Basketball Dragon

Chapter 256 Unchanging Strength

On November 11th, Li Hai met Sun Yue in New York. He came to play an away game with the Heat.

The Heat have yet to start the season without a win because of Wade's injury.

But because of the shortage of personnel, Sun Yue got a little playing time at the beginning of the season.

Now that the Heat do not have Wade, the offense is not so bad. The state of O'Neal has plummeted, and Ricky Davis has declined. No one can support the offense.

So they strictly guarded against the defense at the beginning of the game, but if the Knicks could be easily defended, they would not be the defending champions.

They started from the inside in a well-regulated manner. Randolph was very good at attacking. Then Li Hai bullied Ricky Davis. The Heat were still resisting in the first quarter, only trailing by 5 points. In the second quarter, they had 15 points. Alright, Li Hai clocked out of get off work again in three quarters.

At 101:75, the Knicks won again. Li Hai scored a double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds in three quarters.

A winning streak at home is a real performance for the defending champions.

But next, they will start a road trip in the west, and this is the time to test their strength.

On November 11, they came to Phoenix to play against the Suns.

The Suns also made some adjustments this summer. They signed veteran Grant Hill, who was rejuvenated in his second spring.

However, in the first few seasons of the game, their start can only be regarded as quite satisfactory, and their quick play whirlwind has gradually been adapted to by the opponent, but the lack of improved defense makes them a huge hidden danger when they encounter strong teams.

The lineup of the Suns is still very strong. With Hill, Marion went to the inside to partner with Stoudemire.

Hill at his peak can be said to be a representative of omnipotence, but now he can only be said to be a qualified starter, and his injured knee can no longer keep up with Li Hai's movements.

The characteristic of the Suns is that they are fast, but after the Knicks replaced Randolph and Camby this season, their speed has dropped and they have become a domineering team. Such a change also has advantages and disadvantages.

When the two teams came up, they exploded at each other. The Suns were extremely weak in offense and defense, and it would become like this when they played against most teams.

At the beginning, the Knicks did not deliberately press down on speed. They are also a team with strong offensive power.

Under Nash's go-between, the Suns' two insiders who can run and jump performed well, and scored several times when the Knicks were still unsteady.

However, under the Knicks' close watch and defense, the outside line did not perform well. The reason is very simple. The Knicks outside line are also very fast, and Li Hai takes Hill seriously.

Even if not all the points bloomed, the Suns still led 34:32 in the first quarter.

The Knicks did not lose in the main lineup, but after the Suns replaced Barbosa, the perimeter finally made a difference and gained a certain advantage during the rotation period.

But this is just a player's personal outburst. In the second quarter, the Knicks began to control the rhythm, and the Suns' scoring could not be so smooth.

If the speed is lowered to play the position, the Suns' inside line will not be so easy to score, and their low-post skills are not so solid.

Nash also started to try to attack, but maybe because the pass was too smooth in the first quarter, and the Knicks' defense was also very tight, Nash's touch was not very good, and the two attempted three-pointers ended with iron strikes.

So at the end of the first half, the Suns failed to hold on to their lead and fell behind by 1 point.

In the second half, the Suns also made adjustments, and they were also looking for loopholes in the Knicks' defense.

Now the Knicks' defense can't keep up, that is, Randolph. Randolph's defense is not as bad as the legend, but he prefers to fight at the basket and protect rebounds, and he hardly follows out.

The Suns took advantage of this and let Marion succeed on the outside several times.

There was no point in switching defenses when Randolph was on the court, so Lehi couldn't defend Marion like he did during Channing Frye's time, but if they were going to get shot by Marion, they accepted it.

The Knicks' strategy is to prevent other people, especially the insiders, from shooting if they have the ability.

So Marion scored in double figures in the third quarter, but the Suns scored fewer points, and the Knicks took the opportunity to expand their advantage to 5 points.

The Suns have a very helpless feeling, they must get up quickly, otherwise they don't have to play at all.

The Knicks may have no weaknesses, but they also can't play a small lineup faster than the Suns like they did last season. Everything has advantages and disadvantages, and the Knicks' lineup adjustment is also the same.

But the Suns still think too much. They definitely have a chance, but it is somewhat impossible to completely defeat the Knicks by relying on speed. The Knicks are not those weak teams that have no resistance.

The Knicks have their own way of dealing with fast-playing teams.

In the contest of scoring, they will not be afraid of anyone, and even if they are faster, they don't need all five players on the field to be fast. The main lineup is Li Hai, Marbury and Francis, and the substitute lineup is Ke Lawford and Nate Robinson are still able to hit high-speed counterattacks.

As far as the defense of the Suns is concerned, it is as easy for Li Hai and others to score points.

"The Suns missed a three-pointer. The Knicks caught the rebound and threw it forward. Nate Robinson has already rushed to the opponent's frontcourt, and there is no one to stop the opponent."

"Li Hai's chasing three-pointer...hit, the Knicks' three-pointer in this game is even better than the Suns, and there are many three-pointers in their team."

Seeing that in the last 5 minutes, the Suns not only did not overtake the score, but the gap was further widening. Although there is no avalanche situation, it is reasonable to say that the scoring explosive power of the Suns is not scary, but what they are facing now is For the Knicks, the accumulation of a little bit of advantage is enough to crush their confidence.

At 2 minutes and 58 seconds, Li Hai made a successful three-pointer, and the Knicks' lead reached 12 points. Their defense was also much tighter than at the beginning, and the Suns felt that there was no hope in sight.

The key is that no one stood up. Nash scored two goals in a row at the last moment, but the value of these two goals was greatly reduced by the short time left.

When the game whistle was blown, the game ended naturally. The Suns didn't even make it to the end. This season, their self-confidence has gone wrong.

At 115:108, Li Hai scored 34 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists. He led the team to win the first away game in the Western Conference, which was also their first six-game winning streak.

This game also let the outside world see the difference in the Knicks, only the strength has not changed.

(End of this chapter)