On March 1, 1998, the Knicks faced the Lakers at home, and the score was 71-71 after three quarters.

Lee Woo, who rested in the second half of the third quarter, came on immediately in the fourth quarter.

In addition to the interior switch to Chris Dudley, the Knicks got back their main lineup at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Lakers are the same, 39-16, and at the end of the regular season, Coach Harris doesn't want to lose easily, and the Jazz have caught up.

“Defense！ Defense！ Defense！ ”

Defensive cheers rang through Madison Square Garden, and Derrick Fisher, who was given the chance to start tonight due to Van Exsel's injury, was cautiously dribbling through the half.

O'Neal struggled with Chris Dudley in the low post on the left, encountered a guard in front of him, and suddenly turned and rushed to the basket, but unfortunately the opportunity was fleeting and Fisher couldn't deliver the pass in time.

On the left flank, Fisher was still protecting the ball with his back, and in order to cut off the connection between the defender and the center, Li You led the defense throughout the game.

There was no chance on the inside, and Eddie Jones quickly bounced to the right flank, and as soon as Fisher turned, he immediately sent a cross pass.

As soon as the basketball was out of his hand, he was stealed by Li You!

In the cheers of the fans at the scene, Li You quickly led the ball forward with his left hand, jumped forward with his body, and immediately accelerated and rushed after re-catching the ball.

Fisher quickly retreated in frustration, but barely managed to catch up with Li You's side, and couldn't cause much interference.

After the two came to the paint area, Li You didn't make much movement, relying on the other party's three strides to rush up, and waited for Fisher to foul after the aerial confrontation.

Realizing that he could not make an effective defense, Filscher struggled to block, tried to control his body, and avoided the foul of the beater, but in the end, he could only watch Li You stretch his body and pick up the basket with one hand with his left hand!

“Wow！”

After a steal at the start of the fourth quarter, the New York fans began to cheer loudly again, and Coach Harris on the sidelines glared at Fisher, clearly very unhappy with the round.

Li You didn't look at the other party either, he was not interested in competing with the small characters in front of him, and this attitude of ignoring also made Fisher's heart sour.

Both are sophomores, and the two are no longer players of the same level.

The defensive cheers sounded again, and the Lakers quickly drove the baseline ball, and Fisher didn't wait for half time before he was led by Li You.

This kind of sliding step at the expense of physical strength will indeed consume a lot of Li You's physical energy.

But unlike last season, fitness is no longer an issue after cashing in on some of the talent.

There was no cutting action, Li You just gave his feet to fight, and then strengthened his hand movements, pulling and supporting his waist in one go.

Fisher, who was never able to get up and kept using the ball protector against Li You, couldn't move forward quickly, and came to the right flank, where O'Neill asked for the ball again in the low post, this time with Oakley on top.

The two battled from the blocking position to the low post near the baseline on the right side, and O'Neal was very impatient with Oakley's pull elbow, and it was rare to get stuck on the opponent but did not receive the pass.

Instead, when he was back in position, O'Neal received a low-quality lob pass from Fisher.

After receiving the ball, he had come to the right blocking area, O'Neill just released the ball with his left hand, but Li You gave up the opposite Fisher and immediately clamped.

Oakley blocked the downline, trying not to let O'Neal turn around and go to the bottom line, and Li You came up and hung on the shark, while constantly interfering.

Under the back and forth, O'Neill hurriedly combined the ball, and the receiving position was too high, so he could only throw the ball to Fisher, who was empty on the right wing.

After receiving the pass, there was no one in front of him, Fisher took a look, and then he threw the ball back of his head!

"Bang!"

The long rebound bounced off and was immediately picked up by Alan Houston, who didn't give the opponent a chance to retreat quickly, and rushed across the half court after controlling the ball.

Eddie Jones stepped back quickly, but the defensive position was too deep and suddenly played a trick when Alan Houston rushed into the paint zone.

Accelerating with the ball in his left hand, he suddenly changed direction under his crotch, slowed down slightly and switched to his right hand, and completed the ball around his back, Alan Houston easily shook off Eddie Jones and came to the basket with his left hand to put the basket to win.

"Nice counterattack! It seems that Lee did affect his teammates, and such actions were not seen in Houston in the past. ”

Commentator Mike Brin laughed and exclaimed that he wasn't worried about the Knicks' offense, and if the game came to the fourth quarter, the team would hit hard most of the time!

