Chapter 265: The Driven Mad Pat Riley
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"The Utah Jazz are a very good team. They have many, many excellent players. Maybe they have the best power forward in the league, and the best shooting guard in the league and even the best point guard in the league are now among their teams. They only lost 10 games in the regular season and only lost one game in the playoffs. But what I want to say is that the Houston Rockets are the Houston Rockets, the New York Knicks are the New York Knicks, and the Jazz can easily defeat the Houston Rockets does not mean that they can easily defeat the New York Knicks, which is a completely different concept!"
"The regular season was swept? I once said that this does not mean anything. We also swept the Pacers this season, but in the playoffs, the Pacers almost eliminated us. The results of the regular season are just the results of the regular season. This has nothing to do with the playoffs. I never think any team in the league can sweep us. Even the Bulls last year did "No (wrong "Not this!"
At the post-match press conference after the end of the seventh game between the Knicks and the Pacers on June 8, 1994, the head coach of the New York Knicks was very ugly at this time. If it weren't for watching the Knicks and the Pacers' game today, I'm afraid everyone would think that the New York Knicks were the losing side.
In fact, since leaving the Lakers to the New York Knicks, Pat Riley's face has never looked very good. When he was in the Lakers, although he was one of the best head coaches in the league and although he has become the most popular head coach in the league, there is no doubt that the Lakers do not belong to his team. The Lakers have been Magic and Jerry West, but they have never belonged to him. So when he resolutely left the Lakers to come to another giant New York Knicks at the peak of the Lakers, he never thought that he would encounter such a situation in the New York Knicks.
As the league's championship coach, the New York Knicks are a down-and-out giant in the league. Before Pat Riley took over this team, how long has it been since the team entered the division final? I'm afraid they don't even know it. After Pat Riley came to this team, the team has reached the division final for two consecutive years. This year, it has even reached the finals, almost every year moving forward. In this case, if it is an ordinary team, the media in the city where the team is located has long blew Pat Riley into a god. But unfortunately, the New York media never thought that Pat Riley would praise himself, and it would be great as long as it does not continue to insult and insult.
Especially some time ago, the New York Knicks were overtaken by the Pacers 3-2 while leading 2-0, and Reggie Miller was crazy about being a humiliating Knicks in Madison Square, the New York media almost threw all the resentment on Pat Riley. They really had no way to deal with Reggie Miller. This arrogant boy, like Lin Han, was not afraid of ridicule or the dark. In this case, Pat Riley was even careful about whether a New York fan would rush up to him every time he went out. It can be said that when a city media instigated his team fans to attack the team's head coach in the newspaper, it would be strange that he could be happy as the team's head coach.
Even though Pat Riley, who was so angry, blocked Reggie Miller directly in these two games, it was not impossible to fight Reggie Miller alone, so two people were not good enough? Then there were only three people. After pinching Reggie Miller slightly, the other Pacers players were unable to take responsibility. In the end, Pat Riley and his New York Knicks finally succeeded in gambling and eventually overtook the Pacers and entered the finals. Even so, these New York media were still unwilling to give in to him.
This is to lead the team to the finals. It would be fine if these guys don't praise his tactics in the next two games. They even attacked him at the post-match press conference and asked him to guarantee that he would defeat the Jazz in the finals. Can he do this? Even if he wants to defeat the Jazz, at this time, some words cannot be said.
Well, when he didn't make a promise for the future finals with the Jazz, these New York media began to attack him again, and also began to humiliate him by placing his old background.
In this team, Pat Riley has never received the respect this city should have. When he thought of this, the Knicks head coach sneered in his heart. He wanted to win the game, and wanted the team to play well, and to be able to step on the most popular players in the league like the Pistons back then, rather than being stepped on the most popular people in the league. The guys here have so many requests and it is really hard to serve. If he had known that he would have come to the New York Knicks in the past, he would not have come to this place even if he killed him.
"Lin Han is in extremely hot in the playoffs this year. Can you tell me what kind of defensive strategy you will have against him in the finals? Can you limit that guy's score to how many points!"
When a New York reporter in the front row asked Pat Riley this question again, the Knicks head coach also raised his eyebrows. If it hadn't been for winning the game today, it would have been a big day to enter the finals. At the same time, he didn't want Larry Brown next to him to take a joke, Pat Riley would have left the seat in anger.
