Chapter 16: Confrontation (Part II)
After returning from the pause, Iverson seemed to be given unlimited firing rights, constantly attacking, like a ferocious wolf, constantly tearing at each other. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info
Van Gundy seems to have made up his mind to use Jordan's rule, keeping an eye on Snow and Aaron McGee, and Iverson's outside touch in this game is simply scum, the first half is not over, five shots from outside the three-point line have been zero, and the usual stable pull-up jump shot is also frequently missed under Camby's help defense.
On the other hand, here in the Knicks, Van Gundy once again emphasized the team's offense, and Alan Houston, Charlie Ward, and frequent shots on the outside, and the Knicks' lead will expand after a while. It's come to 40:32.
At this time, Iverson's mentality seemed to have exploded, and after receiving Snow's pass, he didn't even feint, and just relied on speed to eat Charlie Ward raw.
After Iverson hit the free throw line, he suddenly pulled back and made a quick stop, and Camby did not doubt him, and immediately abandoned Ratliff and went up to make up for the defense. Unexpectedly, Iverson only lifted the ball slightly and made a feint to worship Buddha, and slipped around Camby and stabbed inside.
Mo Xi always remembered what Charles said to him that day, he didn't spare his hand, he just stood in front of the entire reasonable collision zone and waved his hand down, regardless of whether he was a man or a ball, just go out together.
However, there are moments when geniuses always show that they are different from others, and the game is often determined by these flashes. Iverson was not afraid, he rushed forward, spun half a circle in the air, let go of Mo Xi's side, and picked up the ball with his right hand.
At this point, Larry Johnson also made up for it, and it was behind Iverson that he jumped up against half of Iverson's body and headed for Iverson's left cap. The Predators' defense remains fearsome even today.
Iverson ignored Johnson, who was making up the defense, and with a flick of his right wrist, he spun the ball, and the ball flew out quickly, hit the rebound, and bounced into the basket.
After landing on the ground, Iverson was very excited, hammered his chest, roared, and ran towards the 76ers halfcourt.
Mo Xi and Johnson, who were used as a background wall, were both very annoyed.
As the big brother on the field at the moment, Johnson has a very high right to speak, and he asks for the ball directly at the top of the arc, intending to teach the boys on the opposite side a lesson.
However, before Johnson could receive the ball, Iverson, who had already had some prelude to an explosion, reappeared, he saved Charlie Ward's pass, forced his body back into balance and went all the way away, and dunked under the watchful eyes of the Knicks.
Van Gundy looked at the time, there were still two and a half minutes, the time was delicate, Iverson seemed to really have an outburst, Charlie Ward was already difficult to restrain the opponent, and had to interrupt the rhythm. Van Gundy made a gesture to call a timeout, replaced Murphy, Larry Johnson, and replaced Sprewell and Kurt Thomas, as if to force Iverson. Van Gundy said to them: "Sprewell, I want you to put a lot of pressure on Iverson, whether it is on the offensive end or on the defensive end, don't care about the physical exertion for these two minutes, provoke him, let him go head-to-head with you." Thomas, you don't need to make up the defense, but you have to jam the path where the opponent might pass the ball inside, got it? ”
Both nodded.
Speaking of which, Kurt Thomas is also a freak among interior players, his interior defense is not bad, but he is more steals than blocks, and has been more steals than blocks since 1995.
Sprewell excitedly started his old job, this kind of trouble-making work he liked very much, and in just one minute, the two were already entangled, although Iverson's attack was still fierce enough, but more turned into hard steel.
Veteran coach Larry Brown yelled loudly from the sidelines, but it seemed that the situation was no longer in his plans.
By halftime, Iverson and Sprewell each had a technical foul and the Knicks led 44-42.
The Knicks were happy when they returned to the locker room, after all, the 76ers were direct playoff ticket contenders, and if they could win the game, it would be very beneficial for the Knicks.
Van Gundy said to Sprewell: "Sprewell, you probably won't have much rest in the second half, I hope you can continue to stare at Iverson, try to do some stretching on the offensive end, conserve energy. ”
Sprewell nodded a little reluctantly, he had already scored 19 points in the half, this game if he wanted to. It's perfectly possible to score 30 points. However, it is precisely because of his bad temper that Sprewell, who has not played for a year, has long suppressed his irritability in his heart. Speaking of which, he is very similar to Mo Xi in a certain way, and they are both players who have been reborn.
Van Gundy didn't set it up too much, because according to the current situation, it was really just a clash of willpower, to see if the Knicks crushed Iverson or Iverson beat the Knicks, and the game had been dragged into a muddy water by Van Gundy.
