April 28, 1994, the second matchday of the first round of the NBA playoffs.

The New York Knicks, who finished second in the league's Eastern Division, are playing their first game of the playoffs and are rivals in the same city, just across the river from the New Jersey Nets.

It's an ideal match for the New Yorkers, who have been playing at home for the entire series, without the hassle of traveling. After playing the first two home games, you don't have to travel to the field, you can rest at home and drive across the George Washington Bridge to Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford on game day.

Night falls on the Big Apple once again, and the circular Madison Square Square is once again a mecca for New York fans tonight. This year is a year in which all walks of life are very optimistic about the Knicks, and among the Eastern team leaders, New York is the most powerful. Although the Hawks, who are ranked first in the East, have beaten the Knicks in the standings by winning and losing, the Hawks sent away their number one star in the season, the pride of Atlanta, Dominic Wilkins, in exchange for Danny Manning.

The All-Star forward, who played for the Hawks for 12 seasons and still averaged 24 points and six rebounds per game before the trade, is important to the team. The consequences of this deal are likely to be felt in the playoffs.

Behind the Knicks are the Bulls, who have lost Jordan, and the Magic, who have just had the O'Neal-Hardaway combination and have not yet formed a climate. For the Knicks, this year will be the best year to break out of the East. They almost did it last year, leading the Chicago Bulls 2-0 in the series, but unfortunately they died at the hands of that man.

Once again, Abramo and his son Angelo drove to the garden on time and entered the arena with the team of fans.

Angelo still put Ewing's No. 33 jersey on the outside tonight, and his face was full of irrepressible excitement. The playoffs and the regular season are two completely different kinds of games, the regular season is half competitive and half entertainment, and the playoffs are all about competition, and every game, every quarter, every round is crucial. In Angelo's view, the playoffs are the real war.

Of course, Abramo doesn't see it that way, and he's more concerned about how many points the Knicks can win against the Nets tonight.

The casino offered a 9.5 points for the Knicks today, and many bettors believe that the Knicks will not have a problem winning the Nets by 10 points, just as Arthur thought when he gambled with Jackie yesterday. As a bookmaker, Jackie needs most people to lose, that is, to control the points within 10, and if the Nets win in an upset, the gamblers will lose more.

Abramo doesn't know anything about how Jackie rigs NBA games, which is his casino run and core secret. But according to Abramo's observation of many games, there may be players betting on the ball, or referees playing tricks.

Father and son came to their seats with completely different moods, Abu didn't buy a front row seat tonight, and tickets for the playoffs were too hard to buy.

With 15 minutes to go, Abramo waved to the water staff and asked for two glasses of Coke and a large box of popcorn, and after taking a sip and giving it to his son, Abramo got up to go to the bathroom.

It was still the men's restroom in Garden Square, and Abramo stood in front of the urinal for a while, and Hunter crept in.

They had agreed to meet before tonight's game, and Hunt's ticket was given to him by Abramo. There were many people coming and going in the toilet, and the two stood in front of the urinal looking for an opportunity to communicate. Hunter took out a boxy piece of paper from his pocket, put it in front of Abramo's urinal, and said, "I have done my best to deal with the little girl, and I really can't find it among my peers." But... You can take a look at it then, and it can be regarded as an explanation for you. ”

Abramo took the paper and put it in his pocket, not unfolding it. Arthur asked him to check the origin of Anna, but he didn't have a clue for a month, and the dogs near Russell's apartment were almost dead.

"Hey, which team should I bet on tonight? How many points? Hunter saw Abramo put away the piece of paper, and leaned over with his eyes shining and asked. Since the last time he got into Abramo's game, Hunter has loved gambling and made a lot of money with Abramo's inside information.

"Who are the FBI and the police department targeting now? Have you seen any recent action? "Abramo didn't take Hunt's stubble, and if he didn't get some news from him, Abramo wouldn't give him a bargain. This is also the way the two get along, using each other. Abramo will give Hunter financial benefits, and occasionally give some news for the police department to catch some small shrimp for good deals. Hunt revealed the movements of the police station to ensure the safety of gang criminal activities.

Hunter waited until there was no one around before he carefully said, "Your party yesterday was targeted by the top, Jackie, Massino, Gigandi, Nino, Montolo, and you!" You're all on the post-FBI state police watchlist right now, especially Montolo, who has just come to power, and he's been staring at him very closely, trying to take advantage of the opportunity to get rid of him. But there is no good reason for the time being, and the brothels under his name have been a little more careful lately. By the way, you seem to have been close to the Luciano family lately? ”

"There are no eternal enemies." Abramo borrowed Churchill's famous quote, "Is there any news yet?" Tell me something about me. ”

"You've been very well-behaved lately." Hunter smiled and shook his head, then his expression changed, and he asked, "Do you know Arthur?" Arthur Luciano? ”

Hearing Hunter's mention of Arthur, Abramo felt a sense of alarm in his heart and said, "You know, a cook in Luciano's restaurant, said to be Tony's nephew, what's wrong?" He's not a gang guy. ”

"I know," said Hunter, "but he made last night's dinner. He is said to have had close contact with Jackie, do you have more information about him? ”

Abu shook his head and said, "No, I said that he is not a member of the gang, and he is a bastard with half Chinese blood, and the gang will not accept him." ”

It is unknown what kind of information the police noticed Arthur's strangeness, and Abramo tried to cover it up for him. The reason why Arthur wants to stay in Luciano's restaurant as a cook and let Montolo inherit the treasure is not only because of his own bloodline, but also because he wants to hide behind the scenes and not attract the attention of the police and the Investigation Bureau.

