The Knicks' defensive strategy is to resolutely defend James alone, strictly guard against others, and ensure that the player with the ball is not disturbed. Irving and Love were not decisive in attacking and passed the ball to James. James is the most efficient in the team and his shooting percentage is guaranteed. When someone is defending in front of him, his teammates will pass the ball to him. This is a habit developed in the regular season. James had an advantage in singles against Parsons, and also caused Parsons to foul out twice and leave the game early. The Knicks replaced Butler as the main defense. The two are also old rivals. Butler is not afraid of confrontation, and James plays with his skills again, finding space to score jumpers. The Knicks blossomed more under Zhou Xuan¡¯s organization, and everyone took shots. The Knicks led 34-3 in the first quarter. James scored 17 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist. Zhou Xuan had 9 points and an assist, a near double-double. In the second quarter, both sides sent substitutes, and the Cavaliers took the initiative. Dellavedova controls the ball, Waiters plays the main attack, Marion and Mike Miller are the forwards, and Varejao is the center. Thompson and Jones are still sitting on the Cavaliers' bench, and no one is redundant. The Knicks' Jefferson leads the bench, Gordon and Ellington form the outside line, and the forwards are Butler and Beasley. D'Antoni's idea is to let Gordon be responsible for the organization, with three people on the fast break, and Beasley actually plays as a small forward. The idea was good, but there were problems in its implementation. Gordon passed the ball too poorly. Bledsoe's injury is a big test for Gordon. Not everyone can have a good mentality and perform self-hypnosis like Zhou Xuan. He has a lot of veteran experience, but no organizational aspects. Gordon only sent out one assist and made two mistakes. The Cavaliers took the opportunity to counterattack. Waiters made two fouls and made all four free throws. After that, the Knicks played more conservatively. They couldn't do a good first pass on the fast break, so they could only stay in position and rely on Jefferson to attack. Varejao was once selected to the All-Defensive Team. He is not a fuel-efficient lamp. Jefferson made 2 of 4 shots and scored 4 points. ??The inside players have a 6% shot rate. If they cannot attract double-teams and score the ball to form assists, the efficiency is not too high. It takes ten attacks to score 10 points. If you score three goals in ten three-point shots, you can score 9 points with a 3% shooting rate. If there are no shooters on the outside, even with O'Neal's dominance, it will be difficult to win in the playoffs. In 196, all four Lakers All-Stars were swept by the Jazz. The Knicks are not as good as the Cavaliers in terms of rebounding. Marion and Varejao are very good at rebounding. Four and a half minutes later, the Knicks fell behind by 6 points. D'Antoni had no choice but to send Zhou Xuan and Parsons on to the court in advance to replace the poor performance of Butler and Gordon. Without Bledsoe, the Knicks' bench strength has declined, and Zhou Xuan must increase his playing time. Zhou Xuan stabilized the situation with a three-pointer when he came on the court. He took the baseline ball and carried it across half court, pressed Jefferson's back to the three-point line, pulled it up and made a shot. Facing this kind of cover, Dellavedova didn't know what to do. Marion was also blocked by Jefferson and had no time to go around from the side to block the shot. Miller missed a jump shot and the rebound was grabbed by Jefferson. Zhou Xuan caught the ball and advanced quickly, deliberately looking for a trap in the half court, and staggered when he bumped into Dellavedova. The referee immediately called a foul. The out-of-bounds ball was sent out and Zhou Xuan passed the ball to Beasley. The latter received the ball and missed the layup. It was a good opportunity, but it was a pity. The Cavaliers counterattacked quickly, Waiters missed a breakthrough jumper, and Beasley grabbed the rebound and fell into position. Zhou Xuan changed to a pick-and-roll attack with Jefferson, Marion switched defense, and Zhou Xuan gave the ball to Beasley. Beasley ran up the line and distanced himself from Varejao. After receiving the ball from the right side, he hit a three-pointer at 6 degrees to equalize the score. After the goal, Beasley was very excited and returned to defense with a single fist raised high. Zhou Xuan raised his eyebrows at him. Thumbs up. As long as the opportunity is good, he will pass it, even if his teammate is Beasley. The Cavaliers attacked, James broke through with the ball, Beasley resisted James, and the two fought against each other and reached the low post together. When Beasley didn't reach out, James stumbled to one side, trying to commit a foul. The referee ignored him, James kept playing steadily, and the fans in the audience booed. Many of Zhou Xuan¡¯s flops were real falls, because he was not strong enough and could easily be knocked to the ground, and the referee would blow the whistle. As the strongest small forward in the league, James often dives, which has caused a lot of controversy. James once publicly stated: "I never dive and there is no need to flop." Ironically, in 2013, a netizen made a nearly 7-minute collection of James' flops, and it must be more frequent now. Moreover, James was fined $66 by the league for flopping in the Heat, becoming the first person in the history of the Heat. If he did this at the Knicks' home court, he would only get boos. "Come on, hit me." Beasley spat trash at James. James wanted to take the opportunity to turn to the baseline, and Beasley followed. James forced a shot and missed with one hand. Beasley is one of the forwards in the league who can resist James. He has a strong physique and is not slow. DeanTony decided to let him play defense. Zhou Xuan just proposed to do this in the audience. Beasley is an arrogant person. If he is asked to guard role players, he may become a walking zombie and find it not difficult. Let him guard James, and he can get 2 points of energy. James is much more famous than