NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

The Spurs clearly lack the ability to give the Knicks a run for their money.

Not to mention it was in Madison Square Garden.

In Game 2 of the series, the Spurs were absolutely united and went all out, showing great determination and teamwork!
After all, no matter how planned the loss was, losing by more than 40 points in a single game is really too exaggerated.

The Spurs' head coach and players also have pride!
They absolutely do not want to end this series with such a ridiculous and humiliating score; they have to fight back!

If they can win a game away from home, and if they can win the second game, then they can silence all doubters!
After all, whether the Knicks win by 40 points or the Spurs win by 4 points, as long as you win the game in the end, the final score will be 1-1.

There is absolutely no difference, they are exactly the same!
It's not like football, where you have to calculate things like goal difference or home and away goals.

Basketball games are simpler and less complicated, with only winning and losing.

If this were a two-legged Champions League like in football, where goal difference is calculated, then the first game would be equivalent to the Knicks thrashing the Celtics 7-8 times. A comeback? A reversal?

Go to sleep.

But in basketball, there are no ties or point differentials. A game ended with a simple 1-0 score. Plus, Popovich practically let the first game go, so it didn't leave any serious psychological scars on the Celtics.

Therefore, the Spurs players were not affected by the previous game's crushing defeat in terms of form and mentality. They continued to play diligently and tried their best to win this game.

But on the field, simply being diligent is sometimes not enough.

Hard work is the most abundant yet least valuable thing in the NBA, the top sports league.

Because everyone here works very hard, everyone here is exceptionally talented and can be called a super genius, and everyone is the Lin Tian in their own story before entering the NBA.

Hard work is just one of the steps to getting into this league.

Therefore, even though the Spurs went all out to try and secure a victory on the road, they were unable to achieve their goal.

In the first half, James was in excellent form. He first made consecutive breakthroughs to draw fouls and score points. Then, after the Knicks had to collapse their defense, he repeatedly found players like Bosh and JR who were also in good form, assisting them to hit three-pointers.

Even though they were in pretty good form, they could only go back and forth with the Knicks, and were even dominated by the Knicks in the score.

When it comes to offense, the Knicks fear no one!
Thanks to the players' outstanding performance in the first half, the Spurs managed to keep the game close, with both teams trading baskets and the score remaining evenly matched. The Spurs' deficit was only in single digits.

However, in the second half, the game took a dramatic turn. As the Spurs missed several shots in a row, the Knicks seized the opportunity to attack the basket and make long-range shots, creating a surge in the blink of an eye, and the gap between the two sides quickly reached 15 points.

Then, towards the end of the third quarter, JR once again misjudged the situation, stabbing his own teammates repeatedly.

He took five shots in the last three minutes of the third quarter, but only made one.

He single-handedly took almost all of the team's shots within three minutes, but ultimately led the team to collapse.

By the end of the third quarter, the gap between the two teams had reached 22 points.

This meant that James and Bosh had to continue playing in the fourth quarter. Popovich didn't dare let them rest, fearing that if they did, the suspense of the game would disappear completely.

Of course, even now, there's not much suspense left between the two sides.

After all, let alone the finals, even including all the playoffs and regular seasons, the chances of successfully turning the tide when facing a 22-point deficit in the final quarter are extremely slim.

Popovich isn't letting his players rest; besides waiting for a miracle, he's also genuinely unwilling to give up.

I'm not willing to admit defeat like this.

But sometimes, being unwilling to accept defeat isn't enough.

Given the Knicks' offensive firepower, it would be incredibly difficult to close a 20-point gap in just one quarter under their relentless onslaught.

Because it's not just about how well you play offensively and how you feel, but also about hoping that the Knicks will all be off their game.

Unfortunately, the probability of such a thing happening is extremely low.

Throughout the fourth quarter, the Knicks didn't play exceptionally well, but it was enough. Because of their large lead, they even made a few rather basic mistakes.

However, due to the large gap, no matter how hard the Spurs tried, the Knicks were the first to call it quits and substitute their starters with two minutes left in the game, and the gap between the two sides was never narrowed to within 15 points.

Then, in the last two minutes of the game, whether it was to punish his starting players, to be anxious about losing and a little dizzy, or for some other reason, Popovich did not substitute the starters. He let James and others play the full two minutes on the court.

The substitutes were not brought in until the end of the game.

In the final two minutes of this duel between the starters and the benchwarmers, the Spurs emerged victorious.

They went on an 8-2 run in the last two minutes, narrowing the gap to 8 points.

Judging from the final score, the Spurs never gave up until the very end, fought all the way to the end, and didn't lose too badly.

But if you watched the game, you'd know that in the last two minutes, the Knicks were already singing and dancing, a bunch of people were incredibly excited, and they were already in celebration mode.

There's no way around it, these two games were just too easy for them, at least much easier than the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics and the Semifinals against the Cavaliers.

