20demayo Chapter 452 is all about the Double Ghosts Knocking on the Door! Lin Tian is practicing G and P!
Chapter 452 is all about the Double Ghosts Knocking on the Door! Lin Tian is practicing G and P!
In the first quarter, Lin Tian put up an all-around stat line of 11 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. He single-handedly orchestrated the Pacers' entire offense and easily broke through the Warriors' defense. Under his leadership, all five Pacers starters scored, and all of them were efficient.
In the second quarter, Lin Tian, who had played the entire first quarter, relaxed on the sidelines, watching Ginobili and Parker lead Josh Howard, Matt Bonner, and Artest on the court.
Unfortunately, with Webber essentially out for the season due to injury, the Pacers have no real second option, making it a one-man team for Lin Tian.
But no matter how much of a single star player Lin Tian has, he still needs to bring out a few people to help Lin Tian share the pressure. Artest, the most famous player, is Carlisle's choice. He hopes that Artest can use his defense to motivate his teammates and the second unit, so that the Pacers won't be at too much of a disadvantage when using the second unit.
In the previous few games, whenever Lin Tian went to rest, the Pacers would play in a very chaotic manner, like headless flies. Their tactics couldn't be executed, the players didn't cooperate much, and the obvious stagnation on offense would always lead them into a scoring drought.
The Pacers' opponents often use this period to take the lead or extend their lead.
At least in the first few games of the season, Artest did not perform his role as the second option well.
This guy gets carried away when playing and likes to go all out. He's perfect as an attacker and a vanguard, but asking him to lead his teammates and set an example? That's a bit difficult.
We still need to explore internally and further suppress the players' potential.
Just as Carlisle was racking his brains, Lin Tian, who had been sitting on the bench, suddenly stood up and shouted at the field, "Tony, what are you doing! Shout it out! Shout it out!"
"When you tell Ron to run, just shout it out! When you need help defense, yell it out too! And when there's a pick-and-roll, yell it out whether you should switch or not!"
"You're a point guard, what kind of point guard are you if you don't talk to anyone on the court?!"
The reason Lin Tian stood up to reprimand Parker was that in the previous play, Parker was caught by the Warriors' screen, but he didn't communicate with his teammates, which led to the Warriors scoring 2 points.
And during the offensive play, this guy originally wanted to run a tactic, but after seeing Artest establish position, he immediately changed his mind, stopped asking his teammates to run, and instead gave the ball directly to Artest.
Lin Tian only discovered Parker's flaw in these few games.
He has a somewhat eccentric personality, is a little shy, and is also somewhat introverted and doesn't like to talk much.
In previous years, with Lin Tian and Jordan on the team, this problem of his was not a problem at all!
This also meant that neither Lin Tian nor Carlisle had noticed Parker's problem before.
But this year is different. The team needs Parker to shoulder the responsibility of organizing the team when Lin Tian is not there, and he also needs to play as a dual point guard with Lin Tian from time to time. But in his current state, he is obviously not able to handle this responsibility.
Lin Tian and Carlisle shared the same thought on this point.
We have to push Parker! We need to make him grow faster!
At the same time, Lin Tian wanted to put pressure on and force Parker, and it wasn't just Parker he wanted to pressure!
And Ginobili is on the court with him right now!
Although this guy has only been with the team for a short time, he is not young. Having played in Europe for several years, he should have been a mature player by now.
But how did they perform in the previous few games?
Like Parker, he was hesitant to fully unleash his potential.
Lin Tian believed that Ginobili definitely saw some opportunities, but the guy just wouldn't pass the ball. Instead, he would wait for a more secure opportunity before passing it out. It was the same when shooting; unless it was a particularly good, absolutely open shot, the guy wouldn't take the shot.
The situation is obvious: fear of making mistakes and fear of being scolded.
Lin Tian found it strange. Logically speaking, these two, one being seductive and the other wanton, shouldn't be in this situation, right?
