Basketball Dragon

Chapter 135

Li Hai was close to McGrady. McGrady knew it was difficult to get rid of his defense, and he didn't try to run without the ball. He came directly to a 45-degree angle and stepped on the three-point line with his back facing Li Hai to ask for the ball.

Ralph Alston lobbed the ball directly to McGrady, and McGrady turned around and took two consecutive tentative steps, squeezing Li Hai a little, and then pulled it up directly.

Li Hai was also quite familiar with McGrady, knowing that the opponent's fake moves were more often at the first tentative step, so he jumped up without hesitation.

He failed to block the opponent, but he successfully interfered with McGrady's shooting line.

The shot hit the iron, and Eddie Curry got the rebound.

Li Hai turned around and received the ball, and suddenly accelerated. Seeing that the Rockets' defense was still in place, he immediately stopped in the frontcourt, but just when the opponent thought he was going to stabilize the rhythm, Li Hai accelerated again, one step away from McGregor. Dee squeezed past and made a mid-range shot.

He came up for a short time, and immediately brought the scores of the two sides to the same starting line.

Then the two sides entered a stalemate. After McGrady missed three consecutive COS shots, the hit rate that had been raised before dropped sharply.

The Knicks are now shrinking their defense, and Yao Ming can't find any good opportunities inside.

Li Hai made a shot, but he still had other options. Compared with the Rockets who needed too many singles from McGrady at critical moments, the Knicks had more than one big heart.

After two breakthroughs, Li Hai scored the ball and Crawford assisted the latter to complete the shot, so the Rockets had to call a timeout.

After returning from the timeout, McGrady took the ball and broke through to the bottom line, and then distributed it to Swift who pulled outside. Swift felt good in this game and hit a jumper.

When it was the Knicks' turn to attack, Li Hai held the ball with his back, Channing Frye came to cover, Li Hai circled out, and with a flick of his wrist, he passed the ball to Jaylen Rose, who was cutting in.

The pass was just right, Jaylen Rose was completely empty in front of him, David Wesley could only pull it, and Jaylen Rose stood on the free throw line.

Jalen Rose hit a free throw and the Knicks still maintained their advantage.

Seeing that the time had entered the last 2 minutes, McGrady tried to shoot one step beyond the three-point line, but at this time his hand feeling was not good, and his shots continued to hit the iron.

As for the Knicks, Li Hai assisted his teammates again, and Crawford hit another three-pointer.

With a gap of 7 points, the Rockets had to request a timeout again.

After returning to the field, the Rockets also completed a pick-and-roll cooperation, and McGrady finally hit a jumper with an emergency stop.

But then Li Hai broke through and got a free throw, leading by 7 points, and the time was at the last moment, and the Rockets had little hope.

The Rockets only tried one foul tactic and there was no follow-up. Time was really not enough, and their battle seemed to be mediocre. The Knicks won the game 95:90.

Li Hai came back and got 20 points, 13 assists and 8 rebounds in a quasi-triple-double, which finally stopped the Knicks losing streak, and the love of New York fans for him also rose to a higher level.

On February 2, the Knicks once again ushered in a challenge from the Clippers at home.

Although Corey Maggette has not come back due to injury, the Clippers still have a good record. Elton Brand and Chris Kaman on the inside can also be regarded as twin towers, and Sam Kasey on the outside Hall and Cuttino-Mobley can also provide fire support, their problem is that they don't have good substitute players.

As far as the Clippers' main lineup is concerned, the Knicks are somewhat restrained, but the Clippers can't find a player who can defend Li Hai.

After Maggette was injured, the Clippers only had guys on the outside who were not as tall and as heavy as Li Hai.

As expected, the Clippers started the game from the inside, while the Knicks completely launched their offense from the outside after Eddie Curry couldn't find any good opportunities.

Fortunately, the Clippers are not good at three-pointers. Even if they have an advantage on the inside, they didn't get too many open opportunities on the outside, slowing down the pace of the game very slowly.

In the first quarter, neither side scored more than 20 points. The Knicks only started to score inside when the players were rotated, and their offense also tended to be normal.

But the Clippers still have two insiders scoring points, and outside players are always playing soy sauce.

Under the guidance of Larry Brown, the Knicks have adapted to this slow-paced game.

At the end of the half, they entered the locker room with a 40:36 lead.

After passing the test in the last game, there is no need to control Li Hai's playing time, but in this game, the opponent's offensive focus is entirely on the inside, and there is no need for him to stay on the court all the time.

In the second half, the two sides still played their own way. The Clippers' two insiders were overwhelmed inside, while the Knicks made more shots from the outside.

The Knicks kept leading by a few points, and Li Hai was not in a hurry. He helped protect the rebounds while organizing the scoring. Eddie Curry was 2 meters tall for nothing, and he was not sensitive to grabbing rebounds at all.

With only 2 minutes left in the game, the Knicks still maintained a 4-point lead.

However, at this moment, Sam Cassell, who hadn't shown much before, suddenly raised his hand and hit a three-pointer. The alien does have a big heart.

The Knicks quickly requested a timeout. After returning to the court, Li Hai held the ball, and now Sean Livingston was defending him. This talented high school student has not shown his strength since he entered the league. Fragile missed many games.

Last season, he didn't suffer too much against Li Hai, but now he can only rely on his height and arm length to interfere. Li Hai broke through to Livingston's side head-on, squeezed him away and hit the mid-range shot. The strength gap between the two sides Too far.

However, under the cover of his teammates, Kassel raised his hand for another three-pointer, and the two sides drew 80:80.

The Knicks requested a timeout again, and the head coach continued to hand over the choice of attack to Li Hai.

After receiving the free throw in the midfield, Li Hai first controlled the time, then called the inside line to come up to cover, and randomly rushed in like lightning, and Kaman, who was defending, jumped high.

Although Kaman was tall, Li Hai couldn't do anything about jumping up completely.

The referee's whistle sounded, and Kaman thugs fouled.

Li Hai made two free throws and the Knicks led 82:80.

This time it is the Clippers' turn to suspend. When the game is played like this, you can play for a few minutes in a little time. If you work patiently and steadily, the unsustainable side will get closer and closer to failure.

The Clippers still handed the ball to Kassel. Even if the inside line is fierce again, there will be a lot of inconvenience at the decisive moment. Kassel also let the inside line come up to cover, but this time he did not continue to shoot a three-pointer. Shen burst in.

(End of this chapter)