On the evening of May 6, 2000, at Madison Square Garden, New York fans still entered early.

At 19:30, half an hour before the game, the stadium was already very noisy, and on the TNT commentary seat, Mav Albert showed a nostalgic look, and the "Voice of New York" wanted to continue to work in New York.

Fans were in high spirits, and commentator Hubby Brown looked at the technical statistics, and then chatted about the gossip of the 76ers:

"The All-Star Weekend deal didn't go through, but Larry Hughes was affected a bit."

"The lads are in average shape after the All-Star break, and for the rookies, they're still adjusting to the league."

Mav-Albert came back to his senses, picked up the conversation and said with a smile:

"Kukic is much more mature at this point, and for him, he may have become accustomed to being the sixth man in a championship team."

"However, his form has been up and down this season, and there have been some highlights before the injury, but in the first round, it seems that he is not completely in the best form."

Due to the first round of the game, Allen Iverson did not play a bright performance, and Hubby Brown did not introduce the situation of the 76 too much, but talked more about the situation of the Knicks:

"Playing at home, if the opponent picks up, I'm sure the Knicks will get Ben Wallace soon, and although there are some problems with the finishing under the basket, he has been very good in rebounding this year."

"The Knicks have a big advantage in the rotation, and the rookies are good to play next to Lee, and they get more opportunities."

Mav-Albert nodded, noticing that the appearance ceremony was about to begin, and said in a nostalgic tone:

"Lee is a qualified leader, and there is more to improve on Aaron Iverson in comparison!"

“.”

After the visiting players came on the field, Iverson, who was "fully armed", looked at the rudimentary animation overhead, heard the excited shouts of the New York fans at the scene, and couldn't help but pout secretly.

In the past two days, the New York media has ridiculed him, and some newspapers are very angry:

"Aaron Iverson is just an imitator, but not a qualified leader."

Wearing an arm guard is believed to be an imitation of Li You, Iverson is so angry that he really has an elbow injury.

In order to avoid being called an imitator, Iverson deliberately wore a headband tonight, and his elbow pads and finger guards were not dropped, which can be regarded as updating his equipment.

When Li You played, the string of "MVP" titles made Iverson tired of hearing it, which is why he didn't like to play in New York.

Head coach Larry Brown didn't notice the change in mood for his beloved disciple, and he had been preparing for this game for a long time.

The lights came back on, and the cheers in Madison Square Garden couldn't stop, and Larry Brown took advantage of the players on both sides to warm up at the end and pulled the crowd again to admonish:

'We need to speed up the pace and show our energy from the start.

"Get moving, seize the opportunity to switch offense!"

Writing and drawing on the tactics board, Larry Brown pulled Eric Snow and the others to explain the tactics and alignments again.

Compared with the serious coach of the 76ers, Jeff Van Gundy didn't make any moves, said a few random words, and sat on the bench waiting for kickoff

Compared with last season, the 76ers have not changed much, and after Li You came to the middle circle, he saw that the opposite side was full of "old acquaintances", smiling and bumping fists with each other one by one.

George Lynch and Teylon Hill are still on the front line, and Theo Ratrive is in the center.

The three of them looked at Li You's smiling face, but they couldn't smile on their faces, so they could only make themselves expressionless.

“Let's go Knicks！.”

In the midst of the shouts, the referee threw the ball, and Ewing flicked the ball into his own half, and then quickly crossed the halfway line.

As in the regular season, Eric Snow still chose to lead the defense, and after Li You controlled the ball, he held the ball in his right hand and advanced steadily.

In the face of the opponent's interference, Li You didn't need to shake, accelerated and crashed into the opponent, and by the way, he slapped off the opponent's arm with the ball protector, and once he dribbled behind his back, when he switched to the left hand, he had already come to the right flank.

After the opening, the Knicks' strategy was very simple, with Larry Johnson first clubbing in the left corner and Oakley moving in the right block.

Lee Woo was in position, the two in the bottom corner quickly slipped past the baseline, and near the baseline on the left, Ewing suddenly stood up and made an off-ball cover for Alan Houston.

By the time Larry Johnson moved to the bottom right corner, Alan Houston had moved to the left elbow.

