Coach: Coaching the Grizzlies at the beginning, playing the bantam

The Pacers attacked, Teague broke through after a pick-and-roll and was blocked, and then passed the ball to the weak side with one move.

Paul George caught the ball inside the three-point line and relied on his personal ability to stop and score a jumper against the defense, 4-4.

Barkley commented: "George's performance this season is still great. After returning from a serious injury, he quickly adjusted his mentality and proved with actions that he is one of the best outside players in the league."

Kenny Smith nodded and said: "The overall level of the Eastern Conference has improved a lot this year. Even the Pacers can only be ranked eighth. It is very difficult for the Knicks to win the championship. Even if they reach the finals, they have a high chance. There’s no home field advantage.”

In the next round, the Knicks still used the pick-and-roll to launch an attack. Brogdon went to the left and handed the ball to Jokic, who was cutting forward.

Jokic used his tonnage advantage to rely on Turner to walk to the basket, and the huge offensive advantage attracted Myers to help defend.

Jokic saw the opportunity and passed the ball through the gap. Butler was in excellent physical condition. After receiving the ball, he took a step forward and dunked with one hand in the three-second zone!

6 is better than 4!

Myers was too late to return to defense. He saw Butler taking off and didn't dare to attack.

This kind of ball will become 2+1 accidentally, so it is better to let it go.

Barkley shouted: "Another dunk! This is Butler's second dunk since the start of the game. It seems that he is in good condition tonight!"

Kenny Smith said: "Jokic's passing vision is really broad, and he can always find his teammates immediately after being double-teamed. Without Anthony, the Knicks' offense is much smoother, and other players can get more offensive opportunities." , even running without the ball has become much more active.”

Barkley nodded: "Shuai Lu is indeed right. Anthony's regular season playing style has really hurt the team. If the Knicks win the championship this year, Anthony will be miserable. The popularity and honors he has accumulated before will definitely shrink further. It is difficult to Let’s continue to be the No. 1 player in active duty.”

At this time, Anthony was sitting in front of the TV watching the game and was panicking. Every time the Knicks scored, his heart beat violently.

Originally, he didn't believe that Lu Yong could lead the Knicks without him to the finals, but now it seems that the Knicks' offense is better without him. This hit Anthony hard and he even talked a lot less. .

When the Pacers attacked, Teague's two pick-and-roll breakthroughs were blocked by the Knicks. He passed the ball from the outside many times and had no chance.

In the end, Thaddeus Young could only beat Harris in isolation and scored a mid-range turnaround jumper, 6-6.

After Thaddeus Young joined the Pacers this season, his scoring data dropped slightly, averaging 11 points, 6 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game, which was not as good as last year.

However, Thaddeus Young's offensive efficiency has improved despite taking fewer shots, shooting 52.7% from the field and 38.1% from three-point range, which can be regarded as the second spring of his career.

The Pacers scored consecutively at the beginning, but Lu Yong sat on the sidelines but was not in a hurry.

McMillan himself is an offensive coach. The biggest difference between him and Vogel is that he likes to take the initiative.

Lu Yong had already expected that the two teams would score high points today. The key to winning was the offense. As long as the offensive momentum could suppress the Pacers, the rest was a trivial matter.

The Pacers are very resilient, but in terms of teamwork, the Knicks with Jokic are undoubtedly superior.

When Teague's breakthrough point shot was targeted, the Pacers could only rely on the most mindless singles to score. On the other hand, the Knicks' attacks were all coordinated, and it was clear at a glance which one was stronger and which one was weaker.

The Knicks attacked, and Jokic supported the ball in the low post. He waited for his teammates to open up space and chose to play a post-up.

Lowering his center of gravity and leaning on Turner, he suddenly turned to the middle and succeeded in passing, attracting a double team and stuffing the ball to Artest who was ambushing in the right corner.

Artest caught the ball, glanced at the basket, and made a steady three-pointer from a wide open space. Whoops, 9-6.

Jokic sent out consecutive assists at the beginning, and he had an absolute advantage tonight by beating Turner under the basket.

In one-on-one defense, Turner can't limit him.

In the first quarter, the offensive efficiency of both teams was good. The Knicks had a slight upper hand with Jokic's superb performance, but the difference was not too great.

37 to 31, only leading the Pacers by 6 points.

保罗-乔治7投4中，三分球3中1，罚球2中2，单节砍下11分2篮板1助攻，是步行者头号得分手。

Thaddeus Young also performed well, scoring 8 points and 3 rebounds.

