206. Defeating the Pistons

During the timeout, Alvin Gentry used David Lee and Louis Williams to replace Allan Houston and Wang Zhizhi. The former was really lacking in stamina, while Wang Zhizhi was under the basket with two physically strong players like Wallace, which caused him to expend a lot of energy.

After the timeout, the Pistons intensified their defense again, and the Knicks were unable to penetrate the paint, eventually leaving the ball to Li Chen to handle.

But time was running out for the Knicks. Li Chen received the ball and immediately Pull-up Jumper. Swish! The basketball swished through the net.

The Knicks trailed by two points, 55 to 53.

The Pistons are on offense, Billups passes the ball to Prince.

Lou Williams knew he had to make the most of the opportunity the coach was giving him as soon as he stepped onto the court.

This is what low-ranked rookies are like. They are often more hardworking than high-ranked rookies because if they don't work hard, they will never have a chance to get ahead, and may even be eliminated from the NBA.

Louis Williams severely hampered Prince's offensive efforts, rendering Prince passed the ball to Ben Wallace under the basket.

Big Ben, like a rampaging tank, drove straight towards the basket.

David Lee immediately came to his aid, but David Lee was knocked back several times; the two were practically the same size.

Using his physical advantage, Ben Wallace forcefully pushed past David Lee, then leaped high and slammed his hands down towards the basket.

Just then, Li Chen arrived with the speed boost from [Co-defense Master], and then he jumped high and delivered a huge hot pot to Ben Wallace without hesitation.

Louis Williams displayed his tenacity to the fullest, risking his own safety to dive and save the ball from going out of bounds, while Odom secured this precious possession.

Offense and defense transition, Knicks on offense.

At this moment, Li Chen personally ran over and helped Louis Williams up, then vigorously rubbed his head, saying, "Well done, kid."

After being praised by Li Chen, Louis Williams chuckled sheepishly.

Yes, he felt honored. After all, Li Chen was a two-time Finals MVP! He was the most likely active player to become the best player in the league.

How could he not be excited and thrilled to receive praise from Li Chen?

A moment later, Li Chen received a pass from Odom, and looking at Billups in front of him, a slight smile appeared on his lips.

Billups, who was completely focused, felt a jolt of mental energy. He knew that Li Chen was about to break through, and his mental power was more concentrated than ever before.

Just then, Li Chen made his move. He first used a crossover step to shake off Billups, and then pulled up for a three-pointer.

The basketball spun around the rim twice before finally falling in.

The Knicks finally took the lead with 30 seconds left in the game, 55-56.

Meanwhile, seeing the basketball go through several twists and turns before finally entering the Nets, Li Chen frowned slightly. This kind of situation with his Pull-up Jumper proved that his shooting percentage was not very optimistic.

Looks like I'll have to drive to the basket and score next.

The Pistons are on offense.

Billups attempted a drive, but Li Chen's defense was very tight, and he had no chance to break through.

Left with no other option, he could only pass the ball behind his back to Prince.

After Prince received the ball, Louis Williams nimbly clung to him like a gecko, providing maximum interference.

Prince took the shot decisively this time. The basketball spun around the rim three times before reluctantly falling into the basket.

The Pistons lead the Knicks by one point, 57-56.

There are 10 seconds left in the second quarter.

For the Knicks, Alvin Gentry called a timeout.

This timeout was a technical timeout, primarily to give the Knicks ample offensive time.

At this point, Alvin Gentry was somewhat frustrated. The game should have been much easier, but the Knicks, after trading away three key players, were giving him a lot of trouble.

Thinking of this, he glared fiercely at Li Chen.

After the timeout, the Knicks took a throw-in in the frontcourt.

The Knicks' final possession was naturally going to be given to Li Chen, but Li Chen was always the player they focused on marking.

Li Chen decisively passed the basketball to Odom, and then cut to the basket himself.

Odom and Li Chen had great chemistry; when Li Chen got to the basket, Odom's pass arrived just in time.

After receiving the ball, Li Chen made a reverse layup under the basket, drawing a foul from the Wallace the Roaring Heavenly Venerate.

However, the referee did not call a foul.

This result surprised Li Chen. Although he had suffered unfair treatment, he did not argue with the other players.

It's more worthwhile to spend that time trying to score points.

Meanwhile, Pistons' Wallace the Roaring Heavenly Venerate also thought he had fouled, and was even a beat too slow to grab the rebound.

