The Rest, Only Noise

A big problem for the Blazers right now is how to balance Jordan, Drexler, and Terry Porter's possession.

Adelman has tried to let Jordan play the point guard since last season, but Drexler, who lost the ball, has no daunting shooting threat, and his role is better than the Warriors Green but limited.

Putting Jordan at the one allows him to play to his full potential at the expense of role-playing Drexler.

As the two most important players for the Blazers to hit the championship, whoever becomes a role player is a price they can't afford.

So, Jordan himself began to change. Even playing point guard, he pays attention to Drexler's position.

Louis' approach to this is very simple.

No matter how the Blazers play, it is the three-pronged axe. The Knicks' defensive strategy is to put pressure on the whole court.

Pressure on Jordan, pressure on Drexler.

Because after Porter goes down, the Blazers can hold the ball with two people.

Except for Jordan, no matter which Trail Blazers player has the ball, a partial double-team must be immediately carried out.

There are two reasons why Louie dares to do this. The Knicks have two players with unlimited range on the court.

Rodman and McHale.

Needless to say, the former's switching ability is the predecessor of Dream Chasing Green, but he has an epic enhancement in rebounding. Compared with the peak Green, his shooting is a bankrupt version, and his support is also weakened, but this is also the same as never. The team let Rodman deal the top of the arc like Green did.

Essentially, they are the same player.

McHale, his size combined with his style of play is already bizarre, and even more bizarre is his agility. In his previous life, Louie, who didn't know much about basketball in the old days, wondered why the Celtics' big three in the frontcourt could succeed. Wouldn't Bird's speed be targeted? The answer is yes, but the Celtics found a way.

Let Bird guard the 4 and McHale guard the 3.

This point, as mentioned earlier, McHale's defense is not as simple as being able to guard the 3, to be precise, he is flexible enough to guard various styles of 3s. The only 3 position that can blow him up is a flying beast like Wilkins with speed and overwhelming physicality.

The Knicks defensive system constructed by Louis is full of traps and pays attention to the defensive intensity of oppression and suffocation.

Internally, this defensive system was dubbed "Ian\'tbreathe" by Louie.

Now facing the best individual offense in the league, the Knicks' on-court lineup isn't the best defensive lineup.

In the first round, Wilson led the defense against Jordan, Rodman and McHale each performed their duties. On the Blazers side, Jordan dribbled the ball over, asked Drexler to take the ball, looked for an open teammate, but couldn't find it. Rodman interfered with a strong shot.

McHale grabbed the defensive rebound, and Wilson countered, chasing after Blazers bench gangster Jerome Curcy.

29 to 28

The Blazers completed the go-ahead.

"As usual, LittleLu is always one move ahead of his opponent. The Knicks have sent 10 players tonight, while Portland has only seven players," said Bill Shanelli, an announcer at the Memorial Stadium.

In the next round, Drexler held the ball strongly and was disturbed again.

Tonight his layup touch is really bad, and there are almost no rounds of successful goals.

Fortunately, Jordan grabbed the offensive rebound, swayed his shoulders to fool Wilson, rolled over and made a jumper to regain the lead.

30 to 29

With McHale on the floor, Hornacek rightfully played 2HighRip, giving McHale the best singles chance.

With his back to Nance, McHale used his signature up and down steps to score easily.

31 to 30

Jordan decided to play a pick-and-roll. However, the Knicks' defensive strategy was implemented in place. The biggest difference between Jordan and Louis under Adelman is that they learned to use the pick-and-roll to break the opponent's defense early. Before the dreaded 3-pointer, his pick-and-roll didn't get the full power of the pick-and-roll system.

Wilson immediately gave up defending Jordan, and Rodman switched over.

Don't flank, don't rush the ball, keep your distance.

The Knicks players executed Louie's setup perfectly.

Almost every step is a hint to Jordan, you don't want to unclog your joints and have fun with your teammates. If you have the ability, you can beat me to death in singles. Don't you see the Chicago fat boy slashing 50+20 rough and turning me over in the Big Apple ?

Rodman's size, combined with the speed, energy, explosiveness and ability to take off consecutively, makes him a natural defender.

It's just that he is extremely lacking in self-confidence now.

When defending, he didn't even dare to look in the eyes of the opponent, let alone a killer like Jordan who wanted to kill with his eyes every night.

Jordan dribbled the ball and made a leap forward that was definitely the fastest in the league.

Louie thought that Benj was similar to him before, but now, there is a gap in grades.

