stonecrandall Chapter 458 Carlisle's "Zen Master" Impersonation Show! A Reversal of Nick's For
Chapter 458 Carlisle's "Zen Master" Impersonation Show! A Reversal of Nick's For
"We played terribly!" Lin Tian certainly wouldn't argue with Carlisle at this point, since he was the culprit for following the Knicks' pace in the first quarter. Indeed, Lin Tian had gotten a little too excited in the first quarter and hadn't deliberately tried to control the pace.
But Lin Tian had no choice. The New York fans were too enthusiastic. Their enthusiasm made Lin Tian feel that he would be embarrassed if he didn't put on a few more impressive plays!
"In the third quarter, we'll pick up where we're supposed to be! We'll play the right basketball, and we'll dominate the Knicks."
"Ron, you took care of Carmelo, he scored 19 points in the first half! How many points are you planning to let him score in the second half?"
"No more than 10 points!" Artest said with a gloomy face, "including all the pointless points he racked up during garbage time."
"Udonis?"
"I'll keep Amar'e under my nose. I won't let him easily drive to the basket again, and I won't let him take off and dunk like that anymore! I'll make him a hopeless idiot outside the paint!"
"Very good." After glancing at the two, Lin Tian continued, "I played the worst game. My defense against Charlie Ward was very inadequate. I gave him too much open space and easy room to handle the ball. He made a lot of good passes and organized the team's offense."
"In the second half, I'll mark him out of the game. I'll make him completely crumble. I'll prevent him from organizing any of the team's attacks!"
Seeing Lin Tian step forward once again, speaking up for him and expressing his determination, Carlisle nodded in satisfaction and said, "Very good, I believe in you! You are all my best disciples, and of course I will give you a chance!"
"In the second half, beat the New Yorkers to a pulp!"
"yes!"
In the second half, the two teams switched sides and Ward dribbled the ball to the frontcourt.
The moment he arrived at the frontcourt, Lin Tian rushed over, stuck to him, and began to press him tightly!
"As expected! The Pacers have stepped up their defense! The starting five, who barely played in the second quarter, showed their attitude in the very first possession of the third quarter!"
When Barkley saw Lin Tian marking Ward and observing the other Pacers players' performance, he immediately became excited, saying in a tone that said, "Just as I expected, the Pacers' defense is picking up!"
"Look at this matchup between Ron and Carmelo, Ron is going to push that young Carmelo all the way from the waist to the three-point line! Against 'The Beast,' 'Melo' can't even stand up straight!"
"We also can't ignore Udonis's defense against Amare. Although he is not as tall, heavy or physically strong as Amare, he lowers his center of gravity and keeps Amare firmly outside the three-second zone, preventing him from rushing into the three-second zone to look for opportunities."
Kenny said, "The most important thing is Lin's defense against Ward. We can see that Ward doesn't even have a chance to pass the ball, let alone organize an attack like he did in the first half. He really can't find any way to deal with Lin's defense. He needs his teammates to support him!"
"Gerald Wallace went up, Ward passed the ball! But Christie rushed out too! He stole it! Christie stole it!" With Kenny's shout, Christie blocked Ward's pass and then poked the ball towards the frontcourt, sending it flying.
Lin Tian instantly increased his speed, taking three steps in two, grabbing the basketball, and then sprinting all the way to the basket, where he slammed it in with one arm!
"Here it comes! The Pacers' fast break! Here it comes! Lin and Christie, these two have been playing together for seven seasons, there's absolutely no doubt about their chemistry."
Barkley shouted excitedly, "Look! The Pacers we know and love are back!"
"Charles, I have to remind you, you're not very familiar with this Pacers team. Apart from Lin and Christie, none of the others have ever been your teammates, and even the head coach has changed."
"You've been retired for so long, I don't think those young guys even know you played for the Pacers. After all, your Pacers career was really nothing special!"
