"The second core of the Knicks' disappearance!" The New York Times reported on the opening game of the Eastern Conference Finals the next day with a headline that they didn't think the Knicks were losing defensively, and that the real reason for losing was the lack of a second point of attack. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

There is a proverb in the NBA that offense wins the game, and defense wins the championship, this sentence is reflected in the Pistons who beat the Lakers F4, but they lost to the Spurs who have the same defensive strength but better offense, so defense is not everything, the balance of offense and defense is the guarantee of winning, a strong offense can make up for the lack of defense, but only a core offense is certainly not enough to make up for the Knicks' poor defensive shortcomings.

The Bulls dynasty of the Jordan era had the famous Iron Triangle, where Rodman sacrificed his former scoring ability, but the Bulls also had two offensive fulcrums, Jordan and Pippen. And now the Knicks are not strong enough defensively, and there is no other support point on the offensive end, who else can stand up at critical moments but Hugo?

Stoudemire had 28 points and 12 rebounds in the first game, and Iguodala and Gallinari also had 16 and 13 points, but neither of them could support the team's offense. Several times when Hugo passed the ball out, but eventually the ball was back in his hands.

Of course, the Heat's game is also an atypical victory, and it is also rare for the Big Three to break out together, and when the three of them combine to score 80+ points, it is difficult to force the Knicks to win. The question is whether the loss in this game is a wake-up call for the rest of the Knicks.

If the Knicks want to win, Stoudemire must play more resolutely on the offensive end, he must play fiercely, even if he can't go deep into the enemy line like Hugo and then divide the ball, at least he must use his impact to cause extensive damage to the Heat's interior line, so that Iguodala and Gallinari can find opportunities to play their offensive threats, and also reduce the defensive pressure on Hugo, which is the basic role of his second core.

Wu Huang also asked his teammates to do the same in the team the next day, and he thought that Xiao Si played too hard in the first game and did not play his own style.

Small's style is different from his, he can kill seven in and seven out of the crowd, which can only be achieved with superhuman reflexes and a keen sense of space and opponent position, Wu Huang can only see this similar ability in a few players such as Kobe, Paul and Parker, but no Knicks player has such talent.

Stoudemire's style is direct-lethal, and he should use the same impact as James and Wade to kill opponents head-on, but he must not learn from Bosh's style of play and float outside. If it weren't for Wade and James creating shots for Bosh, how would that guy have so many shots? But if Xiao Si expects Wu Huang to create such scoring opportunities for him, he may have no problem against most teams, but not in the face of the Heat Big Three, the Knicks must have more offensive points if they want to beat this team, including Iguodala and Gallinari have to show real desperate game momentum, and it is no longer enough to win the Eastern Conference Finals and then expect Wu Huang to break the formation alone.

Jeff Van Gundy believes that the Knicks should put the relatively healthy O'Neal in handy, although the 39-year-old old guy no longer has the devastating interior sweeping ability of ten years ago, but the Heat's interior line does not have Big Ben and Duncan, they don't even have a big guy like Dampier, Joel Anthony is already their best low-post defender, but O'Neal's several offenses in the third quarter proved that he can still play a good shot or two against this kind of opponent, Why don't you let him go up and challenge the Heat's weak interior defense?

Secondly, O'Neal's greater role for the Knicks should be in the defense under the basket, James and Wade recklessly impacted the Knicks under the basket area in the first game, Stoudemire and Gallinari did not have enough ability to guard the paint area on the inside, the Knicks faced a medium tank and a light tank in turn, in addition to O'Neal's heavy tank, who else could take on the heavy responsibility of guarding the basket?

Knicks assistant coach Mike Woodson provided D'Antoni with a statistic the next day, a table of career stats for Tony Allen and Andrea Iguodala against Wade and James, respectively

First up is Tony Allen vs. Wade, the two played each other 12 times in the regular season and 0 times in the playoffs before this series.

Wade's 12-game regular-season stats: 27.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.1 blocks, shooting 51.4% from the field and 29.9% from three-point range.

Looking at Iguodala vs. Wade, before this series, the two played each other 22 times in the regular season and 0 times in the playoffs.

Wade's 22-game regular-season stats: 24.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.3 blocks, shooting 47.2% from the field and 28.1% from three-point range.

