socalfunplaces Chapter 411 40:40:10? Lin Tian and Jordan utterly crush the Magic!
Chapter 411 40:40:10? Lin Tian and Jordan utterly crush the Magic!
McGrady faced Christie's defense again in the frontcourt. This time, McGrady did not choose to force a shot. Instead, he dribbled continuously and accelerated again. His legendary first step, which is said to be the fastest in the league, exploded in the blink of an eye, squeezing past Christie and gaining a body length advantage.
Then McGrady pushed Christie with his shoulder, and then accelerated again. His super long legs gave him a super long stride. By the time he took his second step, Christie was already completely behind him and couldn't catch up with him at all!
But then McGrady saw Jordan suddenly appear in front of him, standing firmly, looking like he was about to draw an offensive foul.
McGrady is one of the league's top swingmen, and his reaction is incredibly fast. In an instant, he realized that Mike Miller must have missed him. Then, with a quick glance, he saw Miller's position and immediately sent the basketball flying towards Miller!
"Thanks, Tracy!" Lin Tian shouted as he burst out from McGrady's blind spot!
This guy was obviously prepared in advance. After snatching the ball away, he pushed it towards the frontcourt with a slap. Then, without dribbling, Lin Tian went all out and sprinted!
On the track, Julius Caesar sprinted without dribbling, and no one on Earth could catch him on foot, let alone the Magic players!
Lin Tian sprinted forward without slowing down, leaving everyone behind before suddenly leaping up and slamming the ball into the basket with one hand!
"boom!"
After a loud bang, Lin Tian grabbed the rim with both hands and slammed it down, not forgetting to do a pull-up on the rim!
"Tracy, it's 2-2-0 now!"
"When will you score?"
"Don't fall too far behind, future scoring champion!"
Lin Tian was relentless and continued to trash-talk McGrady, refusing to believe that McGrady could hold back forever!
However, whether you can resist or not is not important.
If you can hold back, then you're disrespectful, and you deserve to be beaten up!
I couldn't hold back anymore. You bastard started trash-talking me, so it's only right that I beat you up!
Anyway, Lin Tian and Jordan are here to cause trouble today!
After missing two consecutive attacks at the start of the game, including one missed shot and one turnover, McGrady showed no intention of redeeming himself. This time, he dribbled to the frontcourt and immediately passed the ball to Miller before moving towards the weak side.
He wanted to create space for Duncan and Miller, allowing them to fight on one side at a time!
At the very least, the team must score first!
Duncan did not disappoint McGrady's expectations. He easily defeated short, stocky, stump-shaped defenders like Ben Wallace in the low post!
This guy turned around to face the basket, then shrugged his shoulders and made a useless fake move. Then he just pulled up—no, I mean, he just stood on his tiptoes and the basketball flew out of his hand.
"Snap, swish!"
After two crisp clicks, Duncan hit a signature off-the-back layup, giving his team their first points of the night.
Then, the Pacers finally launched their first positional battle of the night!
The Pacers' offensive positioning was incredibly arrogant! The entire team spread out rapidly, with Lin Tian and Jordan each standing on one side of the waist, while Webber held the ball at the top of the arc to observe the Magic's defense.
Ben Wallace guarded the basket, while Christie stood to Jordan's side to help compensate for Jordan's lack of three-point shooting ability, making Jordan a greater threat.
After observing for a moment, Webber decisively passed the ball to Lin Tian! After all, Jordan's side had two guys, McGrady and Miller, while Lin Tian's side only had Vaughn, who was just over 180 centimeters tall.
Lin Tian is now the nemesis of all short and thin point guards in the league!
His low-post game and power are absolutely a headache for any coach!
This time, as soon as Lin Tian got the basketball, he immediately exerted his strength to push backward, and then suddenly turned around towards the baseline to create distance. At this time, Vaughn was 2 meters away from Lin Tian. In addition, with the huge height difference between the two, Lin Tian easily lifted the ball and threw it!
"Whoosh!"
Even though Duncan completely boxed out under the basket, Lin Tian's offensive style, which was almost an open shot, rendered Duncan's boxing out completely useless.
