On January 13, 1997, after resting for two days in New York, the Knicks flew to Houston to play three Western Conference away games that week.

Jeff Van Gundy had a sullen face when he got on the plane. Larry Johnson’s back injury recurred, and the New York media criticized him for being conservative in his use of players this weekend.

The New York Post dug up old accounts and believed that the fundamental reason why Larry Johnson’s statistics shrank after joining the Knicks was because Jeff Van Gundy’s tactical system was not good!

Although the Knicks’ number of possessions has increased since the start of the new season, they still feed their fans a piece of shit-tasting chocolate from time to time, which makes people love and hate it.

Assistant coach Thibodeau has no good solution to these reports. With Ewing as the core and other players playing as tools, the Knicks have no conditions to allow “Grandmama” to restore his tactical position in the Hornets.

“There’s no need to read those reports. The All-Star Game is coming up and the schedule is almost halfway through. The most important thing in the last few months is to stay healthy. We still have a chance to win the division championship.”

Thibodeau advised Jeff Van Gundy, who was almost bald, that the New York media’s words should not be taken seriously, and everyone knew the situation within the team.

“I didn’t take the media’s words to heart. I was more worried about the injury. Larry’s condition has not been right. The back injury has affected him more seriously than I thought.”

After saying this, Jeff Van Gundy looked thoughtful again.

The team cannot be without Larry, otherwise, no one will be able to play the third position.

The rookie John Wallace was very excited at this time. His first start in his career was a nationally televised game. He couldn’t sleep last night.

Charles Oakley heard John Wallace chattering non-stop and looked a little impatient. He immediately warned him:

“It’s just an ordinary regular season game. Look at Lee. He doesn’t care about the award. This is what a star player should be like!”

“If you make a mistake when you go on the court, you’ll be taking over Walter’s job next week!”

“.”

As soon as the old man spoke, the rookie John Wallace immediately shut up. He didn’t want to do chores at all.

Lee watched the show happily. Since “grandmama” will miss tomorrow night’s game due to injury, the Knicks will most likely have problems.

After Larry Johnson came to the team, he did a lot of dirty and tiring work. It was not noticeable at ordinary times, but when it came to the crucial game, you could feel the role of the “grandmama”.

Patrick Ewing has remained silent, but every time he meets Olajuwon, the media will hype it up.

The gorilla wants to beat his opponent, even in the regular season, and Ewing takes it very seriously!

“The Rockets are in good shape, but we have injuries. I don’t know if there will be some adjustments in the training sessions in the past two days.”

Alan Houston was still expecting the team to change its tactics, but the Larry and Lee on the side both curled their lips. It was almost half a season, and at most they could eat dumplings, and the core of the tactics could not be changed at all.

They had to spend three and a half hours on the plane. Ewing didn’t want to play cards, so everyone could only read magazines and chat.

The Rockets’ aging Big Three have also demonstrated their dominance since the start of the season. In the first month of the new season, head coach Rudy Tomjanovich even won the Coach of the Month award.

But as the season progressed, the old men’s performance began to fluctuate. On January 11, they were defeated miserably by the Bulls in an away game.

86:110, a strong match, Michael Jordan is in high spirits!

12 of 25, 4 of 6 from beyond the three-point line, 32 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, Michael Jordan, who exerted a little strength, blew up the old Big Three.

On the Rockets side, Olajuwon performed the best, 12 of 25, scoring a team-high 29 points, “The Glide” Drexler 3 of 11, scoring 7 points!

Charles Barkley, who was clinging thighs, only scored 8 points with 2 of 11.

After the game, all American sports media shut up, and the topic of the Rockets’ aging Big Three winning the championship dropped sharply.

Patrick Ewing wanted to take advantage of the Rockets’ low morale to give them another blow!

Unfortunately, the old Big Three also wanted to take advantage of the weak opponent, and the gorilla ran into the gun.

In the game broadcast live across the United States on the evening of the 14th, the Rockets, who were playing at home, completely exploded in the first quarter.

Charles Barkley played the entire first quarter, making 5 of 9 shots, 2 of 4 from beyond the three-point line, and 2 of 2 free throws, scoring 14 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist in a single quarter.

At 24:30, the Rockets took a 6-point lead in the first quarter.

Lee started the game and also played the entire first quarter. After coming on the court, he was responsible for passing the ball to Ewing and served as an outside artillery.

Lee made 3 of 4 shots, 2 of 2 shots from beyond the three-point line, and scored 8 points and 2 assists in a single quarter. His efficient performance prevented the score gap from widening further.

Facing Olajuwon, Ewing struggled a bit and didn’t play smartly. He made two mistakes in low-post offense, made only 1 of 3 shots, and scored only 4 points.

Perhaps feeling that he had too few opportunities in the first quarter, Ewing came on early in the second quarter and frequently asked for the ball with his back to the basket.

Chris Charles did not distribute the shots of everyone as reasonably as Lee did, and kept passing the ball to Ewing.

The gorilla failed to play alone and made another mistake.

The more he wanted to prove himself, the more problems he encountered. Before Jeff Van Gundy could react, the game collapsed.

Charles Barkley, who had been holding his breath, kept attacking the basket. After he came on the court, he made 2 of 3 shots in a single quarter, 6 of 6 free throws, and scored another 10 points!

At the end of the half, the score was 46:63, and the Rockets were already leading by 17 points.

Oakley and Ewing returned to the locker room during the halftime break with grim looks on their faces, and Starks also had a stern face and said nothing.

Everyone knew why the game suddenly collapsed.

“Sorry, I was too nervous and shouldn’t have made such a stupid mistake.”

The rookie John Wallace was beaten by the “The Glide” and missed the layup. He returned to the locker room and admitted his mistake in a low voice.

Lee looked calm, shot 5 of 8 and scored a team-high 13 points in the first half. He returned to his seat without saying a word.

Now it was the boss’s turn to speak.

To everyone’s disappointment, Ewing didn’t say a word from beginning to end. The gorilla just sat in his seat, waiting for Van Gundy to arrive.

The 17-point gap can actually be caught up. If the “Iron Blood” defense speeds up the offensive tempo, as long as the gap can be narrowed to 10 points in the third quarter, the game will still be suspenseful.

Jeff Van Gundy came to the locker room with a serious look on his face and gave some dry advice:

“We had enough time to come back and trust our shots and trust each other.”

“.”

Larry Johnson, dressed in formal attire, looked around at everyone in the locker room, folded his arms, said nothing, and even felt a little happy in his heart.

Ewing wanted to prove himself every time he met Olajuwon, but in this game, the Knicks retreated early.

90:106, the Rockets successfully squeezed the “soft persimmon”.

(A/N: Soft Persimmon means softie)

In the Houston Arena, the fans were cheering for this big victory.

Lee looked at Charles Barkley who was celebrating with his fist pump, and turned to comfort John Wallace who was not performing well:

“Next time we play, we will win back!”

Newbie John Wallace forced a smile and muttered,

“I don’t want to do chores. Oakley will definitely take it out on me.”

Lee’s eyes twitched slightly when he heard such a response. All the emotions that had been brewing disappeared at once. He cursed in his heart:

“Fck!”

…

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

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep