Conflicts on the basketball court are a very common thing. Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning are both from Georgetown University, and there is no real conflict between the two.

After a couple of shoves, the incident of Ewing being pulled during his dunk was forgotten. Larry Johnson and Mourning have always had a bad relationship, and he rushed to the basket with his head held high, and he really wanted to punch his former teammate twice.

PJ Brown saw that something was wrong and quickly stopped the “grandmama” while shouting:

“Dude! What do you want to do!”

The referee of the game, which was broadcast live across the United States, acted quickly and rushed forward to separate the crowd.

The “grandmama” looked at his former teammate with a bad look. Mourning realized that he was almost ambushed, and the two of them glared at each other without saying a word.

The fans watching the game were a little disappointed at first, but then they calmed down. At 14:4, the Knicks were still 10 points behind.

Seeing Ewing make both free throws, Jeff Van Gundy on the sidelines was completely relieved.

The ball was quickly served from the backcourt. After Hardaway received it, he noticed that the Knicks players had completed their retreat and immediately made a tactical gesture.

Lee, who had already retreated to the half court, immediately reminded Charles Oakley loudly:

“Don’t let him catch the ball easily in the low post on the left!”

The old guy also knew that Lee had a good memory. After hearing the reminder, he immediately realized that the other side wanted to attack Mourning again, and he began to pester him on the defensive end, almost hanging on Mourning.

Just as Lee predicted, the two big men simply cross-screened at the baseline, and then Mourning came to the low post on the left side and asked for the ball with his back to the basket.

Oakley, who was well prepared, continued to chase and defend. At the same time, PJ Brown moved to the free throw line after setting the screen.

Lee knew that the Heat’s moves were fake. The Knicks also often used this kind of high-low coordination. The tactics of the two teams could be said to be mirroring each other.

“Defense! Defense! Defense!”

Madison Square Garden was once again filled with defensive cheers. Outside the three-point line, on the left wing, Lee tried his best to cover Hardaway with his body and not give the opponent an easy chance to pass the ball.

By the time half of the offensive time was over, after Hardaway made a low-quality lob pass, Mourning had already been pushed out to the low post by Oakley.

Facing Oakley’s defense, Mourning made a strong move near the left baseline, approached the paint area, and shot with his right hand!

“Bang!” Another miss!

The fans immediately cheered loudly, and Ewing retreated to the basket in time, trapped P.J. Brown behind him, and struggled to protect the backcourt rebound.

When Lee received the ball again, Hardaway first stepped forward to delay him, and then stopped leading the defense and quickly retreated with his teammates.

The Heat’s defensive discipline was extremely good, and Lee, who had dribbled across half court, frowned secretly.

It was still Ewing’s pick-and-roll at the top of the arc. P.J. Brown strictly guarded Ewing’s flow, and this time the speed of assisting defense was slower.

The delayed Hardaway saw Lee circling the ball behind his back and lowering his center of gravity very low after switching to his left hand.

Before he could remind his teammates, Lee, who picked up the ball with his left hand, quickly went in and out, swaying right and left.

The confusing swaying during the run made PJ Brown stand there in a daze, and he could only watch Lee rush to the basket!

The Heat’s defense was layered one after another, and the moment Lee broke through to the paint area, Mourning had already come up to assist.

Lee did not choose to pass the ball. He slowed down slightly and rushed to the basket. After an abrupt stop, he raised the ball with his left hand and faked it.

Mourning did not think much about it and jumped high according to his body instinct.

In the air, he saw Lee twisting his body nimbly with his right foot as the axis.

Mourning was so angry that he cursed inwardly. Just after landing, he saw Lee easily shot the ball with his right hand under the basket!

14:8, the score difference was narrowed to 6 points.

“oh!!”

The wonderful goal instantly ignited the atmosphere of Madison Square Garden.

When he saw Lee retreating, he smiled and nodded his head with his right index finger, and the fans also cheered loudly.

The atmosphere at the scene did not affect the Heat’s offense. They still followed their tactics step by step, using big men to move deeper to stretch the Knicks’ defense.

This time Mourning received the ball in a deep position. Seeing Oakley’s defense was out of position, Ewing subconsciously moved to help defend.

As a result, PJ Brown at the free throw line got the chance and hit a mid-range jump shot.

Jeff Van Gundy on the sidelines couldn’t think of a good solution and could only loudly remind the players to concentrate on defense.

In order to even the score difference, they had to defend the opponent first, and the Heat were obviously prepared. Hardaway kept squeezing through the screen, and the big man’s delay became greater and greater.

