Champion, please stay!

Chapter 197, Section 195: A Great Start!

It was the Raptors' turn to attack again. Bosh, who had been on camera three times in one and a half possessions, finally calmed down.

After he got into position in the attacking third, he noticed that the opponent's positioning moved with him!
Bosh continued to ask for the ball, and after receiving a pass from Jarrett Jack, as he expected, just as he made a one-on-one move, Yi Shui pulled back from the high post!

This time he didn't force the issue. He passed the ball to the high post, and as soon as Turkoglu received the ball, Curry blocked him from the right mid-range, sticking close to Turkoglu's lower body.

Hedo Turkoglu passes the ball to DeRozan on the right flank, who is wide open, but...!

DeRozan didn't shoot, but dribbled into the three-point line, quickly got to the free-throw line distance, and pulled up for a jump shot... but Yi Shui, who had spread out, interfered perfectly, and the shot missed!
There are advantages to having no center. When Ben Wallace grabbed the rebound and passed it to Duhon, the Raptors had already retreated by the time Duhon launched the fast break.

Bosh and Bargnani were both considered to have enough mobility to play small forward during the draft. While that assessment is a bit exaggerated, they are indeed players with excellent athleticism at the power forward position. When the two of them teamed up in the frontcourt, their mobility was even better than that of the David Lee and Ben Wallace frontcourt combination.

This time, Du Hong didn't let Curry pass the ball to him. He directly advanced to the left side of the top arc and passed it to Yi Shui on the right. Yi Shui received the ball, took a step to create space, and drove past Turkoglu into the paint!

Bargnani and Bosh actively contracted their defenses, and Yi Shui grabbed the ball at the elbow and stretched it to the right.

At this moment, Curry cut down the right sideline, DeRozan, who was chasing him, was blocked by Ben Wallace, who had pulled out to defend. Bosh quickly rushed out... Yi Shui didn't pass the ball! He pulled the ball back, took a step, and scored a layup over the onrushing Bargnani!

On the Time Warner Cable Sports commentary desk, Bill Walton commented: "Bosh's defense, I think he was very aggressive and hardworking, but he doesn't understand how to defend a center, or rather, he plays like a power forward..."

Hubie Brown was even more scathing: "The Raptors' interior defense was pretty good before, but without O'Neal, with Bosh playing center, and the addition of Turkoglu who was prone to leaving his man open, plus Bargnani, the entire frontcourt defense is gone. It's completely Embiid's playground."

Legendary centers and coaches alike believed that Bosh was not suited to play center, and Bosh himself on the court also felt the same way, but there was nothing he could do, the team simply didn't have a center.

He can only pin his hopes on offense. He can shoot from all five positions, which can draw double teams. With Turkoglu's support, he can make the offense go on fire!

However... a few possessions later, Curry cut in from the wing, used David Lee's screen on the wing, and made a baseline floater, also drawing Bargnani's help defense. The Raptors called a timeout.

With 3 minutes and 55 seconds left, the Raptors are down by 7 points, 7-14, and the opponent has a free throw!
Dragon King: The Knicks have really put their defense to the test!

During the preseason, Bosh heard that the Knicks were building a defensive system.

He thought it was the Nuggets' style of running and shooting.

Back in the 80s, many teams tried to incorporate defense into offensive basketball or run-and-gun offense, but almost all of them failed.

The system that emerged in the late 80s and early 90s was excellent in both offense and defense. It was not related to offensive basketball or run-and-gun offense, but rather a new system introduced from college basketball—the triangle offense and the Princeton offense.

Pat Riley wanted to play defense and abandoned offensive basketball, creating a tough, physical style of play.

The only successful example in modern basketball is the track-and-roll style of play that George Karl developed with the Denver Nuggets. He used his physical attributes to play a fast-paced, high-pressure defense and used his superior ability to outrun opponents in high-altitude environments. The San Antonio Spurs lost to this style in last season's playoffs.

But Bosh watched a Knicks game live and found that their defense wasn't like the Nuggets', and their defensive performance was quite poor, with opponents easily creating shooting opportunities.

After actually fighting him, he found that it wasn't like that at all!

Indeed, in the past few rounds, they have easily created open spaces, and the opposing team doesn't seem to be defending them very well.

But the empty spaces that appeared were not what they wanted!
Whenever DeRozan gets to the far post, he's left wide open. When he receives the ball and drives into the mid-range, either Yi Shui or Ben Wallace can cover for him.
Bargnani is easily outmaneuvered by David Lee in mid-range and long-range shots, who can easily cut inside. Either Yi Shui or Ben Wallace can handle him. Bargnani's ability to attack the rim is extremely poor. Last season, his close-range shots accounted for only 20% of his total shots, with a field goal percentage of 51.4%, ranking last among all starting big men in the league.

Jarrett Jack, Hedo Turkoglu, and the Dragon King... The opposing team's defense against each of them was extremely targeted. They weren't trying to shut them down; they just wanted them to shoot from more uncomfortable areas!
The solution to this kind of defense is simple – a one-on-one hard break.

