unfinished glory

Chapter 22 Against the Knicks

As soon as the third quarter started, Li Chongxiao got the chance to play.

Parker, Barry plus Tony Masenberg and Nesterovic partnered. The main attack points of this lineup are Parker and Barry. On the defensive end, Popovich only requires good control of rebounds, and there are not many other requirements.

The Knicks also made adjustments to the lineup, with two substitute players.

Li Chongxiao defended Hardaway, looking at the 1993 talent show, he pursed his lips.

As an old fan for many years, how could he not know "Penny", this is the once favored son of heaven, Jordan's hand-picked successor.

In the 1994~1995 season, Hardaway and O'Neal played against the comeback Jordan in the playoffs and reached the finals.

By the summer of 1996, faced with the choice between Hardaway and O'Neal, the Magic resolutely chose Hardaway.

However, in the 96-97 season, Hardaway forced his comeback with an injury, which led to a sharp drop in his athletic ability and gradually disappeared from everyone.In the next few years, his knee injuries recurred, and he could only play in multiple teams, slowly losing his former glory.

Such a veteran may not be as flexible physically as before, but he can still bring Li Chongxiao a lot of defensive pressure.

Li Chongxiao now relies more on his flexible body and excellent wingspan to defend, but in the face of the opponent's rich offensive experience, it is extremely difficult to play.

Just a reverse run, Hardaway threw him away, cut into the inside line and scored two points.

In the next round, Hardaway hit back and used fake moves to shake out the space. He succeeded in a fadeaway jumper and caused a foul by Li Chongxiao, scoring 2+1.

Fortunately, the Spurs' two offenses were completed, otherwise the Spurs would definitely call a timeout, and then Li Chongxiao would have to face Popovich's hair dryer.

Hardaway had to play again in the third round, but Marbury didn't give it to him, so he had to play by himself.

Marbury rushed to the inside with a dynamite bag and was blocked by Nesterovic. Li Chongxiao took the rebound on Hardaway's head.

Then he made a long pass to the frontcourt, and the French sports car accelerated and rushed out.The Knicks players had given up catching up, and Parker scored an easy layup.

Marbury, who was capped, suddenly remembered that he was a point guard. Then he relied on breakthroughs to drive the team and stabilized the situation with three consecutive assists.

During this period, Hardaway did not receive the ball and ran for several rounds.Li Chongxiao also followed him closely, no merit or fault.

The time quickly reached 5 minutes left in the third quarter, and Popovich made another strange trick. He replaced Duncan and Bowen.

Li Chongxiao thought that Bowen replaced him, but he didn't expect that it was Barry and Tony Masenberg who replaced him.Popovich asked Bowen to speak, and Li Chongxiao played shooting guard.

Parker dribbled the ball across the frontcourt, and Li Chongxiao responded at 45 degrees outside the three-point line.Parker passed him the ball and started running.

Duncan came here to catch the ball, and got stuck a little bit. Before Li Chongxiao could pass the ball, Crawford, who was defending him, went directly to double-team.

Li Chongxiao froze for a moment, then came back to his senses and directly shot a jump shot from outside the three-point line.The ball crossed a beautiful arc, entered the frame hollowly, and swayed the net with a "shua".

Coach Wilkens rubbed his forehead on the Knicks bench, very speechless.

Crawford realized his mistake, and faced a rookie, he was a little embarrassed.Returning to the offense, he asked for the ball directly, and Marbury passed it with dignity.

Crawford made a gesture, signaling his teammates to pull away, and he wanted to play singles.

Li Chongxiao carefully watched the opponent, took a step up, and got stuck in front of Crawford, resolutely implementing the strategy of preventing the shot but not preventing the breakthrough.

Crawford dribbled the ball extremely fancy, and even showed several flaws, but Li Chongxiao was unmoved, and had no desire to steal the ball at all.

In desperation, Crawford had no choice but to make a breakthrough. After a few shakes, he dribbled the ball to the right and headed for the basket.

Although Li Chongxiao was rushed over, his footsteps were fast enough, sticking tightly to Crawford's left side, oppressing his body and preventing him from rushing up.

