pdf-ebookys Chapter 751 Influencing the Field from All Sides! Another Hidden...
Chapter 751 Influencing the Field from All Sides! Another Hidden...
"A five-second violation for turning one's back to the opponent!"
The referee made a call that is extremely rare in basketball.
This is a new rule that the NBA suddenly implemented in the early 21st century.
The rule states that when an offensive player is in their own frontcourt, below the extension of the free-throw line, they may not dribble the ball with their back to or side to the basket for more than 5 seconds.
Some say this rule is aimed at Barkley, at how this fat guy's endless back-to-the-basket moves on the basketball court affect the entertainment value of the game.
But anyone who has carefully studied the rules will know that this has absolutely nothing to do with Barkley!
Barkley retired happily after winning the championship in 98, but this rule was announced during the 2002 offseason.
Even if Barkley was incredibly powerful, he wasn't so powerful that the league needed to introduce rules to limit him four years after his retirement.
Those who are more familiar with the NBA and the origins of this rule believe that it was designed to limit Shaquille O'Neal's unstoppable one-on-one play under the basket.
Strictly speaking, this idea is not wrong. At least in the original timeline, it makes sense because everyone knows that the league introduced this rule to target players who are good at backing down their opponents.
The player with the best back-to-the-basket game and the strongest low-post ability in the league is Shaquille O'Neal. When the rule was introduced, O'Neal was creating the OK dynasty with Kobe Bryant and was at the peak of his career. It was only normal and reasonable for the league to introduce a rule to limit him.
Of course, the alliance has never said, nor could it say, that this rule is targeted at or restricts anyone, as that involves the principle of fairness.
The fundamental reason why the league set this rule is actually quite simple: back-to-the-basket moves don't look good.
Back-to-the-basket moves are nowhere near as exciting as the dribbling and flying around like forwards and guards!
What they're after is the league's viewership and market share.
But that's something from another time and space.
In this timeline, O'Neal has never won a single championship, and the OK duo has repeatedly fallen short in the Finals. Considering the Los Angeles market and the popularity of those two guys, it's already quite generous of Stern not to introduce rules to help them win the championship.
limit?
It's obviously impossible!
The reason for the creation of this five-second rule and who it was intended to restrict is a matter of much debate in another timeline, but there has never been a definitive conclusion.
But in this time and space, everyone has a fairly clear answer.
In order to restrict Lin Tian.
Or rather, to make it look better for that bastard Lin Tian to fight!
From the league's perspective, Lin Tian has at least 200 ways to score or help his teammates score, but he always chooses to back down when facing short, thin point guards, and it's the kind of back down that requires the least skill and relies purely on his physicality.
What kind of entertainment value is that?!
Which fan buys a ticket to watch you, Lin, shove your butt around, then turn around and score two points with a layup or a floater?
What's even more disheartening for fans and the league is that Lin Tian clearly possesses some of the league's best post-up skills!
He could easily follow in the footsteps of Jordan and Kobe, making his technical back-to-the-basket game his signature move and calling card.
Turn back-to-the-basket moves into an art form, and then let everyone become captivated by them.
But Lin Tian is different!
He clearly has the plating skills of a Michelin three-star chef, but he insists on just throwing together the dishes haphazardly at a street food stall.
It's really disheartening.
Therefore, in order to make Lin Tian's playing style more attractive, and to prevent other popular backcourt players in the league from imitating Lin Tian's style of play, the league chose to introduce new rules to limit these guys who like to cheat.
The NBA is a show!
The league won't create any special rules to restrict anyone; it will only implement new guidelines to make the games more exciting and entertaining.
Well, at least that's what Stern said.
As for what he was thinking?
Anyway, Lin Tian guessed that it was most likely: "You little brat, get your ass up here! Go show off your dribbling and drives from the high post!"
Honestly, although this rule was introduced a long time ago, almost no players take it seriously and study it carefully, and very few referees actually keep it in mind and blow their whistles to annoy the players from time to time.
The so-called 5-second rule is inherently somewhat vague and arbitrary.
What is the area below the extension of the free throw line? Isn't that up to the referee to decide?
Does the five-second count start from the moment the player turns their back to the basket, or from the moment they begin dribbling and attacking?
In short, referees rarely call this violation, and the league has always been too lazy to enforce it.
The players are well aware of this and will consciously avoid it; they won't deliberately challenge the referee's bottom line.
But Lin Tian took on this challenge in this round. He received the ball with 22 seconds left on the shot clock and started backing down the ball until the referee blew the whistle, when there were less than 7 seconds left on the shot clock.
15 seconds!
For a full 15 seconds, Lin Tian stuck his butt out onto Paul.
They've practically killed him.
As for how many times he touched Paul in the so-called "area below the free-throw line extension" and whether there was a 5-second violation, the referee himself was not sure.
But the referee was certain: he was still a human being and had to have humanity.
Human beings cannot stand by and watch this kind of bullying on the sports field go unchecked!
Paul is really going to be driven crazy by this!
