Basketball trainer, I created a super giant

Chapter 269 High-Level Game, We Still Need the Senior Brother

In the first section, both sides were in the exploratory phase.

Yao Ming and Brown took center stage.

Yao Ming said he would score four goals in a quarter, and he meant it.

Turn around and lean back, take a deep step and jump up, then shoot a mid-range jump shot, followed by a turnaround hook shot.

Four balls, no more, no less.

Add another foul, and you'll have exactly 10 points.

The only problem was that Brown still managed to score 4 points, plus free throws, despite Yao Ming's defense, for a total of 9 points.

Knowing the difference in height and weight, he tends to shoot from a position far from the basket.

His bunny hops became increasingly accurate, and he could even execute a powerful jump shot like Garnett.

Compared to last season, his offensive arsenal has become much more diverse.

Moreover, on the offensive end, he moves more and looks for opportunities while in motion. One of the four shots was a sudden turn and cut to the basket to score.

22:23.

The Knicks are still down by one point.

With two minutes left in the first quarter, the substitutions should have been made.

But the Magic didn't seem to be making any changes, and Carlisle didn't dare to make any changes easily either.

This is magic, the defending champion!
They are not a weak team, and Carlisle dares not easily believe that he can beat the Magic's starters with just a few substitutes.

What if it gets destroyed?

In terms of inside players, aside from Yao Ming, players like Chandler were already defeated by Brown long ago.

Carlisle dared not try it lightly.

He stood on the sidelines, glancing at Rivers on the other side out of the corner of his eye, trying to figure out Rivers' plans.

Rivers probably knew in his heart that the Knicks had a strong bench.

Before the Knicks took off, he was the one who started to proclaim that the Knicks had unlimited potential and warned all teams in the league to be wary.

Therefore, Rivers' strategy might be to let the starters play more, forcing himself to be hesitant to bring on the substitutes.

No matter how good a substitute is, they still have to play.

Despite his concerns about the substitutes being overwhelmed, Carlisle still made a substitution during a dead ball situation.

They substituted Yao Ming, moved Chandler to center, and then Bender came on.

There was no other way; he had to let Yao Ming rest.

Yao Ming's physical strength is prone to problems.

Carlisle speculated that Rivers might also have similar thoughts.

Brown has better stamina, so he could probably play the whole game without any problems.

But Yao Ming is not an option.

With his size, playing the entire game would be too taxing.

As soon as Yao Ming went down, Brown immediately took on Chandler one-on-one.

He cut across the middle, even over Chandler, and scored with a hook shot.

Brown didn't develop a skyhook, but his hook shot was enough.

Chandler's expression wasn't very good.

When he first entered the league, he was completely outplayed by Brown during his tryouts.

Last season with the Bulls, he faced the Magic and was repeatedly outplayed by Brown.

After a whole season of hard training, I still couldn't defend against it?

Carlisle cursed under his breath.

As expected, there is still a gap between Chandler and Brown, who are top-three centers in the league.

When Yao Ming was on the court, Brown did score 4 points, but it also depends on his shooting percentage.

Yao Ming effectively limited Brown's performance.

To Carlisle's surprise, Chandler managed to defend against Brown's strong low-post play in the next possession.

The confrontation was well-organized, and the predictions were accurate.

Chandler leaped into the air, disrupting Brown's jump shot.

Carlisle's eyes lit up.

Perhaps these substitutes aren't as weak as they think.

In high-level matches, it's not impossible to win.

Like now, two minutes is enough.

In the next possession, Chandler again anticipated the play and moved in front of Brown to interfere with his receiving of the ball.

Carlisle nodded silently, breathed a slight sigh of relief, and turned his gaze to McGrady.

As things stand, the inside game isn't a big problem.

It's mainly Yao Ming who's carrying the load.
So the only remaining issue is the outside line.

McGrady hadn't even really attacked in the first quarter.

Their own zone defense, which involved Chandler focusing on high pick-and-roll defense and Wallace's close guarding, was effective.

McGrady has only scored 2 points on 1-of-3 shooting so far.

In other words, he didn't really attack much either.

He primarily played the role of dribbling the ball, drawing the defense, orchestrating play from the high post, and then distributing the ball.

PJ Brown has a mid-range shot.

Mike Miller is particularly adept at three-pointers.

And there's Sasser.

Rivers opted to start Sasser as point guard to defend Billups.

Even Sather has started throwing down three-pointers.

The Magic were able to take the lead in the first quarter despite McGrady not scoring much, which was related to McGrady passing the ball to his teammates who made three-pointers.

Carlisle crossed his arms.

At this point, he felt he had a pretty good grasp of Rivers's situation.

First, let the main players play more, forcing yourself not to rotate too many players.

Secondly, let Brown take the lead, while McGrady handles the ball and organizes the offense.

Then, in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter, when Yao Ming was running out of energy, McGrady, who still had energy left, took over the game.

Then they took down the Knicks in one fell swoop.

Carlisle glanced at Rivers, who was passionately shouting on the opposite side of the court.

If Rivers' tactics manual contains only this much information, then Carlisle thinks this round is practically won.

Because this isn't just one or two games, it's a series of seven games.

If Rivers pins his hopes on overworking his starters, Carlisle believes the Knicks will ultimately win the series.

24:27.

At the end of the first quarter, the Knicks trailed by 3 points.

Carlisle didn't care and started the rotation as planned.

After leaving Houston, he joined DeShawn Stevenson.

Chandler was also substituted; he had played the entire quarter.

Gazuric was brought on.

Carlisle grabbed Gazuric, his gaze serious, and urged him to hold on for those few minutes, even if it meant committing a foul.

