NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

In the second quarter, the Cavaliers replaced the Brazilian Varejao, who rarely played but had a high basketball IQ, excellent positioning skills and a taller body. After Varejao came on the court, the Cavaliers struggled more on the offensive end, but their rebounding and under-the-basket defense improved significantly.

More importantly, although the loach-like Brazilian has no ability to attack from behind, he runs back and forth, and does a pretty good job in both screens and rebounds.

For the Cavaliers, who lack bench strength and rely almost entirely on the starting lineup, the sudden emergence of a guy like Varejao is definitely a great joy for the team!
Thanks to Varejao's somersaults, the Cavaliers managed to stabilize the situation in the second quarter and finally prevented the score from being widened further. But that was all they could do. Did they want to catch up and narrow the gap?

At least the Cavaliers couldn't do it in the second quarter.

At the end of the first half, they were still trailing by 14 points.

In the second quarter, thanks to Varejao's surprising performance of 6 points and 6 rebounds in a single quarter, the Cavaliers could only win by 1 point in that quarter!

"For the Cavaliers, the worst thing was not that the team was 14 points behind at halftime, nor that the two skilled inside players, Big Z and Gooden, were overwhelmed by the youthful energy of the Knicks."

During the halftime break, Barkley commented: "The Cavaliers' biggest problem is Wade! Wade is great, really great, I even think he should be selected to the All-NBA Team this year! He is mature beyond his years, his style of play is steady, and he doesn't have the impetuous and easily impulsive problems of those young people."

"Facing Lin Tian's one-on-one close defense and targeting throughout the court, he moved to the weak side and gave his teammates more and better opportunities. This was a very calm and theoretically correct approach."

"But the problem is, you are the team's top core, you are the team's most important offensive point. You can be rational and stay calm, but at this time, when the team is facing being eliminated, you must take responsibility!"

"When your teammates are powerless and can't break through the opponent's defense, you have to stand up!"

"He has to play some unreasonable basketball, get carried away, and rush a few times without thinking, to carry the team on his shoulders! A leader, a qualified leader, can't just play the right basketball, they must also carry out the incorrect basketball to the end, and make those unreasonable opportunities and shots that shouldn't be taken!"

"I will attack the defense that my teammates can't break, I will shoot the shots that my teammates can't make, and I will break the opponent's double-team and tight defense! All successful leaders in history have to pass this level. With rationality and calmness, you can become an excellent player, but you can't become a great player!"

"Everyone knows that I am a fan of Lin. I support him, but in the second half of the game, what I am most looking forward to is Wade's performance. I expect him to go one step further! Even if he gets a lot of missed shots and turnovers, he has to do these things!"

“我赞同查尔斯的话。”肯尼跟着道：“德文上半场只有5投2中，只拿到了4分2篮板2助攻，这个数据太糟糕了！我宁愿看他15投2中，也不想看到3投全中！”

"He is my favorite among the new generation of players. I hope he can stand out and play the game we expect!"

"Or I can give you an example."

"In the second round of the 1997 Western Conference playoffs, at a critical moment between the Lakers and the Jazz, high school student Kobe Bryant stood up and missed four three-pointers in a row, successfully sending the Lakers on a plane to a resort."

"I don't need to tell you the rest of the story! I believe that Devon can get through this! Failure is essential on the road to success! People are not afraid of failure, but if they are afraid of failure, then it's really over!"

Accompanied by the commentary of Kenny and Barkley, the more than ten minutes of halftime break ended quickly, and the players from both sides came on the court again to prepare for the second half of the game.

Both sides still did not change their starting lineups. The first thing Lin Tian did after stepping onto the court was to come to the frontcourt and stand next to Wade again, locking his position.

"Devin, you're not going to be invisible for the entire game tonight and not plan to take any action at all, are you?" While Lin Tian was holding Wade back, he also started to trash-talk him: "If that's the case, I'll be so disappointed! I thought you would be more manly and fierce."

"I didn't expect you to surrender like this."

"Shut up!" The silence in the first half obviously made Wade quite depressed, but he just couldn't find any reasonable opportunity to receive the ball and complete the offense.

But he also knew that at this time, he had to stand up!

"puff!"

Suddenly, there was a dull sound, not too loud, and Wade elbowed Lin Tian in the stomach, causing Lin Tian to feel severe pain. Wade took this opportunity to suddenly run and catch the ball, then dribbled quickly to the frontcourt.

Wade originally wanted to use the space he gained to quickly complete an attack, but he didn't expect that when he just approached the three-point line, Lin Tian had already rushed in front of him and blocked his attack route again.

“That’s cruel!” Lin Tian put one hand on Wade’s waist and said coldly: “But I like it! This proves that you are finally a man, not a boy, but…”

"Are you ready to take on the responsibilities and risks of being a man?"