While the two commentators were exchanging their usual barbs, the Pacers had once again defended against the Knicks' offense. This time, Ward forced his way to the basket, trying to repeat the strategy from the first half, toss the ball into the air when he got to the paint and let Stoudemire dunk it off using his athleticism.
This time, however, Stoudemire couldn't get going at all. He was firmly blocked outside the three-second zone by Haslem and couldn't get in at all.
The basketball wasn't touched by anyone; it flew directly out of bounds, resulting in a turnover.
Having successfully defended, the Pacers were naturally not intimidated on offense, and it was time for Lin Tian to take another shot!
Lin Tian accelerated and drove hard from beyond the three-point line, getting past his old rival Ward in one step, and then went straight to the basket.
This time, it wasn't that the Knicks couldn't help defend in time; this time, when Lin Tian was almost at the basket, Okur didn't even have time to dodge.
He was standing sideways when Lin Tian bumped into him.
Okur, who had been shoved by Lin Tian, fell backward like a kite with a broken string and flew out of bounds. Lin Tian, on the other hand, seemed to have hit nothing. His momentum and height did not decrease at all, and he slammed his hands heavily onto the rim!
"boom!"
After a loud bang, the Pacers scored 2 more points!
The first two rounds were more than enough to demonstrate the attitude and control of the game between the two teams, and the next few minutes were essentially a microcosm of those two rounds.
Anthony tried to take a one-on-one shot but was overwhelmed by Artest's terrifying strength, to the point that he could barely stand. His last jump shot was ridiculously bad.
Although Stoudemire has an advantage in height and wingspan over Haslem, he doesn't yet possess the mid-range jump shot that he would later develop, a shot that might only surpass Nowitzki's among all power forwards in the league. Right now, he's essentially a rather rough-around-the-edges guy.
So now he's not afraid of players who can jump high and are big; what he fears most now is players like Haslem, who have a solid lower body, play like their life depended on it, and then relentlessly block him from entering the paint.
Outside the 3-second zone, he really has no way out now.
In short, the Pacers have exploited the Knicks' weaknesses perfectly: one player is missing, making them less physical and less inclined to drive to the basket, while the other can only run and attack.
Throughout the third quarter, these two players were completely shut down. Apart from Anthony's incredible luck in sinking a difficult shot, neither of them scored a single point in the entire third quarter!
With the team's two key players performing so poorly, the Knicks' performance in this quarter was naturally even worse.
They only scored a total of 3 points in the first 9 minutes and 20 seconds of the third quarter, including Anthony's incredible fadeaway three-pointer. Apart from that, everyone else just went for a few 'bangs'.
The Pacers went all out during this period, especially Lin Tian, who once again unleashed his offensive firepower. He easily shut down Ward, preventing him from handling the ball with ease, while simultaneously bombarding the Knicks' defense.
同样是9分20秒内，林天12投8中，3分球2投全中，罚球2罚2中，爆砍20分！
Even though he didn't play a single second in the second quarter, Lin Tian had already scored a whopping 34 points!
Against a defensive team of the Knicks' caliber, Lin Tian could score at will, no matter how he played!
The reason for using this time point is that when the third quarter reached this point, the Pacers launched a crazy 35-3 offensive surge.
In the past 9 minutes, they have outscored the Knicks by 32 points!
The point difference between the two teams has changed from the Pacers trailing by 16 points at the start of the third quarter to the Pacers leading by 16 points now!
The poles are reversed, and yin and yang are out of balance!
The Pacers' offensive surge completely stunned the Knicks, leaving them utterly bewildered.
What happened? How did we lose so much?
As for Knicks fans, the lovely people of New York are overjoyed!
They now see Lin Tian as one of their own. If their own person can dominate so much, ruling the game on both offense and defense, who would be happy?
The cheers were absolutely deafening, wave after wave, one after another, it was absolutely insane!
His state and excitement were so intense, it was as if all the points Lin Tian scored could be added to the Knicks' team.
In short, the Pacers have really shown their fighting spirit!
It was at this moment that Carlisle called a timeout.
