Bishop: since 1998

Chapter 88 The alliance ends, the whistle is sideways!
July 6, night.

Great Western Forum.

G2 is still starting in Los Angeles.

The Knicks suffered a defeat in the first round and knew they couldn't beat it, but Van Gundy began to show his stubborn side.

The starting five remain unchanged, Charlie Ward, Houston, Sprewell, Larry Johnson, Chris Dudley.

Tactically, it is still the formula of the previous game, and the defense starts with marking O'Neal.

O'Neal caught the ball and came to pinch, circled forward before catching the ball, and cut off the passing route.

If the first two tricks don't work, foul hard and send O'Neal to the free throw line for a free throw.

Well, it can’t be said that they are exactly the same. It can only be said that the recipe has added some “chili”, and the name of “chili” is “shark-cutting tactics”.

Offensively, it's still a familiar taste, leaving the damn basketball to the stars to play.

It used to be Ewing and Houston, but now it's the Golden Double Gun, Sprewell and Houston's backcourt combination.

Van Gundy played like this, Li Mu could only copy himself, just copy the tactics of the previous game.

You said copying your own is not copying?
Don't count.

Gangzhen, generally the head coach who has made a name for himself in the sports world, has a set of tactics that have been used forever.

It's you, Mourinho.

The problem is that Guagua and Uncle Zha also used this routine. In Kobe's words, they did it too.

Being hacked and scolded, the key is not the tactics themselves, but whether they can win?
From this point of view, Van Gundy deserves to be scolded, he can't win.

From the first quarter of the game, O'Neal was very adaptable to the Knicks' flanking tactics, playing with ease and being unstoppable.

He ravaged the penalty area and dunked the basket tremblingly.

In other words, Van Gundy's hands trembled, just like when Sir Fernando saw the Barcelona team and felt unable to win.

At this time, O'Neill is a big killer with no solution.

too difficult.

He won't answer this defensive question.

In other words, Van Gundy re-measured the size of his defensive position in the past two days. As a result, the effect of pinching O'Neal was still unsatisfactory.

It seems that if you want to get O'Neal, it is not only a matter of size, but also a matter of hardness.

In the end, he found that there was really no hardness.

The Knicks' playing style and team culture are notoriously iron-blooded and tough.

In fact, with Ewing injured and Oakley leaving, the hardness can only be talked about, but the body does not have that talent.

Defensive tactics can't freeze O'Neal, but also let Kobe's attack.

After the first quarter, the score was 27 to 23. With the collective explosion of the golden guns, the Knicks bit the score, only 5 points behind the Lakers.

In the second quarter, Li Mu allowed Billups, Kobe and O'Neal to stay on the court.

Put on Horry and Curry.

The offensive status of the Lakers has been upgraded to a higher level, and the offensive desire is very strong, almost every ball must be won.

You know, the current format of the NBA Finals is 2-3-2.

After the Lakers played two home games, the next step is to go to New York to play three away games.

If the Lakers win this game, it is very likely that the Lakers will not return to the home court to win the cup.

In other words, this game is a farewell game at the Great Western Forum Arena.

From 1967 to 1999, the relationship of 33 years, the Lakers need a catharsis.

The Knicks were right on the gun.

Amidst the singing and cheering of the Lakers fans outside the court, all members of the Lakers team went all out, with only one belief in their hearts, that is, the Knicks must die.

According to the usual procedure, Van Gundy let Camby, Thomas, and Childs play in rotation, taking the route of 8-man rotation.

The Lakers' offense was very explosive, and the Knicks continued to fight with the Lakers as the golden double guns continued to explode.

However, it is far from enough to rely on explosive power to win, and it also needs to have endurance.

This part of the Knicks is obviously insufficient.

Not to mention, Van Gundy was still shouting from the side, no, attack slowly...

That's it, the environment doesn't allow it, and you still want to persist?

That's hell.

Sure enough, in the second half of the game, the golden guns were weak, and it was not long before.

The Lakers have too much advantage inside, and they began to crush their opponents in the lineup. The offensive firepower was fully fired, and they played a wave, directly defeating the Knicks.

In the final quarter, O'Neal sat on the bench to rest, and Li Mu replaced Brad Miller and Da Ben, who also played on the inside and made the Knicks lose their way.

The perimeter of the Lakers is also good, Kobe and Sly, even Bowen, have a good touch.

The Knicks only attack from the outside and walk on one leg, but they can only be left far behind by the Lakers who walk on two legs.

hum~~
With the sound of the buzzer, the game time is over.