Duncan quickly came over to defend, but Crawford had to throw a high throw before the encirclement. The ball bounced several times on the basket and barely made a hit.

It looked like Crawford had won this round, but everyone on the sidelines knew that there was still a lot of luck in this round. In fact, Li Chongxiao had already defended in place.

Good personal defense isn't about how many shots you block or how many steals you have, it's about making it tough for the opponent.

Iverson has three steals champions, but none of the defensive lineups.Duncan has never won the block leader, but he has entered the defensive lineup since his rookie season and has not stopped.

Another superstar, Kobe, has mediocre defensive statistics, but he is also a frequent visitor to the defense.

The success of personal defense lies in destroying the opponent's tactics or curbing the opponent's offensive rhythm. If it is required not to be passed or not scored, then everyone in the NBA is a defensive sieve.

Oh, except maybe Chamberlain of that era.

Of course Popovich knew this too. He said to Budenholzer off the court: "This kid's defense still has a lot of room for improvement. He is not afraid of flexible offensive players, but confrontation and defensive experience are still there. You have to practice."

After another 2 minutes, Li Chongxiao really made Crawford play very hard, which also helped the Spurs even the score. Now the game is 58:58.

Then the two sides began to change players, Marbury and Crawford both went off, and Hardaway stayed on the court.The Spurs replaced Li Chongxiao with Manu Ginobili.

Li Chongxiao was stopped when he passed by Popovich: "Rookie, keep an eye on the court and see how Bruce deals with Anferney."

Li Chongxiao stared at the field, constantly observing.

He found that Bowen's defense was very targeted. He began to follow Hardaway from the time he was off the ball, preventing the opponent from receiving the ball in a comfortable position.

When the opponent holds, Bowen's defensive position is very clever.It also uses the method of focusing on anti-shooting, but it can make Hardaway look afraid to break through easily.

The breakthrough space he left behind hides traps.Of course, a veteran like Hardaway can see that if Li Chongxiao is replaced, he rushes in regardless, just to send Duncan block data.

This can't help but make Li Chongxiao reflect on his strategy of defending Crawford just now, and he can be more flexible. It doesn't have to rely on personal defense, and he should make full use of his teammates' positions.

Hardaway, unable to break through and shoot directly, was forced to choose a post-up single, just in front of where Li Chongxiao sat.

Li Chongxiao saw Hadaway's face twitch, and touched his waist unconsciously.During training, Bowen showed him many tricks.

Then he turned his attention back to the field. Hardaway pushed back twice, and Bowen also took two steps back, but the position under his feet was never lost, and his hands were firmly covered.

Seeing that the time was coming, Hardaway made a few fake moves, but Bowen was unmoved.He had no choice but to squeeze, turned over and shot a jumper uncomfortably, but the ball really missed.

Li Chongxiao was very excited watching from below. In one round, he found several problems in his defense.

In the next plan, he expects to gain weight without losing flexibility, which is to increase confrontation.Hardaway deflected his center of gravity as soon as he leaned on it, but Bowen could easily deal with it.

Then there are defensive strategies and footwork, what defensive methods should be used by different defensive players, and how to be just right without losing their position is worth studying.

The rest of the defensive experience such as sense of distance and awareness have to be slowly polished through training and games.

Li Chongxiao thought his first game was over like this, but Popovich put him and other substitutes on the field in the fourth quarter and played the entire quarter.

The Knicks went all-in with nine minutes left in the game.

With such a lineup, the Spurs' substitutes seem to be struggling.If it weren't for the weak inside of the Spurs and Udrih's inability to guard Marbury, the Knicks would have been cleaned up long ago.

On the other hand, although many of the Spurs are rookies and their tactical coordination is not skilled enough, it is still easy to find loopholes in the Knicks' defense.

Li Chongxiao was the biggest beneficiary of it. Relying on the blocking of his teammates, he got several good opportunities. He seized three corner three-pointers and scored 9 points in this quarter.

In addition, under his defense, Crawford only made two of seven shots and scored 4 points.

But Marbury played really well today, scoring 12 points and 4 assists in a single quarter, and finally led the Knicks to beat the Spurs 98:94.

(End of this chapter)