Bosh did it too. Of the Raptors' first 7 points, 4 were scored by him, including a mid-range turnaround jumper and a close-range fadeaway jumper after grabbing an offensive rebound... But he's an inside player, so this kind of play lacks consistency!
Apart from him, no one else on the team has the ability to break through defenses. The newcomer DeRozan has great mid-range shooting talent, but he has encountered the inside combination of Yi Shui and Ben Wallace!
...

After the timeout, D'Antoni made personnel adjustments, bringing on a combination of Curry, Larry Hughes, Yi Shui, Gibson, and Harrington.

Raptors head coach Jan Triano replaced Bargnani, who had committed less than two fouls in less than half a quarter, with Nesterovic.

With a dominant center behind Bosh, he returned to the power forward position, which improved the Raptors' interior defense to some extent... but the impact was minimal.

Nesterovic is no longer the quality defensive player who helped Duncan win the championship and could earn $5000 million for 6 years. His footwork is incredibly slow, and the paint remains Yi Shui's playground.

Moreover, the Knicks' defense hasn't declined too much with this roster!
Larry Hughes's limited physicality meant that his mid-range and close-range help defense with Yi Shui wasn't as effective as Yi Shui plus Ben Wallace. However, with one less shooter and one more center lacking offensive and receiving abilities, their defense was still quite good! On the Raptors' side, Bosh tried hard to respond on offense, but Turkoglu, who was hailed as the 'best point forward' last season, didn't play as well as he had hoped, and even his connecting shots weren't as accurate as before.

The Knicks started strong and continued to widen the gap!

At the end of the first quarter, the score was 33-21, with the Knicks holding a 12-point lead!
D'Antoni's face turned a deep purplish-red with excitement. In the first quarter, his most satisfied player was not Yi Shui, who scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including 1-of-1 from three-point range and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line, but Hughes!

He originally planned to use Hughes as Duhon's pure backup, pushing the fast break in less important stages. If that didn't work, they could give him up. It's not like they haven't given up players with multi-million dollar salaries before. The main purpose of trading Larry Hughes was to compress two bad contracts into one.

Surprisingly, this player who seemed the most difficult to manage was the fastest to recover. No amount of stimulation worked on Wilson Chandler. Hughes didn't pay much attention to him, just let him play with Yi Shui, and he became more active as the game progressed.

However, there are also some problems. Hughes only becomes aggressive on defense when Yi Shui is on the court. Fortunately, Curry is the starting shooting guard, and a new young shooting guard has been brought in, so there are enough players available.

...

In the last three quarters, although Bosh played very hard in front of the live cameras and wanted to regain the face he lost at the beginning, it became more and more difficult as the score gap widened. His teammates lost their fighting spirit as the score gap widened.

第二节比分23比28、第三节比分21比27、末节比分24比29……

波什出战41分钟，24投11中，加上8中7的罚球，拿到29分10板3助攻1抢断1盖帽，但他的队友们投了63次拿到61分……

易水出战29分钟，20投13中，其中三分球3中2，加上6中6的罚球，拿到34分7板4助攻1抢断3盖帽，三节打卡下班！
The Knicks crushed the Raptors 117-90, securing a winning start to the new season!

Seeing that Bosh could only stay in close-range wing play after the acquisition of Turkoglu and the addition of Bargnani to the starting lineup, Yi Shui felt that being a star player for the Raptors was really a bit miserable.

I have absolutely no idea what the Raptors' management wants. Why don't they even consider their star player's playing style when they're bringing in new players?

After finishing up the post-match chores, Yi Shui returned home and eagerly turned on the TV.

The Knicks' opening game was not the highlight of the first day of the new season.

The league's main focus for the first day of competition was the 23 vs. 24 match, a showdown between OK and Kobe.

All other teams stepped aside to make way for this match.

Yi Shui opened TNT Sports and checked the game time. Just as he expected, the third quarter had just ended.

But when he saw the score, he was completely confused. What was that?

骑士队三节77比59领先湖人队18分？第三节25比15？

Is the Cavaliers this fierce with Shaq on their roster? Did Shaq take on three Lakers towers tonight? Amazing!
He took out his phone, opened the text-based live stream to check the data, and his expression became conflicted.

Artest fouled out in 3 quarters, while Bynum fouled out in 3 quarters.

Half an hour later, after watching the final episode, Yi Shui felt a sharp tug on his buttock from Xiao Dao.

The score was 102-90, with the Cavaliers securing a decisive victory on the road.

The live broadcast camera focused on Gasol, whose eye was swollen open in the final quarter, with his stats next to him: 38 minutes of playing time, 4 of 10 field goals, plus 3 of 4 free throws, for 11 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

Artest played 27 minutes and fouled out.

Kobe played all 48 minutes, shooting 11-for-30 from the field, including 1-for-3 from three-point range, plus 12-for-12 from the free-throw line, for a total of 35 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists... In the final quarter, he drove in and made a floater, but was knocked down by O'Neal. Even through the screen, you could feel how bad Kobe was on that play, like he was about to be smashed to pieces by O'Neal, but there was no free throw.

Bynum then retaliated by elbowing O'Neal, sparking a conflict and resulting in his ejection from the game.

骑士队的数据表，詹姆斯18投8中，外加21中15的罚球，拿到31分7板11助攻……

(End of this chapter)