Chapter 994
: Let's give the young men a boost! Lin's trashy chapters are back in action!
"Smooth, freehand, fluid, and graceful; although flashy, it doesn't feel superfluous at all." Jackson added, "Lin's shot was a textbook example of a smaller player hitting a bigger one! It would be hard for anyone to do it better than him."
"This shot proves that Lin is in absolutely excellent form right now! Now let's see how he plays next, whether he continues to fire away and score more points?"
The commentators were having a heated discussion, but Lin Tian on the field disappointed them once again.
This guy only attacked once, but in the following rounds, he once again switched to taking on 'behind-the-scenes work', distributing the ball to his teammates and organizing the overall game, while he played his own game at a leisurely pace.
When Durant returned to the court after a few rounds, Lin Tian seemed to be coasting even more. If young people who had never seen Lin Tian play saw him tonight, they would definitely think that he was just a traditional point guard like Kidd.
Even the Bobcats players seemed a bit demoralized at this point.
It wasn't that the game wasn't exciting, nor that the offensive duels between Rose, Kobe, Durant, and others weren't entertaining; it was simply that they wanted to see Lin Tian!
With four minutes remaining in the second quarter, Phil Jackson made another substitution, replacing Kobe, who had been on the court the entire second quarter, with Parsons back in.
The Lakers' lineup on the court at this moment consisted of Bynum, Durant, Parsons, and Will Barton.
And of course, there's Lin Tian.
Although this roster has two rookies, with Bynum and Durant on the team, their offensive firepower is not lacking at all.
This is why, despite the Lakers being considered to have the worst bench strength in the entire league this year, many people still have high hopes for them.
Because they can field at least two of the league's top offensive players anytime to ensure the team's firepower, while their bench is weak.
Our starting lineup is top-tier in the entire league, that's enough!
But after Kobe left the game, the Lakers' offense suddenly hit a bottleneck.
Lin Tian found Durant and Bynum in succession, but neither of them managed to score.
Another time, Parsons found an open cut, but Yao Ming blocked his layup with a powerful shot.
The Bobcats, a team that has experienced the Finals and the baptism of adversity, naturally wouldn't miss such a good opportunity. Taking advantage of the Lakers' brief scoring drought, they executed a series of beautiful plays, with Rose, Yao Ming, and others scoring in succession. In just 2 minutes, they unleashed an 8-0 offensive surge.
When Kobe left the game, the score was still evenly matched at 50-51.
But with two minutes left in the second quarter, the score was already 50-59!
The Lakers are about to fall behind by double digits in the blink of an eye!
"The Bobcats are amazing! Lin laid a really good foundation for them. Of course, Stevens, the young coach, also performed admirably in the first half. The Bobcats, led by him, are just as promising as last season!"
"No need for a timeout, let's cheer up and catch up!"
When the team was about to fall behind by 10 points, Lin Tian made a gesture to Jackson and then signaled everyone to relax.
It's time to get serious.
At that moment, Jackson was actually a little dazed.
After all, Jackson had seen this scene many times more than 10 years ago when he coached Lin Tian. Seeing him do this again tonight, Jackson, who originally wanted to get up and call a timeout to calm down, immediately sat back down.
Lin Tian dribbled the ball slowly to the frontcourt, and then made a gesture that excited all the fans in the stadium and even those watching on television.
He made a circle in the air with one hand, signaling his teammates to spread out!
"Island tactics! Lin's favorite and most anticipated signature tactic!" Jackson shouted.
"It's also the least tactical tactic." Miller laughed beside him.
Yes, if you just go one-on-one, what tactical complexity do you need?
"Come on, coach! I've been waiting for this for ages!" Rose was completely excited at this moment, clapping his hands and going all out on defense.
He and Jeremy Lin are definitely the people who know best how strong Lin Tian is. Last season, after training, they would get thoroughly thrashed by Lin Tian!
They knew how well Lin Tian was in good physical condition, and they also knew how terrifying he was.
Faced with Rose's provocation, Lin Tian remained calm and composed. He stepped forward with one foot and dribbled between his legs continuously. Then, Lin Tian suddenly took a small slide to the left, stepping his left foot forward and to the left. However, after only touching the floor once, Lin Tian immediately retreated.
The step he took was at most half a step, but when he retreated, the range was much larger, comparable to 1.5 steps. It was a huge step backward, and after landing, he immediately picked it up and threw it away.
The perfect connection left Rose no time to close the gap. Although he had tried his best to interfere, Rose knew that with Lin Tian's shooting ability, he couldn't interfere with Lin Tian at all by rushing over like that.
"Shh!"
Then came a crisp sound as Lin Tian's step-back layup went in, narrowing the gap between the two sides to 6 points!
"You're still not good enough." After scoring, Lin Tian looked at Rose and said with a smile, "If you want to beat me, aren't you far from being good enough?"
Lin Tian spoke as he backed away, but he still didn't match up against Rose.
There was nothing we could do; it was Jackson's arrangement.
Jackson pitted Barton, who was taller than Lin Tian and had excellent speed, impact, and aggressiveness, against Rose.
Rose was also looking for revenge against Barton's defense; at the very least, he wanted Lin Tian to be his matchup, right?
Rose immediately executed his signature crossover dribble and accelerated past Barton's defense in a flash. His speed is absolutely top-tier in the league!
But Ross had only taken one step forward when Parsons appeared out of nowhere and surrounded him.
Rose reacted very quickly. The chemistry the team had developed last season meant he didn't even need to look; he simply made a no-look pass to Odom, who was left wide open by Parsons.
Odom got the ball and was quite stylish, slapping it behind him with both hands as the basketball flew back towards his back.
DeRozan happened to run past Odom at that moment, and the two of them executed a screen and pass, which could be considered a variation of a handoff.
But Odom's screen was completely ineffective in stopping the defenders chasing DeRozan.
Lin Tian!
This guy clearly anticipated what Odom was going to do, and twisted his body in advance to squeeze through the gap between Odom and DeRozan, continuing to relentlessly press DeRozan.
"Come on, you coward!" Lin Tian roared immediately. "No cover, you don't even have the courage to make a move? Look at me, you bastard! Look at me! You don't even have the courage to look me in the eye, what the hell are you going to do to get into the All-Star game?"
Lin Tian wasn't going to talk about teacher-student relationship with DeRozan at this moment. He started spewing insults and launching a fierce counterattack, almost making DeRozan lose his footing.
"I told you to practice three-pointers, but you just wouldn't! If you knew how to shoot threes, would I have been able to catch up to you on this shot? If you knew how to shoot threes, would I have been able to squeeze past you on this shot? You would have just created space and pulled up for the basket!"
"Useless trash! You just won't listen when I tell you to, and even if I do, you won't do it right. If I argue with you, you still won't listen. If you don't listen, you won't say anything. If you don't say anything, you still won't practice. Who's to blame? Is it my fault?"
Lin Tian was now fully in the zone.
In particular, he's completely taken to spewing trash talk.
Lin Tian's frantic outburst left DeRozan, whose mental fortitude was already quite ordinary, somewhat bewildered, and he couldn't help but pause for a moment.
If you hesitate when facing Lin Tian, aren't you just courting death?
"Snapped!"
With a crisp sound, Lin Tian seized the opportunity and slapped the basketball out of DeRozan's hands. This time it was completely different from the first quarter. This time DeRozan had no time to regain control of the basketball and could only watch as Lin Tian caught it in his arms.
"Defense! Defense! Watch out for fast breaks, protect the rim!" Ross, who was getting closer and closer to becoming a top-tier commander, quickly ordered his teammates to retreat and defend. At the same time, he didn't run towards Lin Tian himself, but shouted loudly, "Demar, defend close to him! Stick to him! We'll cover the back."
