The first game of the series was demoralizing, and Pacers head coach Vogel was frustrated by it. They studied the Knicks as early as the regular season as the No. 1 rival. But in the playoffs, the Knicks became more terrifying than the regular season.

With the same emphasis on defense, the Pacers don't have a super core like Zhou Xuan to lead the offense.

Vogel was still stiff-mouthed in an interview. "We'll go back and review it and think of ways to win the game. The Knicks are a strong team, they defend better than they did last season, and they have a great bench lineup, which is why we lost. ”

This is a little sour, not to mention the veteran Andre Miller, Beverley, Leonard, Parsons and other young players all make Vogel look red. The Pacers need playmakers and players who can attack.

Vogel hasn't given up hope either, there are no superstars, but they've become an iron army. The Knicks have achieved a balance of offense and defense, but the offense is not as good as last season, especially the low post offense, and the whole game relies on shooting to solve problems, which is a big problem, and they can work on that.

Not only the Knicks, but the Heat are currently lacking in low-post offense.

D'Antoni and the Knicks players didn't say much, they took winning for granted. In addition to the Heat, they don't pay attention to other teams in the East. In the face of an offensive disadvantage, the coaching staff believes that the Knicks are already invincible.

Boss James Dolan is now very happy with the uniform team led by Chris Mullin. The Knicks are not only strong, but they also don't spend money indiscriminately, and the salary is controlled below the luxury tax, and sending Smalls away doesn't have much impact on the team. The young players in the team are the main players, and as long as Anderson and Gallinari are kept in the summer, they will be title contenders for several years.

The media was well received, and Mullin's value also rose.

In the past, Warriors fans just scolded the boss for sending Zhou Xuan away, but now they are starting to scold the boss for firing Mullin. With a good manager, the team will rise quickly, and with a bad manager, the Warriors won't even make the playoffs. Ironically, they built the team with David Lee and Curry as the core.

With the collective praise of the media and fans, the second game began.

The Pacers are not an underdog team that gives up easily, they started the game with a lot of anti-away play and played very aggressively. Granger, who shot 1-of-10 from the field last game, scored on consecutive shots, and Collison also broke through to make a foul and hit a three-pointer.

In order to strengthen the attack, Collison started in place of Sam Potter, and Vogel bet that Zhou Xuan had a bad hand. Zhou Xuan didn't play singles all the time, and left it more to his teammates to attack in a misplaced position. Collison is short and has poor interference shooting ability, but he is very tight in defense of breakaways and knows how to step forward closely, while Gallinari and Matthews are inaccurate in shooting.

The Knicks trailed 19-23 in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Knicks' offense was even worse, Jamison was invisible, the youngsters were also playing iron, and only the veteran Miller supported the team, and at halftime, the Knicks trailed by 14 points at 36-50.

The Pacers players didn't dare to get complacent, and their lead was due to the opponent's low shooting percentage, and they continued to fight hard in the second half. Sam Potter is more of a substitute at the No. 2 position. In the third quarter, the Pacers also played a small-ball game for a while, with Granger making a cameo appearance at the No. 4 position against Gallinari, leaving only West on the inside.

Vogel's idea is good, anyway, the Knicks are also small-ball tactics, and Granger's 206CM height does not suffer. But D'Antoni is known for his run-and-gun tactics, and Vogel's specialty is the half-court position, even if it's a group of swing men. also played and ran, the Knicks offense was more fluent, Zhou Xuan and Miller assisted their teammates to score several quick counterattacks, and a wave of 10-0 recovered the score.

In the fourth quarter, the two sides began to fight defense again, and the Knicks outside players had found their touch, and Anderson, Matthews, and Gallinari all hit three-pointers to overtake the score. The Pacers were dumb in the crucial minutes, no one could step up and score, and they were trapped in the joint defense, and the outside three-point line was not allowed.

As soon as Collison came out, the Pacers' breakthrough was gone. Sam Potter is a soy sauce player, after all, he is a rookie, and it is unrealistic to expect him to be powerful at a critical moment.

Zhou Xuan singled Hibbert with double cover and hit two mid-range shots in a row. It's still the same problem as in the first game, Hibbert is slow and can't keep up with the pick-and-roll defenders. West can't help, he has to defend it, as long as Anderson is there, the Knicks center can shoot three-pointers, not only can he shoot, but Anderson is also the Knicks' most three-pointers all season, and he can also rank fourth in the league.

As a result, relying on the offense in the last three minutes, the Knicks won another game 97-90.

Anderson finished with 19 points and six rebounds on 6-of-13 shooting, 5-of-10 three-pointers and 2-of-2 free throws. Mullin strengthened his resolve to renew his contract in the summer. I'm afraid that other teams will offer amazing prices to destroy their lineup. Nowadays, interior players are scarce, and even if Anderson defends poorly, it is not impossible for other teams to offer tens of millions of annual salaries.

Zhou Xuan didn't score much, 14 points, 3 rebounds, 12 assists and 2 steals. He's still very consistent in his assists and has a high shooting percentage. 5-of-8 shooting, 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. The fly in the ointment was 0-of-2 from three-point range.

