the rest, only noise

Chapter 1104 The Ghost in the Garden of Eden

"Have we really come to this point, even Leader Lu can't break the curse of the Lakers? Strictly speaking, the Lakers still have reasons to be optimistic about the future. Because Leader Lu is not their head coach now, but in the future, I believe Messiah will pick up his coach. By then, we will get the final answer." -Jack McCallum published in "Sports Illustrated" on May 1995, 5.

The Lakers and Clippers are the final semifinal opponents to determine the outcome.

In the East, the Heat advanced early, and the Knicks also dealt with the young Magic in five games.

The Trail Blazers in the West eliminated the Warriors, who were in internal turmoil, in six games.

The day after the Lakers were out, they got a consolation prize from the league.

The league announced the winners of the major awards of the regular season.

Best lineup: Penny, Jordan, Wilson, Malone, Olajuwon.

The second team of the best team: Payton, Petrovic, Barkley, Kemp, Ewing.

The third team of the best team: Stockton, Pippen, Manning, Robinson, Sampson.

Best Defensive Team: Payton, Jordan, Pippen, Kemp, Ewing.

All-Defensive Second Team: Mookie Blaylock, Reggie Lewis, Wilson, Rodman, Robinson.

Defensive Player of the Year: Ewing.

Most Improved Player of the Year: Kemp.

Rookie of the Year: Jason Kidd.

All-Rookie Team of the Year (skip)
Know who the person who reacted the most to this winning result was?

Of course, it was Shaquille O'Neal who played 81 games, led the team to the fourth record in the Eastern Conference, and averaged 25 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks per game.

Three generations of old, middle-aged and young people placed the cake. He watched the excitement for a long time, but found that there was nothing wrong with him.

The best defensive team is fine without him, and there is no best team?It doesn't matter if you don't make it in the first round or the second round, but not in the third round?

"David Robinson is better than me?"

O'Neill didn't say anything harsh during the interview, but just sneered.

In fact, the most iconic thing is that Sampson was neither selected for the first and second teams of the best team, nor was he selected for the best defensive team.

In terms of honor, Sampson is not the No. [-] center, nor is he the No. [-] center. He and Robinson have to talk about who is the third center in the league.

But it is such a person who was only selected for the third team, but is considered by everyone to be the current No. [-] center.

Judging from the results of the awards, the Heat are the big losers.

Except for Petrovic's second team and Sampson, Manning's third team and Lewis' second defense, there is no honor.

This is also related to the special structure inside the Heat.

There are too many people playing in their team, and the possession of the ball is divided a lot, which makes everyone's statistics not outstanding.

But there is at least one honor that other teams cannot take away.

On the eve of the start of the divisional finals, the league announced the winner of the MVP of the regular season this season.

No player can take that honor away from the Heat.

本赛季场均出场30分钟，场均得到22分9.5篮板6助攻2.4封盖的桑普森，当选常规赛最有价值球员。

This is the second MVP trophy in his career.

By the way, the above is about the players. After a difficult selection of the best coach of the year, the judges decided to give this honor to Billy Donovan, who led the team to the best regular season record in history.

If Donovan's regular-season record is not a record 75 wins, but a record-tying 74 wins, the jury votes for Van Gundy.This is an extremely difficult choice, both of them can afford it, but only one can be chosen.

The best general manager of the year was undisputedly given to Lewis Shafier.

Shafier's award is less suspenseful than Sampson's MVP.

Since he completed the series of amazing operations in the offseason, this award has no suspense.

"Lewis, I congratulate you on winning an award that even I haven't won."

When Louis called Shafier to congratulate him, his heart was a little sour.

He created the New York dynasty by himself, but he didn't win the best general manager of the year. Who should he reason with?

"Coach Road, I panic. If we fall in the East again, I will smash this award, trample it, and throw its residue into Miami Beach."

"What are you afraid of, no one can defeat you."

"Including New York?"

New York Louis thinks the Heat are better than the Knicks, but if you ask him who he supports to win, he still supports the Knicks.

"What do you think?" Louis asked back, "Aren't you confident?"

Shafier said with a smile: "Billy told me that if we can't win New York this year, we will resign. I also think we have a good chance, but after all, the Knicks are the dynasty that you created by Coach Lu. In the East, no team has the confidence to beat them in the Garden of Eden."

The Celtics won tiebreak after tiebreak at Boston Garden in the 60s, and then sportswriters said the garden was inhabited by fairies who brought bad luck to guests.

The Knicks' seven-peat has created a similar effect.

Known as the Orange Ghosts, Madison Garden went from a basketball Mecca to a Garden of Eden, where no team could beat the Knicks.

"I don't know the answer either, Lewis. Good luck."

The Eastern Conference Finals between the Knicks and the Heat is known as a preview of the Finals.

This is of course disrespectful to the Clippers and Trail Blazers, but the Western Conference teams have no right to object.

Because since 1982, the East has won the championship for 12 consecutive years.

On May 1995, 5, the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals was played at the Heat's home court.