The first time to send a horizontal pass, Li You began to move backwards after handing over the ball, Iverson was delayed, Alan Houston received the ball and threw it directly against the defense!

"Huh!" Steady hit from mid-range!

“Wow！”

Face-to-face bukkake, Alan Houston used his height advantage to cut points on the heads of the opposing core players, and the cheers in the stadium were a few points louder.

Iverson was used to the situation, and with a blank face, he ran to the front court as soon as possible.

Eric Snow was also defended by Lee Yo, and the 76ers didn't advance quickly.

In the elbow area on the right side of the free throw line, Iverson, who was moving diagonally, took advantage of Latliff's cover and received a cross pass from Eric Snow on the right wing.

Alan Houston was quick to defend, and Iverson didn't attack immediately, seeing Teylon Hill deep in the low post on the right side, he sent a hit pass at the first time.

The moment he received the ball, Teylon Hill immediately put the ball with his left hand and arched it to the basket, but under the physical confrontation, Oakley decisively cut the ball.

"Ahh

Even the ball was hit with his hand, Teylon Hill screamed and tried to make the referee blow the whistle, but no one paid attention to it, and Oakley, who completed the tackle, was the first to get on the ball.

Li You received the ball and continued to accelerate along the left sideline, and the cheers on the scene resumed.

Eric Snow stepped back quickly and shouted for Ratliff to return to the basket.

Just standing on the three-point line, Eric Snow saw Li You, who was holding the ball in his left hand, start to slow down, and subconsciously took another step forward.

There was no problem with the defensive prediction, Eric Snow just came up on the defense, Li You quickly changed direction under his crotch, changed to his right hand, leaned on the opponent, and accelerated to squeeze through.

Eric Snow hurriedly and desperately slid to the left back, but Li You suddenly stopped at this time, and then used his left foot in front of him to exert force, and then blew the ball and retreated.

The right wing closes the ball, Li You ignores Eric Snow and jumps to pounce, converts three points and shoots quickly!

"Squeak! Swish! ”

When the whistle blew the ball in, Eric Snow couldn't control his center of gravity and hit Li You's right forearm, which was caught by the linesman who was close at hand.

Instead of shouting excitedly, Marv-Albert laughed and joked with Hubby Brown next to him:

"It was definitely the wrong defensive choice! I've seen Lee's 3+1 too many times. ”

"Excellent coordination, core strength, and changing dribbling rhythm from one trip to the next, it's hard for the 76ers to limit Lee's offense from the outside."

Hubby Brown shook his head after saying that, the forward players were not flexible enough, the two on the outside were not in shape, and the one-sided prediction before the game was also the reason.

Iverson watched Lee hit a free throw from outside the three-point line, and quickly gave his teammates a tactical gesture.

The two teams have played each other too many times, and just looking at the 76 team position, everyone on the Knicks realized that Iverson was going to throw a three-pointer

With double cover in the elbow area, Iverson came to the sweet spot on the left wing, did not give Ewing a chance to save, and made a quick jumper from beyond the three-point line.

A rare open shot, only to hit the back edge of the basket, and the long rebound bounced off just in time for Larry Johnson to take in.

The Knicks quickly launched a counterattack, and this time the whole team followed suit, and Larry Brown on the sidelines shouted loudly, signaling the players to quickly retreat.

After receiving the ball in the middle, Lee Woo rushed through the half, and George Lynch and Eric Snow blocked together.

The two had just chased to the top of the arc, and Li You, who was in the middle of the race, threw the ball to the upper left of the basket.

Unguarded Larry Johnson went straight to the basket, jumped up and scooped the ball in the air to easily put the ball in the basket!

At 0:8, Larry Brown on the sidelines looked serious but did not ask for a timeout.

The 76s attacked, and after patiently covering the ball in succession, George Lynch hit the iron again in the middle distance of the left elbow area.

The rebound was picked up by Oakley, and Eric Snow couldn't care about leading the defense, and quickly retreated with his teammates.

Falling into the positional attack, Lee Yo signaled to pull away, a simple right elbow block, Teylon-Hill over-assisted, Oakley received a pass at the free throw line, and an open jumper was successful.

