I really play basketball

Chapter 207 Rodman's CIC
Halloween 1995, Madison Square Garden, New York.

Amidst the shouts of "Fake Star", Lin Xing stood on the court.

In the commentary seat, Matt Gudica shouted: "New York legend Fake Star has returned to his home court, and almost all New York fans are chanting his name..."

Matt Gudica was joking, and Yang Wu, who also broadcast the game, was a little embarrassed.

The commentator Shuang Ping certainly understands the meaning of the unstoppable voices at the scene.

But they couldn't explain it, so they could only skip the orderly voices and put their perspective in the center of the court.

This Knicks is no longer the Knicks with Pat Riley at the helm. They have changed coaches.

Riley's disciple Jeff Van Gundy is the new coach of the Knicks. Therefore, from the tactics to the team's specific style of play, the Knicks have not changed much.

The only thing that has changed a lot is that Jeff Van Gundy's employment is different from Riley's.

At this moment, the Knicks' starting five have already stood on the court——

Derek Harper at point guard, John Starks at shooting guard, Anthony Mason at small forward, Charles Oakley at power forward and Patrick Ewing at center.

Compared with last season, the biggest change in this main lineup is that Jeff Van Gundy reused Anthony Mason.

Mason has become the absolute main force of this Knicks team, and the status of the team is also very high. He is almost the second scorer of the Knicks besides Ewing, and the core of the defensive end.

In the opening game against the Pacers, although the Knicks lost, Mason had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists.

On the offensive end, he is the second end point after Ewing, and on the defensive end, he is the key to sweeping the mid-range.

In the preseason and opener, Anthony Mason played a personal performance that matched his status. It seems that Jeff Van Gundy's selection was very successful.

But before the game, Nelson shook his head after mentioning Anthony Mason.

"Anthony Mason's performance is great, but if just this performance can help him become the Knicks' No. [-] man, it can only show that the Knicks are not good."

Needless to say, in Lin Xing's opinion, there is nothing wrong with old Nelson's judgment.

Compared with the Knicks in the previous two seasons, the Knicks in the new season are really not a strong team.

The decline of John Starks is too critical. Before Alan Houston and Madman joined the Knicks, the Knicks' peripheral firepower was seriously lacking.

Supporting them, only Riley's iron-blooded defense left, and Patrick Ewing who sits inside.

Although the feud between Lin Xing and the Knicks was deep, Madison was full of "Fake Star".

But on the court, Lin Xing didn't have any hatred against the Knicks' main players.

It's not that he doesn't hold grudges, it's that the Knicks are no longer at the same level as his strength.

"Dalin comes out, look at this posture, is he the one who jumped the ball in this game?"

Yang Wu, Director Zhang noticed the subtle matchup details on the court.

When Lin Xing met Ewing, it was not a pre-match greeting and harsh words, but a pure pre-match matchup.

Director Zhang guessed right. The Warriors made a decision after the opening game. Lin Xing jumped the ball and was able to guarantee the ball in the opening game.

On the court, Lin Xing stared at Ewing provocatively, but Ewing stared blankly and did not respond at all.

"It's boring..."

Lin Xing shook his head, and glanced at the referee Dick Bavita who was holding a basketball.

Bavita is also an old acquaintance. He and Lin Xing looked at each other and said directly:
"Why, you can't even lose a jump ball?"

Lin Xing nodded, and then sighed with emotion: Look at Dick, a referee knows how to interact, and then look at the gorilla, that's it?

"Then it starts?"

Bavita gave a warning, then blew his whistle and tossed the basketball into the air.

"Snapped!"

At the high altitude of Madison, Lin Xing's thick yellow hands first touched the basketball.

"Dalin won the jump ball, and he deserves to be a player with a [-]% jump ball success rate!"

The madman controlled the basketball, advanced to the frontcourt, and then handed the ball to Lin Xing.

"At the beginning, Dalin was still holding the ball..."

Last season, the Warriors' offense revolved around Lin Xing.

By this season, the whole team has switched to defense, and the offensive routines are even scarcer.

To tear through the opponent's line of defense head-on, Lin Xing can only rely on Lin Xing to break through.

At this moment, Lin Xing looked at Anthony Mason who was facing him directly, and then at Oakley who was staring at him from the near side, and he probably thought about how to fight this attack.

"Da Lin, the step after the cross step directly passed Mason!"

Anthony Mason's defense is characterized by strength, so powerful that Danzi has to avoid Mason every time he encounters New York.

Lin Xing didn't have this problem, he had the fastest first step, and he really thought about Mason, it was just a cross step.

