181: 091: Will he see me?
(Vote for monthly tickets!)_3 181: 091: Will he see me?
(Vote for monthly tickets!)_3 The only reason the Knicks haven’t descended into complete disarray is that they are still in the lead.
It doesn’t matter if you’re leading by 17 points or just 1 point, as long as you’re ahead in the game, the mindset is very different.
Roger received the ball at the top of the arc, but as soon as he touched it, he was double-teamed by Derek Harper and Starks.
“Illegal defense, illegal defense, the Knicks have been playing illegal defense the whole damn game, and you can’t see it even once!?” Brian Hill spread his arms wide and yelled at the referee.
He clearly saw Starks, each time before Roger had the ball, leaving his man to prepare to double-team Roger, yet the referee turned a blind eye to such behavior.
“Sit back down, Coach, I won’t warn you again!” the referee responded defiantly.
The referee wasn’t intentionally biased towards the Knicks; rather, illegal defense is genuinely difficult to define.
It’s the NBA’s most complex, most troublesome rule intended to counter zone defenses, and even many professional players can’t explain it clearly.
Each referee, too, had their own standard for what constituted illegal defense.
Thus, illegal defense is entirely different in the hands of different referees.
The referees today clearly weren’t too sensitive to illegal defense; Starks’s earlier action, in their view, was borderline, but not quite illegal.
Roger wanted to pass the ball to Shaq, but with the tight double team, he simply couldn’t get the ball down low.
He considered taking the shot himself, but his dismal shooting percentage thus far made him hesitate.
In the end, Roger still passed the ball to Harper.
This guard, who had contributed a decisive semi-final shot in G2, who before his serious injury and joining the Magic had averaged over 20 points for three seasons, hoped to rediscover that scoring touch.
He unleashed what might have been the most critical shot of his career, his own version of “The Shot.”
However, not everyone is Michael Jordan, capable of turning the cruel basketball court into a glorious stage.
“Harper misses the shot opportunity, the Knicks’ half-court defense is still tormenting the Orlando Magic!
Roger has not made a single field goal in the fourth quarter, and Shaq only has one, they’ve been locked down!
To reverse the game, they can’t just rely on fast breaks, they must break through the Knicks’ half-court defense!”
Fratello’s voice came from the TV in the suite as DeVos ended his game of Ludo, grabbed some food, then asked his assistant to call the driver to prepare for departure from the stadium avoiding the crowd.
While waiting, he finally looked up at the game on the TV.
Seeing the score, he was somewhat surprised, so he sat down next to the floor-to-ceiling window: “How’s the game?”
“We’re about to turn it around, Rich, just about to!” Pat Williams was completely engrossed in the game.
Rich DeVos did not speak again; his only concern now was whether Roger and O’Neal were worth the multimillion-dollar salaries.
At the start of the fourth quarter, he had no expectations for the game and was even somewhat annoyed.
But having just seen the score, he admitted, those two kids really were something special.
Still, there is no essential difference between losing by 1 point and losing by 17 points.
So now, he was only concerned about that 1 point.
He didn’t care about the process; he just wanted the outcome, he was tired of ending the season with an “Oh, you played well, but just needed more time.”
He just wanted to know whether Roger and O’Neal could erase that one point, whether they could handle the Knicks, whether they could lead the Magic Team to better results and make more money.
On the court, the intense struggle continued.
The Knicks, once again, attempted to work the ball inside to Ewing.
But O’Neal’s all-out defense made it hard for the big man to get position.
The ball was finally fed to Ewing, who immediately encountered a double team from O’Neal and Grant.
With no other options, Ewing had to pass the ball back out as the 24-second shot clock ticked down.
In the end, with just 8 seconds left, the basketball ended up in the hands of John Starks.
The New York perimeter ace was obliged to take on this responsibility, facing Roger, he started dribbling the ball between his legs from left to right: “I’m going to finish you, finish you!
You’re definitely going to cry tonight!”
With a burst of speed, a between-the-legs pullback, Starks attempted to create a sliver of space with this move.
But this time, Roger’s defense was focused, and he immediately raised his arms to block the shot, forcing Starks to shoot over the defense.
All eyes in the arena were on that basketball, it was a critical shot.
Riley stood on the opposite half of the court, and from his angle, he couldn’t tell if the shot would go in, but he could see that it was aimed straight and on target.
The basketball soared toward the basket, and amid everyone’s tense emotions, it flew straight out of bounds.
The shot was indeed well-targeted, but the arc was off.
Roger’s interference forced Starks to adjust the arc, but clearly, he did not adjust it well.
“Starks shoots an airball under Roger’s defense, fantastic defense!
Roger’s defense was perfectly in place, Starks thought he could exploit Roger as a weakness like last year, but no, not anymore!” Fratello yelled from within, extremely excited.
Roger looked straight at the unsuccessful Starks: “Dance?
That’s right, I’m going to dance on your grave!”