"Wrap around the ball a little more! The action will be more beautiful! ”

Lee Yoo followed Fisher to the baseline position, and by the way, teased Alan Houston, who scored the goal.

The two of them bumped fists as if no one was around, making Fisher's face even more ugly.

was led by Li You again, but before half time, Fisher's left-handed ball protection was too big, the push was too obvious, and the referee blew an offensive foul.

"I didn't foul me, sir, it's just a normal ball guard!"

After making consecutive mistakes, Fisher complained loudly to the referee, and such a defense-breaking performance made the New York fans on the scene even more excited, and the ridicule continued.

O'Neal was almost blown up by tonight's guard, he rarely received the ball in a comfortable position, plus the Knicks couldn't prevent it and fouled, and the free throws Bang iron, and his mentality exploded for a while.

"Fack! Don't let me see you make another mistake! ”

O'Neill, who had returned from the retreat, pulled Fisher and whispered a warning, and "Little Fish" was startled and hurriedly nodded in response.

If the game is played in the last quarter, Lee Woo will not pass the ball too much.

After kicking the ball from the sideline, Fisher lowered his center of gravity, put on a defensive stance, and moved to defend Li You.

The Knicks simply pulled away, Oakley slowly moved to the free-throw line, and Alan Houston paced to the right wing.

Larry Johnson and Chris Dudley simply sank to the left and right near baseline positions.

Li You, who held the ball in his left hand, protected the ball sideways, faced Fisher's close defense, came to the left side and suddenly turned forward quickly, and then vigorously exploded the ball on the spot.

Fisher subconsciously slid backwards, Li You shook off the space, quickly dribbled the ball under his crotch, and immediately lowered his body center of gravity after switching to his right hand and pretended to break through.

Noticing that Fisher adjusted his center of gravity and moved backwards, Li You immediately changed direction in front of his body, and at the same time changed to his left hand, he used his foot to complete the retreat.

The left wing is close to the sideline, Li You quickly closes the ball outside the three-point line, and without waiting for Fisher to pounce, his body drifts slightly and jumps to shoot!

"Huh!" Three-point shot hollow into the net!

At 71:78, the margin instantly came to 7 points, and the Madison Square Garden Arena was boiling again.

O'Neill saw Li You raise three fingers and smile and retreat from the armor, and immediately glared at Fisher angrily.

The shark really wants to eat the small fish at this moment.

Coach Harris on the sidelines had no choice but to ask for a timeout, and he could naturally see the problem, but O'Neal couldn't catch the ball, and the matter was not easy to solve.

"Lee was about to end the game in the fourth quarter, and the lad was more comfortable with the pace of the league this year and was much better physically than he was last year."

"Michael Jordan doesn't deserve to be number one on the MVP list, and in the absence of Pat, the Knicks are playing like this, and Lee deserves more respect!"

On the commentary bench, Walter Fraser turned the subject back on the wrong page.

As the Bulls' record rose and Michael Jordan overtook Lee Woo in the MVP rankings, much to the displeasure of many New York media.

Jeff van Gundy smiled again as he looked at the players who walked to the bench, and they defended very successfully tonight:

"Keep this rhythm and continue to cut off the other party's internal and external connections!"

The bald young marshal didn't adjust too much, just simply instructed the defensive strategy, and the offensive end simply hung up again.

After the timeout, the Lakers' offense didn't improve much, and O'Neal still couldn't catch the ball in a comfortable position.

The Knicks scored quickly, the Lakers went through piecemeal, and with 6:42 left in the game, Kobe Bryant replaced Rick Fox.

Fisher, Kobe, Eddie Jones, and Robert Horry still haven't found their touch.

The same is the score, O'Neal draws the ball after the bag, and Horry hits the iron from outside the three-point line.

Li You quickly grabbed the long rebound, then advanced with the ball, and went straight to the basket against Fisher's pursuit.

Horry also retreated quickly, and when he saw his teammates defending without aggression, he subconsciously wanted to catch up and commit a direct foul.

As a result, Lee You, who was on the move, suddenly passed the ball from behind and followed up to the paint area Larry Johnson caught the ball and put the basket to the basket!

Kobe Bryant hit a long two-point jumper against Alan Houston's defense, Oakley grabbed the rebound, and Lee Yoo continued to push quickly.

Although the Lakers completed the retreat, Li You approached the three-point line with his right hand quickly in and out, deceived Fisher's defensive center of gravity, easily grabbed half of the body, and quickly cut in 45 degrees on the right side of the small fish.

