novelraw Chapter 206 Slashing off Yang Guo's severed arm! Kicking the cripple hard!
Chapter 206 Slashing off Yang Guo's severed arm! Kicking the cripple hard!
Chapter 206: Slash off Yang Guo's severed arm! Kick the cripple's bad leg hard!
"You Indians are really filthy when you swear," Oakley said, picking at his ear as if it had been raped by three hundred strong men. "They weren't this mean before!"
The match is about to begin, and all ten players from both sides have taken to the field, waiting for the game to start.
The Pacers' starting five remained unchanged, consisting of Smitzer, Barkley, Christie, Miller, and Lin Tian, while the Knicks finally welcomed back their leader!
Patrick Ewing is making his first playoff appearance this season, alongside his longtime teammate Charles Oakley, the returning Larry Johnson, the "Mid-Range King" Allan Houston, and the strong and consistent point guard Charlie Ward!
"We haven't thanked you yet, Lin." Ewing, wearing a wrist brace and constantly flexing his hands, looked at Lin Tian and said, "Without you guys deliberately throwing the game, we wouldn't have been able to beat the Miami Heat in the first round."
"Don't you guys hate me?" Lin Tian asked curiously, finally voicing the question that had been bothering him: "We've both been fighting, so why do you hate Miami so much, but don't seem to dislike me?"
"Because we're not stupid," Oakley said. "It was our fault for fighting you guys. It was a fair fight; a win is a win, a loss is a loss. What man doesn't have a few buddies he fights with all the time?"
"But those guys in Miami are all trash and cowards. They started trouble and then all backed down. Their behavior was too cunning and despicable. Of course, there's also our little grudge with Pat involved."
"Even if you all ganged up on him, you still couldn't beat Lin, could you?" Barkley said slyly, nudging Oakley with his elbow. "Does your dislike for Lin have anything to do with this?"
"Yes." Oakley rolled his eyes, but his answer was utterly honest.
Yes, what's the use of hatred if you can't beat them?
Want to get beaten up again?
"You two! What are you doing!" Tonight's referee, Baveta, noticed Barkley's restless elbow and looked over, saying, "I'm warning you, watch out! If anyone dares to..."
"Alright, alright, Baveta, stop talking nonsense and kick off already," Ewing said impatiently. "We all know what you're going to say, and you should also know that no one in the league today would bother Lin unless that person is a stupid idiot or a masochist."
"Or do you think there's anyone in the league today who could beat Lin?"
Bavita snorted, then swept his gaze across everyone present in a defiant manner before finally blowing his whistle and tossing the ball into the air!
Ewing's physical attributes are far superior to Schmitz's, and he has always jumped higher than Schmitz, but this time he wanted to use his left hand to dribble the basketball in order to hide his right hand, which was fractured at the beginning of the season and injured again at the end of the season!
With the ball suddenly switched hands, Ewing felt a distinct awkwardness and discomfort, which led him to misjudge the ball's trajectory, and Schmitz won the jump ball!
The Indiana team gained possession of the ball on their first possession.
"Rick! Get ready to get the ball on the right side. Start the attack from Patrick's right side. Whether you drive or shoot, go to his right!" Lin Tian noticed Ewing's caution and immediately instructed Schmitz to keep an eye on Ewing's wrist.
That's what you call kicking the cripple's bad leg hard!
He took the knife and slashed fiercely at Yang Guo's severed hand!
"Lin, I can hear you!" Ewing looked at Lin Tian with a pained expression. "But do you think a Frenchman can take me down? Even with my hand behind my back, he's no match for me!"
"Stop talking nonsense, Patrick, Rick is a fucking Italian!" Lin Tian didn't rush to launch an attack this time. This is the NBA. Here, the most important thing is not to play the basketball you like and feel comfortable with. Here, the most important thing is to make the opponent uncomfortable and attack the opponent's weak areas!
Lin Tian is now certain that Ewing's right hand is the Knicks' most vulnerable spot!
Regardless of how well Ewing's injury has recovered or whether he has fully recovered, Lin Tian will never allow him to regain his form or confidence!
Lin Tian wanted to keep attacking his defense from the very beginning of the match, making him doubt himself, making him feel that his injury had not healed at all, and making him afraid!
