the rest, only noise

Chapter 847 It's the same if I give you another 100 chances

1992/6/12

Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon
The matchup between the Knicks and the Trail Blazers was a basketball feast.

This round of the series not only represents the highest level of basketball, but also a model of extreme commercialization.

Some say the Portlanders saved the series' ratings by reaching the Finals.

There is nothing wrong with this. The audience is tired of the Lakers' 10 finals in 9 years, and they are helpless for them to lose the finals 8 times in a row.

Even if they win once, everyone will feel more fresh.

Last season, they played six games with the Knicks, breaking the NBA's single-game ratings record. If the Lakers still reach the finals in the new season, the audience may feel tired.

Fortunately, the Trail Blazers became the "bride", which revived the audience's curiosity about professional basketball.

According to the statistics of NBC Sports, about 3500 million Americans watched the live broadcast of the last game, which is a new record.

And tonight, the record is likely to be refreshed again.

"There was a graveyard mourning vibe in Memorial Coliseum, and everyone was serious," said Bob Costas.

The two sides warmed up methodically.

After the starting list came out, everyone found that the Knicks made their debut as a regular starter, and the Blazers followed the strategy of the previous game.

Jordan led four forwards to press the Knicks all over the court, and Barkley continued to rest in the opening stage.

"Ervin, do you think the same strategy will work in this game?" Costas asked.

The tragedy teacher said mysteriously: "I don't know if the Knicks have made specific arrangements. I only know that so far in the series, neither the Knicks nor the Blazers have used the same strategy to succeed in two consecutive games."

"That's right, the coaching staff on both sides are highly targeted, and it is difficult for the same strategy to work continuously." Doug Collins took over the words of the tragedy teacher, "I believe the Knicks will give the answer tonight."

Trail Blazers starters: Jordan, Cosey, McDaniel, Blue Edwards, Nance.

Knicks starters: Stockton, Ainge, Wilson, Rodman, Ewing.

The injuries of the two Reggies made Louis adjust the lineup.

Even Brad Rohaus, who bought a house at the DNP position, has entered the activation list tonight.

In the last game, Stockton was embarrassed by the Blazers' full-court pressure. This is bad news for him who wants to compete for the last spot on the Dream Team.

If you want to change other people's impression, you have to do something tonight.

Hugh Hollins throws the ball up.

Ewing and Nance made the same prediction, exerting force on the ball with both hands.

The ball was received by Jordan, and the trapeze immediately launched a quick attack.

He rushed forward like a flowing arrow, broke into the penalty area, pushed away Wilson's defense, and scored a layup.

2 is better than 0
"Don't let them pass!" Jordan roared with alarming momentum.

Louie shouted: "It's the '4411' station!"

His words seemed to give the players a short message, and they suddenly knew how to break the Blazers' full-court press.

In order to break the Blazers' full-court press, Louis, Zhao Yuanzheng, and Van Gundy stayed up for two nights, replayed Game 4 repeatedly, and finally worked out all the Blazers' press positions.

Since the Blazers' murder press is a temporary composition, they must have a fixed routine, so that they can play a basic coordination, so that they don't have a leader without a leader, and they only have ruthlessness.

In order to facilitate understanding, Louis divided the frontcourt into 12 areas, using numbers 1-12 to represent the area. The "4411" position of the Blazers is one of their most common positions, which was discovered by Van Gundy.

As long as you can find this regular position, you can break it by passing the ball.

Stockton failed to catch the ball and scored a point to Angie's position.Angie advances a few steps, follows Wilson's frontcourt pick-and-roll, and then passes back to Wilson. The latter accelerates and presses the audience.

"Unless they have a fifth position." Zhao Yuanzheng smiled, "Otherwise, the Blazers' full-court press is no longer a threat to us."

First of all, it cannot be ruled out that they spent a few days researching new positions, but even if there are new positions, it may not be able to practice within two days. Even if there is an effect, the Knicks coaching staff can crack it on the spot.

Therefore, Louis is not as optimistic as Zhao Yuanzheng, and at the same time, he is absolutely sure of cracking the new position.

Ewing wanted to make up for his mistakes and actively asked for the ball.

When the ball came from his teammate, he directly pushed Nance's body away, broke through facing the basket, and slammed into it for a slam dunk.

2 is better than 2
In the past few games, Ewing's inside advantage was not obvious enough. The two sides lined up and fought wits and bravery.

Today, Louie wants to mobilize Ewing's power to force the Blazers' defense to shrink inward to help outside players get better offensive opportunities.

Jordan holds the ball from the outside, and as a full-time ball handler for this lineup, he needs to do a lot.

But Wilson directly approached the defense, the defensive intensity was full, and the threat to the ball was so great that Jordan had to collect the ball.

