The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!-Chapter 723 - 264: Righting Wrongs, A Bright Universe_4

Stephen Curry really feels the pressure when his shooting hand is cold!

The Bulls counterattack.

The New York Knicks’ defense against Derek Rose was as stringent as during the regular season, completely smothering him.

But now, with Bozer on his side, Rose decisively passes the ball to Bozer amidst the double-team.

With a smooth move, Bozer makes a bank shot and scores two points.

Su Wan signals to Tyson Chandler to quickly inbound the ball.

Stephen Curry catches the ball and quickly passes it; Su Wan receives it in the frontcourt, facing Bogans.

Thibodeau’s defensive adjustments are indeed of Popovich caliber, with very high defensive quality.

Su Wan confidently strides forward, seeing Bogans back off, he doesn’t hesitate to pull up and shoot.

A murmur rises from the crowd.

The same happens in the broadcast studio.

Actually, this play is a common tactic for the Knicks this season.

All sorts of incredible "chasing three points!"

Like Su Wan is doing now...

It’s not a fast break opportunity, but because the defender hesitated, he sees an opening, pulls up, and shoots.

The three-pointer goes straight through the net.

A fast break opportunity that didn’t exist just materialized.

D’Antoni watching this, is ecstatic, his mustache even curling up in delight.

No matter the method, as long as the attack is fast enough and ends in a three-point shot, it’s considered a good offense in his view.

Since Mike Malone arrived at the Knicks, he has repeatedly said the same thing to the media:

Thankfully, this team has Su Wan!

Otherwise...

Such a play style just wouldn’t work!

6-2!

The Bulls counterattack, again led by Derek Rose, this time Bozer sets a "fake screen," twisting and moving to the high post on the other side.

Su Wan and Tyson Chandler are too slow to block, watching helplessly as Rose dashes through a gap between them under the basket.

"Swish!"

A steady "lagging shot" lands.

Hmm...

Steady and lagging, surprisingly go together.

But for Derek Rose, "no lag, no layup."

This waist...

The Bulls are a "defensive team," and though the Knicks have two members on the "Best Defensive Team," both sides keep scoring as the game starts.

Neither team can stop the opposing main scorers.

D’Antoni doesn’t seem worried at all.

Aside from his belief in "offense wins everything" in basketball, another reason is that the Knicks score mostly by three-point shots, whereas the Bulls score by twos. It takes three of the Bulls’ possessions to equal two of the Knicks’.

Just look at the score, first quarter with 5 minutes 35 seconds left, the Knicks have taken a 6 point lead by hitting consecutive three-point shots at the start.

Thibodeau can hardly bear it, calling for a timeout.

Then the Bulls begin to expand their defensive coverage.

Blocking Danilo Gallinari and Stephen Curry’s shooting.

Seeing this, D’Antoni preemptively brings Vince Carter in for Artest.

Facing the Bulls’ lineup, Artest isn’t very useful. Besides, his three-point shooting from outside is certainly not as stable as Vince Carter’s.

Since joining the Knicks, Vince Carter, averaging 28 minutes and 14 seconds per game, can score 15.4 points with a shooting accuracy of 48%!

If not for LeBron being so exceptional, he could have likely won this year’s "Best Sixth Man."

After bringing him in, the Knicks’ lineup becomes: Point Guard Curry, Shooting Guard Su Wan, Small Forward Vince Carter, Power Forward Danilo Gallinari, Center Tyson Chandler.

This is a lineup that makes LeBron drool.

The exterior space is infinitely stretched.

Su Wan gets numerous opportunities for isolated ball handling.

He begins calling plays on the wing.

This makes things tough for the Bulls. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Whether it’s Bogans or Ruhl Deng, both find it hard to limit Su Wan’s defense.

And if they double-team, Su Wan’s current field of view and ability, along with the Knicks’ firepower, will make them pay heavily.

But they are only occasionally harassing him, which is not a big deal for Su Wan now.

Thankfully, the Knicks’ defensive lineup relies more on Su Wan and Tyson Chandler; others are less effective, allowing the Bulls to play smoothly on the offensive end.

Back and forth, the game is incredibly intense.

After the score widened to a 6-point lead, it remained tense.

By the end of the third quarter, the score was 78-74, with the Bulls reducing the gap to 4 points thanks to Derek Rose’s buzzer-beater.

As the fourth quarter started, Su Wan fired from outside the three-point line, right over Bogans, widening the lead to 7 points again.

Barkley shared some stats at this moment: "This season, the League’s top three-point shooter is Golden State Warriors’ Dorell White, with a total of 194 three-point shots. Curry is slightly behind with 184 shots, and Su Wan, with 154 three-point shots, ranks eighth in the league. But... Su Wan has the most made three-point shots while ball-handling, with a total of 102!"

This season Su Wan’s ball-handling three-point shots have become his signature scoring move.

Of course, most of Su Wan’s offensive moves are still mid-range.

No choice, if he also drifts out to shoot threes, like the Bulls defended him tonight, then the entire New York Knicks would be put in a passive position.

R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at f(r)eew𝒆bnov𝒆l.com Only