This set of data can intuitively illustrate that Tony Allen is far less effective at defending Wade than Iguodala, who does a much better job of limiting Wade's scoring and shooting percentage than Tony Allen.

The second set of stats provided by Michael Woodson is the Iguodala vs. James head-to-head record, with the pair meeting 15 times in the regular season and 0 in the playoffs.

James' average data in these 15 regular season games: 26.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 1.9 steals, shooting 50.2% from the field and 30.2% from three-point range.

Tony Allen has not played against James, but this set of data can still illustrate a problem, that is, the first brother did not perform well in the face of James, he could not limit James's scoring and shooting percentage, James at this stage can never be limited by physical fitness, but Wade, whose athleticism has begun to decline, can be limited by a stronger body.

D'Antoni also discovered this problem through the first game, Tony Allen was very passive in defending Wade, who used his body much stronger than him to keep pressing Allen to play, and the latter's death entanglement could not withstand Wade's strength even if it was entangled.

But what if it's Iguodala instead? The latter is also proficient in close defense, and his confrontation ability is not inferior to Wade, and the younger brother seems to be more suitable for Wade.

So who will James give to defend?

Michael Woodson didn't answer this question directly, handing D'Antoni a third set of stats, which is James' playoff matchup.

2006 -

First round: James 36+8+6, 51%+38%; Caron Butler 19+11+3+2, 42%+21%.

Second round: James 27+8+6, 44%+28%; Prince 18 + 5 + 3, 45% + 60%.

2007 -

First round: James 28+9+8+2, 43%+27%; Jamison 32+10, 48%+35%.

Second round: James 25+7+9, 43%+31%; Richard Jefferson 18+6+2, 48%+33%.

East Final: James 26+9+9+3, 45%+36%; Prince 9+6+5, 24%+17%.

Final: James 22+7+7, 36%+20%; Bowen 6+5, 30%+39%.

In 2008 -

First round: James 30+10+8, 48%+29%; Caron Butler 19+6+4+2, 46%+24%.

Second round: James 27+6+8+2, 36%+23%; Pierce 19+5+4, 40%+33%.

In 2009

First round: James 32+11+8+2, 52%+33%; Margeti 10+4+2,45%+35%.

Second round: James 34+8+6+3, 50%+40%; Pierce 18 + 5 + 4 + 1, 42% + 36%.

Eastern Final: James 39+8+8, 49%+30%; Turkoglu 17+6+7,39%+39%.

Mike Woodson's stats can illustrate several points: first, James is not afraid of most defenders who are known for their physicality, the Gibbon Prince has been unable to limit James twice in the playoffs, Margety, who is similar to Iguodala's physical fitness, has completely failed to influence James with his terrifying upper body muscles, and the rest of Pierce, Jefferson and Butler are all very physical warriors at the No. 3 position, but they also can't get the best of James. As the all-time No. 1 in terms of physical talent at the No. 3 position, anyone who tries to limit him physically has failed.

But there is one person who succeeded, the only one who made James's various statistics drop sharply in so many rounds of playoffs was Uncle Bao San, who weighed less than 210 pounds, you must know that Bowen was 35 years old that year, but such an old swingman still relied on his historic defensive skills and awareness to let James experience a nightmare Finals, although the defense of the Spurs team provided strong support for Bowen that year, but didn't other teams provide support to these people who defended James?

So what Woodson means is, why not let Tony Allen give it a try? Although this is a bit whimsical and does not sound very reliable, countless people, including Iguodala, have tried it, and if you want to prevent James, you must rely on your body and skill, as well as the support of the whole team.

Although the Knicks don't have the last condition now, Tony Allen's defensive skills and awareness are almost the best in their team, Wu Huang may be better in awareness, Iguodala is better physically, but the best combination of the three is Tony Allen, using a small defense strategy may not be impossible to achieve miraculous results, at least you can try.

D'Antoni was also a little excited at first, but then the more he looked at Woodson, the more unpleasant he became, he always felt that this guy had long wanted to usurp his power, such a whimsical idea didn't cheat him, right? Once the experiment fails, the media will not scold Woodson as an assistant coach, and he, the head coach, will have to take the blame at that time.

