stadium ambition

Chapter 319 Very Spiritual
Seven p.m., Madison Square Garden.

The national anthem has just ended, and the game between the Clippers and the Knicks is about to start, and the audience cheers.

In the ESPN commentary seat, Breen said: "Tonight, Stephen will join me and Mark to explain to everyone. First of all, I would like to ask, as a senior Knicks fan, what do you think of the rumors of Carmelo Anthony's application for a trade?"

Stephen Smith nodded: "I hope that is true. I hope that Melo can play for New York. We are currently 12 wins and 3 losses. The team is working well in all aspects. If he joins, we have the strength to hit the championship."

"However, some people say that in your 12 victories, the opponents were almost all weak teams, and in the 3 losses, the opponents were all strong teams, so you think you just have an advantage in the schedule. What do you think about this?" Mark Jackson asked.

Stephen pouted and shrugged: "It's normal for fans of other teams to have that kind of view. After all, the Knicks have been rotten for many years and have just made progress this season. It will be difficult for everyone to get used to it for a while. Fortunately, they are playing against the Clippers tonight."

"Listen to you, do you think the Knicks can beat the Clippers tonight?" Brin asked.

"Of course, if you pay attention to the news reports, you should see that before the game, Coach D'Antoni specially increased training, and those trainings were for the Clippers and Su Yang. After all, they had two point guards missing due to injuries."

Brin nodded in response, and Stephen continued with an excited look on his face: "Tonight's game will be a symbolic game for the rise of the Knicks. From then on, everyone will start to pay attention to our strength, just wait and see."

"I hope everything is as you imagined. Now that the starting players of the two teams have entered the field, let's take a look..."

...

In the arena, the long whistle sounded.

More than 9000 spectators cheered and shouted, and the big screen in the center scanned the seats on the sidelines, JAZ Beyoncé, the new country singer Taylor, the famous director Spike Lee, the host of the daily show Jon Stewart, and so on. wave.

Su Yang got up and walked to the technical stage, high-fived and bumped shoulders with the oncoming college student Landry Fields, chatted a few words about the recent situation, encouraged each other, and then shook hands with his teammate Novak from last season, then turned and entered the station Definitely wait.

The starting matchups of the two teams are displayed on the central big screen, point guard Su Yang vs. Felton, shooting guard Gordon vs. Wilson Chandler, small forward George vs. Joe Johnson, power forward Randolph vs. Stoudemire. , center Jordan against Gallinari.

"New York's lineup is a Suns team that strengthens the inside and weakens the outside. It's not easy for D'Antoni..."

Su Yang felt emotional that the Knicks recruited Joe Johnson in the summer, which can be regarded as a great reinforcement of the backcourt and forward strength.

However, Felton's personal ability is much worse than Nash's, so that the Knicks have Gallinari and Stoudemire on the inside, and they are not much better than before. Weak in one aspect.

While thinking about it, the referee held the ball to the seeding circle, made simple gestures, and gently tossed the ball upwards.

Jordan first touched the ball and moved it back. The Clippers won the first attack, and the audience immediately shouted defense in unison.

Su Yang ran across the center line with the ball and commanded the team to move to the left, but passed the ball to Gordon who cut outside from the left corner with the help of a screen, and Gordon took the ball and continued to break to the right, taking advantage of the space on the right half court Big, sprinting at full speed, heading straight for the basket.

Joe Johnson switched defenses to catch up, but his defense was relatively poor, and he was a type who was unwilling to contribute. Most of the time he only relied on his wingspan and weight.Gordon sped up and threw him away in the blink of an eye. Gallinari hurried forward to defend, but Gordon stopped suddenly and threw away his clothes.

The ball rebounded and fell with a thud, Gallinari grabbed it, the Knicks counterattacked, and the audience cheered.

It's a pity that Felton doesn't have Nash's ability to quickly find opportunities, so he can only settle down honestly.

Johnson rushed to the paint first, then used the cover to run back, struggled to get the ball in the short corner on the left, and took advantage of the situation to pose a three-threat.But no matter how he tried, George always stood with his feet back and forth, and at the same time reached out to block the ball around, preventing him from starting too smoothly.

Perhaps because of too many attempts, Joe Johnson accidentally dropped the ball to the floor.

George was stunned for a moment, then suddenly bent over to fight for the ball, the two immediately huddled together, and the basketball rolled out of bounds under the force.

The referee blew his whistle to call a violation, and it was judged that George got the ball out and gave the Knicks the right to the front line.

The five Knicks immediately stood around the left elbow area, and all three of them gathered together, obviously to make a wall.

At this time, there were only five seconds left in the attack time, Su Yang thought for a while, and directed his teammates to focus on the outside line.

The referee's whistle blew in an instant, and Su Yang directly raised his hands sideways to block the space for Felton to pass the ball to the baseline. As he expected, the basketball passed beyond the three-point line, and Joe Johnson used the cover to catch the ball , emergency stop and snap shot.

The basketball hit the basket and hit the iron, the Clippers grabbed the rebound and launched a counterattack, and the audience stood up and shouted for defense.

Su Yang hit the ball to the left waist, Randolph caught the ball and easily singled Stoudemire, and Felton hurried up to double-team.The basketball was passed back to the outside line immediately. Su Yang caught the ball and took off directly. Facing Felton who returned to the defense, he shot a three-pointer and hit the iron with a bang.

Gallinari grabbed the rebound, the Knicks launched a fast break, and the basketball made two long passes, but it still fell to the ground.

The person who takes the initiative to slow down is Wilson Chandler. His offensive ability with the ball is not bad, but his ability to find opportunities in the fast break is relatively poor, and it is difficult to perfectly play the run-and-gun system, similar to Marion, Lagabel or Barbosa roles like this.

The basketball was conducted several times, and finally Felton and Gallinari tried to cooperate with the lob after the pick-and-roll.

Jordan slapped the ball away, but Gallinari grabbed the offensive rebound and jumped up again to try to dunk.

Jordan was not polite and slapped the ball away again, but the referee whistled for a foul.

Amidst the cheers, Gallinari made the first free throw and hit the basket with the second free throw.

The Clippers got a defensive rebound, Su Yang took it across the center line, passed it to Tucker on the right wing, and ran an 'Iverson' crosscut.

Perhaps the intention was too obvious, Felton bypassed the screen directly, blocked the space where Su Yang ran to the left to receive the ball, and the rest of the Knicks followed suit to expand the defense. Disaster.

This is a commonly used defensive strategy under D'Antoni's running and bombing system. The main purpose is to make up for Nash's lack of defense. Through quick defense changes and expansion of the defense line, to slow down the opponent's offensive rhythm, and then the whole team shrinks to form a 23-zone defense formation.

Su Yang quickly raised his hand to direct the shot, and at the same time started to run to the basket, while Jordan mentioned 45 degrees to catch the ball.

Between the inside and the outside, the Knicks could only return to conventional defense, and Gordon used a cover to initiate a breakthrough at the top of the arc.

Stoudemire wanted to switch defenses, but his speed couldn't match at all. Gordon successfully started a three-step layup.

Unfortunately, the basketball came out of the basket.

The Knicks took the opportunity to launch a fast break, Wilson Chandler sprinted with the ball and went straight to the basket.

Jordan tried his best to catch up and successfully nailed the big cap, but Stoudemire followed up and scored.

Cheers broke out at Madison Square Garden, and Stephen Smith smiled and said, "See? This is the spirit of the New Knicks. Everyone is actively attacking and defending. There are not many teams that can limit the Clippers to difficult passes."

"Hmm, really very energetic..."

(End of this chapter)