NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

Amidst much anticipation, the 07-08 season finals have finally begun!
As with the previous three series, the Knicks, who have a record of 76 wins, still have home-court advantage, and the series starts at Madison Square Garden!

On the stage of the Finals, and given that this was Lin Tian's last series, the Knicks staff came up with some creative ideas and added some interesting decorations to the arena floor.

For example, the center circle is no longer a monotonous circle, but a horizontal championship trophy.

In addition, Lin Tian's jersey number was discreetly printed in several corners of the stadium.

As Lin Tian's final series, the Knicks staff still put in a lot of hard work.

In addition, before the game, the Knicks gave gifts to their fans, with each fan receiving a blue T-shirt and a white towel.

That night, the Knicks fans were very cooperative, with everyone wearing T-shirts, waving towels, and cheering for the team.

So when the Spurs players walked onto the court, they were greeted by a frenzy of cheers and shouts from the fans, and a sea of ​​white towels and blue paint waving wildly throughout the arena!
This momentum is truly astonishing!
New Yorkers really showed what it means to be a big city tonight.

That's all.

Yes, absolutely none.

There's absolutely nothing worth mentioning about the competition itself.

Unsurprisingly, the game was completely uneventful and lacked any excitement; it was essentially a one-sided massacre by the Knicks!

The Spurs seemed to be half asleep, and they were hit hard from the start of the game, getting thrashed by the Knicks and suffering a 13-0 run at the beginning.

Then the Spurs finally scored two points with a breakthrough by James, but they were immediately beaten by the Knicks!
It wasn't until the score became 24-6 in the first quarter that the Spurs seemed to finally wake up and slowly began to catch up.

But how do you describe the efficiency of this comeback?

Not only was it completely insignificant, but Popovich also started rotating players when the game was 7 minutes in, taking out the team's best player James and Bosh who had just hit a 3-pointer to give them a rest.

This rotation timing is normal in the regular season, but what about in the playoffs or even the finals?
It would only make people think that the Spurs were putting on a show, that they didn't want to win and had chosen to surrender early.

After the first quarter, the Knicks had scored a whopping 38 points, while the Spurs had only managed 19. The Knicks' scoring was more than double that of the Spurs!

In the second quarter, seeing the huge lead, Don Nelson started showing off his skills.

Apart from Anthony and Stoudemire, not only were the rest of the starters absent, but even key rotation players like Smith and Ariza were not on the court!

Anthony and Stoudemire were playing with the team's 10th to 12th players on the court!
If you, Old Nelson, aren't starting because the team is leading by a large margin, then that's understandable.

But the Spurs on the other side, who should be anxiously trying to catch up, are not flustered at all! They are not even fielding their starters!
With only two key rotation players, Finley and JR, on the court, the rest were players who hadn't been able to get much playing time in previous playoffs.

"This lineup... I think I'm seeing things. Is this the NBA Finals?" Barkley was completely bewildered as he looked at both teams' lineups!

What is this for?
"If this were the last three minutes of the fourth quarter, with a 19-point deficit and both teams benched, that would be normal," Kenny added. "But this is only the second quarter! What are these two coaches trying to do?"

"I think they want the other side to field their main players!" Miller said after thinking for a moment. "Both sides want the other side to field their main players first, and both sides want the other side's main players and core players to fight for a while longer!"

"I understand!" Payton was a beat slow to react before saying, "First, Popovich made a substitution after 7 minutes, taking the initiative, and then Old Nelson responded by only using two starters in the second quarter."

"Both head coaches are really dirty!" Kenny's mind was racing at this moment. He slammed his hand on the table, indicating that he understood as well.

Then all three of them looked at Barkley, who felt like his bald head was being soaked in sweat. He rarely felt so embarrassed. Finally, unable to bear the stares any longer, Barkley could only grit his teeth and slam his hand on the table, saying, "I knew it! I was wondering why both sides were acting so strangely!"