In the second game, the Knicks will definitely change the lineup, but whether to reintroduce O'Neal as a starter and whether to let Tony Allen defend James, Mustache feels that there is no need for this.

D'Antoni believes that the real reason why the Knicks lost the first game is not themselves, the culprit should be that the Heat are in too good shape, which is the key!

The Big Three combined for 81 points, which is a special situation that cannot be played once in ten games, and the Heat played at a super level in this game. But even so, the Knicks narrowly missed the game and won the game. In the next game, the Heat will not have such good luck again, he has no reason to change his tactics urgently because of an atypical defeat, and the current Knicks do not need to change much, and the second game only needs to change slightly.

On May 17th, just before the start of the first game of the Western Conference Finals between the Mavericks and the Thunder, the media was still hyping the first matchup between the Knicks and the Heat, of course, the focus of their report was the small theater before the game between the two teams, including the cynicism of Wu Huang's "warm-up fierce as a tiger", if it weren't for his performance and data in the first game, this group couldn't find too many black spots, and it must have been widely praised as a joke at the moment.

The Mavericks are still the same, the media has not been optimistic about them, from the 4:3 thrilling elimination of the Rockets at the beginning, to the 2:4 elimination by the Lakers in the second round, even if the Dallas people finally advanced with a sweep, the media at the moment is still not optimistic about them as usual, and these guys still predicted before the game that the Thunder would eliminate the Mavericks 4:3 or 4:2 to enter the finals.

However, the Dallasian, who has become accustomed to being looked down upon, relied on Nowitzki's super consistent and efficient play, as well as an amazing performance by a group of bench bandits, to finally defeat the Thunder 121-112 at home, taking the lead in the seven-game series, and Nowitz also set five records in the basic game.

For starters, Nowitzki's 48 points in a game is the league's record for points scored in a single game this year's playoffs, and the 48 points are also the second-highest in Nowitzki's career playoff games, after setting a personal record of 50 points in a single game against the Suns in the 2006 Western Conference Finals.

It is worth mentioning that Nowitzki rewrote a new record in NBA history with two free throws in the first 19 seconds of the game, and his performance of 24 free throws in this game rewrote the previous record of 21 free throws set by Paul Pierce in the playoffs. Not only that, but the 24 free throws also tied Nowitzki's record for the number of free throws made in a single game in the playoffs. His 13 free throws in the third quarter also tied Michael Jordan's record of 13 in a single quarter.

In addition, with this 48 points, he has surpassed Sam Jones in the playoff scoring list and moved up to 21st place in NBA history.

However, the Mavericks' victory today, Nowitzki is of course the number one contributor, but it cannot be ignored that it was Barria's magical performance in the first half of the second quarter that allowed the Mavericks to reverse the decline, and his 12 consecutive points in the fourth quarter completely disrupted the entire defense of the Thunder with the power of one person, which helped the Mavericks set the tone for victory. Undoubtedly, this night belonged to Nowitzki, to Terry who shot 5-of-10 from three-point range, and to Barria, the "wonder boy" of Dallas!

Wu Huang also took the time to watch this game, and after seeing Terry's three-point shot like a "pumping fan", and the breakthrough of the little man Baryana who regarded the defense as nothing and stabbed the opponent's heart like a sharp blade, he immediately scolded his second, third and fourth masters in his heart.

The Knicks' first loss was the absence of such key supporting roles, and those three bastards were more than capable of playing the same or even better than Terry and Barria, but they were shamefully cowardly in the face of the Big Three's tough defense.

Could it be that Xiao Si is not as lethal as Nowitzki? Is Iguodala's breakthrough threat less than Barria's? Is Gallinari's three-point shot inferior to Terry?

The answer is obviously not so, Wu Huang feels that these guys are too used to relying on themselves, and it is time to ask them to play at a real level and let themselves hug their thighs as well.

The Knicks' second game was played on the 18th, and the New York Times received news before the game that Wu Huang was said to have given a passionate speech in the team the day before the game, hoping to encourage the team to pick up the fighting spirit.

