Chapter 83: Counterattack (2)
The big win in Game 3 made the whole series suspenseful, the Knicks reproduced the strength at the end of the regular season on the offensive end, and the 24-point slaughter also gave Knicks fans hope for a reversal. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 info
Throughout the game, Wang Zhuo watched almost from the sidelines, and won the game completely by the player's belief that he would win, in Wang Zhuo's view, such a team was more terrifying and more fearful.
Just like an apprentice who learns art, he is invincible after the master's teaching, but in the eyes of others, he sees more that the master teaches well, and only one day, when he leaves the master, wanders the rivers and lakes alone, and gets the title of the first in the world, the apprentice's strength will be truly recognized.
In the past, the Knicks relied too much on Wang Zhuo, but the current Knicks players have learned how to adjust themselves and know how to play in adversity.
Game 4 is still played at the Madison Square Garden arena, this game is still important for the Knicks, if they lose, there is a cliff under their feet, and if they take another step, they will be doomed, and if they win, the situation will become very clear, and the two sides will not only return to the same running line, but the Raptors will be under more pressure.
On the evening of May 9th, the game officially started, Casey changed the lineup, Biyombo was promoted to the starter, the Knicks starting lineup did not change, Wang Zhuo realized that Casey adjusted the defensive strategy, Valanciunas focused on offense, and Biyombo was good at defense.
After the game started, as soon as Anthony received the ball, Carroll and Lowry stepped forward to wrap it, Anthony did not choose to attack, passed the ball back to Grant, O'Quinn mentioned a high block, and Grant broke into the inside layup with a cover.
However, at the moment when Grant took off into the air, a black shadow flashed in front of him, and he jumped higher than Yongbo, like a gorilla swatting a fly, and fanned the ball out of bounds with one palm.
Since the ball did not touch the basket, the Knicks sent a throw-in and continued to attack, with 3 seconds left, Anthony received the ball, turned over and leaned back, the ball smashed on the rebound, did not touch the basket, Biyombo picked up the rebound.
Lowry quickly dribbled across the halfcourt, Grant was close, Lowry showed a strong offensive determination, borrowed Patterson to cover, moved a step sideways, and made a direct three-point shot, the ball smashed into the basket and missed, only to see Biyombo jump up and volley with one arm.
Wang Zhuo's face changed slightly, Biyombo's style of play is too tough, Porzingis and Lopez are weak in physical fitness, and Biyombo is not dominant at all in the confrontation, O'Quinn has good physical fitness, but it is just the same as Biyombo's style of play.
O'Quinn has rough skills, offensive and compositional abilities to be polished, rebounding and blocking ability is far worse than Yongbo, Biyombo has poor independent offensive ability, most of them are secondary offenses after grabbing rebounds in the front court, but the rebounding and blocking ability is first-class, so, in the face of Biyombo, Wang Zhuo is also a little difficult, and none of the three interior lines can be up to the task.
The ball was converted, Grant organized the offense, and after a series of conductions, the ball came to Aflalo's hand, facing DeRozan, Afflaro adjusted, but it was still interfered with, and the ball smashed on the side edge of the rebound and bounced into DeRozan's hand.
The Raptors played a transition offense, DeRozan responded to Lowry, a mid-range pull-up jump shot, and hit again, the Raptors opened 4-0, and the Knicks quickly fell into passivity.
Looking back, Anthony faced Carroll and Lowry's bag on the outside, forced a super long three-pointer, and struggled to break the scoring drought, but the situation of the Knicks was still worrisome, in the next round of the Raptors' offense, DeRozan shot three non-sticks from the outside, Biyombo grabbed the offensive rebound again, made a strong dunk, and at the same time scored, it also caused O'Quinn to foul offensively, but fortunately, the free throw was missed, and the situation did not deteriorate further.
With Biyombo guarding the Raptors' restricted area, Knicks players have to think about the consequences when they break through, so the Knicks' offensive options are more on outside jumpers, and the Raptors can take the opportunity to spread the defense, focus on interfering with the Knicks' shooting, and make the Knicks' three-point nuclear power also lose most of it.