All of a sudden, the Blazers' offense was forced to death.

Jordan's teammates wanted to respond, but Rodman approached like a ghost, stepped forward suddenly, and formed a double-team with Wilson, causing the trapeze to make a forced error.

As soon as the Blazers made a mistake, the Knicks counterattacked immediately.

The Trail Blazers, who had no time to organize the audience to press on the spot, became a mess.

They're athletic enough, but no one plays well.The tacit understanding of defensive players cannot be cultivated by a few games.

They only have core goals in their eyes, Ewing and Wilson.

Then, the lesser, but equally dangerous, minor characters are missed.

Veteran Angie, set on the outside line, after Wilson attracted the defense, he crossed the outside line without looking at anyone.

Angie caught the ball and made a three-pointer.

5 is better than 2
The problem with the Blazers is obvious. Their lineup is for the whole game. Once they fall into a positional battle, it all depends on Jordan alone.

Others can play support, but support will always be support. If there is only one main attacker, the Knicks' Jordan rule is unreasonable.

Jordan's breakthrough was double-teamed by three people, and he passed the ball to Blue Edwards with difficulty.

Edwards tried a three-pointer.

His choice is correct, but what's the use of a correct attack that can't score?
"boom!"

Ewing grabbed the defensive rebound and led Wilson to a fast break with a pass.

In the frontcourt, Wilson dunks, 7-2.

The Blazers' game rhythm has become sloppy, trying to use defense to press Riley of the Knicks, trying to solve the offensive problems of this lineup.

He suddenly realized that this line of thinking was problematic. If he wanted to attack well, he would not use this lineup to play.

Why did you put this lineup up?Isn't it just for the press?

What's happening now?The Knicks used defense to continuously frustrate the Blazers' offense. It was either a mistake or an offensive miss. They directly caught your mistakes and missed shots and counterattacked. What can you do?After the full-court press, which was expected to be high, was cracked once in the opening game, there was no chance to use it again.

This dilemma made Riley worry, and he called Jordan: "Michael, stop thinking about passing the ball!"

"You can handle them!~" Riley exclaimed.

Yes, this is the answer.

The Blazers won Game 4 not because of the team's offense, but because of Jordan's unsolvable offense formed by himself.

Now, this lineup that seems to have no answer still depends on Jordan.

Wilson's defense combined with Rodman's help defense forced Jordan to a negative angle.

The trapeze made up his mind and jumped out of bounds. His sight had come to the back of the basket, and he threw the ball to the highest point based on his feeling.

Judging from Jordan's position, he should not be able to see the specific position of the basket.

"Shh!"

"If he makes it, serve it fast!" Louie yelled at Ewing before Jordan shot.

The Knicks were completely unaffected by Jordan's god-like shooting. Ewing picked up the ball and immediately threw it to Stockton. The Blazers, who were about to take advantage of Jordan's amazing attack and defend with iron blood, found that Stockton had already broken through two checkpoints with the ball.

When Jordan returned to the field from the baseline, he was unable to limit the Knicks' advancement.

After Stockton broke through the defense, he gave the ball to Wilson.

Wilson has more speed, and the only person who can make an impact on his offense is McDaniel.

The X-Men pursued at full speed, and he didn't notice Wilson's deliberately slowing down.

Louis discovered the details of Wilson's deceleration, and he could probably guess what the kid was going to do.

The moment the two came beyond the three-point line, Wilson stopped suddenly and McDaniel rushed over.After that, he saw Wilson was about to shoot a three-pointer, and it was another overly excited forward pounce.

In the end, it was still a feint.

The X-Men's pounce went out of control and he knocked Wilson's body down.

Wilson, on the other hand, turned the elbow of the shooting hand outward, hit the opponent's cheek, and sent the ball into the air with his left hand at the moment of the whistle.

"And One!"

"No, this is."

"Shh!!!"

"Benj hits four!"

McDaniel scolded furiously: "You sinister nigger!"

"I'd rather be an insidious nigger than be as stupid as you." Wilson sat on the ground and mocked contemptuously, "Give you another 100 chances, and you won't be able to guard against me. You're as stupid as a dog who can't even eat shit."

As you can naturally expect, the two got into physical contact for all sorts of personal attacks and racist trash talk and were then cautioned by the referee.

That's what happens a lot with McDaniel.

But opponents don't always respond, and McDaniel is a villain, picking on people who are either timid role players or stars who don't bother to compete.

Wilson is the rare superstar who is willing to compete with him, and is more willing to put his figure down and shoot back directly through vulgar trash talk.

Wilson's four-point play made Riley rethink whether the lineup on the field was appropriate.

The Blazers requested a timeout.

(End of this chapter)