On the evening of May 17, 1999, the semi-finals of the East and West officially began.

The Hawks led by Wilkens, the leader of the 1,000-win team, scored 3:1 and successfully defeated the Magic team.

The Eagles came to New York ahead of schedule, and they were bombarded with Li You's advertisements for the past two days.

As a good friend of the gorilla, Mutombo floated by together, and the relationship was naturally very close.

Madison Square Garden was packed that night, and when Mutombo saw the small bronze man trophy placed in the center of the field, and then heard President David Stern's speech, he only felt that Ewing was really out of breath for a while.

The applause and cheers in the arena grew louder and louder, and the New York fans who were present stood up to salute them.

"It's great to see the young players achieve this achievement, first in the scoring charts and first in the three-point charts!"

"Historic efficiency, leading the Knicks to the first place in the East, the perfect No. 1 position!"

"The most important thing is that he's only 21 years old, which is definitely a blessing in the basketball world!"

"Congratulations on being the 1999 NBA regular season MVP - Clay-Lee!"

Dressed in a black suit, David Stern finished his speech, and handed the little bronze man to Li You, who was wearing the white jersey of the New York home stadium "fully armed".

After receiving the trophy, Li You first nodded in greeting, and then held the little bronze figure high.

“MVP！ MVP！ MVP！ ”

A loud shout resounded through the arena, and David Stern on the side applauded again, feeling that the ball market in New York seemed to be better than before.

McAkin's retirement did not have an impact on New York, on the contrary, the old fans were comfortable and continued to buy tickets enthusiastically, shrinking the season, and the Knicks did not worry about selling season tickets.

After Li You handed the trophy to the staff, he stood in the center of the venue and took the microphone, and said simply:

"The MVP is just the beginning, our work is not done, the Knicks will challenge for the championship again!"

“.”

On the bench of the visiting team, everyone in the Eagles felt the hot atmosphere of the scene, looked at each other and stopped talking.

Coach Wilkens looked serious, and while the final warm-up had not yet begun, he told the players again:

"Muchi, control the mistakes, don't give the opponent a chance to counterattack easily, DiCambe, remember to delay the exit."

Murchi-Blaylock and Mutombo immediately nodded in understanding.

Most of the Eagles' main players are over 30, and only Chris Crawford is a budding forward in the class of '97.

On the TNT commentary bench at the scene, Hubby Brown was still praising the coaching ability of the Wilkens coach at this time:

"The use of Crawford this season has eased the pressure on the Eagles' interior defense."

"Averaging 83.4 points per game during the regular season, the highest in the league, the Hawks have played phenomenal defense this year."

Partner's Dick Stockton didn't pick up on the conversation, the Hawks were really good defensively, but the offensive end was really stretched.

During the regular season, he averaged 86.3 points per game and won the first round, relying more on defense, and this kind of offense ranked second to last in the league.

The penultimate is the Bulls, who have become the belly of the fish.

"Tonight's game is a test for Blaylock and Steve Smith, Lee and Alan Hughes are younger and in great form!"

"In rebounding, maybe the Hawks will have some advantage, Grant Lang is in good form in the first round, but Larry Johnson is also impressive."

"Considering that Lee won the MVP tonight and was blessed by the atmosphere at home, the Knicks may soon be in the game, and the Hawks should be careful!"

Dick Stockton briefly introduced the player status of both sides, and in other words, they are more optimistic about the Knicks.

In a shortened season, the Knicks averaged 102.7 points per game during the regular season, leading the league, and became the only two teams to score more than 100 points this season along with the Kings.

Both on the commentary bench knew that the Knicks' bench was deep enough, and as long as Sprewell played normally, it would be difficult for the Hawks to limit.

Jeff Van Gundy didn't tell the players too much, the two teams played each other a lot in the regular season and knew each other very well.

Amid the cheers of the fans at the scene, the game started quickly, and the bald young marshal watched from the sidelines for a while, then returned to the bench and hung up.

The Hawks were very resolute in their first round of the opening game, and after a screen, Steve Smith made a jumper from outside the three-point line on the right wing.

In the next few rounds, it was still Steve Smith who continued to attack, and then hit the iron in a row

The head coach of Wilkens could only keep calling for his players to retreat quickly, and the game played for almost 3 minutes, and the Eagles scored zero.

Chris Crawford was active after the opening, but Oakley was experienced, stuck on the opponent every round, and the rebounds were protected.

This time, Mutombo stood up to Ewing's defense at the bottom left of the basket, and his right-handed shot under the basket was iron, and the rebound was grabbed by Oakley, and the Hawks could only quickly retreat.

“Let's go Knicks！ Let's go Knicks！ Let's go Knicks！ ”

The cheers became louder and louder, and Li You did not rush forward after receiving the ball, facing the close defense of Murch Blaylock, and cautiously dribbled through the half.

