generally speaking, with so many cores, the ball will definitely not be divided.

But the Trail Blazers are a special case.

Jordan, the top player, has been among the top players in the league since he entered the league. Last year, he was only one goal away from the championship.

As long as he can win the championship, he can make sacrifices.

Barkley doesn't need to sacrifice anything. As long as he keeps his mouth shut, he will be the number one power forward in the league.

Thomas learned how to be the third child in Boston, and the blow he suffered in Charlotte allowed him to see himself more clearly, so after coming to Oregon, he integrated quickly.

Sabonis has always been the best player in the world outside the NBA. If he had come to the United States at a young age, he would undoubtedly have become a super center. Now, his body is no longer at its peak, but his game awareness and skills have reached a state of perfection. As an older rookie,

, his immediate combat ability is very strong, and he also knows that his tactical status can only be ranked fourth in the starting lineup at best, but he can take it as he comes and be calm.

In terms of starting strength alone, the Trail Blazers are number one in history.

Not to mention the Verdun Line of Defense, which terrified the entire league.

The Trail Blazers are so strong that they can ignore the Knicks and don't care what problems their opponents have. As long as they focus on their own performance, they can take care of everything.

After more than half a year, the Knicks once again came to the home court of the Trail Blazers.

Riley was dressed as usual, wearing a big black Armani suit, with a big oily head that was completely turned away, which gave him a bit of the charm of Al Pacino in "The Godfather".

"Hopefully we can have a good game." Riley said kindly.

Louis believed that Riley must have given Jordan and the others a shot of blood before the game started.

Something like, "Remember how they beat us last year?" He must have said that.

Wonderful game?

Louis believes that this game will be exciting, but it is hard to say whether it is exciting on a basketball level or on a story level.

Even if the game is ugly, if the two sides fight the whole time, fans will definitely think that the game is "exciting".

Louis had no intention of turning this match into a boxing match, it was just an assumption he made.

Before the game started, Louis carefully observed the Blazers' warm-up.

The Blazers' warm-up was interesting.

Except for Nance, the other four starting players: Jordan, Thomas, Barkley, and Sabonis all stood on the outside and tried to shoot three-pointers.

Thomas' three-pointer from the top of the arc looked pretty accurate.

Watching Thomas practice three-pointers seriously, an alarm sounded in Louis' heart.

Is Thomas really planning to carry out the auxiliary work to the end?

He didn't specifically practice three-pointers when he was with Bird.

If Thomas can also practice three-pointers, can the Blazers' starting lineup be defended?

"Isiah started practicing three-pointers?" Tomjanovich was next to Louis, "This is not good."

"It's a bit of an understatement for you to say that."

Isn't it just bad?

This is like asking a black man to play Snow White. Not only is it not good, it is already over the top, okay?

By the way, Americans actually let a black person (Latin person) play Snow White later...

Seeing Thomas regularly practicing three-pointers from the top of the arc, Louis temporarily decided to adjust the starting lineup.

When the Star-Spangled Banner was being sung, Louis glanced over and did not see Mohammed Rauf.

"Where's the horse?" Louis asked.

"Corridor?" Wilson was unsure.

"What the hell is wrong with this guy?" Louis asked irritably. "Does he not like the song "The Star-Spangled Banner," or does the flag offend him?"

Rodman laughed and said: "There is indeed something wrong with him, coach, have you forgotten?"

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Louis remembered that Raouf started avoiding the national anthem ceremony before the game in December last year.

It was also at that time that he changed his name.

Stockton said indifferently; "He is a country-hater."

"Who is going to tell him that he will start tonight?"

Louis spread the news and Stockton learned that Rauf would start tonight and became even more dissatisfied with the latter.

"I'll go." Yu Tiancan said enthusiastically.

After the ceremony, Rauf and Yu Tiancan ran out of the players' tunnel together.

Louis did not ask Rauf why he avoided the national anthem before the game.

