NBA: Miracle Workers

Chapter 181: The retired veteran (5600 words chapter)
In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pacers fans at Conseco Arena became increasingly disheartened as they watched.

During the halftime break, the fans holding the "Miller Moment" whiteboard lost their emotions, and those who stood up to watch the game sat back in their seats.

Rick Schmitz became the key player for the Pacers. He performed extremely well in the half game, shooting 15 of 10 and scoring a team-high 21 points.

The Dutch center not only used his height advantage to attack the basket, but also made jump shots from mid- to long-range.

The occurrence of this situation is indeed related to the Knicks' defensive strategy, but it is more due to Rick Schmitz's excellent condition and seizing these open opportunities.

On the contrary, Jaylen Rose made 7 of 1 shots and scored 4 points, and Reggie Miller made 4 of 2 shots and scored 5 points.

At 54:43, at the end of the half, the Knicks still led by 11 points.

There is not much to comment on in the game. Li You, Alan Houston, and Artest took turns chasing and defending, constantly giving Reggie Miller physical confrontation.

Blocking three-pointers, making breakthroughs and even collisions, Reggie Miller was basically lost in the confrontation.

The whistle in G2 was a bit tight, but in tonight's G3, the referee's whistle was very broad.

What makes Pacers fans feel the most uncomfortable is that it is difficult for Reggie Miller to get rid of the defense by moving as he did in the past.

Even though the Knicks' outside defense was out of position, they were still able to rely on their excellent physical fitness to complete the pursuit. Facing the impact of young people, Reggie Miller was never able to find his touch.

Since Jaylen Rose took on a lot of defensive tasks, his shooting percentage has begun to decline, and the defensive end has not been able to solve the big brother's problems.

The score difference is still within the catchable range, but the noise in the arena is getting smaller and smaller.

After the start of the second half, Reggie Miller hit three-pointers from the left and right wings, but the Knicks responded soon.

In the NBC commentary box, Doug Collins did not expect Reggie Miller to perform so poorly in the half. He scored efficiently in the third quarter, but it seemed that it was too late:
"To turn the game around, the Pacers must limit their opponents' offense on the defensive end."

"OH! We must also reduce such fearless mistakes!"

Jaylen Rose, who dove into the paint, attacked the basket, collided with Larry Johnson in the paint, and finally dropped the ball and made a mistake.

Kurt Thomas immediately hugged the ball and firmly controlled the ball. He failed to counterattack on the spot, and the Pacers could only retreat quickly.

68:56，步行者的得分已经停了2分钟，第3节比赛还剩最后的4分25秒，分差依然没被缩小。

The shooting percentage dropped, but in terms of the details of the game, the Knicks did better. So far in the third quarter, the team has not made a single mistake.

After Li You caught the ball, there were boos in the stadium again. Instead of advancing quickly, he waited for his teammates to be completely in position before holding on for 8 seconds to complete the half court.

Larry Johnson immediately stepped forward to cover, hanging on the right wing for a moment. Taking advantage of Mark Jackson's switch of defense, he immediately started to ask for the ball with his back.

The two of them pulled and pulled until they reached the elbow area. Mark Jackson relied on his own strength to successfully defend in a half-circle, preventing Larry Johnson from easily catching the ball.

Jaylen Rose also kept interfering from outside the three-point line, trying to disrupt Li You's offensive rhythm.

The seemingly excellent defense immediately caused the fans to start shouting loudly:
"Defense!."

Larry Johnson, who failed to take the position, quickly moved to the right corner. Jaylen Rose raised his forearms and stayed close to the three-point line.

Holding the ball in his left hand, Li You kept observing the Pacers' defense, and when Larry Johnson opened up the space, he immediately leaned forward and accelerated.

Jaylen Rose sensed Li You's movement with his arm and hurriedly slid back to the right. He failed to get rid of the defense immediately. Li You was almost covered by the opponent.

Forcibly breaking through to the free throw line, Jaylen Rose was shaken by Li You's sudden stop and exploded the ball, almost losing his defensive focus.

After the emergency stop, Li You did not rush to break through, but suddenly looked up at the basket. When Jaylen Rose stepped forward to defend again, he immediately turned around quickly with his right foot as the axis.

"Oh!"

The cool action made many people at the scene subconsciously exclaim.

At just the right time, Li You, who turned quickly, got rid of the defense in an instant. Before Jaylen Rose jumped up to block the shot, Li You had already completed the ball and took advantage of the situation to shoot a fadeaway jumper!

"Shua!" The two-pointer was hit steadily.