"Lin Han is a very great player. He has performed very well this season. He is one of the biggest contenders in the MVP in the Finals. It is difficult to really limit such players. We will try to make him feel uncomfortable. As for how many points he can score in each game in the Finals, you need to ask God, not me."
After saying that, Pat Riley deliberately pointed to the sky. Although he couldn't get angry at this time, he was not a soft persimmon. As the most popular head coach in the league and Jordan in the coaching industry, he was indeed not as good as Chuck Daly and others in terms of status. But he was not bad in terms of temper. Of course, after he finished his answer, the group of New York reporters in the front row of the field really quit, and the reporters from other media in the United States were all watching the excitement with a smile on their faces. The New York media's meanness and indifference are famous, so many media will basically not think about what questions to ask when they come to Madison for interviews, because these New York media have already had better and more sharp questions, so many times they just need to watch Pat Riley and their fight off the court.
It has to be said that the war between Pat Riley and the New York media has always been very interesting.
"I said, I can't guarantee you that the finals will happen, but you can rest assured that if you want to conquer Madison Park in the finals, no matter who you are, you must be prepared to come in and go out sideways!"
After answering the last question coldly, he looked at the press officer next to him. The press officer nodded his hair and showed that the time had come. The Knicks head coach turned around and left without looking back. Larry Brown, who had never made any noise in this press conference, looked at Pat Riley's back at this time and felt a little sympathetic, and was also a little gloating about the change of [the same speed]. This bastard is so vicious in these two games, he deserves to be criticized by his own people.
Of course, after leaving the post-match press conference, Pat Riley returned to the team's locker room, the anger and depression on her face were still clearly visible. As Knicks players, they have long been used to their head coach's expression after each post-match press conference. Although Pat Riley is not popular among New York media and fans, these guys have too high demands on Pat Riley. After all, they think that Riley has the highest coach's salary in the league and has not been given a transfer of the Lakers' time to New York. Even if he can win, what can he do? The game is so ugly and it is not consistent at all.
With the temperament of this city, if you really want to find a head coach who can win, New York has many choices. As long as New York yells, most famous coaches in the league will rush to this team. If these people do not have the style of play and tactical requirements, they can also win and lead the team into the finals. So, how can Pat Riley win and enter the finals? Even if he wins the championship, he cannot meet the requirements of New York fans, management and media. Overall, these people have never thought Pat Riley had proved that he had the ability to have the highest salary in the league.
However, fans, media and management can think so, but the players in the team created by Pat Riley don’t think so. In their hearts, Pat Riley’s status is quite high, but this kind of thing can be considered an internal strife, and it is difficult for them to deal with as players.
So, at this time in the locker room of the Knicks in New York, although they are very glad and happy to have reached the finals now, the only excitement and joy that they had originally had disappeared when they saw Pat Riley's face at this time, which is really completely different from when the Jazz reached the finals.
When the Jazz reached the finals, let alone the locker room was boiling, even the entire stadium and the entire Salt Lake City were in full bloom, because they all knew that as long as they stepped on the Rockets to enter the finals, the championship would have 80% hope that it would fall into their hands. The Knicks players would be so restrained because they themselves knew that the Finals would be a more difficult war than the Pacers.
They blocked the madman Reggie Miller in the last two games and finally won the game. However, Lin Han is a player who is not inferior to Reggie Miller at all. If he is crazy or crazy, this kid is even more terrifying. Reggie Miller is not afraid of the threats and mafia from the New York gangsters. He can do whatever he wants. However, Lin Han is not only not afraid of the threats of the New York gangsters, but this guy can also threaten the New York gangsters. During the regular season, Starks, the boss of the New York gangsters, was almost played with the shadows. In this playoffs, as the Knicks believed that the opponent in the finals was the most likely opponent, they could not be both the Rockets and the Jazz.
In the team game, in the fourth game between the two teams, after seeing Lin Han being beaten by Drexler, Lin Han pressing Drexler on the ground, the group of New York gangster players were shocked. You know, the referee stood aside and watched. Lin Han didn't care at all. After pressing Drexler and beating him, he still chased him to the Rockets' bench. The unscrupulous rampantness made people feel cold in his heart. Faced with such a player, to be honest, it would be difficult for the New York Knicks to really scare him. If it weren't for scaring but playing real, I'm afraid that Lin Han wouldn't be lying down but one of them.