As soon as Lin Tian finished speaking, the hand on Wade's waist suddenly tightened, and he pinched the soft flesh on his waist hard. Wade almost screamed. At the critical moment, he found Lin Tian's hand who wanted to take the opportunity to steal the ball, and he quickly dribbled behind his back to avoid Lin Tian.

Then he held his breath, endured the pain, accelerated forcefully, and rushed towards the inside.

Lin Tian knew that his team's rim protection ability was not much different from that of others, so he followed Wade closely and did not let him into the inside.

The two men fought against each other all the way to the basket. Then, when Wade had all his space blocked by Lin Tian, ​​he suddenly used an extremely fast master's ball collection and European step change of direction. In the blink of an eye, he came to the other side of Lin Tian. At the same time, he held the basketball with his left hand, pushed away Lin Tian's defense with his right hand, and made a light pick.

"Shh!"

With a crisp sound, Wade lost his balance and flew out, falling to the ground.

He used almost all his strength and used all his tricks to finally get a slight advantage over Lin Tian.

But let alone celebrating and being happy, he didn't even get up from the ground before the Knicks' baseline ball was sent out, and Lin Tian carried the ball and launched an attack on the Cavaliers' position.

This time, the Cavaliers had no time to react!

They knew the Knicks were fast, but they never thought they were this fast! When Wade fell to the ground, McGinnis, who was closest to him, did not react to defend, but reached out to Wade, wanting to celebrate with him.

celebrate?

What the hell is this?
Wade was so angry that he was about to explode, but he was lying on the ground and couldn't get up and chase after him immediately.

In just the blink of an eye, Lin Tian had already reached the Cavaliers' basket, shook off Newbell with a fake pass, and then took advantage of the opportunity to shoot and made a layup for 2 points!
"Beautiful! A textbook answer ball!" Barkley shouted excitedly, "After being hit by Wade, Lin responded quickly! And his response was obviously not that simple!"

"After scoring the goal, Lin did not return to defense, but waited for Wade under the Cavaliers' basket, and then pressed forward again! He continued to press the whole court! He continued to oppress Wade! How long has it been since we saw Lin pressuring one person for the entire game?"

"Tonight, Lin once again showed us his style of defending top guards with all his strength and his terrifying defensive basic skills! The pressure is once again on Wade!"

"Devin, did I hit the ball too fast just now?" Lin Tian lowered his center of gravity and teased Wade, "How about I hit it slower next time to give you some time to celebrate the goal and catch up with me? Otherwise, I always feel that it's not polite for you to score the ball without even seeing it."

"Shut up, Lin! I don't buy it! I don't buy it!" Wade looked at Lin Tian menacingly, and pushed Lin Tian away with his elbow again, gaining space for himself to receive the ball. Then he immediately accelerated and advanced towards the frontcourt.

The two of them were entangled all the way on the court. Lin Tian's defense almost never stole the ball. He just maintained a perfect defensive posture and defensive position, following Wade step by step, tightly blocking Wade's tight steps. The whole person was like a cheetah, always in a tense mode. If Wade had a flaw, Lin Tian would immediately make him pay the price! Facing Lin Tian's defense, Wade almost used all his strength to bring the basketball across the half court. After reaching the half court, Lin Tian immediately took two steps back, giving Wade a buffer and rest space: "You are exhausted! Even if it's just one round, you feel weak now."

"Don't worry, take a breath, we have plenty of time to play tonight!"

Just as Lin Tian said, facing Lin Tian's level of oppressive defense just now, even a player of Wade's level felt his legs slightly weakening and trembling, the confrontation was too strong.

But Lin Tian is not a good person who means well and allows people to rest!
He only relaxed for a moment, and after talking trash, he immediately rushed towards Wade again!

Wade's rhythm started to have serious problems with the alternation between looseness and tightness. His two consecutive dribbles were forced by Lin Tian to become more and more flustered and terrible!
Then when he realized that he was most likely unable to dribble the ball again, and if he continued to dribble it would most likely be intercepted by Lin Tian, ​​he wanted to quickly get the ball, but Lin Tian made a move!

He would not give Wade any more chances. He saw the right moment, reached out, and directly grabbed the ball that Wade had just half caught.

Two people, four hands, pressed on the basketball almost at the same time.

"Get out of here!" Lin Tian shouted, all the muscles in his body jumped up instantly, and his strength exploded to the extreme in an instant. Then he pulled and swung the basketball hard, and it immediately fell into his arms. Wade couldn't even stand still. When he dropped the basketball, he lay on the ground in a very embarrassed manner.

Wade, lying on the floor, could only watch Lin Tian rush to the front court and complete a gliding slam dunk!
The gap between the two sides continues to widen!

If it was Wade in his prime, he would most likely be able to last a few more rounds against Lin Tian. After all, Wade at that time was more mature and stronger in terms of strength, shot selection, experience in breakthroughs, and psychological quality.

But during his rookie period, Wade did not meet Riley, a mentor who was good at squeezing out the potential of players and allowing them to progress rapidly.

