Chapter 691: At Least Trust
The Knicks inbounded the ball, and Curry dribbled past half court with Gerald Wallace closely trailing Chen Yan.
As an experienced defender, Wallace understood the importance of applying tight pressure on Chen Yan from the start.
If Chen Yan was allowed to get hot, tight defense would become useless.
Deron, however, did not stick too closely to Curry.
Offensive players like him usually prioritized saving energy for offense.
Chen Yan made a reverse cut and accelerated, but he still could not shake Gerald Wallace.
Curry glanced at him and decided to take the shot himself.
Curry called for a screen.
Lopez switched onto him, while Deron positioned himself in front of Kenyon Martin, making it difficult for Curry to pass the ball.
Curry pulled back to create space.
Lopez stepped forward, and Curry used a Buddha Pose to get past him.
Curry continued driving right, and Anthony came over to help.
At that moment, Chen Yan had already moved to the corner.
With a flick of his wrist, Curry passed the ball to Chen Yan.
Chen Yan did not shoot. Instead, he immediately made a horizontal pass to the open Battier.
A very good opportunity.
However, Battier missed the open shot.
Anthony then took another step back into the paint and secured the rebound.
Deron gestured for the ball.
After bringing it past half court, he ran a pick and roll.
Lopez received the pass in the restricted area and prepared to post up high, but Kenyon Martin had chosen his position well, blocking Lopez from turning.
"Here!"
At that moment, a voice came from the 45 degree angle.
Anthony had used a screen to get open.
Lopez threw the ball with both hands, and Anthony's 3 point jumper went in.
5 to 0.
New York offensive possession.
Chen Yan used Battier's off ball screen to receive the ball at the top of the key.
Anthony and Gerald Wallace immediately double teamed him.
Chen Yan passed to Battier again, and Battier took a long 2 point shot.
"Swish!"
This time, it went in.
5 to 2.
Nets possession.
Deron decided to attack by himself this time, using a screen and a hesitation move to drive hard toward the basket.
Kenyon Martin came over to help defend, and Deron shot a high floater to avoid the block.
Missed.
The Knicks found a fast break opportunity.
Chen Yan pushed the counterattack past half court and passed horizontally to Curry.
Curry drove straight to the basket in 3 steps.
Facing an open rim, Curry prepared to show off a dunk.
But just as Curry was about to jump, he slid out of bounds with both himself and the ball.
A burst of laughter came from the crowd, while Knicks fans awkwardly covered their eyes.
Fortunately, Curry was not injured.
Chen Yan stepped forward and helped him up.
"Fxxk! Why is the floor so slippery today?" Curry complained.
"Say no more. I understand," Chen Yan replied, patting his head.
"Oh! Stephen sent himself out of bounds on that play," Magic Johnson said. "It looked like he wanted to dunk."
"When it comes to dunking, he still needs to learn from Chen Yan," Van Gundy said.
"Maybe it is precisely because he learned too much from Chen Yan that we just saw that," Magic joked.
8 minutes into the 1st quarter, the Knicks were still trailing.
Their 3 point shots were not falling tonight, and they could not find their rhythm in transition, constantly being suppressed.
The Knicks made some substitutions, bringing on Barea, but the effect was mediocre.
The 1st quarter ended with New York trailing 28 to 22.
In the 2nd quarter, both teams benches came on and traded blows.
The Knicks bench relied on Barea as its main scorer, while the Nets relied on future CBA legends MaShon Brooks and Gerald Green.
MaShon Brooks was a rookie this year, averaging around 11 points per game this season and providing significant firepower off the bench.
At least so far, there was no sign that he had the potential to join the CBA.
The Nets bench further extended the lead.
After about 4 and a half minutes, both teams brought their starters back in.
Chen Yan used consecutive perimeter shots to close the gap, but the Knicks defense ran into problems again.
The Nets had been shooting well since the 1st quarter, and New York chose to expand its defense, which gave Anthony and Lopez opportunities.
The 2 continuously attacked the basket.
