LRAB Chapter 760 The Chain Reaction Brought About by Lin Tian!
Chapter 760 The Chain Reaction Brought About by Lin Tian!
Chapter 760 The Chain Reaction Brought About by Lin Tian!
"Amar'e and Carmelo are both out for a rest." Barkley couldn't help but say when he saw the Knicks' lineup. "What are the Knicks doing? Why are they changing their rotation? Especially after they just got swept 6-0 by their opponents."
"If it were the old Nelson before tonight, he would definitely choose to send out the strongest scoring player to score points and continue to try to widen the score gap."
"But then, he actually played a..." Kenny paused for a moment, following Barkley's words, and said, "A lineup that's not particularly good at offense?"
"Or rather, he took away the two most offensively capable players on the team besides Lin! But Anthony and Stoudemire's performance just now was actually quite good! They didn't miss any opportunities, and they made all the shots they were supposed to make."
"Unless," Payton continued, "Old Nelson is unhappy with the defense of these two! He thinks their defense has a major problem."
"The last two three-pointers before the timeout were both missed by them! But in the Knicks, this level of missed shots and seeing the opponent shoot is never a big deal and the coach never scolds you, so we probably overlooked it."
"Gary means that Old Nelson has suddenly started emphasizing defense?" Miller asked rhetorically.
"It's not that they suddenly started emphasizing defense; the Knicks' defensive capabilities have definitely improved this season!" Speaking of defense, Payton, the only one of the four players present who is known for his defensive skills, proudly stated, "Many of their defensive stats have improved."
"Although the improvement isn't huge, they have definitely improved! More importantly, their defensive discipline and habits are much better than before! The main reason they concede so many points these days is because they're playing too many possessions at a time!"
"They have a commanding lead in possessions and shot attempts compared to almost every other team, so of course their defensive stats are poor!"
"The statistics for a match that lasts 100 rounds will be vastly different from those for a match that lasts 80 rounds!"
"I think this is Nelson preparing for Lin Tian's retirement. Without Lin, they will lose their dominant and invincible super weapon in the league. If they continue to play this kind of basketball that only focuses on offense and not defense, they will easily run into problems."
"Starting defense early and reducing the proportion of offense will allow them to adapt to playing without Lin before he retires! This, like reducing Lin's playing time, is a proactive approach."
"But whether Don Nelson really means that, whether he really wants to strengthen the defense," Barkley said. "We'll have to see how things go in the next two minutes! If he really does want to strengthen the defense, and pulls two key players because of defensive issues, then for the Knicks..."
"This is the first time ever!"
At this point, the four commentators exchanged glances, all sharing the same thought.
This alliance is really about to change.
Good heavens! Even the Knicks have started playing fucking defense!
God: What's it to me! Don't call me every time something happens, I'm busy.
At this moment, both teams' players returned to the court, and Lin Tian easily dribbled the ball to the frontcourt.
Deron Williams reacted very quickly after seeing the Knicks' roster!
"Joint defense!"
The Knicks traded away Stoudemire, a mid-range specialist, and Carmelo Anthony, a top-tier shooter across the entire court, and brought in Smith and Ariza, who possess explosive athleticism but mediocre shooting abilities. This significantly weakened their shooting capabilities.
Therefore, the best option is to tighten the defense and prevent them from cutting to the basket and attacking the rim.
Zone defense is the best way to counter this kind of lineup!
"Whoosh!"
But as soon as Deron gave the order to switch to defense, before the players had even taken their positions, Lin Tian passed the ball to Okur at the top of the arc. Okur looked around and found that the nearest defender was 2 meters away.
The closest defenders to him were Deron Williams and Jackson, two short guards.
As for Yi Jianlian? He's standing under the basket right now, ready to protect the rim.
With this kind of positioning, would a marksman of Okur's caliber need to hesitate?
With a quick aim, pull it up and throw it!
"Whoosh!"
With a crisp sound, the score difference between the two sides widened again to 13 points!
"Did you drink fake Gatorade and ruin your brain during the timeout?" Lin Tian immediately scoffed. "And what the hell was that damn genius's order to use zone defense against us?"
"Even with two fewer shooting options, our shooting ability and range are still 58 times better than a lousy team like yours!"
"Let us shoot? Do you want to lose by 58 points tonight, or do you want us to make 58 three-pointers?"
"Even if I benched all the players on the team with the top 5.8 three-point shooting percentages, I'd still be way more accurate than you guys!"
Why 58? Why 5.8 players? Why this number?
Delong didn't understand.
But subconsciously, a voice told him: Chris definitely hates this number! Next game, shout this at Chris!
This feeling is as if it were preordained.
