the rest, only noise

Chapter 427 Skinny Reality
Boston Garden, January 1987, 1

New York Knicks VS Boston Celtics

Another game that was widely considered a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Knicks have made great progress so far this season and are the only team in the league with a winning percentage of over 80%. Needless to say, the Celtics are strong. They have won the championship for three consecutive years and are the undisputed dynastic division.

Unlike last season, the Knicks no longer regard the Celtics as a team to beat in the future.

From this year onwards, they will regard the Celtics as their opponents.

Early in the season, Louie wasn't sure.

The performance of the Knicks so far this season has made Louis sure that they already have the strength to challenge the Celtics.

Tonight's game is a rematch between Wilson and Bird.

Louie wanted him to match up with Bird, but the Celtics wanted Bird to avoid matching up with Wilson.

This is a normal thought, and a normal coaching staff will use strategies to avoid direct confrontation between the two.Because they understand that even if the offense is as stable as Bird, it will be very difficult to play in the face of Wilson's unfathomable physical condition.

Louie isn't worried about the matchup between Wilson and Bird.

It's not that he thinks that Wilson is sure of Bird, but he thinks from the bottom of his heart that Benj should fight Bird to figure out his position in the league.

Even if you let Bird take class and hurt your self-esteem with trash talk, it's worth it.

A rookie who has not been educated is not a good rookie, and Wilson should have a complete rookie season.

At the beginning of the game, the Celtics were very aware of the importance of matchups.

If they get the alignment wrong, they'll be in trouble.

So, in order to keep Bird from confronting Wilson head-on, KC Jones put him at the four, Sampson mentioned the five, Lambiel came off the bench, and Ron Harper and John Long played the two and three respectively.

It was a strange sight to see McHale in a Knicks jersey against Bird.

The Knicks came to the Garden with the determination to win.

"Don't be careless, don't forget that the Knicks won last season." Tom Heinsohn said.

He brought up last season's regular-season disappointment in Boston to get fans to boo the Knicks.

As long as the fans are strong enough, the momentum they create cannot be underestimated by anyone.

The Knicks first showed their signatures, the N.UCLA system, the dynamic block and cut from the three-point line, and the running of Wilson and the comeback Dell Ellis.

In order to allow Wilson and Ellis to communicate with each other, Louis and the coaching staff updated Exchange Ricky (high dynamic attack).

It is still in the experimental stage now, but the effect is good, and the surrounding area is overwhelming.

When running this set of blocks and cuts, Wilson is quite adaptable except that he has no touch.On the contrary, Ellis, he has hardly changed, but because there are too many things off the court, he can't maintain normal training and competition at all, and he looks ignorant after playing.

His off-ball offense and three-point threat are important to the Knicks, but now it seems that he is not counting on him.

On the other hand, the Celtics' offense originally had four ace systems: a high-post offensive system dominated by Bird and Thomas, a No. [-] offensive system dominated by Thomas and Sampson, a four-corner offensive system with Thomas' single belt, and a No. [-] offensive system with Bird as the axis.

Long and Harper's outside partners make the Celtics' offense biased to help the outside shooters find the touch first.

As a result, the Knicks failed to attack on their own, but turned around and defended extremely well.

Wilson always has confrontation problems when he defends alone, but he has no problem defending Lang and Harper.

If the Celtics don't let Bird play the fourth position, with the latter's size, it is estimated that he can play the scene of the tragedy.

Wilson gradually has the meaning of Tyshawn Prince. He is thin and full of defensive willingness. He has a strong sense of presence when assisting in defense. He and Ewing sweep the paint area and control the high ball transfer.

The Celtics had a waste of most of their running positions at halftime.

Except for Bird's back to find John Lang's long shot and Thomas' own breakthrough, Sampson had to be singled out.

Louie had already expected this, so the Knicks made targeted defense at the beginning of the game. McHale used his 244cm long arm to steal a pass from Bird to Sampson.

After Dell Ellis missed Long's second three-pointer, Louis concluded that he was not in good shape and made a decisive substitution.

Louis replaced Dennis Rodman, so the Knicks had another Spider-Man forward with unlimited energy on the scene.

Bird played against McHale at the [-]th position. He didn't feel good, and his passing was often affected by the opponent.

The Knicks formed an amazing defensive network in the paint area, making it difficult for the Celtics to play an ideal offense with coordination.

The more they try to cooperate, the more likely they are to make mistakes.

The Knicks gradually cooperated under Stockton's needlework.

Ewing and McHale scored half of the team's points by relying on 2 High Rip.

Wilson took over with the ball in place several times, cutting through John Long's defense.

