Chapter 83 Tiger and Dog
At 7:30, both sides announced their starting lineups.

Knicks: He Zhongqiu, Kurt Thomas, Sprewell, Alan Houston, Howard Ellis
Magic: Shawn Kemp, Pat Garrity, Mike Miller, Tracy McGrady, Jacqui Vaughn

Tonight's game is the Magic's national live broadcast, broadcast live by ABC.

However, the equity of ABC's NBA live broadcast business actually belongs to ESPN, so ABC's NBA live broadcasts are often broadcast by ESPN commentators.

The commentators for this game were ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy Jr. and Michael Breen, and the TV station logo hanging in the live broadcast room was the joint logo of ABC-ESPN.

After a few opening remarks, Michael Breen read out the starting lineup, then smiled and said, "Dear fans, I believe you are all looking forward to the upcoming game, right?"

When Van Gundy was coaching, he was very old-fashioned and rarely smiled, but in the live broadcast booth, he was the exact opposite. He smiled and said:

"There are two biggest highlights of this game. One is the contest between T-Mac and the mid-range shooting king Alan Houston, and the other is the contest between the big and small rain men."

"Yes."

Michael Breen nodded and said, “The CIC King entered the league in 93, he is 32 years old now, and he has entered his peak period from 01 to now.

Especially his mid-range shooting, which has reached an unprecedented level of accuracy this season, with a terrifying 48.8% for close two-pointers, 49% for mid-range two-pointers, and 46.4% for long two-pointers.

These three data are all higher than his career mid-range shooting percentage, which shows that his condition is so good that he has really reached the peak level.

Van Gundy Jr. went on to say, “T-Mac entered the league in 97 and is now 23 years old. He is in his best form this season, averaging 32 points per game and is likely to win the scoring title this season.

Compared with Alan Houston, his mid-range shots are not accurate enough, and Alan Houston is more accurate in three-pointers, but his dribbling breakthroughs are sharper and more threatening, and his offense under the basket is more advantageous. "

Michael Breen nodded and said, “Offensive under the basket and dribbling through the basket are indeed the weaknesses of mid-range shooting king Alan Houston.

This season, his offensive share at the basket is only 6.6%, with only 1.2 shots per game, and a hit rate as low as 38.1%. He can only get 0.8 points per game at the basket.

T-Mac's offensive share at the basket reached 25.9%, his hit rate reached 58.6%, and he averaged 7.4 points per game at the basket, 6.6 points more than the mid-range shooting king. "

Xiao Fan continued: "So even though T-Mac's mid-range and three-point shooting are not as good as Alan Houston's, his overall shooting percentage is actually a little higher, reaching 45.7%, while Alan Houston's is only 44.5%."

Michael Breen then changed the subject and said, "Speaking of the Rain Man, right now, Wolverine is stronger in terms of strength. I'm talking about basketball strength, not fighting strength, OK?"

"Haha..." Xiao Fan laughed.

Brin then laughed and said, "He is still not as good as Rain Man in basketball skills. I am talking about before Rain Man fell from the sky."

Xiao Fan nodded and said, "Yes, before he fell from the sky. And now, if Rain Man can't lower his 140 kilograms..."

At this point, he shook his head with regret and helplessness, and sighed: "I'm afraid he will never be able to fly again. And a Rain Man who can't fly or jump and has lost his explosive power is no longer dominant."

"He is already 33 years old. Even if he reduces his weight to his peak of 230 pounds, 104 kilograms, he can't go back to that period."

Michael Brin shook his head and added, “So the competition between the Big and Small Rain Man tonight is actually just a gimmick.

The real highlight is that Shawn Kemp has just provoked Wolverine, and fans should look forward to seeing Wolverine's response.

Of course, I'm referring to the response on the court, not off the court."

At this time in the player tunnel, He Zhongqiu and others were preparing to go on stage.

A series of footsteps were heard from behind, and the Magic's five starters turned out from the corner of the corridor, stopped a few meters away, and did not come up again.

He Zhongqiu turned around and saw Sean Kemp.

Sean Kemp's eyes narrowed and he involuntarily avoided the knife-like gaze.

