Jordan: I thought he was there to help me!

Chapter 567: If they won by 30 points in the first quarter, then winning by 15 points in the second

On their first offensive possession back on the court, Lin Tian and Stoudemire ran a pick-and-roll again. This time, Stoudemire spread out laterally, received a pass from Lin Tian on the wing, and pulled up for a mid-range jump shot.

"Bang!"

Unfortunately, the position where he made several shots in the first quarter missed his first shot on offense after coming on.

However, the Pistons failed to capitalize on their opportunity. Hamilton's mid-range jump shot missed, and Lin Tian grabbed the rebound again and sprinted at full speed. In the blink of an eye, he reached the frontcourt and, facing a double-team from the Pistons, calmly passed the ball to Anthony on the wing. Anthony pulled up for another shot, but it still missed!

"Looks like the Knicks' shooting touch has slipped after a six-minute break! That's the most fatal problem for offensive teams!" Kenny quickly analyzed. "What should they do if they're not shooting well, if they can't make their shots?"

"Other teams might have this problem, but the Knicks won't," Barkley said confidently. "They have Lin! Other teams don't!"

In the next two possessions, neither side scored. For the Pistons, Billups and Ben Wallace each took one shot, but both missed.

For the Knicks, Okur and Houston each tried their shots but missed.

What's next?

Then, Barkley's words began to come true.

Lin Tian has begun!

After grabbing the rebound from Ben Wallace's missed layup, he launched another counterattack. This time, Lin Tian was faster and more determined. He didn't even bother to observe his teammates' positions. Instead, he sprinted all the way to the basket and suddenly used a Euro step to create a time difference, directly shaking off Billups, who had been entangled with him.

Then Lin Tian made a layup and broke the scoring drought that had plagued both sides for some time.

And then it was Lin Tian again!

After the Pistons' Rasheed successfully backed down Stoudemire and scored a layup off the backboard for two points, the Knicks were unable to inbound the ball immediately due to the Pistons' careful defense, giving the Pistons players enough time to retreat.

But this obviously had no effect on Lin Tian. He still quickly advanced after receiving the ball and rushed into the Pistons' territory in the blink of an eye.

That imposing presence was reminiscent of Zhao Zilong charging single-handedly into Changban Slope.

The only difference was that Zhao Zilong had to do everything he could to protect A Dou in his arms, while Lin Tian suddenly jumped up and threw a one-handed ball before everyone surrounded him, sending A Dou... the basketball, towards the basket.

"Snapped!"

The moment the basketball was released, Hamilton couldn't control his hand and slapped Lin Tian's arm, committing a foul!

"Whoosh!"

Then came a crisp sound as Lin Tian scored 2 points and got a free throw!

The entire city of Detroit fell silent once again.

That's terrifying.

When everyone else is off their game, Lin always manages to put the ball in the basket time and time again.

The season before last, the Pistons were completely crushed by Lin Tian alone. Last season, the Pistons were almost single-handedly reversed a 3-1 deficit by Lin Tian.

This season...

After that basket, almost everyone in Detroit had the same thought: this year, the team probably wouldn't have a chance to take a big lead over the Knicks.

While they are becoming more terrifying, the Knicks also have Lin Tian, ​​a monster that is almost impossible to defeat!

They are simply unbeatable!

What's even more alarming is that this idea isn't just popping up in the minds of fans; it's also growing stronger among the Pistons players.

Of course, this excludes Ben Wallace and Ron Artest, who have always believed that Lin Tian is invincible and have always been his biggest fans.

They felt it was only natural for Lin Tian to fight like this, given his strength!

That's why these two players were the most mentally stable when facing the Knicks.

No matter what the Knicks do, both of them can just say: "This is Lin Qian's? That's perfectly normal! He's the one who does this kind of thing."

The main focus is on trust and calm.

But these things are clearly not enough for the Pistons to turn the game around tonight!

They need to be on guard.

After scoring two goals in a row, Ke Lintian once again began looking for teammates!

He started dribbling and constantly looking for screens, breaking through time and time again. After getting to the basket, he didn't rush to shoot, but instead looked for open teammates or teammates cutting in.

Meanwhile, because the Knicks players had just missed several shots, Lin Tian could tell that their bodies weren't warmed up yet and they weren't excited enough, so he didn't rush to pass the ball to his teammates who were too far from the basket.

Anthony and Stoudemire each made a dunk after a cut, and Houston also came to the inside to receive the ball and forcefully made a layup.

