NBA: This flower path is a bit strong.

This person is none other than head coach Nelson.

In a post-match interview with reporters, Nelson simply put the blame for the loss on himself:

"We didn't prepare well enough for this game and I didn't take our opponent seriously, which led to our loss in the end."

His words surprised everyone present, as few coaches would admit their mistakes so frankly.

"As a professional coach, I should be highly vigilant in every game. However, I made a fatal mistake today. I did not pay enough attention to our opponents and was not fully prepared."

Nelson continued, "The Knicks have the best players in the league, so I want to apologize to my players and to all the fans who support our team."

Despite losing the game, Nelson Sr.'s honesty and responsibility were impressive.

In fact, throughout the game, facing the Raptors coach's run-and-gun tactics, which he was good at, it was not that Nelson could not come up with a countermeasure, but that he knew that under the circumstances at that time, the core players of the team's inside line would not cooperate with him at all!

No matter how good the strategies and tactics are, they still need players to implement them. Nelson, who has experienced a player relationship crisis, understands this truth better than anyone else.

But after today's defeat, I believe the situation will be different.

Therefore, at the end of the interview, Nelson mysteriously expressed that he had found a way to deal with the Raptors and promised to defend the next home-court advantage.

The local media finally let the Knicks off, even though they should have been criticized!

Although the experienced old Nelson took the blame and withstood the pressure exerted on the team by the outside world.

But in the eyes of most New York fans, they still have doubts about the Knicks.

This is New York. If you love a player, send him to this holy land of New York, because after he wins, he will enjoy the most eye-catching and dazzling lights in the world; but if you hate a player, you can also send him to New York, because after he loses, he will suffer the greatest criticism and scolding in the NBA league.

Shaquille O'Neal scored 33 points and 11 rebounds, which lived up to the expectations of the ESPN commentator and many Knicks fans before the game.

Since it is not O'Neal's problem, the problem can only be Patrick Ewing, the core of the team!

Patrick Ewing had 17 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists, which was completely below his standard!

This was both expected and unexpected by New Yorkers.

It was expected because Ewing had a history of being weak at crucial moments in the playoffs; it was unexpected because I didn't expect him to be weak so quickly in this playoffs!

So, after the May 5 game, it's all the way to the second game of the series against the Raptors on May 6.

Ewing's life was not easy. Finally, after hearing Nelson's words "Everything is for the O'Brien Cup", the "Gorilla" gave up his anger with the "Shark" and accepted the advice of head coach Nelson. He chose to deal with the non-core inside players of the opposing team~ former teammate Charles Oakley.

Now, Nelson Sr.'s method of dealing with the Raptors was finally secured.

Stable twin towers in the interior, each doing their own job in positional warfare, focusing on the success rate.

Old Nelson knew very well that as long as the Knicks maintained their own rhythm and played slow but fast, they would not be led by the Raptors.

Facts have proved that while ensuring offensive and defensive efficiency and rebounding, positional warfare is the only way to fight against the run-and-gun style of play!

Of course, old Nelson, who is well versed in the run-and-gun style of play, understands this best.

Therefore, after Ewing agreed to the proposal of changing defense, old Nelson was not worried that his own team, whose overall strength was already above that of the Raptors, would lose again.

And in the following days, Nelson also strengthened the team's targeted training, specifically interfering with the Raptors' fast break passes after they grabbed the backcourt rebounds, and sent someone to interfere with the Raptors' baseline serves to prevent the Knicks from being forced into fast breaks again.

As the saying goes, old ginger is still spicy!

Just as Nelson predicted, the Knicks had the last laugh in the second game of the series against the Raptors on May 5.

Although Hanamichi faced O'Neal's offense and defense, he still scored super-giant data of 23 points, 15 rebounds, 3 blocks and 5 assists.

But the opposing twin towers both scored 25+ points, especially Ewing, who played against his old teammate Charles Oakley. He showed his power this time and scored 27 points in the whole game, which was a resounding slap in the face of the media's doubts:

He, Ewing, is still the dominant "super giant"!

The most crucial thing is that in this game, the Raptors' many counterattack fast breaks were disrupted by the New York Knicks.

In the Knicks' slow positional attack, the entire Raptors team was like being tied up with sandbags, with their hands and feet restricted.

As for the core of the Raptors, the team's engine, the flying squirrel, Damon Stoudemire, felt the rhythm the most. In the last game, the Knicks unknowingly followed the Raptors and played at a fast pace, but in this game, the Knicks' offensive time was generally extended, and sometimes an offense would even take up 24 seconds.

The opposing guards strengthened their defense and focused on cutting off their inside and outside fast break passing routes, making him very uncomfortable.

And it was the first time that Hanamichi faced up to the very serious fact that he could not defend against O'Neal.

Even though his physical strength is better than O'Neal's, he can't gain much advantage.

Before gaining weight, O'Neal was also a young man with strong athletic ability and decent physical fitness.

In addition to his stronger body, Hanamichi would even spend more energy defending him, even if he failed.

The Knicks' slow position adjustment also gave the Shaq, who was exhausted in the previous game, a chance to catch his breath this time. He didn't waste too much energy on shuttle runs, so he played more easily on the offensive end.

Of course, it is also true that O'Neal is not very able to defend against Hanamichi, who has a variety of offensive methods.

He formed a mutual explosion with two of the four major centers and even restricted one of them very well. This is enough for Hanamichi to be proud of.

As reported by the Toronto media, the team lost but the flowers did not.

But now the issue that Huadao is considering is how to lead the team to victory!

As a core player, the freshman led the team into the playoffs and broke through the first round, which was already a very good result, but it was far from enough for the single-celled Hanamichi.

So in the third home game of the series, Hanamichi found Ewing on the offensive end, scored 20 points efficiently and delivered 8 outrageous assists, which were considered heresy by inside players in this era.

Assisting was not Hanamichi's purpose, because in this game Hanamichi suddenly discovered that O'Neal, the "dark and hard" player, was actually helping Ewing in defense on his own initiative.

Being able to attract the two core inside players of the Knicks in one fell swoop, Hanamichi didn't know whether to be proud of himself or Alexander.

In short, even though Hanamichi created opportunities for his teammates and provided 8 assists, the Raptors still lost to the Knicks 89:94.

The series score has become 2:1. If the Raptors lose one more game, they will be doomed to fail in this playoffs.

But it is obvious that facing the New York Knicks who firmly control the inside and high ground, the Raptors will not be able to come up with any countermeasures for a while.

Even in the fourth game on May 5, the Raptors' head coach launched a meat shield tactic from the beginning to consume O'Neal's physical energy, but with Nelson's reasonable allocation of players' playing time, O'Neal and Ewing still scored a total of 12 points.

This time, the Raptors were completely pushed to the edge of the cliff!