However, the ga was indeed sowhat boring. The slow pace and overly intense confrontation made scoring exceedingly difficult for both teams.
In the previous four gas, none of them scored over 100 points, with the highest being 93 points and the lowest 78 points.
It wasn’t until the second quarter that both teams gradually picked up the pace, their shots got warr, and the scoring started to increase.
At this point, the Pacers leveraged their ho court advantage, playing with imnse montum and widening the score gap in one go.
They achieved a 10-point lead in the first half, which was significant in a defensive battle like this.
"Dad, did you place a bet, who do you think will win?"
"If it’s not your ga, I won’t bet... I don’t think the Pacers are doing well."
"The Pacers are ahead by 10 points, isn’t that sothing? The score will be very low."
"They exerted themselves a bit too early, which isn’t their style. Playing a ga and running are similar; everyone has their own rhythm. Trying to be fast and overtaking the opponent too soon can disrupt your familiar rhythm, leading to issues later."
Gan Youwei often watched gas seriously. Although he didn’t understand the specific technical and tactical details, he had summarized so insights.
He would observe the montum of the ga and, through intuitive analysis of the forces, make basic judgnts about the ga’s direction.
Of course, this judgnt wasn’t frequently accurate, as too many factors influence the outco, but sotis, it was indeed quite predictive.
Sure enough, in the third quarter, the Knicks began their fierce counterattack.
This year, after Spree replaced Rice for the Knicks, their offensive aggression significantly increased.
Previously, they always relied on Mourning and Kemp, the two inside players, to initiate attacks, with Rice and Houston serving as outside shooting support.
Van Gundy’s offensive arsenal had only three tactics; once used up, everything else depended on extre defensive pressure to gain an advantage.
The problem is, basketball is ultimately a scoring ga; although you can focus on defense, in the playoffs, your offense cannot be overly simplistic.
Spree’s arrival provided sufficient diversity. His ball handling, fast breaks, isolation plays, compensated for the biggest shortcoming of the Knicks’ original lineup.
With an average of 16 points per ga in the regular season, his playoff average score increased to 21 points, becoming the team’s top scorer and most crucial offensive force.
His free throw percentage and free throw numbers reached career highs.
Spree led the Knicks’ third-quarter onslaught, hitting the Pacers hard with a 28:14 run, winning the quarter by 14 points and leading into the fourth quarter.
Gan Youwei was right; the Pacers prematurely expended their energy, causing them to be unable to respond to the Knicks’ resurgence in the pivotal third quarter.
Adelman paced anxiously by the sideline, unable to do anything, while Miller, under pressure, missed his shots. It wasn’t his first ti.
Pacer fans at ho continually cheered for the ho team, but by this point in the series, ho advantage was no longer that vital.
Ho fans wouldn’t storm down to drive the away team out, would they? Truly strong playoff teams consider winning away gas as basic operations.
In the first ga of the series, the Knicks had conquered Indiana. Returning here, they remained undeterred, simply aiming to win and advance to the finals.
In the fourth quarter’s showdown, Miller regained his form, making consecutive outside shots, but Spree always managed to respond.
After enduring the Pacers’ fiercest counterpunch, the Knicks relied on their interior advantage to keep scoring, with Kemp and Mourning consistently grabbing offensive rebounds and succeeding in second-chance points.
The Knicks had already overshadowed the Pacers in montum, bringing New Yorkers closer to victory.
In the last minute, the Knicks had already expanded their lead to 8 points, but they dared not relax.
For Miller always seems to deliver deadly cobacks at such crucial tis, using consecutive threes to reverse the situation.
Yet this ti, Miller couldn’t create a miracle, the "Miller mont" didn’t happen, and the Knicks maintained their lead.
Ultimately, they won 98:92, defeating the Pacers by 6 points away from ho, leading the series 3:2 and taking the Eastern Conference Finals match point.
The entirety of New York City plunged into madness, foreshadowing just how frenzied the next ga at Madison Square Garden would be.
New Yorkers would eagerly hope for the Knicks to ascend to the highest stage again after 26 years.
The Trail Blazers also considered the New York Knicks as their primary imaginary adversary, with the coaching staff beginning to study their ga footage and tactical strategies.
Just as Gan Guoyang calmly prepared to face the Finals, on May 26th, Arica’s House of Representatives released a confidential investigation report, causing a commotion.
Compiled and nad under Congressman Christopher Costa’s leadership, the report identified a significant amount of espionage activity in Arica since the 1980s.
These espionage activities primarily revolved around military actions, nuclear technology, and other national secrets, with behind-the-scenes manipulators pointing directly across the Pacific Ocean.
It particularly ntioned, "Our military operations in Kosovo were leaked and affected, probably related to a renowned professional athlete who has been in Arica for years."
The "Costa Report" erged, bringing Gan Guoyang a major crisis in his career.
Phones rang nonstop at Gan Guoyang’s ho, with all kinds of calls coming — so comforting, so inquiring, so probing, so distancing, and so attacking him...
Gan Guoyang remained composed, already prepared. He specifically made a call to Bird, asking, "Larry, are you still on my side?"
On the other end, Bird was silent for a few seconds, then said, "I told you, always by your side. I absolutely don’t believe that damned report."
Gan Guoyang said, "Neither do I. I’m looking forward to going to New York; the Knicks will most likely reach the Finals."
"No matter who it is, we will win. But going to New York, you should make sufficient ntal preparation; the fans there are crazy."
"It doesn’t matter; I wanted to go see the Twin Towers anyway. You know, I like facing the Twin Towers."
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