Boston Gardens, January 15, 1987

New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics

Another game that is widely considered a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Knicks have made great progress so far in the season and are the only team in the league with a winning rate of more than 80%. Needless to say, the Celtics are powerful. They have won the championship for three consecutive years and are the undisputed dynasty.

Unlike last season, the Knicks no longer regard the Celtics as a team to defeat in the future.

Starting this year, they will treat the Celtics as their opponents.

At the beginning of the season, Louis was still uncertain.

The Knicks' performance so far this season has made Louis sure that they have the strength to challenge the Celtics.

This game tonight is a second match between Wilson and Bird.

Louis hoped that he could go against Bird, but the Celtics wanted Bird to avoid the match against Wilson.

This is a normal idea. The normal coaching team will use strategies to avoid direct matchup between the two. Because they understand that even if the offense is as stable as Byrd, they will have a lot of effort when facing Wilson's extraordinary physical condition.

Louis was not worried about Wilson and Bird's matchup.

It’s not that he thought Wilson was sure to take Bird, but that he felt from the bottom of his heart that Benj should have fought Bird to find out his position in the league.

Even if Bird is allowed to attend class, it is worth it to hurt his self-esteem with trash words.

A rookie who has not been educated is not a good rookie, and Wilson should have a complete rookie season.

At the beginning of the game, the Celtics knew the importance of the match.

If they get the wrong position, they will have trouble.

Therefore, in order to prevent Bird from having a head-on encounter with Wilson, K.C Jones asked him to play the fourth position, Sampson mentioned the fifth position, Ranbill substitute, Ron Harper and John Long played the second and third positions respectively.

It was a strange thing to see McHale playing against Bird in a Knicks jersey.

The Knicks came to the garden with the determination to win.

"Don't be careless, don't forget that the Knicks won last season," said Tom Heinthorne.

He mentioned the regular season that disappointed the Bostonians last season to make fans boo the Knicks loudly.

As long as the fans are powerful enough, the momentum they create cannot be underestimated by anyone.

The Knicks first showed their signature, N.UCLA system, three-point line dynamic blocking and cutting, Wilson and comeback Dell Ellis's running.

In order to make Wilson and Ellis's running position interchange, Louis and the coaching staff have updated the Exhange Sunky (high-level dynamic offense).

It is still in the experimental stage, but the effect is good, and the outer edges are turning around and walking around.

When Wilson ran in this set of blocks and cuts, he was quite adaptable except for his lack of touch. On the contrary, Alice, he had almost nothing changed, but because there were too many things off the field and could not maintain normal training and competitions at all, and he looked confused after he went on the court.

His off-ball offense and three-point threat are important to the Knicks, but now it seems a bit hopeful that he will not be able to get there.

On the other hand, the Knicks' offense originally had four ace systems: a high-level offensive system dominated by Bird and Thomas, a No. 2 offensive system dominated by Thomas and Sampson, a four-corner offensive system with Thomas single-leading and a No. 4 offensive system used by Bird in low posts.

Lang and Harper's outside partner made the Celtics' offense tend to help the outside shooters find the touch first.

As a result, the Knicks failed to attack by themselves, but turned around and did a very good job of defense.

Wilson always had confrontation problems when defending alone, but there was no problem with defending Lang and Harper.

If the Celtics did not allow Bird to play the fourth position, the latter's figure would probably be able to play the scene of the tragedy.

Wilson gradually had the meaning of Tyshaun Prince, who was thin and had a strong sense of defense when defending. He swept the paint area with Ewing and controlled the transfer of high balls.

The Celtics lost most of the run in the first half.

In addition to Bird finding John Long's long shot from behind, Thomas had to make Sampson a single shot by himself.

Louis had already expected this, so the Knicks defended in a targeted manner at the beginning. McHale used his 244CM long arm to steal a cross from Bird to Sampson.

After Dale Ellis missed Long's second three-pointer, Louis concluded that he was in a bad state and decisively substituted him.

Louis replaced Dennis Rodman, so there was another Spider-Man forward with unlimited energy in the Knicks scene.

Bird played against McHale with a bad touch and his pass was repeatedly affected by the opponent.