Then, after Lin Tian felt that everyone had almost finished playing, he found Okur, who was left unmarked, and forcibly threw the ball across half the field.

Okur received the ball and shot without hesitation.

"Whoosh!"

The Knicks' top sharpshooter has fired again!

Okur's three-pointer was like a switch being flipped, and for the rest of the game, the Knicks regained their rhythm!

Their shots started going in like a machine gun once again!

In less than four minutes, Lin Tian assisted his teammates five times, making various kinds of shots.

There were shots after Stoudemire's pick-and-roll, shots after Anthony received the ball and faked a step before shooting, shots after Houston sprinted and received the ball after a screen, and of course, shots from the high-arcing Okur!

With this crazy string of consecutive shots, the Knicks once again used their mercurial, relentless firepower to send the Pistons scrambling for cover.

89: 54!

At the end of the first half, the point difference between the two teams was even greater than in the first quarter!

Although the point difference looks like it's only 5 points more than at the end of the first quarter, don't forget that when the Knicks' starters were on the court, the gap was 20 points!

In other words, the Knicks' starters beat the Pistons' starters by 15 points in just half a quarter!

From this perspective, they led by 30 points in the first quarter, and won by 15 points in the second quarter because their starters played half the game.

That's perfectly reasonable! That's perfectly logical!

"That's insane!" Barkley exclaimed. "If you didn't watch the game, you simply couldn't believe that a team could score 54 points in the first half and then lose by a whopping 35! It's unbelievable!"

"If this team were still the Pistons, and this happened on the night they raised their championship banner, it would be even more incredible," Kenny continued. "Who could have imagined that this would happen?"

"That's the Pistons! They've retained the same roster that won the championship last season, and they've also brought in strong players like McDyess and Arroyo to supplement their roster. This team is aiming to defend their title and follow in the footsteps of that original Pistons team."

"But now, the Knicks' rise is so fast it's almost frightening."

Barkley nodded in agreement: "Last season's Knicks were also very strong, making it to the Eastern Conference Finals, but that was largely due to Lin's individual ability, his almost limitless stamina and omnipresent ability."

"Whether they faced the Celtics or the Pistons, they were clearly at a disadvantage, but Lin's individual performance turned a seemingly hopeless situation into a close one."

"But this season, everyone on the Knicks has improved, and every starter is better than last season, which is quite obvious! I even think that if the Knicks players can maintain this level of performance this year, they should be given a team Most Improved Award."

"They've all evolved! The weakness they had last season that allowed the Pistons and Celtics to easily dominate them is gone; they've become stronger!"

"What surprises will this Knicks team, with its flawless offense, unlimited firepower, and the entire team capable of launching a fierce attack, bring us this season?"

"I'm so excited! My biggest worry right now is that tonight's Knicks performance is just a flash in the pan, and that they'll wither away and return to their normal level after tonight. If that happens, I think countless fans who watched tonight's game will be disappointed!"

"Even Pistons fans might be quite disappointed," Kenny said with a laugh. "Because Pistons fans won't accept that they were the only ones who lost face, that they were the only ones who got a good beating."

While the two hosts were cracking jokes, the second half of the competition had already begun.

However, the huge gap and 35-point difference in the first half made the second half much less exciting.

Even a team like the Pistons, with its top-tier resilience and fighting spirit, and a tough playing style, would find it difficult to mount a comeback or create an effective scoring surge when facing a 35-point deficit.

To be honest, the Knicks' shooting touch noticeably dipped again in the third quarter, with their misses increasing. However, despite this, they continued to widen the score gap thanks to their high-paced, fast-paced offense and defense, and an unstoppable all-around offensive firepower.

With 6 minutes left in the third quarter, Lin Tian once again drove to the basket and passed the ball behind his back, assisting Stoudemire to dunk with one hand.

After this shot, the point difference between the two sides has reached 40 points.

Just when it seemed the Pistons were about to suffer a major embarrassment on their championship night, Brown made a decisive move.

Larry Brown went straight up and down.

do not fight!

Lao Tzu sounded the retreat!

He could tell that the Pistons had almost no chance of winning tonight's game, and it was better to let his players rest earlier than to fight for a chance that was less than 0.1%.

This allows them to conserve their energy and prepare for the next match, while also minimizing the psychological trauma their key players suffer.

If the Knicks really cause any stress or psychological trauma after just one game, then that would be a huge loss!