It's hard to explain, I don't understand it, but Delong felt that this was the way to do it!
So he remembered that sentence.
In the next Hornets possession, Deron Williams, as usual, called for a screen and crossed paths with Yi Jianlian.
But what was quite strange this time was that the Knicks did not switch on defense, and Lin Tian did not desperately try to squeeze through screens and defend as he had before.
They switched onto the opposing team directly due to a mismatch!
This time, Smith will be facing Deron.
However, after Deron Williams' continuous dribbling and rhythm changes, he did not feel any speed or agility advantage that came with playing against a bigger opponent.
Smith's height and wingspan are incredible! His athleticism and lateral movement are also phenomenal!
Deron Williams' continuous dribbling variations failed to create any opportunities for a breakthrough or a direct shot.
Deron Williams wasn't in a hurry. He simply stepped back to create space and then made a through pass to Yi Jianlian, who was already outside the three-second zone.
Smith was guarding himself, so Lin Tian naturally became the one guarding Yi Jianlian.
Having Yi Jianlian dominate inside against smaller players is theoretically the right choice.
But while it may be correct in theory, in practice it might not be the same!
Deron Williams forgot that Yi Jianlian was just a rookie with average strength who was better at shooting, while Lin Tian was a seasoned veteran who had won the Defensive Player of the Year award!
The basketball did indeed successfully reach Yi Jianlian's hands, but Lin Tian showed no mercy to his younger brother at this moment. He directly blocked Yi Jianlian's lower body, preventing him from even turning around to face the basket.
At the same time, Lin Tian also tightly gripped A-Lian's waist, causing his upper and lower body to be almost completely disconnected, making it impossible for him to exert any force.
If it were a power-type inside player, all they would need to do at this point is to wrestle with Lin Tian and forcefully push him away.
Unfortunately, Yi Jianlian lacks that power.
He tried to push Lin Tian away, but ended up almost being knocked off balance by Lin Tian instead.
With little time left on the shot clock, Yi Jianlian had no choice but to go with the flow, taking a step back, turning around forcefully, and then pulling up for a jump shot.
When someone is completely overwhelmed by strength, with their lower body unstable and upper body nearly falling, their attack is naturally unlikely to be stable.
Yi Jianlian's shot was quite out of control under intense pressure; the ball started falling far from the rim and only touched the net before it began to slide down.
Good news: The ball went directly out of bounds, forcing the Knicks to inbound the ball and preventing them from launching a fast break.
The bad news: It was so outrageous that the entire TNT studio erupted in laughter.
A 210cm tall, standard power forward, was unable to turn around or back down a point guard who was almost 20cm shorter than him. He couldn't move past him at all and ended up shooting an airball.
It definitely has some elements of performance art.
"This kind of soft player will probably never be able to adapt to the NBA!" Payton was as sarcastic as ever.
"Yi's talent is undeniable, but there's still a lot he needs to improve!" Kenny offered a compromise to help Yi Jianlian.
In contrast to Kenny's candidness, Miller, who had been Lin's teammate, spoke up even more righteously at this moment. He knew very well that Yi Jianlian was Lin Tian's little brother, and at this time, he had to speak up for his old friend's little brother.
It's like loving someone because you love their dog.
"He's just a rookie, he's only 19! What's so strange about him not being able to beat Lin? Can Durant beat Lin? Of course not. Are Horford and Noah a match for Lin? Can Brewer guard Lin? Even if Oden were healthy, do you think Oden would be a match for Lin? Definitely not!"
"Rookies of this age are no match for Lin. It's normal for them to be guarded by Lin. This proves that they are growing. Maybe they will become superstars and MVPs in the future, or maybe they will just be ordinary rotation players at the end of their careers."
"But no matter what, now is not the time to define these young players, and certainly not based on just one round or one point!"
Barkley suddenly exclaimed, "Look! Yi blocked it! Yi followed Okur from the top of the arc, didn't let himself be shaken off, and followed him all the way to the basket, finally pulling up for a thunderous block, swatting Okur's layup away! How about this play, Gary?"
"If you said Yi couldn't play in the NBA based on the last play, then can I say, based on this play, that Yi will be the best defensive player of the future?"
Payton truly hadn't expected that his casual remark and joke would be attacked by two and a half people, leaving him speechless and unable to refute it.
There was no way around it; he really did rely on a "one-ball theory," making completely unreliable conclusions based on just one possession. And Yi Jianlian was quite ruthless, delivering a powerful block to Okur in less than 20 seconds, which also slapped Payton in the face.
On the surface, these two rounds of offense and defense were a period in which Yi Jianlian suffered a setback and then regained his composure, finally getting his revenge.
