At 4:11, the Knicks attacked.

Ewing stepped up and firmly went to the basket to ask for the ball.

He knew he had to make a show at this point, and Greg Anthony was quite cooperative and passed the ball down.

Rodman went around the front, was pushed away by Ewing, hung the back hand, as long as he caught the ball, the layup was almost 100% successful.

When the ball was hoisted in, Zhou Quan and Joe Dumas pounced almost at the same time, both losing their own guards.

At critical moments, the two of them made the same defensive choice at the same time, that is, they would rather let them get an open space on the outside and even shoot a three-pointer than let Ewing score this goal.

With his right hand against Rodman, Ewing received the ball with one hand with his left hand, and the next moment, he jumped on one foot and made a one-handed layup.

"Smack!"

But at this moment, Zhou Quan pounced from behind Ewing, and as soon as the ball left, it was still rising, and he slapped him in the face.

"Back hat!"

The roar of the bearded narrator immediately rang out.

"Smack!"

Joe Dumas just received the ball that Zhou Quan fanned.

On the sidelines, Pat Riley kept shaking his head, and now he suspected that the best defense this season was not the Knicks at all, but the Pistons.

Thinking that the Pistons have three top defensive giants, he can't help but smile bitterly.

The Assassin advanced to the front court and handed the ball to Zhou Quan first.

Zhou Quan held the ball on the left flank, made a tactical gesture, then passed the ball back to the assassin at the top of the arc, and then ran towards the penalty area.

At this time, Secali, who was pulled out, also hurriedly turned around and ran into the penalty area, plus Ewing, Rodman and Oakley, there were already a lot of people in the penalty area, Zhou Quan and John Starks entered again, six people, full.

"Iron Fist's signature technique, the no-ball running position in the penalty area, Jordan can't keep up, haha!" Robert Giddah laughed.

Zhou Quan spun around from the penalty area and ran back to the left wing, by which time John Starks had fallen into the crowd in the penalty area.

"Brush!"

The assassin quickly passed the ball, and Zhou Quan caught the ball and hit a jumper.

At 4:13, the Knicks attacked.

"Bang!"

Ewing didn't go to the basket this time, and on the outside jumper, missed, and Rodman grabbed the rebound.

"Ewing has to go in and score under the basket, otherwise the Knicks will be very dangerous tonight." Robert Giddah said.

"Ewing's mid-range shooting rate does not exceed 40%, how can such a shooting rate compete with Iron Fist? Iron Fist is shooting 65 percent from the field, and as the core, Ewing must play an efficient offense to save the team. Ringer Wilson said.

"In terms of offensive efficiency, at least so far in this series, Ewing is inferior to Iron Fist. It's surprising, isn't it, you know, Ewing is the center and Iron Fist is the point guard. In terms of ability at critical moments, he is not as good as Iron Fist. Robert Giddah said.

"The key thing is that the Pistons' fast-break tactics make it impossible to build the Knicks' defensive system, which is the most lethal." Ringer Wilson said.

"Bang!"

Joe Dumas misses a jumper on Doug Rivers' head, Ewing grabs the rebound and the Knicks attack.

John Starks was learning like the Pistons, trying to play a fast break, and as soon as he saw Ewing grab the rebound, he immediately turned around and went down quickly, asking for the ball behind him.

Zhou Quan took a step behind, and when he saw the ball flying over, he adjusted his pace, and when the basketball slid downward, he chased hard, and then flew up and reached out to break the ball.

He was already a bit faster than John Starks, so acceleration was easy for him.

"Broken ball?"

The bearded John Lowes let out a loud shout.

"Smack!"

The next moment, Zhou Quan grabbed the ball with his right hand and received a pass from Ewing.

"Haha!"

The bearded man jumped up excitedly.

"Whoosh!"

Falling to the ground, Zhou Quan threw it with one hand, and the basketball flew quickly to Secali below the free throw line.

Sekari catches the ball, but is blocked by Ewing in the back, and he turns and throws hard.

Just then, Rodman rushed down from his side.

"Bang!"

missed, the basketball smashed into the basket, and in the next moment, Rodman jumped up, slammed, and completed a one-handed dunk.

"Beautiful! The big worm finished the deduction, but did he go for the deduction? Not necessarily, I think he's going for the rebound. The bearded John Lowes laughed.

"Haha......"

The on-site commentator's words made many Pistons fans laugh.

"4:15, 11 points behind, how do the Knicks play this ball?" Robert Giddah shook his head.

He's worried, if this game continues, the ratings won't go crazy?

On the sidelines, Pat Riley was smashing his big back, but his hair was falling out a lot, and there was nothing he could do.

The Pistons' fast break not only exerted Iron Fist's powerful fast break and attack ability, allowing the Pistons to play an extremely efficient fast-paced offense, but also destroyed the Knicks' defensive system, and the Knicks' defense is not known for being an individual, and when the system is not established, it cannot play a strong defensive ability.

However, the Pistons are another team that is good at individual defense, and the three top defensive giants can disrupt the Knicks' offense with their individual defense.

On both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, the Knicks were blown up.

"What to do? What to do? ”

With his coaching experience, he couldn't think of any good way to solve the problem at this time.

In many cases, tactics cannot solve the problem, because the opponent's personal ability has exceeded the scope of what tactics can solve.

From Zhou Quan, he saw another top offensive and defensive Michael Jordan, a younger Michael Jordan.

He called a timeout again and brought on Anthony Mason.

However, Mason is just a good role player after all, and he can provide the Knicks with some low-post offense and rebounding, but the strength can't turn the situation around.

The Knicks eventually lost the G4 game, 89-106, a 17-point loss, and lost the match point.

Zhou Quan locked up the team's second scoring point, John Starks, Ewing shot a lot, 15 of 37 shots, a shooting rate of 40.5%, plus 4 of 6 free throws, and got 34 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls.

Mason also took a lot of shots, shooting 53.3% from the field on 8-of-15 shooting, 2-of-4 free throws, and got 18 points and 8 rebounds.

The two combined for 52 points and 19 rebounds, but they couldn't save the Knicks.

Joe Dumas shot 14-of-21 from the field, shooting 66.7 percent from the field and 1 of 3 from three-point range under the Pistons' fast-break tactics, scoring 29 points in 42 minutes.

Zhou Quan played 42 minutes, shooting 12 of 17, shooting 70.6%, 2 of 4 three-pointers, 6 of 6 free throws, and scored 32 points, 13 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls.

"Iron Fist, why can the Pistons play an incomparably sharp fast attack against the Knicks, but not against the Bulls?" At the scene, TNT's reporter asked.

Zhou Quan replied: "The Knicks' defense is the best in the league, so we have to use fast breaks to break their defensive system, otherwise once we get caught in a positional battle, it is likely that the result will not be too good for us."

In order to increase the Knicks' defensive strength, they have three interior players on their main lineup, Oakley plays small forward, he is not that fast, and we have three guards, which makes us faster overall than them, which is also a basis for us to play fast break on them.

The Bulls are different, the overall speed of the Bulls is still faster than the Knicks, and Pippen is a little faster than Oakley, but when we actually played with the Bulls, we also played a lot of fast breaks, but not so much.

In addition, it is also related to the ability of the individual, the Knicks do not have Michael Jordan on the outside, so it is easier for us to play defensive counterattacks on the Knicks. ”

"But it was you who made 10 steals in a single game with the Bulls, and Jordan suffered a lot under you." The reporter reminded with a smile.

Zhou Quan laughed and said happily: "That's not easy, there is some element of luck." ”

"Can you win this series on the road?" The reporter asked again.

"Hopefully, we'll do our best so we'll get more time to rest." He nodded and smiled.

An hour later, the press conference between the two teams began.

Both Ewing and Pat Riley have been blamed by the media, accusing them of being dominated by the New York media.

"Patrick, facing Rodman, who is a head shorter than you, your shooting percentage is only forty percent, and you don't show the ability of a super center at all, why?"

The New York Times reporter's question was like a knife that stabbed Ewing hard in the body, leaving him no mercy.

Ewing's dislike of reporters rose to the point of deep hatred, and he stopped saying a word, and said with a sinking face: "You can go and play a game with Rodman and know how his defense is." ”

"What?"

There was a commotion among the reporters, what is this, we can do it, what do we want you to do, who doesn't want to take a salary of millions of dollars a year?

Pat Riley is very helpless, Patrick is not good at this, and his ability to deal with reporters is too poor.

Seeing Ewing push the microphone away, looking like he was no longer accepting the question, the New York Times reporter pointed the finger at Pat Riley and immediately asked:

"Coach Riley, a big score of 1-3, the chance of a comeback is no more than 5%, the Knicks are on the edge of the cliff, do you have any thoughts now? Are you preparing for the Jedi to strike back, or are you going to go fishing? ”

"Poof!"

