Chapter 886: I Just Threw the Ball In (Ten Thousand Words)_4

34 seconds remain, and New York Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy doesn’t call a timeout. He knows that doing so now would disrupt his team’s offensive rhythm. They’ve scored 32 points in the final quarter, but as the head coach, he barely made any impact on offense after official timeouts.

It’s Knicks’ turn to attack, and they have one thought in mind: get the ball in the hoop and take the lead.

They must do this first before considering anything else.

John Starks advances cautiously, and with 10 seconds left on the shot clock and 20 seconds on the game clock, he finally makes his move, forcefully driving at Doug Christie… Before he reaches the paint, John Starks suddenly passes the ball to the right corner. Ewing rushes to the corner and barely catches the ball before it goes out of bounds!

This tactic genuinely caught the Lakers off guard. Ewing had discussed this play with John Starks earlier, and now they actually executed it!

Ewing catches the ball, turns, and shoots a three-pointer…

Barkley rushes out to defend, but the height difference is significant. Ewing’s turn wasn’t quick, and although Barkley reached him, he couldn’t effectively disrupt him!

86 to 84, the Knicks take the lead by two points with 17 seconds left, thanks to Ewing’s corner three!

Victory is within sight!

The Knicks players are incredibly excited and immediately apply full-court pressure defense!

The Lakers can’t get the ball to the Magician or Kenny Anderson, and Del Harris is ready to call a timeout. Seeing Zhang Hao run back to request the ball from Barkley, who passes it to him, the Silver Fox resists the urge to call a timeout.

Calling a timeout now isn’t useful when the goal is merely to get the ball to Zhang Hao. There’s really no other way; tonight, the Knicks have played solid defense throughout the game, even after official timeouts. Although it looks like the Lakers scored 16 points in that stretch, making it seem like the Knicks’ defense was lacking…

But those 16 points included 14 from Zhang Hao alone.

It’s not that the Knicks’ defense was poor; they just couldn’t stop Zhang Hao.

The Knicks didn’t press Zhang Hao but quickly retreated to defend against a potential counterattack from him.

They might be holding on for the last minute or so, but it doesn’t mean they can withstand overtime. They’re guarding against Zhang Hao seeking an opportunity for overtime.

Zhang Hao isn’t in a hurry. Amidst the crowd’s cheers and support, he advances past half-court.

The cheers grow louder as Zhang Hao advances by himself, especially from the teenager who was just slapped by his father. His enthusiastic shouts annoy Ewing at the rim, causing his nostrils to flare with anger.

Larry Johnson stands a step beyond the three-point line, guarding against Zhang Hao’s long-distance three-pointer. Everyone knows that today’s three-point line at half a meter further is the actual line, and a meter or so away used to be a common shooting distance.

As Zhang Hao crosses half-court, all eyes are on him.

Strangely, watching Zhang Hao, people feel like his steps have become more agile at this moment…

And indeed, that is the case.

When Ewing hit the three-pointer, the Golden Medal’s “Slaying” effect triggered, restoring his energy to peak!

His touch entered a scorching hot state!

As Zhang Hao crosses half-court, there’s 11 seconds left on the shot clock. He slowly moves towards the top of the arc and loudly shouts, “Clear out, I’m going to drive!”

The Knicks players think, this guy really wants two points to push it to overtime! Maybe he even wants to score 50+ or 60+ against them!

They fully believe that if it goes to overtime, Zhang Hao has the ability to do it, because in the last over five minutes, Zhang Hao has already scored 14 points!

Zhang Hao slowly, almost shuffling towards the top of the arc, as the shot clock ticks down. The Knicks players begin to collapse towards mid-range, seeing that Zhang Hao won’t pass.

But no one directly rushes to double-team outside the three-point line. They’re still guarding against Zhang Hao’s pass. Collapsing towards mid-range allows them to at least make some effort to pressure any Lakers who might receive the ball, presenting a threat. Zhang Hao’s two meters from the three-point line; rushing out there, they have Barkley and the Magician, who might dash to the rim. The Lakers could still push for overtime.

Finally, with 4 seconds left on the shot clock, Zhang Hao accelerates, charging towards the right side of the top of the arc!

Larry Johnson quickly moves his feet as Zhang Hao sprints to a step outside the three-point line, then suddenly stops and shifts to the left.

Larry Johnson internally yells, “Liar!” Luckily, he wasn’t fooled and quickly turns to dive at Zhang Hao.

Zhang Hao is now tightly covered, struggling to jump!

A step outside the free-throw line, Alan Houston also lunges at Zhang Hao. He starts quickly, and with excellent leap, as Larry Johnson immediately blocks Zhang Hao and hampers his jump, Alan Houston’s outstretched hand obstructs Zhang Hao’s shot path!

Zhang Hao bends, leaning as far back as possible, aiming for the basket—a forced step-back three-pointer from a step beyond the three-point line…

On this play, Alan Houston and Larry Johnson have defended to their utmost!

They couldn’t have defended any better, with Barkley rushing for a rebound requiring Ewing’s interception. Previously, they also had to prevent Zhang Hao from passing to Kenny Anderson and Doug Christie for mid-range shots. Such defense was already the peak a team could reach against a power forward playing one-on-one beyond the three-point line.