"Then tell me, what were they after?" Finally finding an opportunity to retaliate, Payton, unafraid to bring up the championship joke again, looked at Barkley with a wicked grin. He could swear on his Defensive Player of the Year award: Barkley, that bastard, didn't see anything wrong with it!

Hmm... using the Defensive Player of the Year award as a pledge is a bit much, but there's nothing I can do about it, it's all Payton has...

If we don't bring this, we can't just use our All-NBA First Team to make up the numbers, that would be even less presentable.

Barkley was truly stumped. He watched as two groups of players he barely recognized played on the court, and he felt a chill run down his spine.

"Well, I think it's like this: both sides wanted to...hehe, so they chose this lineup. Haha, I told you, it's exactly what I thought, that's how it is!" Barkley, with his incredibly thick skin, rambled on and on.

After spouting a bunch of nonsense and useless words, Barkley looked to his old partner Kenny for help.

If anyone can save him tonight, it's definitely Kenny.

After all, Kenny was the most innocent and kind-hearted of the four.

The remaining three are all complete bastards.

Kenny smiled and gestured a few numbers with his hand. It was his and Barkley's code, something like "You're treating tonight, I want five."

Buck, of course, nodded hastily; he wouldn't dare to haggle. He needed Kenny to save him!

"In Game 1 of the conference finals, Popovich did just that! He offered almost no resistance, pulling the starters early to give the role players more playing time, while the starters sat and rested."

"What these two games have in common is that the Spurs were both badly beaten by their opponents from the start, with almost no chance to fight back, and were completely dominated."

"And, before these two games, the Spurs had just advanced through Game 7, and their physical condition and form were quite poor."

"You mean the Spurs strategically gave up, gave up on the first game, and didn't want the players, especially the key players, to push themselves too hard, so they selectively gave up?" Barkley finally understood and chimed in.

"That's right! Popovich is the kind of coach who's really willing to go all out. It's already amazing that he dared to play like that in the first game of the conference finals at home, but now that it's the NBA Finals, he still dares to do it!"

"All I can say is that, at least in terms of boldness and willingness to try any tactic, this guy definitely deserves the title of a great coach!"

"I have to say, Popovich's choice was quite irresponsible to both the ratings and the fans. Fans who wanted to watch the Finals only got a low-intensity, low-level, terrible game. As a fan, I would definitely curse him out."

"But this tactic did work! I can't say how much of their Game 7 victory over the Nuggets was due to them conserving energy in Game 1, but I can say that the Pacers and Timberwolves Finals a few years ago..."

"The Timberwolves also fought to the last man in the Western Conference Finals, and the whole team was exhausted."

"Then instead of resting or letting the key players rest more, they made the key players go all out to fight in the first game!"

"As a result, the Timberwolves not only lost the first game, but because of that loss, they didn't dare to rest in the subsequent games, since they had already lost one game."

"Under this vicious cycle, the Timberwolves were not in good form throughout the entire Finals, and the whole team was in a half-health mode. In the end, they lost the Finals without any suspense and could only get the runner-up."

"Speaking of which, Gary, were you on that Timberwolves team? I don't mean anything by it, I just suddenly forgot, but I instinctively feel that the team that didn't win the championship might have something to do with you."

"What the hell does that have to do with anything! I've never been to Minnesota! I'm not some runner-up collector, why would I go around collecting runner-up titles?"

"Who told you not to win the championship?" Miller chuckled, the championship joke arriving late but surely: "So, finishing as runner-up isn't bad either!"

"Does being the runner-up in the East count as being a runner-up?" Kenny added with a wicked grin, then continued when Payton remained silent: "In short, the Timberwolves' poor judgment back then left them helpless in the Finals."

"So, maybe Popovich's all-or-nothing gamble this year will pay off?"

"But what about the Knicks? Why are they using their reserves too?" Barkley frowned, indicating that he still didn't quite understand.

"Because Don Nelson saw through Popovich's thinking; after all, he's Popovich's mentor!" Miller said. "The outcome of this game is no longer in doubt; the Spurs weren't even thinking about winning."

