On June 5, Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals was played at Madison Square Garden.

Both Li Wei and the Knicks coaching staff thought the game was crucial, but the game was a big disappointment.

Houston, Garnett, Nowitzki and others all felt cold, and the Knicks shot only 33% of the entire game, and finally lost 95-78!

Alan Houston scored a team-high 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting, Garnett scored 11 points on 5-of-15 shooting and 0-of-7 three-pointers, and Nowitzki scored 1 point on 0-of-7 shooting.

"Hahaha, you guys, laugh at me!"

After the game, Li Wei did not get angry, but laughed.

Because he saw that the whole team failed to play well, not because they were not serious, but because they were too serious, it had the opposite effect, and anxiety and nervousness caused the players to play worse and worse.

"Okay, let's go back and rest and forget about today's game. We've made it to the Eastern Conference Finals this year, so let's relax a little bit and play it like the regular season! ”

Although Li Wei asked everyone to relax a little, and they could not come to the next day's training, but on the second day, Garnett and others all came, and they kept practicing the tactics arranged by Li Wei.

On the night of June 6, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Trail Blazers 94-80, swept the opponent 4-0, and entered the finals!

What's even more interesting is that the Spurs have only lost one game in this year's playoffs, and that was Game 1 of the first round.

In the first battle of the first round, they lost to the Timberwolves, and then won three games in a row, eliminating the opponent 3:1, in the second round they swept the Lakers with OK and Rice 4:0, and now in the Western Conference Finals, they swept the Trail Blazers 4:0 again!

The Spurs are on an 11-game winning streak!

The last time the NBA had an 11-game playoff winning streak was back in 1989. That year, Pat Riley led the Lakers to sweep the Trail Blazers 3-0 in the first round, the SuperSonics 4-0 in the second round, and the Suns 4-0 in the Western Conference finals.

The fly in the ointment is that in the finals, they were swept 4-0 by the live game led by Chuck Daly and lost the championship.

Now, the mighty Spurs remind everyone of the invincible Lakers in the West again!

The Pacers are actually not bad this year, they killed the Bucks 3:0 in the first round and the Hawks 4:0 in the second round.

"The Finals are definitely the Pacers vs. the Spurs."

Many fans saw the 1:2 score in the East, especially the Pacers' big win in the third game, and they thought so.

Some anxious media have begun to analyze who will win the championship between the Pacers and the Spurs.

The Spurs have David Robinson, one of the four centers who are still young, and Tim Duncan, a super champion who can enter the league's best first team in his rookie year, is as deep as the Rockets who had both Sampson and Olajuwon at that time!

What's worse is that Duncan, who only entered the NBA after graduating from college, is too strong, and he has reached the peak of his life in his second year, not only being selected for a team of defense, but also competing with Karl Malone and Alonzo Mourning in the MVP selection.

Ma Long can get the MVP, it's really dangerous!

Compared to the Spurs, the Pacers' interior line is not enough to see.

Rick Schmitz is a very good player, but he is only good, and the peak year of his career is nothing more than 18 points and 8 boards, and the only time he was selected to the All-Star Game was last season. Because the Pacers led the way in the East, he miraculously beat Mourning last season and became a member of the Eastern Conference All-Star.

The Pacers also have two Davis, both of whom are defensive giants, but they don't contribute much beyond defense, let alone the Spurs' twin towers.

Of course, the Pacers also have an advantage, and the media agreed that the Pacers' biggest advantage is the coach.

Larry Bird led the Pacers last year and almost toppled the Bulls with six crowns, and this year the team did not have any players named to the All-Star team, and the star was dimmed to the extreme, and he finished in a tie for first place in the East!

Compared to Bird, the head coach of the Spurs is completely unwatchable. Isn't that guy named Popovich the general manager? Does he have what it takes to coach? Do you know what basketball is?

It seems that no one will take him seriously except for that funny coach of the Knicks, right?

In all fairness, Popovich was lucky enough, the lineup was strong enough, and he didn't meet Jerry Sloan on the way to the finals, so he successfully reached the finals, but when it comes to coaching ability, most experts think that he is not the kind of champion coach!

In short, when it comes to head coaching, the Spurs are too disadvantaged!

The prediction given by experts for the finals is three or seven, and some experts believe that four or six will open.

The team with fewer wins is of course the Pacers with a poor roster, but it wouldn't be a surprise if Pacers coach Birdech came up with a plan to lead his team to a championship.

Before the fourth game between the Knicks and the Pacers, Li Wei collected various reports predicting that the Pacers would meet the Spurs in the finals and handed them to the Knicks' players.

"Everyone take a look, no one is optimistic about us, so you guys just relax, it's normal to lose, and if you win, you earn!"

"They're dreaming!" Garnett tossed the report and clenched his fists.

"That's right, the score is only 1:2, and we're still far from elimination, it's too much!" Alan Houston Road.

Bo Outelo said: "We're going to win this one for sure!" ”

Li Wei saw that everyone's fighting spirit was ignited, and nodded secretly. But for a young team, it's not enough to have fighting spirit, you also need to pay attention to relaxation!

Only when the mentality is let go can the fight be smooth!

This is a very contradictory thing, you have to be competitive but not nervous!

Li Wei asked the secretary to bring over a bag, and there were more than a dozen joke books in the bag.

He distributed the joke books to everyone: "It's time to play, don't look at tactics, everyone read these books for a while, cut out the joke you think is the funniest, and tell everyone before the game!" ”

So before the two teams battled, it became a time to tell jokes. The Pacers players were surprised to see the Knicks players laughing from afar!

Isn't the big score 2:1? You guys can still laugh so much when you're behind?

However, after laughing, the Knicks did relax, and when they looked at their opponents again, their eyes burned with strong fighting intent!

After the Knicks debuted, Bo Outlaw shouted, "Brothers, we're going to protect our home court!" ”

"Defend the home field!" Everyone answered in unison.

"Let the bullshit Miller moment be history, it's our moment!" Garnett exclaimed.

"That's right, this is our moment!" The people answered.

The center forwards of both sides jumped the ball in the middle circle, and Da Yao once again jumped to beat Dale Davis, and the fourth game of the East Final officially began!