Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Ji Mengnian
The Madison Garden Arena, a basketball mecca, is like returning to the hustle and bustle of the 1980s. After losing the first game of the series, New York fans are looking forward to witnessing the team’s first victory in the playoffs in eight years today. At the beginning of the game, they were suppressed by the Eagles. But in the second half, the Knicks fought a beautiful turnaround and finally completed a big reversal.
At the end of the final whistle, the passion of the New York fans seemed to overturn the roof of the arena. They gave all the applause and cheers to the heroes in their hearts, especially the 32-year-old veteran-Derek. Rose.
Basketball holy land rose again
This is not the first time Rose has played in the playoffs, but for him, this year’s journey has a completely different meaning.
Since leaving Chicago, Rose has started a life of displacement. During this period, he once had the idea of retiring. Fortunately, Rose finally persevered, and met his mentor Thibodeau again in New York. When he was with the Bulls, Rose became the MVP of the league under Thibodeau. Now that he joins forces with Thibodeau again, even though he is no longer young and has suffered severe damage to his knees, he is still the star that Thibodeau trusts most.
Statistics show that when Rose came to the Big Apple, the Knicks won 24 of the 35 games. In the first game of the playoffs, Rose scored 17 points and hit a key throw at the last minute. If it weren’t for Trey Young to complete the lore, Rose would be the absolute hero of that game. In the second round of the matchup between the two sides tonight, Rose further upgraded his performance and helped the team win the first playoff victory in eight years.
In the Bulls, Rose was the only core guard in Thibodeau’s offensive system. Now in the Knicks, the situation has not changed much. Even though he played as the sixth man in every game, Rose is still the true core of the Knicks. His body can no longer support him to complete the kill continuously to the basket as he did in the past, but Rose still has his way to win.
Today, Rose has a more stable mid-to-long range shooting ability. On the other hand, he is more skilled in the control of the rhythm of the game, and he is much better than before in driving his teammates. “Rose’s performance is really outstanding. He got up from the bench and scored 26 points, leading the team to the final victory.” Magic said after the game.
It is worth mentioning that Ross played 38 minutes in this campaign. In the regular season, he averaged only 25 minutes per game. The last time Rose played such a long time in the playoffs was in 2015. Sometimes, human destiny is so tortuous and magical. Under Thibodeau, Rose always seems to be what he was when he was young. Although the reality has left him all over his body, nothing seems to have changed.
In an interview, Rose said: “I have dreamed of this moment for a long time. In the past, people said that I could not play for too long, but only I knew how much training I had invested in this journey.”
For the city of New York, it is their dream to perform dazzlingly in the playoffs. For Rose, he has always dreamed of being the master of this stage again. Now he is standing on the most shining stage, once again blooming the most dazzling light.
“I have been training hard. I want to allow myself to play more than 30 minutes in a game. I am very happy that I have reached it now and I am also very happy that the team has won.” Rose said.
The Knicks are like the 2011 Bulls
Playing 38 minutes and scoring a team-high 26 points to lead the team to victory in the playoffs, Rose is like returning to 2011. At that time, Thibodeau was sitting on the Bulls coach seat, and there were Gibson, Boozer, Noah and others on the court. Nowadays, Boozer and Noah have retired, but Gibson is still with Ross.
In this campaign, Gibson played for 30 minutes, although his personal data is not so dazzling. But within 30 minutes of Gibson’s play, the Knicks beat their opponents by as much as 23 points. In this game, Gibson is the player with the highest positive-negative score for the Knicks. In the second half, Thibodeau arranged for him to play first, offering a small lineup, which is one of the reasons why the Knicks were able to reverse the win.
“Ross and Gibson have played a lot of playoff games before, and their experience is very rich.” Thibodeau said, “I just want to change the lineup, I feel we need something different, I want to bring the team With different looks, this adjustment has worked.”
In an interview after the game, Gibson couldn’t believe what he was going through now. “I can only say that we have 15 tough guys to complete such a big reversal.” Gibson said, “but to be honest, when I realized that I was actually fighting with Rose in the playoffs side by side, I saw the coaching bench. Sitting on Thibodeau, I’m really a bit too unreal. You have to pinch yourself because you are playing in Madison Square Garden.”
To a certain extent, this Knicks now looks more and more like the 2011 Chicago Bulls. The arrival of Thibodeau changed the team culture of this team, and they played extremely hard and strong in the playoffs. Whether leading or lagging, the team maintains a strong desire to fight. Derek Rose is like returning to 10 years ago, playing the absolute core role of the team, and everyone else has their own duties to help the team play its best performance.
What is different from 10 years ago is that there are more veterans in the Knicks. In the regular season, the growth of several young Knicks players is very eye-catching. But after the start of the playoffs, the role of the veterans was vividly reflected. In addition to Rose and Gibson, Reggie Bullock also plays a very important role. At the same time, Randall, who had been sluggish before, finally awoke in the second half of the second game of the series, and the Knicks’ combat effectiveness will naturally become stronger.
Next, the Knicks will go to the away game and continue to PK with the Hawks. After the game, the New York fans fell into a state of madness. They shouted: “We want to play the Nets!” But as far as the current situation is concerned, if the Knicks want to meet the Nets, at least it will be part of the Eastern Conference Finals .
For the Knicks players, every game is their goal. “Our game mentality is to guard every round of our opponents, no matter we face any opponents. We are prepared for this, and the coaching staff has done a great job to prepare us. This is only about us getting on the field Play in the right way, stick to the defensive strategy, and stay aggressive.” Brock said.
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