As observers predicted, the Heat crushed the Knicks at home.

The 35-year-old Sampson played 38 minutes, hit every shot on the head of the best defensive player Patrick Ewing, missed only one goal, and scored 42 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks with a near-perfect performance.

Three-pointers from Petrovic, (Jaylen) Rose, and Dumars are hot.

Manning also had the upper hand against Kemp.

131 is better than 108
The Heat continued the terrorist offense of averaging 123 points per game so far in the playoffs.

"Those who are eager to cheer for Miami should wait patiently." Knicks coach Tomjanovich said lightly, "We're not done yet."

Will the Knicks fight back?
People have this question, do they have the ability to bounce back after such a disastrous defeat?

Such doubts should not have arisen. The strength of the Heat gave people an illusion, as if they could defeat the Knicks in one go.

Not at all!

In the second game of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat experienced the horror of the Knicks.

Ewing was like a bloodthirsty shaman. Being blown up by Sampson in the first game did not affect his morale at all. At the beginning of the second game, he blew the horn of the Knicks offense with a two-handed dunk after an outside pick-and-roll roll.

The fully activated N.UCLA system makes Miller the most dangerous killer.

His three-pointers hit the Heat's pain points every time.

After Mohammad Rauf came on, he changed the rhythm of the game.

Tomjanovich paired him with Alan Houston, Doug Christie, Grant Hill, Reggie Williams.

This is a lineup without insiders, but with unlimited vitality, and every point is a considerable threat.

When the Heat adapted to this group of people, Tomjanovich switched back to Ewing and other main players.

From defense to offense, the Knicks have done impeccable every step of the way.

109 is better than 104
The Knicks ended the Heat's winning streak.

In the third game, the two sides staged the most intense bloody battle of the year.

From the first round, the game became brutal.

Those famous names have become chess pieces for hand-to-hand combat, and Sampson and Ewing are just one of them.

Grant Hill, whom the Knicks had high hopes for, was lost in such a game.

With 12 points in the game, 0 points, 0 rebounds and 0 assists in the final quarter, he couldn't find the direction of the game at all.

The Knicks managed to limit the Heat to double-digit scoring, but Hill wasn't Wilson.

When the Knicks needed someone to step up and force the score, Hill couldn't do what Wilson did for New York.

Instead, on the Heat's side, Sampson, who was exhausted, gave Petrovic a pick-and-roll.

The king of Europe ended the embarrassment of the whole night with a three-pointer.

The Knicks defended him for 47 minutes, but he caught him in the last minute.

99 is better than 97
The Heat gnawed away at a tough game, taking a 2-1 lead at Eden.

In the fourth game after that, Ewing beat Sampson with 35 points and 15 rebounds. With Miller's 10 three-pointers in the game, the Knicks evened the score.

The decisive fifth game was another tragic meat grinder battle.

Both sides started to suffer injuries.

The Heat's top perimeter firepower, Petrovic, was injured by Kemp's anti-joint action while grabbing a rebound at the basket.

Rick Mahon had his nose broken by Rodman.

PJ Brown stepped on Kukoc's [-]-pointer.

The two sides did everything possible, and at the most critical moment, Manning dominated the offense and defense.

He's like a more advanced player than Kemp.

A position four, used a change of direction emergency stop to pull up three-pointers on the outside, dribbled the ball behind the high post, swayed the defender, and dunked at the basket.

That's what he did.

3 is better than 2
The Heat are only one step away from advancing.

Will the Knicks' reign really end this year?
No one can give that answer until they actually fall.

In Game 25, the Heat led the Knicks by [-] points before halftime.

Everyone is waiting for a new king, but the Knicks are a badass team focused on letting the world down.

This Eastern Conference finals focused on 1500 million TV viewers, and at least 1300 million viewers wanted to see them lose.

However, they suffocated the Heat with a brutal murderous press.

Miller played every shot in the last 6 minutes of the fourth quarter, scoring 6 three-pointers in a row, replicating Benjamin's miracle in Game 1992 of the [-] Finals.

But this still doesn't allow the Knicks to win. In the last ten seconds, the Heat still have a 1-point lead.

The Knicks had the ball, and first-year rookie Grant Hill's brain went blank. He was almost suffocated by the defense, and he chose to shoot himself.

"boom!"

The Knicks' reign is over?
No, the Jamaican orangutan, whom no one liked, drove past Sampson at the rim, grabbed the most crucial rebound of the game, and saved New York City with 0.3 seconds left in the game.

Do ghosts really exist?Why, after all this, they still haven't lost?
The Miami people watched the New Yorkers show off their power at home with a hesitant look, and the series was not over yet.

Sampson slapped himself on the face and went to get ready for Game [-].

Things have come to this point, everyone knows that when the Knicks played in the Garden of Eden, it seemed that there was a magical force supporting them.

As long as they play there, no matter how many points the Knicks fall behind, they are likely to be chased back.

They don't believe they can lose.

But in Game [-], they didn't have home court advantage.

This is the first time since 1988 that they played a tie-break away from home.

(End of this chapter)