thefictionvixens Chapter 511 The biggest reason Cao Cao failed to unify the Three Kingdoms was that he lacked the nec
Chapter 511 The biggest reason Cao Cao failed to unify the Three Kingdoms was that he lacked the nec
If it were one of the league's coaches who is good at adapting and reacting quickly, they would have taken him out in the first two rounds when Barbosa was just getting carried away.
Although D'Antoni plays the most free-flowing, wild, and exciting offensive style of basketball, his personnel decisions are quite rigid, cautious, and stubborn.
The Suns don't have many players who can play, and their rotations during games are quite rigid and fixed.
For example, in this game, even though Barbosa was completely outplayed by Lin Tian after coming on, playing like a piece of shit on both offense and defense, D'Antoni just didn't make any substitutions or in-game instructions.
He just watched as Barbosa was thrashed by Lin Tian, watching Barbosa on the court like a headless fly, getting blocked, having his shots stolen, making mistakes, and missing his shots.
Barbosa played a full four minutes in the second quarter, which is typical of the Suns' rotation strategy.
But in the previous matches, Lin Tian wasn't one of their opponents!
Available today.
Tonight, the Suns were hit by a 14-3 run by the Knicks in just 4 minutes!
He managed to score 3 points, but it was a long-range, desperate shot by Richardson that barely made it.
In short, the Suns, who had a slight lead at the end of the first quarter, suddenly fell behind by a full 10 points after just 4 minutes of play in the second quarter!
Even though D'Antoni called a timeout and brought in Nash, Marion, and Martin, the Knicks had already taken control of the game's pace and flow.
Throughout the rest of the second quarter, the Knicks maintained a lead of around 10 points!
If it weren't for the several difficult shots made by Jason, Richardson, and others in the second quarter, the Suns' deficit might have been approaching 20 points by now.
Fortunately, despite Barbosa's undercover work, the Suns withstood the Knicks' onslaught and maintained their composure at home, preserving the possibility of a comeback in the second half.
It's only 10 points.
For offensively dominant teams like the Suns and Knicks, a 10-point deficit can be completely erased in just 2 minutes if they're on a hot streak.
In the second half, the two teams switched sides and resumed play.
Neither side made any changes to their starting lineups; they remained the same starting lineups from the first half. However, judging from the expressions and demeanor of the Suns' bench players, D'Antoni clearly gave Barbosa a severe dressing-down at halftime.
Otherwise, Barbosa would definitely not be looking so gloomy and unhappy right now.
This kid wanted to have a friendly match with Lin Tian in the first half!
Even in the last few minutes of the first half, this guy was still full of resentment and eager to try, thinking about going on the field and having another speed contest with Lin Tian.
Anyway, if you let Lin Tian guess, he guesses that out of the 15-minute halftime break, at least 13 minutes are spent by D'Antoni criticizing Barbosa, and the remaining 2 minutes are spent by the team leaving and entering the field, wasting time in the player tunnel.
65: 55!
The second half continues!
The Knicks continued to control the ball, with Lin Tian dribbling it up the court.
After taking a look at the Suns' defensive setup, Lin Tian realized he was wrong.
That means D'Antoni only criticized Barbosa for a maximum of 12 minutes, and in the remaining minute, he still gave some tactical instructions.
For example, he changed the team's defensive matchups, putting Jason against Lin Tian, and placing Nash, who couldn't stop Lin Tian at all in the first half and had Lin Tian score 18 points and 8 assists in the first half, next to Jackson, so that Nash would match up against Jackson, the Knicks' weakest offensive player.
Let's replace this person.
How so?
This clearly shows that the Suns have never practiced or studied defense before.
They hadn't even watched Lin Tian's usual matches much, nor had they thought about how to defend against him.
Of course, even if you do research, it won't have any effect whatsoever.
But it is not important.
The important thing is that even with this simplest mismatch defense, Lin Tian could find 88 different ways to make the Suns suffer.
For example, the simplest and most direct one.
He accelerated past Jensen, then drew Marion's double team before tossing the ball into the air. Stoudemire then descended from the sky once more to complete the aerial maneuver!