This is the NBA! The world's top basketball league has never shown any virtue of humility, nor has it ever hesitated to execute a tactic aggressively, let alone engage in fair competition.
They're taking advantage of your weakness to kill you!
"Actually, I'm Dutch!" Schmitz explained to Lin Tian as he sprinted toward the basket. "I was born in Eindhoven."
"Sorry, Rick, but you really do look Italian! Oh damn, Charlie, you're so rude, didn't you notice I was talking to Rick?" Lin Tian said, dodging Ward's sudden attack and preventing him from stealing the ball.
Then Lin Tian suddenly dribbled behind his back. This dribble looked like a mistake because the ball landed very far away from Lin Tian!
Ward's eyes lit up, and he immediately reached out to steal the ball again. But this was exactly what Lin Tian was waiting for. He dribbled behind his back once more, this time with a larger range, faster speed, and a very forward landing point!
In that instant, Ward completely lost his defensive position and was left behind by Lin Tian!
Lin Tian immediately accelerated and rushed towards the inside!
He took the left flank!
It was aimed at Ewing's right hand!
"Come on, Patrick, let me see if your hand is alright!"
After a roar, Lin Tian grabbed the basketball with one hand and leaped high into the air, his whole body stretching into an inverted bow shape.
He took off very early and glide for a very long distance!
This gliding distance allowed Lin Tian's body to fully stretch out, exuding an ultimate sense of beauty!
But jumping like that makes it very easy for someone to block your shot!
The longer the glide distance, the easier it is for the defender to anticipate and assess the situation, allowing them to quickly determine a better time to block!
"Go to hell, Lin!" With his extensive experience, Ewing was not about to miss this opportunity. He jumped up towards Lin Tian and raised both hands high at the same time, trying to block Lin Tian's dunk.
But after he jumped up, seeing Lin Tian's unstoppable momentum, Yu Yin was still afraid!
His right hand visibly pulled back slightly, immediately creating a flaw in his previously perfect defense!
Lin Tian had been waiting for this moment! Just as Ewing's defensive move faltered, Lin Tian suddenly exerted force from his waist and abdomen, launching a final assault towards the basket like a spring!
At the same time, Lin Tian slammed the basketball in his hand fiercely toward the back of Ewing's head.
"boom!"
After a loud bang, Lin Tian was practically straddling Ewing's neck, completing a powerful and breathtaking one-handed dunk!
"How about that, Rick! I told you his right hand wasn't working!" After scoring, Lin Tian immediately turned around and found Schmitz, saying to him, "You do the same thing later!"
What utter nonsense are you spouting?
Schmitz looked at Lin Tian with a constipated expression.
Ewing only has a broken wrist, not an amputation. How could I possibly dunk on him?
Schmitz's expression at this moment is so obvious that you don't need to study unresponsiveness or psychology systematically to tell what he's thinking.
I won't! I didn't! I don't want to!
A resounding triple denial!
Seeing Schmitz's complete lack of confidence, Lin Tian felt he had to help him find some confidence!
After all, he can coast through the regular season, scoring only 9 points and 6 rebounds per game, but he can't do that in the playoffs!
In particular, if the opponent has weaknesses and doesn't exploit them, it will be even more difficult for the Pacers to win the championship!
Lin Tian was absolutely certain that the Knicks' weakness was Ewing!
Or rather, it's Ewing who hasn't fully recovered from his injury! The best way to defeat the Knicks is to first intimidate Ewing. Once Ewing is intimidated and loses his courage and will to continue, the rest of the Knicks will inevitably fall apart.
Not to mention, in Lin Tian's memory, these two teams had met in the second round in history.
As for the outcome?
4: 1!
The Pacers won decisively! While Schmitz didn't completely dominate or crush Ewing in that series, he was definitely the better player!
Even without me, Lin, feeding you the ball, you could be better than Ewing in this series. Now that I'm here, if you don't completely crush Ewing, I, Lin, might as well give up my career!
I can't bear this embarrassment!
In the first possession of the Knicks' offense, they didn't hesitate to pass the ball to the returning Ewing. Firstly, they wanted to let their star player get a feel for the game, and secondly, Schmitz was widely considered to be the weakest and most vulnerable player among the Pacers' starters!
Facing Schmitz, Ewing raised his hand and faked a shot to lose Schmitz's balance. Then, he quickly bent down and cut to the basket, taking a big step to the side and making a layup off the backboard.