What can he do?
If his teammates can't stop him and the opponent can't get in, even if he's the greatest power forward in history, he's helpless!
「4：2：0！特雷西，4：2：0！」
After Lin Tian scored, his trash talk to McGrady became increasingly brief, consisting of nothing more than numbers and names, but McGrady certainly understood what Lin Tian meant!
The one who understood Lin Tian's meaning and felt hurt was undoubtedly Jordan!
If you're going to spout trash, then spout trash. Why are you dragging me into this?
What?
Of course it's because I'm happy!
Lin Tian ignored Jordan's protesting gaze and quickly returned to defense.
In this round, it was Duncan again. This big guy once again raised his arms high and hit the ball, leaving Ben Wallace, who was at most 2 meters tall, helpless. He could do nothing but spread his arms.
"Doug, go over there! I'll stay here alone!" Jordan shouted to Christie as he moved, telling him to stand over to Lin Tian, otherwise Webber wouldn't pass the ball to them at all, seeing that there were two of them on their side!
Christie shrugged helplessly. He didn't want to offend Jordan over such a small matter, so he quickly ran over to Lin Tian. When he saw Lin Tian looking at him, he spread his hands and said, "Michael sent me over. If you tell me to leave, I'll just have to sit on the bench."
"Do you think I'm like some petty people! They complain and blame their teammates when they can't get the ball themselves. People like that are despicable!"
"Whoosh!"
While Lin Tian and Christie were badmouthing Jordan, Jordan had already hit a fadeaway jumper and scored two points! Unfortunately, he was being guarded by Miller, a guy who completely extinguished Jordan's desire to trash talk. So he looked at Lin Tian and said, "Lin, call out the numbers! Like you did just now!"
"8:4!" Lin Tian quickly and accurately announced the score on the court: "Michael, are you getting presbyopia? Can't you see for yourself?"
"Who the hell told you to report this! Report the scores of the three of us!" Jordan expressed his displeasure at Lin Tian's deliberate act of feigning ignorance.
"4:4:4!" Lin Tian announced another set of numbers.
"What 444? Who's 4?"
"Tim Duncan! He's got 4 points too!"
"Do I care how many points he gets?"
"But he's the Magic's best player! Don't you care about the opposing team's best player?"
"You two! Don't underestimate us!" Lin Tian and Jordan's banter at the top of the arc had McGrady thoroughly annoyed, so he simply yelled at them to shut up: "Play well, FUXX!"
Before McGrady could finish speaking, Lin Tian and Jordan were already rushing towards him from the left and right! Because McGrady's reaction was a tiny bit slow, he didn't even have time to raise the basketball high before passing it. Lin Tian poked him in the waist, and the basketball went out of control!
Then Jordan quietly elbowed McGrady, making it impossible for him to turn around. As for Lin Tian, he had already accelerated and sprinted to the frontcourt with the basketball, delivering a fast break gliding dunk!
"Tracy, you asked for it! You wanted us to play a good game! We're just fulfilling your wish!" Jordan shrugged, looking relaxed and carefree.
That kid is nothing to worry about!
The entire Magic team is also insignificant!
When Ma Long was on the team, it was somewhat respectable; at least someone could command respect.
But now that Malone is gone, McGrady and Duncan are both quiet and reserved guys. If they lead the team, the team atmosphere won't be bad, but it will lack someone who is willing to shout and yell, boost morale, and increase team cohesion and unity.
"6:4:0!" Lin Tian shouted the three-man stats comparison as he passed McGrady.
It's not very harmful, but extremely insulting!
Because in the following rounds, the first two numbers continued to increase rapidly, while the last number was spinning extremely slowly!
"9:7:3!"
At the end of the first quarter, Lin Tian shouted at McGrady again, "Keep it up, Mr. Scoring King!"
Want to be the top scorer? I'll be chasing you down and yelling at you today!
Lin Tian and Jordan dominated the Magic's entire perimeter game. All the Magic's perimeter players, including McGrady, performed terribly, with McGrady being the worst performer!