Many times, these New York gangster players envied the Pistons Bad Boys Legion that year. If there were a few strong men like Lin Han and Reggie Miller in that era, they would probably have the same headache as the Knicks at this time.
And more importantly, they can crazily pinch Reggie Miller and face the scare of the Knicks. Other Pacers will wilt, but will other Jazz players wilt? Although the Jazz does not have the name of a gangster, there are not many good people in this team. The two bosses of the team are both cruel and black. So for the prospects of the team's finals, the New York Knicks players are really not that optimistic, so although they are happy and celebrated, they are all limited, rather than celebrating unscrupulously like the Jazz.
Of course, at this time, these Knicks' players were very complicated and full of uncertainty about the team's future. As the head coach, Pat Riley could not know about this. If he could really be sure or have full confidence in the finals. Faced with the almost humiliating questioning of the New York media, he would have spoken harshly, but he knew that the team's future would not be smooth, so he could not speak harshly, so he could only say the words that looked fierce but revealed very helpless at the end.
The Jazz and Pacers are completely different. This is not just that there are not many ruthless people in the Pacers, but even fewer ruthless people can score. So after they trapped the most ruthless Reggie Miller, the rest will be like that as long as they were scared. But the Jazz are different. Lin Han's scoring ability is stronger than Reggie Miller. They are already crazily pinching Reggie Miller. This guy can still average 26 points per game and hit a shooting percentage of 45%. Don't think that this data is poor. With the defensive strength of the Knicks against Reggie Miller, there will be no more than 5 defenders in the league who can average 26 points and 45% shooting percentage. It is even said directly that except Lin Han, Reggie Miller and Jordan, no shooting guard can have such strength.
Among these three, Reggie Miller may be the crazyest, but he may not be the strongest, or even the weakest. Who knows what will happen to Lin Han when facing the Knicks? When he thinks that this guy has played 60+, played 50+10, played 30+20, played 5x5 and even played 30+20, even played 5x5 for 30+20, he has a headache.
The Knicks are a strong defensive team. They dare to say that their defense is the first in the league, but facing a team like the Jazz, just defense is not enough. Lin Han and Malone averaged a total of 70 points per game in the playoffs. At this time, the media directly named these two as the two most crazy combinations in NBA history. Faced with such a combination, the Knicks would never be able to defeat the opponent by relying on defense.
As for the result, to be honest, although the Knicks are not weak, they are not much stronger. At least it is really far behind the Rockets.
Although Olajuwon and Ewing are both one of the three centers, Olajuwon has played a total of 79 games in his career so far, one with more than 50 points in the playoffs, six with more than 40 points in the playoffs, and even more than 30 games. As the three centers and Olajuwon in the same era, Ewing also played 71 playoffs? Ewing's performance is actually not bad. Although there are no one with more than 50 points in the playoffs, two with more than 40 points, and 16 with more than 30 points. However, the key point is that Ewing has a total of 16 games with more than 30 points in the total number of games in 71 games, it is a bit not so good.
Ewing is also a defensive player and a very comprehensive offensive player, but in terms of explosive scoring, he is indeed not as good as Olajuwon. You can say that Olajuwon was a cancer before, but his scoring ability is indeed the strongest among the three centers. As for David Robinson, this kid, this guy, if he hadn't even had a regular center, scored 50 points in a playoff this year, in addition to 8 of the 29 playoff games in his career, the guy scored more than 30 points. Three of them were won against the Warriors this season. Before the game with the Warriors this season, this guy had a maximum score of 36 points in the playoffs. It is simply a typical example of the regular season and the playoffs become soft. This can also reflect the values of the league.
, the regular season and the playoffs are really not the same level game. Even strong men like the three centers have to lie down when they are in the playoffs. After all, most of the strong teams in the league have one or even two All-star insiders. Imagine how miserable O'Neal this year's playoffs. Not long ago, Lin Han asked Ali incredibly. At that time, Alice told him that in history, when O'Neal's average score in the first five seasons of his career, Lin Han was really shocked. After all, this guy averaged nearly 30 points per game this year. Generally speaking, players like O'Neal, him, Jordan and Reggie Miller performed better in the playoffs than in the regular season, right?