With a score of 118 to 85, the Lakers pressed just right and gave the Knicks a 33-point defeat.

The big score in the finals series became 2-0.

O'Neal scored 35 points and 11 rebounds, showing no 'hip pull'.

Kobe had 28 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds. When the defensive end was not targeted, his performance was not much worse than that of O'Neal.

Billups remained silent, scoring 17 points, 7 assists and 3 rebounds.

The two-gun combination, Houston and Sprewell, jointly scored 51 points, and there was no energy left. It's just that the Knicks are not strong inside, and they have nothing to do.

After the season, the Knicks trailed 0-2 and suffered another fiasco. The suspense of the championship was rarely mentioned.

The sports media began to mention more, will the Lakers sweep their opponents to win the championship?
Especially the OK group, the performance in the first two games was even, the media like to make trouble, directly put the theme "Who is the MVP winner of the finals?" "The words were bolded and placed on the headlines of the newspaper.

A picture of Kobe and O'Neal looking at each other is also attached, and the respective data performance of the two games are listed.

There are pictures and data, full of the taste of doing things!
Li Mu looked at it, but just smiled, feeling that it was a waste of effort.

It is impossible for the OK combination to appear cracks!
Feeling unsafe, Li Mu secretly added a deadline: now.

……

6 month 21 day.

New York, Madison Square Garden.

The third game of the finals kicked off. The Knicks showed iron blood and tenacity to the fullest. With a narrow victory of 95 to 92, they poured cold water on the Lakers. The big score was tied 1-2. Keep silent, and let out your own voice to the outside world: The game is not over yet!

Indeed, the league doesn't want the Knicks to be finished, just four games.

You know, the Lakers and the Knicks have never met on the stage of the NBA Finals.

It is a pity that the final match between the largest city in the United States and the second largest city has not yet been staged.

But this time, it was a rare opportunity in 50 years.

So, the league ended, and the whistle turned to the Knicks.

Under the pressure, Van Gundy also began to change his tactics and carry out self-rescue,

The starting lineup changed, replacing Chris Dudley with Camby.

The starting five became Charlie Ward, Houston, Sprewell, Larry Johnson and Camby.

The rhythm began to play fast, and tactics began to make a fuss about offense.

In the first quarter, the Knicks frequently broke through with the ball at the beginning of the game, and did not break through the basket in the first two games.

In the first two home games of the Lakers, O'Neal and Big Ben guarded the inside and protected the rim well. The Knicks couldn't move.

As a result, at the home court of the New York Knicks, the same defensive action and the same defensive scale were called a defensive foul.

After several rounds of probing, the Knicks finally, finally found the key to victory.

Houston and Sprewell gave up shooting from the outside and began to hit the basket frequently.

Daben couldn't stop him at first, he was still inexperienced, he used too much force, and it was easy to get tricked.

O'Neill was also recruited, but it is not worthy of pity.

He has experience, but he bumped into it on his own initiative.

In other words, Garnett showed a tough move, that is, roaring and hammering his chest, and O'Neal rushed to the penalty area and shot him to death. He would rather foul than dunk in front of him.

With the blessing of the whistle, the state of the golden double guns became unstoppable. Sprewell scored 34 points, Houston scored 26 points, and scored 60 points together.

Larry Johnson also showed the temperament of a hero. In order to win, he played 43 minutes with injuries and scored 17 points and 6 rebounds.

This wave of desperate operations also buried hidden dangers for his future basketball career and retirement.

In the 99/00 season, the average data dropped to 10 points and 5 rebounds per game. In the 00/01 season, the data was the same as above, with little difference.

The back injury was repeated, and finally the Knicks bought out the contract and officially retired.

You must know that he has just turned 30 now, and just after 32, he will not be able to fight.

He is a tough guy in the league. At the beginning, he was on par with Karl Malone and Barkley, but in the end, he fell quickly.

In this game, the Knicks are not here to play, but to fight hard.

The Knicks played collectively with the Trident on the outside, and they had a surprise player like Camby on the inside, who delivered a good performance.

Coupled with the bias of the whistle, the Lakers did not lose unjustly.

Billups is still steady, with 16 points, 10 assists and 3 rebounds.

O'Neal's performance is still strong, scoring 31 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists.

Kobe struggled a bit, and his shooting touch was a bit strong. He only made 19 of 5 shots and scored 17 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds.

Kobe, in the finals MVP competition, began to fall behind.

……

(End of this chapter)