If the whistle isn't blown soon, Lin Tian will probably dribble the full 24 seconds and then just take a shot at the last second, whether it goes in or not is up to fate, the main thing is to make Paul feel happy.
Let alone the referee, actually the fans at the stadium and the fans in front of the TV, well, everyone who watched this game could feel Lin Tian's purpose in this round.
However, while Knicks fans would only cheer and shout, the referee would transform into Captain Dragonfly, appearing in time to say: I can't stand this scene, and then stop the game!
Lin Tian seemed quite unconcerned about the whistle, casually shrugging his shoulders before passing the ball to Paul and asking, "You think you can escape this misery after one more half-quarter?"
"I'll make these 50-plus minutes of competition a nightmare for the rest of your life! I'll make these 50-plus minutes of competition a nightmare that will forever haunt your sleep!"
"The nightmare isn't ending, it's just beginning, Chris! We'll see!"
Paul felt incredibly wronged and helpless at Lin Tian's relentless and determined attack on him.
No, brother, I surrender!
I admit defeat. I admit I'll never be your match. I'm already thinking about the NBA next season. Why are you still trying to beat me to a pulp?
A famous gambling master from China once said: "Surrender and you lose half!"
Why don't you listen to this person? Why don't you take their advice?
Why didn't they just give up and lose half? Instead, as soon as they saw me surrender, they gave me a double kill?
What did I ever do to deserve this?!
Lin Tian ignored Paul's shouts.
In my Lord Lin's hands, there is no such thing as surrendering and losing half the battle; the only principle is that if you surrender, you continue to fight to the death!
Anyway, if you, Paul, stick to your guns, I, Lin, will respect you as a man. When I beat you up, I'll still aim to kill you, but I'll give you some face.
Now... hehe, I just love to beat someone into submission!
We must bully them to death!
"This is outrageous! I'm in pretty good shape tonight! Do you really think you can just bully me like that?!" Seeing Lin Tian's relentless and determined attitude, Paul's anger flared up completely. Who isn't a chosen one? Who doesn't have a temper?
If you don't show me any mercy, then I'll retaliate!
So, Paul, who had made four consecutive shots in the first half of the fourth quarter, roared and signaled all his teammates to pull him away.
You, Lin Tian, are good, but I'm in great form tonight too. Do you really think I can't beat you even with a single ball?
Absolutely impossible!
Fueled by rage, Paul dribbled the ball against Lin Tian, repeatedly crossing his legs in search of a weakness in Lin Tian's defense.
Then, seizing the opportunity, he suddenly accelerated!
After forcefully pushing Lin Tian to the edge of the 3-second zone, he suddenly jumped up and launched a powerful throw, just like a master.
"Whoosh!"
With a crisp sound, Paul finally regained some face in front of Lin Tian, hitting a difficult 2-pointer!
"Come on, you bastard! Come on!" Paul roared at Lin Tian, his hands clenched. "Let's see who's the coward! Do you really think you can do whatever you want just because you're the greatest of all time?"
"Yes! That's what I thought!" Lin Tian was completely unafraid of Paul's provocation. He grabbed the basketball immediately, turned around, and taunted Paul again.
"Bang!"
This retort almost made Paul vomit his bile.
"If you want me to respect you, then don't try to dodge this time." Lin Tian looked at Paul and said arrogantly, "If you're spineless, I'll give you a chance to retreat to your own half of the court to defend."
"Come on! Do you think I'm afraid of you?!" Paul slammed his hand on the floor in anger, spreading his arms wide as if ready to continue his head-on confrontation with Lin Tian.
"You've got guts! Take this!" Lin Tian grinned and suddenly launched an attack on Paul!
Then two voices came out almost simultaneously.
"Snapped!"
"Whoosh!"
The first sound was the sound of Paul falling heavily to the ground! The guy sprawled out on the floor, looking utterly disheveled.
But Lin Tian didn't touch him at all! Lin Tian didn't even have any physical contact with him!
This time, Lin Tian didn't choose to continue physically confronting Paul.
Instead, he made a sharp change of direction and passed right by Paul. The second sound was the sound of air being torn apart when Lin Tian broke through!
This guy saw through Paul's plan to fake a fall, so he didn't bother with him at all and just rushed past him. Paul, due to his habitual thinking that Lin Tian would definitely crash into him, coupled with his subconscious fear of Lin Tian, was unwilling to have too much physical contact with him.
Therefore, his anti-gravity fall seemed quite fake.
He felt as if he had been struck by an unseen rhinoceros, and he fell straight to the floor.
The referee obviously wouldn't pay any attention to this kind of flopping, and Lin Tian completely ignored Paul, rushing all the way to the frontcourt. With the team outnumbered 5 to 4, he chose to face Richardson, who was rushing over to defend, and launched a long-range three-pointer!
"Whoosh!"
With a crisp sound, Lin Tian sank a three-pointer from beyond the arc, extending his team's lead!
