The Knicks changed their starting lineup, with Battier coming off the bench and Jamison starting.

Jamison played so well on offense that D'Antoni decided to give him more time. He still prefers to fight offense rather than defense. Mike Malone arranged a zone defense, with Jamison in charge of the flank, and Sephorosa, which would not be an obvious defensive hole. Sephorosa is a pure perimeter blue-collar who can only shoot from a fixed point.

The Knicks took the initiative in the opening game. Durant had to face Gallinari's defense and burst in to face Chandler. The Knicks' defensive tactics are the same as on the court, defending two stars and preventing others from shooting.

Perkins has once again become a weakness for the Thunder. On the offensive end, he couldn't help much, and on the defensive end, Zhou Xuan relied on blocking and dismantling to align with him, breaking through the ball and making a stop-and-go jump shot. Jamison and Gallinari also have a speed advantage when they go directly to Perkins. The Knicks didn't let him resist on the inside, Chandler blocked and picked up high again and again, and then cut inside to grab the rebound.

At 6 minutes, Gallinari went off the court and switched to Battier to defend Durant. Gallinari, who had a six-minute break in the second quarter, came on the court again with the bench, and formed an outside line with Matthews and Miller, and the offense was in good order.

Anderson wasn't as sluggish as he was last time out, hitting a three-pointer and a mid-range shot. Teenager Chandler Parsons also got a chance to play, and the small-ball strategy was implemented, leaving Amondsen on the bench. The biggest weakness of the Thunder is that they lack people who can attack in the low post, and they also play small-ball tactics, the Knicks are not afraid, before Zhou Xuan arrived, they relied on fast attack.

Harden is lost again, hitting the iron continuously. After coming on the court in the second half of the first quarter, he missed all five shots, and only scored two points by breaking through to make fouls, and the difference was widened to 14 points. The Thunder replaced Durant and Westbrook early to stabilize the situation.

Zhou Xuan also played, and the four teammates were Matthews, Leonard, Gallinari, and Anderson.

The Thunder were on the opening starting lineup, with Harden being substituted for a poor offense and poor defense. Seferrosa played a key role, taking charge of the pick-and-roll defense in the high post, and Gallinari and Anderson both shot iron under his interference. Ibaka is also very active.

But this time, Zhou Xuan was prepared. He first leaned on the block to the bottom corner of the weak side to attract Ibaka's defense, and then passed the ball to Gallinari, who was pulled to the right 60 degrees.

A misalignment can only be prevented by Perkins. Gallinari scored on a mid-range shot and hit a three-pointer once, and his height combined with dry pull-up made it difficult for Perkins to block. Ibaka was also strong after the defense, and after a return defense, Gallinari distributed the ball into the bottom corner. Zhou Xuan hit a three-point shot on the right side.

In this game, Zhou Xuan changed his style of play, reduced the number of shots, and only shot when he had a good opportunity, with a high shooting rate, 4 of 5 shots in the half, 2 of 2 free throws, and 1 of 2 three-pointers, scoring 11 points and 5 assists.

The Knicks led by 12 points at 57-45.

At halftime, Johnson commented: "Zhou Xuan's style of play is very threatening, although it is not like cutting 30 points in the regular season, but it is efficient. He also helped his team-mates play with confidence and Gallinari played really well today. ”

Van Gundy said: "Gallinari is a restricted free agent, and the Knicks want to keep him in the summer, and they have to get some blood. ”

Drafted as an All-Star and consistent in the playoffs, Gallinari's role is much like that of Rashad Lewis back then, and the contract is a certainty. Nowadays, swing people on the front line are very valuable, of course, Gallinari can't compare to Durant, and it's still okay to compare with Rudy Guy of the Grizzlies.

In the locker room, Westbrook was a little anxious and yelled at Harden: "James, how did you do it?" The best sixth man plays like this, what about your breakthrough? What about three points? ”

Harden pursed his lips and muttered, "Everyone has a bad hand." ”

Fisher hurriedly stood up and did something peaceful. "Don't argue, we haven't lost yet, if you want to win against them, you have to be more united in the second half."

In addition to the game, the role of the veteran is to be a peacemaker in the locker room. Fisher is a sane man, so he's the locker room leader with the Lakers. Young people are impulsive, especially Westbrook, who may not have any ill intentions, but speak uncomfortably to hear.

In fact, in the Thunder team, Harden and Westbrook have long been married, but Harden is more hip-hop, he has the spirit to go to nightclubs, but he has no spirit to quarrel with his teammates, so they are safe. In his opinion, Westbrook has affected his development, and if he is given the ball and let him attack with the ball, it will be at least 20+ level, and the efficiency will be higher.

Westbrook also doesn't like Harden, saying that he is alone, always dominating the ball of the Thunder and not giving Durant the ball, but it makes sense that Wisebrook is sometimes alone. No one stepped up, and when Durant didn't feel good, he often hit the opponent's ass with a few pull-up jump shots, and he always shared the ball with Adu during the positional offense.

As soon as Harden is on the court, the ball is basically in his hands. And he's not good at adjusting, he can only play at one pace. He is also not good at sharing the ball, Durant is a coolie inside line who practices running back and forth with him on the court, and basically does not get any passes, and Adu has to wipe Harden's ass on the defensive end.