Although this guy is facing Christie's defense tonight, as soon as he gets the ball and starts an attack, Lin Tian and Jordan will immediately rush over from some incredible angles and directions to double-team him!
It's only because McGrady reacted quickly enough, and his vision and passing skills are top-notch among the 2-3 positions; otherwise, he would have had at least 4-5 turnovers in the first quarter alone, instead of the current 2.
In addition, his shooting touch was also very poor. He made 1 of 5 shots and 1 of 2 free throws in the first quarter, scoring only 3 points in total!
Of the entire Magic team, only Duncan performed normally in the first quarter. He scored 8 points and grabbed 4 rebounds in the first quarter, which barely prevented the team from falling too far behind the Pacers.
But as everyone knows, Duncan alone was clearly not enough for the team to withstand the Pacers' onslaught and ultimately win.
To win the game, McGrady must play brilliantly; to secure a victory tonight, McGrady is the Magic's most important asset!
So, during the break, Rivers once again pulled out his motivational speech technique, prying open McGrady's mouth and shoving a bunch of words into his mouth!
Regardless of whether his motivational speech contained any ridiculous additives, McGrady's performance was noticeably different after drinking it, especially with nine minutes left in the second quarter!
The corners of his eyes, which were always droopy, seemed to have opened a little!
You know what, Rivers's motivational quotes are actually good for your complexion, and they even have cosmetic benefits!
31: 20!
At this moment, the score difference between the two sides has reached 11 points!
After McGrady came on, seeing that Lin Tian and Jordan were not there, he didn't hesitate at all. The confidence brought by the inspirational speech increased rapidly. After two consecutive crossover fakes outside the three-point line, he pulled up and shot!
His signature pull-up three-pointer!
In the first quarter, he was heavily guarded by Lin Tian and others, so he didn't have the opportunity to find his rhythm with consecutive crossovers. But now, facing Christie alone, McGrady played with complete ease and confidence!
"Whoosh!"
The three-pointer traced an almost imperceptible arc and swished perfectly into the pocket!
After scoring, McGrady was about to pump his fist to express his excitement when he saw Parker and Arenas walk off the court, and Lin Tian and Jordan re-entered the game!
"Fuck you! Damn it!" As soon as he saw the two players enter the court, McGrady stopped throwing punches and shouting. Instead, he shook his head to express his frustration.
"McGrady's move is really demoralizing!" The experienced Kenny immediately noticed McGrady's frustration: "As the team leader, even if he was indeed targeted badly by Lin and Jordan in the first quarter, he shouldn't have shown such obvious frustration."
"This kind of mood will quickly spread to the teammates, making them lose their spirit too! After all, if the team leader is like this, what can you expect his teammates to do?"
"McGrady has been in the league for six years, and his ability is undeniable, but he still hasn't learned how to be a successful leader! I don't know if it's his problem or Rivers' problem, but either way, maybe that's the difference between him and top perimeter players like Lin, Michael, Kobe, and Iverson!"
"He's a bit weak!"
It must be said that Kenny's evaluation was quite tactful, saving face for McGrady.
If it weren't for the live television broadcast, Kenny would have given McGrady a good dressing down for that disheartening behavior of suddenly stopping his celebration and turning around to swear!
Anyway, back in their day, if someone played like that, they would definitely be bullied to a pulp by all the thugs in the league!
Tonight's McGrady was no exception!
The Pacers then stopped letting Christie guard McGrady altogether and started playing Jordan instead!
Jordan was also very experienced in dealing with tall forwards like McGrady who could dribble the ball a lot off the ground!
Back then, Drexler was almost completely outplayed by Jordan in a one-on-one situation!
Tonight's McGrady will be no exception!
Not to mention, Jordan also had Lin Tian, that incredibly cunning guy, who was always ready to launch a sneak attack!
McGrady knew how unpredictable Lin Tian's movements were, and how cunning and treacherous he was, so when he dribbled tonight, he felt incredibly awkward and frustrated.
He spent at least 30% of his energy looking around in all directions, in case Lin Tian suddenly appeared and double-teamed him to steal the ball.
