On the sidelines, Terry Stotts spread his arms in a helpless manner.
On the court, Lin Yu's celebration triggered a flood of boos from the Quicken Loans Center.
The Cavaliers' second wave of offense that began next was still led by LeBron James, and it still started with a pick-and-roll.
But facing the Knicks' strategy of switching defenses without flanking, James continued to advance. This time, Randolph, who was switching defenses, did not resist and directly gave James an easy layup opportunity.
"LeBron made a layup, tied 2:2!"
The Knicks kicked off the ball from the backcourt, and when they reached the frontcourt, Lin Yu caught the ball. He could clearly feel the Cavaliers' targeted defense against him.
As soon as he got the ball from the outside, Anthony Parker followed up, as if he was not afraid of Lin Yu's breakthrough.
Lin Yu decided to teach these young knights a lesson with reality.
He blocked with his left arm in front of him and briefly observed the defense.
Then he turned sideways and passed the ball to his left hand through his back.
Then he turned around, swatted the ball with his left hand, handed it back to his right hand, accelerated his whole body, sprinted hard, and easily passed Anthony Parker who was close to him.
"Anthony Parker, he lost him!"
Lin Yu, who passed Anthony Parker, naturally saw LeBron James rushing towards him crazily.
He immediately understood that in this game, the Cavaliers' defensive strategy was for Anthony Parker to provide frontal defensive pressure and LeBron James to provide side defensive pressure.
But Lin Yu's way of dealing with it was that after passing Anthony Parker, he made an emergency stop and raised his hand to shoot!
In a hurry, James, who was covering the defense, didn't think too much and jumped up directly, trying to interfere with Lin Yu's shooting.
Lin Yu quickly pulled the ball back, then patted it again, took two or three small steps in, and then stopped, it was completely empty.
He took a shot when he was almost open, and with a snap, he hit the ball accurately, and Lin Yu scored another 2 points.
"The Cavaliers defended too aggressively. They didn't leave any way for themselves. Lin also played very smartly under such defense. He patiently solved all the defensive players. In the end, he only had to face an unguarded player.
The basket and scoring like this couldn't be easier for him."
The Cavaliers' defense is indeed too aggressive. Anthony Parker and James are both guarding against Lin Yu's shots. This means that if Lin Yu wants to break through wholeheartedly, he will definitely be able to successfully find a way out.
After all, in addition to many full-value long-range shooting attributes, his breakthrough is also full-value.
The reason why the basket and near the frame are considered dead spots is simply because Lin Yu does not have many offensive methods at the basket and near the frame. Once he encounters high-intensity defense, the success rate of the basket and near frame attacks will be lower than his own.
Average level.
But the problem is that Lin Yu plays very reasonably this season and rarely enters the basket except for counterattacks and fast breaks.
In the first half of the first quarter, the Cavaliers had been using this strategy of one person guarding the front and the other guarding the side, both guarding shots but not sudden breakthroughs, to deal with Lin Yu.
Obviously, it has no effect.
Lin Yu was still like before, easily opening up his scoring ledger and quickly leading his teammates.
From the first half of the quarter to the first official timeout, the Knicks took the lead and suppressed the Cavaliers on the scene.
The score was 15:9. For the Knicks, Lin Yu scored 9 points and 2 assists. The only 2 points scored by Randolph in the team had nothing to do with him.
On the other side, on the Cavaliers side, James scored 6 points, and the remaining three-pointer also came from his assist, and Xiao Mo hit it.
In other words, the opening of the game was basically a duel between Lin Yu and James. Obviously, Lin Yu won a big victory.
Terry Stotts was very patient. He waited until the official timeout before making adjustments.
He first replaced Anthony Parker and put Ben Gordon on the court, seemingly to solve the Cavaliers' offensive problems.
Then, he began to change his opening defensive strategy.
"Ben, next you go against Lin Yu and guard his shots. LeBron, your help defense needs to be more stable. Just guard against his breakthroughs. As for the shooting, just leave it to Ben."
#
I have to say that Terry Stotts still has something, and his adjustments worked quickly.
Going back to the first round of the game, during the Knicks' offense, Lin Yu relied on a change of direction to pass the new Ben Gordon, and then faced LeBron James's defense, his fake shot failed.
Already.
James was unmoved, so Lin Yu bit the bullet and took action forcefully.
Then bang, the iron struck.
Then quickly, another round.
Lin Yu was still the same, easily defeating Ben Gordon's one-on-one defense, and then facing James's cover defense. His fake shot still failed to get rid of James, but this time, he stopped the ball.
But as soon as the ball stopped, Ben Gordon surrounded him, forming a partial pincer attack.
The Knicks' offense was killed like this.
Although Terry Stotts' adjustment was very effective, Lin Yu quickly found a solution, which was to take careless shots or pass the ball immediately.
No matter what shot he takes, he can still score with his range and shooting percentage.
And when passing the ball at the first opportunity, with his ability to organize and pass, there is always a chance to find a direct scoring opportunity.
In this way, Terry Stotts adjusted his defense, and Lin Yu's offense was somewhat restricted, but overall, the game still went on very smoothly.
By the end of the first quarter, the Cavaliers had relied on their targeted defense against Lin Yu to bring the score back a little bit, and at the same time, they also brought the situation back a little bit.
In the second quarter, the rotation lineups of the two teams came on stage. On one side, Randolph came on as a substitute, and on the other side, Ben Gordon led the team.
The Knicks' bench lineup is already very rich this season, but they lack players who can hold the ball and play in isolation. Therefore, Hollins' rotation strategy is generally to replace Randolph in the second half of the first quarter and replace him in the second quarter.
Replacing Randolph again meant that the playing time of Lin Yu and Randolph was staggered.
On the other hand, after sending Lin Yu away, the Cavaliers' biggest advantage is that there are many players who can play and can attack with the ball.
In this way, after half a quarter of the game, the Cavaliers slightly won by 2 points.
When Hollins replaced Lin Yu again, the score was already evenly divided.
At 37:37, Lin Yu reappeared, and he immediately faced the Cavaliers' still very targeted defense. Anthony Parker, who reappeared, defended the shot, and James, who reappeared, defended the breakout.
The Knicks were missing Randolph who needed a rest, and Lin Yu was left alone.
After half the game, they fell behind.
"At 56:50, the Knicks are 6 points behind in the away game. Now, what they need to solve is that no one can stand up to help Lin Yu..."
"This Knicks still lacks players who can hold the ball and play in isolation."
