the rest, only noise

Chapter 512 Give you a chance, you are useless

(I accidentally skipped a chapter while writing)
The Knicks lost only one of the remaining nine regular-season games in the 1987-88 season.

In the end of the regular season, the Knicks played against the Pacers at home.

The Pacers are one of the tank teams this season, and it's hard for the Knicks to lose.

Louie decided to make a trick that might make them lose. In this game, he rested all the main players.

That is, Stockton, Miller, Wilson, McHale, and Ewing all rest.

This move definitely angered their opponents, but the Knicks used to replace the main lineup is not bad.

The starters at the end of the regular season were Hornacek, Ellis, Rodman, Oakley and John Sely.

Their second unit still has three future All-Stars.

With Wayman Tisdale as the core, the Pacers launched a fierce attack on the Knicks.

In addition to Tisdale, the Pacers also had an acquaintance of Louis-Horace Grant.

In another timeline, Grant was the third head of the Bulls' first dynasty, but here, his future is uncertain.

His competitor is Tisdale. It took the Pacers three years to finally decide that if they continue to reuse Tisdale, there is only a dead end waiting for them.

However, they also have no other players available without reusing Tisdale.

Grant is very good, but it is not the core material. Therefore, the only way is to make it bad.

This is the tragedy of weak teams in small cities, who can hardly change their plight by signing in.

The Knicks took turns resting all the main players. Behind their bench, the men in suits led by Ewing sat in a row. They didn't look like they were injured.

This is definitely a mockery of the opponent, but how confident are the Pacers in responding to the Knicks?

The answer is 0.

They cannot respond.

After the start of the game, the Knicks relied on the outside offense of Hornacek and Ellis, and the defense of Sely and Rodman, which laid the foundation for the trend of the game.

Louis is not very competitive.

The Knicks are now 64 wins and 17 losses, ranking second in the East and third in the league, second only to the 68-win Celtics and 66-win Trail Blazers.

Moreover, this gap is so "big" that even if they win the last game, they will not be able to catch up.

So it doesn't matter to Louis himself whether he wins the game or not, so he makes substitutions like a lantern.

Those who usually don't have the chance to play, got a lot of time tonight.

At the most outrageous time, the Knicks lineup was Billy Donovan, Cooper, Stevens, Brad Rohaus, and Song Tao.

To be honest, this lineup is bad enough.

Not counting this one, Donovan has only played 2 games this season. The competition within the Knicks team is too fierce. His role in the team is often more like an assistant to an assistant coach.

Louis or other assistant coaches will ask him to do something that is not the player's job.

Stevens was basically a full-time player on the murder press.

He gets more minutes if the Knicks run a murder press, less or no minutes if they don't.Because his offense has indeed reached new heights.

Luo Haosi and Song Tao are a pair of crouching dragons and phoenixes. The former is always put on the second position by Louis, and the latter acts as Ewing's substitute, and his performance is neither bad nor bad.

The most outrageous thing is that this lineup is also paired with Cooper, a popular candidate for the best defensive team of the year.

This is the background of the Knicks, even the three teams have stars.

There are three players with the best performance tonight, namely Ellis, Rodman and Hornacek.

Hornacek filled Stockton's vacancy to the greatest extent, and his own style was also very smooth; Rodman began to look a little familiar to Louie, covering the whole court, extremely eye-catching rebounds, 4 points, 17 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks in a single game, everywhere.That's why every time Louie gets a call to apply for a trade, everyone wants Rodman.

The Pistons are even willing to trade Robert Parish for Rodman, of course, not just for one.In addition to Rodman, Louie had to pick up Michael Cooper.

This kind of brainless request was rejected by him on the spot.

The more evolved Rodman is, the more precarious Charles Oakley's position becomes.

The thug whom Louis admired so much definitely felt the change. The little brother who was hit and punished casually by him has surpassed him in importance in this team.

Rodman's defense is eye-catching enough, but that's not all.

Without Ellis' offense, it would be difficult for the Knicks to beat the Pacers.

Ellis was almost traded not too long ago.

It was almost, if not for the last heart-to-heart talk, Louis would have sent him away.

After making a deal with Louis, Ellis changed from the starter to the ninth man of the team.