尼克斯发挥最好的是约基奇，6投5中，三分球1中0，罚球4中3，用100%的禁区命中率砍下13分4篮板4助攻。

After he attracts double-teams, he can always find teammates with open opportunities. The Pacers can't defend Turner if they don't double-team him, just like a sharp weapon with no solution.

Butler performed equally well, with 8 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal in a single quarter. He is the team's well-deserved second scoring point.

Rookie Brogdon was also quite impressive, scoring a three-pointer on each side and scoring 6 points and 2 assists. The Knicks played wonderful teamwork.

In the second quarter, both sides came on the bench.

The second team composed of Van Jordan, Richardson, Caruso, Harrell, and Wood was obviously stronger than the Pacers and had an advantage from the beginning.

This lineup is full of young people. As long as the Pacers miss a shot, the Knicks will immediately counterattack. The offensive pace is so fast that it is suffocating.

Even though the Pacers had former star Monta Ellis on the bench, they were still unable to fight back during the rotation.

Ellis has entered the twilight years of his career this season, averaging only 8.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1 steal per game. He shot 31.9% from three-point range and is not as reliable as rookie Van Jordan.

Van Jordan's shooting improved greatly in the second half of the season. After the pick-and-roll, as long as the opponent was slow to follow the defense, Van Jordan immediately dared to take a shot, and his self-confidence was gradually cultivated.

On the defensive end, Van Jordan can also play a role. His strong body is not afraid of confrontation, and he closely defended Rodney Starkey and performed a one-stop layup after a steal.

The twin towers inside also suppressed the Pacers. Harrell's talent against French insider Kevin Seraphim was overwhelming.

His beast-like body rushed forward, and even the defender couldn't keep up, let alone Seraphim, who was about to have no ball to play.

The Pacers' second lineup doesn't have any reliable offensive strengths, especially the two inside players. They can't attack or defend, they just come up to score points.

Seeing that the point difference widened to double digits, McMillan could only make adjustments and bring Paul George back in advance to shorten the rest time of the main players.

5 minutes later, Lu Yong also made substitutions and adjustments and brought back the main players.

The Pacers were defeated in this quarter, and the point difference became wider and wider.

In the second half, the two teams continued to attack. The Knicks were not in a hurry with the lead and slowly controlled the rhythm of the game.

The fans who were waiting in front of the TV to see Lu Yong's jokes were stunned.

Unexpectedly, the Knicks' offense in the playoffs is still strong, and the absence of Anthony does not seem to be affected.

Even in a sense, without Anthony playing, the Knicks' offensive fluency became better, forcing the Pacers to a desperate situation in the third quarter, leading 93 to 76.Lu Yong knew enough about Pacers coach McMillan's coaching style that he focused on setting up a defensive formation against the Pacers' running offense before the game.

McMillan sent Teague to launch the attack in the pick-and-roll for the core, and Lu Yong asked Brogdon to directly choose to sink the defense, prevent Teague from breaking through, and let him shoot in the mid-to-long range as much as possible.

Teague averaged only 15.3 points per game this season, and his shooting percentage was less than 45%. Letting him shoot from mid-to-long range would not be able to kill the game.

Compared to Teague's breakthroughs and passes after disrupting the formation, this guy's shooting threat is the least.

If McMillan arranges for George to focus on the offense, Lu Yong will ask Artest to step forward and interfere closely, and will not give George an easy jump shot.

It doesn't matter if George uses his speed to get past him. Harris and Jokic will serve as the second defensive barrier to guard the basket, forcing George to take shots under the interference of strong confrontation.

George is a player with a somewhat neurotic physique. Once the defensive intensity increases, his offensive efficiency will drop sharply.

As long as Teague and Paul George's starting style is suppressed, the Pacers' other three starters are not afraid.

Miles, Thaddeus Young, and Turner are all typical offensive end points. They cannot drive the team's overall offense. Even if they score in isolation, they can only quench their thirst, and it is difficult to play a decisive role in the trend of the game.

Facts have proved that Lu Yong's defensive strategy was no problem. In this offensive series, the Knicks finally had the upper hand.

At the end of the quarter, Brogdon came off the court to rest, and Lu Yong arranged for Van Jordan and Jokic to cooperate with each other. After the pick-and-roll, he launched a fierce attack on Turner.

Needless to say, Jokic's advantage in taking on Turner alone is that with Van Jordan's height and speed, he can easily reach the basket in misplaced singles. Passing Turner is as easy as crossing the road in the early morning.