Seeing Li You's smiling face, Jaylen Rose suddenly felt that his defense seemed to have been figured out, and it completely lost the effect of the previous game.
In the commentary box, Bob Costas also had a hard time evaluating the Knicks' current play style.

There are a lot of misplaced singles. As long as the main attacker can send the ball into the basket, the Pacers' defense can only do useless work:
"Lee has fully adapted to Jaylen Rose's defense. If they want to catch up with the score, the Pacers must speed up their offensive rhythm."

"Although there is still one quarter of game time, judging from the current situation, unless the Knicks' offense misfires, it will be difficult to tie up the double-digit point difference."

Bob Costas stopped saying good things, and the Pacers couldn't stand it anymore.

Larry Johnson has been very active on the court during this period, mainly because he is really good at playing out of position. As long as he can catch the ball in the low post, his shooting rate is extremely high.

The good offensive feedback also made "Auntie" more active on the defensive end. Rick Schmitz reached the basket from the left low post and failed to make a strong attack throw.

Dale Davis once again rushed to grab an offensive rebound. The crowd wanted to release a layup, but Larry Johnson, who shrank to the basket, cut the ball away.

Larry Johnson, who hugged the ball and grinned widely, shaved his beard and cut his hair, only felt in a good mood.

"Shh!"

After making mistakes in two consecutive rounds, Larry Bird on the sidelines shook his head slightly, folded his arms and said nothing.

Still not advancing quickly, Li You changed direction this time and came to the left wing. Alan Houston immediately pushed towards the blocking area.

Reggie Miller kept pulling behind him, and although he squeezed Alan Houston a step outward, Li You still accurately completed the pass.

A style of play that is very characteristic of the times. The shooting guard or small forward catches the ball in two blocking areas and plays singles, and everyone pulls away in turn.

Throughout the third quarter of the game, the Knicks continued to execute this offensive method and simply wore down their opponents.

After releasing the ball with his right hand, he continued to rely on the ball. After taking two steps towards the basket, Alan Houston quickly turned towards the baseline and succeeded in a fadeaway jumper against the block!

The Pacers immediately requested a timeout, and Larry Bird looked serious. The game was worse than he expected.

At 72:56, the score difference reached 16 points. Everyone on the Knicks bench stood up with a smile and fist-bumped with a few people coming off the court.

Jeff Van Gundy smiled and kept applauding. The game was basically stable!
The director frequently pointed the camera at Reggie Miller, and the Pacers were in dire straits. Many fans still had expectations, hoping that the team's superstar could save the game.

In the last few minutes of the third quarter, Reggie Miller feinted twice in the right corner and then made a two-pointer.

Alan Houston didn't react at all. He turned around and held the ball in the area, causing a foul on Reggie Miller.

After the cross pass from the top of the arc by the small guard Best, who came on the bench, was intercepted by Li You and counterattacked for a dunk, the Conseco Arena became completely quiet.

At this time, Best was still complaining to the referee that Li You knocked him down. As a result, Larry Bird on the sidelines was so angry that he yelled:

"MFUCK! Go catch the ball!"

After completing the dunk, Li You was posing under the basket, waiting for the Pacers to take the baseline kick and continue to lead the defense.

Hearing Larry Bird's roar, Li You smiled and joked to referee Dan Crawford:
"He should be given a T. The league has strict regulations this season!"

Dan Crawford just tilted his head, seemingly indicating that this was the prerogative of a star coach. Soon there were bursts of boos in the arena, and the Pacers' offense became increasingly constipated.

At the end of the third quarter, it seemed that only the Knicks' atmosphere group was cheering loudly.

78:65，单节6中4，砍下12分的雷吉-米勒并没有帮助球队逆转比赛。

Just like Ben Wallace still can't defend Rick Schmitz, the Pacers' perimeter defense can't defend the Knicks' offense.

After the game started in the 4th quarter, Jaylen Rose suddenly broke out again, but scoring points at this time could not help the team much.

Jaylen Rose's personal scoring performance initially made the Pacers fans at the scene look forward to it.

But as the Knicks started to blossom, the score difference jumped back and forth by 10 points, and the game time passed, everyone realized that the series was over.

Jeff Van Gundy also followed the main force at the end of the game, but Ewing still didn't get a chance to play. The gorilla could only maintain a smile and cheer for everyone.

The closer to the end of the game, the quieter the arena becomes, and there is no more Miller moment.

With 20 seconds left in the game, Jaylen Rose succeeded in a layup. In the next round, Li You stood at the free throw line.