"Popovich could figure out how to wear down his opponent while reducing his own losses, so how could an old fox like Nelson not see through it? How could he not understand it?"

Kenny then explained, "What is the ideal rhythm for the Spurs? Their starters don't play, they can rest and recharge, while the opposing team gets into a scoring frenzy, ideally every starter plays for 3-40 minutes!"

"It's all the same whether we lose by 20 or 40 points. The most important thing is to let the opponent's key players have a good time and get enough exertion!"

Payton concluded, "For the Knicks, it's the exact opposite. Winning by 10 points is a win, winning by 30 points is a win. The best outcome is to further wear down the already exhausted starters while winning, making them lose and be completely worn out. That would be perfect!"

"So, when Don Nelson brought in the substitutes, he was trying to entice Popovich: 'Come on, bring in the starters! We're terrible!'" Barkley finally understood completely at this point: "And Popovich was also trying to entice the Knicks."

"Come on, come and beat me up! It'll feel good to beat me up!" "That's right, that's exactly what happened." The remaining three people said at the same time: "From the perspective of the team and the head coach, it's understandable that both coaches did this, it's all for the benefit of the team."

"But from the fans' perspective, this game was rather boring."

As the game progressed, role players on both sides received a lot of playing time tonight, and the rotations by the two head coaches were incredibly bold, smooth, and imaginative.

They brought out all sorts of players and combinations, and the players from both sides were like walking a fashion show. Before the first half was even over, all 24 players who were eligible to play had gotten the chance to play.

The players are replaced so quickly, like a fleeting glimpse, but what about the pace and content of the competition...?

Not worth mentioning, absolutely terrible, utterly awful!
It was as if both sides had agreed to play a fixed game, with the score difference hovering around 20 points until the end of the second quarter, when the gap between the two sides was still 20 points!
In the second quarter, the audience had only one feeling: What were we watching? Halftime commercials?

Going home and sleeping is better than watching this preseason-level competition and games!
Even at the end of the first half, the notoriously harsh and critical New York fans booed the Knicks' zone; they were genuinely unhappy!
"The Finals tickets are so expensive, I don't think we can continue like this." During halftime, Lin Tian bluntly told Don Nelson, "Some fans may have saved up for a month to finally buy a Finals ticket."

"Some fans travel across the ocean, and may only get to see one NBA game live in their entire lives. If we just continue to treat this as a perfunctory gesture, it would be extremely irresponsible of us."

"I know that the current tactics are best suited to deal with the Spurs, and I also know that they are playing so disgustingly, so it is only right that we disgust them back."

"But I don't want that. I don't want my penultimate game at Madison to be so bad, so unforgettable!"

"Especially since we're not facing any formidable opponents, just the Spurs, who are nothing to worry about. We don't need to play mind games with them; we can just go straight for the win and easily take the victory!"

"There's no need! No matter what tricks and disgusting things they use, we don't need to follow them, because we can sweep them away no matter what."

"So coach, I hope we can play even more aggressively in the second half! We need to live up to the fans' expectations, even if it's just for the third quarter!"

"Okay, no problem." To everyone's surprise, old Nelson nodded without hesitation, indicating that he would listen to you.

This put Stoudemire, Anthony, and others behind Lin Tian in a rather awkward position.

They had just stood up to express their feelings, and were about to tell old Nelson that they fully supported all of their older brother's decisions.

They were just about to get everyone in the locker room to put pressure on Nelson and get him to support Lin Tian.

The old man just agreed? It's that simple?
"You two, are you trying to rebel?" Old Nelson raised his head and looked at Anthony and Stoudemire. "Are you trying to get the whole locker room to pressure me, morally blackmail me, and force me to agree with your views?"

"No...no, Coach." Little S laughed and said, "I needed to pee, so I went to the toilet. It just so happened that I stood up, and it just so happened that you two were talking about this. It was all a coincidence."