And as it turns out, when Jordan is defending a player with all his might, and there's a monster like Lin Tian lurking around, ready to steal the ball at any moment, no one can play well!
McGrady was among them!
This guy played terribly in the second quarter, even worse than in the first! The pep talk Rivers gave him was only enough to get him to make that one three-pointer. After that, McGrady went 0-for-4 and scored no points in the entire second quarter!
With 8 seconds left in the second quarter, Jordan dribbled at the top of the key and faced off against McGrady once again!
Just as McGrady crouched down, preparing to defend the ball and redeem himself, Lin Tian suddenly appeared beside him, providing a screen for Jordan.
Jordan then immediately passed by Lin Tian's side, and Lin Tian also sped down from the other side.
Just as McGrady turned around to chase Jordan, Jordan delivered a one-handed bounce pass to Lin Tian.
This time, McGrady didn't have time to turn around. He could only turn his head to look at Lin Tian, hoping that his teammates could step forward and stop Lin Tian.
But the basketball never even stayed in Lin Tian's hands.
The moment Lin Tian touched the basketball with one hand, he slapped it back towards Jordan.
It was still a ground bounce, and it flew past in a place that McGrady could see clearly but couldn't reach.
This time, Jordan received the ball and immediately drove into the paint, ready to jump and attack the basket right in front of Duncan.
Duncan took a step to the side, spread his arms, and without jumping, perfectly blocked Jordan's path.
Jordan passed the ball again, and it flew back to Lin Tian's hands. At this point, Lin Tian had already completed a cut and reached the edge of the three-second zone. As for McGrady?
This guy has given up on defense, his hands shrugged in frustration.
He was blaming substitute defender Armstrong for not keeping up with Lin Tian.
This behavior is undoubtedly childish and immature.
McGrady, you've already given up on defense, and you still have the nerve to blame your teammates?
Especially since the Pacers' offense wasn't even over yet!
Duncan was facing two opponents under the basket, and he was doing his best to defend the ball, trying to block Lin Tian and Jordan's double-team.
But clearly, Duncan is just a "Stone Buddha," not a "Buddha."
Duncan simply couldn't do that!
After Jordan passed the ball to Lin Tian, he couldn't keep up with their speed and could only stand there with his hands raised.
He had no other way to defend himself except to hope that Lin Tian would fly straight at him.
After all, if he had taken just half a step forward, Ben Wallace behind him and Michael Jordan beside him would have had an easy opportunity to dunk!
He would rather watch Lin Tian shoot than give Jordan the basket.
"Whoosh!"
Seeing that Duncan wasn't coming up, Lin Tian certainly wasn't going to be foolish enough to just rush in.
No need!
With a sudden stop and a smooth, effortless floater, Lin Tian easily scored 2 points!
"Whoosh!"
At the same time, almost the instant Lin Tian's shot hit the target, the first half of the game ended!
62: 42!
The Pacers are leading the Magic by a whopping 20 points!
"19:17:6!"
This time, it was Jordan who ran up to McGrady and read out tonight's stats once again.
This guy has been waiting for a long time, and finally got a chance to spew insults like this.
There was nothing that could be done; Lin Tian talked too much! Jordan didn't find an opportunity to directly criticize him throughout the entire first half.
Since Lin Tian said it almost every round, Jordan couldn't just parrot it, could he?
I care about my reputation!
「我猜下半场比赛结束的时候，这个数字会变成50：17：8！」在乔丹话音落下之后，林天快速的走到麦迪身边，跟着补刀：「又或者是55：20：10！」
"Anyway, you're dead tonight!"
"You think I won't score in the second half?" Jordan slapped Lin Tian on the head, rubbing his hair, and said, "Or are you going to just get 3 points? Huh?"
"Envious, Michael?" Lin Tian suddenly said, seemingly out of context, "Envious of this beautiful hair? You'll never grow any hair in your entire life!"
"Go to hell, you bastard!" Jordan said, and tried to forcefully shove Lin Tian's head down. But who was Lin Tian? Not only was he fast, but he could also fight!
He ducked and dodged, then quickly turned and flashed past Jordan almost like a blur!