The average playing time is less than 20 minutes per game, and he scored 11 points per game. Last season, he was still a solid starter. Such a change is extremely rare.

That night, Ellis played 37 minutes.

It has been a long time since Louis has seen him play so happily, with smooth movement, confident shots, and more and more smooth shots.

With 41 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, in Louie's eyes, he is the contemporary Klay Thompson.

It would be a crime to use such a person as a substitute.

Louis can be sure that this year's Knicks, in terms of lineup depth, are rare in history.No matter which team it is, the thickness of the lineup cannot be compared with them.It stands to reason that winning the championship is safe, but wheel racing is just a specific tactic in the game and cannot be used as a winning strategy.The Celtics they faced were not a team with a poor lineup.

However, the Celtics are not invulnerable.

If Thomas had hit the [-]-pointer in the years he was gone, and if Bird hadn't been plagued by back injuries, Louie certainly wouldn't be "wishful."

If one of the above two things happened and the other didn't happen, the Celtics would have no dead ends.Even with the Knicks' infinite depth, beating the Celtics is next to impossible.

Basketball is so unreasonable. The most typical example is the 18th Cavaliers on another timeline. In the playoffs of that year, James' performance has been passed down as a myth. Durant's two stunning performances in the Eastern Conference semifinals of 21st were all claimed to be just routine operations in the 18th James playoffs.

Why do you have this impression?It's very simple. From the perspective of book strength, the Cavaliers that year were the worst in 15 years. From the first round, they relied on James, the only super giant in the East, to reduce the dimensionality of all their blows, and they passed the test consecutively.

James deserves the name of No.1. He brought a team that did not deserve to play in the finals to the finals.That's why "it won't work even if Jordan comes".Because Jordan really didn't have a similar experience, you can't say that he will be able to do something that hasn't happened.

This is the upper limit brought by the super giant.

Under normal circumstances, the upper limit of the Celtics' Big Three is much higher than the Knicks' current upper limit of immediate combat power.

However, Bird's back injury and Thomas' three-pointers have always been unstable, allowing Louis to see an opportunity.

As for the result of this year, he does not know.

Donovan's performance is not bad, but there are no surprises.

He is not an NBA-level player, he can only be regarded as a marginal man, and it is difficult to have a chance in a weak team, let alone the Knicks.

This year, he has had few chances, but no wonder Louis.

There's really no way Louie has his pick ahead of anyone.

Tonight, Donovan played 24 minutes, the most playing time in his rookie season. With the Knicks' N.UCLA system, he scored 6 points, 2 rebounds and 7 assists, which is a good statistic.

In the end, the Knicks beat the Pacers 114-99.

They ended the regular season with a record of 65 wins and 17 losses.

The head coach of the Pacers is considered an old acquaintance of Louis.

The Trail Blazers' meritorious coach, Jack Ramsey, who regarded Indiana as the last stop of his career.

Ramsey was dissatisfied with the arrangement of the Knicks' game.

"Letting the five main players rest is a humiliation to us." Ramsay's face was very ugly.

Louis didn't want to speak too badly, and couldn't find a good reason.

"The playoffs are the most important thing. I don't want to increase the risk of main players being injured in a game that doesn't affect the ranking." Louis said lightly.

If it were someone else, Louis would have changed "doesn't affect ranking" to "doesn't matter".

Ramsay wanted to say more, but there was not much he could say.

What else can I say?The Knicks gave a chance, they didn't take it, it's that simple.

"Well, I hope that resting the main players for this game will help you beat the Celtics in the playoffs." Ramsey said eccentrically, "If it can help you, I will be very happy."

"Jack, don't do this. In the final analysis, the fault is on yourselves." Since the old man refused to speak properly, it can't be blamed for Louis' disrespect. "If you win this game, it is understandable for you to lose your temper now, but you'd better look at the score carefully. I let the five main players rest, and in the end you lost by 15 points. You said, why should I let the main players play this game? The result will not change whether they play or not. So, you shouldn't be angry."

"In the final analysis, I gave you a chance to beat me, but you didn't live up to it."

Louis spread his hands, and Ramsay's livid expression let him know that from today onwards, there will be another old man in the league who will not speak well of him.

(End of this chapter)