The problem is that after Mason, Oakley is like a hungry wolf.

Although Rodman was emptied, is there any difference between Rodman's offense and none?

Don't tell me, there is really a difference.

The difference is - at this moment, Rodman shouted: "I'm free, Star, give me the ball!"

Lin Xing rolled his eyes, it was impossible to give it, and there was no chance of passing it to others, so he might as well shoot one against Oakley's defense.

"Passing Mason, facing Oakley's supplementary defense, Dalin made a direct shot!"

Jumping up from the middle distance, Lin Xing's shooting posture is very standard.

But the standard is useless, the moment Lin Xing made the shot, he knew the ball was gone.

Sure enough, with a bang, the moment Lin Xing hit the ground, the basketball smashed out of the hoop.

Rodman grabbed the rebound. As if he wanted to prove something, he grabbed the rebound and turned around to face Ewing's help defense for a layup.

As a result, when Ewing raised his hand, his head was covered with a big hat.

With a bang, Rodman's cap was flipped over.

Lin Xing wanted to spread his hands, what he wanted to express was, luckily I didn't give you the ball.

Thinking about it again, didn't he not make his own CIC?Big brother, stop laughing at second brother.

Oakley, who returned to the basket, grabbed the basketball that was slapped by Ewing. After that, it was the Knicks' counterattack.

But just as the old Nelson expected before the game, the Knicks' offense has been completely slag.

To what extent is it slag?Slag melted to their only stable scoring point is Ewing.

Except for Ewing, everyone can get a certain amount of ball rights.

But in this group of people except Ewing, everyone's offense is very unstable.

Therefore, the Warriors' defense is very simple.

Inside, Mourning stared at Ewing, not even using Rodman to help defend.

To put it bluntly, although Mourning is not among the top four centers, he is no worse than Ewing in terms of defense.

In the previous life, Ewing had neither MVP nor Dpoy, but Mourning was a two-time Dpoy winner, which is evident.

One-on-one marking in the penalty area, and Rodman and Lin Xing frantically mopping up the outside.

In the current attack, the Knicks couldn't even pass the ball to the basket.

Derek Harper made a random dribble from the outside, and then made a random mid-range jumper,

Clang!
"Rebound, rebound!"

There was shouting on the court, but in the end, it was Rodman who grabbed the rebound.

Mourning and Ewing restrained each other, and Oakley was too old to jump.

As for Lin Xing and Anthony Mason, these two can be regarded as restraining each other.

So at the beginning, Rodman rounded up almost all the rebounds.

After getting the rebound, Rodman didn't give the ball to Lin Xing immediately, but held the basketball and discussed the conditions with Lin Xing.

"Sta, I'll give you the ball, but you have to promise me one thing."

Lin Xing didn't even think about it, and immediately nodded back: "Ok, no problem."

Then, he grabbed the basketball in Rodman's hand.

"No, I haven't said anything yet?"

"After you finish speaking, it will be an 8-second violation..."

"Then do you know what it is?"

"I know, isn't it just to pass the ball to you? Remember, there are only three things, and you only have two chances..."

Lin Xing's words mean that he will only pass two balls to Rodman.

If neither goal is scored, Rodman on the offensive end will be insulated from basketball.

After a brief and not-so-short conversation, the Warriors' offense began.

It was still Lin Xing's breakthrough, one step past the clumsy Anthony Mason.

Jeff Van Gundy frowned on the sidelines, probably because Mason's two waves of clown-like single-defense performance made him feel that the defensive matchup arrangement before the game was poor.

But then, Oakley appeared in front of Lin Xing like a hungry wolf, and Fan Guangtou's face turned pale again.

When Lin Xing hit the ground with a pass and cleverly found Rodman, who was unmarked on the weak side, Madison exclaimed at the right time.

Baldy Fan also opened his mouth wide in surprise, but the first reaction in his mind was——

Pass the ball to Rodman, can he score?
The result surprised him even more, or a scene that surprised everyone was staged.

On the court, Rodman raised his hand after receiving the basketball, and it was an unmarked mid-range shot.

Needless to say, the posture is very standard, but the casting is too slow.

But unmarked, it doesn't matter how slow the shot is.

Seeing Rodman's mid-range shot, everyone had different reactions on and off the field.

Lin Xing's first reaction was, is this guy joking?CIC, can he make it?
Fan Guangtou's first reaction was that his brain had a twitch, and Rodman's brain has twitched again.

However, this is a good thing!

Old Nelson's first reaction was to turn to look at Bob Lanier.

