When the players came out, James' expression looked a little wronged. He had a nightmare last night that the Heat were swept by the Knicks, he couldn't jump very close to the basket, he couldn't dunk, he couldn't shoot unguarded, and a lot of spectators were laughing at him.

Thinking day and night, James was already scared before he fought.

Having lost too many times, James has a shadow on his psyche. When he lost in 2007, he believed that tomorrow would be better, but after 7 years, he still didn't succeed, and began to wonder if he could win the championship and wonder if there was anything wrong with his style of play. Once a person begins to doubt himself, he loses confidence.

For James, playing basketball is not a pleasant thing to do. He is worried about the blame of the fans, worried about the decline of his popularity, and fame and fortune have long become the shackles that bind him. He wants to get away from Miami, he wants new helpers, he wants strong stars to share the pressure, right after this season.

Zhou Xuan never had these troubles. When he first entered the league, he said to himself: "Barefoot people are not afraid of wearing shoes, and it doesn't matter if you lose, I'm a new person anyway." ”

Now he said to himself: "It doesn't matter if you lose, anyway, I've won, I've had fun, and I've got all the honors." What if the evaluation is lowered, and it is not the strongest? I make a lot of money, and it's all practical, visible. ”

Zhou Xuan can fight, he doesn't want to lose, but he will also relieve pressure on himself, he is never afraid to step on the court.

Two mentalities, two destinies.

Even if James has Zhou Xuan's mind, he may be as entangled and painful as the man who jumps off the building, and it will not be transformed into positive energy, because his strong body contains a cowardly soul.

The first battle between the two sides began, and the Knicks quickly took the initiative.

The Heat Chandler was a big and four small, Scola came off the bench, and Dunleavy was in the starting lineup, which did a better offensive side, but they couldn't defend it, and the empty interior line was not as good as when Bosh was there.

Dunleavy was too skinny to block and dislodge opponents with his hips like Bosh did, making it difficult for defenders to chase after him. James is strong enough, but if he stands in the high post after blocking and waiting for a pass jumper, he is tantamount to being cocooned.

This season, James' mid-range shooting has regressed, and he has taken relatively few shots, accounting for only 7. 9%, the shooting rate is also relatively average, only about 38%, he is more about breaking through and playing low to ensure efficiency.

James and Chalmers' mid-range jumpers are not worth mentioning compared to the Knicks' mid-range shooting gods Zhou Xuan and Bosh.

In order to give full play to the characteristics of breakthroughs, the Heat still mainly relied on James and Wade to attack, and Chandler also pulled to the perimeter to block and dismantle, but unfortunately was empty. A big man on the inside wraps up James with Leonard. Wade's breakthrough is when the big man and Matthews wrap up Wade, forcing them to pass to the perimeter, and then use rotation to interfere with the shot.

9 points 4. Chalmers, who has 9 assists, is only a role player, and he doesn't have the confidence to do so when he takes 20 shots a game, and Dunleavy has never dominated the game by scoring.

The Heat trailed by 10 points in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Hardaway Jr. and Kerr were sent to form the outside line, and the inside line was Scola and Haslem and small forward Lewis. The Knicks are also an offensive lineup, with Augustin and Bledsoe at guard, Parsons and Anderson swinging forward, and Jefferson at center who has rested for a while.

The Knicks rotated on the court, the Heat lacked a low-post offense, Bosh could prevent James from playing in the low post, and Jefferson played more than six minutes before going down to rest, and now the Heat is suddenly tragic.

Jefferson has an absolute advantage in the control of the rebounding ball, grabbing it and immediately counterattacking, and cutting in the air after the positional offensive blocking, as long as Scola is defended and the ball is hung low, Haslem and Lewis can't do anything about Jefferson at all. didn't prevent it from going out, a block in the middle, and Augustin threw it directly.

Jeff Van Gundy, who is in charge of ESPN's commentary, lamented: "Augustin is really like Nelson of the Magic team, although he is not tall and the organization is average, but his pull-up jump shot after blocking is very good, and in the system, he plays better than Bledsoe. ”

The Knicks scored big, and in order to resist Jefferson, the Heat replaced James early and let him defend in the low post. Chandler generally doesn't play more than 35 minutes in order to keep the offense going.

James resisted in the low post, protected the rebound, and couldn't play the fast break on the offensive end. And the Heat still have weaknesses, and the interior height is not enough.

In the second half, Zhou Xuan returned to the court, unhurried organization, single guard and Heat slowly grinded. The Heat relied more on the fast break than the Knicks, and once they played a positional battle, the scoring efficiency was very low. Although the Knicks will score less, they are better than the Heat, because of Bosh and Anderson, these two people shoot very well after blocking and pick-and-roll, and can always help their teammates create zào mismatch opportunities.

Hardaway Jr. played a lot of minutes in the regular season and was not stable enough to enter the playoffs, and the coach also put him on the bench. Chalmers was stable enough, but unfortunately he was too stable and couldn't lead the team to an offensive climax.

Bosh is particularly confident in his teammates, he knows each other, plays tactics in the team's training, who can make up for defense, whether he can block or not, and in the face of Chalmers, Bosh is also very confident in his jumper, which is open, and he scored 16 points in the half.