This timeout also made Don Cheney on the other side wipe the sweat off his brow.
Those last few minutes of the game were truly terrifying.
He felt like his entire team had hit an iceberg, like a ship about to sink—helpless, weak, lost, and left only to wait for death.
During this period, Don Cheney called two timeouts and made many substitutions, but the team just couldn't score and couldn't stop the Pacers. Their players were intimidated by the Pacers' players and didn't know how to play.
Having already called all the timeouts in the third quarter, Don Cheney was truly at a loss, unsure of what to do. So, in his eyes, Carlisle's timeout was a lifesaver, a rescue!
The team has gained a rare opportunity to make adjustments.
"Listen up! They must be tired! With such high defensive intensity, they must be tired! They are human too, they are NBA players, and so are we! The gap between us isn't that big, we all come from the same league, we're not that far apart."
Don Cheney's opening remarks didn't sound like he was speaking to the players at all; they sounded more like he was talking to himself, or like he was trying to convince himself.
There was actually one more thing he didn't say.
We're both NBA coaches, so the gap between me and Carlisle can't possibly be that big!
Absolutely impossible!
After calming himself down, Carlisle continued with his tactical instructions: "Guys, the Pacers will definitely substitute their starters next. They'll need a rest because no one can maintain this level of intensity for such a long time! They can't!"
"They'll likely only keep two starters, three at most! That's our chance to catch up!"
"So next up, Carmelo, Amaré, Mehmet, Stephen, and Charlie, the five of you will come on!"
"In the last three minutes, get back to the top!"
Well, Don Cheney is an NBA-level head coach after all, so his guess was correct.
In fact, his guess was somewhat conservative.
Because after the timeout ended, Carlisle actually did a 5-in-5-out!
That was a really clever move!
"I don't quite understand what Carlisle is thinking or what he's trying to do," Barkley said, frowning. "The second quarter's five-in-five-out was because the starters had a bad attitude, only thinking about offense and not defense. So what about the third quarter? I don't understand why they're doing the same thing at this point?"
"The game is still suspenseful; the score difference between the two sides is not wide at all. Why make such a large number of substitutions at this time?"
Can't figure it out, can you?
That's perfectly normal if you can't figure it out!
Carlisle himself hadn't figured it out either.
He felt that a mid-to-lower tier team like the Knicks was simply not good enough for him; they were too bad!
My confidence suddenly skyrocketed.
So Carlisle suddenly felt that doing something like this, going up and down five times in a row, would make him very mysterious, and no one would be able to guess what he was thinking.
Mystery has always made men more attractive.
Anyway, Carlisle now thinks he's incredibly charming.
He stood with his arms crossed, his expression stern, and he remained silent, exuding an air of authority.
It was so elegant and mysterious, so full of imposing presence.
This must be the aura and feel of a top coach.
Carlisle stood in Madison Square Garden, but at that moment he felt as if he were standing on the top of a pyramid.
He wanted to shout, "I am the king of the world!"
This feels amazing!
No wonder Phil Jackson always acts like a master; it feels so good!
However, while Carlisle is happy, the Pacers' pure bench lineup is really not that good.
After all, the team's depth was not as good as in previous years, and now two important rotation players have suffered serious injuries. The Pacers' bench energy is definitely not good right now.
After the timeout, Anthony and Stoudemire each scored one point, bringing the score difference to 4 points in a row and quickly narrowing the gap.
Upon seeing this, Carlisle couldn't help but shift slightly.
It seems like I've overdone it?
After all, he was a novice at showing off, so he was unsure of himself and was clearly feeling nervous. However, although he was a novice at showing off, he was very familiar with leading a team. Having experienced countless big events, he knew very well that he couldn't pause immediately or replace the person directly.
It will affect the player's self-confidence and his prestige within the team.
"Tony, do you know why I put you guys back in?" Carlisle suddenly shouted after the Pacers missed their third consecutive shot. "Because of trust!"
"If Lin and his team can put on a great performance, so can you! It's that simple."
After saying that, Carlisle turned around and sat back down on the bench.
The head coach trusts us!
Trust is a very expensive thing; sometimes you can't get it no matter how hard you try, or how much you scheme, and sometimes it's so easy to get.
Parker was the first to feel a surge of anger rising in his head, followed by the hot-blooded Howard, who was equally excited and just wanted to dunk on those three as soon as possible.
The morale of the Pacers' role players was boosted just like that!
In the next possession, Howard first went all out, defending Anthony's shot one-on-one, then Bonner grabbed the rebound and passed it to Parker.
After receiving the ball, Parker accelerated down the court and drove all the way to the Knicks' basket. He then quickly spun over Anthony, who was back on defense, and pulled up for a reverse layup!
Anthony, caught off guard by Parker's unexpected challenge and quick turn, not only failed to keep up with Parker but also lost control of his hand, slapping Parker's arm.
"Beep! Foul on the hand! 2 points awarded, plus 1 free throw!"
The referee quickly raised his hand and blew the whistle, awarding Parker a 2+1!
After scoring, Parker pounded his chest with one hand and roared with excitement!
Then, while pounding his chest, he even ran quickly to the midfield area and shouted at Carlisle, "I won't let you down, coach! I won't!"
Carlisle maintained his persona as the expert of the night; he simply nodded without speaking or offering any further response.
Tonight, he's going to keep up the act.
"Coach, it feels good to show off, doesn't it!"
A voice suddenly came.
Before Carlisle could react, he actually nodded and said, "Awesome! No, um?"
Carlisle turned around quickly and saw Lin Tian grinning wickedly.
Oh no, it's all ruined.
"It's alright, only heaven and earth know, only you and I know." Lin Tian gave a knowing smile, then leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed.
Fortunately, although Carlisle's plan failed, only Lin Tian knew about it, especially the five players on the field who were playing their lives away, who were completely unaware.
They're playing really hard!
In the final two minutes of the third quarter, Don Cheney's attempt to catch the Pacers off guard by taking advantage of their off-peak hours and narrow the gap with his main scorer completely failed!
In the final three minutes, the Knicks' dynamic duo faced off against the Pacers' entire bench, yet the score remained a mere 8-9!
Not only did they fail to narrow the gap, but the Pacers' bench players also scored one more point!
The point difference between the two sides not only did not decrease but increased, and the Knicks were completely stunned.
Therefore, at the end of the third quarter, neither Anthony nor Stoudemire showed any expression on their faces. They couldn't believe that they couldn't beat the Pacers' bunch of lousy players.
How is that possible?
The worst problem for the Knicks is that Stoudemire and Anthony both played the entire third quarter, so they will have to rest in the fourth.
But with the current point difference, it could easily exceed 20 points. Should we let them go down to rest? The point difference would be widened completely in just 3 minutes, and then neither of them would even need to play.
Shouldn't we let them rest?
Towards the end of the fourth quarter, those two must have been so tired their legs were trembling.
Neither of them are known for their physical prowess in the league.
Don Cheney was caught in a dilemma; no matter which option he chose, it felt like a complete defeat.
"Well done, just what I thought." The atmosphere was much better for the Pacers during the break.
Carlisle had recovered and continued to act pretentious.
Tonight, this guy is clearly determined to keep up the act!
"Sit down and rest. The first three minutes of the fourth quarter are still your time. I hope you can extend the lead to 25 points!"
Lin Tian watched from the side, nodding repeatedly.
Hmm, not bad, it really has a bit of that Phil Jackson charlatan vibe, but is this guy really going down this messy route?
No, I need to find a time to talk to him.
Showing off can be fun, but it's only fun if you do it occasionally. If you do it all the time, anytime and anywhere, without stopping, then that won't work.
It's very tiring, and the burden is very heavy.
Anyway, Lin Tian felt that someone like Jackson, who had been putting on an act for over a decade, should most likely see a psychologist; he definitely had some kind of psychological problem.
In the fourth quarter, the Pacers continued with their all-bench lineup.
On the Knicks' side, Don Cheney thought long and hard, but he didn't dare to put both of his young stars on the court, nor did he dare to bench them. So he took out Stoudemire and let Anthony lead the substitutes to continue fighting on the court.
But to be honest, the two teams' mentality was completely different at this point. The Pacers were bursting with confidence, feeling that they would definitely be fine tonight, while the Knicks were somewhat doubting their existence.
It's normal that we couldn't beat the starting lineup and got schooled by Lin.
But with your lineup, Tony Parker and the other five, I still can't beat you?
At this point, theoretically, two completely different branches should be able to emerge.
An optimistic and competitive person: Impossible! Absolutely impossible! I'll beat him to death to prove myself!
A pessimistic and fragile person: I'm so bad at this.
Tonight's Knicks team has clearly headed down that latter path.
It's not that Anthony and the rest of the Knicks were too soft or weak; it's simply because they were too young, they hadn't experienced much adversity, and the Knicks lacked a true leader.
This person could be a player or a coach.
This person doesn't even need to be very strong. He just needs to have enough prestige to keep the place in check, to make everyone respect him, and to quickly rally everyone to his side when he calls out, "Brothers, roll up your sleeves and fight to the death with me!"
But the Knicks are missing just one player.
The only veteran on their team is Ward, but Ward isn't a talkative leader; he's just a good piece of the puzzle.
Furthermore, Don Cheney is not the kind of excellent coach who can unite a team and get them to fight back. As a coach, he's just so-so. The reason he can be the head coach of the current Knicks team without much pressure to achieve results is not because he's particularly good.
The most important reason is that it's cheap and its expiration date is approaching.
Dolan's only goal has always been next year's free agency market! Until then, everything else is just going with the flow, and that's good enough.
Don Cheney himself is well aware that although he will definitely not be fired this season, if his performance is poor and the team management does not value him, then this season will be his last season with the Knicks.
Both coaches had their own agendas, but the game on the court never stopped. In the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, the Pacers showed no mercy to the Knicks, who were playing with only one star player, and launched a barrage of attacks.
Although their abilities are just so-so and their accuracy isn't high, this group of people is really going through one of the craziest and most dangerous periods of their careers right now.
If you miss, fight for it! If you can't fight back, try to defend and get it back. If you can't defend, you absolutely have to score in the next round!
When the Pacers players showed this attitude, the Knicks naturally couldn't keep up with their intensity at all.
In just 3 minutes, the Knicks' semi-starting lineup was outscored 6-2 by the Pacers!
The point difference between the two sides has exceeded 20 points!
With only nine minutes left in the game, Carlisle didn't even call a timeout or give any tactical instructions. He simply waved his hand, and the five starters, including Lin Tian, stood up and walked to the center line together.
It's another five-in-five-out game; the Pacers are about to bring in their starting lineup to secure the victory!
Seeing the situation, Don Cheney quickly made substitutions, bringing on Ward, Stoudemire, and others, but he didn't dare to take off Anthony. He knew very well that if he took off Anthony at this point, the team would be finished.
As for what to do in the final moments if Anthony keeps playing?
This is not something Don Cheney should be thinking about right now.
His current goal isn't even to win the game anymore; he just wants to prolong the suspense of the game as much as possible, extend the possibility of winning, and leave a good impression on Lin Tian.
Yes, that's how humble I am.
But on the field, humility is useless; you have to rely on your strength!
To make matters worse, Carlisle deliberately shouted to the substitutes, "You played very well, far exceeding my expectations! You've worked hard, get some rest."
The entire Pacers team heard those words.
Several key players immediately felt a surge of anger rising within them.
What's going on? Are you targeting us? Do you think we didn't play well?
FUXX!
Kill them!
Kill the Knicks!
Then, the five Pacers players walked onto the court side by side!