It's not that his temper is not bad enough. In fact, he is a very flamboyant person. He often dunks over others and then yells and screams at them and does extremely humiliating things.

The truth is, his energy and spirit are no longer good, his blood and qi are weak, and he is completely unable to withstand the suppression from He Zhongqiu on the spiritual and will level. In addition, Wolverine's extremely vicious reputation makes him much weaker in terms of momentum.

It's like a dog facing a tiger. The tiger's scent alone can make the dog lose heart and scare it to death.

He Zhongqiu just glanced at it and ignored it.

Even though he is not very strong now and his skills are far inferior to those of Rain Man in his prime, the current Rain Man is useless and is only worth this one glance from him.

The media compared him with Rain Man, but Rain Man disagreed, and he actually didn't agree either. The current Rain Man was not qualified to be compared with him.

……

At eight o'clock, the competition begins.

He Zhongqiu and Shawn Kemp stood together, preparing for the jump ball.

Although he weighs 115 kilograms, he has well-developed muscles and looks rather thin. Standing next to the fat Rain Man who weighs over 140 kilograms, he is only half the size of the other and is at least two sizes smaller.

Logically speaking, with such a huge difference in physique, Shawn Kemp, who was boasting before the game, must have stronger self-confidence and may have some provocative behavior.

However, facing He Zhongqiu, Sean Kemp seemed very quiet, with no trash talk, no provocative actions, and even his eyes looked obedient.

"I bet the Knicks attack first."

Seeing the big and small guys preparing for the jump ball, Michael Breen said in a teasing tone.

"Hehe..." Xiao Fan touched his bald head and laughed.

The next moment, the ball was thrown up, Shawn Kemp barely jumped a foot high, He Zhongqiu jumped high, pushed the ball away, and the Knicks attacked.

Alan Houston took the ball from Ellis and moved to the right wing three-point line, where McGrady came up to defend.

"Magic one-on-one, man-to-man defense." Michael Breen said immediately.

McGrady started out as a defender, and Alan Houston knew that very well, so he directly called for a pick-and-roll on Kurt Thomas, then broke through with the ball against the wall.

After only two steps forward, Magic power forward Pat Garrity switched defense and blocked in front, and then McGrady double-teamed him from the side. He immediately passed the ball to Kurt Thomas who was one step behind the three-point line.

"Bang!"

Thomas took a two-point shot, but missed. The basketball was a little short and bounced off the rim to the front right side.

He Zhongqiu predicted the direction of the rebound and then moved quickly.

Rain Man had the advantage in defensive position and reached the landing point in one step. The two had no chance to block and then jumped at the same time.

"Snapped!"

He Zhongqiu used his powerful bounce to grab the offensive rebound over Shawn Kemp's head.

After landing, he was two and a half meters away from the basket. He turned very flexibly, took a step forward, and suddenly jumped up, grabbing the basketball with his left hand and making a windmill dunk.

"boom!"

The short and intense sound of the rim blast silenced the Orlando Arena and also brought cheers from the Knicks bench.

"Very nice!"

Michael Breen shouted excitedly: "Wolverine grabbed the offensive rebound and then did a windmill dunk. Rainman Shawn Kemp moved too slowly. After losing the backcourt rebound, he couldn't keep up with Wolverine's attack rhythm at all."

Van Gundy Jr. said: "Rain Man can be said to be the founder of the beast-style power forward. In fact, I think Amare Stoudemire is the next Rain Man, not Wolverine."

"Location?" Michael Breen asked.

"Yes."

Xiao Fan nodded and analyzed: "The reason why Rain Man is called the founder of the Beast School of Power Forwards is, first, his historical talent, and second, his explosive ability to rush to the basket. These two abilities make him a tyrant under the basket.

The current Wolverine’s talent is no less than that of Rainman in his prime, but his ability to get to the rim is not as good as Rainman in his prime because of technical factors.”

Michael Breen nodded and said, "Outside the restricted area, Rainman still has a terrifying ability to rush to the basket when he has the ball. He can hold the ball outside the restricted area and attack the basket.

But Wolverine, only within the restricted area and within the range of three-step layup, has the ability to rush to the basket comparable to Rainman.