him and is a big name. Is there any better way to prove oneself than to guard against the death of a big name? Before the game, Zhou Xuan also supported Beasley, igniting a fire in his heart. Some people just need a little trust, like Zach Randolph. In the second half of the quarter, Beasley defended very well. Even if he was passed, the foul was timely, sending James to the free throw line, which made James very depressed. This is called barefoot but not afraid of wearing shoes. Beasley couldn't guard him. No one said anything. He was just a role player. But it would be a bit embarrassing if James' defensive efficiency dropped by Beasley. The Knicks led by 6 and 9 in the first half. While the Knicks had many players scoring in double figures, the Cavaliers relied on the Big Three to attack, and the others had little performance. Barkley of TNT Radio commented: "When James arrived with the Cavaliers, they immediately turned into another Heat team. A few people scored and others watched and waited for opportunities. Marion, Miller, and Thompson did not play much time. They can't use their strengths." Smith said: "If they want to take advantage of it and contribute to the team, playing next to Zhou Xuan is a better choice." Barkley said with a smile: "The Knicks have also failed to play. People, such as Stephenson. After arriving at the Hornets, he let go and his shooting percentage was only 3. The coaching staff was very wise not to use him. He was too easy to get hot-headed." In the second half, David Blatt made bold adjustments. Play with Martin and partner on the outside. James was in charge of the organization. The height on the court is increased, the defense can be better, and Love and Thompson are still inside. Love¡¯s perimeter defense is poor, so the Cavaliers chose a pure small-ball lineup and asked Love to play center. The Knicks also made adjustments. Center Bosh and Jefferson rested to strengthen their defense on the outside. Anderson and Parsons were swinging forward, and the three frontcourt players were able to clear the inside, allowing Zhou Xuan to break through. The Cavaliers tried every defensive method they could think of, including James guarding the basket. The Knicks used Love to attack in misplaced positions. Love went to guard the side, and the Knicks' inside line also covered the side to help Leonard escape. The Cavaliers' offense mainly relies on James. He scored 15 points in a single quarter, 3 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists in three quarters. Despite their amazing performance, the Cavaliers still trailed by 6 points entering the fourth quarter. The Knicks offense is better. Zhou Xuan had 18 points, 17 assists and 1 steal in the three quarters. In the fourth quarter, the Knicks suddenly began to double-team James, leaving Marion and Thompson to shoot. It is difficult for James to get a chance to shoot when facing double teams. He does not force the ball and focuses on the outside. Marion made 0 of two shots and Thompson made 0 of 2 shots. These two players didn't take many shots in the three quarters, they had no touch, and they were a little hesitant to shoot at critical moments. Although Marion did not assume the main offensive role when he was with the Mavericks, he was at least a scoring point, averaging double figures per game. When he arrived with the Cavaliers, he usually worked as a blue-collar defensive player, averaging only - points per game. Marion, who is approaching 37 years old, has seen a significant decline in his condition. With few shots taken throughout the regular season, his shooting ability has deteriorated and his main way of scoring is back-up throws. The same goes for Thompson, who only averaged B2 points per game this season and is mainly responsible for defense. He was still able to make mid-range shots last season, but now he's shooting less and his confidence is weakening. Failure to seize opportunities at critical moments. Under Zhou Xuan¡¯s organization, the Knicks stabilized their offense and widened the point difference to 16 points. Parsons, Anderson, and Bosh made three-pointers. Barkley said: "The Knicks used the same method to deal with the Cavaliers before James left. James opened up in the first three quarters, and his teammates did not get many opportunities to perform, especially the role players who hardly took any shots. In the last quarter, James was double-teamed. Something went wrong." Smith sighed: "In the summer, people were excited about Love partnering with James, thinking that two people with super statistics could perform very well together. However, Love's shooting percentage was not high, only 40%. There were less than 10 rebounds, James did not attract double-teams, and Love shot misplaced shots when there was interference. David Blatt requested a timeout and said to James on the sidelines: "LeBron, You play the 4th position, and we have to attack. You switch to the pick-and-roll, play in the low post on the offensive end, attract the defense and then distribute the ball. , Kevin (Martin), and Mike (Miller) received the ball and took bold shots. "The Cavaliers must attack hard. There is not much time left for them. Without shooters, the Knicks may continue to compress the defense and form double teams in the low post. . So Martin replaced Waiters. Before James came on the court, he was thinking about how he could assist his teammates in making a three-pointer. Zhou Xuan's style of play also gave him some inspiration. It seemed easy. He was obviously more tired than Zhou Xuan, but he was still lagging behind. What exactly is going on? In fact, James is essentially the same as Kobe. They both belong to the ball dominance type and need to occupy the ball for a long time. It¡¯s just that he is a slightly better passer than Kobe and only gave out two more assists. In the Knicks, Zhou Xuan does not take the most shots. He often takes less than 10 shots in a game. As a result, the touch of his teammates is fed out. It can be said that Zhou Xuan has been preparing for the playoffs all season. The coaching staff also does a good job in arranging defense. After five seasons of running in, the Knicks are paying more and more attention to changes in the overall rhythm.