basketball pope

Chapter 176 [Smoke bomb, paranoia]

The moment the basketball fell into the basket, the Raptors rookies were all stunned, unable to believe all this for a long time.

Especially Carter and McGrady, they have to be directly responsible for the loss, one gave the Knicks lore time, and the other did not defend well.

Yang Rui's mentality is very calm, some things are yours, and there is no need to force them.

Zhang Lili sighed: "The Raptors have two brothers in this game, and two brothers in the defeat. They are too young, and the veteran will not make this kind of mistake. McGrady's last defense, Houston may make a foul if he doesn't break through and hit it directly."

Sun Zhengping said regretfully: "I think if the Knicks play overtime, it will be difficult for the Knicks to stand up. Ewing can't keep up with the guard's breakthrough, and Johnson is very tired."

Sports Toronto is even more sorry.Clark said depressedly: "The Raptors have countless opportunities to exceed the score and win this game, but unfortunately they squandered all the opportunities. Billups and O'Neal felt too bad today."

Yang Rui walked over to Maddie and patted him on the back. "Don't be sad, you have done a good job, don't make this mistake again in the end, we haven't been eliminated yet."

In the past life, many people said that McGrady had low desire to win, but he averaged 25+ points per game in six playoff games, 4+ points in four times, and averaged 30 minutes of playing time per game. Where is his desire to win?It's just that people are declining, not winning.

This loss, McGrady is the saddest player.

There seems to be a little smile on O'Neal's baby face. Maybe he thinks it's amazing to be like this with the Knicks in his rookie season.

Veteran Detrev and Willis are equally calm. The Raptors' performance this season has exceeded their expectations, and the Knicks do not have an absolute advantage, and they may not be eliminated.

Van Gundy breathed a sigh of relief and walked onto the court to shake hands with Yang Rui.

"Jeff, congratulations."

"Thank you." Van Gundy was out of words after the series was over, and he was still under a lot of pressure.

Yang Rui smiled slightly. "The next two games, you will not be so lucky, I have found out the weaknesses of the Knicks."

"Let's see." Van Gundy hummed.

He was a little upset, why does it seem like this kid is a winner?
Thinking of what Yang Rui said "youth never fail", the Raptors are really not a loser.

At the press conference, Carter said depressingly: "It was my fault to lose. It shouldn't have been like that. The coach told me to shoot at the last moment and play overtime if I didn't score. But in that instant, I felt that the opportunity was very good Okay, I shot. I thought about how stupid I was, even if the ball was made, we were only two points ahead, and the opponent had a chance to shoot a three-pointer."

The reporter asked: "Do you think the Raptors still have a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference finals?"

"Of course there is a chance. I will follow the coach's arrangements and will not make such low-level mistakes again."

Yang Rui did not criticize Carter and attributed the loss to luck. "I think the Raptors are already better than the Knicks, it's just a little bit worse. I'm proud of the players' performance. We must win the next game. The Raptors will come to New York to play the tiebreaker."

A New York reporter asked: "Even in the tiebreaker, is the Raptors at a disadvantage? The Knicks have home field advantage."

Yang Rui smiled and said: "That's not important, our away win rate is not as good as the home game, and the Knicks have an Achilles heel, with fewer points, and the gap between the bench and the starting lineup is large. I can guarantee that the Raptors' bench players will defeat the Knicks. Alfred's backup. With the depth of the lineup, we must win."

A good coach should not only arrange tactics and tap players' potential, but also set off "smoke bombs" to confuse opponents with words.

Yang Rui said this not to reuse the team's bench, but to create psychological pressure on Van Gundy, making him suspect that the Knicks' bench is unreliable next game.

People with a generous heart may not care, but Van Gundy can't. He is neurotic and paranoid.Listening to Yang Rui's words, if there is a substitute who does not perform well in the next game, he may be immediately replaced by him to sit on the bench.

This is a conspiracy against Van Gundy's character. How can each of the substitutes perform well?If Van Gundy follows Yang Rui's ideas and increases the playing time of the main force, the real weakness of the Knicks will appear, which is the physical fitness of the veteran.

At the end of this game, the Knicks veteran couldn’t run. If the two sides played for 7 games, although the Raptors players were also very tired, they would definitely be better than the Knicks because they were young.

If Van Gundy continues the previous rotation and doesn't increase veteran minutes, the Raptors are already familiar with their routine.What Yang Rui is most afraid of is Van Gundy's reuse of Jackson and Atkins. If they have the ball on the offensive end, they can definitely compete with the Raptors' backup.

In Yang Rui's eyes, these two men were more threatening than Childs and Ward.After this season, Yang Rui plans to ask the management to contact their agent and try to dig the Raptors, and the lineup will be stronger.

The next day, most of the media were optimistic about the Knicks advancing to the Eastern Conference finals, because the Raptors are the core of young people, and in key games, there may be problems with their mentality, they can’t play their full strength, and it’s easier to make mistakes.

Some Knicks fans are already debating how to play against the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, feeling like they don't need a tiebreaker.

In the sixth game, the Raptors, who were on the verge of elimination, were unwilling to be eliminated, and the popularity of the home court exceeded expectations.

This is the first time the team has entered the playoffs, and the fans at home are very excited. The staff distributed purple commemorative T-shirts in advance and uniformed their uniforms to cheer on the players of the home team.

Mobilized before the start of the game, general manager Glenn Gruward took the microphone and took the lead to spit out dirty words: "FUCK Knicks"!
Such irritating words can more resonate at the scene, thereby arousing the emotions of the fans, and many fans immediately followed by shouting: "FUCK Knicks!"

The scolding is loud, and the integrity is lost.

This is to put pressure on the visiting team. In the previous two home games, as long as the Knicks players held the ball, the fans would give huge boos and create noise pressure.Many teams are like this at home, so it is really difficult to get cheap away.

Yang Rui had a black line on the sidelines and waved to the fans symbolically.

The Raptors have no grudge against the Knicks. He also took a ring with the Knicks last season, which is a bit embarrassing now.

He didn't even expect Glenn to be such a passionate person.In his previous life, after Glenn was fired by the Raptors, he was invited by the "assassin" Isaiah Thomas to join the Knicks. He worked for many years and served as the general manager of the Knicks after Thomas left.

Now because of the butterfly effect, it's no wonder James Dolanken wants this stuff.Even if he wanted, Glenn wouldn't necessarily go. Now that he's done well, he's seen as a rising hero in Toronto, and he's having a great time here.

With such a commotion at the scene, the players were full of enthusiasm and energy.No matter what country, people usually have to fight with each other before they fight their opponents.

Yang Rui changed the lineup back to normal, McGrady came off the bench, and Billups started.

Playing like this, the offense in the second quarter is better. It is worse than running to catch the ball and shoot. Carter is not as good as Billups. He is more suitable for the pick-and-roll offense with the ball. .

The Raptors' defensive tactics haven't changed. They're still man-to-man. They must not shrink against teams that are good at shooting three-pointers, otherwise they will die very ugly.

(End of this chapter)