Both sides have no secrets, so let’s start the ga.
Let’s see if the Knicks can finally suppress Roger or if Roger will kill the ga with his repeated high-position jump shots.
The lead alternates between both teams, and the point difference isn’t significant. Both coaches find it hard to determine if their strategies are correct.
The three Knicks star players cooperate smoothly, playing with full montum.
Roger, without the need for tactical support, can always provide a response.
In the third quarter, Roger’s touch wavered montarily, missing three shots in a row.
Just when Lenny Wilkens thought the ga would be killed, Roger quickly adjusted.
Patrick Ewing, watching Roger’s score soar, kept wiping sweat, muttering sothing similar to Roger’s "oracle."
"They’re wrong!"
Roger’s score keeps rising, 30 points, 40 points... When the ga entered the last minute, Roger had already scored 51 points!
His hot touch continued throughout the day.
At critical monts, the Knicks’ offense needed soone to step up.
Lenny Wilkens arranged a pick and roll. Wade’s requirent for the pick was low; he could accelerate and complete a breakthrough as long as soone casually bumped him.
But this ti, Amar’e Stoudemire chose to directly double-team Wade with the Little Prince, not giving Knicks No. 3 any chance to start.
Seeing this, Wade imdiately jumped to pass the ball to KG cutting in, but when Garnett received the ball, Roger had already rotated in place.
The last ti the Knicks lost a ga was because Garnett unsuccessfully attempted to post up Roger at a critical mont.
So KG didn’t try to attack this ti, but looked for an open teammate instead.
However, the Warriors’ rotation was fully spread out, and as Garnett passed to Battier, Stoudemire had already reached out, intercepting the pass.
Thus, another steal occurred.
At critical monts, when a star player cannot solve the problem alone, more complex cooperation is needed.
But complicated coordination leads to more defenders, and more defenders can lead to turnovers.
This point was vividly demonstrated in this possession.
Roger wouldn’t encounter such a problem. In this possession, as he prepared to jump shot from the high post, and Shawn Battier leapt up to interfere again, Roger slipped past him.
Even the most humble statist like Shawn Battier was toyed with by Roger, because Roger’s shooting threat was too great today, forcing Battier to leap.
Seeing Battier beaten, the Knicks’ perfect defensive machine started operating.
Kevin Garnett imdiately rushed out, with Dwayne Wade also joining the pinch.
But no matter how fast the help defense was, it needed ti. Roger didn’t make any unnecessary moves; after passing Battier, he imdiately held the ball, quickly jumped for a shot. By the ti KG and Wade’s hands covered the basket, the bullet had already left the barrel.
"Swish."
The familiar sound rang again, enveloping Madison Square in familiar feelings.
Mike Breen felt the surroundings beco dead silent, forcing him to say sothing: "53 points! God, Roger’s shooting touch from mid and long range today is simply unbelievable. Madison Square Garden seems to possess a magical power, always enabling Roger to shoot an absurdly high percentage here!"
During the NBC era, Mike Breen didn’t have the chance to comntate on the playoffs, so he’s not used to this deathly silence.
However, New York fans aren’t strangers to this sense of despair, spreading from 1994 until now, still not effectively curbed.
This is why Patrick Ewing was so nervous.
The way that No. 14 plays, it doesn’t matter who the Knicks players or Roger’s teammates are.
For the Mayor of New York to act wild here, only one condition is needed — if he so wishes.
At this mont, after scoring, Roger glimpsed at the sidelines, catching a glance of Ewing.
That superior gaze, that expression like looking at trash, awakened all those nightmarish mories in Ewing’s mind.
Patrick Ewing’s eyes listlessly drooped; even when he divorced and got entangled in the Gold Club case, his expression had never been this desolate.
Next to him, Ewing’s son, the frustrated Patrick Ewing Jr. from Indiana University, sighed: "I wish I could be like him."
The Big Ape shook his head: "There won’t be a second Roger in this world."
The Knicks were trailing by 4 points, and in a subsequent possession, Wade refrained from calling for a screen to avoid double teaming. Instead, he did like Roger, using a sudden stop after speeding up to gain space and attempting a mid-range jumper.
But under Tayshaun Prince’s interference, Wade’s sudden stop jumper bounced off the rim.
Watching Roger hit mid and long-range jumpers repeatedly seed simple, but when it was Wade’s turn, the difficulty increased sharply.
The Knicks players couldn’t kill the ga through their own power in critical monts, neither complex nor simple thods materialized.
In fact, the Knicks’ offensive efficiency today wasn’t bad. But at this stage of the ga, it cos down to who can seize control of one or two crucial possessions more than the opponent.
The failure in these two key possessions nullified the Knicks’ effort throughout the ga.
One possession later, KG couldn’t resist providing help defense on Roger. Roger effortlessly passed to the cutting Stoudemire, who dunked over Yao Ming, sealing the ga.
After Stoudemire scored, Roger glanced at KG, Wade, and Yao Ming, then shook his head: "Maybe it’s my fault."
In the end, the score was 108 to 102, and the Golden State Warriors smoothly took the first ga in a stormy New York.
Roger scored 53 points with 7 assists in the entire ga, with Mike Breen comnting: "His jump shots will wake countless New Yorkers from their sleep at night with a fright!"
Unreasonable mid and long-range shots, unreasonable critical mont performances, Roger has always been so in New York.
And he will continue to be in the future.
-----------------
Shawn Battier is the first to be publicly executed since John Kennedy. — Mike Breen jokes about Battier’s nickna post-ga.
Sorry Shawn, but you know it, there’s only one hotshot on basketball’s Mount Rushmore. — Roger skillfully teases Battier’s nickna in a post-ga interview.
At least I can still lead the conversation; I’m not the most miserable President yet. — Shawn Battier teases his own nickna.
"Roger, a perfect debut in the finals. Scoring 53 points isn’t the highest you’ve ever hit in the finals, but today’s scoring distribution was peculiar, mostly concentrated in mid and long-range. Do you think winning four gas this way is feasible?"
"How we play is determined by the New York Knicks, whatever style they choose, I can handle any defense. Whatever the style, I will win four gas."
"During the recent press conference, Yao Ming and KG among other Knicks players ntioned that during the ga you repeatedly muttered things like ’I was wrong,’ ’I might be wrong,’ ’it’s all my fault.’ What does this an, and exactly what mistakes did you make?"
"You know, KG, Yao Ming, and Dwayne are highly influenced by . That’s why I say it, yes, maybe it’s my fault.
Maybe I made them think winning a championship is easy when it’s actually incredibly difficult. Maybe I made them believe that daring to shoot guarantees becoming a winner. Maybe I made them think everything would go smoothly without experiencing failure. Maybe I made them ignore the power that cos from failure and pain. Maybe I made them believe that one-on-one defense can solve most of the world’s problems.
Maybe all of it is my fault, so much so that they actually think they can use such simple, incredible ways to beat , to win a championship.
They’re all playing under my influence, and it’s my experiences that gave them too many misconceptions about the finals, mysterious confidence. It makes them think they can be .
Really sorry, maybe I’ve ruined this ga."
— Roger explains the so-called "oracle" in an exclusive interview with "ESPN."
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