Even if Wade, a sophomore, tried his best and fought hard against Lin Tian, ​​it was just this.

He took advantage of a little bit, and then was pinned to the ground and beaten by Lin Tian.

But obviously, Wade now doesn’t know what is waiting for him next. He has not given up yet and he will try his best to fight with Lin Tian!
He dribbled to the frontcourt again, but this time he didn't continue to play one-on-one. Instead, he patted his head and called for a screen.

It’s the Cavaliers’ reserved tactic again: high post double screen!

This move helped Wade open up the situation almost every time in the previous few games and helped him get rid of Lin Tian's entanglement.

But this time, Wade was facing Lin Tian who was giving it his all!

Because it was a double screen, Lin Tian did not move forward quickly, nor did he choose to squeeze through the screen from the front. Instead, he quickly took a step back, giving Wade some space, and he chose to go around from behind the screen.

If the person holding the ball at this moment is a star player who is absolutely confident in his shooting and is good at shooting, he will definitely just shoot it and try out his three-point shooting feel.

But as an inefficient shooter with a 3-point shooting percentage of less than 27%, Wade will never easily choose to take a 3-point shot unless he has no choice.

So this time, even if Lin Tian chose to retreat, Wade did not shoot. Instead, he accelerated directly, chose a direction, and rushed towards the inside.

This charge directly hit Lin Tian, ​​who had already predicted Wade's breakthrough route and blocked his way.

"bump!"

After a dull thud, Lin Tian fell down, and Wade was unable to stand still either. He fell to the ground as if he had hit a wall.

It’s just that Lin Tian was just pretending and Wade really couldn’t stand it.

The difference in strength between the two is indeed quite obvious. Wade needs to train for at least another 3-4 years before he can become the little cannon and the power king in the backcourt.

"Offensive foul! Knicks serves!"

Lin Tian's positioning this time was fast and accurate, with his feet standing firmly as if they were rooted. This was an unsurprising and quite obvious offensive foul and successful defense.

"Just being fast but not slow won't help you improve." Lin Tian took the ball from the baseline and looked at Wade who was approaching again. He said easily, "There are many fast people in this league, but the truly powerful ones are those who can slow down!"

As he spoke, he slowly advanced towards the frontcourt. Although he was moving very slowly and was even chatting, Wade treated him as if he was facing a formidable enemy. Not only did he look at Lin Tian with full alert, he didn't even dare to say a word, for fear that he would be surpassed by Lin Tian if he spoke.

But just like this, it was obviously not enough to help Wade defend Lin Tian. Lin Tian came all the way to the three-point line, then suddenly turned his back, faced Wade from the side and exerted force suddenly. After pushing two steps towards the inside, Lin Tian changed hands again, turned around and pushed in another direction.

But this time, Lin Tian didn't even dribble the ball, he just made a fake turn in the opposite direction!

The next moment, Lin Tian took advantage of the moment when Wade was tricked and moved to the other side, turned around, and left Wade behind in one step. At the same time, he accelerated into the inside with all his strength, and then, regardless of the fact that Big Z was under the basket, he directly jumped up and slammed the ball into Big Z's face!
As for Big Z? As an inside player and the team's last line of defense, he did not show the courage that the core of the team's inside player should have to go head-to-head with Lin Tian. He did not jump at all, but just stretched out his arms, as if raising his hands in surrender, and endured Lin Tian's dunk without any resistance.

"See, Dewen? You have to be fast when you need to be fast, and slow down when you need to be slow!"

After scoring the goal, Lin Tian was too lazy to talk trash to Big Z. Instead, he turned to look at Wade, as if to provoke or teach him.

"I'll watch your video over and over again after the game, but right now, we haven't lost yet!"

After Wade finished speaking, he got the basketball again, came to the frontcourt against Lin Tian's defense, and then continued with the high double screen!
This is the best and fastest way for him to get rid of Lin Tian now. As for how to score and how to save the team after getting rid of him?
We'll have to wait until we get rid of it!

If you can’t get rid of Lin Tian, ​​then what’s the point of talking about anything else!
This time, Lin Tian chose to step back and bypass the screen, giving Wade an opportunity and space to shoot.

Wade was much calmer this time after being called for an offensive foul. He did not force himself to accelerate, but looked at the basket and hesitated for a moment.

Should I invest or not?
It was this hesitation that made him lose the opportunity to try out the feel of the product.

Lin Tian rushed over!

Lin Tian stood in front of Wade again, with his arms open, blocking all angles of his dribbling and shooting.

It happened that Wade had just received the ball at this moment. Facing Lin Tian who suddenly came, he could only turn around with the ball and avoid Lin Tian's constantly outstretched hands to ensure that the ball was not lost. At the same time, Wade kept shouting, signaling his teammates to come forward to support and take the ball.

But unfortunately, the referee's whistle sounded before his teammates arrived.

"Knight No. 3, traveling violation! Change the ball!"

He was forced to walk by Lin Tian! (End of this chapter)