87: 062: This is a great humiliation!
(Please subscribe!)_2 87: 062: This is a great humiliation!
(Please subscribe!)_2 Ewing should have been the hero of the last game; his last-moment put-back almost killed the game.
But Roger forcefully snatched the victory right out of the hands of this furious powerhouse.
Thus, the powerhouse unleashed all his frustration tonight, thoroughly demolishing the Bulls’ already fragile interior.
96 to 91, the New York Knicks reclaimed a victory at their home court.
Riley finally had something to boast about after the game, “The boxing match has officially begun, and we’ve landed a heavy uppercut.
I hope Roger can last till the end!”
At that time, people didn’t know that Riley’s “The boxing match has officially begun” was meant quite literally.
In Game 3, NBA Commissioner David Stern, along with his wife, came to watch the game at the Bulls’ home court; however, the Knicks and Bulls broke into a brawl right in front of the commissioner by the end of the half.
The cause was Derek Harper being brutalized by Roger, which led him to unleash his fury on Roger’s substitute, Pete Meyers, especially rough in his defense against Meyers.
Of course, Meyers wouldn’t just sit there and take it; he kept trash-talking Harper relentlessly.
Finally, after a verbal foreplay, the two got into the real action, and wrestled together right before the first half ended.
Naturally, players from both sides rushed to pull them apart, joining the fray, and the scene became incredibly chaotic, resembling a street fight.
Stern’s face turned livid; when he took over the league in 1984, NBA players were a bunch of drunks, drug abusers, promiscuous, brawling scoundrels.
It took him a whole decade to transform the league into a glamorous theater.
He had always tried to turn NBA from a crude sport of punches and intoxication into a watchable and elegant white-collar sport.
With the decline of the Detroit Bad Boys and the elegant and agile Michael Jordan replacing the rough, slow giants as a national idol, Stern thought he had finally achieved a major success.
Yet Riley’s New York Knicks started to play against him again.
The Knicks, in the 90s, involved multiple egregious brawling incidents, which made Stern determined to combat on-court violence vigorously.
And now, the Knicks had the audacity to fight right in front of him!
This act right next to the commissioner’s booth, akin to opening a massage parlor, infuriated Stern immensely.
In the end, the referees ejected both Harper and Meyers from the game.
As tempers flared, the movements got bigger in the second half, and the number of fouls increased dramatically.
This resulted in both teams being off their game, turning the match into an ugly defensive battle.
Undoubtedly, this was the Knicks’ preferred rhythm, and eventually, they managed to win the game 83 to 77, taking a 2-1 lead in the series.
The Knicks took the upper hand in the series, but fighting in front of Stern still cost them dearly.
After the game, Derek Harper, the instigator of the brawl, received an additional two-game suspension, while the Bulls’ Meyers was suspended for one game.
Soon, the impact of this incident became apparent.
Due to Derek Harper’s suspension, the already constipated Knicks offense lacked a playmaker to liven it up.
This season, the Knicks actually had a chance to hit 60 wins, but because their starting point guard, Doug Rivers, was injured, it greatly affected their early record until they traded for Derek Harper, who finally put them back on track.
But now, they had lost Harper again.
Without Harper, the Knicks had to start Anthony Mason, so Starks, Mason, and Oakley completely locked down their own offense.
The Knicks suddenly fell flat in their attack in the middle of the third quarter, going a full six minutes without a field goal.
Roger seized this opportunity, scoring a series-high 34 points, which essentially secured the victory for the Bulls.
95 to 83, the Bulls took Game 4, evening the series at 2-2.
At this point, the Chicago Bulls’ performance had completely surpassed Riley’s expectations.
After all, in his estimation, the Knicks could at best play 4-1 against the Bulls.
Considering the Knicks almost completely dominated the Bulls during the regular season, his expectation wasn’t an unrealistic fantasy.
He could never have imagined that the Knicks would suffer two defeats against the Bulls!
Returning to Madison Square Garden for Game 5, a highly controversial moment occurred.
Because last game’s offense was so poor, Riley started the muscular Anthony Mason in this game, replacing him with third-year point guard Greg Anthony.
Today Anthony was also responsible for guarding Roger.
This was a complete mistake.
Roger did whatever he wanted over the 13 cm shorter Greg Anthony, setting a new series scoring record with 35 points!
And with 8 seconds left in the game, Roger’s pull-up jumper put the Bulls ahead 87-86.
Pat Riley smashed his clipboard in frustration; he couldn’t believe he let Roger score 30+ points again!
New York’s home commentator Mike Breen also remarked, “Roger has put on a Michael Jordan-level performance!”
New York fans all swallowed hard; last year against the Bulls in Game 5, they were completely crushed by Jordan.
This time, they faced a red-hot Roger again.
Shall we just head to the Hudson River tonight to set up a fishing spot early?
Now, the Knicks had the last offensive play.
Starks and Ewing executed a pick-and-roll, aiming to guard against Starks’ mid-range shot and Ewing’s smooth follow-through, the Bulls team collectively packed near the three-second area.
But amid the double team, Starks didn’t pass to Ewing; instead, he tossed the ball to Herbert Davis outside the three-point line—a rare sharpshooter in the 90s who consistently kept his three-point percentage over 40%.