Chapter 486: Closing the Door and Beating the Dog
Yang Mo led the four forwards onto the court. Stan Van Gundy was stunned. What were the Knicks trying to do? Were they going to give up on defense? Were they going to attack us? But they didn't even have a center?
Stan Van Gundy saw the flaws in the Knicks' roster, but he didn't realize his team's flaws were even greater. While the Knicks lacked a legitimate center, the Magic themselves lacked a true point guard. While fast breaks can be chaotic, without a quality point guard controlling the ball, that would be a real disaster.
The Knicks didn't have a point guard before, but Yang Mo has now evolved into a master passer. Furthermore, even without a point guard, Yang Mo could have easily gotten the ball and passed it to whoever had the chance. But Nelson clearly doesn't have that kind of brain. His offensive principle is always to get the ball first, then pass it out if things don't work out.
After the referee blew the whistle, Yang Mo took the ball from Anthony Randolph and immediately launched a fast break. Courtney Lee and Matt Barnes were still relentless in pursuit, but Yang Mo didn't bother engaging in back-and-forth with them, much less playing any technical tricks. It was the playoffs, and the time to catch up was right. Just use your speed to get past them. The more energy and time you save, the better.
Yang Mo rushed to the frontcourt, where his four other teammates had already spread out. With a quick glance, Yang Mo spotted three open positions. Ultimately, driven by the desire to catch up, he passed the ball directly to Gallinani in the corner. Gallinani took the ball and shot... swish!
A quick and accurate three-pointer resolved the battle.
This attack took less than five seconds and threw the Magic team to the ground, leaving them no time to prepare.
"Coach, this is a real fast attack. Your version is too fake." After the attack was successful, Yang Mo did not forget to stimulate Stan Van Gundy.
Upon hearing this, Stan Van Gundy ignored Yang Mo and shouted directly to his players: Move quickly, move quickly, and shoot when you have the chance!
Yang Mo didn't care. He immediately engaged Howard in a tangle of offense and defense. He was a point guard, but defensively, a true center. Only in this way could he maximize his own strengths while minimizing those of his opponent. Yang Mo had to shoulder this arduous task of playing both father and mother, no matter how exhausting it was. After all, the Knicks lacked a capable backup player to share his burdens.
Yang Mo entered the restricted area, and at the same time he was shouting: "Defend the three-point line, let them go into the inside, let them shoot from mid-range."
He also knew the defensive strength of his teammates. At this time, he didn't want to completely restrict the opponent. Being able to defend the three-pointer was already a great . As for rebounding, he decided to take care of it all.
Although the Knicks' four forwards are not very good at defense, their height and mobility are superior to those of the Magic. With their tireless running and pursuit, it is really difficult for the Magic to get easy shooting opportunities, especially when Nelson is too sticky to the ball.
Since they were unable to shoot immediately, the fast break automatically turned into a positional attack.
As the positional offense unfolded, the Knicks' height advantage was once again magnified. Yang Mo, who was in command of the overall situation from the penalty area, quickly shouted, "Zone defense."
With the zone in place, Nelson could only rely on Dwight Howard's pick-and-roll. Using Howard's pick-and-roll , Nixon escaped Wilt Chandler's defense, gained a sliver of space, and then launched a quick three-pointer... bang!
The basketball shot missed, and Yang Mo, who was in the restricted area, grabbed the rebound with ease. Then, he launched a fast break. In fact, when Nelson shot, some Knicks players were already sprinting towards half court.
Before Yang Mo even crossed half court with the ball, he saw Anthony Randolph rushing into the Magic's three-point line. He quickly threw the ball in with a long throw. Anthony Randolph caught the ball and dunked it, immediately chasing the score to 73:75, just two points behind.
Seeing this, Stan Van Gundy clutched his head in agony. He felt a deep sense of powerlessness. He tried to change his tactics again and again, but each change only sank the team deeper into the mud. Was he really going to lose tonight?
When this thought popped up in Stan Van Gundy's head, Nelson was intercepted. Yang Mo suddenly came back when he was crossing half court, slapped the basketball out of Nelson's hand, then ran quickly, and stayed outside the three-point line, and hit a three-pointer steadily... Swish!
76:75.
The New York Knicks took their first lead of the game.
At that moment, the entire city of New York was in a frenzy. The inspector who had taken Yang Mo to the airport clapped his hands until they turned red. He yelled at his wife, "See? I'm also a hero tonight. I was the one who took Super Yang to the airport. I didn't detain him. I'm a good police officer. I'm the pride of New Yorkers!"
"Thank God, if you hadn't sent Super Yang to the airport tonight but detained him, you would definitely become the public enemy of all New York." His wife said a little unhappily, because ever since Super Yang came on the court, this guy has been emphasizing that he is also the hero of this game, and if the Knicks won, he also has part of the credit.
“Yes, thank God for guiding me to make the right choice, I will become an engineer in New York, ahahaha!”
The New York police inspector went mad, but Orlando was completely silent. The entire arena sighed deeply, and all the fans fell into a unified silence. Even their breathing seemed so weak, forming a sharp .
Stan Van Gundy also fell into deep silence. He took out the tactical board and carefully outlined it. He tried to find a tactic that could completely restrain the Knicks.
However, just as he was looking for this tactic, his team was beaten by the Knicks on a 12:5 run in three minutes, which meant that his team was eight points behind.
drop!
Stan Van Gundy called a timeout, and although he still hadn't come up with a perfect solution, he had to react in order to prevent the team from being swept away by a wave of momentum.
"Okay, next we will focus on the inside. Vince, you have to keep breaking through the inside, and Courtney, your task is also to attack the inside, Nelson, you also have to attack the inside. Also, if we can't cause damage to the inside, then... let's give the ball to Howard. In short, I hope that every attack of ours will be completed by the guy closest to the basket. Do you understand what I mean?" Stan Van Gundy said excitedly incoherently: "Come on, guys, we haven't lost yet, there are more than seven minutes left in the game, and we still have hope of winning!"
Stan Van Gundy's slogan had changed from expanding the lead to still having hope of winning. Meanwhile, Yang Mo, on the other side, took out his tactical board and said to his teammates with a smile, "Okay, guys, their fast break education has come to an end. You've all been excellent and strict teachers, and I believe they've learned their lesson. Next, let's play some defense. Tony, you're still the point guard. Gallinani, you're the shooting guard. Jeffries, you're the small forward. Anthony Randolph, you're the center. As for me, I'll be the power forward."
When Yang Mo read out the names of this lineup one by one, everyone seemed very surprised. What was going on?
"There's a Chinese saying, 'Close the door and beat the dog.'" Yang Mo chuckled and started scribbling on the tactical board. "Our next tactic will follow this same pattern. Gallinani is the worst defender on our team, so the left side he guards will definitely be a sieve for opponents. When the opponent enters from his side, I hope Tony Allen at the top of the key and Jeffries on the right can quickly converge. I'll block him there."
"What about me?" Anthony Randolph asked impatiently.
"You?" Yang Mo chuckled. "You'll be responsible for jumping high and using your talent to knock all those struggling shots off the court!"
"Okay, boss, I promise to complete the task!" When he heard that it was a job to block shots, Anthony Randolph immediately made a promise excitedly.