Behind the Thunder's soaring record, there is a problem, that is, the renewal of Harden's contract after a few seasons. Regardless of whether the Thunder wins the championship this year or not, Harden is still young and is unlikely to take a salary cut like the veteran to renew his contract with the Thunder. Westbrook renewed his contract with the highest salary in January, and the Thunder's salary space is running out, and it will be a big problem to renew Harden and even Ibaka next year. Maybe they're going to break up when the season is over.

Under such conditions, the Thunder players don't want to lose, and their emotions are naturally impatient.

There was talk and laughter in the Knicks locker room, everyone was relaxed, there were excellent benches in every position, only people were dissatisfied with playing time, and there was no need to worry about no one.

At the beginning of the second half, the Knicks changed their lineup again. D'Antoni watched the previous video and calculated that the opening No. 2 position would meet Seferrosa, he sent Beverley, added a speed guard, Leonard and Jamison in the front, and left Chandler on the inside to defend, focusing on quick counterattacks.

D'Antoni is extremely talented in attack, and no one denies that. Back then, the Suns counterattacked strongly, and they lacked a strong center who struggled to grab rebounds, so they could only hand over the task of grabbing the board to Xiao Si and Marion, and now Chandler has changed all this, and he is very efficient in grabbing rebounds.

The Knicks defended the perimeter, handed the basket to Chandler himself, and after missing the shot, Jamison retreated, and the two protected the restricted area together. Grab the rebound and throw it to the frontcourt.

Zhou Xuan's straight-line speed was better than Seferrosa's, two quick layups on the ball, and assisted Matthews to shoot three points from the perimeter, and a wave of 7-0 beat the Thunder, and the difference expanded to 19 points.

Zhou Xuan and Beverley also pressed in the frontcourt, which made the Thunder very uncomfortable. Matthews is very strict with Durant without the ball, although he suffers from height, he is very successful in defending the break, and the Thunder's offensive position is almost all completed by jump shots. The Knicks are faster in counterattacking, and if they can prevent breakthroughs, they will pull people and send opponents free throws. This disrupted the rhythm of the Thunder's fast offense.

The best performer in the quarter was Westbrook, who led a 10-2 attack wave that saw the Thunder narrow the deficit to within 10 points. But goals from Anderson and Matthews put the Knicks on the ground.

Westbrook also has a head-to-head experience, and Zhou Xuan can't prevent him one-on-one. After last summer's hard work, Wei Shao's "full-body straight-up pull-up jumper" has become a unique trick, and there is no second person in the league who can continue to use the jump shot in the middle distance to kill opponents like him. He's fast, it's hard to block, and he's jumping into the air to find the basket.

This season, he is shooting a career-high 43 percent from 16 to 23 feet. In addition to scoring on his own, he is also playing more and more reasonably. In the past, he used to hit the basket with his head after breaking through. Now he is more likely to take advantage of the Knicks' ability to wrap up his bag and shrink the interior to score points for his teammates. Sefrosa's bottom corner three points came from his breakaway to attract three blocks.

Durant also relied on his height advantage to score on a jumper, and used his somewhat insidious "big loop" to cheat two fouls and hit all four free throws. However, the Thunder still trailed into the fourth quarter, and the reason was Harden. He played actively, but he was mostly prodigal, shooting 1 of 10 in the third quarter and scoring only 6 points.

In this quarter, Zhou Xuan only scored two points and handed out two assists, but grabbed five rebounds. The Thunder players with a small lineup retreated relatively quickly, giving him a chance to pick up backcourt rebounds. The game went for a triple-double.

In the fourth quarter, the Knicks replaced young Leonard, Matthews and Zhou Xuan on the outside, and Anderson and Gallinari on the inside, all five of them could shoot.

"Magic" Johnson said: "Age, is it really going to be an obstacle to winning the championship? After the Knicks began to rebuild, their youth and lack of experience did not cause them much trouble at all, and on the stage of the Finals, the Knicks also showed composure and maturity that did not match their age. Especially Zhou Xuan, Leonard, and Gallinari. ”

Van Gundy laughed: "If they start and exclude this attacking lineup, the average age is only 23 years old, which is the youngest in the last 35 years of the finals. And except for Leonard, the other four already have Finals experience. ”

On the Thunder side, there are also young people as the protagonists, Westbrook and Durant have scored consecutive points, but Perkins on the inside has been pondered and always misplaced.

The former defensive center has a tendency to become a defensive colander in this Finals. Anderson and Gallinari, two small forward-like interior players, tormented the Thunder.

In the final quarter, Zhou Xuan grabbed another rebound and handed out 4 assists. And that's not his main contribution to the team. Between 4:22 and 1:59, he hit three three-pointers. Two 60-degrees, one in the bottom right corner, helped the team take a 15-point lead.

After that, the Thunder fought to catch up, but the score difference was too large, and the Knicks won two consecutive games 109-100.

Zhou Xuan finally scored a quasi-triple-double of 28 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 steals. That made him the first player since Ross Barkley in 1993 to score at least 25 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists in the Finals.

Now, the Knicks are just two wins away from winning the championship.