Who knows what got into these two? They're actually acting like innocent young women for Lin Tian.
I didn't notice these two were like this a couple of years ago!
However, Lin Tian wasn't curious at all about why the two of them were being so reserved.
Lin Da Guanren doesn't care about the reasons, only the results.
Within a month, give them both a good crash course, some extra training, and a real blast, so they know exactly how to play basketball on the court and how to maintain confidence and aggression!
Being too casual is certainly not good, but being too conservative and fearful will definitely lead to a lack of ambition!
About four minutes into the second quarter, Lin Tian yelled at Ginobili or Parker on the court several times, telling them to be bolder and smarter.
Of course, there were also a few times when he shouted at Artest, and Lin Tian had to tell him to calm down and be more conservative.
Otherwise, whether Lin Tian heard what those two shouted at him, Lin Tian didn't know, but Artest definitely took it to heart!
For example, once Lin Tian told Ginobili to shoot boldly, but before he could finish speaking, Artest forced a three-pointer under the defense and missed.
For example, Lin Tian told Parker to shout out the tactics louder, but with Artest, it became him yelling, "Get out of the way! All of you get out of the way, I'm going to sit on this bastard to death!"
For example, Lin Tian told Parker and Ginobili to pass the ball boldly and confidently when they saw an opportunity, without being afraid of making mistakes.
Goodness, Artest immediately channeled Ben Wallace, grabbed the defensive rebound, dribbled up the court, and drove all the way to the basket. Just when he was about to fall under double team, he made a behind-the-back pass, which went straight into Richardson's arms.
Richardson received a brilliant pass, accelerated wildly all the way to the frontcourt, and unleashed a spectacular two-handed twirl and slam dunk!
After finishing the dunk, Richardson was so excited that he roared and pounded his chest with both hands, fully displaying his talent and passion.
Lin Tian and Carlisle were so angry at Artest's performance that they wanted to punch his other eye out. If you had studied this hard in school and listened to your teachers, would you have been treated like a "beast" and a monster? You would have gotten a proper college degree by now.
31: 36!
About four minutes into the second quarter, the Warriors capitalized on the Pacers' unclear playing style and somewhat chaotic play, launching a series of counterattacks and successfully narrowing the deficit to five points.
The suspense is back!
This also fully proves that this year's Pacers team is really lacking. In the past, they would never have been forced into this situation by a mid-level team just because they were missing two players.
Carlisle didn't dare let Lin Tian rest any longer. If he rested any longer, the Warriors might turn the score around. Taking advantage of a dead ball, he quickly substituted Lin Tian and Christie onto the court.
The effect of changing players was immediate.
The Warriors' defense was already a mess, and with Lin Tian directing the whole team, providing a seamless service from individual offense to passing and organizing, Lin Tian led the team to extend the lead to more than 10 points in less than two minutes!
Throughout the rest of the second quarter, the Pacers maintained firm control of the game.
It was as if after Lin Tian returned, the entire Pacers team had learned how to play basketball and knew what they should do.
Artest stopped playing recklessly, Ginobili's cuts were clever and cunning, Parker's drives were decisive and agile, and Christie and Haslem were able to make open shots.
The Pacers unleashed a barrage of attacks, extending their lead to 20 points by the end of the second quarter.
45: 65!
The Pacers went into halftime with a 20-point lead.
As soon as he entered the locker room, Lin Tian plopped down between Ginobili and Parker, then told Christie, who was originally sitting there, to find somewhere to play for a while.
"You two, come with me." Lin Tian was just about to find a place to teach these two a lesson, but before he could even stand up, everything went black and the lights dimmed.
"Ron, what are you doing?" Lin Tian looked up, puzzled, at Artest standing in front of the three of them.
"Boss, I want to put in a good word for them." Artest said sincerely, "They did play only so-so in the first half, but there's no need to beat them up. Really, it's normal to have bad days and fluctuating form."
