America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 347 Madness

If the regular season is like lukewarm water in the long NBA season, then the playoffs are like strong liquor that ignites the entire league.

When you actually step into this stadium enveloped in cheers and feel the intense atmosphere, you'll understand that the phrase "heart pounding" is not just a figure of speech, but a physiological reality that happens every minute of every second.

Especially at Madison Square Garden, the frenzy of New York fans made the air during the playoffs feel like it was filled with adrenaline, and even breathing felt like it was on fire.

The Knicks' die-hard fans held up various signs and shouted themselves hoarse, while the Pacers' fans could only huddle in scattered corners, responding with even louder boos, trying to tear a hole in this basketball mecca.

Cheers, curses, and the clanging of cheering sticks mingled together, refracting repeatedly under the enclosed dome to create a sound wave that could penetrate eardrums.

Ernst glanced down at his Patek Philippe watch, rolled his eyes inwardly, and couldn't help but think, "They spent millions of dollars renovating the arena, did they turn all the seats into standing room?"

From the moment they entered the arena until now, they hadn't found a chance to sit down. It wasn't until 7 minutes and 12 seconds left in the first quarter that the referee blew the first timeout whistle, and the roar of the crowd subsided slightly, allowing the fans to finally slowly return to their seats.

"I should have worn my gym clothes," Ernst muttered to himself.

As the owner of the Knicks, his every move is under the watchful eyes of the fans.

If he were sitting leisurely by himself while everyone else was standing, tomorrow's front page headline would probably be "Cold-hearted owner ignores fans' enthusiasm, Knicks' playoff prospects are worrying," and the New York newspapers would probably tear him apart.

He wasn't bothered by the media's questions, but the feeling of being stared at by everyone above him made him very uncomfortable.

"Ernst, our backcourt duo is amazing!" Gisele Bündchen, sitting next to him, suddenly patted his arm, still not out of her excitement.

"Do you think we can win the game today and turn the tide?" Bangchen whispered in Ernst's ear, his voice trembling with excitement.

Ernst followed her gaze to the court. The Knicks were leading 13-7, but the game had only just begun. He shook his head slightly and said calmly, "Who knows? Maybe."

Bangchen was clearly dissatisfied with the answer. She pouted, clearly unhappy. "Why aren't you optimistic at all? In the first two games at the Pacers' home court, we won one thanks to Nash's game-winning three-pointer. That was on Reggie Miller's turf, and we beat him in his best way!"

Ernst had actually seen those game clips. With 8 seconds left in the game, the Knicks were down 95-96. Nash received the inbound pass from the sideline and, a step away from the three-point line, forced a shot over Reggie Miller's defense. The basketball drew a perfect arc in the air and landed steadily in the basket.

At that moment, the cheers in the Pacers' home arena instantly turned into deathly silence, while the Knicks players rushed to the sidelines and embraced each other like madmen.

That game-winning shot not only allowed the Knicks to regain home-court advantage, but also sent the New York media into a frenzy.

The New York Times even described the game as a miracle night, and the Daily News went so far as to say that "the Knicks have seen the dawn of their rise."

If we can actually beat the Pacers today, the New York media will probably be ecstatic tonight, and they might even dare to dream of winning the championship.

Even though they won today, Ernst doesn't think the Knicks can get past the Pacers.

Playoff experience is a problem. Don't be fooled by Nash and McGrady's explosive performances; the Knicks gained a six-point lead in less than five minutes.

However, he also noticed a problem: the Knicks players were making too many mistakes.

Four turnovers in five minutes – this is due to a lack of playoff experience; in his view, many of these mistakes could have been avoided.

Although the Pacers were behind, they didn't show any signs of panic. These players were all veterans who had played in the league for many years and had seen too many big games. They wouldn't lose their composure because of a temporary setback.

"We can definitely win!" Seeing Ernst remain silent, Bangchen couldn't help but defend the team. "Garnett hasn't even started playing yet. Once he gets going, the Knicks will definitely win today. Look how hard he's playing on defense! He just blocked Schmitz's shot!"

Ernst couldn't help but frown and turn his gaze toward the Knicks' coaching bench.

"Van Gundy is really not a good choice for a championship team," he sighed inwardly.

His defensive training is decent, but his offensive tactics are too simplistic, lacking any decent tactical coordination.

Even in terms of defense today, he couldn't quite understand it.

Why switch to having Garnett play center?

Pacers center Rick Schmitz is 2.11 meters tall and weighs 118 kilograms, and is known as a towering figure in the league.

Although Garnett had an advantage in footwork agility, he was completely at a disadvantage in physical confrontations.

To defend against Schmitz, Garnett had to expend a lot of energy, which naturally affected his performance on the offensive end.