"boom!"
For example, they set an off-ball screen between Jackson and Anthony, forcing the Suns to switch defense quickly, and then let Anthony, the tough guy, drive all the way to the basket, forcing a shot over Nash.
I didn't win.
He pushed Nash to grab the rebound and then put it back in.
Still no luck. Anthony reached out again and touched the ball with his hand, and finally the basketball went into the basket!
He racked up 2 points, 2 missed shots, and 2 rebounds in a single possession!
Poor Nash, he was so badly pounded by Anthony's muscles that he could barely stand. Anthony might as well have just scored. Nash must have been really suffering from all that back and forth.
"You owe me an assist! Can't you just let it in?" Lin Tian reached out and touched Anthony's hand, while also mocking him.
"It's really difficult!" Anthony said with a pained expression. "Layups under the basket are much harder than mid-range or long-range shots!"
Fine.
Looking at the guy's expression, Lin Tian knew that Anthony wasn't talking nonsense.
At the same time, Lin Tian also remembered Anthony's two nicknames.
"The man with the lowest dunking percentage in league history" and "The man who is best at rebounding his own shots."
Well deserved!
Hmm, I've gone off-topic.
Besides easily dominating James and creating mismatches for Anthony or others to isolate and isolate Nash, Lin Tian has countless other ways to break the Suns' so-called switching defense.
For example, Lin Tian could directly set a screen with Jackson to create a mismatch against Nash, or simply give the ball to Jackson to go one-on-one with Nash. In any case, Martin, the only player on the Suns who could be considered a rim protector, would have to defend Okur on the perimeter of the three-point line. In this situation, the Suns' entire paint would be like the Knicks' backyard.
In addition, with the traditional skills of Lin Tian, Stoudemire, Okur, and others, and fancy pick-and-rolls, they have completely transformed this most basic basketball tactic into something extraordinary.
It's worth mentioning that even with the paint so empty, D'Antoni didn't consider swapping Marion and Martin. He didn't think to have the more mobile Marion block Okur at the three-point line and help with defense and sweep, or to have the larger Martin guard the paint and block Stoudemire's path to the basket.
Who knows if he can't think of it or can't see it, but D'Antoni is truly unchanging.
However, it's not surprising that Lin Tian has so many ways to break through the Suns' defensive system, which can hardly be called a defensive system or any exciting defensive changes. This is his job and what he does all the time.
Surprisingly, while Lin Tian was relentlessly humiliating and taunting the Suns' ridiculous defense, D'Antoni once again chose to remain inactive.
The old man could really just stand by and watch Lin Tian lead his teammates to dominate the court without making any changes to the formation.
With Lin Tian showcasing his basketball IQ, the Knicks' lead had grown to 18 points after 8 minutes of play in the third quarter!
Then at this moment, Old Nelson waved his hand, signaling that Lin Tian, Okur, and Stoudemire could come down and rest. It was time for Anthony and his men to have some fun.
The three players who replaced the three were Mohammed, Smith, Barnes, and Ward.
After Lin Tian and the others left, although the Suns were still not very able to defend against Anthony's one-on-one plays and the Knicks' offense, their offense suddenly came alive.
Without Lin Tian's control over Nash, the talented guard began to regain his form, using shots and passes to narrow the score gap.
Three minutes into the third quarter, Nash led his team to narrow the gap to three points because the Knicks were also scoring well.
The two sides are separated by 15 points.
With one minute left in the third quarter, Anthony once again went for a low post isolation play, but this time he finally couldn't stand it anymore and pushed his teammate aside to face Anthony's Marion himself.
Marion himself couldn't understand why, even though he was the best player on the court to guard Anthony, Lin Tian and Stoudemire weren't on the court, and D'Antoni wouldn't let him match up against Anthony.
But after a while, seeing Anthony score two goals in a row and dominating the court, Marion couldn't resist and volunteered to switch to match up against Anthony.
When the matchup changed, Anthony immediately seemed a bit out of sorts, missing his first turnaround jump shot.