Completely unable to hold back, head coach Larry Brown immediately called a timeout, and the opening game was beaten 10-0, and the 76ers atmosphere group was also blinded

Seeing that the Knicks were playing more and more easily, Hubby Brown could only sigh:

"Iverson has to respond on the offensive end, and Coach Larry Brown has to emphasize the defense, individual rounds, and not overdo it."

Marv Albert thought of the "grievances" hyped before the game, and was a little speechless for a while, and in his impression, the 76ers had not won in the commentary games.

After the timeout, the 76ers relied on Iverson's strong basket to score a 2+1.

Before Iverson, who hit the penalty and beat his chest and roared, he didn't have time to rejoice for a few seconds, and Li You cut in 45 degrees on the right flank, attracting Ratliff's help defense, and assisted Ewing to follow up with a one-handed dunk!

"Oh!"

Ewing also pounded his chest and roared, and the atmosphere in Madison Square Garden was completely ignited.

At 6:21 in the first quarter, Lee Woo faced Eric Snow's one-on-one defense, and broke through to a position close to the paint with the ball in his left hand.

Taking advantage of the right rear slide in the opposite direction, he quickly turned to the baseline direction while marching and combined the ball with the momentum, and the right side was near the baseline position, Li You drifted backwards and completed the back jumper!

"Huh!" The two-pointer hit the ball steadily.

Lee Yoo moved widely, Eric Snow's block didn't make any difference, and the 76ers called a timeout again.

At 3:16, Larry Brown looked ugly, and all the pre-game arrangements were useless.

It was rare to play well, Ewing was not replaced early in the first quarter, and when the opponent attacked the inside, the Gorilla was still the big hat Teylon Hill.

Constantly breaking through, Iverson's offense made the interior more and more crowded, and the big man of 76 did not feel good, and relied on two rebounds to get the score.

As the defensive intensity has dropped a bit, the 76ers' offense still hasn't improved much.

The Knicks blossomed more, and the vacated Larry Johnson also hit a three-pointer.

After two timeouts, Larry Brown sat back on the bench and, like everyone on the coaching staff, pulled on their faces and watched the players bang on their feet.

Larry Hughes, who came off the bench, failed to change the situation, but like the big brothers, he came up and hit two irons angrily, allowing Li You to get a chance to switch offense and counterattack layups to score easily.

At the end of the first quarter, the New York fans in attendance were in a state of euphoria, and Spike Lee celebrated with a large orange handkerchief over his head, his hands raised in the air.

At 15:35, the difference came to 20 points, and the game ended just after it began.

In the game with too low intensity, Li You lost interest, but Ewing didn't mind eating cakes, and pretended to be X to interact with the fans after scoring.

played the best performance in a single quarter of this year's playoffs, with the Gorillas shooting 4-of-6, 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block.

Lee Woo played the full first quarter, 3-of-4, 1-of-2 from beyond the three-point line, 1-of-1 from the free throw line, 8 points, 1 rebound and 7 assists.

Alan Houston was 4-of-5 from the field, also scoring eight points, Larry Johnson scored five points, Oakley contributed four points, and Cooke, who came off the bench, also scored two points on free throws.

The players who appeared in the first quarter of the game all scored, and the two people in the commentary box could only follow a blow:

"The Knicks have once again shown the dominance of a championship team!"

“.”

The more he misses, the more he likes to lunge to the basket, and once Iverson's offensive options become predictable, the Knicks' interior defense becomes much easier.

Also played the first quarter, 1-of-6, Iverson scored a team-high 5 points.

Larry Brown pressed Iverson, who wanted to continue to play, and the 76ers rotated in a step-by-step manner, and this game was likely to be gone.

Aaron McGee and Larry Hughes partnered the backcourt, with George Lynch and Billy Owens up front, and Matt Geiger in the center.

With a huge point difference, the 76ers' rotation lineup played better than the starter.

With Larry Hughes as the offensive core, he began to score constantly.

Larry Brown on the sidelines crossed his arms and stopped yelling, and the Knicks' rotation lineup did not respond to the ball.

In the second quarter, the game only lasted 3 minutes and 30 seconds, and Li You completely fished after he came on the court.

At the end of the half, 37:59, the second half will go into garbage time.

There was no suspense in the game, and at halftime, the two in the commentary bench simply chatted about the depth of the Knicks' lineup.