Guarding against Lee’s three-pointers did cost some price. Oakley received passes from Lee in the elbow area on the left and right sides of the free throw line for two consecutive rounds and scored 2 points.

But the Heat also responded on the offensive end. Sasha Danilovic broke away from Alan Houston’s defense and made a jump shot from outside the three-point line.

At the end of the first quarter, the Knicks made personnel rotations, but were still dragged down by the Heat’s slow-paced offense and high-pressure defense.

PJ Brown fought hard to grab rebounds in every round, and Mourning was not afraid of confrontation and repeatedly entangled with Oakley under the basket.

It was not until Hardaway made a pass error and Lee completed a steal and assisted Alan Houston to make a transition three-pointer that the Knicks completed their first transition offense of the game.

With 19 seconds left in the first quarter, Jeff Van Gundy loudly reminded everyone to hold on. As a result, PJ Brown missed the layup, grabbed the offensive rebound again, and made a tip-in at the buzzer.

24:18, the score difference is still 6 points.

Lee returned to the bench and cursed in his heart, Pat Riley is not a human being. The Heat’s starting five played the full 12 minutes.

“PJ Brown got 7 rebounds in the first quarter, including 4 offensive rebounds.”

“It’s unbelievable that we lost the rebounding game. The Heat have completed their transformation this season!”

Commentator John Andaris felt that the Knicks had completely controlled the game tonight. The Knicks rarely win games where they lose rebounds.

“We were too far behind at the start. Obviously, our coaching staff was not well prepared. Of course, the boys performed very well. After Lee came on the court, they reorganized the offense.”

Commentator Marv Albert said nice things, but after looking at his partner, he felt that the game was going to fail.

After the start of the second quarter, Lee saw Hardaway still on the court and was speechless. Obviously, Pat Riley just wanted to win in New York.

The Heat took the lead in attacking.

Hardaway, who had 0 of 4 shots in the first quarter and scored 2 points from free throws, became the team’s main attacker.

In the first round, facing Lee’s defense at the top of the arc, he lowered his center of gravity, dribbled the ball quickly between his legs with his right hand, and then quickly changed direction in front of his body.

Hardaway instantly gained half a body distance, accelerated the breakthrough with the ball in his right hand, suddenly stopped at the free throw line, and faced Lee’s block with a quick stop jump shot!

After completing the offense with his signature move, Hardaway was in a good mood. He shook his head and taunted,

“Watch out, rookie. This is how you dribble between the legs!”

Lee didn’t say anything. He took the ball from the baseline, quickly dribbled across half court, came to the right wing, and immediately passed the ball to Starks at the top of the arc.

Then Lee quickly moved laterally from right to left, and with the help of veteran Buck Williams’ cover, he briefly got rid of Hardaway’s pursuit.

On the left wing outside the three-point line, Lee received a return pass from Starks and immediately raised the ball for a fake shot.

Hardaway, who was chasing and defending, was almost shaken and jumped up. Seeing Lee breaking through with the ball in his right hand, he quickly adjusted his body center of gravity and slid to the left rear with all his might.

Lee, who had just passed the three-point line and lowered his center of gravity, dribbled the ball quickly between his legs. Taking advantage of Hardaway’s pause in defense, he immediately changed direction slightly in front of his body.

Hardaway followed his body’s instinctive defensive reaction and his front supporting foot was instantly attacked. He tried to move to pursue the defense, but his foot tripped and he almost sat down on the floor

with one hand supporting himself.

Hardaway barely managed to prevent himself from falling, but he had completely lost his defensive position at this time. He could only watch Lee pass him and easily score with a mid-range jump shot.

“Killer Crossover! This is how you do a crossover dribble!”

Hardaway, who had just stood up, was completely furious when he heard Lee whispering in front of him:

“Fuck it!”

Hardaway walked up to Lee and pushed him viciously, then swung his right fist, wanting to teach the rookie who had embarrassed him a lesson.

Lee also reacted quickly, dodging the opponent’s punch by leaning sideways, then twisting around and hugging and throwing the opponent, and they both fell to the floor near the baseline at the same time.

“Fuck it!”

Hardaway fell dazed, heard a curse in his ear, and then got punched in the face.

The New York fans at the scene were still cheering for Lee’s goal, and in the blink of an eye the two were wrestling on the floor. After a scream, cheers began to resound throughout the stadium.

Before Jeff Van Gundy on the sidelines could react, Larry Johnson rushed over:

“Shit! Keep it, keep hitting!”

…

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

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep