"We had already expected to fight them to the tiebreak. They were too difficult to deal with. I don't want to say too much praise anymore. Their strength has proved..." In the post-match interview, the Celtics
Head coach Rivers shook his head helplessly and smiled bitterly.
The Celtics are most reluctant to see that the game is dragged to tiebreak. The Celtics' lineup is too old and the game is dragged to the end. Even if you win, the final finals will be
It will be a huge test.
"This is a glimmer of hope that we have fought. The Knicks have not yet fallen yet, and we will continue to fight!" Lian Dao's speech was very brief. He is still breathing rapidly and has not fully recovered from the energy consumption of the game.
Lian Dao can be said to be exhausted both physically and mentally and too tired. This game was the first time he took the initiative to ask for a break from the court.
In this game, Lian Dao scored 41 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists. It can be said that this game was entirely due to relying on Lian Dao to continuously grab rebounds in the interior and fighting for it.
But even so, the Knicks' rebounding is still behind the Celtics.
On the Celtics, Pierce performed the best in this game. Lian Dao’s restrictions on him were not very good. He scored 24 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in the whole game; Garnett scored 18 points, and then
It's Ray Allen's 16 points...
In addition to Lian Dao, the Knicks performs best. Holiday, with 17 points and 8 assists. After Holiday enters the playoffs, he can see his progress in almost every game, which is also the most important thing for D'Antoni and
Lian Dao was delighted.
...
Western Conference Finals, May 29.
The Lakers eliminated the Phoenix Suns 111:103 away, and the Lakers advanced to the finals with a big score of 4:2.
But the Knicks and the Celtics still have one more game to play.
No matter who wins the final tiebreak battle, he will definitely be inferior to the Los Angeles Lakers in terms of physical fitness reserves.
This is also the most troublesome thing for the Celtics. They feel that meeting the Knicks this season may be their biggest misfortune in the playoffs.
The Celtics came to the Knicks' home court again, Madison Square Garden.
In the tiebreak battle, both sides were going to fight to the death. No one wanted to go home to fish, but there was only one place to advance to the finals.
From the first half, both sides were in a wrestling battle. As soon as they started, they had frequent physical contact.
The shooting percentage of both sides can only be described as miserable in this game. The referee did not have the Knicks' home court and had whistle partiality. In this way, the game was often left to the players on both sides to solve.
The referee also regarded some dispensable whistles as if they had not seen them.
The entire first half ended and the two sides fought to 43:43.
In the second half, in the first half of the third quarter, the Knicks could still use Lian Dao's score and firmly grasp the score. However, in the second half of the third quarter, Lian Dao's shooting rate also dropped sharply due to excessive physical energy consumption.
The Celtics once again used the rebounding protection, slowly opening the score bit by bit again.
Wait until the third quarter ends, the two sides will play 66:60.
The Knicks are 6 points behind.
"The Knicks' protection of inside rebounds is not as good as the Celtics. In the first half, the Knicks could still use Sickle's excellent offense to bite the Celtics, but in the second half, Sickle's physical fitness also occurred.
In this round of the Knicks series, almost every game of Sickle has exhausted its physical fitness."
"The first few games are fine, but the further we go, the greater the impact of insufficient physical fitness on the Knicks."
Mike Bryn also discovered the problem of the Knicks.
In the fourth quarter, Lian Dao recovered some physical fitness through rest, and started a battle to chase points at the beginning.
Leading the Knicks to score a 12:6 wave in the first half, finally tied the score.
I originally thought that the Knicks could take advantage of the victory and open the score in one fell swoop, but they were once again trapped in the scoring drought.
However, as the two teams' struggles continue to escalate, both sides are trapped in a blacksmith battle.
The Knicks were not scored too much by the Celtics for a while.
In the last 33 seconds, unexpectedly, Rajon Rondo made a three-pointer from the outside for the first time, which directly widened the gap to 6 points.
Afterwards, facing the Knicks' foul tactics, the Celtics did not make any mistakes at the free throw line.
At the end of the game, the Celtics still relied on their overall strong overall strength to defeat the Knicks with 93:89.
"Although the Knicks counterattacked in the fourth quarter, they did not win the game in the end. The experienced Celtics dragged the Knicks tightly through defense, and they put the Knicks in a physical crisis and fought for 7 games.
The Celtics also had a hard time winning! 4:3, they are going to the finals!"
Lian Dao looked at the freeze-frame scoreboard and the timer to reset the zero, and finally fell on the Knicks' logo in the center of the court.
The other Knicks players were also staring at the timer blankly. They couldn't believe that this game would be their end!
At this time, the victorious wolf king Garnett hugged his teammates and walked towards Lian Dao.
In this round of series, he was really shocked by this year's rookie. Although they won the game, the process was too hard and tormenting.
Garnett was also deeply touched when he looked at Lian Dao sitting on the court.
Did the Knicks lose? Indeed, the Knicks really lose from the score.
However, this is only the first season of the Knicks' reconstruction. You should know that before the start of this season, they were still struggling among the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
The average age of their starters is less than 25 years old. They have never touched the playoff floor before, but they still made it to the playoffs. When everyone is not optimistic, they become
The two strongest teams in the East.
Although they failed, their season is definitely great.
Moreover, Garnett knows how difficult it is to lead the team into the playoffs by a single core.
Minnesota has been sticking to the West in 2004, and eventually lost 2:4 to the Los Angeles Lakers.
So, Garnett was very impressed. He led the Knicks to the No. 1 player to the Eastern Conference Finals this rookie season, and they almost overturned the Celtics.
Looking back now, Garnett even knows the heart season.
"The game is over, and the New York Knicks have caused a lot of trouble for the Celtics. But, unfortunately, they did not become the final winner of the series. The Celtics walked to the end and they were in Madison Square Garden.
He won the Eastern Championship trophy!”
Jeff Van Gundy felt a little sorry for the Knicks. The Knicks' luck was still a little worse. Who would have thought that Rajon Rondo, whose three-point shooting percentage was only 21.3%, would hit a fatal three-pointer at a critical moment.
You should know that in the last game, he missed the last long three-pointer, which caused the Celtics to lose G6. However, his three-pointer today completed the redemption of the last game!
However, at this moment, Jeff Van Gundy's eyes were attracted by Garnett.
After seeing Garnett winning, he just hugged his teammates, he walked towards Lian Dao.
Instead of celebrating the joy of winning with his teammates, he headed to this round of series to create their biggest troubles.
Van Gundy smiled. It seemed that even the irritable Wolf King was impressed by this rookie who had debuted at the peak.
“Sickle!”
Lian Dao heard that he was calling him and looked back.
I found out that it was not my teammate, but Kevin Garnett wearing a green jersey.
"You won Kevin, and you finally came to the end. Although I am very unwilling to give up now,...congratulations to Kevin." Lian Dao grabbed Garnett's outstretched hand and stood up with the force.
"Hahahaha, I know you are very unwilling to give up. I never doubt your desire for victory. If you do it again, I really don't want you to be opponents of the Celtics' Eastern Conference Finals! This round of the series seems to be from Purgatory
Walked around inside!”
Garnett said, and the two hit their shoulders and hugged each other.
"Kevin, even though you beat us, I still hope you can go to the end. After all, I hope that the only one who can beat us is the championship."
"We will, we all came out of purgatory, I believe there is nothing to stop the Celtics, not even the defending champion. Sickle, this is just your rookie season, you still have a lot of opportunities in the future