But outside the restricted area, because of his poor ability to integrate with the ball and his lack of basic dribbling skills, he has no ability to rush to the basket or attack the basket. "

At this time, the game had been played for several rounds and the Knicks led 6:4. After McGrady missed the shot, Kurt Thomas grabbed the backcourt rebound and the Knicks started to attack again.

"McGrady played very excitedly today, but he missed two shots," said Xiaofan.

"Puchi!" Brin burst into laughter.

The madman used the wall to break through McGrady from the right wing, and rushed to the right waist position to force Rainman to return to defend the basket. At this time, He Zhongqiu did not move a step outside the left waist position.

"Whoosh!"

The madman suddenly passed the ball sideways.

"It's going to be bad!"

Seeing this pass, Michael Breen exclaimed.

He Zhongqiu caught the ball with one hand, exerted force on his feet and took a step forward, stepping on the left waist, and then took another step and suddenly jumped up.

Rain Man took two steps from the right front side of the basket to the left front side. When he saw Wolverine flying in the sky, his face suddenly became very ugly.

The next moment, He Zhongqiu, full of terrifying explosive power, crashed into Sean Kemp like a bomber and knocked him directly under the basket.

"boom!"

Almost at the same time, under his tomahawk slam dunk, the fierce sound of the rim bursting made the Orlando arena quiet again.

"Crack, click, click..."

In the media seats, reporters including Zhou Biao, Lin Cheng and other Chinese reporters all used their cameras to freeze this moment.

"Oh, that's it, the same dunk as Rainman in his prime!"

In the live broadcast room, Michael Brin waved his fists and roared excitedly.

Van Gundy Jr. also shouted excitedly: "This is the best interpretation of the aesthetics of violence! The best interpretation of power!
As long as Wolverine can improve his fundamentals, he will have the opportunity to hold high the banner of the wild center and he will have the opportunity to attack every basket he sees. "

Rain Man Shawn Kemp gasped for air and stood up awkwardly after being pulled by his teammates Pat Garrity and Mike Miller. "Hey, you guys, you're in the way."

He Zhongqiu under the basket spoke in broken English.

"what?"

Sean Kemp and the other two were stunned. In anger, they all looked at He Zhongqiu.

"Crack, click, click..."

When some reporters heard this, they immediately began to press the shutter buttons frantically, ready to capture the next scene.

But nothing happened. Although Sean Kemp and the other two were very angry, they did not have the courage to resist under He Zhongqiu's terrifying knife-like eyes and Wolverine's reputation of KOing twelve people alone.

They all looked away, lowered their heads, walked aside and made way.

He Zhongqiu ran to the backcourt, muttering in his heart: "It seems that there are still many people in this world who know the current situation, and not all of them are brainless guys like Artest and Reggie Miller."

"Rain Man is so weak."

"It's not Rain Man's fault for being weak. After the battle with Conseco, who dares to provoke Wolverine again? Who dares to use violence against him again?"

"In the next game when the Knicks play the Trail Blazers, do you think Rasheed Wallace and his gang dare to explode in front of Wolverine?"

"Wolverine is like a prison guard, the prison team is as obedient as a cat, Rasheed Wallace didn't roar once throughout the game, he was very quiet."

The reporters in the media seats shook their heads regretfully and talked about the matter.

Hearing the comments of these American reporters, Chinese reporters such as Zhou Biao and Lin Cheng couldn't help but straighten their chests, and a feeling of honor arose spontaneously.

Two more rounds later, the Magic attacked.

Shawn Kemp entered the paint area from the right waist position and was blocked by He Zhongqiu. He Zhongqiu tried his best to defend him and push him out of the paint area.

He first used his explosive force, intending to break the opponent's center of gravity, and then use absolute strength to push the opponent out of the paint area.

This trick was very effective against Duncan, but it failed against Shawn Kemp.

"how is this possible?"

He was a little confused, but when he saw Rain Man's shaking fat, he immediately realized that his strength was eliminated by Sean Cann's fat body and the force was relieved.

In this case, he could only use his absolute strength and exert force, but still managed to push Sean Kemp away a step.

Although Sean Kemp has a large tonnage, his absolute strength is far inferior to He Zhongqiu. When he is stationary, his tonnage cannot withstand He Zhongqiu's extraordinary strength.