At the last moment, Crosier, who came on as a substitute, missed a three-pointer and the game officially ended.

At 102:93, the Knicks successfully got the match point, and the series basically lost its suspense.

7 of 7 in a single quarter and 9 of 7 free throws. Jaylen Rose scored 22 points in the fourth quarter. When he heard the final buzzer, he covered his face with his hands and lay directly on the floor.

Looking at his little brother who once again played the whole game, Reggie Miller pursed his lips and said nothing. He put his hands on his hips and looked at the scoreboard for a while. After pulling up Jaylen Rose, the two of them quickly walked towards the tunnel with their heads down.

Rick Schmitz also seemed very disappointed. The Dutch big man scratched his head depressedly, rubbed the blond hair on his head into a chicken nest, cursed and followed his teammates back to the locker room.Played 40 minutes, 20 of 12, 25 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block and 1 turnover. Rick Schmitz once again took advantage of Ben Wallace.

Although "Little Ben" was beaten by the opponent, he really couldn't defend against such a tall inside man who played high and high. However, he was smiling after winning the game. Ben Wallace didn't care about it after the game and followed everyone in the Knicks team. Laugh and celebrate.

"Shh!"

The arena was still filled with boos. Li You didn't care about the atmosphere at all. He smiled and hugged Jeff Van Gundy, who was completely relaxed:
"Relax, coach! You can't beat us in this slow-paced game!"

Jeff Van Gundy patted Li You on the shoulder hard and suddenly sighed:

"Until now, I still have an unreal feeling, Lee, I'm so proud of you!"

The two people in the commentary box watched Li You slowly walking towards the tunnel with Jeff Van Gundy in his arms, and they could only praise out loud:

"The Knicks are getting better, and under Lee's leadership, Larry Johnson is getting better and better."

"The two combined to score 55 points. I think New York fans are very happy to see this."

As soon as Bob Costas finished speaking, Doug Collins followed up with two more words:
"Only taking 70 shots in a game, the Pacers want to use their height to suppress the Knicks."

"But don't forget that Lee is a master of rhythm, quietly allowing the Knicks to take 82 shots while the team only committed 10 turnovers."

"There were 12 fewer shots and five more turnovers. I don't want to comment on the game strategy formulated by coach Larry Bird, but it's obvious that they were not better prepared."

出场40分钟，19中10，三分线外5中2，罚球8中8，30分5篮板7助攻2抢断两2失误。

Li You didn't have many assists, but the combination of speed and slowness, coupled with confident misplaced singles, turned the game into a competition of rounds and hit rate.

Basic technical statistics cannot show Li You's influence. Bob Costas finally sighed:
"This is MVP! Among active players, Lee's influence on offense seems to have entered another dimension."

"."

Competitive sports are cruel, and those who praise the losers are only a minority. However, the treatment of star players in the NBA is that no one pays attention to them and no one criticizes them.

No one blamed Reggie Miller for losing. Even though he only took 12 shots in this game, no one cared about these details after the game.

Throughout the press conference, the media reporters in the audience were hasty.

Pacers?Sorry, everyone is going to start hyping up the Knicks for the Finals!

Ewing also feels that he is completely outdated. He only played 19 minutes in tonight's game.

After the game, the New York media seemed to have forgotten about him. Everyone was praising Li You for his control of the game, praising Larry Johnson for his mismatched singles, and lamenting that Alan Houston has become more and more rich in offensive methods.

Oakley didn't care about this. The old guy only played 22 minutes, but he was happy to watch on the bench. He would occasionally yell at his opponents and thoroughly enjoy the game.

After taking the bus back to the hotel, Jeff Van Gundy first clapped his hands and said a few words of advice, and then Li You also added with a serious face:
"There's no need to go back to New York for the Eastern Conference Finals. Tomorrow night, we're going to lift the division championship trophy here."

"I know that every game is not easy. If we fight hard one more time, we will reach the finals for the third consecutive year."

"Now, the champion is waving to us!"

The atmosphere team immediately responded with cheers. This season is coming to an end. Although the regular season record is not ideal, the playoffs are easier than everyone thought.

Although it is only a division championship, it is a milestone achievement for the Knicks.

On the 29th, James Dolan flew to Polis with the management and team staff.

The Knicks have the No. 28 pick in the first round this season. Although there is a high probability that he will be a member of the atmosphere group, general manager Glenn Field has already begun to be busy with the draft.

What bothered him was that the big boss always had some whimsical ideas.

