Basketball Dragon

Chapter 109 The Road Trip
In the last few minutes of the game, Lehi irritated Richardson on defense and pushed Mike Dunleavy into the background on offense. The Warriors had nothing to do with him.

In this respect, Marbury is very jealous, the advantage of 12 centimeters allows Li Hai to do more.

86:83, although they only won by 3 points, the Knicks completely suppressed the opponent in the final scene.

Li Hai was even stronger than last season, and many teams wanted to pay attention to him in the summer, but Li Hai had no intention of changing teams at all.

Determine a goal, and then let the agent talk about it. As a player, training to improve your strength is the key.

After a three-game winning streak, the Knicks' road trip begins.

Their first destination is Portland. The Trail Blazers had a very dismal performance last season. This season has been rebuilt, and the team is dominated by young players.

Young power forward Zach Randolph is the core player of their reconstruction.

In this game, the Knicks returned to the top spot of Antonio Davis, but he fouled three times before playing a few minutes in the first quarter.

Zach Randolph felt like a physically energetic version of Eddie Curry. The Knicks changed five defenses successively, but none of them played the slightest role.

Relying on the strong firepower from the outside, the Knicks have been leading in the first half.

But in the third quarter, when the outside feel was slightly worse, the score was turned over. Zach Randolph's game was basically unsolvable.

In the last quarter, Li Hai even scored 10 points but did not change the result. The Knicks still suffered their first defeat of the season.

In fact, the problem in this game is the same as in the previous three games. The Knicks' offensive power is somewhat insufficient. Before that, Li Hai was able to limit the opponent's strongest scoring points, while the Blazers' scoring points in the interior Li Hai couldn't. restrictions, this is the case.

Larry Brown's system is very good. He has been proven in the Pistons, but now many players on the team find it difficult to adapt.

Like the newly traded Quentin Richardson, he played particularly uncomfortable, which was completely different from the Suns.

The same goes for Marbury, Crawford, and others. Last season, the Knicks relied on the perimeter offense, often speeding up and playing singles in the offense. Now, according to Larry Brown's requirements, even Li Hai is a little bit different. adapt.

Head coach Larry Brown is also dissatisfied. He thinks that the Knicks players, such as Li Hai, Marbury, Crawford, Richardson, etc., are very suitable for his system. According to the requirements, the Knicks will definitely be stronger than the Pistons.

Under such circumstances, the Knicks came to Golden State, the second stop of the road trip.

In fact, playing the Warriors is a bit like playing the Trail Blazers. It is difficult to guard against the power forward position. The difference is that Murphy is not as strong in the Warriors as Randolph is in the Trail Blazers. Not that big.

At the critical moment of the game, Li Hai assisted Murphy in the defense and succeeded in a one-stop attack. The Knicks also narrowly beat their opponents by 3 points again.

The Knicks have problems, but as long as they can win, the problems are small troubles, not fatal.

On November 11, the Knicks challenged the Sacramento Kings away.

After Webber left, the Kings traded Bunch Wells to replace Christie this summer, and signed the power forward Sharif Abdur-Rahim, who was given up by the Nets. Not that flashy team anymore.

The newly added players are not suitable for Rick Adelman, and the team has also achieved a running-in stage.

At the beginning of the game, Peja Stojakovic was defended very hard by Li Hai.

The strong physical confrontation made Peja's shooting accuracy problematic, and the Kings played very hard.

When it was time for the rotation, Peja hit two three-pointers while Li Hai was resting. With his height, he still had a certain advantage against Matt Barnes.

However, the Knicks still have an advantage in the performance of rotation players.

Both Channing Frye and Crawford are fully fired. Regardless of Crawford, Channing Frye's inside line who can shoot is still very advantageous in offense. The Kings' inside line cannot be defended at all.

Channing Frye was also the first rookie of the Knicks to be trusted by the head coach. He was an insider among the three rookies. He had advantages in height, speed and shooting range, and he could play two positions.

The Kings offense was not as sharp as before, but the defense was still as careless as before. At the end of the half, the Knicks' lead came to double digits.

Compared with the Knicks' roster, the main players of the Kings were on the court for a longer period of time. In the second half, Peja's touch became better and better.

But even if Peja's touch is good, with his speed, he can't keep up with Li Hai's footsteps on the defensive end. A way to bring the score closer.

105:95, the Knicks easily won the away game winning streak.

In the East, except for the undefeated Pistons, they ranked second, which is much better than the start of last season.

Facing the reporters' interviews, the players and coaches were full of confidence, and they did not show any depression that would only appear during training.

The road trip continues, with back-to-back challenges against the Utah Jazz on November 11.

Since the Knicks have always started the season with a 12-man rotation, there is no problem with the physical strength of the players, even if they are back-to-back, there is no extra fatigue.

The current situation of the Jazz is quite miserable. The two main players, Kirilenko and Boozer, are injured.

After the game started, the Jazz had no other way to attack except for center Mehmet Okura to shoot from the outside. Instead, the team didn't look alike until rookie Deron Williams came off the bench.

In the third quarter, the Knicks defended the Jazz with only 8 points in the whole quarter, showing a strong defensive ability.

"How about it? The team's defense is still a little tricky now." Li Hai was also smiling when communicating with his teammates during the break.

In fact, Li Hai was still very worried at the beginning of this season. It turned out that the memory of Larry Brown coming to the Knicks became a stain on his coaching career. Now it seems that his existence can change many things.

It has always been Li Hai's hope to help the team build a strong defense.

The offense wins the game, and the defense wins the championship. He squeezed into the playoffs last season. He expects to go further this season. His ultimate goal is undoubtedly the championship, whether it is in the club or the national team.

(End of this chapter)