Matthews, Gallinari, Leonard, and Miller also scored in double figures. The Knicks continued to maintain a multi-point blossoming offense.

Leading 2-0 was a big blow to the Pacers' morale and was reversed with the lead.

What makes Vogel most helpless is that Zhou Xuan is not a simple scorer, he can send assists if he is single. Strictly guard against others, Zhou Xuan himself can also get on. Fortunately, the Knicks didn't have Pekovic, otherwise they would have lost even worse as soon as the low-post offense was opened. Now it's the Knicks who are grinding the Pacers to death little by little.

In other series, the Heat led the 76ers 2-0, and there was no suspense, and the Heat had the advantage in all aspects and firmly grasped the situation.

Iguodala was heavily guarded, averaging just 11 points per game, but he also made a little contribution to the team by guarding Wade's declining stats. Brand was completely suppressed by Bosh. At this time, the Knicks management was glad that they did not listen to Richmond's advice in the middle of the term, if the trade brought in Brand, he would lose a lot, and he would have a high salary next year, and it would be difficult to renew the player without cutting him.

But no one blames Richmond, the reason why there is a meeting to discuss is that everyone has a time to look away.

After this competition, two more awards were awarded. The Knicks emerged as the biggest winners of the shrinking season. Tyson Chandler, who was never named to the All-Defensive Team, was named the All-Defensive Player.

Chandler 33 this season. You can get 10 in 2 minutes. 7 points 10. 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 0. 9 steals 1. 4 caps. A total of 45 first-place votes, 25 second-place votes, and 11 third-place votes were obtained, for a total of 311 points. It is worth mentioning that Chandler won the award this time by a narrow margin, followed by the Thunder interior Sergi Ibaka with 294 points, only 17 points less than Chandler. Magic Dwight Howard, who won the award three years in a row, finished third, and the magic farce prevented him from continuing to win.

The reason why the judges favored Chandler for the award was because the Knicks' defense changed too much. Chandler is very lucky, the Knicks' good defense is also related to the level of run-in of the players, Zhou Xuan and Matthews are rarely passed by opponents one-on-one. Battier, Leonard, Beverley and others are also great for defensive breakouts. This makes it rare for Chandler to face a defender who breaks through.

Commenting on his narrow victory, Chandler said at today's press conference: "Journalists who didn't vote for me, remember, I'm going to make you regret it next year." ”

There is also the MVP of the biggest award in the regular season, and Zhou Xuan successfully won it. This is what everyone expected, Zhou Xuan won the scoring title, ranked sixth in the league in assists, second in steals, three big data on the list, and the Knicks' regular season record was also the first in the league. In second place is LeBron James, with a lot of points difference.

When he learned the news, Zhou Xuan had already flown to Indiana with the team to prepare for the away game, and he received a lot of congratulatory calls.

The Chinese media are the happiest, Zhou Xuan has become another foreign player to win the MVP after Nash, and the 10th player in NBA history to win the MVP in a row.

CCTV5 special correspondent Zhang Feng asked Zhou Xuan to conduct an exclusive interview at the hotel.

Zhang Feng asked: "How do you feel about winning the MVP for two consecutive years?" ”

"I hope to win the championship, otherwise it will not be perfect." Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Of course I'm also very happy, the more trophies, the better." But don't write that I'm comparable to Jordan, Magic, etc., that will call me black. ”

Zhang Feng smiled: "Then how do you think you and Nashbi?" ”

"It's okay to be with him, we're the same type of player, it's just that I'm playing a little bit more passionately than him. I think I'm better than him. Zhou Xuan said confidently.

Zhou Xuan's data this season is something that Nash has never reached, and the single-season efficiency can already be compared to Michael Jordan. He said that he was not as good as Nash, but he was afraid that no one would believe him.

Zhang Feng asked: "Will you represent the Chinese team in the Olympics in the summer?" ”

"Definitely, the leader of the Basketball Association called me, and I also made an appointment with Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian. And I am confident that I can help the Chinese team make a breakthrough in terms of performance. I've played a lot of games this year and I'm tired, but I want to be happy to go to the Olympics, it's a rare experience. ”

Zhang Feng asked: "The Mavericks were eliminated in the first round, what do you think of Yao Ming?" ”

"It's normal, the Mavericks are already in the rebuilding stage, their roster is mainly based on veterans, and the form of veterans is difficult to guarantee, and the intensity of the game this season is so high. I can only wish Yao Ming a good result next season. Winning and losing is a common thing, and when it comes to the NBA, everyone has to adapt to that, and no one can win all the time. Zhou Xuan said with emotion.

Zhang Feng asked: "Which team in the west do you think will break through?" ”

Zhou Xuan said: "I am optimistic about the Spurs, their cooperation is the best, the run-in time is long, and they play as a team." It's also possible for the Thunder, they have great stars, they're young and driven, a lot like us last season. ”

We talked a little more about basketball, and the interview ended. Zhang Feng made an appointment to wait for the end of the game tomorrow to interview Zhou Xuan in the locker room, and then he would comment on the game. He wished the Knicks to win match point, and all Chinese fans hope that the Knicks will sweep and advance!