Lanier scratched his head, and before he could speak, there was a sound on the field——

Swish!
"Hey, did the ball actually go in?"

"Rodman also has a mid-range shot? Or is it a trick?"

Teacher Yang Wu Zhengping's surprise was basically the first reaction of Lin Xing and Fan Guangtou when they saw the goal.

Both of them felt that Rodman was fooled by the ball.

The difference is that Lin Xing decided to give Rodman two more chances to try the water.

But Baldy Fan raised a timid heart, he was afraid that Rodman was not fooled.

If Rodman was not fooled, then the Knicks' defensive arrangement would have to be overthrown and restarted.

It was old Nelson, who had learned from Lanier—

"This ball is really not fooled. In the usual training, Dennis has been practicing long-range shots."

Rodman has been practicing long-range shots, but everyone didn't take it seriously.

Even Bob Lanier, the team's interior development coach, didn't take Rodman's practice seriously.

After all, Rodman is 34 and older. Is it possible to develop COSCO, which was not there in the past, at this time?
But the truth is, Rodman's practice works.

Although he still can't shoot against the defense, he can shoot with a wide open.

For the Warriors, that's enough.

After all, now, most teams defend against the Warriors with one move——

Call out the player in the fourth position to defend against Rodman, and guard Lin Xing without thinking.

The Knicks also defended in this way in this game, but now, Rodman's mid-range shot gave the Knicks a heavy blow.

On the court, the Knicks started their offense with a 0-2 score.

Just like the first attack at the beginning, they still played extremely hard.

Derrick Harper tried to use a pick-and-roll offense to distract the Warriors' defense and get the ball to Ewing.

But on the periphery, the Warriors switch defenses when they encounter pick-and-rolls, and Rodman will not suffer no matter how he switches.

In the end, Harper chose to pass the ball against Rodman's defense.

He had already smashed an iron, and he couldn't bear the pressure again.

Pass the ball out and it's Starks who catches it.

Starks was straightforward, he faced the defense of the madman, and directly rushed one.

On the sidelines, Baldy Fan covered his face.

To be honest, when he took over the Knicks, Starks was the first thing he wanted to move.

He is different from Riley, he has always felt that the existence of Starks has destroyed the continuity of the Knicks' offense.

It's the same with this ball, there are still more than ten seconds left, and Starks pulls it out without even thinking about it.

Sure enough, the last shot of fine iron directly ended this wave of Knicks offense.

Fan Guangtou shook his head: "From tomorrow onwards, give Doug some more time in the training session..."

What Lin Xing didn't know was that because of this game, because of him, history has changed slightly.

Doug Christie, who was not reused in the Knicks, was reused by Fan Guangtou in a forced manner because of Starks' shot in this game.

At the basket, it was Mourning who took the rebound.

After that, there was another wave of counterattack by the Warriors.

The Warriors' offense was no different from the previous round.

Lin Xing made a breakthrough, passed Anthony Mason, and was blocked by Oakley.

Rodman was emptied again, and the Knicks wanted to try again.

Similarly, Lin Xing also wanted to try again. He turned his head and made another precise pass to find Rodman.

Rodman, who had already scored a mid-range shot, was full of confidence, and made another extremely slow mid-range shot.

How slow is it?When the time slowed down, it seemed that centuries had passed before everyone heard the sound of basketball swipe the net.

"In again, in again!"

"Rodman is fine, this mid-range shot actually made it again."

"It's not a trick, it's not a trick..."

Yang Wu, Teacher Zhengping heaved a sigh of relief and smiled.

But at the same time, Fan Guangtou's heart was completely raised.

"This old guy actually developed a CIC?"

Although Rodman is 34 years old, he has gaudy tattoos all over his body, and even his hair is gaudy, which really can't make people think of the word "old".

Lin Xing was actually very surprised that Rodman was able to make a mid-range shot?

On the court, Rodman rolled his eyes at the surprised Lin Xing: "Don't look like you saw a ghost, I tell you the truth, I have always been able to shoot mid-range shots and even long-range shots. It's just that I haven't shot for a long time and I'm just unfamiliar..."

Rodman's words are really not bragging, he can really shoot mid-range and long-range shots.

It was in the one and a half seasons with the Spurs that his focus on rebounding made his mid-range and long-range shots enter a semi-waste state.

If Rodman hadn't been stimulated by being shorted in the playoffs last season, he would not practice hard in the long-range shot in the new season.

To put it bluntly, his current COSCO shot is the same COSCO shot he made at his peak in the past.

(End of this chapter)