The five people had a variety of expressions.
Artest and Haslem were glaring angrily, looking like they wanted nothing more than to tear their opponent apart and devour him.
As for the other three people...
Christie was stretching, Miller was twisting his shoulders a few times, and Lin Tian even yawned.
Well, Carlisle's words were completely useless against these three seasoned, intellectually-minded veterans!
Fortunately, there are still two hot-headed guys in the starting lineup.
And these two happen to be matched up against Anthony and Stoudemire.
What a coincidence! What a coincidence!
So... after the Pacers and Knicks made substitutions, things on the court became very interesting.
Lin Tian, Christie, and Miller, three smart guys, adopted the attitude of a team with a 20-point lead: control the time, advance steadily, look for opportunities, and then take their shots at a leisurely pace.
The main focus is on a peaceful and stable approach, taking it easy and slacking off.
However, Artest and Haslem...
Haslem was practically clinging to Stoudemire, with their bodies probably making close to 50% contact. Haslem was really giving it his all, completely surrendering himself to Stoudemire.
Haslem's head was completely stuck on Stoudemire's elbow. If it had been a fiercer guy who had just raised his elbow without a second thought, Haslem would probably have been lying on the floor.
But Stoudemire was clearly not tough enough, or rather, at only 19 years old, he didn't have that much courage yet.
That's not ruthless enough.
Not only is he not ruthless enough, he's also a bit cowardly.
Anyway, Stoudemire's attitude right now is: "They're already more than 20 points behind, why are you still playing so hard? What's the point? Dude, how much do you earn a month? Why are you playing like this?"
Or is there some kind of blood feud between us that I don't know about, a murder of my father or a wife-stealing grudge, that you're going to such lengths just to embarrass me?
If Stoudemire still had time to question his existence and wonder what had gotten into Haslem, Anthony was practically vomiting from being guarded so badly.
"I know your seventh great-uncle!"
Anthony's words alone are enough to show how pathetic he is right now; Artest really knocked him out of his wits.
Anthony wouldn't do something like trying to build connections on the court unless he was forced into a corner.
"My seventh son-in-law owes my family $500 and hasn't paid it back yet! I'm going to beat you up!"
"Seventh Uncle! Seventh Uncle! It's the damn Seventh Uncle! Oh! FUXX!" Anthony shouted twice in despair, then felt a pain in his ribs.
Artest elbowed him in the waist.
They both came from the streets and grew up fighting. When has Anthony ever been afraid of this?
He just felt it was unnecessary; the competition was already like this, why push himself so hard? Besides, he was genuinely exhausted.
But now you're doing this, you're bullying me like this, and I'm still going to put up with it?
You idiot! Even if you call me Uncle Seven now, it's too late! I'm going to beat you up!
"puff!"
Then came another muffled thud. Anthony, unable to control his emotions, lowered his shoulder and bumped into Artest's chest.
The force of that attack was so fierce and powerful that even someone as strong as Artest couldn't react in time and was knocked to the ground by Anthony.
Artest then instantly got up, took two steps forward and rushed in front of Anthony, raising his arms and shoving him forward.
"Are you fucking asking for it? This is New York, you dare hit me in New York?"
"I'll beat you up anywhere! I'm going to beat you up, you bastard, in New York!" Anthony was completely out of control at this point, and he raised his hand and shoved Artest again.
Then the two of them started exchanging a fierce barrage of insults.
Unfortunately, Lin Tian couldn't understand it; it was most likely New York suburban dialect slang.
I really couldn't understand it.
Just as the conflict was about to escalate, with the two sides about to go from shoving and exchanging insults to punching each other, the referee finally intervened.
"Stop! Stop it, both of you! Fux! You two, let go of me! Shut up, shut the hell up! I'm from Queens too, I know what you're swearing about! If you swear again, I'll punch you in the head!"
Thanks to the swift intervention of the three referees and the intervention of other players, the two-person conflict was prevented from escalating and quickly subsided. (End of Chapter)