Choosing to lay up instead of dunk when faced with an open basket once again demonstrates Ewing's pessimism and lack of confidence regarding his right wrist. He is clearly using various methods to avoid and reduce the use of his right hand.
"What do you think, Lin? You think he can beat me? If this Spanish straggler can beat me, I'll change my name to Ewing!"
Although he didn't choose to dunk, Ewing's trash talk never stopped.
"I told you, Rick is Portuguese! Not Spanish!" Lin Tian continued to refute Ewing.
"Eindhoven, Netherlands!" Schmitz pointed out the two men's faults once again, but his voice was so soft that no one but himself could hear him.
In this possession, Lin Tian once again charged into the paint, and after drawing help defense, he passed the ball to Schmitz on the baseline. Just as Schmitz was about to shoot, Ewing rushed over aggressively, waving his arms with a menacing expression that said, "If you dare to shoot, I'll kill you."
Well, Ewing may not actually be making a fierce expression on purpose; it's just that he's ugly, which makes him look scary.
But Schmitz was startled. He flinched, and although he still quickly took the shot, it went wide of the rim.
Fortunately, Barkley was there under the basket. This guy elbowed Oakley away, then jumped up to grab the rebound, and then put the ball in with both hands.
"Rick, get your act together!" Lin Tian reached out and slapped Schmitz's butt, shouting, "We're counting on you for this series!"
"I will try my best, Lin." Schmitz nodded, but his words lacked any confidence and made it impossible for anyone to believe that he could do it.
For the next few minutes of the first quarter, Schmitz's performance was far from satisfactory. Facing Ewing, he was unwilling to drive to the basket, and several times when Lin Tian passed him the ball, he chose to finish with a mid-range shot.
However, he wasn't feeling very good tonight, making only one of his four shots!
Because Lin Tian was focused on getting Schmitz into a rhythm and gaining confidence, he kept feeding Schmitz the ball, which caused some problems with the Pacers' offensive rhythm. It wasn't as smooth as usual, so they fell behind during this period!
The reason they fell behind was not only because Schmitz was not up to par, but also because Ewing was dominant in his first game back! He drove to the basket three times in a row and scored, and also set many screens for Houston and others, creating shooting space for his teammates.
On the defensive end, aside from being dunked on by Lin Tian at the start of the game, he completely held up the Knicks' paint, preventing the Pacers from scoring any baskets under the basket.
With seven minutes played in the first quarter, during the first timeout, the Pacers trailed the Knicks by five points, 13-18.
Just as Schmitz sat down on the bench, Lin Tian sat down next to him, put his arm around his shoulder, and said, "Rick, this won't do! Our goal is the championship! How can you win battles like this?"
"Lin, we have you, Charles, and Reggie, right? And Doug and Joe too. I'm not actually that important, am I? I think if I really can't handle Ewing, we can let Ben try! His defense has been getting better and better lately!"
"Rick! Wake up! We need you to wake up!" Lin Tian rubbed Schmitz's head hard and roared, "Think about why you're playing here. Are you really content to just be a shooter? What about your talent? When you were young in the Netherlands, weren't your teammates treating you like Chamberlain?"
"I told you, I'm He...you know that?"
"FUXX! I'm not an idiot, of course I know you're from Eindhoven, I also know you went to high school in Almonte and college in Marist College, and there's this girl in your psychology department who likes to wear black ribbons and gold-rimmed glasses, when she went to Pennsylvania as an exchange student... FUXX, why am I telling you this?"
Lin Tian cursed, then looked at Smith and said, "What I want to say is, I understand you, so I trust you! I believe you can crush Ewing! Especially since Ewing is just a paper tiger right now; his injury hasn't healed at all! Didn't you notice he didn't dare to dunk? Didn't you notice he didn't dare to shoot his signature mid-range shot?"
"His injury hasn't fully healed. He may never be able to become that invincible center and guardian of New York again. He's no match for you!"
"But, Lin, I'm just...
"I don't care what you were before, but after this series, you'll have a brand new nickname: Ewing Stopper! You'll end the era of the four great centers, you'll completely destroy him!" Lin Tian clapped his hands loudly, continuing to encourage Schmitz, "You can do it."