The Knicks' unethical and crazy targeting plunged the second-year rookie into extremely pessimistic self-doubt.

Turner has always felt that he is a defensive genius, and he is top-notch in both frame protection and assist defense.

However, today the Knicks, led by Lu Yong, taught him a lesson.

Let Turner clearly realize that in the face of absolute power, the defensive skills he relies on for survival are a joke.

Just like in the finals between the Lakers and the 76ers, O'Neal was defeated by Mutombo, the best defensive player, under the basket.

No matter how good Mutombo's defensive skills were, he was still battered and bruised in front of the behemoth O'Neal.

This was the case for Turner against Jokic tonight. The difference in tonnage was too big. Without the help of his teammates to defend, he could only use rude fouls to stop this piece of pork belly.

After half a quarter, the Knicks used a wave of offense to widen the point difference to 21 points, and the game entered garbage time.

Lu Yong called a timeout and replaced all the main players to allow the young players to adapt to the playoff confrontation.

McMillan also came on the bench and looked at Lu Yong with helpless eyes.

When both of them were coaching in the Western Conference, Lu Yong often led the team to hang him up and beat him.

Now many years have passed, the two have led their teams to meet in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and the environment and players around them have changed.

The only thing that didn't change was that Lu Yong still hung him up and beat him hard, which made McMillan very desperate.

In the end, the Knicks won the first game 128-102 and got the series off to a good start.

巴特勒是尼克斯得分最多的球员，打了35分钟，18投11中，三分球5中2，罚球6中5，砍下29分7篮板4助攻2抢断。

布罗格登10投6中，三分球7中4，罚球2中2，得到18分4篮板4助攻。

约基奇下半场出手不多，末节干脆没怎么打。16投10中，三分球4中1，罚球8中6，得到27分12篮板8助攻1盖帽。

In addition, Harris, Van Jordan, Harrell and others also scored in double figures, and the whole team blossomed.

Artest was not used to being temporarily put into the starting lineup. He did not defend George very well in the first game, but he still contributed 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block. He made 5 of 3 shots. He knew how to seize opportunities better than the rookie players.

Barkley had a malicious smile on his face, "I wonder if Anthony will regret watching the game. Without him in the playoffs, the entire Knicks team's offense has been revitalized. It's a slap in the face!"

Kenny Smith nodded and smiled: "Anthony may be the most embarrassing person this season. What I am more curious about now is, if Lu Yong leads the Knicks to win the championship, will he accept this championship with a mark of shame?" Championship rings.”

Barkley thought for a while and thought this was a very interesting topic. "Hahaha, this matter is indeed worthy of people's imagination. When the Knicks reach the finals, I think fans will definitely discuss this topic seriously."

At the press conference, McMillan praised Lu Yong as always, without much frustration on his face. "This is my first season coaching the Pacers. There are many things we have not yet perfected. Playing against the Knicks in the first round is a huge challenge. Regardless of the result, I am proud of the players."

The reporter asked: "What do you think the Pacers' chances of winning this series are?"

"I don't know, facing a team that has won three championships in four years, no one dares to say that they are guaranteed to win."

"All I can do is lead the team and go all out, that's all." McMillan said calmly.

His coaching career has almost been psychologically shadowed by Lu Yong. From the initial irritation, he has now calmed down.

McMillan felt no shame in losing to a coach of Lu Yong's level.

On the other side, a reporter interviewed Lu Yong: "Do you think the Knicks without Anthony can still reach the finals this year?"

"This question is meaningless in my opinion. I will give the most standard answer with practical actions." Lu Yong shrugged and smiled.

In the next three games, the Knicks, who were by a higher level, always dominated the Pacers and swept them 4-0 to advance.

Throughout the series, the Knicks averaged 121 points per game.

In the least game, 116 points were scored, and the offensive firepower was full.

The Pacers' offensive efficiency is not low, but there are still many shortcomings in team cooperation, and the huge disadvantage inside cannot be compensated. Turner was blasted from beginning to end by Jokic.

Especially in the third game, Jokic only played 29 minutes and scored 34 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal on Turner. The nimble-footed pork belly was his nemesis.

Turner was bullied miserably by Jokic this year. No matter how well he does in the future, this memory will become the sad past that he least wants to look back on.

步行者表现最好的是保罗-乔治，场均21分5篮板4助攻1抢断，投篮命中率45.6%。

George's performance in this series was not bad, but he failed to lead the team to win.

The management may consider sending him away in the summer to gauge whether the team still needs to maintain the status quo. (End of chapter)