In the second half, Zhou Xuan continued to pass the ball to Bosh, allowing him to play in the back position at a different pace, and the distance was far away, and Bosh could jump or break through after receiving the ball scout. Close-fitting, Bosh can play high, pass the ball over the defender's head, and respond in the high post. He gave the Heat the perfect turnaround.

In the final quarter, Zhou Xuan hit a three-point shot in the bottom corner, attracted Chandler's defense after covering and opened up space, hung inside to give Jefferson a strong attack, and gave Bosh an empty cut to the middle for a layup...... After a wave of 9-0, the difference widened to 25 points.

In the second half of the quarter, the Knicks replaced all the main forces, played two minutes with the Heat off the bench, compressed on the defensive end, James and Wade did not score three points, no one could shoot three points inside, and they were trapped in the 122 defense.

Seeing that they couldn't catch up with the score, the Heat also replaced all the main forces, and the game entered garbage time. The two teams ran together, and the shooting percentage was not high, and in the end, the Knicks won by 31 points 118-87.

Zhou Xuan didn't shoot much, 4-of-9 shooting, 3-of-7 three-pointers, 2-of-2 free throws, and scored 13 points, 15 assists and 2 steals. Bosh had 28 points and 11 rebounds in 36 minutes. Jefferson also had 22 points and 10 rebounds. The Knicks scored double-doubles with six players on the team, and the Heat exploded inside.

Scola was the only Heat player to score in double figures inside, with just 14 points and seven rebounds. James had 25 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists for a quasi-triple-double, and Wade had 17 points. Chalmers had 14 points and six assists, and no one scored in double figures.

After the game, the media said: "The Heat made the Knicks with a trade, and their own declining strength can no longer pose a threat to the Knicks." They almost went out in the first round. ”

Heat fans are also beginning to regret that many people only look at the number and don't study the tactical system. They want to watch stars score beautiful numbers, watch James break through dunks or split the ball to control the overall situation, but they don't know how James broke into and no one was covered, and how the opportunity came.

Now as long as James goes to the three-point line, he will definitely be trapped. The 38% shooting percentage was shown to the fans. In the regular season, James' shooting percentage dropped to 48. 3 percent, which is a lot lower than last season, and he has to force a shot to score against the pack.

Wade's shooting percentage is also declining, and the Heat are off the winning track, and it's normal for them to finish fourth in the East.

The second battle continued in New York.

Spoelstra made the adjustment to put James in charge of the interior defense, and Scola started to replace Chandler to strengthen the attack, wanting to take a desperate gamble. This adjustment ended in failure, and it was difficult to prevent the perimeter blocking.

Jefferson stood up under the basket on the right side to attract the defense, and if James switched defenses after the mid-court block, hanging low made it a strong point for Jefferson to play Scola.

Scola belongs to the short inside, pure floor flow, anti-basket interference shooting, especially in the turn hook hand, Jefferson happens to be good at turning and throwing, and the cover is not very accurate.

James is in charge of low-post defense, Zhou Xuan doesn't pass the ball, and after blocking and dismantling, he hits Scola and breaks through again and again. When he was in the Knicks, he couldn't prevent Zhou Xuan from breaking through, and the practice matches were all defended by others, and the two knew each other.

If the Heat side is assisted in defense, Zhou Xuan will not play strongly, and will share the ball. No matter who catches the ball on the periphery, he can shoot it when he pulls it up, even if it is not an empty position, he can avoid the block.

The Knicks' overall shooting percentage is the highest in the league, and they don't go head-to-head with opponents' defensive strengths almost the whole game, and they are all big shots or small breakaways.

At halftime, the Heat trailed by 17 points. Barkley commented: "I don't think James will be named to the All-Defensive Team again this season, he is worse than last season, with only 0 blocks. 3, he seems to have no desire to help defend the block on the side. Chandler also didn't show what he was capable of being the best defensive player for. ”

Smith said: "James is right not to jump around, if Zhou Xuan jumps casually, I am afraid that the result is not a block, but a foul, or being shaken away." ”

In the first half, Zhou Xuan didn't shoot much, but in the second half, the Heat strengthened their defense against the basket, and Zhou Xuan began to shoot. The Knicks replaced Jefferson and Anderson and played small-ball tactics.

The Heat didn't have a double-double player in rebounds, failed to bring in Bynum in the middle of the game, and was not as good as the Knicks in rebounding, and James was the best person in rebounding. The Knicks grabbed the rebound and counterattacked, the guard line composed of Zhou Xuan and Augustin completely brought up the speed, and Chandler's role in defending under the basket was small.

The Heat's only chance was James causing Leonard four fouls and sending him off early. Parsons, who can come off the bench, is also not a casual player, defending very hard, interfering with shots, blocking breakthroughs, and once James passes, he immediately pulls people to foul and send them to the free throw line.

James' poor free-throw shooting this season still exists, with a 77% shooting rate, and giving him free throws is a good strategy.

In the final quarter, Wade was dysfunctional under high-pressure defense, shooting 0 of 4, and the Knicks took the opportunity to widen the difference to 26 points and entered garbage time.

Everyone knows that the Heat can't win this series, and the only suspense is whether they have a chance to go back to their home court to win the last game and save face.