By halftime, the Knicks trailed 56 to 45, an 11 point deficit.
In the 2nd half, the Knicks and the Nets engaged in a high scoring battle.
Chen Yan wanted to take over the game, but the Nets saw through it and immediately double teamed him.
Whether he had the ball or not, there were always 2 people near him, and sometimes even 3 or 4.
Chen Yan found it very difficult to play both on ball and off ball.
The Nets tactical execution tonight was extremely firm.
Shut down Chen Yan.
The reason they dared to do this was because New York's perimeter shooters were performing poorly.
In the 3rd quarter, when Chen Yan was heavily surrounded, the shooters still hit a few 3 point shots.
But in the 4th quarter, they went completely cold.
The deficit once stretched to 18 points.
Chen Yan took the ball and attacked aggressively.
His form was still excellent, and he once narrowed the gap to within 10 points.
However, the Nets did not collapse in the final moments.
They continued attacking hard in the paint, drawing fouls even when they missed.
Combined with the deep hole New York had dug earlier, the Knicks ultimately could not turn the tide and lost Game 1, 109 to 97.
Chen Yan scored 36 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists for the game, with 16 of those points coming in the final quarter.
Fans could not fault Chen Yan's performance tonight.
Even while being heavily surrounded, he still delivered a satisfactory report card.
In contrast, the help he received from the other Knicks players was very limited.
Curry had 18 points and 5 assists.
Kenyon Martin had 12 points and 9 rebounds.
Battier had 9 points and 5 rebounds.
Al Harrington had 7 points.
At the press conference, Nelson said frankly, "We did not play well tonight, but the morale of the team will not be affected. Losing 1 road game is not an unacceptable result. We will grow from this defeat. The Nets did better in the details, but only in this game."
Chen Yan's statement was simple and direct.
"We will win the next game."
After the game, all Knicks players returned to New York.
New York and New Jersey were separated by only 1 river, so they did not have to stay there until the next game.
The next day, reports came out from all sides suggesting that Chen Yan was still too unselfish.
If he had played every quarter the way he did in the 4th, perhaps the Knicks would have won.
Chen Yan was the leader of the Knicks.
Regardless of his personal performance, once the team lost, he would always become a target for criticism.
Chen Yan had long understood this and would not be bothered by the media.
As for whether he would increase his personal firepower in the next game, or continue organizing and guiding the team's offense, that would depend on the situation.
After 1 day of rest, both teams faced off in Game 2.
The Knicks were full of confidence.
Losing 1 road game would not discourage them.
Both teams kept their starting lineups unchanged.
This time, Kenyon Martin won the jump ball.
The ball was tipped directly to Chen Yan.
After bringing it past half court, Chen Yan waved his hand.
Isolation.
He was going to take the 1st possession himself.
Chen Yan continuously dribbled between his legs at the top of the arc, shifting Gerald Wallace's center of gravity.
In the previous game, Wallace's defense had generally been good, preventing Chen Yan from exploding.
But in this game, Wallace remained cautious and did not dare relax for even a moment.
Chen Yan gradually increased the range of his movements, then suddenly drove left.
Gerald Wallace retreated to follow.
The moment Wallace retreated, Chen Yan also took a step back.
On camera, the 2 looked perfectly in sync.
Wallace's focus was extremely concentrated, and he immediately stepped forward.
Chen Yan held the ball with his left hand and performed a Buddha Pose.
Wallace froze in place.
Whether to bite on Chen Yan's Buddha Pose had already become a league wide dilemma.
Chen Yan could dominate players across the entire league with this move alone.
Yet the scariest thing was that this was only 1 tool in his arsenal, and not even his most signature one.
Gerald Wallace hesitated for half a second.
Then Chen Yan pulled up directly from the top of the arc.
Wallace only extended his hand after Chen Yan had already jumped, causing almost no interference.
"Swish!"
The shot went in cleanly.
Before the ball even dropped through the net, the Knicks bench was already waving towels.
That was their most basic trust in Chen Yan's 3 point shooting ability.
.....
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