"Trying to outsmart me? Huh? Trying to outsmart me? What makes you think you can? You could live another lifetime and still not be more cunning than me!" After scoring, Lin Tian immediately turned around to look at Paul, who had just stood up and was about to return to his own half to receive the ball, and mocked him.
Having been repeatedly tricked by Lin Tian, Paul was in an extremely bad mood.
All the mental preparation he had done for himself in the third quarter was now completely forgotten.
The good news is that Paul is no longer afraid of Lin Tian, and he wants to continue to compete with Lin Tian.
The bad news is that Paul only has Lin Tian on his mind right now.
This talented guard is about to fight for his dignity.
He was eager for revenge!
So this time, he charged really hard!
After receiving the ball, he immediately went to the frontcourt. Facing Lin Tian's defense, he first tried to fake out Lin Tian with a back step-back crossover. However, after noticing that Lin Tian did not fall for it, Paul was very alert and did not continue to force the attack. Instead, he signaled his teammates to come up and screen for him.
The game has reached its most crucial moment. Paul must make the shot and give the team a much-needed breather.
So he called Aldridge over, and then suddenly accelerated, trying to drive into the paint!
Lin Tian did not come forward!
Paul was overjoyed. He felt that Lin Tian had finally been shaken off, blocked by his teammates, and completely beaten by him. At the same time, he suddenly accelerated and charged forward!
"Snapped!"
But then, Paul's heart sank.
He felt a tremendous impact; a figure appeared in his path and collided heavily with him.
Paul fell to the ground, and the figure fell down as well.
Lin Tian!
At this moment, it has to be Lin Tian!
He once again anticipated Paul's choice. He saw Paul's breakthrough route, then flashed in front of Paul and collided head-on with him!
A perfect, textbook-perfect charging run!
The timing was perfect, the footwork was clearly explained, and the angle was equally impeccable!
The ruling requires no hesitation, the result requires no questioning, and the referee doesn't even need to watch the video once to make the decision.
It's a charging tackle!
Lin Tian, lying on the floor, stretched out his hands and was pulled up by Stoudemire and Anthony. He stood in front of Paul, looking down at Paul, who had also just been helped up by his teammates, and chuckled, "Trying to outsmart me?"
"Still want to fight? I'm afraid you'll die without even knowing how you died!"
Paul once again chose to remain silent in the face of Lin Tianyi's repeated provocations.
In these two consecutive possessions, he drew offensive fouls, but the results were vastly different. Paul once again realized just how exaggerated the insurmountable gap between him and Lin Tian really was.
They're no match at all!
After this play, Paul completely lost the courage and will to fight back, and failed to mount any effective counterattack. The Warriors' deficit continued to widen, and with two minutes remaining in the game, the Warriors made their first substitution.
After the team fell behind by 20 points again, they substituted all their starters to prevent the players from being further tormented by the Knicks players on the court.
Don Nelson, with a wave of his hand, only allowed his key players to play one more possession on the court, and then substituted in a purely rotational lineup, indicating that tonight was over.
The final two minutes of the game flew by thanks to the efforts of both teams' bench players.
118: 139!
In their opening game of the new season, the Knicks delivered a high-scoring performance, easily securing a victory with nearly 140 points, providing a perfect ending to their championship night.
That night, Lin Tian played for a total of 3 minutes in the fourth quarter, which was enough to kill the game. He also only played for 6 minutes in the second quarter.
He hasn't even played 30 minutes tonight!
Of course, this was partly because the team had a big lead in the second half, so he didn't need to play for too long. But more importantly, the Warriors were behind for almost the entire game and didn't cause the Knicks much trouble, so Lin Tian didn't need to be on the court the whole time for the team to maintain their lead.
但哪怕上场时间还不到30分钟，林天还是轰下了全场最高的33分14助攻7篮板的数据，其中光是第二节的6分钟，他就拿到了18分！
In addition to his incredibly perfect stats, Lin Tian also had an unbelievably high accuracy rate tonight, exceeding 80%!
Paul was truly beaten so badly he ran away with his head in his hands!
Besides Lin Tian, Stoudemire and Anthony combined for 52 points tonight, remaining the team's second and third highest scorers.
For the Warriors, Aldridge had the best game of his career, setting career highs in both points and rebounds, achieving a massive double-double of 36 points and 17 rebounds.
In addition, his field goal attempts, field goal attempts, playing time, and offensive rebounds are all career highs.
This second overall pick from last year, after leaving the "rookie graveyard," has demonstrated his talent and energy in the shortest possible time.
Although Paul was completely outplayed and taught a lesson by Lin Tian, committing 5 turnovers, he still managed to score 22 points and 12 assists thanks to a scoring spree at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Although the Warriors lost tonight, the inside-outside duo of Paul and Aldridge have shown the potential to lead their team to become one of the league's top powerhouses for at least the next 3-5 years, and to be the core of their teams in their quest for the championship.
The Knicks won the game that night and had a perfect night.
The Warriors have demonstrated the energy and potential of their new dual-core system, and they are destined to become a top force in the league in the coming years.
Both sides have bright futures! (End of Chapter)