Fortunately, this year is only the selection of the atmosphere group, and Grunfield regards this year as a year for both sides to get closer to each other.
That night's Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals did not disappoint the Knicks' management. After the first quarter, James Dolan, who was watching the game in the box, pumped his fist in celebration.

At 33:19, both sides played the entire first quarter, and the Knicks once again flourished.

李佑3中3，三分线外1中1，拿到7分3篮板4助攻；

Larry Johnson once again continued his previous highlight performance, shooting 6 of 4, 1 of 1 from beyond the three-point line, and scored 9 points!
All five starting players scored, but Ewing and Oakley still played less than 5 minutes.

The game dug a hole in the first quarter, and Doug Collins stopped commenting on the Pacers' performance in the commentary box:
"Although everyone thinks that the Knicks have declined on the defensive end, entering the playoffs, some shortcomings can be avoided."

"A best-of-seven game will test the players' on-field status and the head coach's on-field reaction."

"From this point of view, the Knicks have a great advantage. They have reached the Finals for two consecutive seasons and they have richer competition experience."

Bob Costas also started chatting along this topic at this time:

"Coach Van Gundy didn't use Ewing too much in the Eastern Conference Finals. He was obviously preparing for later games."

"."

In the following games, the Pacers began to fill holes again. Reggie Miller, who shot 10 of 4 in the first quarter, failed to continue his highlight performance in the second quarter.

At 57:40, at the end of the half, the Knicks had led by 17 points.

Kukic and Artest, who came off the bench, were still the same, shooting three-pointers.

But Kurt Thomas stood up, shooting 7 of 4, 4 of 4 free throws, and scored 12 points!
The Pacers fans at the scene realized that the game was over, and there was no sound for a while. They all sat quietly in their seats, waiting for the game to end.

In the second half, Jaylen Rose broke out again and efficiently helped the Pacers score points, but the hole dug was too big and he couldn't climb out of it.
With 1 minute and 26 seconds left in the game, head coach Larry Bird finally chose to pause and switch to the atmosphere team.

Reggie Miller, who was sitting on the bench, wrapped in a towel, stared blankly at the game time.

At the end of his career, his championship dream was shattered again. Reggie Miller never thought that the Pacers would be swept out.

The final buzzer sounded, 107:89, the battle of honor, and the Pacers were completely defeated again.

Li You had already changed into training clothes in the second half of the fourth quarter. At the end of the game, he stood up and applauded with a smile on his face.

Artest is the most excited. In this year's playoffs, although he did not contribute much in terms of scoring, as a new player, he was able to enter the regular rotation and appear in important games, which is already very successful.

"Champion! I'm going to the finals!"

Artest, who ran back to the bench, shouted happily, but the veterans had already experienced this, and they didn't show much excitement. They just smiled and hugged each other.

Reggie Miller shook hands with everyone on the Knicks team and left quickly. He didn't like New York or the Knicks.

Jeff Van Gundy felt relieved to reach the Finals again. He simply hugged Larry Bird and stood aside, watching the players celebrate.

Pacers fans who don't want to see the Knicks win the cup have begun to leave.

The awards ceremony was very simple. Everyone in the Knicks only needed to put on their division championship hats and wait to win the cup.

Even more excited than the players is James Dolan. He couldn't represent the team last year, but now he is the real talker of the team.

Bob Costas acted as the temporary host. Everyone in the Knicks team saw the golden trophy in the center of the court and cheered and shouted again.

Noticing the crowd gathered in a circle, Bob Costas raised the microphone and said with a smile:
"Congratulations to the New York Knicks for winning the 1999~2000 Eastern Conference Division Championship!"

"Wow!"

“Winning the conference championship three years in a row is definitely an amazing achievement!”

"In the first year after taking over the team, the Knicks won the championship again. What does this mean to you?"

Although there were still scattered boos at the scene, James Dolan was so excited after the toast that he didn’t even care. He took the microphone and said loudly:

"Champions mean everything to me, I love the Knicks and I want to build them into the best basketball team on the planet."

Seeing the big boss pouring chicken soup in front of him, Li You from behind just laughed and clapped along with him.

Everyone motioned for him to hold the cup first, and Li You pushed Ewing and Oakley over.

The two veterans were naturally very happy at this time. After the gorilla lifted the trophy, everyone started chirping.

Feeling that James Dolan was about to give a long speech, Li You simply called out the talent panel, and with a thought, he learned what he had gained:
[Grant Hill’s excellent jumping ability]

Alan Houston noticed that Li You suddenly smiled very happily, and he also laughed and said:

"Lee, we still need 4 more wins!"

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(End of this chapter)