Reminded by Rose, DeRozan quickly perked up again and immediately stuck close to Lin Tian, hoping to slow down his advance.
Unfortunately for him, Lin Tian charged forward this time!
After he caught the basketball, he made a crossover, tricking DeRozan into shifting his weight slightly to one side, and then Lin Tian immediately accelerated and darted past him on the other side like lightning.
After Lin Tian dodged the attack, DeRozan naturally couldn't catch up with him anymore; the speed difference between the two was simply too obvious.
As Lin Tian sprinted to within two steps of the Bobcats' three-point line, Rose once again appeared, blocking his path. Unfortunately, Lin Tian ignored him again, instead abruptly stopping in front of Rose and launching a long-range three-pointer!
"Shh!"
With another crisp sound, Lin Tianqiang, overpowering Rose, launched a long-range chase-down three-pointer!
"How arrogant! How crazy! How unreasonable!" Miller immediately launched into a series of parallel sentences.
"Insane choices, shot timing and shooting range that could make Jeff have a brain hemorrhage, a completely unreasonable and defense-ignoring crazy style of play," Jackson continued. "That's Lin! That's Lin's signature style of play during his prime."
“Even though Lin has been playing like this for many years, and even though some young people in the league have started to imitate Lin’s playing style, every time I see that kind of pull-up three-pointer, I want to rub my eyes to make sure it’s real.”
After Lin Tian hit two three-pointers, the Spectrum Center responded with cheers and shouts from the fans, showing their affection for the guy who led them to the championship last year.
But Lin Tian didn't have the same affection for the Lynx players.
After scoring, he immediately yelled at Rose, "Defense, can you even defend properly? I beg you, defend properly, don't get distracted, don't daydream, don't let me win, unless you want me to kill you, or you've already done your best?"
"No wonder so many people were able to put up such great performances against us last season. I thought Jeff's defensive system was outdated and terrible. Now it seems Jeff is innocent. It's you who are so bad that our defense is so bad."
"How come I never realized you were so annoying before?" Faced with Lin Tian's machine-gun-like barrage of trash talk, Ross couldn't help but retort, "I've lost all respect for you!"
Whether you respect me or not is not important, but honestly, can you try your best to earn my respect?
Lin Tian retreated while spraying, and now that he was about to retreat to the vicinity of the midfield, Lin Tian immediately turned around and left, finding DeRozan again.
I, Lord Lin, am extremely obedient to tactical orders!
I never hit randomly!
"Demar, why aren't you saying anything?" But switching onto DeRozan didn't stop Lin Tian's barrage of words. Instead, he quickly said to DeRozan, "Call a timeout, Demar, or what if you wet your pants? I feel like you might pee at any moment."
"You've been completely crushed by me, haven't you?"
After criticizing Rose, Lin Tian then launched into a tirade against DeRozan; his mouth was now completely in action.
Just as Lin Tian had predicted, DeRozan was now somewhat out of sorts after being relentlessly criticized and ridiculed by Lin Tian. He wasn't even as proactive in his positioning and seemed more like a passive observer.
Lin Tian also keenly noticed that DeRozan was standing still outside the 45-degree three-point line to give the team enough space to carry out tactical plays.
But Lin Tian knew the Bobcats' tactics all too well!
Even if Stevens made some changes and upgrades during the offseason, the foundation laid by Lin Tian will not change.
So when Lin Tian noticed Rose and Boozer setting a pick-and-roll, and Yao Ming was moving quickly toward the perimeter, Lin Tian also moved!
Instead of double-teaming Rose or interfering with Rose and Boozer's pick-and-roll, he ran straight to the corner.
Of course, he ran stealthily, keeping himself in Rose's blind spot, and didn't just accelerate like crazy.
Next, Rose, who had just reached the inbound line, was met with help defense from Bynum. Rose immediately passed the ball to the corner, where Yao Ming, the Bobcats' top shooter, was supposed to be waiting.
