After He Xi Meng's elaborate persuasion, Artest obediently suppressed his inner desire for scoring and diligently shouldered the responsibility of perimeter defense!
Brad Miller defended the paint, Rasheed Wallace provided help defense near the basket, and Artest guarded the perimeter... He Xi Meng, anticipating the veterans' penchant for attacking the interior, had established a solid low-post defensive line. This way, even if the backcourt duo of Carter and Stackhouse made some defensive slip-ups, it wouldn't affect the overall game.
And so, under He Xi Meng's coaxing and deceptive command, the young players won a bloodless victory, with moderate contact, 47:42, successfully defeating the group of old timers opposite them!
"Where did our offense and defense go wrong?"
After the first game concluded, His Airness gathered everyone, drinking sports drinks to rest and reviewing the just-finished scrimmage.
Clearly, His Airness, who had scored 18 points and 7 assists, was very dissatisfied with his team's performance. From his personal perspective, he had played quite well. His shooting percentage was on point, his assists were there, and his defense... seemed not to have faltered. But why did he have no sense of advantage against these juniors?
Throughout the two quarters, the Worsey team rarely held the lead. They were trailing in score for the entire duration, which was not the outcome His Airness desired.
"Could it be that my teammates are too weak?" His Airness, of course, did not voice this thought aloud.
"These youngsters simply don't come to the basket to contest me! The few times we've clashed, it's been for offensive rebounds..." Ewing's sentiment was that he had a wealth of strength but nowhere to apply it.
Hearing Ewing's complaint, Oakley chimed in, "Three-pointers! All five of them are shooting threes... this style of play, it's really t/
"It's all about scoring points! A back-to-the-basket jump shot will lead you into endless isolation plays, whereas perimeter three-point tactics allow you to freely direct your teammates to run around the court... Think about it yourself, which effect do you want?"
His Airness fell silent. After a brief reflection, he said, "How about this, I'll come to your side and experience this 'three-point tactic' you speak of!"
"No problem, that's the best way!"