On the day of the game, a reporter interviewed Gallinari on this issue, and after the Italian knew what was going on, he secretly complained in his heart: "The bullshit speech, obviously the boss scolded us all!" Of course, in front of people, he certainly couldn't say that, but nodded and said very seriously: "We need this kind of speech, he says, 'We've got to step up and play our basketball,' and Hugo is very good at that, he knows when it's time to stand up and talk and get a message to his teammates, and his speech is very motivating, it's like listening to Martin Luther King Jr. give a speech." ”

Martin Luther died a miserable death, and after hearing Gallinari's words, Emperor Wu thought that this guy should be scolding himself in a different way, right? He did scold the guys yesterday, and he wouldn't have done that last year, when he wasn't high enough to scold his teammates. But now it's different, he's the new MVP, he's the Knicks' undisputed centerpiece, and he's almost becoming the city's icon, and now it's far more effective to use this kind of rebuke and blame than bullshit speeches.

There is an old saying in China - mercy does not raise soldiers, righteousness does not accumulate wealth, that is, people with soft hearts cannot lead soldiers and fight, this sentence is the same on the basketball court, those indecisive leaders are definitely not good leaders, and a leader who is still wavering at a critical moment is even more difficult to turn the tide, so when it is time to criticize, it is necessary to criticize, and when it is time to scold, it is necessary to scold!

Nowitzki has not played as well this year as he did in '06, even he thinks so, but the only thing that has changed between the German and five years ago is his leadership temperament, and he has clearly toughened up, both internally and externally.

If Emperor Wu is soft-hearted, how can he submit an unruly star like Xiao Si? How to convince a stunned young man like Gallinari? And O'Neal's predecessors, and those old ball ruffians, how can they listen to him? In the news, scenes such as eating with soldiers are used for show, in reality, "people" are cheap, kicking the nose and face is a common feature of everyone, as a superior must have enough majesty, must make his subordinates awe, and even feel afraid, so that the military order can be like a mountain.

Wu Huang will never be friends with his teammates, he only needs these people to obey him, but he will not be too harsh and ruthless to them, grace and power are king, in order to maintain his majesty, he will be too strict with his teammates, and even bully his teammates, which is also unwise. Wu Huang has always felt that everything must be compared, why is it that every time he treats Gallinari better, this second goods is particularly easy to get excited? This is the effect of having his own harsh comparison with him before, how can he know how hard-won "sweet" is if he has not been "bitter", so before giving a sweet date, he must find a way to slap it first.

Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which is definitely a game that the Knicks can't afford to lose. If they go to Miami with a score of 0:2, even if they burst out on the road, it is difficult to guarantee a win, and the entire Eastern Conference Finals will be tilted towards the side of the Heat, even if they are swept, it is no longer impossible, they must win this game.

In the first game, the Big Three scored 81 points is obviously not a reflection of the true level of the Heat, many people know that their winning model is not complicated, the first thing is that the Big Three must have a normal level of play, the three are indispensable, and the Knicks today is to limit the Big Three from all having normal play.

"Don't mention the warm-up again, it's not an honorable thing for me, but it's not a shame either, and if anyone wants to influence me with this, it's just a dream." Wu Huang found out at the pre-game press conference that the Miami media still wanted to make a fuss about the warm-up, and expressed his disgust very impatiently, and at the same time he refused to answer any questions from the previous game, and said: "We are not entangled in the loss of the last game, the interesting thing about the NBA series is that the losing side can take targeted remedial measures and make corresponding adjustments to the problems that arose in the previous round." So it seems that there are always two teams playing, but in fact, the mentality, tactics and state of both sides are different in each game. We're going to be in Madison Garden with a new look today, and there's no need to talk about the last one. ”

D'Antoni made some changes on the defensive end today, they didn't have a focus on the defensive end in the last game, and today the Knicks are ready to let go of Bosh so that they can gather forces to pinch Wade and James. While Bosh's 29-point stats from last game look beautiful, his finger injury may have affected his shooting efficiency today. At the same time, if the Knicks can get Wade and James to reduce their shooting percentages under the pack, they may be able to curb the Heat's offense.

In terms of specific matchups, D'Antoni only took part of Mike Woodson's suggestion, and today he was going to put Iguodala back to the second position to play against Wade, but he did not accept the ridiculous suggestion to let Tony Allen defend James, so when the Knicks announced the starting list, O'Neal and Tony Allen were unhappy, and neither of them made the starting list today.