Then, by the time Jordan realized what was happening, Lin Tian's hand was already rubbing his head.
"You still say you're not bald? You still say you can grow hair? Do you think I can't tell the difference between a real bald person and someone with bald patches? You don't have any hair on your head at all! Not a single one!"
"Nonsense! Yes, it can! If I wanted my hair to grow, it could grow back in a heartbeat!"
"Then let it grow!"
"I don't want to!"
"Did the Queen not pass the throne to you because you didn't want to, Michael?"
The two bickered as they walked until they reached the locker room.
As usual, the Pacers' locker room was jubilant tonight. The players were very relaxed, knowing they had the game in their grasp. Given the Magic's performance in the first half, a comeback seemed inevitable.
They can't even flip a pancake over! Let alone turn it over?
"Keep going, kill them!"
Carlisle's halftime strategy was quite simple and direct: to crush the opponent without leaving a trace!
"Lin, Michael, in this game, raise your average points by a mile. And that McGrady guy, keep his scoring below 10 points! Then, completely kill his hopes of catching up to you two as the scoring champion!"
"He actually did have that thought. I thought he was joking," Jordan said, chewing gum. "In this league, if I wanted to, I would always be the scoring champion."
"No, not just as long as you want to, but as long as I want to!"
Lin Tian corrected Jordan, saying, "I hope you are, you are. What if I hope you aren't?"
"Then you can't catch a single ball!"
"I'm chatting with the coach, what's it to you!" Jordan's temper flared up instantly, and then his long-suppressed gambling desire flared up!
Once this thing comes on, he gets hooked!
Once you're caught up in it, no amount of persuasion will work, and you won't be afraid of anyone!
"I'll bet you! In the second half, I don't need a single assist from you, and I'll still score the highest points of the game!"
"Michael, don't act impulsively," Lin Tian patted Jordan on the shoulder. "Why are you so upset now?"
"I'll bet $10!" Jordan's eyes widened; it had been a long time since he'd bet such a large sum.
"Great! That's generous! $10!" Lin Tian's stance changed incredibly quickly. Just a moment ago he was an anti-gambling crusader, but now he pulled out a pen and paper, looked at the rest of the team, and said, "Place your bets now!"
"Buy my ass! What if they buy you and I don't pass the ball to you? What if they buy you and you don't pass the ball to me? If they join, it won't be fair!"
"In the second half, I'm going to play myself!"
Actually, whether Jordan plays himself or not makes little difference these days! As long as the opponent doesn't double-team him and the intensity isn't too high, Jordan is like a fish in water, able to defeat anyone he faces!
So whether Lin Tian feeds him the ball or not, as long as he's in a one-on-one situation, his chances of scoring are very high!
For example, at the beginning of the third quarter, Jordan scored three consecutive points over Miller's head!
"I thought you'd at least have the guts to defend me and match up against me."
When Jordan saw that McGrady wasn't guarding him, he snorted, full of disdain for him.
This was the worst draft class Jordan had ever seen!
Lin Tian: That's because you haven't seen the later ones. Once you see them, you'll know that each year is worse than the last!
In particular, those rookies you've chosen are all the more impressive!
A guiding light for talent shows? That's just a joke.
Lin Tian even suspected that when he took Jordan to the entertainment venue to select players, if Jordan said "next batch," then this batch had to be kept! There must be some unexpected gains in there!
On the contrary, if Jordan said "not bad," then it was all over! You had to say, "Get a new batch!"
What is a reverse beacon?
This is!
After all, it's a draft, no matter how it's done, whether it's a one-night stand or a whole season, it's still a draft! Jordan wasn't good at either of those!
At the start of the third quarter, Lin Tian and Jordan were locked in a fierce battle!
At this moment, the two of them stopped competing with McGrady, who had played terribly in the first half, scoring only 6 points on 2-of-9 shooting.
It's getting boring. The first half clearly left this little guy completely bewildered.
In the second half, just leave him to Christie!
As for Lin Tian and Jordan?
Lin Tian was on the left, Jordan on the right; the two almost never appeared on the same side of the court. Like kings of a mountain, each had drawn an invisible line, telling the other, "Don't come near me! This is my territory!"
