Chapter 227: The playoffs of the 03-04 season begin
Gong Feng's hard training in the past month, although it is mostly for his salary and league status, is more of a tactical choice to enhance the Knicks, and it is also to strengthen the shortcomings of Gong Feng's scoring ability to be easily controlled.
After Malone's return, the Knicks rarely played those small-ball tactics when the main team was on the court, but began the standard mode of regular half-court offense.
Changing to a positional conductive style of play, not only have many teams begun to study some weaknesses in the Knicks' mode, the league's Eastern Conference playoff teams, none of them are teams that will run with the Knicks, Hill also needs half-court offense to get the data he wants, and it is also because once it is not Gong Feng to control the ball, the Knicks' small-ball tactics are a fictitious existence.
Of course, only when Gong Feng is with Hill can he really produce the kind of fast offense that is not inferior to the Suns and Mavericks, so that Gong Feng can lead the bench, especially when some rookies come to the court this year, for the time being, it can only threaten the substitute players of those teams, an unconventional means to break the deadlock. However, every time Gong Feng has a different partner, it will become a kind of model in the Knicks record, and who Gong Feng has the most tacit cooperation with and which people he has the best match with will be revealed.
In this case, Dior's talent was also discovered, especially the excellent performance in a few games surprised Mir, but Dior's figure is about the same as Gong Feng, and now he is a very 'skinny' type in the NBA, and Dio's best position now is actually a point guard, but the Knicks need Dior to play his skills inside.
When he was not on the court, the current Gong Feng had to communicate well with the assistant coaches. He also started teaching some rookie players. Of course, it's only in words. For example, the weight gain of Korver and Dior, such as some of Blake's habits, especially the need for him to be resolute when shooting.
In addition, the Knicks signed 2+1 contracts with their second-round picks, and the team and players had a double option contract for the final year, which has also become the standard contract style for second-round rookies. Bosh and Dior are, of course, 3+1 contracts, team option contracts, which is also the standard contract style for rookies in the first round.
Bow Peak has no potential for nagging. is not the kind of person who is very good at adjusting the atmosphere of the team, but Gong Feng is indeed a Knicks core who has a lot of power. It's just that the Knicks who are familiar with him know that Gong Feng is the kind of player who is obviously cold on the outside and hot on the inside, especially when Gong Feng can do this for Hill and take the initiative to give up his title of assist king, which really makes many people willing to make friends like Gong Feng.
It's not that no one has explored the secrets after Gong Feng said those words, but whether it is Hill, Gong Feng, or even Coach K, they are very taboo about it. As long as you ask, you will push it to Gong Feng.
Hill was a little surprised, but only surprised. But he didn't refuse anything, after knowing that Gong Feng was the little boy back then, the relationship between Hill and Gong Feng was not just a teammate relationship, especially after seeing Gong Feng practicing off the field, Hill was also willing to take on some covering tasks on the surface.
Although the Knicks have lost to the Wizards, lost to the Pistons after the full team, and lost to the Pacers, the Knicks have not lost consecutive defeats until the end of this season.
In the losing game, it can't be said that the Knicks let it go, but some of the main players must have been in a state of rotation rest at that time, especially the wrestling between Malone and O'Neal Jr., Kwame, and Wallace is the key point that the Knicks value.
There are no really high-intensity games, no real good opponents, and Mill doesn't really believe what the league superstar is really like, watching Malone reluctantly, but relying on a lot of experience to slowly begin to adapt to the main center and power forward of various teams in the East, Mill finally made the final decision.
On April 14, 2004, the Knicks defeated the Cavaliers in full condition, ending all regular season games, and finally topped the league with a record of 65 wins and 17 losses, and had an extra home-court advantage against any team.
Second in the East is the Pacers with 61 wins, followed by the Heat, Pistons, Hornets, Bucks, Boston and Wizards.
The Pistons suddenly let the whole team start a large-scale rotation rest at the end, and Larry Brown let the rookie and the team's main rotation players play for the first time, and did not deliberately compete for any good playoff rankings, which means that the Pistons have listed the Knicks as their strongest opponent, and they want to compete with the Knicks in the best state, and they don't want to compete with the Pacers in an all-round way.
In other words, the Pistons would rather their team not show up in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and they don't want the Knicks to get any cheapness, and the winning Pistons may get the championship, and the defeat does not need a reward of this level in the Eastern Conference finals.
Especially in the late playoffs, let the Wizards enter the playoffs, which is also one of the strategies of the Pistons, the Cavaliers are in the East when many teams work together to make the Wizards face the Knicks, lost the playoff qualification, and the oldest Knicks have not been a minority.
Of course, no one will think that the Wizards may have a black eight, but letting the Knicks play a few more games is also what many teams are happy to see, as for the Knicks against the current Cavaliers...... There is no doubt that it will be a big score of 4-0!
Compared with the East, it can also be 'operated in the dark', and the West can be much more miserable, the first Timberwolves, the rest are the Spurs, Suns, Lakers, Mavericks, Kings, Grizzlies, and Rockets.
Jazz, the Nuggets have fallen, Anthony cried fiercely after the last regular season game, and there was no slightness of youthful pride, although Anthony this season made the Nuggets feel extremely surprised, but some of the actions still made the Nuggets feel extremely disappointed, whether it was the immature performance of the teenager's pride, or the demeanor of a general who did not have the slightest deserved, and even some things happened that made the Nuggets a headache.
In the 03 high-level draft, only Bosh and Wade participated in the playoffs, Wade has shown his strong breakthrough and the quality expected by the Heat, Bosh has also entered the team's main rotation lineup, Anthony and LeBron are another situation, this time Anthony did not enter the playoffs, it is not necessarily a bad thing, and Anthony, who has put down some pride in his heart, also needs to re-recognize himself in order to become better.
This time, the media has a lot of opposing views on the matchup of the eight teams in the West, and it is also the four-group matchup that many fans are looking forward to.
Timberwolves vs. Rockets, a necessary point is the duel between Randolph and Garnett, the combination of the main lineups of the two teams is very similar, the center is blue-collar, and then there is the duel of scoring masters, the Timberwolves should not have a problem to advance, but it is a big problem for the two teams to play a few games.
The Spurs Grizzlies don't have much to watch, and the Spurs are likely to advance 4-0, but the matchup between the Suns and the Kings is too interesting, and this is also a round of games that I don't know who will advance, and it will inevitably be an offensive battle.
This is a round of games that everyone will watch, then the other round of games in the West is even more to attract everyone's attention, Lakers vs. Mavericks, both teams have strong people in the summer, the same type of potential to get the championship, the same core is very clear lineup, although the Lakers win rate is relatively large, but these two teams are recognized as likely to fight to the seventh game.
As for the East, it is not as big an impact as the West, except for watching the Knicks and the Wizards matchup, all the matchups are just the same thing, and the outcome has been determined from the beginning.
The only thing that really makes people think about it in the East is whether the Knicks can break through the combination of the Wizards, Pistons, and Pacers, and the rest can be determined almost immediately.
It's just that the games that should be played still have to be played, and in the basketball game where the strength and weakness are clear, although the number of miracles is rare, there is no shortage of examples over the years, such as player injuries and internal overturns caused by a trade...... Are there still a few capsized boats in the gutter? (To be continued.) )