This is because the Knicks, after being tempered by the Celtics, are truly in top form and unleashing their full offensive power!

This is the period when the Knicks are in the best form and have the highest morale all year!
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Spurs have encountered the strongest version of the Knicks.

All I can say is that they were unlucky.

Because the match was so easy and lacked suspense, he was overshadowed by the post-match tribute ceremony.

Anyway, everyone felt that the most important thing tonight was not the game itself, but the post-game ceremony.

That night, the Knicks, or rather Dolan and his staff, gave Lin Tian a huge surprise and pulled off a big surprise!

What an incredibly audacious job!
After the match, Lin Tian and his team did not leave immediately as usual, but instead went around thanking the fans and interacting with those who were reluctant to leave.

Or rather, after the game ended, not a single fan left! Everyone stayed at the stadium; no one wanted to leave.

"MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP!"

"One more year! One more year!"

"This will always be your home! Lin, this will always be your home!"

"The King of New York! Lin is the King of New York!"

"New York may not have Batman, but it has Lin!"

"New York may not have villains or supervillains, but it needs heroes!"

"Run for mayor! We'll vote for you!"

The fans who refused to leave loved the team, deeply loved Lin Tian, ​​and trusted him implicitly.

Therefore, they all believed what Lin Tian said after the last match.

This game marked the last time Lin Tian played at Madison Square Garden in his professional career!

This is an incredibly memorable moment that no die-hard Knicks fan would want to miss.

Especially after such a resounding and effortless victory, the fans were even more reluctant to leave.

Next season, we will lose this warrior who has protected us for four whole years.

The fans were filled with reluctance, just as they had been when they enthusiastically welcomed and anticipated Lin Tian's arrival.

As for Lin Tian, ​​he was unusually moved by the fans at the scene and his eyes welled up with tears. So he started a ceremony to give back to the fans. He took off all the clothes, shoes and protective gear he could and gave them to the fans.

Then he had the team's equipment manager find a huge pile of his own jerseys, signed them one by one, and then had the Knicks cheerleaders use the high-powered cannons the team usually uses to give out gifts to fans to fire the jerseys out one by one. Different angles, different directions, different areas... the main goal was to ensure everyone got a jersey, regardless of what price they paid for their tickets.

For more than ten minutes, the cheers and shouts of the fans were almost non-stop, and Lin Tian himself was also non-stop, frantically signing his name on nearly a hundred jerseys.

Seeing this, teammates like Anthony and Stoudemire took it a while and soon took over the cheerleaders' job, using anti-aircraft guns to fire at Lin Tian's jerseys into the stands.

Then a few guys took the opportunity to speculate and abuse their power for personal gain, secretly putting a few of Lin Tian's jerseys into their pockets. When no one was looking, they even signed their names on the jerseys and printed them out.

Scam!

This behavior constitutes fraud.

Imagine a fan finally manages to snag a Lin Tian jersey, only to find upon opening it that it belongs to Stoudemire or Anthony.

How much pain and despair must they be experiencing?
It's the same as buying a counterfeit product.

But... it seems quite interesting?
So Lin Tian called the cheerleaders back and gave them 4-5 pens. He gave one to each of the most boisterous girls and said, "Come on, sign this!"

Then the cheerleaders once again took on the task of spraying the jerseys with anti-aircraft guns.

But this time it's basically a blind box.

Nobody knows whose jersey was thrown out, and nobody knows if it was Lin Tian's.

But it's clear that everyone quite likes this way of playing.

The fans at the scene got even more excited, and the shouts and cheers became even louder!

After playing for about 20 minutes, Lin Tian felt his hands were sore. After signing at least 200 jerseys, Lin Tian was finally tired.

I'm done playing, time to rest.

Lin Tian then stood up, waved to signal everyone to be quiet, and the interactive session was over.

According to Lin Tian's plan, this was about enough. He had given enough feedback, so it was time to go back, take a shower, go to sleep, and then prepare to head to San Antonio for the away game.

But just as Lin Tian and the others were having a great time and were about to leave, the lights suddenly came on!
With almost all the lights operating at maximum power simultaneously, many people were blinded by the glare.

Then, the sound system suddenly started playing loud music.

We are the champions!

The performance of Queen's classic songs at the event sent the fans into a frenzy!

The team doesn't care about anything else and directly declares that they have already won the championship, so what are we waiting for?
Let's celebrate together!

The fans at the scene became increasingly excited, and the cheers grew louder and louder. Many people couldn't even shout anymore. After all, after 48 minutes of the game and such a long post-game interaction, everyone's voices were inevitably overloaded and would inevitably protest.

But most people were still celebrating wildly, still letting loose their passion!
Then, from every corner of the ceiling, the ribbons, balloons, cannons, and all sorts of celebratory items that had been hidden beforehand burst forth.

In an instant, Madison Square Gardens became a nightmare for the cleaners and a sea of ​​celebration.