"No, I don't think I can do it. Otherwise, I'll cover for you more, Lin."
Seeing Schmitz's expression, Lin Tian couldn't help but swear again. Then, as if he had thought of something, he patted Schmitz on the shoulder and said, "You don't dare to go head-to-head with him on offense, but you must have the courage to face him on defense!"
"I will do everything in my power!"
"It's not about giving it your all, it's about ensuring you can do it!" With the timeout nearing its end, Lin Tian suddenly had an idea. He looked at Schmitz again and said, "Here's what we'll do: when you're guarding this guy, stay a bit further away, give him space to shoot, and it's okay if he just pulls up for a jumper!"
"But don't jump! No matter what, no matter what fake move he makes, don't jump! Just let him shoot, give him space to attack, block all his routes to the basket, let him shoot, am I clear enough?"
"It's clear, but Ewing's mid-range shot..." Schmitz hesitated, after all, Ewing's mid-range jump shot was Ewing's signature move!
Throughout Ewing's more than 10-year career, everyone who defended him increased physical contact, wore him down, tormented him, prevented him from shooting mid-range shots, or made his shots more difficult.
But Lin Tian did the exact opposite.
"If he makes that mid-range shot, it's on me! I'll take the blame for everything! Just say I taught him! Let's go, get on the court!"
After Lin Tian finished speaking, he stood up, exchanged a knowing glance with Bird, nodded to each other, and then walked onto the court with Schmitz.
Bird certainly knew why Lin Tian was feeding Smitz the ball, and he also knew why Lin Tian suddenly wanted to help Smitz regain his confidence in this series.
With one hand on Ewing, Schmitz was absolutely the best target to regain his confidence. Lin Tian could tell that Ewing was out of form and a paper tiger, and Bird could certainly see that too. This was definitely the best opportunity for Schmitz to regain his confidence!
More importantly, if Schmitz can regain his confidence and form from before this season in this series, he could be a huge asset in the next round!
The Pacers' next opponent will most likely be the Bulls, and everyone knows the Bulls' weakness is their interior defense! If they can dominate the Bulls' interior, the pressure on Lin Tian, Miller, and Christie will be greatly reduced, and their chances of winning the next game will definitely be higher!
Lin Tian is clearly planning ahead and preparing for the next round of the series!
Therefore, Bird, who could see what Lin Tian was trying to do, didn't care at all about Lin Tian talking to Schmitz during the pause and not listening to his instructions. He trusted Lin Tian!
"Reggie, what did Larry just arrange?" After walking onto the court, Lin Tian looked at Miller and asked curiously.
"He told us to listen to you," Miller said, scoffing. "This is the first time I've ever seen a head coach who doesn't care at all that the players don't listen to him, and even makes others listen to him."
"Because I deserve all of this!" Lin Tian looked at Miller confidently and said, "How about we start with Tactic Three?"
As the ball was kicked off from the baseline, Lin Tian dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, extending his hand to direct the players' runs, while observing his teammates' movements from the top of the penalty arc.
Miller started running from the left wing, then ran to the free-throw line and used Schmitz's screen to circle around him before suddenly turning around and running back towards the baseline. On the way, Christie set a cross screen for him, and then Christie ran quickly to the other side to draw the Knicks' attention.
Just as Miller finally shook off his defender and ran towards the corner, the basketball in Lin Tian's hand flew towards him.
As Miller reached the baseline, Lin Tian's pass arrived almost simultaneously. Houston, thanks to Christie's screen, was at least 3 meters away from Miller. Given Miller's release speed and adjustment ability, all Houston could do was pray; he couldn't interfere with the shot at all.
"Whoosh!"
For a striker of Miller's caliber, with such a large open space, the probability of this shot going in is definitely higher than not going in!
The Pacers quickly closed the gap to 3 points!
The "Number 3" tactic in this round was actually a double screen tactic specifically designed for Miller, with one screen on the ball line and one on the baseline to create opportunities for him to catch and shoot.
If the opponent's defense keeps up with Miller and prevents him from receiving the ball outside the three-point line, he will then cut towards the basket, and Christie will set a third screen for him, giving Miller a chance to receive the ball and cut directly!
After running this set of tactics, Miller will get a total of 3 opportunities to receive the ball and attack. He will also be screened by his teammates a total of 3 times. And his running route is actually the Arabic numeral '3'!