He couldn't imagine anyone hating their own country's flag and national anthem, but Rauf clearly hated the American flag and national anthem.

This kind of behavior and thoughts are unacceptable everywhere.

No matter what reasons he has, as long as the matter is exposed, he will be saddled with terrible negative publicity.

So Louis ignored it, because Raouf must have had a reason to do so, and as a foreigner, he had no time to worry about it.

"John is unhappy because you took his place in the starting lineup. You'd better play nice for me."

Louis encouraged Raouf.

Rauf had only one question: "Should I play more smoothly or more aggressively?"

"When tens of thousands of fans are swearing at you, what are the chances that you will stay calm?"

"0."

"Since you know, don't ask stupid questions." Louis said energetically, "Just be brave and be yourself on the court!"

Rauf replacing Stockton in the starting lineup means another thing.

The Knicks' starting lineup has two players with unlimited shooting rights.

Although Wilson usually controls his average number of shots per game within 20 times, facing a powerful enemy like the Trail Blazers and using those rules to constrain himself, let alone that he disagrees, if Louis knew, he would definitely ask him

The eighteen generations of ancestors send their sincere greetings.

As soon as the Knicks started playing, Rauf's replacement of Stockton attracted the attention of NBC commentators.

"Mohammed Rauf's wonderful performance in last year's Finals helped the Knicks win a game." Bob Costas said, "Does little lu hope to use his power to change the situation again?

?”

Costas' partner is The Tragedian.

NBC seems to be deliberately adopting a tragic mentality. After all, everyone knows that it was the combined efforts of the Knicks and Celtics that caused him to suffer so many consecutive defeats in the Finals.

Now, the Trail Blazers have a chance to end the Knicks' reign, so let The Tragedian be the analyst.

I think back when the Tragedy Master was in service, there was no time when a "little guy" like the Blazers wasn't being tricked by him in the Western Conference Finals, and now he's become a genius.

"Yes, the Knicks need Muhammad's outside threat!"

At this point, the tragedy master can only echo nonsense.

On the opening jump ball, Ewing beat Sabonis.

Rauf dribbles forward.

Before Rauf's card came into play, Kemp took the initiative to lean on Nance's body and got stuck in the right waist to demand the ball.

"Oh! It's Shawn Kemp!"

"After Reign Man signed a big contract last month, his performance is getting better and better. Now he has firmly occupied the starting lineup. Even Dennis Rodman can only be substituted."

Kemp receives the ball, dribbles the ball first, and then turns around.

His turnaround is very Georgetown-esque.

The big men coming out of this school all have beautiful turning moves, but Kemp didn't go to Georgetown and learned his moves from Ewing.

But learning from Ewing does not mean that his post-up play will be as formulaic as Ewing's.

Let’s just say that this turn has the shape of George Town, but it has a unique soul.

Except for Kemp, Louis has never seen any inside post attack with his back to the basket and then turn around to face the basket as fast as this.

Larry Nance is already a leader among athletic power forwards, but he is as slow as a turtle in the face of Kemp's whirlwind turning movements.

Kemp was like the hare in the tortoise and the hare race. He got rid of Nance's defense without any suspense, rushed to the basket and scored a dunk.

2 to 0

"This is Reign Man!" Costas shouted, "He is the youngest player in the Knicks' starting lineup and one of the fastest-improving players in the league, even for Larry Nance.

, Kemp is also a tough nut to crack!”

The Blazers' response ball found Ewing.

Sabonis high pick and roll.

With the help of the pick-and-roll, Thomas had no trouble passing Rauf. Ewing's cover caused some trouble, but he was too fast.

No matter how quick the gorilla is, he is still a seven-foot-tall center. Facing the smiling assassin who is just over six feet tall, his defense was instantly broken through.

The assassin, who thought he could score smoothly, made a layup, but was blocked by Kemp who came in from the wing.

But Nance followed up and grabbed the offensive rebound and dunked.

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

I'm in the middle of eating, but I'm not in the mood to write anything anymore.

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