After scoring a goal despite being double-teamed, Lin Yu was completely on the run.
But the Cavaliers on the other side also relied on James's rampage to continue to put pressure on the Knicks' score.
The score gap never widened, and Lin Yu was a little anxious. In this game, he was possessed by Jordan. He used the enhanced version of Jordan's attributes, but he was unable to gain a satisfactory advantage.
Lionel Hollins, who was on the sidelines, sat steadily until the first official timeout. For him, the first half of the game was already a surprise.
Lin Yu's rampage made a game that might have been at a disadvantage at the start according to his plan become full of hope.
Of course, there are still problems in the game, but Hollins feels that the problems are not urgent.
He just slowly and leisurely watched Mike Brown make adjustments first, and he waited until the official timeout before raising a few questions he thought.
"Our defense is not good enough, and we need to attack LeBron more quickly..."
Hollins emphasized his defense against James, and Lin Yu once again suggested asking him to defend James: "Leon, let me defend LeBron. I know how to deal with him."
Hollins shook his head: "No, Lin, you have to focus on offense. In the next stage, I need you to cooperate with Zach..."
During an official timeout, Hollins raised two questions. One was the defense of James. The change made was that Kwame Brown defended further outside.
According to Hollins, besides James, the Cavaliers don't have many offensive methods that can attack the basket. If Kwame Brown defends him, he has the opportunity to completely lock down James.
Another issue is the offense.
So far in the first quarter, the Knicks' offense has been dominated by Lin Yu, and the others are at best the icing on the cake.
Hollins is more worried about not having a second firing point. Once Lin Yu misfires, the Knicks' offense will be unsustainable.
Therefore, the collaboration between Lin Yu and Randolph is the current top priority for the Knicks.
Lin Yu chose to believe in Hollins. After the official timeout, he reappeared and began to consciously seek pick-and-roll cooperation with Randolph.
In this game, Lin Yu's state has been completely opened up. When the game resumed, he once again withstood the attack and hit a long two-pointer.
After that, the Cavaliers could only concentrate most of their defensive forces on Lin Yu's side.
And when Lin Yu and Zach Randolph started high-quality pick-and-roll cooperation, the offensive threat created by Lin Yu immediately transformed into driving his teammates.
He first attracted a double attack with a single, and the ball was divided by Randolph. Randolph caught the ball and hit the small one, and hit the mid-range shot.
Then, in another offensive round, he broke into the deep inside and the ball passed into the bottom corner. Lowry raised his hand and hit a three-pointer.
The whole team blossomed and the defense also improved.
The immediate change brought about by Kwame Brown's defensive expansion is that James' breakthrough has become much more difficult, and the effect of breakout play has subsequently declined.
Therefore, in the second half of the first quarter, the Knicks, led by Lin Yu, opened up the score.
"At the end of the first quarter, the score was surprising. The Knicks, playing away from home, had the advantage. They led 31:27 by 4 points and entered the second quarter."
Reggie Miller looked over the technical statistics of the first quarter: "I have to say that Lin and LeBron both performed excellent personal performances in this game, but in the face of targeted defense, Lin did better than
LeBron is much better."
"I think this is mainly due to the difference in shooting range between the two." Magic quickly analyzed the intuitive performance on the court. "Lin can attack the basket from any position on the court, which leads to
It's hard for the Cavaliers' defense to concentrate on one spot."
"LeBron's mid-range and long-range shots were extremely unstable, so the Knicks' defense was concentrated in one place. After many adjustments, it achieved results."
Reggie Miller added: "Another important point is that Ben Wallace has declined too much. The defensive system built with him as the core can no longer stop Lin and Zach's pick-and-roll offense."
Starting from the main topic, the topic in the commentary box immediately deviated from the original theme.
Danny Ferry's several transactions this season have been dragged out and flogged again.
"I have to say that the Cavaliers' mid-term transactions seemed very big at the time, and they seemed to have hope again, but now..."
Reggie Miller and Magic shook their heads together. Indeed, looking at it now, the Cavaliers' mid-season transactions have all stretched their legs.
Jamal Crawford and David Lee cannot integrate into the breakout system. Ben has declined too much and can no longer perform as the Cavaliers want. Ben Gordon is the best performer, but he has defensive problems.
It has been very eye-catching.
In the second quarter of the game, Lin Yu took a break and finally exposed the Knicks’ biggest problem——
The Knicks' bench rotation was quickly overwhelmed by the Cavaliers' bench rotation, and the 4-point lead in the first quarter was quickly overturned.
When Hollins was replaced by Lin Yu, the Knicks also regained the initiative on the court.
But at halftime, the Knicks had the advantage and only had 2 points left.
Lin Yu scored 23 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals at halftime. James on the other side also scored 17 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 block.
"At halftime, the Knicks entered the midfield with a 2-point advantage at 66:64... This game was so exciting. It was almost a star battle between Lin and LeBron. Each of them had their own success.
The team gave an excellent half-time individual performance!”
"It's hard to imagine that half a season ago, they were teammates on the same team."
Although there was only a 2-point lead at halftime, the Knicks' performance was undoubtedly surprising. Before the game started, no one or very few people could have imagined that the Knicks could suppress the Cavaliers at halftime.
And Danny Ferry’s mid-season trade is still under constant criticism——
"If Lin and LeBron continue to play together, it's hard to predict what their combination can achieve."
"It's a pity that a trade directly separated this pair. Maybe we will never see this pair at their peak."
"..."
During the halftime break, Hollins continued to respond to the changes with no changes.
In the second half, Lin Yu, who was full of energy, led the team for more than seven minutes of the game, helping the team get an 8-point lead before taking a break.
Subsequently, the Cavaliers launched a counterattack under the leadership of Jamal Crawford, who came on the bench, and used the remaining time in the third quarter to even the score gap.
Just like that, in the fourth quarter of the decisive battle, the two teams returned to the same starting line.
The air-to-air duel between Lin Yu and LeBron James can be regarded as returning to the same starting line, because at the end of the three quarters, although Lin Yu scored 33 points, he only had 6 assists, and although LeBron James only scored 25 points,
His assists have already reached double figures...
The fourth quarter will be the final battlefield that determines the victory of the game and the winner of the battle with Zhan Lin.