"They're all our guys, let's talk it out. If that doesn't work, I'll take matters into my own hands! That way they'll hate me, and it won't affect team unity."
"You're a fucking good son of mine," Lin Tian said, giving a thumbs up. "Don't you know who played the worst in the first half?"
"If you hadn't been showing off your skills and beating everyone up, would we have only been leading by 20 points?"
"However, I'll deal with your problem later. I need to teach these two kids what basketball is first."
After Lin Tian finished speaking, he pushed Artest aside, glanced back at Parker and Ginobili, and went into the shower room first.
The two looked at each other, then stood up trembling and followed Lin Tian toward the shower room.
"If Lin wants to beat you up, don't fight back or cry out in pain. Just admit your mistake quickly, and he won't hit you too hard," Artest shouted from behind the two men, showing his support for his brother.
"Ron, where did you learn this trick? Who told you that Lin has to beat people up just because his teammates aren't playing well?" Christie looked at Artest curiously as Lin Tian and the others disappeared.
He was very curious about how Artest's logic had come about.
"That's how it is in my family. If a kid doesn't behave, we drag him into a dark room and beat him up. After that, he's more obedient than anyone else. I used to get beaten like that a lot when I was a kid." Artest looked nostalgic, as if it was a reflection of his lost youth.
"Then your old man must have hit you hard on the head with a stick." Christie rolled his eyes, too lazy to say anything more to Artest. Then he realized, could this Artest really be treating Lin Tian like his own father...?
That can't be that exaggerated, can it?
"What's so strange about that?" said Josh Howard, also a newcomer. "My family did the same thing when I was a kid. My dad even hit me on the head with the butt of a gun. If he hadn't beaten me so badly, I think I'd be a handsome guy!"
"It's hopeless." Christie scratched his head. He felt that the team's problem was no longer tactical or technical, but that the souls of these newcomers needed to be cleansed.
This is a bunch of clueless people getting together.
Three minutes later, Lin Tian walked out of the shower room alone.
They even closed the door behind them, and everyone could only faintly hear some shouts coming from inside.
Artest immediately said, "Boss, at least let the team doctor in."
"That was too ruthless, boss." Howard also came over with a sullen face.
"Get lost." Lin Tian rolled his eyes. "Where's the team doctor?"
What can the team doctor do if he goes in? At most, he can hand them two throat lozenges.
"Lin, what are those two doing?" Carlisle asked curiously.
Although he believed that Lin Tian wouldn't do anything stupid and wouldn't actually attack those two just because they didn't fight well, he was still very curious.
"It's nothing, just let them sing a bit." Lin Tian pointed to the shower room door and said, "You can go listen, but don't disturb them."
Upon hearing that he could go check on the situation, Artest was the first to run over, sneaking around and listening intently.
Less than a minute later, he walked over with a puzzled look and said, "I heard Tony shouting something like 'switch, switch, switch, switch defense!' and something like 'don't switch, don't switch, don't switch!' and something like 'run, run, run, play according to the tactics!' He kept repeating those three sentences over and over."
"I'll just have him practice these three lines, we'll talk about the rest later." Lin Tian indicated that you heard right, that's what they're practicing.
"What about Manu? What's he doing?" Christie asked impatiently.
"He's acting crazy," Artest said. "He's yelling things like, 'I'm the best! I'm number one! So what if I made a mistake!' He said, 'Why can't I shoot when I'm wide open? If I hadn't made that mistake, it would have been a top 10 play.'"
"Lin, you're doing this..." Carlisle frowned. He felt that Lin Tian's approach wasn't quite right.
"This is the best way, trust me." Lin Tian patted Carlisle on the shoulder and said, "These two guys don't lack ability, they lack opportunity and confidence. Gilbert is much better at that."
"And those two, with me, Michael, or Vince by their side for the past few years, they are indeed prone to a lack of self-confidence and feel that they are far inferior to us."