Marv Albert is familiar with the Knicks' lineup and laughs about his home team:

'Artest and Lewis are both very characteristic players, but they are inexperienced and will make some low-level mistakes a lot of the time.

"Thomas and Wallace were good defensively, but they weren't very consistent offensively."

"Chris Childs is a good turn-a-control player and usually doesn't make mistakes as long as the team stays ahead."

"Everyone knows the strength of Kukchi, as long as you can find the touch in the game, you can also hand over a good statistic."

Hubby Brown nodded as well, and then added:

'The rotation players can come in handy and it's a test for Van Gundy as well.

"Coaches can't predict how players will play every night, and defense is the more powerful guarantee, which the Knicks have really slipped a little bit."

Mav Albert remembered that O'Neal won the MVP in the morning, and suddenly came a sentence that had nothing to do with the game:

"The Lakers didn't show absolute dominance in the first round."

Hubby Brown shook his head with a smile and didn't pick up the conversation.

With Kobe Bryant and O'Neal playing 40+ minutes, they returned to the Kings' home court and were won two games in a row, and finally advanced with a big score of 3:2, and O'Neal's cowhide has been blown out.

After the start of the second half, Iverson finally found his touch, shooting 5-of-7 in the single quarter and scoring 12 points.

It's just that the game has long been gone, and the two sides played 24:24 in a single quarter, and the fourth quarter completely entered garbage time.

Iverson was still on the court, and Lee Woo changed into his training clothes after being substituted late in the third quarter, sat on the bench and threw a towel.

Playing only 26 minutes, 7-of-13, 2-of-4 from beyond the three-point line, 5-of-5 from the free-throw line, 21 points, 4 rebounds, 12 assists, 1 steal and 1 turnover, Li You handed over a double-double.

It wasn't until 4:01 left in the game that Iverson officially left the game.

Playing 39 minutes, 10-of-20, 1-of-3 from beyond the three-point line, 7-of-8 from the free-throw line, 28 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 3 turnovers, Iverson also delivered a good stat.

In the end, 83:107, in the Eastern Conference semifinals G1, the Knicks defeated the 76ers.

Seeing that the opponent turned his head and left, Li You didn't care, and the smiling groom-Albert greeted him.

Although the "Voice of New York" was in a neutral position during the game, he was free of burden after the game, stood up and laughed and hugged Li You.

"Well done, Lee! We will definitely be able to defend our title this year! ”

As a die-hard Knicks fan, Marv Albert hasn't said a bad word about the team or criticized any of the team's players since winning the championship.

"Of course, I don't want to repeat the Bulls story, everyone is ready!"

Li You greeted his old friend, and Ewing, who ate dumplings on the other side, was also in an interview:

“Pat！ Congratulations on your victory, can you talk a little bit more about the tour? ”

It was too easy to win, and after the game, TNT's reporters simply gossiped about the news they got before the game.

Cutting down the double-double data of 18 points and 15 rebounds, Ewing was in a particularly good mood at this time, raised his eyebrows, and said quite confidently:

"After winning the championship this year, it's time for my contract to expire and it's time to end my career."

"But at the moment I'm completely focused on the playoffs, on tour, and we'll talk about that again in the offseason."

O'Neal lifted the MVP trophy in the morning, and in the evening the "No. 1 center in the league" announced the news of his retirement from the tour, and although the gorilla didn't say much, the TNT reporter who successfully ate the melon was also satisfied.

In the coming week, don't worry about hot news

In the post-match press conference, Allen Iverson sat on the stage with a blank face, and the media in the audience asked questions and dealt with some scenes briefly.

Until the New York Post reporter asked maliciously:

"Allen, 50% shooting percentage cut 28 points, very good performance!"

"But I noticed that your plus/minus is minus 27, can you explain that?"

Since the beginning of the 96~97 season, there have been relevant positive and negative statistics, although most people don't care about these at all, but the sports media on the scene still exclaimed after hearing this number.

Seeing the surprised eyes of everyone in the audience, and noticing the triumphant expression of the New York Post reporter, Iverson didn't hold back this time, almost Farker spoke out, and finally said viciously:

“Next question！”

“.”

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(End of chapter)