Everything about it resembled a celebration ceremony after winning the championship!
The Knicks are celebrating prematurely, completely oblivious to everyone else!
And it wasn't just an early celebration, it was an early celebration when the score was 2-0!

This wave of celebration was absolutely bold, even crazy.

After all, this wave of celebrations not only means that the Knicks are full of confidence in themselves and believe that the team will definitely win the championship, but also means that the Knicks believe that they can easily win within 5 games!
After all, if the series goes to a sixth or seventh game, even if the Knicks win the championship, it will inevitably be somewhat embarrassing.

Since you've already celebrated, will you celebrate again next time, or not?

No matter what, there will definitely be people who ridicule and mock the Knicks, which will definitely increase the pressure on the Knicks in the upcoming games!

If it were another team, it's hard to say whether the players would be grateful for the owner's generosity and the fans' enthusiasm at this point.

They might complain that the team is messing around for no reason, putting them in a difficult position and increasing their pressure, while also unleashing an extra fighting spirit from the opponents who feel underestimated.

The difficulty of winning the championship will definitely increase significantly.

But of course, that's other teams; the Knicks guys wouldn't do that!
Even if the players on this team initially possessed virtues such as humility, composure, low-key demeanor, and steadiness, they would undoubtedly be completely assimilated after joining the Knicks, influenced by players like Lin Tian, ​​Stoudemire, Anthony, and Don Nelson.

To put it simply, the noble qualities of humility, modesty, and composure are not allowed in the New York Knicks!
You know there's no such tradition!

So at this moment, the Knicks players didn't feel nervous, worried, or unhappy at all; on the contrary, they were overjoyed!
They celebrated even more wildly, jumping, shouting, and making a ruckus as if they had really won the championship!
Their extreme confidence and arrogance made the Knicks players so happy they were practically ready to open a car full of champagne and have a passionate shouting match!

As the various ribbons and balloons landed one after another, the fans finally got tired, couldn't shout anymore, and had had enough of making a ruckus. The players were also tired of signing autographs, and even the anti-aircraft guns that were shooting at jerseys and gifts all ran out of power. Finally, Madison Square Garden gradually quieted down.

Then, everyone suddenly noticed that a podium had appeared at the edge of the stadium...

The person standing on top was certainly not Stern; he would be insane to appear in this scene at this time.

Dolan and Walsh grinned as they watched Lin Tian and the Knicks players. He picked up the microphone and said, "What are you waiting for? Come on over here!"

At this moment, Dolan looks so warm and innocent.

"I think everyone knows what this thing we've got is all about!" Dolan said with a smile. "This is the highest podium we've stood on for the past two years, and it's also the podium we'll be standing on for the third time in a week!"

"But I was thinking, this is Lin's last time, and this is the Knicks' first three-peat. If this ceremony isn't held at home, not in New York, and the Madison Square Garden fans can't witness it in person, wouldn't that be too much?"

"So, I did this! I want all the Knicks' loyal fans to feel the joy of winning the championship live! I want every fan who buys a ticket to the arena to win the championship with the team!"

"I asked you to move the schedule forward by five days, or maybe a week. I forgot to check the specific schedule, but I believe that tonight, none of you will be angry with me, and you certainly won't think I'm an incompetent boss!"

As Dolan finished speaking, he was greeted with what is characteristic of New York: a chorus of boos.

This is the highest honor that New York fans could give Dolan.

There were only good-natured boos and jeers, no profanities or insults. Who knows how many New York fans would hurl insults at Dolan when he first bought the team, wishing they could curse his entire family for three generations?

If Dolan didn't hate most of his family members, he would have already had his lawyers sue half of New York City.

But now, everything is different!

With Lin Tian on the team, they are about to win their third consecutive championship and create a new dynasty.

A dynasty belonging to New York, to the Knicks, to Dolan.

Dolan smugly spread his arms, tilted his head back, closed his eyes slightly, and struck the signature Iron Man pose.

In his mind, he might actually be Tony Stark right now.

Dolan's rather flamboyant move naturally drew boos from the fans in the stadium.

After thoroughly enjoying the boos, Dolan brought the microphone back to his mouth and addressed everyone, "I had a wonderful time tonight!"

"But I'm obviously not the main character. Let's welcome our main character, our New York king, and our entire team!"

After another round of wild cheers, Lin Tian took the microphone and said with a smile, "Like a dream, these four years have been like the best dream, infinitely beautiful, but in the blink of an eye, it has come to an end."

"Although when I signed the contract, I knew I could definitely bring a dynasty to this place, to this city, and bring at least three championships."

"But when everything is actually achieved and becomes a reality, it still feels so dreamlike and unbelievable."

"Thank you James for his generosity, thank you for the love of all of New York, thank you to each and every one of you, and..."

"What can I say? Lin out!" (End of Chapter)