Today's Lang feels a lot of twilight. The three-point threat in the early years has dropped a lot. The defense that was considered passable has now become a big hole.

27 is better than 14
This start was absolutely unexpected for the Celtics.

"What I want to say is that the Celtics should never underestimate the Knicks. There are signs that their reconstruction has been completed and they are different from the past!" Heinsohn said worriedly, "This year's Knicks are a real challenger!"

In the second quarter, KC Jones reacted.

Letting Bird play the [-]th position will only increase his loss. McHale is a [-]th position that can defend the [-]rd position. Moreover, his defense is definitely not weak. The Knicks can now have the league's first defense.

Bird returned to the three position, facing Rodman.

Louie rested Wilson and lined up Hornacek, Corbin, Rodman, Oakley and Ewing.

If Stockton was the reason the Knicks' offense performed so well, Ewing was the reason their defense suffocated tonight.

From protecting the basket to sweeping outside the paint area, he has done everything without fault.

KC let Bird rest, and Thomas played the second quarter with Sampson, Lambiel, Angie, and Harper.

The Celtics, who were struck by the Knicks' defensive opening, gradually recovered.

Sampson started to get angry.

He frequently received the ball in the high post, scoring all five consecutive possessions.

He forced out of the Knicks' double-team, and then used the vision brought by the height to distribute the ball.

When Ron Harper hit a [-]-pointer, the Celtics tied and Louie called a stoppage.

The Knicks didn't make a mistake just now, and everyone did what they were doing, but no one could prevent Sampson's offense, including Ewing.

Louie made another substitution, off Oakley, on Ball, Ewing went to the fourth position to face Sampson, Ball protected the basket, regardless of Lambiel's three-pointer, the Celtics had a natural opportunity on the offensive end.

Whether Lambiel can make an open three-pointer at the top of the arc will largely affect the Knicks' defensive layout.

Lambiel's [-]-point percentage this season is his worst in four years.

This is why the Knicks boldly let him vote.

However, Lambiel is the kind of player who will hit the shot "when the team needs it most".

The moment he made a three-pointer, the Knicks' defense disappeared.

Relying on Sampson's destructive power alone, Thomas just passed the ball and changed the situation on the field.

Then Bird returned to the court and replaced Thomas with Ainge at the one.

At this moment, Louis called a stop to the game.

He waved grimly.

Wilson, Rodman, John Selley, Alex Stevens, Oakley -- the murderous tight end enters.

Seeing these five people, the Celtics knew exactly what the Knicks were going to do.

But they would never have imagined that the intensity, hardness and ferocity of Nix's murder was much stronger than the last time they saw it.

It was 4 minutes that choked Bostonians.

Danny Ainge, who took the No. [-] position, thought he was qualified for this position.

But the long-armed forest of Wilson, Stevens, Saley, and Rodman told him: No, you can't.

Except for these four spidermen, the only one in the murderous press who is not a spiderman is Oakley, the toughest man in the league.

Moreover, four of these five people are not stingy with their foul numbers.

Once the sign is wrong, or the Celtics have the possibility of breaking through the defense, they will immediately make a tactical foul.

In 4 minutes, the Celtics only scored 4 points.

The Knicks scored 12 points.

The situation that was originally reversed by the Celtics is now back in the hands of the Knicks.

KC inexplicably called for a timeout, hastily calling Isiah Thomas back to the field.

Louis prepares to withdraw the murder press, but is opposed by Wilson.

"Coach, we can continue!" Wilson said excitedly, "The show is about to begin!"

Louie doesn't think it's a good idea: "Isiah's coming up."

"Isaiah is short in stature, we can start with defense!" Wilson was so excited that he couldn't think normally.

Louis didn't mind the young man's waywardness, he looked at the other four people who were in the murderous lineup: "What's your opinion?"

Oakley became their representative, and the villain said viciously: "I want to ravage them for a few more minutes."

"Okay, then press for another 2 minutes." Louis said, "Just 2 minutes, don't bargain with me."

The reality is skinny, passion and desire can't change a thing.

That is, once Thomas gets the ball, they can only foul.

After all, no player in this lineup is under two meters tall.

If they want to make the murder press reach the strength that can limit Thomas' supercar, they need a peak Chris Paul.

This is of course a luxury.

Thomas can break the press by catching the ball, but he is not good at catching the ball, and these guys know how dangerous it is to catch the ball to Thomas.

Therefore, after 2 minutes, they spent more energy and fought the Celtics to a close.

46 is better than 43
With 2 minutes left before the end of the first half, Louis withdrew the murder press.

(End of this chapter)