"In half a month, I'll turn those two kids into foul-mouthed, menacing, and overconfident thugs."
Carlyle wanted to say something more, but considering that Lin Tian was a psychology graduate and was likely a professional in this field, he could only nod and indicate that he would listen to Lin Tian.
Then, Carlisle began to devise a strategy for the second half.
Simply put, we should play according to the rhythm of the first half.
Increase defensive aggression, continue to pressure their main scorers, and then get the ball to Lin Tian on offense.
Finally, Lin Tian left it to him to decide.
Soon, the 15-minute halftime break ended, and a group of people stood up excitedly and left the locker room, ready to secure their first win of the season.
Twenty seconds later, Lin Tian rubbed his head and came back, opening the shower door: "Hey, the second half of the game has started, let's go."
My bad, I forgot about those two brothers.
In the second half, neither side changed their starting lineup. The Pacers also kept their playing style, starting with a pick-and-roll between Lin Tian and Haslem. Then, Lin Tian made a no-look pass to Christie, who was cutting to the basket, and assisted him to score the first point of the second half.
Then, the Warriors changed their tactics, adding pick-and-roll plays to try and get their top scorer to match up against the Pacers' less effective defenders.
However, the execution of the tactics did not go very smoothly.
Arenas sets a screen with the ball, and Christie becomes his defender.
When someone else sets the screen, Artest becomes the defender again.
Frustrated, Arenas called for a screen again, and this time the Pacers double-teamed him. Artest and Lin Tian forced him to his feet at the high post. Artest then stole the ball and passed it to Lin Tian, who sprinted down the court and slammed it home with a one-handed dunk for another 2 points!
The Warriors then repeated their strategy, this time attempting to attack through pick-and-roll plays. Arenas also intentionally increased his passing speed to directly break down the Pacers' defensive rotation.
The problem is that among the Warriors' starting five, Arenas' passing ability is only average in the league; he mainly relies on offense to drive the passing game. But the others...
Well, apart from Dunleavy Jr. who could barely make a few passes, the rest of them were purely finishers, and their passing ability was truly indescribable.
For example, after a pick-and-roll between Arenas and Dampier, the Pacers double-teamed Arenas, and he immediately passed the ball to Dampier, who was cutting to the free-throw line.
Then?
That was it. Dampier received the ball and faced Haslem, who came over to help defend with a fierce look on his face. He actually stopped the ball and then helplessly raised it high, not knowing what to do.
Supporting an attack? He doesn't have that capability, you know that!
Dampier's hesitation wasted about 3-4 seconds. With the Pacers' perimeter players relentlessly chasing and attacking, by the time Richardson got the ball, there were only 3 seconds left on the shot clock.
He also had to deal with Artest's harassment, and all he could do was dribble a few times before forcing a three-pointer.
"Bang!"
Needless to say, the result of this shot was a dull thud followed by a missed shot.
Haslem jumped up and grabbed the backboard again, then swung his big elbow to shoo away the Warriors players around him before passing the ball to Lin Tian.
Lin Tian advanced very quickly this time, driving all the way to the frontcourt while holding off Arenas' defense. Then, he suddenly made a huge change of direction and a sudden stop and step back. This sudden stop made Arenas take 3-4 steps back, and the distance between him and Lin Tian increased to more than 5 meters in the blink of an eye.
Lin Tian even had time to glance at Arenas before gathering the ball, jumping, and shooting.
"Whoosh!"
With a crisp sound, Lin Tian scored his 30th point of the night!
At the same time, the Pacers' lead exceeded 30 points for the first time!
50: 81!
And at this moment, there are still more than 7 minutes left in the third quarter.
The game is basically over.
Then, after another two minutes or so of the game, Carlisle stopped being so reserved and waved his hand, sending the main players off to rest.
Parker, Ginobili, Howard, Bonner, and Tabak took to the court together, ready to finish the remaining time.