Because Jordan rarely explodes at full speed, just now, it has exceeded Benj's limit, and Louis is not sure whether it is Jordan's fastest start.

Rodman lost his defensive position first, but fortunately there was McHale to fill the position.

Coupled with Oakley's savage pincer attack, suddenly, Jordan had the opportunity to pass the ball to his teammates. His ball was just about to pass, and Oakley's savage defense knocked him down from the air.

In an instant, James Edwards, Jordan's number two bodyguard, quit his job and was about to fight.

The advantage of McHale's long arms is reflected, he separates the two sides, and does not mix any positions.

Jordan paused on the ground for more than ten seconds before standing up, and he was fine.

Fans at Memorial Coliseum thought about what happened last year when the Knicks came.

She Nili asked strangely, "A New Yorker has a relapse of an old disease?"

The battered Jordan went to the free throw line without saying a word and scored two goals in a row.

This made Louis on the sidelines uneasy.

"Not so good," Tomjanovich said.

"You don't think it's good to provoke MJ like that?" Louie asked.

Tomjanovich shook his head and said, "No, I mean, it's not good to not kill him in one breath."

Worse yet, it would provoke the most infiltrating existence on the basketball court in Louie's memory: the angry Jordan.

James is rarely angry, Duncan is hardly angry, O'Neal will be cut because of free throws, so he often fails to get angry. Kobe is angry every day but his playing is unreasonable, and his opponent is also angry with himself. When he was on the team, he would probably also drive his fans crazy. Only Jordan, when he was angry, would play with a kind of bloodthirsty anger like Hannibal.

The Knicks had a very stable positional battle, with McHale there, every time they played 2HighRip, the success rate was over 70%.

Once again, 2HighRip created a low-post single-play opportunity. Edwards, who was dislocated and guarded, couldn't prevent McHale's terrible low-post attack.

33 to 32

In recent possessions, the Knicks and Blazers have given themselves the lead every time they score.

Then things are a little different.

Louie gave Drexler a "get out of the way" gesture when he saw Jordan dribbling the ball in the backcourt.

When Jordan saw Wilson, his right hand slammed and the speed was too fast. This time, Louis was sure that Jordan's limit speed.

Even Wilson couldn't react.

By the time he realized his defense was overwhelmed, Jordan had taken his defensive position, one meter inside the three-point line, and pulled.

34 to 33

When the Knicks scored three and wanted McHale to the post.

The Blazers' defense finally had some IQ, and the insiders blocked the route and prevented McHale from getting to the position smoothly.

The ball was running on the perimeter, trying to play another play, but was forced into a turnover by the weak sides of Jordan and Drexler.

Jordan then rushed forward at full speed.

36 to 33

Rodman's brilliant cut inside, but forgot that their opponents were equally astonishingly athletic.

Nance returned to defense very quickly, and Rodman suffered a loss in experience.

McHale grabbed the offensive rebound and scored a second offense.

Louie signaled that the audience was pressing, and even if he fouled, he would disrupt Jordan's rhythm.

If the process is reversed by the result, this is a mistake by Louis, which means adding fuel to the fire.

The Knicks put pressure on the court, Rodman and McHale plus Oakley, three frontcourt players of the right size are enough to bring suffocating defensive intensity.

This is the essence of "choking defense".

The Blazers let Drexler hold the ball, and he was forced to stop and risk a pass.

Jordan jumped up in midfield to catch the ball with one hand, Wilson faced the upper post, and Rodman caught up to attack. However, it was an open area, and the two obviously couldn't control Jordan's advance.

Jordan's ball movement was breathtaking. He dangled past Wilson, dribbled the ball behind Rodman's center of gravity while he was on the move, pulled up from an emergency stop, and made a 45-degree drift jumper on the right.

38 to 35

"The Knicks can defend like that because it's Michael's favorite because he's always playing in the crowd!"

She Nili excitedly supported Jordan.

Louis signaled to the players with a gesture to stop pressing.

For the Lakers, they can press. Although it is dangerous for Magic to hold the ball, he is too tall. The taller the ball carrier, the easier it is to have problems when encountering intense full-court pressing. Even in trouble, the Knicks can foul.

And, aside from Magic, the Lakers don't have a second reliable ball-handler.

Against the Celtics, the Knicks tried a full quarter of full court pressing.

When they put the ball in Thomas' hands, they defended it if they could, or made a rough foul if they couldn't.

But when it comes to the Blazers, if you want to press the whole court, you need to go through research and targeting. Just now, it was a test of the water.