On December 3, 1996, Pat Riley returned to Madison Square Garden for the first time this season.

Tonight’s game is also the Knicks’ first nationally broadcast game in December. Pat Riley still maintains his elegant image, with a straight suit and a shiny slicked-back hair.

The New York fans at the scene looked at the almost bald Jeff Van Gundy standing on the sidelines and suddenly felt that their head coach’s aura was weak.

The Heat have achieved a record of 12 wins and 4 losses since the start of the new season.

PJ Brown, who just joined the Heat, seamlessly integrated into Pat Riley’s “iron-blooded” tactics. The inside line formed by him and Alonzo Mourning suppressed Patrick Ewing after the opening.

The Heat’s three perimeter players, Tim Hardaway, Sasha Danilovic, and Dan Majerle, also displayed extremely aggressive defense, and the Knicks’ offense went silent after the opening.

“Defense! Defense! Defense!”

The New York fans at the scene cheered loudly, cheering for the team’s defense.

Tim Hardaway used Alonso’s pick-and-roll at the top of the arc to successfully break away from Charlie Ward’s defense, and Charles Oakley hurriedly retreated to the inside.

As Hardaway was jumping for a layup, Oakley secretly elbowed him, and the basketball bounced out of the rim. Before the old man could be happy, PJ Brown grabbed the frontcourt rebound.

“Shit! He fouled!”

After landing, Hardaway was still complaining to the referee. PJ Brown grabbed the rebound and threw the ball directly to the right wing outside the three-point line.

After receiving the ball, Sasha Danilovic did not make too many adjustments. Facing Alan Houston who was defending, he made a confident jump shot!

“Swish!” The three-pointer went into the net.

12:2, with 7 minutes and 18 seconds left in the first quarter, the Heat widened the point difference to double digits.

“Shh!”

The New York fans at the scene were furious, booing and shouting at the same time.

In the next round, the Knicks were forced into a 24-second violation by the opponent, and Pat Riley sat back on the bench with a smile on his face.

As Mourning received the breakthrough pass from Hardaway in the middle near the left baseline and made a successful jump shot, Jeff Van Gundy could no longer hold it and immediately requested a timeout.

14:2, a disastrous start, New York fans booed the home team.

“It was a bad start, Ewing’s low-post attack was completely restricted, and the Heat’s interior defense was simply airtight.”

In the live commentary booth, John Andaris looked at the technical statistics and his tone became increasingly low.

“Pat Riley should be the head coach who knows the Knicks best in the league. We must make effective adjustments in time. The 12-point difference is too much.”

Commentator Marv Albert thought of the Knicks’ offensive rhythm and felt that the game was going to end.

On the bench, Jeff Van Gundy sat in front of everyone, writing and drawing on the tactical board, and loudly reminded:

“We still have enough playing time to turn the game around, play good defense, cherish every ball possession, and don’t lose rebounds anymore!”

No one responded.

The old guys were in a terrible mood.

It was embarrassing to have the game broadcast live across the US like this.

Charlie Ward sat on the bench in frustration, watching Lee and everyone else return to the court.

After the game against the SuperSonics, his playing time dropped sharply.

With the defensive pressure from the Heat, it was not an easy task to catch up with the score when they were 12 points behind.

Lee also looked serious after coming on the court.

When facing the league’s top guards, some bullying tactics would not work.

“Let’s go Knicks! Let’s go Knicks! Let’s go Knicks!”

The serve from the baseline was greeted with cheers from the crowd again.

As soon as Lee received the ball, Hardaway rushed over to defend.

While giving physical confrontation, his right hand was hanging on Lee’s waist, and his left hand quickly cut the ball.

Hardaway’s six-foot (183cm) height allowed him to lower his center of gravity easily.

Facing such an oppressive defense, Lee turned around and accelerated immediately after releasing the ball with his left hand.

Unable to break free of the opponent’s entanglement, Lee, holding the ball with his left hand, took on the defense and kept accelerating.

When the opponent was sliding and approaching the center line, he immediately dribbled the ball behind his back.

After switching to his right hand, he stuck out his butt to protect the ball and dribbled across half court.

He tried his best to control the ball with his strong side hand. The scene was a bit ugly, but Lee didn’t care.

Coming to the right wing outside the three-point line, Hardaway kept giving physical confrontation, pulling, cutting the ball, and constantly moving his hands.

Charles Oakley moved to the left side of Lee in the first time, pulling out Mourning and actively playing a pick-and-roll offense.

Hardaway glanced at the movement behind him and saw Lee’s shoulder shaking. He subconsciously moved back and prepared to squeeze through the screen.

Just as he took a step, Lee suddenly lowered his center of gravity after dribbling the ball on the spot, and turned around to accelerate.

Having lost half his body position in an instant, Hardaway cursed inwardly and quickly slid to the left rear while continuing to pull secretly with his right hand.

Lee made a 45-degree cut and immediately took the initiative to exert force when he reached the right blocking area.

While the opponent was pulling him, he pushed his body hard into the opponent, slowed down and stopped suddenly, exerted force on his feet, and stepped back sharply!

Hardaway was hit and jumped up to defend, but soon he found that he could not effectively interfere with Lee’s step-back jump shot.

“Swish!” A steady hit from mid-range!

The fans cheered loudly immediately.

This was the first time the Knicks scored a goal in this game.

When Hardaway received the ball at the baseline, Lee also stepped forward to defend and secretly elbowed the opponent, while whispering:

“Your silly little tricks don’t work on me!”

“Shit! Shut up, rookie!”

He wanted to respond with his ball-protecting hand, but found that Lee had already moved away.

Hardaway, who suffered a loss, cursed angrily.

In the game against the Supersonics, Lee suffered a loss at the hands of Gary Payton.

He made three turnovers in that game.

The opponent’s hand movements left a deep impression on him.

However, Lee learned quickly. He took advantage of Hardaway’s acceleration and pulled from time to time.

The opponent stopped at the three-point line.

The two kept making hand movements.

The referee couldn’t stand it and blew the whistle directly:

“Squeak!”

When Hardaway saw the referee signaling an offensive foul, he jumped up in anger and complained loudly:

“Hey! Hey!! Look carefully before calling the foul!”

With the blessing of the home whistle, Lee, who had taken advantage, kept clapping his hands to celebrate, and the fans at the scene also cheered loudly.

Mourning saw his teammates getting emotional and quickly pulled away Hardaway who was still complaining to the referee:

“Go back to defense! We are leading by 10 points!”

Hardaway’s aggressive defense had no effect on Lee.

Facing these small guards, the cautious Lee did not make any changes of direction in front of his body. He dribbled the ball behind his back, sticking his butt out to protect the ball, and crossed half court steadily.

Ewing didn’t want to lose either, so he took the initiative to set up a pick-and-roll and dribbled the ball quickly behind his back.

After switching to his left hand, Lee immediately broke through on the left side.

He struggled to squeeze through the screen, Hardaway chased him, and P.J. Brown in the interior also came up.

Surrounded by two people, Lee shook his left wrist and the basketball went directly through P.J. Brown’s crotch.

Ewing received a ground pass and was about to rush forward with three steps when he was pulled down by the assisting defense, Mourning.

“Fuck!”

The gorilla staggered and cursed, then turned around and pushed Mourning.

Players from both teams immediately rushed to the basket, fearing that their teammates would suffer, and started pushing each other.

Jeff Van Gundy on the sidelines saw that something was wrong and quickly shouted,

“Pat, stay calm, calm down!”

…

By the way, don’t forget to throw power stones and leave a review to motivate me 🙂

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep