Chapter 472 It Won’t Be You Anyway
Milicic and Paris Hilton's interaction was a dramatic one, and Yang Mo, standing nearby, took it all in. Paris Hilton's clearly biased words sent a chill down Yang Mo's spine: "Haven't I already confronted her? Why is she pestering me again? Could it be... Lu Xuefei?"
Yang Mo thought about it and subconsciously looked at Lu Xuefei. At this time, Lu Xuefei was chatting and laughing with Paris Hilton, and was extremely happy.
It must be her!
Yang Mo was silently certain in his heart that it was obvious that this little devil was going to do something bad again.
Yang Mo sat there in silence, his heart pounding. Stein assumed Yang Mo wanted this lineup to continue its struggles, so he offered some encouragement without making any personnel adjustments. In his opinion, if Milicic could continue his dominant performance, then... Super Yang wouldn't really need to play. After all... the Jazz's interior defense wasn't particularly impressive.
While Stein remained silent, Sloan was constantly making personnel adjustments. "Myers, Super Yang will definitely be playing soon. Your mission is to contain him. It's better to let him shoot three-pointers than let him enter the paint, even if it means committing a foul. Inside, Okur must contain Milicic. He must be the secret weapon that Super Yang mentioned. We must not let them break our defense when they work together inside and outside."
Sloan was facing a formidable threat. He clearly considered Milicic to be Yang Mo's secret weapon. But in reality, Yang Mo didn't have a secret weapon at all. As for Milicic, who knows if he'll ever suddenly become a master? He was like Duan Yu who had just mastered the Six Meridians Divine Sword. Occasionally, he could perform at an All-Star level, but more often, he'd just run back and forth without a noticeable presence on the court. Fortunately, his defensive focus was decent, preventing the Knicks' restricted area from becoming a trap for the opposing team.
When Yang Mo first arrived, he had indeed considered turning Milicic into an All-Star center. Initially, under Paris Hilton's influence, Milicic showed signs of that potential. However, when Paris Hilton's long absence from Madison Square Garden, Milicic finally reverted to his old ways. Clearly, he'd fallen into a lazy style of play, or perhaps... he couldn't live up to Yang Mo's hopes for him.
It was for this reason that Yang Mo initiated the process of asking Isaiah Thomas to find a defensive center. If Milicic was good enough, why would the Knicks bother with him? After all, in this era of centers being scarce, a mediocre seven-footer would dare to demand a multi-million dollar annual salary, let alone an All-Star-caliber player.
In a sense, Milicic's performance tonight was beyond Yang Mo's expectations. His high hopes for Milicic had long been exhausted by his repeated slumps. Now he was counting on Milicic to play good defense and maintain a relatively positive attitude on the court.
drop!
When the whistle blew and the Knicks players appeared on the court, Sloan, still unable to find Yang Mo, was once again dumbfounded: What is this guy Super Yang doing? Does he think the Jazz can't even beat the Knicks without him?
Sloan was angry. He thought Yang Mo looked down on him too much.
But soon, this anger grew even more intense, but the target of the anger was no longer Yang Mo's underestimation of the opponent, but his own players' incompetence. Because the Jazz really couldn't beat the Knicks without Yang Mo.
Milicic had his way in the paint against Okur. Both were European centers with similar playing styles, but Okur was older and injured. With Milicic completely on his feet tonight, how could he be a match for him?
Wilt Chandler, on the perimeter, also found his touch, his strong frame giving him a natural advantage against Myers. Sloan had originally assigned Myers and Matthews to guard Yang Mo, who was only about 193cm tall. But now their opponent was Wilt Chandler, who was 203cm tall. Their specialized defense instantly became a loophole, and they could only watch as Wilt Chandler gradually opened up.
drop!
Sloan had to request another timeout. He seemed a little overwhelmed. He felt that he had been completely fooled by Yang Mo tactically, and in terms of player confrontation, his own players were actually being suppressed by the Knicks, and that was when Yang Mo was not on the court.
This game is so weird!
Sloan felt he had lost control of the game and was completely at a disadvantage. After some adjustments, he finally decided to put the starting lineup on the court.
At this time, Yang Mo over there finally took to the field, but he appeared at the power forward position.
He figured that since Wilt Chandler was already proving himself, there was no need to compete with him for a position. He could rather play power forward and compete with Carlos Boozer. Boozer wasn't a defensive expert anyway, and he was the Jazz's main attacker. If they could stifle him, the Jazz would be half ruined.