Many reporters burst into laughter.

With a gentlemanly smile on his face, Pat Riley said in a firm tone, "I choose the former, there is no doubt about it. Our team hasn't lost faith, and including Patrick, we're going to attack the Pistons and fight to the death on our home court. ”

His words of conviction did not move the New York media, and the next reporter to ask a question was the New York Post, who asked, "Impact pistons?" Coach Riley, from your words, I see that you have put the Knicks in the position of being an underdog, do you think that the Knicks are inferior to the Pistons? ”

"Damn journalists!"

Pat Riley scolded and said with a smile on his face: "Of course not, this just shows my attitude towards the series, after all, the reality is that we are behind." ”

"Yes, the Knicks are behind, in fact, you are right, the Knicks are indeed inferior to the Pistons, otherwise how could they be behind?" The reporter was playful.

With Pat Riley's self-cultivation, he also wanted to curse at this time, that's what you said, why would I say that the Knicks are inferior to the Pistons?

……

The G5 game in the East Final is No. 8, with one more day off, and the Pistons will head to New York on the No. 7.

The next day, Zhou Quan slept until he woke up naturally, and when he woke up, it was already 10 o'clock, and he woke up hungry.

The first thing I did after washing up was to bring in the newspaper from outside, and then I was frying the steak while reading the newspaper.

His main concern is ESPN's prediction data, this media head is very iron, since last season is not optimistic about the Pistons, this time they eliminated ESPN's most optimistic Bulls in the second round, finally slapped them in the face, and now the East finals 3-1 to get the match point, he wants to see if ESPN will adjust the data again.

"Haha......"

Flipping through the Detroit Worker Daily, sure enough, there is ESPN's latest championship prediction data, it turns out that the Knicks have a 45% chance of advancing to the Finals, and the Pistons are 55%, but now it has changed, the Knicks are 5%, and the Pistons are 95%.

The original probability of winning the championship was as high as 34% for the Suns, 32% for the Knicks, 18% for the Pistons, and 16% for the SuperSonics, but now the Knicks are only 2% left, the Suns are up to 45%, the SuperSonics are 15%, and the Pistons are up to 38%.

"Poor Knicks, there is still a 2% chance, ESPN still doesn't seem to give up on them, do you want them to turn the tables? Do you have to eliminate them before you can arrange a duck egg? ”

From the analysis of this latest prediction data, he further saw the strength of the Suns, even if Barkley did not play well, he could still win, and still made the media believe in them, once the Pistons and the Suns met in the Finals, they must go all out, and there can be no carelessness.

He looked at the rest of the content, and the predictions of many major media outlets were adjusted in time, and TNT TV even increased the chances of the Pistons advancing to the Finals to 99%, leaving only a symbolic 1% for the Knicks.

……

In the evening, the G4 battle of the Western Finals began.

At 101:120, the Suns lost on the road, and the SuperSonics drew 2-2, and the two sides returned to the starting line.

Barkley shot 11-of-20 from the field, shooting 55 percent from the field, and 1 of 5 from three-point range, but only 4 of 5 free throws as an interior lineman, which was not lethal enough, while only grabbing 7 rebounds, but had 5 turnovers and 5 fouls, and his performance was not superstar enough.

"Fliggy, why can't you fly today, is it because you have eaten too many hamburgers?"

"Charles, congratulations, you grabbed seven rebounds, and if you grab so many rebounds in the next game, then you're going to have to go home."

"Sir Charles, you really should be traded to the Pistons, so you can easily get a ring with an iron fist on your thighs."

After the game, the black-faced Barkley was surrounded by the media, and all kinds of questions made him want to vomit some blood and spray these reporters to death.

"These Suns bastards are so unassuming! Did Charles Barkley eat too much? Oh, Shet! ”

After the game, ESPN's NBA editor-in-chief Ulness was about to scold his mother, and he adjusted the forecast data overnight last night, and now he has to adjust it overnight, so how can it reflect ESPN's professionalism? The company must not fire him?

The next day, ESPN's latest forecasts were released.

The prediction for the Western Conference finals is 50% each for the Suns and the SuperSonics.

Championship predictions, the Pistons are first at 40 percent, the Knicks are still at 2 percent, and the SuperSonics and Suns are each at 29 percent.