In short, Brown surrendered early on.

Throughout Brown's coaching career, his old-school style and his tough and stubborn approach have almost never led a team to surrender in the third quarter!

In the past, no matter how badly they lost a game, Brown would make his players keep fighting, at least until half of the fourth quarter was played before talking about resting and entering garbage time.

But today, Brown really made an exception.

It's clear that the Knicks have really intimidated Brown.

The final score of this game wasn't that dramatic, only around 30 points. After all, Don Nelson wasn't the type to go all out over every little thing. After the Pistons made substitutions, he quickly took the starters off the bench as well.

This old man is the kind of person who's sly but mischievous, but not petty.

For example, although Don Nelson didn't really crush the Pistons in the game, he took the opportunity after the game to grab Brown during the handshake and wouldn't let Brown leave, chatting with him for a while.

Brown, who had suffered such a crushing defeat in the opening game, was hardly in the mood to chat with the opposing head coach. He was in a hurry to go back and hold a meeting with the players, his face full of impatience, as if he wanted to slap Nelson across the face and then just run away.

Unfortunately, you can't smoke it.

This old man is so heavy that even if I slap him first, he might cripple me by sitting on my butt.

In short, the shameless old Nelson chatted with Brown for a full 10 minutes, from everything going well to congratulating him on winning the championship last season, from his good defense to the full moon tonight, from saying he saw Brown's wife at a party 40 years ago to asking if he still had any sex life lately.

Old Nelson's main tactic is to keep talking even when there's nothing to say.

It wasn't until the Knicks players couldn't stand it anymore and were ready to leave the court regardless of their coach that Don Nelson finally looked like he'd just realized something, slapped his forehead, and said, "Look at me! I overlooked something! You guys lost by so much tonight, you definitely need to go back and have a meeting, right?"

"Go quickly! We'll talk again next time!"

"Next time, I'll talk to my guys and we'll beat you guys a little less. There aren't many coaches of our generation left in the league these days, so we have to help each other out! Right?"

Damn your grandma.

Brown rolled his eyes, too lazy to say anything more to this old bastard, and turned to leave, looking as if he was afraid of being caught again, quickly disappearing into the player tunnel.

If I can't afford to mess with them, can't I at least avoid them?

The match tonight was still unexpected by everyone.

After all, no one could have predicted that the Pistons would be beaten so badly.

"Lin recorded another triple-double tonight! 28 points, 14 assists, 11 rebounds, and 2 steals! Tonight, Lin clearly went into the paint more often to grab defensive rebounds, which allowed the team to advance the ball faster and prevented his interior teammates from being unable to find him immediately after grabbing a rebound, thus delaying the fast break."

Barkley excitedly remarked after the game, "I think if Lin continues playing like this tonight, he might be able to average a triple-double this year!"

"You're crazy, Charles! I'd rather believe Lin can average 50 points a game than he can average a triple-double!" Kenny shook his head without hesitation, denying it: "A triple-double is, in my opinion, the most difficult single-season average record in NBA history to break!"

"Even harder than getting 50 points!"

"Before last season, everyone thought no guard could average 25+15, and that Stockton's assist record was unbreakable. But what happened? Lin broke the record with ease." Barkley spread his hands and said, "And Lin broke all sorts of other impossible statistics."

"I don't think those amazing data points are much simpler than what's happening tonight."

"This is only the first game of the season, Charles! We need to take it one step at a time!" Kenny continued to shake his head; he simply didn't believe anyone could average a triple-double.

"How about we bet on something?" Barkley's eyes lit up, and he suddenly suggested a wager.

"Come on, Charles, you tell us what we're betting on this time!" Kenny retorted without backing down.

"Lin and Michael once made a bet... what was it again? The loser had to kiss a donkey's ass!" Barkley said cheerfully. "But I don't think we should hurt animals, so if Lin gets a triple-double, you kiss my ass!"

"If I can't get it, I'll kiss you! How about that?"

"No problem!" Kenny nodded in agreement, then suddenly added, "But there's a condition: Lin must play at least 60 games for this statistic to count. Otherwise, if he announces he's out for the season tonight, who wins?"

"Oh my God! Kenny, you're such a vicious person! You actually hoped Lin would miss the entire season! You're finished, Lin's fans will kill you!"

After Barkley stabs Kenny in the back with a sinister grin, he also extended his hand: "It's settled then! We'll see at the end of the season!"

"Snapped!"

That's the bet! (End of Chapter)