Yang Mo accidentally hit the Jazz's Achilles' heel once again. The Jazz relied on the pick-and-roll to prosper. Deron Williams could be considered a Stockton replacement, while Carlos Boozer was a poverty-stricken Karl Malone.
Compared to Karl Malone, Carlos Boozer's only real comparison is mid-range shooting; other than that, he's not even half as good as Malone in any other area. The big men Yang Mo fears the most are undoubtedly those who only shoot mid-range, players with all-around strength, jumping jacks, and defensive abilities, like the Spider-Man type. Of course, the exceptions are Kevin Garnett and Nowitzki. These two have mastered the face-up isolation game to such an extreme that Yang Mo would find it impossible to defend against them. Furthermore, the height of their shots is such that Yang Mo could never block them.
With Carlos Boozer contained by Yang Mo, the Jazz completely collapsed, relying on Deron Williams to force repeated isolations. When the Jazz abandon their bread-and-butter pick-and-roll, they're completely unstoppable. No matter how strong Deron Williams is individually, can he be better than Super Yang? Besides, compared to their random tactics, the only team that could beat the Knicks was last season's Heat, and the only thing these two teams have in common is Super Yang!
As a master of the haphazard, random playstyle, Yang Mo went straight into a head-to-head battle with Deron Williams in the third quarter. The result, of course, was unsurprising. The already-defeated Jazz were completely defeated, completely defeated.
The Jazz, fifth in the Western Conference, ultimately lost 97-113 on the road to the Knicks, sixth in the Eastern Conference. This brought an end to a game that had already been shrouded in confusion. Everyone had expected this match to be a fierce battle, but the Jazz suffered a crushing defeat. This result left the true fans who had been following the game somewhat disappointed!
After the game, Sloan walked straight up to Yang Mo and shook his hand. "Yang, you're truly a tactical master. I really admire your deployment of players at crucial moments tonight, especially the two timeouts where you benched yourself. That was beyond my expectations and was the key to our loss. You really should be a head coach."
"Thank you." Yang Mo chuckled and answered honestly, "Actually... the first reason I didn't play those two times was because I was tired. The second reason was that I was thinking about other things, so Coach Stein took it upon himself not to let me play. If this is the key to our victory, then I can only say that my daze at the time was so wise that even God was on my side."
Yang Mo's words made Sloan want to bleed blood. He had always thought that the two timeouts were a conspiracy carefully planned by Yang Mo, but in the end... in the end, he was stunned... stunned... He was still so focused on studying tactics... Poof!
"Okay, Coach Sloan. I wish your team can go further and further in the playoffs, and I hope we can meet in the finals!" Yang Mo patted Sloan, whose face was pale, very politely and said this.
"Uh... the Finals?" Sloan was startled by the word. He hadn't really planned on it. He was finding it increasingly difficult to control the team. The team's laxity was becoming increasingly prevalent, and the team was at its weakest point in years. The Finals? Please, forget it.
While Sloan was in a daze, the TNT sideline reporter quickly ran over with a microphone. As soon as he came, he pointed the microphone at Yang Mo with incredible speed, and the camera followed immediately, as if afraid that Yang Mo would escape.
"Yang, after the game, will you go to a Chinese restaurant to celebrate or a French restaurant? I think... many viewers in front of the TV are concerned about this question, and the fans at the scene are also looking forward to your answer." The host asked a question that had nothing to do with basketball.
"This..." Yang Mo frowned and looked at Sloan next to him. Sloan didn't want to get involved in these gossips, so he just laughed, patted Yang Mo's shoulder, and walked away quickly.
After Sloan left, Yang Mo composed her words and replied, "The Chinese restaurant is great, and the French restaurant is delicious too. But... I want to go home and have a good rest tonight. The game is too tiring!"
"So... you have to make a choice, right? Now the whole of America and the whole world are watching your decision."
"Let time answer that question!" Yang Mo chuckled. He now understood the impact of this matter. If he directly answered that he wouldn't choose either of the two, then the huge supporters of these two people would definitely join forces to resist him. Then... it would be a big trouble. Yang Mo didn't want to get involved in such unnecessary trouble, so it was better to be perfunctory.
"Who do you prefer now?"
The reporter kept asking about this matter again and again, and Yang Mo finally got annoyed. He rolled his eyes at the reporter and said, "It won't be you anyway."
With that, he walked away.
When this scene was broadcast to the TNT studio, Charles Barkley couldn't help but slap his thigh and laugh: "This is the familiar Super Yang! I like it!"
Barkley laughed loudly, but his two partners next to him looked at him as if he was an idiot.