Li Chen leaped high with his superior reaction speed and explosive power to compete with the two Wallace for the rebound.

On the other side, Alvin Gentry, as the Knicks' head coach, naturally had to argue with the referee about that shot.

However, before the theoretical results could be obtained, Li Chen had already put the basketball in before the game time expired.

The basketball went in again, and Alvin Gentry no longer needed to argue.

"Coach Alvin, it was my oversight just now. How about we switch back to letting Chen shoot the free throws?"

Alvin Gentry glared at the referee, cursing inwardly. "That bastard! He was just refusing to admit he made a mistake, and now he's mocking me."

Alvin Gentry scoffed, then turned and left.

At halftime, the Knicks led the Pistons 58-57.

In the TNT broadcast room.

"I admire Li Chen for this. He can remain calm and handle unfair treatment, which is something not everyone can do."

"Indeed, Li Chen did a very good job in this regard." Barkley nodded in agreement.

"However, the Knicks' next game is really tough. If their three-point shooting doesn't pick up, the outcome of this game is truly unpredictable."

"Hahaha! It's good that the Knicks lost," Barkley laughed heartily.

Kenny Smith "..."

At the start of the third quarter, Alvin Gentry, feeling sorry for his students, let them rest for a few minutes, but in those few minutes the Pistons took the lead.

The two Wallace used their physical advantages to score repeatedly under the basket, especially the Wallace the Roaring Heavenly Venerate, who scored 5 consecutive points, giving the Knicks a 7-0 run and changing the score to 64-58.

Alvin Gentry was sweating profusely, and he quickly called a pause.

Li Chen originally didn't want to rest, but Alvin Gentry strongly urged Li Chen to, and then...

Li Chen was feeling exhausted; this was practically increasing the difficulty for him!

Li Chen gave the somewhat embarrassed Alvin Gentry a way out.

He took off the jacket he had just put on and said, "Coach Alvin, let me go on!"

Alvin Gentry nodded.

At the same time, he replaced David Lee with Wang Zhizhi.

At this moment, Li Chen regretted it a little. He should have equipped the [Foul Play] skill and then broken into the paint to take both Wallace off the court.

However, thinking about that now is useless; now we can only rely on the [Ankle Killer] for one-on-one play or Pull-up Jumper.

Li Chen's idea is good, but can Larry Brown of the Pistons really make it happen?

Just as Li Chen was lost in thought, the timeout ended, and the third quarter resumed.

As soon as the game started, Li Chen was double-teamed.

David Lee saw Li Chen double-teaming him and proactively came out from the inside to set a screen for Li Chen.

He broke through using David Lee's screen and made a Euro step layup.

However, his layup attempt was thwarted by a foul from the Wallace the Roaring Heavenly Venerate.

Without the "Miracle Shot," Li Chen's luck wasn't as incredible. He got two free throw opportunities.

Swish! His free throws were as steady as ever, making both. The Knicks trailed by four points, 64-60.

The shift from offense to defense.

Billups wanted to pull Li Chen to the perimeter to prevent him from having a chance to help defend.

But Li Chen wasn't fooled; he stayed inside the three-point line because he knew Billups' three-point shooting wasn't good tonight.

At that moment, Billups suddenly launched a three-pointer.

This was completely unexpected for Li Chen, but he reacted quickly and immediately moved forward to defend.

Thud! The basketball bounced off the rim and went out of bounds.

A fierce battle for the rebound unfolded under the basket.

Ben Wallace finally grabbed the offensive rebound and immediately took a jump shot.

However, under Wang Zhizhi's interference, the ball hit the rim and went out.

In crucial moments, Ben Wallace, a rebounding expert, showcased his individual prowess.

He leaped high again, overpowering Wang Zhizhi and Odom to secure the rebound once more.

When he prepared to shoot again, he was double-teamed by Wang Zhizhi and Odom.

Faced with this situation, Ben Wallace had no choice but to pass the ball to his teammate Prince.

However, this pass did not escape Louis Williams's notice.

Despite Williams' attempt to stop the steal, he was unsuccessful. The basketball bounced out of bounds.

Just as the basketball was about to go out of bounds, Li Chen burst out with amazing speed, arrived in time, and quickly retrieved the ball.

The force of inertia made it impossible for him to hold the basketball securely. Li Chen wasn't about to let his efforts go to waste; just then, a brilliant idea struck him, and...

The basketball seemingly coincidentally struck Prince's leg and bounced out of bounds again. It was the Knicks' ball.

