Chapter 729: Undefendable, Utterly Undefendable
"Relax. You did well this quarter. Do not put too much pressure on yourself," David Lee said, patting Klay Thompson on the back during the break.
However, he was clearly not very good at comforting people.
After hearing this, Klay Thompson's 1st reaction was simple.
Damn.
He still scored 29 points even though I did well?
Is that guy even human?
Fear and tension had been lingering in Klay Thompson's heart since the start of the game, because he was guarding the best shooting guard in the league.
After the 1st quarter, that feeling only intensified.
Mark Jackson also comforted Klay, telling him to continue defending the same way.
Mark Jackson was a coach who started from defense.
In his opinion, Klay had made no real mistakes in that quarter.
He had been completely outplayed simply because the opponent was Chen Yan.
Mark Jackson looked up at the scoreboard.
34 to 27.
Although Chen Yan had gone wild, the other Knicks players were cold. Mark Jackson felt that this game might still have a chance.
In the 2nd quarter, New York sent in its bench.
Yi Jianlian and David West partnered in the paint.
The Knicks current 2nd unit played from inside out, focusing on attacking the paint, with both Yi Jianlian and David West capable of initiating offense.
David West was not discouraged by coming off the bench.
He had always been a diligent player, and after checking in, he continuously attacked the paint and scored 4 points.
The commentators praised him generously, believing that David West had swept away the gloom and regained the form of an All Star power forward.
In fact, a large part of the reason David West could score consecutively was that Golden State's interior defense was weak.
Kwame Brown and the others were no match for him.
But it was undeniable that David West's form was indeed improving.
The other big man, Yi Jianlian, was not so lucky.
Because he was too eager to prove himself, he played poorly after coming on in the 2nd quarter, missing 2 open shots and inexplicably losing rebounds out of bounds.
Sometimes, the more a person wanted to prove himself, the easier it was to underperform.
The score was tied, and Monta Ellis came back early, leading the Warriors on a 7 to 2 run.
Immediately after, Chen Yan and Beverley entered the game together.
Nelson wanted to use Beverley's craziness to limit the red hot Monta Ellis.
The Warriors continued to use Klay Thompson to guard Chen Yan.
Chen Yan continued crushing his confidence.
After a crossover dribble, Chen Yan accelerated toward the left side, then immediately bounced back 1 step.
He made a step back jumper.
The light in Klay Thompson's eyes was slowly disappearing.
He could not even figure out Chen Yan's movements, let alone defend him.
On the defensive end, the Knicks selectively left Kwame Brown open.
Kwame Brown wanted the ball to prove himself, but his hand slipped, directly batting the ball out of bounds and almost hitting the baseline photographer.
The crowd erupted in laughter, all mocking Kwame Brown.
Kwame Brown returned to the defensive half with a blank expression.
Butterfingers was an old problem for him.
During his time with the Lakers, he had been criticized by many fans because of it.
Many fans thought this situation was caused by his lack of concentration during games.
But in reality, 1 reason was Kwame Brown's small hands.
He had a pair of small hands that did not match his physique.
As a big man over 210 cm tall, Kwame Brown's hands were even smaller than Chen Yan's.
When many people thought of basketball talent, they 1st thought of running and jumping ability, then basketball IQ.
Few people mentioned hand size.
It seemed everyone assumed this talent did not add much on the basketball court, but that was not the case.
Hand size determined a player's ceiling.
Jordan and Chen Yan were the best examples.
Big hands allowed a player to control the ball however he wanted.
A pair of large hands could support the ball handler's sudden changes of mind.
Of course, this had to be based on the ball handler having top tier skill and physical talent.
Otherwise, having big hands alone would not accomplish anything.
1 minute later, Kwame Brown was substituted out.
Kwame Brown had good physical talent, but he often looked lost on the basketball court, as if he did not know how to play.
This was related to confidence.
It was rumored that during his rookie season, he trained with Jordan every day.
With the God of Basketball as a sparring partner, the demands were naturally extremely high.
Kwame Brown spent almost every day enduring Jordan's sarcasm and scolding.
Over time, even without outside criticism, Kwame Brown himself began to believe he was a bust.
Barkley said, "Kwame Brown is out, and David Lee is back in. A lot of people are familiar with Kwame. He was the number 1 pick chosen by Jordan, and he spent time with the Lakers, a team with a huge fan base. His career averages are only 6 points and 5 rebounds. This season, the Warriors gave him a 1 year, 7 million dollar contract. A lot of people think that deal is not worth it. His performance tonight has not been satisfying either. He still needs to keep proving himself."
Kenny Smith said, "The fact that Golden State would give Kwame Brown that kind of contract shows 1 thing. There really are very few decent big men in the league right now. Any slightly useful blue collar big man can get a 10 million dollar contract, like New York's DeAndre Jordan."
Barkley nodded.
"Exactly. That is the point. Rarity makes things valuable. The league lacks good big men now, so big men being overpaid is normal."
Monta Ellis came off with 3 minutes left in the 2nd quarter.
He had entered the 2nd quarter early, and Mark Jackson was strictly controlling his playing time because Monta was constantly dealing with minor injuries.
The coach had to use him carefully.
Although Monta Ellis playing style was selfish, his ability was undeniable.
The Warriors could not simply remove him, because he alone accounted for more than 40 percent of Golden State's possessions.
Chen Yan erupted in the final 3 minutes before halftime.
First, he directly stole the ball from Klay Thompson's dribble, then went coast to coast for a dunk.
Klay Thompson had been shaken badly by Chen Yan and actually tried to break through Chen Yan's defense 1 on 1 from the front.
Chen Yan understood Thompson's dribbling ability, so of course he would not let him do as he pleased.
On the next possession, Chen Yan completed another steal, this time through early anticipation, intercepting David Lee's pass.
After the steal, Chen Yan drove forward alone and easily scored 2 points on a 1 on 0 fast break.
With 2 minutes left in the game, Chen Yan moved to receive the ball, faked out Thompson, and drew a 3 point shooting foul.
Warriors head coach Mark Jackson quickly substituted Klay Thompson out.
It was not because he was dissatisfied with Klay.
Quite the opposite.
He wanted to protect Klay.
As this year's rookie, Mark Jackson had high hopes for Klay, and it would be troublesome if Chen Yan destroyed his confidence in 1 game.
What Mark Jackson did not know was that Chen Yan did not need a whole game to make Klay depressed.
By halftime, Klay was already showing signs of depression.
He needed to go to a nightclub after work and party with 2 hot girls to heal his inner wounds.
For the next 2 minutes, Mark Jackson had Brandon Rush guard Chen Yan.
Rush was very familiar with Chen Yan, having faced him in college.
Back then, he had already been outplayed by Chen Yan.
After several seasons of evolution, he was even less capable of defending him now.
Within 2 minutes, the sentence Brandon Rush said most often was simple.
"Can't defend him."
"Absolutely can't defend him."
.....
https://discord.gg/KvMN2CFsMR
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]