Upon closer inspection, it appears to be a bickering between the four members of TNT, with three of them defending Yi Jianlian and teasing Payton for talking nonsense.
However, if we think about it more deeply and recall the cause and effect of this incident, as well as how the TNT quartet handled similar incidents, we will come to another conclusion.
It's all because of Lin Tian!
The four members of TNT have incredibly sharp tongues, each one more venomous than the last.
Leaving aside those from too far back, just look at the popular rookies and rising stars of recent years. Which one of them hasn't been criticized to the point of being disgusted?
For example, Barkley once angrily criticized Oden: "His rookie season was over due to injury, he's destined to be a sickly player. Durability is the most important talent! Even putting aside durability, just looking at his skills and abilities, he's far inferior to our four great centers back in the day!"
"Don't even mention the four great centers, he's far inferior to Mourning, Mutombo, and Ben Wallace! This guy wants to be the hope of American centers? I can only say that American centers are finished! The era of the center is over!"
Miller also angrily criticized Durant: "He's as soft as noodles. I've never seen a forward with such poor strength. Compared to him, not to mention my old buddies Schrempf and Schmitz, even Bradley is a real iron man!"
"A guy like that should be thrown in the trash."
"Chris Paul deserves to be called the best point guard? Let me put it this way, you don't even need the top three players from our era. Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway, those two barely passable guys, could beat Chris Paul to kindergarten level!"
This is Payton criticizing Paul.
There are many more similar outbursts.
No one can escape the sharp tongues of these people.
When they were criticizing others, there weren't as many dissenting voices; the other three wouldn't have a change of heart and insist on defending the newcomer.
But today, everyone jumped out and said that Payton doesn't know anything, he's just a complete idiot who doesn't understand football.
As for why Payton was criticized?
It's actually quite simple.
Kenny may simply be acting out of professional ethics as a host, trying to remain neutral and prevent them from going too far with their criticisms.
But Miller and Barkley, needless to say, were only there because of Lin Tian's influence, and out of affection for Lin Tian, they extended their affection to Barkley as well.
Your little brother Lin Tian is also our little brother!
We must do our best to help within our capabilities.
We can't let Lin Tian's little brother get bullied while we're all here. If we meet again, this bastard will make us question our existence.
Of course, upon closer reflection, the banter, criticism, and encouragement from these commentators in the studio don't seem to have any impact on the players. After all, the players can't hear it, so it won't affect their performance or playing time in this game.
Even the fans at the stadium can't hear it; they won't suddenly change their attitude towards a player just because of a few words from the commentator.
But not tonight, what about tomorrow night?
What about this whole month? This whole season? Or even this entire career?
To put it another way, if there are 100 NBA fans, at least 70 of them are people who don't know much about basketball and don't have much time to watch the games on TV every day. These fans can't understand the tactics, can't see the complex plays, and can't understand whether a certain call in a certain play or at a certain stage will affect the overall situation.
Their judgments on whether a match is exciting or how a player is capable are based not only on basic statistics but also on the commentators' analysis.
Especially for players who don't appear much on national television and aren't from their own teams, most fans' impressions and concepts of them come from the commentators' analysis and their performance in a particular round.
For example, if a player performs poorly in a nationally televised game and is harshly criticized by the commentators as being "soft and weak," and then doesn't appear in any nationally televised games for the next month, then that "soft and weak" label will be etched into many people's minds.
Of course, conversely, if a player happens to perform exceptionally well in a high-profile, nationally televised game, scoring high points or hitting the game-winning shot, they will be highly praised by the commentators.
Even if he plays poorly for a period of time afterward, even if he misses several game-winning shots, the fans won't see it. So, everyone's impression of him will still be that of a clutch player and an elite scorer.
This is what is known as impression flow.
This will affect how players are perceived and perceived by fans.
This is why many players give their all in nationally televised games, striving to deliver a great performance.
For fans, they no longer think of Yi Jianlian as a soft player or a rookie with a soft playing style.
When people mention Yi Jianlian now, they think of a tough rookie who responded with strong shots, immediately regained his composure with defense after missing three shots, and a guy who could make four TNT commentators argue on the spot.
My impression score improved instantly!
This is definitely good news for Yi Jianlian! At the very least, he will receive far less criticism and questioning.
At least for the foreseeable future, whenever someone says Yi Jianlian is weak, someone else will surely say: This Chinese kid is not weak at all! He's very tough! He's very good at responding, and he's very good at retaliating against his opponents. At least that's what the people at TNT say!
This relaxed public opinion environment will not have any impact or change on Yi Jianlian's strength, team position, or playing time, but it will definitely allow him to play the season in a healthier and more comfortable state of mind.
(End of this chapter)