D'Antoni is fielding a starting lineup: Wu Huang, Iguodala, Gallinari, Evans, and Smalls, and he intends to use Evans' ferocious confrontation and a lot of off-the-market moves to disrupt James and Wade's breakthrough, and this guy's ferocious rebounding ability can also help the Knicks improve their disadvantage in the competition for rebounds in the last game.

Jeff Van Gundy commented before the game: "The Knicks have had no shortage of great blue-collar interior players this season, but they seem to have fallen into the embarrassment of looking only for quantity and lack of quality - Evans, Turiaf and Collins are all special players who are proficient in one aspect and may be useful in the regular season and against certain opponents, but they are difficult to do when facing all-round star players. ”

Mark Jackson said: "I think the Heat are not as good as the Knicks in this regard, they don't even have a few special players like this, if the Big Three can't always ensure a good performance in the last game, the Heat may not be as easy to win as imagined, and I don't expect them to be able to shoot three arrows every game." ”

The Heat's starting lineup today has not changed, Bosh was previously diagnosed with a slight fracture at the end of his right middle finger, but fortunately he is a left-handed player who still started today with a fixed splint on the court.

The Miami's defensive strategy today still adheres to two main points: the first is the wheel battle, whether it is Chalmers or Bibby top defense, Bosh will help defend Wu Huang at any time in the middle line, and James and Wade will also come to cover from time to time; The second is to stop Wu Huang's ball and try to make it into the rhythm of a solo fight. Wu Huang's response to this is also very simple, which is to go deep into the hinterland to attract opponents to create opportunities for his teammates, and today he is ready to strengthen his off-ball running and offense on the weak side, while increasing the number of attacks with the ball by Xiao Si and Iguodala, and he hopes that his teammates can play at the same level today as Terry and Barria in the Western Mavericks.

After the start of the game, the Heat rushed towards Wu Huang with a three-board axe in the opening stage, and Wu Huang asked his teammates to assemble on the other side, he wanted to see if the Heat was still pestering him, if there were always more people around him, he would pass the ball into the theater mode, hoping to hug his thighs. If there are few people around him, he will hold the ball and attack as a lone hero, and this style of play has become easier than the previous game.

The Knicks' style of play is a bit imitating the Mavericks' strategy on the offensive end, Nowitzki has simplified the complexity this year, basically a trick of golden rooster independence and three-point shooting, once the Thunder is trapped, the Mavericks let other players attack on the weak side; As long as the whole team is in good shape enough to score the ball, the Mavericks' strategy is simple, but they are not afraid of any opponent.

The Heat chose to continue to besiege Wu Huang in the opening stage, but Xiao Si was extremely resolute in attacking Bosh who had a finger injury on the side, and some fans vaguely saw the invincible little bully who faced the Spurs series in the 04-05 season. In the first quarter, Xiao Si was very powerful, handed over an amazing data of 5 shots and 5 of them, and scored 14 points on Bosh in a single quarter, and the Knicks relied on Xiao Si's magical play in the first quarter to lead the Heat 28-25.

In the second quarter, Spoelstra didn't dare to let Xiao Si get another easy chance to play alone, and the Heat had to start dedicating some of their forces to take care of Stoudemire.

The defensive pressure around Wu Huang is still not small, but he can see clearly that the Jenway combination is only playing a deterrent role at this time, and Bosh is being dragged by Xiao Si again, and his defense is much less than the last game, so when Chalmers and Bibi defend him alone, as long as James and Wade are on the left side to help defend, he will break through to the right side, which will definitely make the people who assist in defense dare not follow, and in the end he is actually a one-on-one situation. In short, no matter how famous the players who come to help defend are, Wu Huang only needs to find the top defense players, as long as his teammates threaten enough, he will not suffer from the encirclement defense like the first game, in the final analysis, he still needs his teammates to help him play easily.

The Heat's last game allowed Wu Huang to learn the league's top defense, and it is the consensus of the whole league to minimize their mistakes and the number of counterattacks by the Big Three against the Heat. D'Antoni learned the lessons of the first game today, and the Knicks' offense was more concise and effective today, and their "single-core offensive tactics" caused a lot of trouble for the Heat's defense.