If Montolo dies or is captured, there will be Silves, and Dio, and the leader of a large group of people in the back, who can be the head of the family, and Arthur can be the informant forever. He has no assets in his name, no huge unidentified income, no criminal record, and is an absolutely clean person, and it is impossible for the police to catch him with any evidence.

In the offices of the FBI and the New York Police Department's anti-crime team, there is not even a single photo of Arthur.

"Okay, I'm just asking, hey, can you tell me how to buy tonight's game?"

"Buy the Knicks and let 9 points."

……

In the evening, Arthur picked up Gina from school and returned home, and after dinner, the two of them nestled on the sofa and watched TV.

Gina likes to watch the TV series "The X-Files" broadcast on FOX, which began in 1993 and has an important place in the history of American dramas, so Arthur later looked for it on the Internet. And now that he is in the United States in 1994, lying at home watching the show on TV, his story can be written into the script of the X-Files.

The new Panasonic TV is bigger and clearer than the previous screen,During this time, Gina has been muttering"Why did you throw away the previous TV",Now with the new TV,The sadness on her face is much less。

At half past seven, Arthur prompted a change of channel, "There's an NBA game in the evening, let me watch the game." ”

Gina held the remote control and refused to let go, "No, let me watch it, I haven't watched TV for weeks." ”

Gina nestled in Arthur's arms, and Arthur picked his face, thinking that he didn't care about the process of the game, he just wanted to know the result. As for the TV series, he has already watched this season on the Internet.

"Gina, have you been on your minds lately?" Arthur asked softly by putting his arm around Gina's shoulders.

"No, nothing on my mind." Gina said this, but the expression on her face completely betrayed her. She was originally staring at the TV intently, her eyes suddenly dimmed a lot, and she snuggled up to Arthur a little tighter.

"You can tell my Gina that I can solve any of your problems." Arthur couldn't see Gina like this, and said.

"But you're a cook, how can you help me?" Gina whispered, this is really a bit heart-wrenching.

The shooting in the gymnasium made Gina think that Arthur was working for the gang, but she later found out that Arthur really seemed to be just a cook... It can only be said that Arthur hid it so well that even the person next to him was deceived by him.

Arthur didn't know how to explain it for a while, it seems that there is a disadvantage in hiding his identity, many times he is mixed in society, his name is still very important, and he can solve many problems and troubles without doing anything. He thought for a moment and said, "Maybe I can't help you, but my friend can, trust me." ”

Arthur's tone was as persuasive as ever, and Gina bit her lower lip, hesitated for a moment, and said to Arthur, "I don't know what to say... Well... I recently found out that my friend Jenny, and my dad got involved. ”

“What？” Arthur thought it would be some kind of school violence, or money problems, these were minor problems for Arthur, and they were easy to solve. Who knew that Gina released a thunder, it was her father's problem. Arthur thought to himself, this cheap old man is okay, Gina's mother is a beautiful woman, Gina's friend Jenny Arthur has also met once, she is a hot girl with a lot of flirtatiousness, and he is half the age of an old man can get such a high school student......

The first thought in Arthur's mind was to meet the cheap old man and ask him for advice, and the two of them exchanged ideas with each other. But seeing the embarrassed look on Gina's face, he knew that Gina must be quite distressed by this. She was worried that Jenny would abduct Arthur, but she didn't know that she was not interested in Arthur, she was interested in Gina's father.

"Don't worry, Gina, I'll help you with this, OK? I'm not going to embarrass you. Arthur knew in his heart that what really troubled the girl was the embarrassment he felt when his best friend mixed up with his father. Jenny is Gina's best friend. Women's friendships are really unpredictable.

After comforting Gina and accompanying her to read the X-Files, Arthur hurriedly changed the channel to CBS.

There is no live broadcast on the mobile network, so it can be a hassle to know what the game is going on. The live broadcast of the game continued, but it was the final moment of the fourth quarter, and the Knicks led the Nets by 11 points at 91:80, and there was no suspense for the Knicks to lock up the win. Arthur looked at the score, the 11-point difference, and the last less than 10 seconds, garbage time.

It seems that the bet with Jackie was won by himself.

But just then, a strange scene happened on the court, with less than 10 seconds left in the end, when the players on both sides had given up the game, the referee blew a defensive foul on the Knicks! A very common contact action on the inside, but the referee blew the whistle and sent Derrick Coleman to the free throw line.

Coleman hit both free throws from the free-throw line to make it 91-82 and the margin became nine-point.

This did not contribute to the outcome of the game, but it changed the mood and fate of many gamblers tonight.

Arthur is one of them.

"Shit, you can still play like this."