"Remember what I taught you." As Lin Tian passed Parker and Ginobili, he didn't forget to remind them. Just kidding, we practiced for 15 minutes during halftime, we can't let it go to waste, right? What would happen to my reputation, Lin Da Guan Ren?
The answer is, of course, that it was all for nothing.
Even in the second half, these two players still dared not shout out the tactics they were afraid to use, and they still dared not loudly communicate the instructions they needed to give during defense.
Ginobili's flamboyant and crazy ideas and imaginative passes were still not fully revealed. In fact, compared to the first half, the two of them played even more restrained.
"This won't do." Although the score gap was steadily widening, Lin Tian still frowned, very dissatisfied. What happened to these two? Did they even regress in the new season? He had been hoping they would carry the offensive banner off the bench and help the team improve.
Upon closer inspection, the difference is enormous!
In the past few years, neither Lin Tian nor Carlisle have paid enough attention to these two individuals, nor have they put in enough effort, which has resulted in their progress not being as fast as expected.
However, it's not too late to realize this now; the two brothers are still young!
In this game, the Pacers defeated the Warriors 91-112, easily securing their first win of the season and emerging from the shadow of their early-season losing streak.
But for Parker and Ginobili, their "nightmare" had only just begun.
That same evening after the game against the Warriors, Lin Tian instructed the two to come an hour earlier the next day so he could give them extra practice.
The next morning, Lin Tian arrived at the training hall early and was pleased to find that the two had already changed their clothes and had been training for a while, so they were warmed up.
"Let's go." Lin Tian said simply and directly, leading the two somewhat apprehensive guys to the weight room.
"Let's add one more set of strength training, half an hour."
"Is this all you're going to train?" Ginobili was actually a little disappointed. Clearly, he had been imagining all sorts of special training that Lin Tian would give him.
"There are requirements." Lin Tian looked at the two and said, "Shout it out! When you exert force, use your dantian to drive the air in your chest. When you're pushing the dumbbells with all your might, you also need to shout it out with all your might, the louder the better, understand?"
"that's all?"
"That's it, yell it out for me. You two, get your voices ready."
After Lin Tian finished speaking, he sat down in front of a piece of equipment: "Let's begin. I'm going to make you two scream even more pitifully than a pig being slaughtered."
"what!"
"Oh, oh, oh!"
"Yay!"
"Hey!"
.........
For the next half hour, a series of pig-like screams did indeed come from the weight room. At first, Parker and Ginobili were a little reserved and didn't shout loud enough.
But the two quickly got into the zone, just like in a competition, their voices rising and falling, fierce and loud.
Several Pacers players who were passing by the weight room intending to do some extra training beforehand turned around and left immediately after hearing the screams coming from inside, without even thinking.
This is a place of trouble, a place of trouble!
It's not advisable to stay here for long!
Thirty minutes later, Lin Tian led two exhausted guys out of the weight room, and then pulled out two pieces of candy, saying, "Eat these, they'll soothe your throat."
Watching the two swallow the pills, Lin Tian glanced at the smiling Ronaldo on the box in his hand and couldn't help but remind them, "By the way, if we go to China again in the future, and someone says that some auntie or something is a fan of yours and wants to take a picture with you..."
"They say they'll give you a lot of money if you just wear clothes and show off a couple of basketball moves. Don't go. There's no such thing as a free lunch, you know?"
"We know, we know." Although they didn't know why Lin Tian suddenly said such a strange thing, the two nodded to indicate that they understood.
The three of them then walked to the training facility, where the Pacers players were almost all present. After all, the team's record was not good, and everyone was taking the initiative to practice extra.
"Perfect timing, everyone's here. Ron, come lend a hand." Lin Tian waved his hand and called over Artest, who was chattering away to Christie and the others.
"What's wrong, boss?"