Of course, in fact, Lin Han really underestimated the league's inside line at this time. Among the four centers, except Ewing, who was infinitely close to 30 points per game in the fifth year of the playoffs, there was only one center in the league who could actually average 30 points per game in the playoffs. That is Olajuwon, that is, in the entire NBA. Now, the only center with dominance on both the defensive and offensive end is Olajuwon. Now, there are a large number of old ball players in the league who pretend to die in the regular season and bully newcomers in the playoffs.
In this case, Pat Riley was worried that even if his team had done a good job of defense, he could not defend against the Jazz, and eventually forced them to attack the Jazz, and their Ewing was not Olajuwon, which was annoying enough.
At this time, Pat Riley would have a headache whenever he thought of Lin Han and the Jazz. There was no way to do this. After all, this team really made the Knicks very passive now. However, although Pat Riley was helpless at this time, the media outside would not think so.
After the Jazz's final opponent was confirmed to be the Knicks, these guys were really crazy. After all, the grudges between the Knicks and the Jazz this season are too deep, or the grudges between Lin Han and the New York Mafia are too deep.
When the two teams played for the first time in the regular season, Lin Han performed a miracle moment in Madison Square, which caused the entire Knicks players to roar after the game. The next time they saw Lin Han, they would definitely want Lin Han to go out from the court. What was the final result? It was not Lin Han who went out horizontally, but Ewing. Ewing was concussioned by Lin Han in the game and was directly carried out horizontally. Because of this incident, the Knicks, who had a huge advantage at the time, occupied the first place in the East by the Hawks before the All-Star because of Ewing's problems during that period, also made Ewing, who had hoped to compete for the regular season MVP, directly lost the opportunity to compete for the regular season MVP after being double-killed by the Jazz and Rockets.
In addition, Lin Han celebrated the silhouette of the miracle moment printed on his first signature sneaker, especially after Lin Han's sneakers sold more than 4 million pairs worldwide, the damage caused to the Knicks can be described as innumerable.
As for how the Knicks view Lin Han, there is no doubt that if possible, the Knicks probably thought of killing Lin Han directly on the court.
"The Jazz swept the Knicks? Pat Riley said the Knicks were not the Rockets, he was full of confidence in the finals!"
"The Knicks eliminated the Pacers into the finals, Jerry Sloan congratulated him, calling the Knicks a great opponent and Pat Riley a great coach"
"The Knicks entered the finals, and the Jazz rookie disdained to express their opinions, claiming that the signature sneakers of the Miracle Generation will be released recently for the finals commemorative edition, and New York fans once again claimed that the whole city refused to buy them."
"Part Riley made harsh words at the post-match press conference, Reggie Miller expressed disdain, the Knicks were just invincible?"
"New York legend Willis Reed claimed in an interview that Madison Square will be the grave of Lin Han and the Jazz, and that all humiliation will be washed away in the finals."
When the Jazz and the New York Knicks played against each other in the finals, when the Knicks came to Salt Lake City on June 9, the entire NBA public opinion community was almost in full swing.
The NBA finals are now 2-3-2, and teams with better record will have 4 home games. The distribution of these four home games is the first two games of the Jazz home games, the next three games are the Knicks home games, and the last two games are back to Salt Lake City again.
The first game between the Knicks and the Jazz is on June 10th, which is tomorrow, at the Utah Jazz's Triangle Center Arena.
It can be said that because the Knicks played tiebreak with the Pacers a day ago, the first finals held on June 10 were indeed a bit unfavorable to the Knicks. After all, the Knicks had been resting for 4 days at this time, and this time was just right.
Therefore, because the time, place, people and people are almost on the side of the Jazz. Although the New York media has focused all their firepower on the Jazz in recent times, the Jazz players are still quite relaxed at this time, of course. This also includes Lin Han.