This is why this tactic is called Tactic 3.
Even if Miller doesn't get a chance after running this whole tactic, and all the opponents follow up, then Christie and Schmitz will most likely get open shots.
Even if no one gets open looks or mismatches, the Pacers still have Lin Tian. He can take the initiative to attack or pass the ball to Barkley when the opposing team is in disarray.
If the opposing team can keep up with everyone after this set of tactics is completed and their defensive rotation remains perfect and flawless, without giving the Pacers any mismatch opportunities...
Impossible. In this era, there is no such perfect and flawless defensive system!
When it was the Knicks' turn to attack, the ball was once again passed to Ewing, who was in excellent form today.
"Are all Italian girls this proactive? You got beaten up like this and you still dare to come and challenge me? Do you enjoy being tortured, little girl?" Ewing saw Schmitz and immediately continued to trash talk.
"I'm Dutch! I'm from Eindhoven, Netherlands!" Schmitz slapped his hands hard and roared to bolster his courage. Then, as Lin Tian had instructed, he stood about a meter away from Ewing.
This distance allows him to disrupt Ewing's shot in time, and also allows him to keep up with Ewing's long strides without being faked out.
"Won't you come and get intimate with the old man, little girl?" Ewing mocked again, then made two shooting fakes in a row, but Schmitz remained unmoved this time, not jumping at all, maintaining his center of gravity perfectly!
After a series of feints, Ewing cursed, then had no choice but to quickly pull up and shoot his best mid-range jump shot!
As for Schmitz's all-out defensive effort, Ewing said: "Where's the defense? I can't see it!"
"Bang!"
Being unable to see it is one thing, but being able to make the shot is another!
Ewing's shooting motion was noticeably disjointed; his right-hand injury was clearly still bothering him! Barkley leaped up and grabbed the rebound, then quickly turned and found Lin Tian, throwing the ball directly beyond the three-point line!
"Run!" Lin Tian roared and charged towards the frontcourt. Facing the double-team of Ward and Houston, Lin Tian was not afraid at all. Instead, he continued to compress the Knicks' defense. After driving to the basket, he suddenly made a behind-the-back pass without looking, and the ball immediately came to Christie's hands as he followed up from the side!
Christie jumped up the moment he got the basketball, quickly attracting Houston's attention. Although the basketball in Christie's hand flew out immediately, it was clearly not going towards the basket!
Houston yelled "Oh no!" but it was too late for him to change his defensive position. He didn't even have time to turn around before he heard a loud bang behind him.
"Fuck! Reggie, you can actually dunk?!" Lin Tian's exaggerated voice rang out, "Tell me the truth, is this the first time you've ever dunked in your life?"
"I was a dunker when I was young!" Miller released the rim and landed on the ground. He had just received a pass from Christie, completed an alley-oop, and slammed it home.
"Are you going to dunk or just talk? I heard from Charles that you're quick but always manage to make girls happy. Is that what you're relying on?" Lin Tian relentlessly pressed Miller for answers.
"Shut up! Charlie's starting to push!" Miller cursed, trying to distract Lin Tian by having Ward receive the ball and start pushing forward.
"I don't care if there's any progress, just tell me the facts!" Lin Tian glanced at Ward out of the corner of his eye, then made a subtle gesture with his left hand, without even turning his body towards Ward again.
Just as Ward was feeling smug, thinking that Lin Tian, that idiot, had completely forgotten about him in order to amuse his teammates, Christie suddenly appeared in front of Ward, blocking his way!
Before Ward could react and get past Christie, the basketball in his hands was poked away from behind.
Lin Tian!
"Doug!" After stealing the ball, Lin Tian sprinted towards the frontcourt while calling out to Christie. Christie didn't hesitate. After glancing at the situation on the court, the basketball in his hand immediately flew towards Lin Tian.
"boom!"
After a loud bang, Lin Tian successfully executed another gliding slam dunk!
7: 0!
The Pacers' timeout was incredibly successful. Less than a minute after returning, they went on a run and took the lead!
This time, it was Van Gundy's turn to call a timeout!
"Tonight is Ewing's first day back, so that bald guy will definitely take Ewing out, bring in their reserves, and shift their offensive focus outwards, letting Houston and Jason be the main scorers for a while!"