"It doesn't matter who wins or loses in your one-on-one fight with Manu. I want you to go all out and, without hurting anyone, go all out against him. Also, start trash-talking! Say whatever you want, as many nasty things as you can, as much as you can."
"No problem! Leave it to me!" Artest was thrilled. This was exactly what he was good at, his forte. He said, "Let's go, bald guy, one-on-one."
"I have plenty of hair!" Ginobili immediately protested.
"You think I can't see you secretly using hair growth shampoo? Or are you using it for your little brain, not your head?"
Watching the two walk away, Lin Tian put his arm around Parker and said, "Let's go, let's have a one-on-one fight. The rules are the same as the other two. If you can't stand it, you can hit me. I promise I won't fight back."
"It can't be that bad, Lin. I won't beat you up." Parker stared with his big, watery eyes, looking completely innocent and scared.
"I need you to beat me up." Lin Tian didn't care about that and continued, "After training today, we have to do extra training. If you dare to beat me up, you can go home and sleep whenever you beat me up. If you don't dare to do it, then it depends on my mood. I'll let you go home when I'm satisfied."
Over the next half hour, the Pacers players witnessed two very brutal one-on-one matches.
How to describe the feeling of these two one-on-one matches?
Putting aside skill level and winning or losing, that was truly brutal!
Artest and Lin Tian weren't playing basketball; they were just bullying each other. Their elbows were raised high and fierce, and their trash talk never stopped. If you didn't know that there was no real grudge between them, you would really think that these guys had some kind of irreconcilable feud.
Unfortunately, the half-hour one-on-one match, including the extra practice time afterward, failed to elicit any significant resistance or outburst from Ginobili and Parker.
These two are still holding back.
When the extra practice session ended and the group was about to leave, Lin Tiancai took out two VCDs and handed them to Parker and Ginobili, saying, "These are gifts. Take them home and look at them, get a feel for it."
"Thank you." The two guys, who were already exhausted, took the VCD and turned to leave.
"Boss?" Artest looked at Lin Tian expectantly, his expression like that of a dog waiting for a treat.
That punch really turned him from a lone wolf into a husky.
Lin Tian patted his pockets, looked around, and felt a little embarrassed.
I was really unprepared.
After thinking for a while, Lin Tian took out a pen from his backpack and wrote a lot on Artest's shirt.
"To: Ron Artest, my best buddy, my best brother, my friend for life, the first time I practiced with you until late at night."
After signing, Lin Tian was somewhat nervous.
After all, he has a thick skin, but he's not really that thick-skinned.
This is the first time I've ever given a gift to a teammate like this.
Aside from fans, he had previously gifted Jordan's son, DeAndre Jordan, and Curry's son, Stephen Curry.
"I love Lin so much! I'm going to frame it when I get home! Oh God! Lin thinks I'm its best friend! God! This is a gift from God, and I will be even more devout!"
Artest gave an exaggerated cheer, then came up and hugged Lin Tian, before swaying left and right and walking away happily.
The way he acted made Lin Tian feel that this guy was doing it on purpose.
This is a request for me, isn't it?
Is this irony? It must be, right?
Otherwise, who would be so happy to receive such a perfunctory autograph from their teammate?
This guy is trying to make me feel guilty, isn't he...?
Lin Tian never expected that the first person in his life to make him feel guilty and start to fantasize and be influenced by him would be Artest.
Is it true that the line between genius and madness is very thin?
Then, during training the next day, Lin Tian realized: this guy wasn't joking or being sarcastic; he was serious.
Because that bastard actually framed that shirt and hung it directly in his locker.
"This is the most glorious thing for me this season!" Artest said, craning his neck and beaming with excitement, as if he had received some supreme medal or honorary badge.
Artest's actions caused the others in the locker room to look at Lin Tian with somewhat strange expressions.
That means all those old bastards like Miller, Jordan, and Barkley are gone; otherwise, Lin Tian would have been given a new nickname in no time: the Beast Tamer. (End of Chapter)