The older superstars of the NBA

Chapter 837: Playing against the Raptors in the semifinals 1

The New York Knicks quickly reached the semifinals after finishing the first round of the playoffs.

In the semifinals, they faced the Toronto Raptors.

Very different from the past, the Raptors this season have shown some championship appearance after the emergence of Kawhi Leonard. From the beginning of the season to the present, their performance has been very stable.

Such an opponent also makes the Knicks full of vigilance.

The game is coming soon.

The first game will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York.

beep.

After the live timer sounded, the starting lineups of both teams came on stage.

The Knicks' lineup remains unchanged, with Zhao Feiyang's trio on the outside and Porzingis and DeAndre Jordan on the inside.

For the Raptors, the first position is naturally Kyle Lowry, one of the team's core players, the second position is Danny Green, the third position is naturally Kawhi Leonard, and the fourth and fifth positions are naturally The position is given to Sparkle Siakam and Marc Gasol.

Judging from the starting lineup alone, the Raptors do not lose much to the Knicks.

The Raptors' main lineup has not changed much. It is almost the same as last season, with the only additional variable of Leonard.

The Knicks were only formed this season. If the trio, Howard and others hadn't cooperated well with each other, I'm afraid the level of integration might not have been as good as the Raptors.

Both sides stand in position and the referee throws the ball.

Snapped.

The Raptors were the first to shoot away the basketball, and the ball fell into the hands of Kyle Lowry. Lowry got the ball without any hesitation and directly started the attack with the ball.

He was very fast. After halftime, he pushed away the defensive player in front of him and pretended to take a three-point shot. In fact, he threw a wonderful pass to Leonard on the wing. Leonard took advantage of the situation and rushed to the basket. Before the Knicks players still Before he could react, he hit a dunk.

boom.

The ball went in.

The Raptors' attack at the beginning really surprised the New York fans, and also surprised the Knicks players on the court.

"Looks like we've met our match!"

"As expected of a team capable of reaching the Eastern Conference Finals, the feeling of this Raptors team is completely different..."

Zhao Feiyang muttered in his heart and motioned for his teammates to serve.

Snapped.

The basketball fell into his hands. When he just picked up the basketball, Lowry directly followed him and marked him one-on-one.

The two met each other, and Zhao Feiyang suddenly rushed out with great speed, and Lori followed suit. But after Zhao Feiyang rushed to the three-point line, he seized the opportunity to stop suddenly. Lowry's body center of gravity could not be stabilized, and he twisted his body hard to stop himself.

The moment Lowry stopped rushing towards him, Zhao Feiyang made a "worship to Buddha" movement towards him.

Lori didn't expect it at all, and was sent flying out by Zhao Feiyang.

Zhao Feiyang seized the opportunity and dribbled the ball straight to the basket. When Gasol rushed to cover him, Zhao Feiyang threw an empty pass, and Porzingis behind him successfully caught the basketball.

Gasol also quickly returned to defense at this time, but he really underestimated the Knicks' tacit understanding. Porzingis deliberately waited for him to get close to him, but threw the ball decisively the next second.

Zhao Feiyang, who rushed to the basket, leaped high, caught the ball and dunked under the astonished eyes of the Raptors insiders.

boom.

A two-handed dunk and smashed the ball in.

The cooperation between Zhao Feiyang and Porzingis also made the fans outside the court cheer and scream.

"nice shot!"

"Good job!"

The first attack of both sides gave each other a disincentive.

The Raptors continued to attack.

This time the ball was in possession for another half, and Lowry did not choose to play singles when faced with Zhao Feiyang's marking, but continued to give the ball to Leonard.

Leonard held the ball and beat Adrian in singles. The two faced each other. Leonard pulled away and threw a decisive three-pointer.

Swish.

The ball went in again.

Adrian was already guarding very seriously and almost went up to block Leonard's shots, but unfortunately he still couldn't limit his shots.

Knicks offense.

Zhao Feiyang was about to ask his teammates for the ball, but Lowry came directly to interfere. Zhao Feiyang then made a gesture to ask LaVine to catch the ball.

LaVine, who got the ball, advanced with the ball and broke through into two zones after halftime.

After encountering interference, he gave the ball to Adrian on the wing. Adrian took the ball and entered the inside, but was quickly blocked by Leonard and couldn't find a chance to make a shot.

Snapped.

Adrian threw the ball decisively, and the ball fell into the hands of Jordan on the right side of the basket.

Jordan held the ball and hit Siakam in isolation. He turned around and threw the ball. Unfortunately, the basketball still failed to score.

boom.

The moment the basketball popped up, Porzingis and Gasol jumped at the same time to grab the rebound. In the chaos, Porzingis slapped the ball away, and the basketball just rolled to the left corner.

At this time, Zhao Feiyang was already in place. After receiving the basketball, he raised the basketball and aimed at the basket.

While he was throwing the basketball, LaVine stood halfway to help him fend off Lowry, who was chasing him, to gain enough time to take the shot.

Swish.

Another three-pointer was scored steadily.

The intensity of the confrontation between the two sides in the first quarter was simply outrageous, and it looked like they were playing in the finals. Not only the players on the field dared to let down their guard, but the fans watching the game were also so excited that they lost track of time.

It wasn't until the buzzer sounded at the end of the first quarter that New York fans were brought back to reality.

call out.

The two sides took a break, and it was the cheerleaders' turn to perform on the sidelines.

On the electronic scoreboard, the score between the two sides was 33 to 31. The Raptors actually led by 2 points despite the away challenge.

However, the 2-point difference is not much, and it does not make much difference to both sides.

"These guys are much harder to deal with than I thought!"

On the bench, Zhao Feiyang sighed with emotion while drinking sports drinks while resting.

LaVine on the side wiped the sweat on his forehead with a white towel, and then expressed his agreement with Zhao Feiyang's statement, "It is indeed different from the opponents we have encountered before...even compared to us in the regular game. The Raptors team they faced during the game is also different. Their level of integration now is much better than before..."

Head coach Norman Thomas stood stunned, his eyes falling on the court, so much so that LaVine thought Coach Thomas was looking at the beauty.

"Zhao! Look, our coach Norman finally has some emotion!"

"Oh! It's not a good thing to like the cheerleading team...Coach Norman can't make mistakes..."

Adrian also echoed.

After the two of them finished speaking, the stunned Coach Norman came over.

"Zhao continues to appear in the second quarter!"

"Jeremy, you go organize the offense...Dwight, you go inside and partner with Porzingis...Everyone else is ready, we must consume as much as possible in this quarter Their physical abilities..."

"Their starting lineup is really good, but their bench lineup is not as good as ours. This will be one of the key factors for us to defeat them..."