It would be better to have Ben Wallace play center. Although Wallace lacks offensive ability, he is strong in physical confrontation and can hold off Schmitz under the basket. This would allow Garnett to return to his familiar power forward position, which would save Garnett's energy and improve the team's defensive intensity.

As if to test his idea, the Knicks' offensive pace slowed down noticeably in the second half.

Garnett attempted to post up Schmitz multiple times under the basket, but failed each time due to excessive fatigue, and was instead stripped of the ball by Schmitz once.

To compensate for the offensive shortcomings, Nash and McGrady had to take on more scoring duties, resulting in a significant increase in their shot attempts and greater physical exertion.

On the other hand, the Pacers played with ease.

Reggie Miller started to find his rhythm, hitting two consecutive three-pointers; Mark Jackson used his experience to create scoring opportunities for his teammates; the five veterans were very experienced, taking turns to cooperate, distributing the ball reasonably, and knowing how to rest on the court.

The atmosphere on the field reached its peak with the final two minutes of the game.

The Knicks lead 89-88 by one point, and the Pacers have possession of the ball.

After receiving a pass from Mark Jackson, Reggie Miller hesitated for a moment beyond the three-point line before suddenly accelerating and breaking through to pass to Schmitz under the basket.

Schmitz received the ball and prepared to dunk, but McGrady stole it from the side, and the basketball bounced out of bounds.

However, when the ball was inbounded from the sideline, the Knicks still left their man open, and Mark Jackson hit a jump shot to take the lead at 89-90.

With 45 seconds remaining in the game, the Knicks had possession of the ball.

Nash dribbled the ball up the court, attempting to break through, but was tightly marked by the Pacers' defenders, leaving him no choice but to pass the ball to McGrady.

After receiving the ball, McGrady took a shot from beyond the three-point line. The basketball bounced off the edge of the rim and was rebounded by Schmitz.

The Pacers quickly launched a fast break. Reggie Miller received the pass but missed his mid-range shot. The Knicks grabbed the rebound and called a timeout.

With only 14.3 seconds left in the game, the Knicks were down by one point. Everyone knew that if this shot didn't go in, the Knicks would basically suffer a defeat and give up their hard-earned home-court advantage once again.

After the timeout, everyone in the arena stood up. Van Gundy devised a strategy, giving the final shot to Nash, who had the best shooting touch that night.

This approach wasn't abrupt. Although Nash averaged only 11.8 points per game throughout the playoffs, he scored 23 points tonight, making him the Knicks' highest scorer of the day.

He'd made a run into position and hit a long two-pointer; Nash's shot was decisive.

Unfortunately, the basketball hit the rim and didn't go in.

Just when everyone thought the Knicks were going to lose the game, a dramatic turn of events occurred.

Garnett was initially trapped behind Schmitz, and just as the basketball was about to bounce off the rim, he suddenly pulled back, causing Schmitz to almost lose his balance due to inertia.

Garnett seized the opportunity to turn and slip below where the basketball was about to land. Instead of grabbing the rebound, he stretched out his right hand and gently tapped the ball. The basketball bounced twice on the rim along its original parabola before falling steadily into the net.

"Boom!" The entire Madison Square Garden stadium erupted instantly! Fans jumped up and cheered, and Ernst instinctively covered his ears.

The commentator's voice was slightly breathless with excitement: "Garnett! New York's new king stepped up when the team needed him most! Perhaps his performance today wasn't ideal, falling short of his playoff average of 21.9 points per game, but with this one play, he was the MVP of the game tonight!"

"We saw that there were only 1.9 seconds left, the Pacers had no timeouts left, and could only inbound the ball from the backcourt. Garnett essentially sealed the victory for the Pacers, giving the Knicks a 2-1 lead in the series!"

"Everyone was cheering for him, the players and coaches were high-fiving and hugging him, the fans were screaming for him, the owner was... well, we might have seen wrong, Ernst probably had a mosquito in his ear, he definitely wasn't covering his ear."

Ernst almost laughed in anger when he heard this. He wished he could go over there and kick the commentator a couple of times. Nobody would notice me if you didn't remind them.

Winning is fine, but if you get a buzzer-beater with 1.9 seconds left, you're definitely in for a beating today.

God saved the commentator! With 1.9 seconds left, the ball was inbounded from the backcourt, but neither Jalen Rose nor Reggie Miller, playing with God's left hand, received it under the Knicks' tight defense.

Finally, star point guard Mark Jackson received the ball and took a shot near midcourt. The basketball hit the backboard but unfortunately did not go in.

The bigger celebration began, and the TV crew rushed in immediately. Ernst walked into the players' tunnel; he hadn't come to Madison just to watch the game.

>