The Knicks' paint area formed an amazing defense net, making it difficult for the Celtics to fight an ideal attack with their cooperation.

The more they want to cooperate, the more likely they make mistakes.

However, the Knicks gradually cooperated under Stockton's threading thread.

Ewing and McHale relied on 2High Day P to win half of the team's points.

Wilson took over several times with the ball appropriately, breaking through John Long's defense.

Lang is now very old, and the threat of three-pointers has dropped a lot in the early years. The defense, which was originally qualified, has now become a big hole.

27 to 14

This start was definitely something the Celtics didn't expect.

"I want to say that the Celtics should never underestimate the Knicks. All signs indicate that their reconstruction has been completed and they are different from the past!" Heinthorne said worriedly. "This year's Knicks are a real challenger!"

In the next quarter, K.C. Jones reacted.

Let Bird play the fourth position only aggravate his losses. McHale is a fourth position that can defend the third position, and his defense is definitely not weak. The Knicks can now have the league's first defense, and it is absolutely not enough to rely on Ewing and the ground fighters in the second lineup.

Bird returned to the third position, facing Rodman.

Louis gave Wilson a break and put out the rosters of Hornersek, Corbyn, Rodman, Oakley and Ewing.

If Stockton is the reason why the Knicks performed so well in offense, Ewing is the reason why they suffocated their defense tonight.

From protecting the basket to sweeping outside the paint area, he did nothing wrong with everything.

K.C gave Bird a break, with Thomas and Sampson, Ranbill, Angie, and Harper playing in the second quarter.

The Celtics, who were struck by the Knicks' defense, gradually recovered.

Sampson began to show his power.

He frequently received the ball at high positions and scored in five consecutive rounds.

He forced out the Knicks' double-team and then used the vision brought by the height to pass the ball.

When Ron Harper hit a three-pointer, the Celtics tied, and Louis stopped the game.

The Knicks did not make any mistakes just now. Everyone did what they had at hand, but no one could defend Sampson's attack, and Ewing could not.

Louis made a substitution again, Oakley down, Boll, Ewing went to the fourth position to fight Sampson, Boll protected the basket at the basket, regardless of Ranbill's three-pointer, the Celtics had a natural chance on the offensive end.

Whether Ranbill can make a three-pointer into the open arc has greatly affected the Knicks' defensive layout.

Ranbill's three-point shooting percentage this season is the worst in four years.

This is why the Knicks boldly let him vote.

However, Ranbill is the kind of player who hits and shoots "when the team needs it most."

The moment he made a three-pointer, the Knicks' defense line disappeared.

Relying on Sampson's destructive power alone, Thomas changed the situation on the court just by passing the ball.

Then, Bird returned to the court, replaced Thomas, and Ange played No. 1 position.

At this moment, Louis stopped the game.

He waved his hand with a gloomy face.

Wilson, Rodman, John Seley, Alex Stevens, Oakley's murder press team came on.

Seeing these five people, the Celtics knew exactly what the Knicks had to do.

But they would never have thought that the strength, hardness and ruthlessness of the Knicks' murder press were much stronger than what they had last seen.

This is four minutes that suffocates Bostonians.

Danny Angie, who is in the number one position, thinks he can do this position.

But Wilson, Stevens, Seley, and Rodman, a long-arm forest that made up, told him: No, you can't.

Apart from these four Spider-Man, the only one in the murder force who is not considered Spider-Man is Oakley, the hardest man in the league.

Moreover, four of these five people are not hesitant to count the fouls.

Once the signs are wrong, or the Celtics have the possibility of breaking through the defense, they will immediately make a tactical foul.

Within 4 minutes, the Celtics only scored 4 points.

The Knicks scored 12 points.

The situation that was originally reversed by the Celtics is now back in the hands of the Knicks.

K.C incredibly requested a timeout and hurriedly called Isaiah Thomas back on the field.

Louis was about to withdraw his murderous press, but was opposed by Wilson.

"Coach, we can continue!" Wilson said excitedly, "The show is about to begin!"

Louis didn't think it was a good idea: "Isaiah is coming."
To be continued...