"Rick, your defense on Ewing was fantastic! You'll be our secret weapon against Ewing tonight, so you can rest now. When Ewing comes back in the second quarter, you can continue guarding him! Lin and Reggie, if they want to play on the perimeter, we'll play along!"
"Let them know what the league's most powerful trio really is!"
Bird's decision was quick and precise. When the timeout ended, the Knicks indeed substituted Ewing out and brought in the 38-year-old veteran, former All-Star center Buck Williams.
When Lin Tian saw Williams come up, he almost burst out laughing.
Is this young Van Gundy out of his mind? Sending a 38-year-old man up here, is he afraid he won't have enough fun?
While Lin Tian was thinking about how to teach Buck Williams a lesson, Jason had already hit an extremely difficult three-pointer despite Christie's defense!
The Knicks were really hot tonight!
Lin Tian arrived at the frontcourt without much thought and immediately called on Ben Affleck, who had just come on, to cover for him. Then Lin Tian went straight into battle against Buck Williams!
Facing the 38-year-old man, Lin Tian showed him no courtesy. He suddenly accelerated, and Williams didn't even have time to react or turn around before Lin Tian completely overtook him!
After getting past Williams, Lin Tian naturally pressed forward without hesitation, easily scoring 2 points in the paint without Ewing!
After scoring 2 points, the Knicks' outside shooting came alive again. Houston received the ball after going around several screens and pulled up for a mid-range shot over Miller, which went in!
The Knicks were really playing well tonight!
Their whole team performed well!
But as I said before, the Knicks had a tough time scoring, but Lin Tian scored very easily!
He called for a screen again, then blew past Williams and scored a layup!
"Old man, why don't you find a nursing home? The basketball court isn't suitable for you anymore." After scoring twice in a row, Lin Tian looked at Williams and casually shrugged.
This guy's speed is really too slow. Lin Tian had already finished his layup and run to the three-point line, while this guy had only just finished turning around.
A veteran is a veteran! Faced with such humiliation, he didn't even look at Lin Tian or open his mouth, completely pretending not to hear his provocation.
"Hey! Can you! Hear! My! Voice!" Lin Tian suddenly raised his voice, drawing out the last syllable, and shouted loudly, enunciating each word clearly: "Are you! Deaf?!"
"F*** you! Get lost!" Even with his good manners, Williams couldn't help but swear at this moment.
"You're not deaf? That's good. I was really worried you were getting so old that your eyesight and hearing were failing!" Lin Tian shrugged and looked at Williams, saying, "If your eyesight and hearing aren't failing, you're not disabled. You can torture him without any psychological burden!"
In the remainder of the first quarter, Lin Tian relentlessly targeted Williams!
He repeatedly used screens to get past Williams, then either took the shot himself or waited for help defense from the Knicks' Oakley, Johnson, and others before quickly passing the ball to his teammates who had been left out, allowing them to score easily.
To be honest, Jeff Van Gundy is really something else, or maybe he's just really slow to react!
Lin Tian chased after Williams and beat him mercilessly, almost turning him into a sieve, but Van Gundy just wouldn't call a timeout or make a substitution!
Van Gundy's decision was partly due to his slow reaction and lack of adaptability, but the bigger reason was that the Knicks' offense was matched up against the Pacers'!
Both Houston and Jensen showed excellent form, hitting several difficult shots in the first quarter.
After being dominated by Lin Tian for the entire quarter, Charlie Ward hit a super long-range buzzer-beating three-pointer in the last second of the quarter, near the center circle!
A series of incredible shots allowed the Knicks to not only keep the score close, but also gain a 2-point lead at the end of the first quarter!
29: 31!
The Knicks once again demonstrated their resilience and all-around contribution. Even though Ewing only played a few minutes in the first quarter, they withstood the Pacers' firepower and used even more amazing and crazy firepower to make everyone put away their underestimation of them.
During the break, the Pacers were in a very relaxed state and mood. Almost everyone on the team was a seasoned veteran who had seen it all before. They had seen plenty of games where the opponent suddenly went on a scoring spree and could make any shot!
Conversely, even with the Knicks being this accurate and abnormal, they only managed to take a two-point lead thanks to a super long-range buzzer-beater.
The team that should be worried right now is not the Pacers, but the Knicks!