This frustrated Prince greatly, as he could have had a crucial scoring opportunity.

Now, he's become the Pistons' villain.

"Chen, well done." Odom said, taking Li Chen's hand as he praised him.

Li Chen rolled his eyes at Odom with some dissatisfaction and complained, "If you could just try a little harder, would I have to work this hard?"

"Hey, hey, hey! What can I do if I just can't make the shot?" Odom replied innocently.

"I really don't understand you. What's so great about Khloe Kardashian?" Li Chen complained, somewhat puzzled.

"Hmph! What's so great about your Avril?" Odom retorted, not to be outdone.

"Hey, hey, hey! We're playing a game right now! Can't you two show some respect for the Pistons?" Wang Zhizhi said helplessly as the two continued arguing.

Ignoring Wang Zhizhi's words, Li Chen continued to mock, "Hmph! At least I haven't let my performance decline to such a terrible level because of someone's girlfriend."

As he spoke, Li Chen picked up the basketball, preparing to inbound the ball.

Odom suffered a devastating blow in an instant; if Wang Zhizhi hadn't intervened in time, he would have been in a real-life duel with Li Chen.

"Wang, do all Easterners speak so harshly?" Odom asked Wang Zhizhi, looking at him with some displeasure.

This question left Wang Zhizhi unsure how to answer.

In the Knicks' rest area, Alvin Gentry saw that the Knicks' interior defense was too weak, so he thought for a moment and put David Lee back on the court, hoping to change the situation.

Li Chen kept observing his teammates' positions. At this moment, he noticed that Louis Williams had shaken off Prince's entanglement. He decisively passed the ball and then cut inside to the basket.

Louis Williams received the ball and assumed a shooting motion.

Prince was easily shaken off his feet.

This isn't Prince's fault, because the Knicks have a characteristic offensive strategy: whenever Li Chen passes them the ball, the players will immediately shoot.

However, Louis Williams did the opposite, which is why Prince was easily faked out.

Louis Williams drove toward the basket, at which point Ben Wallace came to help defend.

Just then, Louis Williams passed the ball to Li Chen, who was cutting inside.

Seeing Li Chen get the ball, the Wallace the Roaring Heavenly Venerate abandoned David Lee and blocked Li Chen's path to break through.

Li Chen once again executed a reverse layup, dodging the block from the Wallace the Roaring Heavenly Venerate.

The Knicks narrowed the gap to two points, 64-62.

Next round.

It was Li Chen again who blocked Billups' layup, triggering the [Prohibit Flight] momentum boost, which significantly improved the Knicks' offense.

Immediately afterwards, Li Chen received a pass from Wang Zhizhi and made a pull-up three-pointer.

The Knicks have regained the lead over the Pistons, 64-65.

Seeing the Knicks gaining momentum, Larry Brown immediately called a timeout to disrupt their offensive rhythm.

However, nothing changed after the timeout. Li Chen's consecutive layups drew five fouls from the Wallace the Roaring Heavenly Venerate.

It's only the third quarter, and Larry Brown has to replace Wallace the Roaring Heavenly Venerate.

With Wallace gone, the Pistons' advantage in the paint is greatly diminished.

This allowed David Lee to score frequently in the paint.

On the other hand, the Pistons' offense stalled, with several attacks ending in failure.

By the end of the third quarter, they were trailing the Knicks 80-88, a deficit of 8 points.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Hamilton, who had been quiet for the Pistons, finally broke out, hitting two consecutive three-pointers to narrow the gap to two points.

However, the Knicks' entire team found their rhythm, with Odom and Wang Zhizhi hitting shot after shot, so the Pistons failed to take the lead.

With no other option, Larry Brown had to bring on Wallace the Roaring Heavenly Venerate again.

But as soon as Wallace entered the game, Li Chen immediately targeted Wallace.

The reason he was called the Rasheed Wallace was because Wallace had a rather volatile temper. How could he tolerate being bullied like this by Li Chen?

So, he had barely been on the court for three minutes when Li Chen fouled out with his sixth foul.

That wasn't the end of it; after taking Wallace off the field, he continued to target Ben Wallace.

However, Big Ben Wallace played smart defense and didn't make any moves that bordered on fouls.

However, if Li Chen isn't given enough defensive pressure, he'll actually score!

But once his defense improved, Li Chen would actively seek out fouls, and before long, Ben Wallace also had five fouls, making his defense less restrictive.

In the end, the Pistons unfortunately lost the game 95-101.