Then he asked everyone to pass the ball around.

If we're going to have you guys practice Princeton, there has to be some effect, right?

The only player they dared not substitute was Billups, who was instructed to continue leading the substitutes and controlling the tempo.

Wait until Yao Ming comes on before you go off the court to rest.

The comeback is temporarily suspended.

Just as Carlisle had predicted.

McGrady stayed on the court and then led the bench.

Brown then rested for only two minutes before returning to the court. Carlisle felt much more at ease.

I guessed right, Rivers' strategy is to overuse his core players and starters.

Carlisle's gaze fell on Gazurich, as if trying to infuse him with strength through his eyes.

Chandler proved he could hold on, so you have to hold on too.

If you can hold on for a few minutes, that's success.

With Yao Ming off the court, the Magic naturally had to pass the ball to Brown.

Brown immediately started a low-post isolation play.

With his back against the wall, Brown felt a strong, resilient force.

It's not very responsive.

Brown knew that these guys had all trained with Tang Sen, so he wasn't surprised at all that they were physically strong.

He initiates a breakaway jump shot, immediately turning around and shooting to the baseline.

When Brown made the shot, he knew things were going badly because Gazuric had created an excellent opportunity for a confrontation.

Most importantly, this guy has explosive power and an incredibly high jumping ability.

With a clang, the basketball hit the frame and came out.

Brown cursed under his breath, turned around, and ran away quickly.

Carlisle breathed a sigh of relief and stood on the sidelines applauding Gazuric.

This guy didn't disappoint.

Or rather, none of the Knicks' young players disappointed them.

After a season of hard training, Tang Sen has proven that they can compete even in high-level matches.

4 minutes!

Gazuric held Brown to four minutes.

In four minutes, Brown went 1-for-3, scoring only one goal.

Carlisle went up to him and gave him a proud hug.

He has successfully completed the task assigned to him.

But it's not over yet.

Next up is Yao Ming.

After resting for a few minutes, Yao Ming was in great shape.

Right from the start, Yao Ming attacked the basket, squeezed past Brown, and scored a layup.

His return also revitalized the Knicks' offense.

In an instant, the Magic's six-point lead vanished.

Moreover, it's not just about being caught up; it's about being overtaken.

Yao Ming is in red-hot form.

He got the hang of it, pulled up to the high post to set a screen for Jones, then took a step back, caught the ball, and hit a three-pointer.

Carlisle said he scored 4 goals per quarter, but didn't specify whether it was 2 or 3.

The ball went in!

Even Brown could only watch helplessly as this kind of shot came up.

In the first half of the quarter, Yao Ming maintained a steady output, making 3 shots and adding 2 free throws, which still counted as one, fulfilling Carlisle's requirement and scoring 9 points in the quarter.

He scored a total of 19 points in the first half.

And it is very efficient.

The Knicks lead 51-47, a four-point advantage.

Rivers was enthusiastic, hugging and encouraging each player as they left the court.

He appears passionate, calm, and composed in front of the camera.

But the smile on Rivers' face vanished the moment he stepped into the players' tunnel.

Back in the locker room, his eyebrows were already furrowed.

He crossed his arms, called Davis and the others together, and looked extremely serious.

At that moment, Rivers was extremely panicked.

Their tactical strategy failed.

Yao Ming got a rest.

The Magic did not gain any advantage despite expending their main players.

Our own strategy has failed miserably!

"Fake!"

Rivers muttered a curse under his breath.

This was Rivers' biggest worry before this series began.

That is, the Knicks have a bunch of excellent role players who can step up in crucial moments.

Just like Gazuric.

A substitute can fill in for a few minutes, limiting Brown and giving the starters valuable rest time.

The Magic don't have a player like that on their bench.

Brown scored 18 points in the first half, a performance no worse than Yao Ming's, but he played a full 22 minutes.

In the second half, he struggled to maintain his hot streak.

He's human, not made of iron.

Of course, McGrady was also part of his plan, and he was hoping McGrady would explode in the second half.

The problem is that Yao Ming didn't expend too much energy.

Meanwhile, the Knicks' defense against McGrady was very effective today.

That guy...

Rivers didn't seem to recognize Wallace at all. He closely marked McGrady in the first half, making it very difficult for McGrady to play.

In just fifteen minutes, Rivers couldn't come up with a way to adjust.

All he could do was pull everyone together and, in his impassioned tone, encourage them to persevere.

Especially McGrady.

A major strategic failure; Rivers felt the team was going to lose.

At this point, he can only rely on star players.

Sure enough, Brown started to have some fatigue in the second half.

Scoring 18 points in the first half against Yao Ming's defense is no easy feat.

In the third quarter, Yao Ming continued his steady output with 9 points.

Brown only managed 6 points.

However, McGrady took over the game.

With Wallace on the wing and the Magic fans cheering, McGrady leaned back, turned, and made a fadeaway jump shot, sinking it cleanly.

Wallace has springy legs and extremely fast reflexes, but he just can't defend against it.

Throughout the third quarter, McGrady delivered a phenomenal performance, scoring a whopping 14 points and leading the Magic to a comeback victory.

Carlisle looked utterly helpless.

She couldn't help but glance at Tang Sen.

He felt that he had done a good job of defending McGrady by using zone defense.

But McGrady just can make it.

Tang Sen deserves great credit for making him so unsolvable.

at the same time.

Yao Ming finally understood why Carlisle had specifically spoken to him before the game.

In such high-level situations, at crucial moments, Pigsy and Sandy are not reliable enough.

We still have to rely on my senior brother!

(End of this chapter)