In the blocking position, Li You suddenly dribbled the ball behind his back, and immediately turned to the baseline when he switched to his left hand.

Under the continuous shaking, Fisher completely lost the defensive position, and watched Li You complete a drifting back-to-back jumper at the right baseline position!

"Huh!" Solid mid-range hits.

At 80:90, there were 4 minutes and 50 seconds left in the game, and the difference had reached double digits.

Li You's beautiful shot after shaking made the New York fans at the scene shout happily again, and they could celebrate the victory of the game.

In the final moments, the Lakers struggled to score any more athletic goals and could only rely on free throws to score points.

Although O'Neal's basket protection was excellent, Lee's close to the basket and Oakley and Larry Johnson's impact on the rebound limited the Lakers' counterattack.

While frequently falling into the position to attack, while relying on the conversion of offense to score, in the end, the Lakers completely collapsed.

At 18:33 in the single quarter, at the end of the game, the score was fixed at 89:104, and the Knicks defeated the Lakers.

The game had just ended, and O'Neal, who had scored zero eggs, walked quickly to the players' tunnel after playing the fourth quarter.

In the last quarter, he couldn't catch the ball, all the data was zero, and the shark was blown up.

With 6-of-16 shooting, 7-of-13 free throws, 19 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 turnovers, O'Neal became the Lakers' player with the most assists

Fisher and Kobe Bryant saw Li You waving his hand, and the fans at the scene cheered loudly, and their hearts were sour for a while.

4-of-15, 13 points, 5 rebounds and 1 turnover, Kobe Bryant, who came off the bench, failed to save the team.

After the game, commentators Mike Brin and Walter Fraser briefly interviewed Lee You:

"We have a total of 18 games in March, and the schedule is a bit tight, Lee, can you tell us about the team's plans?"

The win over the Lakers was a good start to March, and Mike Brin knew that fans were more concerned about rankings, so the questions were more about the team as a whole.

'It's a really busy schedule, but we still have some wins and with a healthy fit, we'll be able to hold on to the top spot.'

"We need home field advantage, which is very important in the playoffs, and the fans in New York are our best sixth man!"

Li You's answer was very confident, and he firmly believed that as long as he stabilized the abuse, he could suppress the Bulls.

Walter Fraser, who was on the sidelines, smiled and nodded, and he also believed that the Knicks would hold on to the first spot.

In the first game in March, Li You played 39 minutes, 9 of 18, 5 of 9 from beyond the three-point line, 4 of 4 free throws, and scored 27 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals and 2 turnovers;

Alan Houston finished with 25 points, five rebounds, two assists and one turnover on 8-of-17 shooting, 3-of-5 from beyond the three-point line and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.

The excellent performance of the two made the New York media orgasm collectively, followed by crazy ridicule:

"Four All-Stars? The Lakers are the biggest joke in the league! ”

“.”

Perhaps it was a poisoned milk attack, Chris Dudley was milked again, and the new signing was injured and stopped after arriving in New York.

Ben Wallace got a lot of playing time, but the newcomer was inexperienced, playing just 20 minutes and leaving the game with six fouls in back-to-back games against the Wizards.

In the game with the Bulls, although the opponent's inside line Longley was absent due to injury, the young "Little Ben" did not withstand the opponent's rush.

At 102:94, the Knicks, who were playing at home, lost again.

was robbed of 17 frontcourt rebounds by the opponent, and Rodman handed over the classic data of 6 points and 20 rebounds.

Having been taught to be a man by his opponent in two consecutive starts, Ben Wallace almost shut himself up.

The grudge-grudging Michael Jordan scored 42 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 2 turnovers;

Li You got 20 points, 4 rebounds, 15 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers.

After winning this game, the media in Chicago began to cheer for Mai Buckle again, and the MVP rankings, Mai Button's first position has also stabilized a lot!

The dense schedule made everyone on the Knicks pay no attention to these gossips.

Jeff Van Gundy didn't look down on Ben Wallace, but the team's situation left him with few options, and the playing time of "Little Ben" did not decrease, and even steadily increased.

Ben Wallace's stats are also not impressive, mostly 4 points, 5 rebounds and 5 fouls

However, this situation did not make the New York media complain, maybe Ben Wallace will not be seen next season, and losing the draft is not worth wasting pen and ink!

As the game in March continued, the Knicks lost to the Pacers and Jazz in addition to beating the SuperSonics one after another.

On the evening of March 31, in Madison Square Garden, Popovich, who was also hanging up, smiled.