This so-called "single core" refers to Wu Huang and Xiao Si's one-man offense, in the first half, the two rarely play together to block and dismantle, but try to stay away from each other to form a horn trend, from the left and right sides of the attack on the Heat, Iguodala always appears at the top of the arc and in the middle as a transit point for the two.

As long as the Knicks' two strongest ball-holding points can open their own offensive mode on the wings, in fact, they don't need to deliberately connect, such a "single-core" offense has a better advantage than a "multi-core" offense - the whole team passes are less cumbersome, the mistakes are reduced accordingly, the quality of the Heat's counterattack is reduced, and the supporting actors can still work together to grab offensive rebounds, Evans grabbed 9 rebounds in the first half, including 3 offensive rebounds, and the mustache substitution can be regarded as effective.

In addition to earning 12 points and 2 assists in the first half, Wu Huang also got 5 rebounds, which eased his response task, although the number of assists was greatly reduced, but in contrast, he faced less defense, and also made the Heat players' defensive positions too far away from each other, making it difficult to support each other.

Zhan Wei and the two were almost forcibly separated by the Knicks' offense on the defensive end today, and Bosh could no longer support in the center in the face of Xiaosi's strong play, and the Knicks successfully broke the Heat's "giant" defense on the offensive end, leading the Heat 55-45 in the first half.

On the defensive end, the Knicks' change of lineup today also had a certain effect, Iguodala only allowed Wade to score 10 points in the first half, which is already a very successful defense, Wade, who used all the quasi-work preparations on Tony Allen in advance, finally felt passive in the face of Iguodala today.

If it was the Flash in his heyday two years ago, with his peak speed, he would not be too scared of Iguodala, and Wade was truly invincible at that time. But this year Wade has begun to feel the aging of his knees, and he hasn't been as fast as he has been in previous years, which has allowed Iguodala to keep up with him.

Once he loses the magic weapon of speed, Wade will have to face the disadvantage of his height, and naturally there is not much advantage on the offensive end, and his confrontation ability will not take advantage of Iguodala in the face of him, and he still has some gaps with Kobe Bryant in terms of technique.

James is a bit of a loner in the Cavaliers today, when Bosh was trapped with a finger injury and couldn't break out like the first game, and Wade was also caught in a struggle with Iguodala, the Heat was left with only James as the trump card, and none of the others were reliable, and the Miami's biggest weakness was once again exposed - if they want to win, in addition to the normal performance of the Big Three, there must be X-factor characters who stand up, but Chalmers, Bibby, Haslem, None of Jones and others have the ability to act as this X-factor.

But looking at the Knicks on the other hand, when Wu Huang and Xiao Si were able to play normally and successfully attract the opponent's main defensive experience, they had too many players on their roster to be the X-factor, so many that they couldn't count them on a finger.

In the third quarter, James and Bosh scored one after another, and the Heat chased the difference to only 5 points in a blink of an eye, and it looked like they were about to launch a counterattack. But they never expected that Gallinari suddenly went berserk, first hitting a three-point shot, and then breaking through James for a layup, scoring five points in a row to hide the Heat's murderous aura.

In fact, Gallinari had a very eye-catching play in the first quarter, and he hit two three-pointers in the first half, although not much, but they were both crucial, and if James didn't focus on Gallinari and always wanted to support his teammates, it would be easy for the Italian to stab him from the side.

The key point that really determined the outcome of the game appeared at the end of the third quarter, when the Heat relied on James' individual strong offense in the second half and the other two giants intermittently scored to hang a sigh of relief, but this tone was completely broken up by Wu Huang at the end of the third quarter with accurate shooting.

In the last two minutes of the third quarter, Wu Huang hit three consecutive long-range shots in less than two minutes, and also performed a fatal 3+1 on Wade that completely destroyed the morale of the Heat, scoring 8 points in a row while giving the Knicks a 19-point lead over the Heat after the third quarter, and the game in the fourth quarter is meaningless at the moment. Even if the Heat can always stage a reversal and a "giant" counterattack in the fourth quarter, it is difficult to reverse the Knicks' 19-point lead, and this miracle will definitely not happen to the Knicks today. (To be continued.) )