The halftime break ended quickly, the players returned to the court, and both sides actually made some changes to their respective lineups, with the Knicks replacing Ewing and replacing Sprewell; The 76ers replaced George Lynch with Aaron McGee. One side strengthens the defense, the other strengthens the offense.
Van Gundy was right, the rest of the 76ers were in a slump in the first half, and Iverson took the offensive power when he saw his teammates out of shape, but he frequently hit a wall here at Sprewell.
Van Gundy was even more excessive, looking at the opponent's outside fire, and actually replaced Charlie Ward and Kurt Thomas, replaced Ewing and Dudley, the average height was much higher than the opponent's Knicks shrunk inside, but the more so, the more the 76ers did not dare to shoot, under the slow rhythm of the Knicks, the score in this quarter was a little low, and the Knicks played 20:14 in this quarter.
The Knicks had a nearly double-digit lead at 64:56.
However, it was not all good news for the Knicks, and after the third quarter, Ewing gestured to Van Gundy, who hurriedly called the team doctor.
After a brief examination by the team doctor, it seems that the condition is very bad.
"How?" Van Gundy asked anxiously.
The team doctor didn't speak, just made a few gestures.
Van Gundy suddenly, bowed his head and pondered for a while, summoned the Knicks' players, and said: "In the last quarter, we have to play a little more carefully, the defensive strategy remains the same, on the offensive end, we began to focus on the two points of Sprewell and Houston, and Camby and Thomas on the inside line went up first." ”
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Van Gundy called Mo Xi and said to him: "You get ready, I will replace you in the eighth minute of the fourth quarter, I only have one request for you, whether you can get in or not, chisel the inside, pay attention to the movement of Houston and Sprewell." ”
Mo Xi nodded expressionlessly, with a burst of ecstasy in his heart, which means that if he plays well enough in that period, he should be able to enter the official rotation list, and he doesn't have to worry about his playing time in every game.
Mo Xi waited anxiously on the field, but was patted by the assistant coach and said: "Don't be excited, you should look at the opponent's situation now." ”
Mo Xi suddenly felt a bucket of cold water pour down his head and face, and he immediately calmed down, almost getting carried away, he mocked to himself.
No matter how good a defender is, there will be some defensive habits that he may not even know about, and Mo Xi almost used his school energy to analyze the simulation there.
As the minutes ticked by, the 76ers stubbornly held on to the score, and the Knicks failed to pull the score away, leading by 11 points at 77:66.
At this point, it's the 76ers
At this time, the 76ers players were already a little anxious, seeing that the Knicks replaced a not very strong interior lineman, Snow arrived in the frontcourt and directly hoisted the ball to center Matt Reform.
Matt squeezed hard backwards, but found that there was not much resistance, so he simply began to push strongly with his back.
Who knew that it was such a push, Mo Xi suddenly withdrew, passed the ball from Matt's hand, and threw the front court directly in the backfield.
In a flash of lightning, Sprewell rushed out and headed straight for his thirtieth thirtieth.
The next offense the 76ers don't dare to give it any further, they need to score safely. The ball eventually came to Iverson, and Iverson didn't mind his previous hit rate, as long as he hit the last ball, as long as he won the game.
He first made a three-threat move, and seeing that Sprewell didn't make any moves, he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed, but he didn't dare to shoot any more three-pointers, and he had already missed 7 shots. He had to make a series of big crotch dribbles and use crossover to get past Sprewell.
It's a pity that although Sprewell was shaken off half a step, he still didn't completely lose his defensive position, and he turned around and continued to stick up, and he kept making small movements in his hands.
Iverson couldn't get rid of Sprewell completely, and he had to admit that he didn't have a high shooting percentage against Sprewell, and he wanted to make fouls, so he started to move in the direction of Moxi.
As a college teammate and "mentor", Iverson did underestimate Mo Xi, who had already guessed Iverson's intentions.
Mo Xi's hands were raised high, straight to the sky, Iverson wanted to make a foul but the tragedy was that it seemed too uncomfortable to touch Mo Xi's hand, as a last resort, he pulled the ball back, made a fold, and barely found an angle to shoot, the ball smashed behind the basket and bounced out, the Knicks' rebound.
Ward slowly dribbled to the frontcourt, took a breath, and hoisted the ball to the insider. He still has some good feelings about Mo Xi, after all, both of them are from the Knicks draft, and they are descendants of New York.
Mo Xi caught the ball and took a soft breath, ready to attack