But tonight is clearly not normal; the Lakers still have Lin Tian!
Lin Tian, who understands the Bobcats' tactics better than anyone else!
Just as Rose accelerated, Lin Tian also increased his speed to the maximum, directly cutting between Yao Ming and Rose!
Unfortunately, Rose had already passed the ball out at that moment, and there was no time to retrieve it!
This pass looked just like Rose's direct pass to Lin Tian—it was incredibly accurate and powerful, landing right in Lin Tian's arms.
"Thanks, Derek! I knew we were still good buddies!" Lin Tian shouted, and without stopping, he charged forward.
They launched another counterattack.
This time, the Bobcats' defense was even better than before, because Lin Tian's starting position for the steal was almost close to the baseline. No matter how fast he was, it was difficult for him to overtake the Bobcats players at the top of the key or the top of the arc by a large margin at that distance.
But for Lin Tian, who has just scored two three-pointers in a row, is there any need for this?
Why must we surpass the Bobcats' players?
He moved to a position two meters outside the three-point line again, then suddenly stopped, bent his knees, and pretended to collect the ball.
If 99% of the players in this league were to make this kind of fake bowing gesture in this area, they wouldn't fool anyone.
But Lin Tian is different.
He's already widely recognized as the guy who loves to shoot super long three-pointers in the entire league, and now that he's hit two more in a row, Lin Tian's threat level is absolutely at its maximum.
So Lin Tian made a feint, which immediately caused Ross to shift his center of gravity and move closer to Lin Tian.
Just that close proximity was enough for Lin Tian to achieve a breakthrough!
He immediately accelerated and flashed past the Lynx's first line of defense.
At this moment, Lin Tian was fearless and unstoppable!
At this moment, Lin Tian pushed his speed to the limit once again; he had only one goal—
Basketball hoop.
Yao Ming stood under the basket, not out of position. Seeing Lin Tian coming towards him, Yao Ming also calculated the timing and rhythm and jumped up suddenly.
Although his jumping height is not high, his absolute height is significant, and his deterrent and oppressive presence under the basket is absolutely top-tier in the league.
But Lin Tian was clearly not afraid of Yao Ming!
No matter how strong Yao Ming's rim protection is, how does it compare to Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and Alonzo Mourning?
Lin Tian wasn't afraid of those people, so why would he be afraid of Yao Ming?
"Oh!"
With a muffled thud, the two men clashed head-on in mid-air, their bodies pressed tightly together.
Then Yao Ming waved his arms, trying to press down on the basketball in Lin Tian's hands.
But Lin Tian pulled the basketball to the side in advance, dodging Yao Ming's outstretched arms. Then Lin Tian roared and exerted force.
"boom!"
After the loud bang, Lin Tiankong used one hand to pull away from Yao Ming's defense, and then suddenly exerted force to slam the ball into the basket!
Another dunk!
The two landed one after the other. Lin Tian looked at Yao Ming from the ground, his domineering and imposing gaze no less than when he was young.
"Why don't you gain some weight?" Lin Tian said casually, but the impact was huge: "Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll have to keep a dozen or twenty of you locked up tonight."
Yao Ming certainly didn't believe it when he heard that there were a dozen or twenty.
But he doesn't look well either.
Because of that collision, Yao Ming felt nothing but helplessness and powerlessness.
It seemed like he was just a hair's breadth away from making the block, but Yao Ming knew that in that situation, even if it happened 10 more times, he would have a hard time making a single block.
This feeling of frustration is so unbearable.
In particular, Yao Ming even felt that the gap between the two was widening.
The two are clearly 7-8 years apart in age.
I have entered a period of decline, and my physical fitness and ability to fight back have visibly begun to decline.
But what about Lin Tian?
She looks exactly the same as when she was 25.
Thinking of this, when Yao Ming looked at Lin Tian again, her eyes even held a hint of resentment.
That's not fair! (End of Chapter)