Defending and defending, everything starts with defense, this has been the main theme of the league for a long time, even if it was the show-time back then, his coach was the iron-blooded coach Pat Riley. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Under this theme, many defensive masters have been born, such as the Knicks' "Black Pearl" Walter Fraser, the Bucks' Simone Moncliffe, the Jazz's John Stockton, the Supersonics' Gary Payton, the Hawks' Mutombo, the Heat's Mourning, the competitive helpers, and the future Big Ben, Kidd, Bowen, Artest, Battier, and Kobe.

And this time in the finals, both teams are well-known defensive powerhouses. The Knicks averaged just 85.7 points per game throughout the regular season, compared to 84.7 for the Spurs, but the Spurs were excellent on the defensive end and no slouch offensively, scoring 92.8 points, which dwarfed the Knicks in that area due to Ewing's absence from most games.

This is the dilemma that the Knicks are currently facing, the opponent not only has defensive ability comparable to his own, but also has offensive ability that is much higher. In other words, the difficulty of scoring on both sides is the same, but the scoring ability is not on the same level.

Van Gundy said, it's really not that I can't do it, it's just that this lineup is too crippled, only the outside offensive firepower, how can the team that lacks the ability to attack inside look like a deformed cripple and want to run? It's not easy to go!

Van Gundy thought deeply, and put Johnson up in the second half, and put Camby in the center position, after all, Camby's body is not strong, but in terms of defensive ability, it is really the best in the current Knicks, and even the aging Ewing can't compare.

After the start of the second half, Johnson returned to the court, and the Knicks seemed to have found the backbone, although the Knicks' offensive organization was still a little messy, but the magic was that Houston and Sprewell relied on their own hands to bite the score. A shooter who repeats a move day after day is very respectable, just like those superstars, even if he has made 0 of 27 shots before, but if he shoots 28th, you will panic as an enemy.

God rewards hard work, and this is the case at this point. The bad hand doesn't last forever, and so, in the third quarter, the two began to gradually find their crosshairs.

After Johnson came on the court, in addition to mental support, the most important thing is Johnson's incomparable thick body, with a body of tendon flesh, even the same muscular "Admiral" David Robinson can not be ignored, every time Johnson makes a cover, he can block people tightly, and even if the position card is clever, it is not a problem to block two people.

As a result, Houston and Sprewell have plenty of room to make a move.

Johnson was on the wall, Houston was running back from the bottom corner, and Sprewell was on the inside from the wing with cover and then running to the other side. Thanks to Johnson's high-quality coverage, the duo's runs were almost always in the absence of defenders altogether. Therefore, although Ward is still choked to death, he can pass the ball out of the way, regardless of the organization, as long as he passes the ball to the right person.

However, the Spurs' defense was still very strong, Ward's pass was a little off the established route, and Houston had to pull a few more steps outside to receive the ball, that is, the spurs defenders followed, only half a step away from Houston, stopped, and did not rush forward.

This doesn't make Houston uncomfortable, and it's true that he killed the Heat with a breakaway throw, but in the end, that's what he's not good at.

But he didn't hesitate for long, and soon, the indefatigable Sprewell came out again, Houston hurriedly passed the ball, and Sprewell caught the ball and made a jumper.

And the Spurs' offense is as stable as ever, with the high-low and high posts of the twin towers, and Avery Johnson interspersed with them, the Knicks are not sure to completely defend the opponent.

By this time, the Knicks finally got rid of the haze of the previous quarter and bit the score, although they did not close the score, but fortunately they did not pull away.

However, there is a premise for all of this, and the Knicks are currently on the right bench. You know, Johnson played with an injury. After playing half a quarter of the game, Johnson was still replaced, although he himself was a little unhappy, but there was no other way, there was already a faint pain in his body, and if he continued to play, not only could not help the team, but could become a burden.

It was Moxi who replaced Johnson, but Van Gundy did not choose the twin tower combination of Moxi + Camby, he also replaced Camby and replaced Thomas. Thomas can be regarded as a weakened version of Johnson, with mid-range shooting, defense, blocking, and physical fitness are not bad, but they are a little worse, but Thomas has a lot of small movements, which can make up for one or two. And although Mo Xi's performance on the defensive end is not as good as Camby, on offense, he has to let Duncan spend energy to take care of it alone, increasing and decreasing, and it is impossible to say whether it is good or bad.

This time, Mo Xi had his own ideas against Duncan, and after a round of outside attacks was fruitless, Mo Xi got a single opportunity.

The Spurs also seem to have carefully studied Moxi's performance, with Duncan every time he putting Moxi to receive the ball deep in the low post, a position where Moxi's performance was clearly not as effective as a back-to-back single outside the box.

Mo Xi catches the ball, there is no feint, it is just a turn, moving sideways. Duncan blocked Mo Xi and stuck his position firmly, and Mo Xi could only draw circles on the outside. But this is also the result of Mo Xi's want, leaning out, his shoulder blocked Duncan, and then the strength of the two of them kept himself balanced, and then his right hand stretched out and drew a big arc, and Mo Xi hooked his hand to shoot.

The ball fell calmly to the basket, and Mo Xi turned back and ran towards his own half, which was his first score against Duncan.

Resolute, decisive, sometimes this works better than any number of feints. In the basketball game, there are so many skills to pass, in fact, it is just a fast word, fast dribbling direction, fast fancy shaking people, in fact, they are all using the speed that the opponent can't keep up with to get rid of the other party, which is what many passing masters say, the most effective way to pass people, in addition to the first step, is a simple change of direction. (I think Paul said that once again on the All-Stars, a lot of people were playing all kinds of tricks, and Paul said, "No, I only play pre-body dribbling.") The simpler something is, the more lethal it tends to be.

In the third quarter, the Knicks performed very well, tying with the Spurs at 26:26, but the tie also meant that the Knicks were still behind.

Popovich made another adjustment, and once again gave the Knicks another slap in the head in the fourth quarter.

Although in the face of Duncan, Mo Xi can also score, in terms of efficiency alone, or the outside two shots are better, so, in the fourth quarter, the Spurs suddenly changed the style again, no longer forcing point guards, began to target two shooters, Robinson and Duncan are good at helping defense, Thomas's cover is useless in front of them, the two actually send blocks to each other, and from time to time they also squeeze on the passing line and grab a few steals.

The Knicks' offensive system was completely seen through.

In the end, the Knicks lost 77:98 and were beaten by the Spurs, and the Spurs twin towers fiercely rubbed the Knicks' interior line, and the two combined to score 46 points, 25 boards, 10 assists, 5 steals and 5 blocks, of which Duncan alone scored 33 points and 16 boards. The only consolation is that the Knicks are all in the army, at least they did not lose in rebounds, 6 more than the Spurs, Thomas was very powerful, and grabbed 13 by himself, as for the high-profile Knicks Twin Towers before the game, the performance can only be said to be decent, because Duncan's performance in this game was too dazzling, and the performance of the two together was not as good as Duncan alone. Mo Xi had 13 points and 4 boards, and Camby had 10 points and 6 boards, which was a little disappointing.

The first game of the finals came to an end, and after watching this game, many people felt that the Knicks were like a weak and powerless girl, facing a big man with bad intentions.