After Martin grabbed the rebound, the Suns launched another counterattack. Nash dribbled all the way to the three-point line, then looked around and found that Ward and others were still retreating, and no one was closely guarding his three-pointer.
So Nash acted decisively, pulling it up and throwing it away!
His shooting form was a bit strange, as if he was pushing the ball directly out from his shoulder, while also leaning forward slightly.
This somewhat feminine shooting style should theoretically be easy to block, but in Nash's hands, it became one of the most lethal weapons in the league!
"Whoosh!"
After a crisp sound, the Suns narrowed the gap to 12 points!
There are 35 seconds left.
Ward calmly moved the ball up the court, carefully fending off Nash's attempts to steal it while simultaneously cutting down the clock.
It wasn't until there were only 8 seconds left on the shot clock that he waved for Anthony to come forward. After a handoff between the two at the top of the arc, Anthony dribbled and accelerated, driving towards the basket against Marion's defense.
After driving all the way to the edge of the three-second zone, Anthony suddenly unleashed his signature move: a 360-degree spin like a washing machine, followed by a step forward with his left foot. He then leaped into the air, extending his right hand to shoot a layup.
Anthony has been using this set of moves since high school, and he has mastered it to a high degree, making the moves elegant and beautiful.
But sometimes, a good-looking move isn't necessarily useful, just like an ugly shooting form doesn't necessarily mean you can't score.
"Snapped!"
Martin, rushing in from the side, slapped Anthony's layup away, sending the ball crashing directly onto the backboard.
Richardson grabbed the basketball and immediately passed it to Nash.
This time, Ward's defense against Nash was quite effective. Although he couldn't stop him, he didn't give Nash any more opportunities to shoot three-pointers directly. Seeing that he had no chance to pull up for a three-pointer, Nash simply continued to accelerate and drive all the way to the Knicks' basket, pressing Ward all the way down.
But Nash didn't jump up to shoot or stop to catch the ball.
Instead, he dribbled the ball back and forth in the Knicks' three-second zone for a full two circles, making the entire Knicks' defense a mess. No one could keep up with him. Then, Nash suddenly made a no-look, one-handed pass.
The basketball pierced through the Knicks' entire defense and went straight to Marion, who was unguarded on the wing.
Then, a shooting form that could rival Marion's face as the ugliest in NBA history emerged.
Marion, with his signature unorthodox style that no one but comedian could ever imitate, launched the buzzer-beating three-pointer of the third quarter.
"Buzz!"
As the buzzer sounded, Marion's three-pointer swished precisely into the net!
"Whoosh!"
With one minute remaining, the Suns capitalized on Anthony's two missed attacks to launch a counterattack, hitting two three-pointers to narrow the gap to nine points again!
110: 101!
Both teams scored over 100 points by the end of the third quarter!
"That last play, really, how should I put it? Sigh, I think it's going to have a negative impact on the kids," Barkley sighed in front of the camera. "Carmelo's turnaround layup was perfect, except it missed!"
"His footwork, the timing of his turn, the smoothness of his turn, and the posture and extension of his final jump deserve at least a 9 out of 10!"
"But the ball didn't go in."
"But Shawn's shot, apart from the final goal, was almost entirely worthless. His jumping posture, his overall physique, his shooting posture, the height of his release point, and even his appearance were all negligible."
"One is almost perfect except for not making the cut, the other is almost useless except for making the cut. Kenny, if it were you, which one would you choose?"
"I would choose Carmelo," Kenny said without hesitation. "Nobody wants to have Shawn's shooting form! No offense intended, but his physical attributes, defensive ability, shooting skills, and court awareness are all excellent, even top-tier."
"But I don't want his shooting form. I'd rather never play basketball in my life and instead play table tennis or some other weird sport like water polo or softball than have his shooting form."
"Absolutely not!"
Logically speaking, the way the two commentators used it was almost at the level of personal attack and direct confrontation. If they used such commentary on anyone other than Marion, including Cassell and Howard in last year's Finals, it would be a serious offense.
They will definitely receive complaints from many fans.
They also have their die-hard fans!
Except for Marion.