After all, in the first quarter, the Knicks made four three-pointers and six jump shots from above the free-throw line, and these mid-range and long-range shots far from the basket accounted for 80% of all their points!
And what about the Pacers? Lin Tian scored a game-high 19 points in the first quarter, 14 of which came from inside the paint!
He relentlessly attacked the basket, and the Knicks had no answer for him!
It goes without saying which method—constantly attacking the basket or constantly shooting wildly from mid-range or long-range—has a higher shooting percentage and makes it easier to maintain a good form!
Moreover, the Pacers are capable of defending the Knicks' shots; their defense is almost always in place. It's just that the Knicks were incredibly accurate tonight and kept scoring.
The Knicks simply couldn't stop Ke Lintian's breakthroughs!
It wasn't just because the stubborn Van Gundy kept using Buck Williams; even when Ewing was around, they couldn't stop Lin Tian!
His speed and ability to accelerate after a pick-and-roll are simply beyond what the Knicks' current roster can handle!
"Rick, Patrick will definitely be in at the start of the second quarter, and the Knicks will definitely focus their attacks on him! Remember the last time you two matched up in the first quarter? Keep guarding him like that! As long as you can maintain your balance and not get fooled by him, you'll definitely lock him down!"
"That shot in the first quarter wasn't luck! Patrick's shooting touch was incredibly stiff and terrible; he simply hadn't recovered his form!"
"I understand, Lin! I'll give it a try!" Schmitz said, tossing off the towel and standing up. The 6-7 minute break seemed to have restored a sense of confidence to his body.
Along with Schmitz, Barkley, Best, Dumars, and Fred Hoiberg also took to the court.
The team's third shooting guard, a pure role player.
Bird put him on the court at this point...
Hmm... Lin Tian couldn't figure out why either.
This guy hasn't played during this time of day this season. His playing time should be during garbage time in the fourth quarter.
"Fred has been practicing very well and very hard. His three-point shot has improved a lot. I think he can give us a surprise!" Bird seemed to see through Lin Tian's thoughts and muttered to him in a low voice.
"Then I'll wait and see." Lin Tian smiled. He wasn't some kind of ball tyrant who insisted that the head coach and general manager sign and use players according to his own ideas. If he had such ideas, he would have had Bird bring McGrady over by the trade deadline this year!
During the Knicks' offense, Ewing once again held the ball in the mid-range and faced Schmitz. He used his signature fake move to try and deceive Schmitz's center of gravity, but Schmitz remained unmoved, maintaining his distance and spreading his arms to prevent Ewing from rushing to the basket.
Seeing that his feints failed to fool Schmitz, Ewing could only curse and then pull up for a mid-range shot.
"Bang!"
His most trusted and signature scoring technique bounced off the rim once again.
"Patrick, your shooting isn't even as accurate as my grandma's!" After making Ewing miss twice in a row, Schmitz's confidence had clearly increased, and he even started trash-talking Ewing!
Ten seconds later, Schmitz received the basketball on the other side of the court. Without faking it, he pulled up and shot. The basketball slid towards the rim and then made a precise shot!
"Whoosh!"
The Pacers have tied the score!
"See that? This is how you shoot!" After making the basket, Schmitz pounded his chest while taunting Ewing, he was completely in the zone!
"Spanish brat, how many times did I score against you in the first quarter? Three or four? You've forgotten what it felt like to be ravaged and trampled on, haven't you? I'll let you relive it now!"
"I'm Dutch! PSV Eindhoven! Remember this place, because I'll be your nightmare in this series!" Schmitz once again gave Ewing a step of space in the low post, lowered his center of gravity, and stared at him closely.
Ewing quickly moved to his favorite area to receive the ball, and just as he arrived, Ward's pass came flying in: "Shoot him! Let this softie know what you're made of!"
As the pass was made, Ward's shout also came over. His original intention was to remind Ewing to push forward in the paint as much as possible and sit down.
But before he could finish speaking, Ewing pulled it up!
After missing his first two shots, Ewing felt that he had used too many feints, which caused him to lose his rhythm!
This time, he's going to pull up and shoot immediately after receiving the ball!
This is his favorite rhythm and the most comfortable feeling when he shoots!
After releasing the shot, Ewing felt good, keeping one hand in the shooting position, striking a very stylish pose.
(End of this chapter)