The two players' playing styles are quite balanced.
Lin Tian gets one round, Jordan gets one round.
Although they didn't discuss this at all during halftime, when the game started, they were able to start bickering or playing around with perfect chemistry!
Unfortunately, the Magic had no way to deal with them. Duncan was indeed a huge threat in the paint, but these two guys almost never attacked the paint. Instead, they repeatedly humiliated the Magic's defense with their back-to-the-basket moves and mid-range jump shots.
The scores of these two players also skyrocketed!
On the Magic's side, McGrady was targeted too hard in the first half, and even with Christie taking over defense in the second half, he couldn't find his rhythm. His signature pull-up jump shot had an even flatter arc, and the ball he released made a series of loud thuds.
"31:30:10!"
This is the trash talk that Lin Tianchong and Tracy McGrady uttered at the end of the third quarter.
He and Jordan both scored in double digits in this quarter, and their competition had entered a heated phase.
As for McGrady, he was completely lost. He went on a shooting spree in the third quarter, only making one field goal, and even the two free throws he made weren't drawn by him!
The two free throws came from a technical foul by Ben Wallace and a defensive three-second violation by Miller.
Tonight he's completely back to 96.
At that time, Lin Tian and Jordan led their team to a staggering 70 wins in the league, while McGrady was still a high school senior, full of wonderful aspirations for life!
70:89!
Even though McGrady played so poorly, the score difference between the two sides narrowed to only 19 points by the end of the third quarter.
The Magic haven't fallen too far behind, and even managed to close the gap by 1 point in the third quarter, not because of McGrady's missed shots.
They relied on Duncan's tireless and patient scoring under the basket, and on Mike Miller finding his touch, hitting three three-pointers in a single quarter!
Of course, the most important reason why they weren't left behind wasn't actually Duncan and Miller scoring continuously.
Lin Tian and Jordan were basically just playing around!
The two of them didn't pass the ball to each other or run any plays; they played with incredible ease on the court, but also somewhat excessively casually.
Therefore, although their scoring efficiency was good, the team as a whole did not develop any chemistry or beautiful team offense, and their firepower was not maximized at all!
In other words, one of these two is the former King of the League, and the other is the current King of the League and the King of Indiana. The rest of the Pacers team joined in the fun, not feeling like they were just there for show, but rather finding it quite amusing and even a bit funny.
What kind of person would sit on the court and let two people split up on opposite sides to give you a back-to-back one-on-one lesson?
Kobe wanted to learn this and even spent a lot of dollars on it!
However, although the players were happy to watch, they were also happy to coast on the court, since they were still leading by almost 20 points.
But if the players are willing, Carlisle can't stand it!
As soon as the third quarter ended, the young coach, though not outright cursing, was clearly not in a good mood.
"Did you have fun?"
"I'm happy." Lin Tian nodded, indicating that he had enjoyed it.
"Want to play a little longer?"
"No need, just kill them!" Jordan knew when to stop, and quickly said, "Three minutes! Let's extend our lead to 30 points!"
"I'm giving you five minutes," Carlisle said, looking at Lin Tian and Jordan. "Break the score to 30 points within the last five minutes of the fourth quarter, or whatever happens next, neither of you will be playing!"
"Sit on the bench and reflect on your actions! And regardless of whether you two complete the task or not, increase your training volume by 5% when you get back! The court isn't a place for you two to fool around!"
"I'll add 10% myself, Coach! Michael, forget it," Lin Tian said. "He can't handle it."
"I can't handle it? I'll add 20%!" Jordan stood up and yelled, "In my entire life, there's never been a training session I couldn't handle!"
"Deal! Coach, he'll add 20% himself, so I won't add anything, okay?" Lin Tian chuckled, looking at Carlisle, waiting for his instructions.
"Get out!" Carlisle felt like his blood pressure was about to burst out of his head.
With two bastards like these under your command, how could anyone not have high blood pressure?
The other 28 head coaches in the league: Me! I'm fine! Give them to me! Give them all to me! If all else fails, even one will do! (End of Chapter)