The two sides have been fighting fiercely from the beginning, although this is the home court of the Bulls, but the Knicks have their lives and pressed the Bulls hard.

Thibodeau expected this to be a tough battle, but what he didn't expect was that the Knicks' players would fight so hard, Copland, who usually barely played, had grabbed 16 rebounds at the end of the third quarter, and also scored 15 points, overturning the Bulls' interior line, embarrassing Noah and Boozer to the extreme, because the two of them only had 21 points and 12 rebounds in the third quarter.

In addition to Copeland, the Knicks' other players are also trying their best to do their jobs, Smith is less of a solo player, more of an open cut run, a catch-and-shoot jumper, Novak has been clubbed outside the three-point line, waiting for an opportunity, and the two have made 5 three-pointers.

In defending Sun Xiaotian, New York insisted on using small individual defense, Kidd and Prigioni, the two old demons, have been working with Sun Xiaotian with experience, turning around Smith, and even Felton used strength and speed to make Sun Xiaotian complain.

Sun Xiaotian shot 5 of 14 in the third quarter, and his shooting efficiency was very low. However, fortunately, Sun Xiaotian adjusted his offensive strategy in time, and after experiencing 8 of 2 in the first half, he decisively increased the breakthrough in the second half, and the effect was immediate, and Sun Xiaotian was 3 of 6 in the entire third quarter, 7 of 7 free throws, and scored 13 points. At the end of the third quarter, he had already scored 17 points.

It was also by relying on Sun Xiaotian's play in the third quarter that the Bulls slowly filled the 12-point hole in the first half, and they were only 3 points away.

For the defense of Anthony, Coach Thibodeau also thought of various ways, joint defense, double packing...... But it still couldn't stop Anthony's offensive firepower.

Anthony destroyed the Bulls' defense with one diagonal jumper after another, and by the end of the third quarter, Anthony had scored 27 points.

He didn't just give the Bulls a problem with scoring, Rohrdeng, who was responsible for taking turns guarding him, had four fouls, Jimmy Butler also had four fouls, and of course Sun Xiaotian and Kounitley had three fouls each.

Every blow penalty from the referee made Coach Thibodeau stomp his feet and scratch his head in a hurry. Because the Bulls' defense against the Knicks was suddenly broken by Anthony alone, no one was comfortable.

Moreover, this game Anthony played extremely reasonably. Although there is no fire support from Xiao Si. But Anthony and veteran Kidd are together to connect the whole team. In addition to Copeland's blood, Felton, Smith, Novak and the old rookie Prigioni repeatedly hit outside the three-point line, making the Bulls lose sight of each other on the defensive end.

……

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Sun Xiaotian still did not rest, because Hinrich was in average condition for this game, Nate Robinson was injured, and Teague was inexperienced. Coach Thibodeau can only use Sun Xiaotian for a long time to let him control the situation on the field.

Neither team is a team that easily admits defeat, and the two sides are fighting fiercely, each not giving in. With two minutes left in the game, the score was tied at 97-96, with the Knicks leading by one point.

Although it was only a one-point difference, the game was very disadvantageous to the Bulls, as both Ruhrdin and Butler had graduated due to accumulating six fouls. The team lost a key scorer and the most important defensive player, and the Bulls desperately needed someone to step up and save the team from danger.

At this time, the Knicks have a lineup of Kidd, Smith, Anthony, Copeland and Chandler, and the Bulls have a lineup of Hinrich, Lee, Sun Xiaotian, Gibson and Noah.

For the Bulls to make a comeback, they must now start defensively.

Defend well, in the final analysis, to defend Anthony, Anthony has already scored 36 points at this time, the Bulls did not guard him for almost the whole game, but if you can make a difference in the crucial two minutes, then the victory balance will be tilted. As the most defensible team in the league, the Bulls have to toughen up-

Kidd was in possession and Hinrich tried to harass him as much as he could, trying to disrupt his rhythm. However, Kidd, who is accustomed to seeing big scenes, skillfully controls the ball, so that Hinrich can't use his strength. And deliberately dragging the time, slowing down the offensive tempo as much as possible.

But at the end of the day, the ball will be handed over to Anthony.

At this time, Anthony came out to catch the ball from the diagonal side at 45 degrees, and it became Sun Xiaotian who defended him, and Sun Xiaotian had already committed 4 fouls at this time.

Sun Xiaotian also followed closely, facing Anthony, who was still full of physical strength, Sun Xiaotian seemed to be a little unable to keep up.

Anthony took advantage of Chandler's cover to walk to the Bulls' interior, but he couldn't find a suitable opportunity, because protecting the interior was the task that Thibodeau gave to the Bulls in the last two minutes, and it can also be said to be the magic weapon to win. I'd rather you shoot a three-pointer than let you come inside, even though New York played well from beyond the three-point line throughout the game.

However, melons are melons. He lowered his body and tried to bypass the Bulls' inside double block as much as possible. One man walked around with nearly three Bulls players. Suddenly, he jumped up and passed the ball to Smith, who was ambushed on the diagonal baseline.

"Not good!"

Sun Xiaotian shouted, thinking to himself, do we still have good fruit to eat when this goods catch the ball?

He hurriedly discarded the melon and made up for it, but he was fooled.

In this game, Smith changed his previous tendons and played very reasonably, look at his performance in the whole game! He scored 14 points on only seven shots and dished out six assists, which was extremely efficient. Smith didn't have the power and greed to act.

Immediately returned the ball to Kidd at the top of the arc, at this time Hinrich, who was defending Nash, had been focusing on him because he was worried about Anthony sharing Copeland on the other side of the ball, but he didn't expect the Knicks to pass the ball so quickly.

Kidd received the ball and hit a three-pointer with his open hand!

100 to 96!! The Knicks extended their lead.

It was his first athletic score of the game.

Kidd has often scored zero points throughout the game this season, often helping the team in key moments of the game.

Thibodeau hurriedly called a timeout, and when he left the game, Sun Xiaotian's face was full of loss. "We can't give up, it's not over yet. The next thing we have to do is keep running, we can't just stand there and look at our team-mates, the New York guys are pressing us defensively, and if you all just stand and watch, we're going to lose. The tactics are like this......"

……

When he returned to the field, Sun Xiaotian kept thinking about Coach Thibodeau's tactics just now, he was afraid that he would make a mistake, but his eyes were full of fortitude.

He also looked back at Coach Thibodeau, who made a gesture with both hands to calm him, which showed how much the coach trusted Sun Xiaotian.