Mountain Peak System: a Path to NBA-Chapter 665 - 228: Without Him, Very Important to Me! (1st Update of 2 Consecutive Updates!)

On the second day after the first game of the finals, the Knicks held an internal meeting at the hotel.

During the meeting, D'Antoni reiterated the team's poor offensive choices in the first game.

"The Warriors scored 48 points just through transition offense in the first game."

D'Antoni said, "If we can't ensure our offensive success rate during the game, they'll keep getting relatively easy points through fast breaks."

Although, like in the press conference, D'Antoni didn't name names.

But in the conference room...

At this moment, all the Knicks players still instinctively looked at Westbrook.

Beside them, seeing the timing was right, James didn't hesitate to switch from simmering to turning up the heat and said, "Mike's right, to defeat the Warriors, we must find ways to improve our offensive quality."

"Especially our offensive choices."

James' words were agreed upon by the core Knicks players, including Durant.

This season, the Knicks were the team with the second-best offensive firepower in the league after the Warriors.

They averaged 119 points per game in the regular season and also 116 points in the playoffs.

But in the first game of the finals...

The Knicks lost 135 points while only scoring 108 themselves.

What caused the Knicks to struggle offensively and defensively?

Actually, in the first finals game, it wasn't just Westbrook who was at fault?

During the stage when the Warriors pulled away, and the Knicks attempted to catch up, the team, entering the finals for the first time, was enveloped with a tense atmosphere.

This emotion led to their offensive handling on the court being described as aimless and panic-stricken.

However...

If it's purely about finding problems, how could James, known for his locker room politics, get everything he wanted?

So...

When reviewing the game through video replay, James deliberately amplified Westbrook's mistakes.

How to amplify?

"It would have been better if this offensive play had one more pass, the Warriors' defense was already compressed back to the three-second zone."

"Unfortunately, Russell's breakthrough was brilliant, but wouldn't it be better to pass to the trailing teammate?"

"To ensure defense in the restricted area, the Warriors gave us quite a few perimeter shooting opportunities, but look at this offense, we clearly played too impatiently."

During this internal meeting, when James, with a rational and objective tone, consistently pointed the finger at Westbrook...

Rather than a frank discussion for defeating the Warriors, it was more like a trial against Westbrook.

After the meeting, D'Antoni said as he had promised in the press conference, "In the second game, I decided to adjust our starting lineup."

Predictably, Big Westbrook was placed on the bench by D'Antoni.

Additionally, D'Antoni decided to give James more ball handling to ensure the Knicks' offensive quality with his basketball IQ.

And these two tactical changes...

Not only did they help James "eliminate" his long-standing adversarial Westbrook, but also, after an entire year of hard work for the Knicks, James finally saw the dawn of transforming into Jordan again.

James himself certainly knows, maybe compared to Jordan, he is indeed more suited to play Pippen's role.

But if he keeps running back and forth on the court with his teammates, how can James turn the tide beautifully in this series of finals?

Defeating the Warriors is certainly James' primary goal.

But without impressive stats, how can James prove to the world he is still the Chosen One, second to none and above all?

Moreover, stepping back a thousand steps...

If they lost this finals series, and James' stats look bad...

Wouldn't James lose badly twice?

Additionally, with a longer-term view...

To capture more influence within the Knicks in the future, James surely needs to first find a way to boot Westbrook, with whom he has the worst relationship among the three young stars of the Knicks, out of the team.

Now, through this finals series, successfully completing an incredible off-court comeback, James has already managed to tear a gap in the internal dynamics among the three Knicks stars.

Because, no matter how reasonable James' statement was.

After this internal meeting, Westbrook couldn't understand why Durant and Harden didn't defend him.

"Do you also think I am the culprit for the team losing by such a large margin?"

The young and arrogant Westbrook was not unable to accept D'Antoni's decision to play him as a substitute.

It's just, Big Westbrook couldn't accept Harden's silence and Durant's agreement when James repeatedly targeted him.

Why did Harden remain silent throughout this internal meeting?

Because as the beneficiary of Westbrook switching to being a substitute, what could Harden say?

He certainly couldn't tell D'Antoni, "Coach, I don't want to start, I just want to be a substitute."

And in front of the well-prepared James, Harden simply didn't know how to defend Westbrook.

After all...

Which of James' words was not true?

Wasn't Westbrook's missed layup his own fault?

Wasn't it Westbrook who was repeatedly helping Qin Yue in rebounding during Knicks' crucial comeback phase?

Wasn't it Westbrook himself who repeatedly disregarded teammates and attacked recklessly on the court?