In the second half, Billups, who had been limited, suddenly broke out. After hitting a three-pointer on a running shot, he followed up with two singles and made two mid-range shots against the defense.
Just like that, they scored 7 points in a row, but the 9-point difference was only close to 7 points. The Knicks even controlled the ball. The reason for everything was Lin Yu.
When Billups broke out, Lin Yu also broke out immediately. Billups scored 7 points in a row. His performance was only slightly worse, with a three-pointer and an assist for Randolph's mid-range shot.
During the period when Billups broke out, the Knicks only scored 2 points less.
In the subsequent defensive round, the Knicks responded quickly and made a decisive double attack, forcing Billups to pass the ball outside.
Richard Hamilton on the wing caught the ball and faced Randolph's defense but missed the mid-range shot.
The Pistons' counterattack was suppressed by the Knicks.
Lin Yu maintained extremely high offensive and defensive intensity. After the Pistons' counterattack was eliminated, he led the Knicks to further expand their lead.
In the third quarter, Hollins replaced Lin Yu more than a minute early. At this time, the Knicks had already taken a 13-point lead, and the advantage on the scene was extremely huge.
But what everyone knows is that the Knicks' bench is too poor. As long as Lin Yu is not on the court, the Knicks will definitely lose points.
Therefore, Hollins decided to give Lin Yu more rest time to prepare for the decisive battle in the fourth quarter.
Up to this point in this game, the situation has become very clear.
Lin Yu is in good form. With his addition, the Knicks' main lineup can control the situation on the court, and the Pistons are no match for them.
Then, the Knicks only need to maintain their lead until Lin Yu comes on the court in the fourth quarter, and there will be no problem in this game.
What Hollins thought was that when Lin Yu rested, the Knicks' 13-point lead could be maintained longer.
But the sudden changes on the court surprised many people——
Lin Yu left the game, but Randolph was still on the court. Both teams were substitutes, and the Pistons were led by Billups. Apart from Billups, only Prince was on the court.
So, facing the inside combination of Jason Maxiell and Antonio McDyess, Randolph suddenly broke out.
Continuous mid-range singles and consecutive goals, scoring 8 points in just over two minutes, extended the Knicks' lead to 16 points.
Flip Saunders had no choice but to exchange for Rasheed Wallace in advance.
Then, Randolph faced Rasheed Wallace and was immediately pushed back.
"Tianzun still has gas in the tank. It's hard to say what's going on in terms of offense, but his defense probably isn't falling behind..."
The Pistons are not far away from a complete rebuild. After this year's first round trip, they should undergo a major overhaul in the summer.
Joe Dumars believes that Rodney Stuckey is the future of the Pistons, and he will soon rebuild with Stuckey as the core. Then, in the summer, the Knicks can try to dig some veterans from the Pistons.
There is no hope for Billups, Tianzun is a good choice...
Speaking of Tianzun, Lin Yu also remembered that Zach Randolph still had a certain bond with Tianzun. Once, the rookie Randolph was Tianzun's substitute during the Trail Blazers era. The Blazers at that time were called Porter.
Lan prison team.
In addition to Randolph and Rasheed Wallace, the team's Ruben Patterson was accused of sexually assaulting his nanny and domestic violence against his wife, the main point guard Damon Stoudemire and the backup guard Quintel-
Woods has faced multiple charges for marijuana possession, Rainman Kemp has abused cocaine and alcohol, and there has been a scandal in the locker room involving players stealing items from teammates...
Obviously, the Blazers at that time were not a harmonious Blazers. There was competition between Randolph and Tianzun at the same position, and it seemed that they should not be dealt with easily.
But the reality is that these two are good brothers.
As a result, the confrontation on the court became more intense. Randolph's single shot was blocked by Rasheed Wallace for a suspected foul, and the referee blew the whistle decisively.
Then Tianzun stopped admitting it and started yelling at the referee.
Randolph went over and grabbed him. Seeing this scene, Lin Yu smiled from the audience. He probably knew how Xia Tian's signings should be carried out.
Randolph suddenly broke out, and the Knicks surprisingly stabilized the game without Lin Yu.
At the end of the third quarter, the Knicks held a 15-point lead.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Lin Yu continued to rest and Randolph was also replaced.
On the court, the Knicks were a complete substitute lineup, and were quickly hit by a 7:2 offensive wave by the Pistons. The score gap was close to 10 points.
However, the fourth quarter also consumed about two minutes.
The time was almost up, so Hollins did not hesitate, directly called a timeout and replaced Lin Yu.
When Lin Yu reappeared, the Knicks still led by 10 points.
The situation of the game was very optimistic, and Lin Yu, who had been off the court for more than 6 minutes during the break, once returned to the court, like a tiger coming down the mountain, directly made a breakthrough dunk to help the Knicks take the lead.
The advantage expanded to 12 points.
Then, he scored consecutively and played for more than a minute. The Knicks' lead expanded to 15 points again, and Hollins also replaced Randolph at this time.
Lin Lan's combination came on the scene, and the pick-and-roll attack became even sharper.
Soon, the Knicks surprisingly won an extremely easy victory at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
"The game ended at 112:97. The Knicks won easily on the road. I have to say that the process and result of this game were surprising."
Before the game, Kenny Smith, who was on the Pistons' side, readily admitted that his prediction was wrong.
"Facing the Knicks' offense, the defense that the Pistons relied on completely failed, and Lin Yu almost dominated both offense and defense for the entire game. In this game, he performed like the league's top superstar. Seeing this
I just feel it’s a pity that the LL group no longer exists..."
During the post-match interview, Lin Yu also received the statistics of the match.
As Kenny Smith said, Lin Yu dominated both the offensive and defensive ends of this game. On the offensive end, he scored 40 points and 7 assists. On the defensive end, he scored 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
Charles Barkley said: "In this game, China Lin played too much like a center player, covering and assisting defense everywhere. On the defensive end, he seemed to be everywhere!"
Kenny Smith emphasized Lin Yu's offense: "On the offensive end, he stood up and scored every moment when he was needed to score!"
In an interview, Lin Yu explained the origin of this victory in front of the national live broadcast:
"Before the game, Leon told me that the team needed my supplementary defense and assisting defense. Therefore, I was liberated from single defense. In this game, you can see me covering up and assisting defense everywhere. This
It is the key to our victory. Our defense can always contain the Pistons' offensive scoring at critical moments."
Then, when talking about the completely different rotation order between this game and the regular season, Lin Yu also answered truthfully: "My playing time has increased a bit. This is the playoffs after all, and the team is going all out to win.
I must also go all out to lead the team to victory!”
Therefore, after the game, Lin Yu's defense everywhere and his sudden activation of all-out mode became the focus of heated discussion.