Li You's protector has been blocking the opponent's small movements, and the two have been battling it out since the opening.

Having been named to the All-Defensive Team for several years in a row, Blayrock is one of the best outside defenders in the league despite being only 183 tall.

It's just that compared to the previous two years, Li You can feel that the other party's lateral speed has decreased a little.

By the time he got to the right wing, the Knicks had already finished their positions, and Ewing moved quickly and began to slow down when he reached the right elbow of the free throw line.

Mutombo, who was following the defense, noticed that this was a defensive position that was not up or down, and immediately reminded his teammates loudly:

"Don't let him break in!"

Outside the three-point line, Li You, who was holding the ball in his right hand, did not shake much, and after lowering the center of gravity, he accelerated the breakthrough against the defense.

Stepping on the three-point line, Murge-Blaylock continued to give physical confrontations, and the two collided, Li You adjusted his footsteps, took a step back, slightly raised the center of gravity of his body, and then leaned in to accelerate.

Mutombo cursed secretly, saw his teammates lose most of his body in an instant, and hurriedly moved to the basket.

Just sensing that Ewing behind him was also going down, Mutombo was distracted, and Li You had already broken through to the bottom right of the basket.

Sensing the opponent's defense, he jumped quickly, carried the defense, Li You came to the basket and briefly pulled the lever, the basket was lower left, and he reflexively picked up the basket!

Mutombo, who returned to the defense, looked helplessly at Li You, who was retreating, and Muchi-Blaylock, who was next to him, raised his hand again to indicate that it was his problem.

0:8, with 9:07 left in the first quarter, Madison Square Garden was already boiling.

When the Hawks' offense hit iron again, Mutombo grabbed a rebound under the basket, put a basket under the basket, and helped the team score two points, which helped the team break the deadlock.

On the commentary bench, Hubby Brown saw Alan Houston start in the bottom corner of the right side, with the help of Larry Johnson's cover, the right wing received a cross from Li Youheng and hit a three-point shot, and he could only sigh for a while:

"The Knicks deserve to be the best offensive team in the league right now."

"Lee and Houston started the game with all the points they scored, and they were in great shape."

After Steve Smith, who was hitting a series of irons, hit a pull-up jumper from the right block, Dick Stockton quipped:

"It's also a matchup between Van Gundy and Wilkens."

"The two have different coaching philosophies, and at the moment, it seems that the Knicks have the upper hand!"

As the game progressed, Lee Woo attracted more defense and began to give the ball to the inside.

Perhaps stimulated by the MVP award ceremony, Ewing was in good shape tonight, after a simple block, he quickly went down to the left near baseline position, and after receiving the pass, he hit a mid-range jumper steadily!

In the next two rounds, the Gorillas even hit a long two-point run after the pick-and-roll, and although the Hawks responded, the Wilkens head coach called a timeout.

"Ahh

scored three goals in a row, Ewing pounded his chest and roared, and the Knicks atmosphere team also jumped forward to celebrate with high-fives.

Jeff Van Gundy just felt that the game was under control, and he didn't say much about the timeout, and continued to hang up.

Coach Wilkens made a timely adjustment, and in the first round after the timeout, Murch Blayrock played the No. 5 pick-and-roll.

The top of the arc takes advantage of Mutombo's cover, and Blaylock gets rid of the defense and throws it!

"Huh!" Three-pointers hollow into the net.

At 11:18, the margin was narrowed to seven points, and the Hawks bench was rejuvenated, followed by cheers.

Constantly applauding, Murge-Blaylock cheered himself up, this time he didn't choose to stick to the defense, and saw Li You calling tactics outside the three-point line, and subconsciously glanced back.

When he came back to his senses, he saw Li You, who was holding the ball in his right hand, suddenly quicken his pace.

Blaylock hurriedly slid his step, and Li You changed his speed and swayed, took two steps in a row, and then quickly changed direction in advance.

Completely open the defense, fishing the ball with his left hand, Li You quickly cut in from 45 degrees, followed Oakley to the left elbow of the free throw line Chris Crawford subconsciously chased the defense to the basket.

After jumping together, after the two faced off in the air, Li You grabbed the ball with his left hand, dodged the defense, and quickly threw the ball to the rebound while the opponent hit the shoulder!

"My bowl!"

"Squeak!"

When the whistle blew the ball in, Chris Crawford waved his hand helplessly, and the foul didn't do much to help.

Li You shook his shoulders, and in the cheers of the fans, he also hit the penalty steadily.

Seeing that the difference was back to 10 points, Coach Wilkens on the sidelines looked at the bench and finally didn't make any substitutions, like all old-school coaches, he believed in the veterans more.