At this time, Lin Han did not focus on the game, but focused on the fourth game against the Rockets. Because of 29 points in a single quarter, he refreshed the playoff single-quarter scoring record 2. Of course, Lin Han was 50+10 in the fourth game against the Rockets. 29 points in a single quarter, naturally not just a purple-gold single-game reward, but also a purple-gold skill point. Now Lin Han also has two purple-gold skill points in his hand. However, he is not in a hurry to use these two purple-gold points. Lin Han now focuses almost all his attention on a training card for Isaiah Thomas that rewarded Lin Han with 29 points in a single quarter.
You know. Lin Han is against this former football king of the Pistons, the most powerful opponent in the Magician's peak. Lin Han has known from Alice that this guy has the strongest ball control skills in NBA history. He can beat Stockton in his half-in-law in his later years. He almost needs to let Malone go to the iron elbow and put him out to clear Stockton.
Lin Han has really coveted this guy's ball control skills for a long time. You know, although Lin Han's skills are very good now. He can break through and hold the ball, but controlling the ball has never been Lin Han's strength. Many of Lin Han's ball control are accompanied by some skills, such as the one-handed ball-holding included with McGrady's pull-up and playing handsomely on the spot, such as the Kobe-style turn and jump shot when he was promoted to LV2, and the other is the ball-taking of the ball with both hands and crossing the ball in place, although these ball-taking methods make Lin Han seem to be in control without the ball control.
Wrong, but in fact, it is difficult for Lin Han to have the ability to swim in the free throw line like Stockton and some other players. Lin Han’s ball control is more aggressive and needs to be attacked. In fact, the most orthodox ball control skills in the league do not necessarily require players to attack. For example, Stockton, his ball control is often not allowed to attack even if he dribbles to the basket. For example, Isaiah Thomas and others, as a short guard, can transport the ball to the basket, and if he finds that there is no chance of a result, he can easily transport it out.
But Lin Han couldn't do this. If Lin Han hit the basket and finally found that he had no offensive opportunity and could not withdraw. Could he play cross-dribbling at the basket? Isn't that trying to draw, or holding the ball in one hand at the basket to be cool? Then pretending not to be a good person to be fucked, so Lin Han's dribbling is very good. With Lin Han's physical fitness, it is difficult for anyone to steal Lin Han's basketball directly, if Lin Han's attention is concentrated.
But in the same way, because he only has the ability to move forward but not backward, Lin Han has never dared to kill at the basket when facing some powerful inside players, such as Olajuwon, Mooning, General Ewing and others. This is because of some reasons why he is afraid of the big man's defensive ability. But more importantly, Lin Han's mistake rate at the basket will be very high when facing these big men, because of his dribbling style that has advance but not retreat, there are only two results in entering the inside. One is to score the top ten goals, and the other is a very regrettable brainless mistake.
With Lin Han's current status and offensive method, he naturally doesn't need to hit the basket and attack. If Lin Han was not so thirsty about this ball control skill in the past, although he would want it very much, he was not so impatient. However, the key is that after the McGrady moments broke out twice with the Rockets, coupled with the unconventional flattery of the American media, Lin Han is almost watching his character get lower and lower, and he is almost falling below 25%.
Even recently, Lin Han has been wondering whether he should play crazy things like Reggie Miller's throat to improve his character. It is not a big deal to continue like this. After all, Lin Han's goal for this finals this year is the MVP of the finals, and such problems cannot occur at this critical moment.
So, in this case, when his character is not enough and his peripheral shooting rate may be very bad, Lin Han now wants to swipe data and can only rush to the basket. The key is that there is a gorilla at the Knicks' basket. Although Lin Han is very strong, he may not be able to beat Ewing if he really kills at the basket. Although Ewing's offense is indeed one level worse than O'Neal, this guy's defense is really not much worse than O'Neal. Similarly, New York's overall defense is definitely better than the Rockets. So, recently, when I saw Karl Malone in the training ground saying that he wanted to win the finals MVP to complete the Grand Slam, Lin Han was really anxious.
However, Lin Han also knew that although the strongest ball control skill in the history of Isaiah Thomas could help him, training card was completely a matter of looking at his face. If Isaiah Thomas didn't miss him, even if he kneeled down for Isaiah Thomas, he would not get the inheritance of this guy.
However, what surprised Lin Han was that he originally went to find Isaiah Thomas with a mentality of being a dead horse, but unexpectedly, the final result made Lin Han almost shocked. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!