What's more important is the weakness of the Knicks' ability to protect the basket inside, Lowry and DeRozan can attack unscrupulously, anyway, someone on the inside grabs rebounds, which is not the most terrible, the star can not find the feel for a while, but if he shoots too much, the feeling will naturally come, and if it goes on like this, when Lowry and DeRozan find their hand back, the situation will be even worse.
At halftime, at 46:54, the Knicks trailed by 8 points, this difference is a subtle number, one step forward is 10 points, a double-digit watershed, a step back is 6 points, two offenses and one defense can erase the difference, so this is the real moment to test Wang Zhuo's coaching ability.
"Boys, you're doing a great job, keep up the form, hold on for another 24 minutes, and bring the win back to Toronto!"
In the Raptors' locker room, Casey's right finger tapped the tactical board, pulling a hoarse voice to motivate.
Casey is an excellent coach who does a great job of setting up targeted tactics, and although he is often criticized for his ability to adapt on the spot, he is often not a fatal factor.
However, Wang Zhuo didn't think so, because as long as it was a shortcoming, it was enough to be fatal, and in the locker room, Wang Zhuo did not give an exciting speech, but just sketched on the tactical board.
The whistle blew at the beginning of the second half, the Raptors launched an offense, Lowry hit a three-pointer from the top of the circle, Oquinn stuck Biyombo and struggled to get the ball to Anthony.
Grant dribbled in the frontcourt, Afralo hit DeRozan on the bottom line, turned around and hit a jumper, and now the Knicks only have Afralo's offensive strength, after all, DeRozan's individual defensive ability can almost be ignored.
After chasing the difference to 6 points, Wang Zhuo rubbed his hands, and estimated in his heart that it was almost time to cast the net, and after Patterson missed a three-point shot from the outside, Porzingis grabbed a long rebound, Wang Zhuo asked for a timeout.
After the timeout, Wang Zhuo changed the lineup on the court, removing O'Quinn and Porzingis and replacing them with Calderon and Derrick Williams, completely abandoning the interior and playing a five-small lineup with two point guards.
At the end of the timeout, Calderon held the ball at the top of the circle, Grant and Afflalo stood on either side of the free throw line, and Anthony and Williams stood one step inside the three-point line in the bottom corner.
Calderon burst into the interior with the ball, Grant and Afflalo raised to the three-point line at the same time to form a double screen, Anthony slipped the three-point line from the left bottom corner, went around Grant, ran to the top of the circle, and Williams ambushed the right corner.
In the face of Biyombo's supplemental defense, Calderon knocked the ball back to Anthony who ran to the top of the circle, and then slipped the bottom line into the bottom left corner, Anthony received the ball, Lowry and Carroll stepped forward to wrap up, Anthony made a long pass directly to Calderon, Lowry couldn't reach the whip, Calderon made an empty three-point shot, and hit it steadily.
Looking back, the Knicks suddenly pressed the whole court, Lowry was sandwiched by Grant and Calderon, there was a mistake, Grant broke the ball and broke fast, Anthony chased three points in the top of the circle, 8-0 in the opening game, and erased the difference.
Before Casey could react, DeRozan hit the iron in the frontcourt, Anthony picked up the rebound, the Knicks launched a fast break again, Grant forced a layup, Biyombo was fouled in the block, the ball scored and added free throws, and the Knicks overtook by three points.
Casey's forehead began to sweat, and by the time he fully understood what was going on, the Knicks had completed a 15-2 offensive surge after returning from a timeout, stretching the score to seven points.
Although Kessie tried his best to make up for it, it was to no avail, Biyombo had been completely abolished, the offensive end had no ability to attack with the ball, and the defensive end could not keep up with the speed of the Knicks' five-small lineup, and in the end, the Knicks played another home game and moved the big score to a 2-2 draw.