It's not that Marion doesn't have die-hard fans, but even the most devoted fans wouldn't say that Marion isn't ugly or that his shooting is bad.
Players like Cassell and Howard, at least if they covered their faces, didn't look bad while playing.
But Marion...
Forget it, I won't say anymore, it's all tears.
But no matter what Marion's shooting form was, the Suns managed to close the gap by the end of the third quarter!
With a single-digit point difference, they have a greater chance of turning the game around and winning in the fourth quarter!
Then, when the fourth quarter began, it became D'Antoni's time to show off his skills.
No change of players!
Not a single one was changed!
He continued to field his five starting players.
Judging from D'Antoni's intentions, it's clear that these five starters will play the entire second half, which is consistent with D'Antoni's usual habits and style.
Normally, the Suns only have a 7-8 man rotation, and the team already has few players who can get consistent playing time.
Tonight, the team's key substitute Barbosa only played for 4 minutes, and D'Antoni has clearly lost confidence in him and is not prepared to give him any more playing time.
Furthermore, with the team trailing and eager to catch up, he was even less likely to field role players.
Damn it, main force!
It has to be said that these guys in the early 21st century, from Jeff Van Gundy to Larry Brown to Mike D'Antoni, really didn't hesitate or hold back when it came to pushing their starters to the limit. They really pushed them to the point of cramping up!
Later players like Thibodeau and Nash can be considered to have inherited the mantle of these individuals.
If it were one of those adaptable coaches tonight, knowing that this is a tough battle and a likely long and drawn-out match, they would at least use their brains and think of a solution.
They will do everything they can to unleash the potential and fighting spirit of the role players, allowing them to play as long as possible on the field, giving the main players some rest time so that they still have the energy to play in the final moments of the game.
But clearly, D'Antoni had never thought of doing that, nor was he prepared to do it.
His strategy has always been to be straightforward.
For Don Nelson's team, players like Lin Tian and Stoudemire, who had rested for more than four minutes at the end of the third quarter, returned to the court, while Anthony and others went to the bench to rest first.
Lin Tian and Xiao Si immediately used their signature pick and roll, allowing Xiao Si to unleash another powerful smash!
This is Stoudemire's 30th point tonight! His previous career high was only 35 points.
He has a very high chance of setting a new personal scoring record tonight!
As for why he was in such a hot streak tonight, he dunked eight times, practically tearing Phoenix's Mount Hua apart.
The reason, of course, is that Lin Tian's perverse sense of humor has kicked in again.
This guy felt that letting Stoudemire dunk on the non-Knicks' basket was like Cao Cao outside Wancheng, making Zhang Xiu personally escort his aunt into his tent, and then having Zhang Xiu and Dian Wei listen to the sound outside the tent.
hiss……
Wait a minute... If Cao Cao had really done that back then, wouldn't Zhang Xiu have become a hostage being watched by Dian Wei? Would Zhang Xiu have dared to overturn the table then?
He wouldn't dare!
Boss Cao!
You're not monstrous enough, otherwise you would have unified the Three Kingdoms long ago, wouldn't you?
Thinking about this, Lin Tian became even more excited!
In the next possession, after another pick-and-roll, he drove into the paint. But instead of immediately handling the ball, he imitated Nash, circling around the Suns' three-second zone twice before suddenly slamming the ball hard onto the floor!
After the basketball bounced high, Stoudemire arrived as expected. This time, he held the ball with both hands and slammed it into the basket with a double-headed shot!
After another powerful dunk, Stoudemire is getting closer and closer to a new career high, and he excitedly roared to the sky!
The feeling was like Zhang Xiu hearing Cao Cao shout triumphantly from outside the tent: "Come on up, do it yourself!"
Feeling deeply humiliated, Zhang Xiu clenched his fists and trembled all over, but then he felt a hand bigger than his head slap his shoulder. Dian Wei looked at Zhang Xiu with a forced smile and said, "General Zhang, are you in a bad mood?"
What could Zhang Xiu do? What could he say?
He could only say through tears, "I didn't eat dinner, and my stomach hurts from hunger."
Exciting!
