Chapter Ninety-Three: Crazy Johnson
Although they were beaten back a bit, at least, the Knicks still had a big lead. Van Gundy comforted himself like this www.biquge.info but in the second half, he quickly couldn't comfort himself like that.
The Knicks' physical problems began to come to the fore, several main scoring points did not get enough rest throughout the first half, in the middle of the third quarter, several people had big problems because of fatigue, Van Gundy was a little panicked, just let Houston and Johnson go down to rest for more than a minute, and in retrospect, the Knicks were beaten 7:0, the score was instantly close, and the entire Madison Square Garden instantly fell silent again, and the fans' faces showed expressions of fear.
Reggie Miller was famous in Madison back then, so why can't New Yorkers remember it vividly?
The scores of the two sides remained deadlocked into the fourth quarter, and the Knicks maintained a one-point lead.
At this time, the game entered the climax, the battle between the two sides began to heat up, and a wonderful round of Biao also appeared.
The Pacers took the lead, and Mark Jackson crushed Ward with his back to the three-point line.
Ward couldn't resist and gradually retreated.
The two teams have played each other many times and are familiar with each other, and Mark Jackson had already moved the ball before the Knicks came over, and he hit the ball directly into the hands of Jalen Rose, who cut in from the middle.
Jalen Rose was not greedy, and after breaking in, he didn't go straight to the basket against the Knicks' interior defense, but passed to Miller in the bottom corner, Miller was just at the top of the arc, just a pass gap, and the person had already run to the bottom corner, and his running ability was really outstanding.
Miller took the ball straight and threw it before Sprewell could pounce, and then under the terrified gaze of the New Yorkers, the ball fell straight into the net.
Miller directly compared a middle finger and ushered in a scolding from New York.
However, Miller has calculated everything, but he has never calculated people's hearts, and the Knicks' side is really desperate tonight.
Johnson, who was a little hot in the first quarter, performed very strangely tonight, as a good back-to-back player, Johnson didn't make a single shot under the basket today, and all the points came from the middle and long distance.
The Knicks attacked, and Johnson simply came outside, ready to shoot cold arrows at any time, leaving the space on the inside for Mo Xi and Sprewell to play.
Sprewell made a cross run with Houston in the high post and then turned straight into the Pacers box, at which point, Ward also passed the ball in front of Sprewell.
After receiving the ball, Sprewell also went straight towards the Pacers restricted area, but found that it was Davis in front of him.
Sprewell was very excited, glanced around, and found that Johnson pushed away Miller, who came to change the defense, and the person had come to the left wing forty-five degrees, Sprewell passed the ball directly, Johnson made a slight adjustment, made a three-point shot, and hit.
The Knicks went straight back.
At that moment, the Knicks and the Pacers suddenly set off a wave of three-point battles, or three-point group fights, and Reggie Miller alone against the four shooters on the Knicks' side.
Sprewell didn't feel very good in this game, but Ward hit a three-pointer, but for the Knicks, the savior of this game is undoubtedly Johnson.
Miller hit another three-pointer to overtake the score, which was the second time the Pacers led the Knicks in this game, but the Pacers' lead was pulled back by Johnson's three-pointer less than half a minute.
At this time, the game was less than a minute away, and the Knicks were still ahead.
The Pacers attacked. Despite being on the trailing side, the Pacers played solidly, squeezing as little time as possible to attack.
Mark Jackson is still pushing forward with his back to protect the ball, but this time, the Knicks' defense suddenly pressed over like a wall, Ward pulled it out directly, Johnson forced it, and Sprewell went straight up from the side, intending to force the ball from the Pacers.
Fortunately, Jackson was experienced, and quickly held the ball in his arms and called a timeout, Burder's face was ugly, and Jackson's timeout left him with only the last thirty-second short timeout left in his hand.
The Pacers served again, and Jalen Rose came out to catch the ball, but he only served as a stopover, and after receiving the ball, she hoisted the ball directly to Schmitz, who came to the high post, who took advantage of his height and dialed the ball directly to Miller, who was entangled by Sprewell and difficult to shoot.
At this time, Davis hurriedly stepped forward to cover, Johnson was unaware for a while, lost his position, and Miller threw another mid-range shot on Johnson's head to tie the score.
At this time, several of the Knicks couldn't run, especially the ink regret that really didn't stop for a minute in this game, and they felt hot and almost dehydrated.
The offensive pressure was completely carried by Johnson alone.
This time, the Knicks' offense can be described as rough to the extreme, without the slightest sense of Van Gundy's so-called teamwork.
Johnson asked for the ball directly at the top of the arc, first with his back to Davis, and then elbowed Davis away, and he turned around.
Johnson pulled up another three-pointer and shot again, Davis struggled to pounce, but Johnson's hand was completely up at this time, and the basketball narrowly passed Davis's fingertips and flew straight to the basket.
"Huh~" entered the net, and the Knicks once again overtook the score and led the Pacers by two points.
Time was running out, and with 3.4 seconds left for the Pacers to make one last shot, Bird handed over the last timeout he had been holding in his hands.
I don't know how the Pacers' tactics are arranged, but the Knicks are simple enough to understand.
"Don't care about the inside, guard against three-pointers, whether it's Bird or Miller, they won't use three-pointers to tie at such a juncture, they will definitely choose three-pointers, don't care about others, pay attention to Miller! Attention Miller! Attention Miller! Latrill (Sprewell) interfered with him as much as he could, don't let him catch the ball, at least not let him catch it near the three-point line, Mo, you go up too, don't care about the basket, use your height to interfere with Miller as much as possible. Van Gundy loudly arranged the defensive tactics of the last shot, and whether the Knicks can turn defeat into victory in this series, this defense will be the most critical point. Originally, Moxi's job should have been done by Camby, but now, Van Gundy can only make the most of it.
Pacers serve. More than three seconds, it's not too long, the Pacers didn't have a second chance to pass the ball, the Pacers pulled out a line directly, everyone came out to cover Miller, Sprewell was caught by Davis and Schmitz, Miller got out of Sprewell's hand and received the serve, but at this time, Miller was two steps away from the three-point line.
However, Miller is Miller, and after receiving the ball, he turned and threw it directly.
Mo Xi on the side had already aimed at Miller, and when Maitreya received the ball, Mo Xi had already flown over, but Miller's shot was too fast, although Mo Xi interfered, but he didn't touch the ball.
Everyone looked at this slightly strange arc, which was like a crescent moon, and stabbed in the direction of the basket with a brush, and then, like a rocket that ran out of fuel in the middle of the way, was planted.
The Knicks won! 2:2 Tie!
The two sides returned to the same running line, this time Mo Xi did not celebrate, he felt for the first time that winning was such an uncomfortable thing, he walked straight into the players' tunnel, found a trash can, hugged it and vomited.