At 95:89, the Spurs managed to win the game!

Jeff Van Gundy pulled a face, and when he saw the rookie coach opposite, he didn't fight:

"Everyone is a routine, what are you proud of!"

In tonight's game, the Spurs starting lineup put on three big men, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, and Will Perdo.

David Robinson hit the No. 3 spot, and Popovich really picked on the Knicks' soft underbelly.

There were three big men over 2.10 meters on the field, and "Little Ben" was robbed and shut up again.

At 47:33, the Knicks lost 14 rebounds and were robbed by the Spurs of 14 frontcourt rebounds.

The large number of games also caused Oakley's form to slip, and he was blown up by the rookie tonight.

With 10-of-16 shooting, 5-of-5 free throws, 25 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks and 3 turnovers, Tim Duncan easily handed over a double-double.

David Robinson, who played small forward, finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and three turnovers on 8-of-16 shooting and 8-of-11 free throws.

Jeff Van Gundy's defensive strategy didn't work, and the opponent's free throws were accurate.

After returning to the locker room, Li You saw that Alan Houston was so depressed that he didn't want to speak, and said teasingly:

"It's a basketball game, I think we played well, 13-5 this month, we won all the games we deserved!"

Stability has always been Li You's pursuit, some back-to-back games, if you lose, you lose, and when you encounter a bunch of big men like the Spurs, it's not a big deal to lose once.

13-of-18, 3-of-7 from beyond the three-point line, 2-of-4 from the free-throw line, 31 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, Alan Houston was in great shape tonight, but the loss was not pretty:

"If we had faced the Spurs in early March, we wouldn't have lost so many rebounds!"

The Knicks, who returned to the locker room one after another, were not in a good mood, and after losing this game, they fell to second place.

With 56 wins and 17 losses, the Knicks and Bulls have the same record, but with a win-loss relationship, the Bulls temporarily lead.

"There's a high probability that Mai Dunk is going to win this month's Player of the Month, but I really didn't expect the Bulls to really catch up."

Larry Johnson is also a little unhappy, he always feels that these old guys are haunted, and when he sees the heat being snatched away by the other party, he is crazy about lemons.

Jeff Van Gundy naturally had to show confidence as the head coach and return to the locker room with chicken soup:

"We had nine games in April, just like the Bulls, and believe me, they can't stand it."

"Think about the structure of their squad, we're younger, we're more talented!"

"Persistence is victory, don't relax, as long as we get the first place in the East, we can get home-court advantage in the playoffs."

"If you think about the playoff schedule, I don't think we're going to have an opponent before the Eastern Conference Finals!"

“.”

Li You, who was replenishing water in his seat, was stunned when he heard it, and the swollen bald young marshal no longer took the Heat team ranked 4th in his eyes.

The atmosphere group was demoralized and kicked the Bulls to 2nd place, which is fun to think about!

On April 1, the NBA league announced the Player of the Month for March, and Michael Jordan of the Bulls successfully won the award:

In March, the Bulls had a 13-1 record, Michael Jordan played 40.4 minutes per game, averaging 28.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.1 steals, 0.9 blocks and 2.0 turnovers per game;

He averaged 23.6 shots per game and shot 49.8 percent from the field and 6.6 free throws per game and shot 74.2 percent from the free-throw line.

After the award was announced, most of the sports media with the attributes of the wall grass turned against them:

"Bulls championship!"

Almost hit a 50% shooting rate, and this performance also allowed Mai Buckle to sit at the top of the MVP rankings.

Earny Johnson, Kenny Smith and McHale didn't discuss the best of the month on TNT, and today's topic is MVP attribution:

"Mai Buckle did play efficiently, but don't forget that this is only happening with Pippen's return!"

"And Lee is different, Patrick Ewing can only cheer the team on the bench, and the Knicks play like that, I think Lee deserves the award."

As soon as Kenny Smith's words fell, McHale on the side shook his head:

"Don't forget Carl Malone, the Jazz's record is getting better and better, it's unfair to only consider the two, if the three teams don't have much difference in record, Malone can also win the award."

Ernnie Johnson heard the views of the two and suddenly said with a smile:

"You've all ignored last year, and I think Myak will win the MVP!"

Sure - as soon as Smith heard this, he immediately laughed out loud and teased:

"Do you think that Mai Buckle lost the MVP last year and will be compensated this year? God, that's an unreliable view! ”

“.”

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(End of chapter)