In the following minutes, Lin Tian kept trying to feed the ball to Stoudemire. Even though the Suns had been trying to defend the two players' play tightly, they were powerless to stop them.
Their defense is so weak, it's frustrating!
Then, five minutes into the fourth quarter, Lin Tian once again drew a double team outside the three-point line. He then suddenly threw the ball towards the basket. Stoudemire jumped high, caught the ball, but did not choose to shoot directly.
Instead, he faked out Martin in mid-air, then landed and smoothly spun around, completely burying Martin behind him. Finally, he jumped again and slammed the ball into the basket once more!
"boom!"
After the loud bang, D'Antoni had to call a timeout.
The Knicks have once again extended their lead to 15 points, and Stoudemire has now scored over 40 points tonight!
41 points, a new career high!
He made 17 of 26 shots, a career high! It was also his first 40+ point game of his career!
There were still a full 7 minutes left in the game!
With Stoudemire's scoring prowess tonight, he might just score 50 points!
Meanwhile, Lin Tian's assist count for tonight has reached 20.
He is now just one game away from setting a Knicks career record of 21 assists in his first game of the season.
Like Stoudemire, there are still a full 7 minutes left in tonight's game!
Lin Tian still has plenty of opportunities to increase his assist count!
such as……
30 times?
As a point guard, Lin Tian has already broken many historical records in scoring, triple-doubles, and other categories.
Ironically, when it comes to his primary job of assists, although Lin Tian's assist count has consistently remained above 10 per game, he has never delivered an incredibly high number of assists.
His career record was 25 assists in a single game during the Eastern Conference Finals. It's worth mentioning that he also scored 38 points and grabbed 10 rebounds that year!
That's the playoffs!
But no matter what game or stats it is, it's still quite a distance from NBA historical records.
Like him, Isaiah Thomas, Kevin Jansen, and others have also recorded a career high of 25 assists. Stockton has recorded 26, 27, and 28 assists in a single game, and of course, there is the single-game assist record holder: Skiles.
This player once delivered 30 assists!
Lin Tian tonight...
Is there any hope?
With the timeout over, both teams' players returned to the court. The Knicks brought back Anthony and Okur, who had been resting for a long time, while the Suns did not change their lineup either.
D'Antoni clearly intends to push his starting lineup to the limit until they cramp up. He won't let any of these players off the court until the game is over or the outcome is decided!
Returning to the first possession of the game, the Suns' offense was initiated by Nash. This time, instead of looking for Martin or Marion in the paint, he threw the ball straight to the baseline, where Joe Jensen, who received the ball, once again displayed his clutch gene, pulling up for a three-pointer!
"Whoosh!"
The Suns have once again narrowed the gap to 12 points!
As the Knicks continued their offense, Lin Tian couldn't help but want to find Stoudemire again; after all, he really didn't want to stop feeling this thrill.
However, this time Marion was clearly angry. He didn't care about anything, not even looking at the basketball, and just stood there face to face, blocking Stoudemire and not giving him a chance to attack the basket.
This time, Lin Tian made a mistake because he was too happy and forced the ball to Stoudemire, but Stoudemire has not yet developed the skill of mid-range shooting.
By only driving to the basket, he has lost much of his threat.
With Marion firmly in position, his advantage in impact was completely neutralized.
This attack ended up being a rather difficult shot by a skilled player, and naturally, the ball missed.
This time, Nash drove into the paint to grab the rebound and then dribbled the ball up the court to launch a fast break.
Faced with Lin Tian's immediate arrival, Nash could only resort to the same old trick, once again driving into the heart of the defense and suddenly lying back to shoot. Lin Tian really wanted to curse at this shooting style where his legs were practically sticking up to the defender's face.
But he really couldn't do anything about it; the way the body was lying down was too wide. Who could help?
"Whoosh!"
After a crisp crack, the score difference returned to 10 points!
It has to be said that the Suns' firepower is truly terrifying; they can close a gap of a few points in the blink of an eye!
If we're not careful, they'll launch a powerful offensive!