"it is good!"

Don Cheney and Thibodeau watched Shawn Kemp get pushed out of the paint and marveled.

Before, when He Zhongqiu refused to gain weight, they had some opinions, but now they don’t.

Given Wolverine's sheer strength, even O'Neal could withstand it in a static confrontation without any impact.

As for the Great Shark in motion, no one in this world can withstand that kind of terrifying impact force. Even if Wolverine gains weight, he cannot withstand the Great Shark in motion.

At this time, the Magic's ball was still passed to Sean Kemp who was pushed out of the paint area. After receiving the ball, he immediately turned upwards, attacked directly facing the basket, held He Zhongqiu with his right hand, and dribbled inside.

This offensive method is his best way of attacking the basket from the wing.

With his superb athletic ability and good skills, he was very useful in his peak period. If he could get through the defense, he could just slam dunk with great force. If he couldn't get through the defense, he could also end the battle with a hook shot or a shot.

However, he is no longer the Rain Man of his prime.

He Zhongqiu used his chest to defend, but Sean Kemp couldn't handle the force, his feet tilted outward, and he lost control of the ball.

The madman who came from the high position picked up the ball and immediately ran down quickly, making a layup.

The defensive madman Mike Miller is 203 cm tall and is a forward-guard swingman. In terms of speed, he is completely unable to keep up with the madman.

In the 7th minute of the first quarter, Sean Kampura went to the right wing to receive the ball and dribbled past He Zhongqiu.

"predict."

Sean Kemp, who actually weighed 143 kilograms, slammed his right shoulder and back into He Zhongqiu's chest. When the collision occurred, there was only a slight impact sound, without the heavy impact sound of a strong confrontation between inside players.

He Zhongqiu has not received any formal basketball training, but his low-post confrontation ability is as high as level 95. What does he rely on?
The first is powerful absolute strength, including extremely strong core strength; the second is muscles and bones that exceed the limits of ordinary people; the third is iron vest; and the fourth is skill.

But his confrontation skills are not those used in basketball confrontations, but the three-body stance training at the grandmaster level.

The桩功 provided him with an extremely stable lower body strength, which enabled him to use his body as strong as an ox to not only withstand extremely strong confrontations, but also to relieve the force during confrontations.

The moment Sean Kemp hit him, under the control of his core strength, his upper body subconsciously swayed slightly backwards, and the impact force formed by Rain Man's strength and tonnage was unloaded by him, but his lower body did not move at all.

Shawn Kemp found that he couldn't make the move, so he turned around and took a step back to take a jump shot.

"Snapped!"

At this time, He Zhongqiu quickly caught up with a step, and his body suddenly jumped up to surpass the height of Rain Man's shot. He slapped him from top to bottom, and the ball directly hit the audience seats.

"Be patient and die!"

Michael Breen praised loudly: "Wolverine blocked Rain Man's shot with a volleyball-style iron-blooded block. In the contest between the two, the up-and-coming player had the upper hand. The reign of the four super centers has come to an end."

The Magic had the ball and called a timeout when they were serving.

Van Gundy Jr. shook his head and said, "Shawn Kemp has lost his former strength and has shown no morale in front of Wolverine. He has completely lost the arrogant attitude he showed in the interview before the game. There is no suspense in the battle between the two."

Michael Breen nodded and said, “Yes, now we should watch the battle between T-Mac and Alan Houston.

T-Mac didn't have any breakthroughs in the first quarter, all of his shots were outside jump shots. After missing two shots, he made consecutive hits, making 4 of 2 shots, and his form has improved.

Alan Houston made 3 of 2 shots and was in good shape, but he didn't seem to have a strong desire to attack. "

Xiao Fan smiled and said: "Indeed, the mid-range shooting king does not seem to have any intention of competing with T-Mac. On the contrary, the madman has already taken 9 shots."

"The current score is 23:13. The Magic are trailing by a large margin. Let's see how they play after the timeout," said Michael Breen.

After the timeout, the Magic replaced McGrady with the bench lineup.

The Knicks also replaced He Zhongqiu, Alan Houston and Ellis with Harrington, Shandon Anderson and Charlie Ward.