The media's view on ESPN's latest forecast data is very unanimous, that is, ESPN has lost confidence and persistence, and their data has lost its professionalism.

"These bastards! Your predictions are as accurate as ever, do you want to divert your attention? ”

ESPN's NBA editor-in-chief Ulness scolded angrily after seeing what other media outlets were saying about the data.

On the 7th, the piston arrived in New York.

At eight o'clock in the evening, the G5 battle of the East Finals began.

Two hours later, the game ended, and the Pistons defeated the Knicks on the road, eliminated the opponent by a score of 4-1, and reached the Finals again after two seasons.

"Congratulations Zhou Quan! Congratulations to the Pistons! Zhang said excitedly.

"It's great, I've reached the finals, and I hope Zhou Quan can gain something in the finals for the first time in his career." Sun Zhenping smiled implicitly.

"Zhou Quan played 45 minutes tonight, 10 of 18 shots, a shooting rate of 55.5%, 2 of 4 three-point shots, 3 of 4 free throws, 25 points, 6 rebounds, 14 assists, 4 steals, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls. Zhang Li said with a smile.

Sun Zhenping picked up a piece of paper and said: "In the entire 5 games of the East Finals, the data is out, Zhou Quan averaged 44 minutes per game, 53 of 91 shots, a shooting rate of 58.2%, 7 of 17 three-pointers, a shooting rate of 41.2%, 44 of 47 free throws, a shooting rate of 93.6%, an average of 31 points, 5.6 rebounds, 12 assists, 4.4 steals, 1.4 blocks, 2.8 turnovers and 4 fouls per game. ”

"It's really a top-notch offensive and defensive performance, a superstar performance." Zhang Cheng exclaimed excitedly.

Sun Zhenping said with a smile: "Now it's up to the west, who can reach the finals." Coach Zhang, who do you think is better to play between the Suns and the SuperSonics? ”

Zhang Reasonable thought for a while and said: "The lineups of these two teams are very deep, there are many people who can stand up on the bench, and the interior strength is very strong, and six or seven people often score double-doubles.

In the regular season, the Pistons and the Suns were one win and one loss, a draw, and the SuperSonics lost both games, judging from this data, it would be better to play the Suns.

But the playoffs are completely different games, both offensive and defensive ends will do their best, you see the Knicks were killed by the Pistons 1-4, they are the first team in the Eastern regular season, the strongest defensive team in the league, just can't prevent the Pistons' fast break.

So it's really hard to say who is better to fight. My personal opinion, let's play supersonic. ”

Sun Zhenping asked in surprise: "Coach Zhang, the Pistons lost both games in the regular season, why is it more advantageous to play supersound?" ”

Zhang Li smiled: "The game that won against the Suns was a conflict on the court, and Barkley was sent off, so that game doesn't count." ”

Sun Zhenping said: "Doesn't that mean that the piston can't beat them?" ”

Zhang Li shook his head and said: "As I said just now, the playoffs are completely different games from the regular season. Look at Zhou Quan, in the three rounds of the playoffs, the offensive and defensive statistics have improved a lot compared with the regular season, and he didn't go all out in the regular season. ”

"Yes, yes." Sun Zhenping nodded hurriedly.

Zhang continued: "I think it's better to play the supersonic because the Suns' No. 1 Lightning Kevin Johnson is strong, very strong, and that's a top point guard who can compete with Magic.

Although the statistics have declined this season, it should be the reason why Barkley joined, he still has the strength of a top point guard, and Zhou Quan and him should not perform as well as John Starks.

And the Suns' main point guard Lei Gongdan Marley is also a fierce guy on defense, and his offense is also good, he and the lightning team up on the guard line, no worse than Zhou Quan and Joe Dumas. ”

Sun Zhenping nodded and said, "The Suns' guard line is indeed strong. ”

Zhang Li said: "On the contrary, Gary Payton, the main point guard of the supersonics, has not fully grown up, and Zhou Quan will have some advantages against him."

Of course, the SuperSonics' All-Star guard swingman Ricky Pierce is also very strong, the scoring champion of the SuperSonics in the past two seasons, and he and Gary Payton are not bad at the guard line, otherwise they would not have the strength to draw two or two with the Suns.

But relatively speaking, I am still more optimistic about the Pistons playing supersonics, and the chances are a little greater. But no matter who you fight, it's not easy, and the finals will be a tough battle. ”

(End of chapter)