"It's okay, calm down! The last ball was my fault!" This time, Lin Tian didn't rush to inbound the ball from the baseline. Instead, he gathered his teammates together and said to everyone, "I'll be watching everyone from now on. Whoever has the opportunity will get the ball."
"So, everyone, run! Now, let's show the Phoenix people that their firepower is utterly insignificant compared to ours!"
"Not worth mentioning!"
After the Knicks players shouted together, Okur went to the baseline to inbound the ball, allowing Lin Tian to dribble the ball back to the frontcourt.
This time, Lin Tian waved for everyone to separate, and he used the exact same move against Nash.
He broke through halfway, then suddenly leaned his upper body back, raising his legs so high they were almost touching Nash's nose!
"Whoosh!"
Nash had no chance to defend this play. After landing, Lin Tian looked at Nash and said, "You think you're the only one who can do this? I can do everything you can! And I'm even better than you!"
Nash once again did not respond verbally to Lin Tian's trash talk.
His way of responding has always been to prove himself through actions!
You say you know everything I do? Well then, I'll show you something you don't!
then……
Nash really came, but Lin Tian couldn't have come.
He drove to the basket on offense, drawing a foul from Okur who was helping on defense, and then went to the free-throw line.
Nash lifted his left foot and smacked his left hand, then lifted his right foot and smacked his right hand. He then spat twice on his hands, followed by sticking out his tongue to lick the saliva off his hands. Finally, he rubbed his hands together, ready to shoot a free throw.
That's fucking filthy!
Aren't you afraid of getting diarrhea?
It was spread evenly, ugh...
I can't come!
Master Lin really can't come!
Even knowing that the NBA arena floor is quite clean, without dust or dirt, the ball boys and staff will wipe the floor very clean every game day.
Even Lin Tian knew that Nash simply added some anti-slip features to the soles of his shoes and hands to make him more stable when shooting and running.
But he still couldn't come.
Even Lord Lin has his bottom line.
For example, when he's playing rock-paper-scissors with Aunt Zhang Xiu, can he let Zhang Xiu listen outside the door? No problem!
But opening the curtain to let Zhang Xiu see? No, no, that won't do.
This is the brilliance of humanity!
Therefore, Lin Tian cannot come to Nash's place.
With Nash making both free throws, the two teams once again entered a back-and-forth battle.
For the next few minutes, the two sides continued to battle back and forth around a difference of about 10 points.
Lin Tian then found Jackson, Anthony and Okur in succession, and after delivering assists one after another, his assists tonight have reached 25, tying his career record.
However, during this period, Stoudemire was completely shut down by Marion's relentless and tight defense, and he was temporarily silenced, failing to score even a single point during this time!
The situation was similar for the Suns. With Nash as the absolute core, the team continued their offensive onslaught, sticking to their "7 seconds or less" strategy.
With only 3 minutes left in the game, the score difference between the two sides was still 10 points!
137: 127!
The scores on both sides were frighteningly high, as were the efficiency and the pace of offensive and defensive transitions.
If it were any other team, with so little time left and a double-digit deficit, the game would practically be over.
But for offensive teams of the caliber of the Suns and Knicks...
3 minutes, 10 minutes, that's just a piece of cake!
If they're in good form, they can erase the point difference in 1 minute and regain a 5-6 point lead in 2 minutes!
The ultimate offensive showdown is that exciting!
Three minutes into the game, the Suns had possession of the ball on their first offensive possession.
Nash let out a deep breath, then finally slowed down and slowly dribbled the ball to the frontcourt.
Lin Tian rushed up immediately after Nash crossed half-court and began to defend him closely from near the center line.
This is the first time tonight!
Although Lin Tian made a series of brilliant defensive plays against Barbosa in the second quarter tonight, and his steals and blocks were also quite good, ultimately, he focused a lot of his energy on offense for 90% of the time.
But now, Lin Tian has to focus all his efforts on defense!
At the same time, Nash's level of caution in protecting the basketball and making offensive choices has also been raised to a new level!
Both he and Lin Tian had pushed themselves to their limits, because they both knew: the time for the final duel had come! (End of Chapter)