"I'll go help him up." Seeing that old Nelson was glaring at him, Anthony quickly turned and ran away, not caring how outrageous his words were.

After the two left, the entire locker room suddenly erupted in laughter.

The slight tension that had arisen when Lin Tian was talking to Old Nelson vanished in the blink of an eye.

The entire locker room waited for less than a minute before Xiao Si, who had gone to the toilet, and Xiao Si, who had helped him, returned at the same time, causing everyone to burst into laughter again.

At this moment, Nelson stood up and expressed his opinion.

"I also hate this style of play. I'm not the kind of person who likes to nitpick. My goal in the first half against that little bastard Popovich was to annoy him, not to conserve your energy, because I know better than anyone that it's unnecessary! Absolutely unnecessary!"

"So, since you've brought it up yourself, there's no point in me continuing to insist."

"Let's crush the San Antonio team in the third quarter! They want to rest, right? Let's make them rest on the bench! We'll give them a massacre!"

"Slaughter! Crush them all!"

"If they dare to put on a show, we'll deliver a crushing defeat that will go down in history!"

"You think you can just easily lose 20 points and be done with it? Dream on!"

But it's nighttime now!

"It's all a dream! There's no such thing as a free lunch!"

"To put them in the annals of history!"

"Send them to the pillar of shame!"

"Hang them up!"

"Let them die!"

……

At the same time, in the Spurs' locker room, Popovich also didn't hide anything from his players, but spoke frankly and openly.

"We played well in the first half, maintaining this rhythm, which was excellent. We were down by about 20 points, which was a typical crushing defeat, but it gave us more time to rest!"

"For us, the series only started in Game 2! In the next game, we'll fight back with all our might! We must get our revenge!"

"As for tonight, our key players will play for another 7-8 minutes and then they can come off the court to rest. You won't be playing in the fourth quarter. Remember! No one is allowed to leave the hotel tonight. Everyone is to rest properly tonight!"

"We gave you a much-needed rest with a crushing defeat tonight, and we can't let that time go to waste."

"Everyone, get some rest and then prepare for the second game with all your might!"

"If there's anything regrettable or imperfect about tonight, it's that old fox Nelson didn't fall for it. He didn't let his main players fight a little longer while we weren't putting up a fight."

"Tonight, we only rested, but we didn't exhaust ourselves. Hmm, let me think. In the second half, if you have the opportunity to provoke or anger them, you can do it. You can try to make them angry, make them furious."

"Then, let them play harder and more frantically, and see if we can use this opportunity to keep their key players on the court a little longer."

"Everyone, do you understand?"

"understand!"

……

The two locker rooms, with their distinct atmospheres and completely different layouts, set the tone for the second half of the game.

Just by looking at the attitudes of both teams' players and coaches, you can tell what the second half of this game will be like.

Massacre! Absolutely a massacre!

So, as soon as the second half started, the Knicks immediately launched a counterattack!

First, Lin Tian drove straight to the basket for a powerful one-handed dunk, opening the second half for the team.

Then Stoudemire and Anthony went for a double whammy, each driving to the basket for a thunderous dunk!

Then came Okur's three-pointer and Wallace's alley-oop dunk.

The Knicks players are completely resurrected; their energy is back!
They launched a furious attack in the second half, repeatedly assaulting the Spurs' basket and wreaking havoc!

They were in top form and full of energy, quickly extending their lead to over 30 points in the third quarter!
And there were still 6 minutes left in the third quarter!
Then, when Anthony was one-on-one with James at the high post, he suddenly made a steal, completing a one-on-one steal. After stealing the ball, he quickly rushed to the frontcourt, glided up, and slammed the ball into the basket with one arm!
James, on the other hand, didn't even bother to get back on defense; he just stood there watching.

He was calmer than anyone else; he knew what he was there tonight.

Therefore, he would absolutely not do such an unnecessary defensive maneuver.

Just as Popovich said, the Spurs' Finals campaign starts with Game 2! (End of Chapter)