贺中秋在七半分钟之内3投3中，拿到了6分3篮板1盖帽1失误1犯规的数据。

The two sides continued to compete, and the Knicks played well. After the first quarter, they were leading by 31 points with a score of 23:8.

He Zhongqiu came on in the fourth minute of the second quarter. Shawn Kemp did not play and he faced Magic backup center Andrew DeKlerk.

This is a 75-year-old veteran. 15% of his offense is at the basket, % of his offense is close to two-point shots, and % of his offense is in the restricted area. Similar to He Zhongqiu, he is a role player with no mid-range shooting ability.

He is 208 cm tall and weighs 115 kg. In terms of height, his muscle ratio should be higher than He Zhongqiu. In terms of physical strength, he is a size bigger than He Zhongqiu.

However, during the confrontation, De Klerk was no match for He Zhongqiu. He Zhongqiu dominated the basket in the second quarter and completely suppressed his opponent with his physical talent, forcing De Klerk to use foul tactics against him.

In a single quarter of 8 minutes, he made 6 of 4 shots and 6 of 3 free throws at the basket, scored 11 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, including two offensive rebounds, and blocked the opponent twice, shutting out the opponent.

“This is the crushing of talent.”

Michael Breen exclaimed as he watched the game.

"Talent comes first, technique comes second." Xiao Fan also said.

But the Magic were not defeated, and the Knicks did not take a big lead because Alan Houston only scored 4 points with 1 of 2 shots in the second quarter. As the team's first scoring point, his efficiency was low.

McGrady stepped up his breakthroughs, making 5 of 2 shots and 7 of 5 free throws in the second quarter, scoring 9 points. He also grabbed 4 rebounds and made two assists, leading the Magic to stabilize their position.

At the end of the second quarter, the Knicks led by 63 points, 51:12.

In the third quarter, Sean Kemp came on the court and made 2 of 0 shots under the defense of He Zhongqiu, but grabbed 3 rebounds.

Although He Zhongqiu was not good at skills, he relied on his talent to devour the useless Sean Kemp in the penalty area. He made 4 of 3 shots and 5 of 3 free throws in a single quarter, scoring 9 points and 26 points in three quarters.

But the performance of other Knicks players was not good. They missed too many shots and their hit rate was just over 7%. Many people made mistakes. In addition, He Zhongqiu also made a mistake in the third quarter, bringing the total number of mistakes in a single quarter to .

McGrady played poorly in this quarter. The Knicks switched defense on the outside and he was guarded by a madman. He broke into the basket and was blocked twice by He Zhongqiu. He made 2 of 5 shots in total.

But he grabbed 4 rebounds and blocked the madman twice, allowing the madman to make only 5 of 1 shots in the third quarter, and also gave two assists.

这一节打成20：28，三节83：79，尼克斯只领先4分。

Entering the final quarter, Sean Kemp, who had only played for 20 minutes, could not play anymore. Under the strong confrontation with He Zhongqiu, his physical energy was exhausted too quickly.

However, He Zhongqiu's physical condition was also poor. He kept struggling under the basket. His performance in the final quarter was also average. He made 3 of 1 shots, missed a rebound, and missed a dunk due to lack of physical strength.

In the end, the Knicks won the game 106:102, their longest five-game winning streak of the season, 15 wins and 16 losses, a winning percentage of 48.4%, and rushed to 9th place in the Eastern Conference.

贺中秋全场35分钟，16投11中，11罚6中，得到28分11篮板1助攻1抢断5盖帽4失误4犯规的两双。

This was also his second double-double and his second 20+10. With this data, he was selected as the best player of the game for the second time.

狂人23投10中，三分球4投1中，8罚7中，拿到了28分3篮板6助攻的数据。

中投王13投6中，只得15分3篮板1助攻。

In addition to these three people, Shandon Anderson, Ellis and Kurt Thomas also scored in double digits. A total of six players on the team scored in double digits, two of whom scored 20+.

For the Magic, McGrady had 28 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists, Mike Miller had 22 points and 7 rebounds, Pat Garrity had 19 points, and Jacqui Vaughn had 11 points. Four players scored in double digits.

Shawn Kemp made 6 of 1 shots and only scored 2 points and 7 rebounds.

(End of this chapter)