According to the game plan made before the game, the Eagles wanted to steal the opening game and take the lead, but Steve Smith had a bad hand tonight and ended up digging into a hole.

At the end of the first quarter, Jeff Van Gundy began to rotate again, and after Sprewell, Co Thomas, and Ben Wallace came on, the Knicks did not lose any rebounds.

At the end of the first quarter, the score was fixed at 20:29, and the head coach of Wilkens on the sidelines looked serious and failed to defend.

The intensity of the game was not small, Murch Blaylock played the whole first quarter like Li You, and the two fought a lot, and the hand movements did not stop.

Hubby Brown in the commentary seat had long noticed this situation, and took advantage of the break to say happily:

"Lee's technique doesn't look like that of a young player, Blayrock tries to disrupt his dribbling rhythm with defense, and Lee also copes well and doesn't add to the ineffective dribble."

"The MVP deserved his name, with 5 assists in a single quarter, Lee quickly activated the team's offense!"

Dick Stockton felt that the Hawks lacked energy on the offensive end:

"It's really hard to play away from home and hopefully the Eagles can get back to form as soon as possible."

The near-double-digit point differential has made Madison Square Garden boiling, and fans know that the rotation lineup is also an advantage for the Knicks.

Sprewell, the best sixth man, is getting better and better, and the coaching staff doesn't have to worry about the offense of the rotation.

It's just that the expected efficient scoring did not materialize, Mutombo came on early, and Sprewell made two unreasonable breakthroughs, both of which were blocked by the opponent.

Seeing Sprewell stumbling to the ground, the referee didn't say anything, and there were boos for a while.

The Hawks' bench lineup, Ed Gray and Tyrone Corbin partnered in the backcourt, and the other main players all returned, and the five people on the court began to rush to the front court to grab rebounds.

On the bench, Li You noticed that the two sides were playing slower and slower, and knew that the opponent's game strategy had partially worked.

Larry Johnson watched Ben Wallace rebound in front of Mutombo, and sighed in a low voice:

"Ben has grown a lot this year, maybe in the offseason, I can get a good contract!"

The Knicks' salary is increasing, and Lee Woo understands what Larry Johnson means, and also responds in a low voice:

"Don't worry about salaries, the team shouldn't care about spending a little more."

Several water cooler guardians on the bench are also a little envious of "Xiao Ben", who played well in the contract year and got the contract, so he doesn't have to worry about the American knife in the next few years.

In the rotation of the second quarter of the game, seeing that the point difference was not narrowed, Jeff Van Gundy still made a substitution.

It wasn't until the end of the half that the Knicks' main lineup fully returned.

At 42:53, the first half of the game ended, and the difference still came to 11 points.

After the start of the second half, the Hawks had another old problem, and the offense suddenly lost power in the third quarter.

The Knicks went on offense in a step-by-step manner, without speeding up or slowing down, and their scoring rose steadily.

At the end of the third quarter, the score came to 53:77, and the Hawks scored 11 points in a single quarter.

Ewing looked at Mutombo, who was about to walk to the bench, and leaned forward and whispered:

"Looks like I've won tonight!"

“.”

Looking at the gorilla's smug smiling face, Mutombo was a little speechless.

The final quarter of the game completely turned into garbage time, and the Eagles did not follow the head iron and quickly switched to the atmosphere group.

Murch Blaylock was a little disappointed when he returned to the bench, although he knew before the game that he would probably not be the opponent of the Knicks, but the fall in the third quarter was still beyond his expectations.

Steve Smith and Mutombo didn't want to talk either, the team's offense did stretch their hips, and they probably won't score 80 tonight

Amid the cheers of the New York fans, the atmosphere team also played hard, and the game time passed quickly.

In the end, 77:101, the Knicks, who were playing at home, defeated their opponents and ushered in a good start to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

On the bench, Lee Woo got up and clapped his hands, and he played 27 minutes tonight, 7-of-13, 1-of-2 from beyond the three-point line, 5-of-5 from the free throw line, and got 20 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists and 1 turnover.

When Li You greeted his friends sitting in the front row, TNT's reporter interviewed Jeff Van Gundy for the first time.

The duel between the champion coach and the thousand wins coach is also a highlight of this round of the series:

"Jeff, since taking over the team, the Knicks have a very good record, can you talk about your winning secret? Fans are very curious about this! ”

Dressed in a crisp black suit, Jeff Van Gundy smiled and replied confidently:

"We just believe in each other, I trust my players completely, we play for each other, and that's why the Knicks keep winning."

"The most important thing is that when a team has an MVP-caliber player like Lee, it's really hard to lose!"

“.”

Many New York fans in attendance were also cheering for the bald young marshal, and Jeff Van Gundy waved to the fans after the interview, and he was secretly proud in his heart:

In the first round, the champion coach won completely!

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(End of chapter)