Roger wasn’t angry and responded calmly: "Good, you’re finally not a doormat monkey. I’ve always been curious why you’re so loud with your teammates in the national team, but you don’t dare make a peep in the NBA. Now, I don’t have to worry about this issue. You’ve finally learned what it ans to give an eye for an eye."
Honestly, if Yao Ming dared to retaliate against Draymond Green for maliciously grabbing his ankles like Zach Edey did, his deterrence in the NBA would definitely be stronger.
"I’ll give an eye for an eye, Roger, I also want to win the championship!" Yao Ming wasn’t challenging authority for the first ti; he had once been the most daring person to challenge Wang Zhizhi in the CBA.
This ga was no longer about nationality, it was Warriors players vs. Knicks players.
The ga continued, and Roger still didn’t call for a pick-and-roll, because with KG’s presence, the pick-and-roll that he and Stoudemire were best at couldn’t exert its power.
Roger continued to go one-on-one against Battier, who, as usual, gave him a step, and Roger feigned a breakthrough, but suddenly stepped back beyond the three-point line. Battier had already given him a step, and with Roger’s step-back, his shooting space beca even bigger.
Battier, as usual, managed to disturb Roger’s shot a bit, but Roger’s touch was simply too hot tonight.
The ball went in again, this ti it was a three-pointer.
7-2, Roger pointed at his feet and said, "Shawn, if you keep defending like this, I can do this all night!"
Roger wouldn’t lie about such things, and Anne Hathaway on the sidelines could testify.
Battier still turned a deaf ear to Roger’s trash talk, convinced that his defense was the right strategy.
Forcing Roger to shoot under pressure from the least efficient spots, the data doesn’t lie, playing like this would surely reduce Roger’s offensive efficiency effectively.
As long as Roger’s efficiency was lowered and combined with the Knicks’ own outstanding offense, victory in the ga would surely be in the bag.
But soon, the Knicks encountered problems on the offensive end as well.
When Wade broke through again, Roger imdiately appeared beside the Little Prince, joining forces with him to trap Wade.
Wade passed the ball to Battier imdiately, but Jason Richardson rotated over quickly. Under his interference, Battier missed the three-pointer, and the Knicks’ offense fell into a quagmire.
Shawn Battier had a certain ability to respond, but he was never a high-scoring player. This season, he could shoot a 39% three-point percentage on average but hit less than one per ga.
In the playoffs, his output slightly increased, with an average of 2.7 three-pointers per ga.
But he still wasn’t the type of player who could decide the ga, as long as he wasn’t allowed to frequently shoot from open positions.
After receiving a pass from Marcus Camby, Roger quickly carried the ball past half court and then accelerated strongly from a spot three steps away from the three-point line.
Battier stuck close to Roger, maintaining his position at Roger’s front left. anwhile, Yao Ming and KG were also ready to close in.
But at a mid-to-long distance, Roger suddenly pulled up sharply and took the shot calmly.
He once again chose to shoot from where Battier hoped he would, seemingly on purpose, just to tell this new Heat addition: Do you really want to defend like this?
"Swish."
The basketball went in, and Battier frowned, his usually stable emotions affected by the failure of three consecutive defenses.
Why? Why is it completely different from what’s reflected in the data?
The mindset of Shawn Battier at this mont also once appeared with the Trail Blazers players in 1992.
Back then, the Trail Blazers also didn’t understand why Michael Jordan’s three-point shooting turned out the way it did.
Battier glanced at Lenny Wilkens, Roger’s forr coach, who waved his hand, aning not to change the strategy.
He wanted Shawn Battier to force Roger to shoot from mid-to-long range. If they hastily double-tead, the Warriors’ firepower would only beco more intense.
So, the rest of the ga completely turned into Roger’s personal hero performance.
Roger repeatedly used jump shots to pierce through the New Yorkers’ defense from the spot considered least efficient according to data.
In so respects, the Knicks’ defense was indeed correct.
Roger was forced to only rely on mid-to-long-range solo jump shots.
Attack the basket? With Yao Ming and KG, the Knicks were the best rim protectors this season.
Low post backdowns? KG’s double team would arrive as expected.
Signature pick-and-roll play? Sorry, KG’s presence ant the Knicks weren’t afraid of defending pick-and-rolls.
Ultimately, the Knicks’ defense was too perfect. Lenny Wilkens used the league’s best defensive resources to force only one way to win, which was continual solo plays from high positions.
Lenny Wilkens saw through all of this, Shawn Battier saw through all of this, KG saw through all of this, and so did Roger.
And none of them wanted to make adjustnts.
Lenny Wilkens didn’t adjust the defense strategy; he didn’t want to give other Warriors players opportunities. He acknowledged that Roger would score plenty of points, but he also firmly believed Roger wouldn’t kill the ga from that position.
In the previous round, the Lakers desperately pressured Roger, resulting in role players deciding the outco in gas 5 and 6.
Spoelstra also didn’t change the offensive strategy, allowing Roger to go solo. The more complex the tactics, the easier it is to find open shots, but it also ant more players were involved, giving the opponent chances to help on defense. Letting Roger go one-on-one was precisely what Spoelstra wanted to see; no one wanted KG and Yao Ming to get involved in defending Roger.
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